South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-07-06
STATESMEN
REAL AND NEAR
BY FRED c. KELLY.
BY FRED c. KELLY.

BY FRED &. KELLY.
WASHINGTON. July 6-One OF
the penalties of being president Of the
United States is having doctor con-
stantly at ones heels. Either an ar
my or a navy physician is assigned
TO stick around the white house and
guard the presidents health. The
first thing Woodrow Wilson does each
morning when he comes downstairs is
to let young Or. GraysOn have a look
at his tongue. Sometimes he even lets
the doctor feel his pulse or put his
ear to his chest and listen TO his heart
tick. Obviously il must be an infer
nal nuisance TO get up every morning
knowing that as soon as one Is dress
ed one must stick out OnGs tongue
and let somebody look at il. Tongues
are so much alike in their general
contour that it is not easy for one to
feel any thrill of pride in such an eX-
hibition. Even II one had a particu-
larly clever design Of tongue there
would in time Se certain monotony
in showing il morning after morning
to the same person.
Moreover. if there is any truth in
the modern theories of mental sugges-
ton ii is a wonder the president has
any health at all, with a doctor hang
ing around him all the time. The
president comes downstairs feeling
clipper and full of ginger, with never
"a thought OF indigestion. Then the
doctor looks at his tongue and frowns.
Immediately the president is likely TO
begin feeling sorry for himself.
Pres Wilson, however, IS greatly at
tached to DIR. Grayson, and likes to
have him along with him. Almost
any day one may read in the papers:
ain the afternoon the president went
out for a game Of golf with DR.. Gray
SON" Or. Accompanied by DR.. Gray
son. the president went for an auto
mobile ride"
Within a short time after he be-
came president Mr.. Wilson made DR..
Grayson his main companion. But he
likes TO have him around not because
he is a doctor SO much as in spite Of
the fact that he is a doctor. The real
reason for the presidents attachment
TO DR.. Grayson lies in the fact that
the doctor has little to say, and usual
~ does not talk until talked to- He
has the gift of silence. Pres. Wilson
is a long way from being an unso-
ciable man, and he likes polite con-
versation as we'll as anybody. But af-
ter working hard until the middle OF
the afternoon at being the big CHIEF
of the nation, the president likes to
sit back quietly in his auto without
the need of using up any further en-
ergy in providing small talk for his
companion He may desire to talk a
good deal but he prefers TO take the
initiative in the matter himself. In
this connection one may remark that
the president has a knack at drop
ping off TO sleep in an automobile.
He may be riding along viewing the
scenery and as wide awake as any
body. But if it occurs to him that
he would like TO get a little sleep out
of his system he can shut his eyes and
lose consciousness almost before one
could say Jack Johnson.
DR.. Grayson, whom we have just
been discussing. looks much less like
a physician than one would expect.
One unconsciously pictures man who
ministers to the health Of a president
as wearing a Van Dyke beard. an alb
domen, and two different kinds of eye
glasses. Grayson has none Of these
things. He is below average height,
Of rather slight build. smooth-faced
and With the earnest expression of an
accountant or q teller in a bank rath-
Ell than a physician.
Up in Minnesota dwelt an old man
who had a great deal OF money that
he was extremely reluctant about
spending. He also had two charming
and vivacious daughters who worried
constantly because they were missing
a heap of fun that could have fallen
to their lot if father had been willing
to loosen up. One of the foremost
ambitions of these daughters was to
make "a journey abroad, and they well
knew that the cost would not put even
a noticeable dent in papa's pile, They
coaXed and cOaXed, but he failed TO
catch their enthusiasm over the pro-
ject. He said it would not only take
much money. but would be a tiresome
thing TO go through. and that they
were all vastly better off at home.
In desperation the girls one day
confided their troubles to Sen Moses
+. Clapp. whom they had known for
some time. They believed that a man
OF Clapp's resourcefulness and sagaci-
~ would he able 10 think Of a way
And he did
Every time there is a moving pic
ture exhibition here of travel scenes. .
suggested Clapp, take your father to
it, and in a little while he'll become
SO interested that he will desire to Wis
IL those foreign places and take you
along"
They tried it and in the next few
months father had a glimpse Of pref
" much everything from the banks of
the Nile TO the fjords Of Norway.
When the time seemed TO be ripe
ore of the girls suggested:
My, wouldn't you like TO visit all
those wonderful countries abroad"
should say not" replied father
Wouldn't / be mutt now TO spend
my money 10 go TO Europe when I've
seen It all in the moving pictures ?"
Copyright. 1914, by Fred G. Kelly.
All Rights Reserved)
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