Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-10-24

r,
was the Presidents first wife Pro.
lessor Arson not only had close per.
sonal relations with the President fol
thirty-fre years. but he served under
MIN when MIR. Wilson was president
OF Princeton University. lie was as
slstant professor of English literature
at Princeton from 1899 to 1904, and
protessor from 1904 to 1913 when he
joined tho faculty OF Rice Institute
Houston. Texas. as professor OF Eng.
llsh. Woodrow Wilson married Miss
Axson on June "a, 1885 Her death
occurred on August G. 1914, and on
December IL, 1915. President Wilson
married Mrs. Edith Boiling Gait
by STOCKTON ARSON.
There are many who can analyze
and assess Wilson, the statesmnu
known 10 all tho world, but the ranks
are thinning among those who have
known the man intimately since his
young manhood. Woodrow Wilson he
longs to the world; is it. then, in bad
taste for one who has had the great
privilege OF seeing him 1T close range
Tor thirty-flrc years to tai. about him
familiarly to the World?
MY kcenest embarrassment arises
from my wonder about what Mr. Will
son himself will say IL he should ever
read this article. for II has never
pleased him to have his personal ar
fairs intimately talked about. and yet
the only reason why ! should write at
an Is mat am In position to Talk
about him personally and that the
country has Il right to know what
manner of man Is President
Fairly Memories
do not suppose that ! myself know
when ] first heard Woodrow Wilson'S
name mentioned; probably in my ear
lest childhood. for between his fam
lily and mine there has always been
an intimacy. His mothers sister was
Mrs James Bones, and the Boneses
were our neXtdoor neighbors in Rome
Ga Jessie and Marian Bones were my
childhood companions. Helen being
much younger; and the names OF Wood
row Wilson'S father and mother. Uncle
Joe ana Aunt Jessie, were as familiar
to me as the names OF my own uncIcs
and aunts.
But I very distinctly remember the
hrst time that anybody talked to me
In detail about Woodrow Wilson: 4,
was my father, in letter written to
me when I WAS away at school Like
DR.. Joseph Wilson. my father was n
Presbyterian minister. and also like
DOCTOR wilson. he practiccd more than
he preached. think my father went
on the theory that his example would
40 more for ms upbringing than wordy
prccepts, and so the first homily he
ever delivered to me was in the form
OF long letter written just nftcr
Woodrow Wilson had ended !, visit to
his relatives In Rome His text de-
scribed him aud held him up to inc as
pattern or young manhood ! recall
ono phrase. virtually verbatim: IL can
think OF nothing that would make me
so happy as 10 have u son like that"
mat letter wac written thirty four
years ago; but I remember il wildly.
both because 1t was practically the
only private sermon my father ever
preached TO me, anI because the wish
expressed was fulfilled. not IN the way
he was hoping, by my transformation.
but by Woodrow Wilson himself be-
coming my fathers son by marriage.
My father lived To know Of the en-
gagemcnt. though he died before the
marriage.
1t was In 1883 that Woodrow Wilson
and Ellen Arson became engaged. She
was visiting friends In the North Caro-
lima mountains when my father fell
seriously III. He had me summon her
home by telegram--my mother had
died two years before, and my sister
was the responsible member OF the
family She went to ASheville To catch
II train. but as she had to walt sew
eral hours for il She went to "A hote!
and whiled away the time reading by Il
window. AS fate would have II. Wood
row Wilson, who was driving In tho
mountains. passed the hotel. CHANGED
to look up and saw her profile at the
window. The two had been together
In Rome the previous summer. and II
needed just the unexpected encounter
In the North Carolina mountains to
show them what life meant for each
and both OF them.
The Romance.
tnforgcttablc for me is tho CONVEX
sation which my sister and I had on
the night Of her arrival home. In the
earlier part of the evening she had
been anxious about my father. but
when he had at last been made com
Portable and had fallen asleep. she
Joined me In the little sitting room
her dear face flushed, her eyes bright
Can YOU keep secre?" she asked
and upon my intimatiOn that could
she told me that She was engaged to
he married. the manner OF the meet
ing and her JOY. "fIe is the greatest
man In the world" she said. land the
hest" In that faith she never fall
tered in all the years that followed.
OF the many mental pictures which
I have OF my sister there 1T this So-
ment stand out with peculiar vividness
the way she held their frst-born In
her arms, Whiting for him to come
from n distant place for the first sight
OF his child. and the way she looked
in the little cottage in Princeton the
night that he was elected President
of the United States. it was two years
before they were married Che was
studying at Johns Hopkins University
in Baltimore) in the manse of the In
dependent Presbyterian Church I'm Sa-
vannah, Ga. his father and her grand
father officiating. remember how
he and ] chatted about the books I'm
my grandfathers bookcases while we
waited for the bride to come down
stairs. also remember a less idyllic
circumstance. how bliss was Jared
and the scent OF orange blossoms tenn
porarily annulled while two small boys
the bridegroom's nephew, Wilson Howe
CHS PEN Or YOUR | lEEn