Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-15

Remember the fire-eatinE orator OF your
class whose announced intention was &c
become a United States senator! frloas
afternoon after Friday afternoon ano
last days-of- school to no end ne useo &c
crate. lie would wave the old red. white
and blue, reach out and pluck few stars
from the skies swing In a little or the
Declaration Of Independence. borrow IRON
1incolr's Gettysburg speech and. per
haps. top off his outburst with a Few ex-
cerrts from ''Spartacus- to the Glad1a-
tors" His oratorical ability made the Ole
folks sit ND in their seats and his tiHid
and easily frightened schoolmates 81,
down in theirs.
But is he there today. was he there
a. the Ia st session? Careful search OF Con
eressional Directories extending back tf
the date of his birth do not reveal the
fact that he ever was brought here ny
the government at 90 cents mile he
seems to have dropped out of sight. Per-
haps he is an auctioneer or patent med
Icine vender. or maybe he has learned
that. after all. the silent man is the one
who gets much money; so he has ceased
talking and gone after gold.
Who. then you may ask, fills the seat
that this youthful Webster once appeared
destined to occupy? The answer is easy
II is one of the lads who used to dream
OF growing up to be a barber. with the
privilege of talking to great men when
they were In such position that they
had to listen to him. or shoemaker who
would turn out sheopskin boots which
should tread the halls of Congress. or a
cab driver who would haul statesmen and
drummers to and from the trains.
Belief that most men in the higher gov
eminent offices did rot as youths aspire
TO their present positions or anything like
them resulted recently in an inquiry re-
Earding their boyhood ambitions The in
uuiry showed the belief to be we'll ground
cd and developed some peculiar stories
about how the youths became switched
of on the tracks that led to Washington
Almost every hoy is supposed. of course.
to nurse ambition to be President of
the United States. Maybe in these days
Of advancing suffrage that should be
changed to include the girls. too. But
there Is no record of President Wilson
ever having expressed such an ambition.
II he had any well defined aspiration it
was to be a naval cadet or a commander
of great ship. He did become an lad
miral' too though for a long time few
people but himself knew it. The reason
for that was that he just became an lad
miral'' in his own mind.
*
It was in 1870 while the Wilson family
resided in Columbia. S. c., and the pres
ent' President was fourteen years old.
that his longing for the sea began to as
sert itself. So completely was he strapped
Up in his dream that he is said to have
withdrawn from: the pastimes of his coma
panons to plan sea voyages and capture
pirates. And, strange to say, at that
time. he never had seen the ocean nor
any large body Of water. = :
Soon. by appointment he became
Admiral" Wilson and began to write
daily reports to the navy department.
of his pursuit of a band of piratest who
we're infeSting a certain section of the
southern Pacific ocean. And before he
got through with them a}f~-f had beer
hanged from a yardarrl-or met some
other just fate equally discourasing to a
Grst-class pirate.
The 'admiral's' reports show that al
though he and his men located the nj
ratical crew soon after starting on their
trail, much difficulty was experienced in
capturing them. The black craft would
be speeding away from the "admirars,
crew in great haste. when, suddenly, as
II the ocean had opened up and swallowed
the lawless gang. boat and ALL they
would disappear.
This was very discouraging Most adj
mirals would --ave abandoned pursuit of
orlI
and got some sleep. But not so with "Ad
mirar' Wilson. He and his men kent
tight after the miscreants. night and day.
until their hiding place, a spacious bay
within an island, was located and the
pirates were summarily dealt with
The manuscript setting forth this series
of imaginary adventures is long the ac-
count running from d>y 10 day In diary
form. Not until four years later. while
the Wilson family was living in Whining
ton. did the youth catch his first GLIMPSE
of the sea BY that time his mind was
so occupied with his school work that he
had forgotten his desire to sail the main.
Vice President Marshall as how had
his mind set on being a shoemaker. and
lie believes 10 this day that IL he had bee,
ole TO draw straight line or cut a
erescent-shaped piece OF leather he might
have been a first-class cobbler instead NJ
the second man of the nation. But now
that the rapid-tire shoe-repairing sbons
are so numerous and the old-fas hioned
shoemaker has such an awful time max
ing both ends meet, sometimes he IS iust
as well satisfied that he is in his present
position. So his heart is not broken nv
the change in his course of life tha.
steered him away from the last and avl
into the law, the governorship of Indiana
and finally the vice presidency.
Settling himself in a big leather chair.
the Vice President told. smilingly, of his
youthful ambitions.
AN old shoemaker whose political ac-
tivities in Germany had made 1t advis-
able for him TO come to America and
remain was responsible for my desiring
10 become a shoemaker" he said.
After school and Saturdays 1 would
20 to his place, seat myself at his feet
below his low bench, and then, as he
whitfield and hammered and sewed, he
would tell me of the happy days of his
youth I'm his native land He was a
great admirer of Carl Ludwig Sand, and
he never tired Of spinning me yarns
about this hero. Nor did l tire of lis
tening to them. The shoemaker's stories
OF battles and the heroic part played by
Sand were told graphically and enter
tainingly.