The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-26

never passed between that couple" have been honestly trying to think if I ever heard anything approaching
 an aItercation between MT. and Mrs. Wilson, and I cannot recall even a shadoW<of such. And yet these were
 no weddings, but two spirited peo-
 pie, each with a power of conviction possible only to very strong char acters. They would sometimes differ
 in their opinions, but their relation
 ship was so rooted in mutual love
 and loyalty that their differences
 were casual and superficial never
 fundamental.
 I have seen MT. Wilson humorous
 ly assume the role of browbeaten
 and henpecked person, unallowed to
 hold an opinion, when his wife would
 say in her impetuous way, wood
 row, you know you don't think thatG'
 and he would smile and say,
 Madam, I was venturing to think
 that I thought that until I was cor
 rected." At one time, when the
 girls were growing up,. he used to laugh and quote Chief Justice Fuller,
 who remarked that his jurisdiction extended over all the United States
 
 sometimes wondered how a family composed of varying and very posi- tive elements ever contrived to live in such absolute and undisturbed harmony as did the Wilson family, and I have come to the conclusion that such a result can be obtained only in one way. not by any prescrip- ton, or plan or domestic "scheme" action h1It h1ya supreme-that where love is always master, every day and every hour, there must be harmony. In the Will son household love is always law.
 It has always been love mingled with delightful humor and good hu- nor. Of all the fictions that popular fallacy would weave around a con- spicuous man, surely those who know MT. Wilson must find it the strangest that he is supposed by some to be a cold and mirthless man. A dozen years ago I think any intimate &C., quaintance of MT. Wilson could have said that one of his most obvious qualities was an incorrigible playful ness. Graver people thought he was too much that way. for he would joke in the midst of the most serious discussion and controversies. His fund of anecdote, Gin one way he is the most provoking of men for it is next to impossible to tell him a new story-he has heard them all and in- vented some,) his gleeful delight in nonsense rhymes his atrocities in fupmaking, an inheritance from his father, from whom he has derived so many and more commendable traits, all these things are pronounced in Woodrow Wilson, together with that finest of all humor, character humof the knack of word portrayal of peo- pie in incongruous settings. If you want to laugh until your breath for sakes you, get Woodrow Wilson to tell you the story of how a certain educator startled President Harri- son with a sudden eruption of oratory twenty-five years ago. Not the least delightful part of it is that, while he is relating it, he apparently forgets that the wheel has come full circle and he himself is now in the exalt- ed seat occupied by President liar rison when that entrancing bit of comedy unrolled.
 These humorous characteristics are still in President Wilson but it is hardly strange if they are less on the surface than they used to be before the burdens of a whole world in turmoil were laid up- on his shoulders. Even before the weight pressed upon him. his inher- ent Scotch sternness had begun to assert itself. He went through some rough experiences at Princeton and I have heard him say, both in pub lie and private, that he felt a stiffen- ing of the fibre within him, found it less easy to relax at will into play fitness. It merely means that, as years and responsibilities increased he became more purposeful.
 There is fact which he himself is probably unaware of, but which I am sure is historically correct. A change came over him at just about the time that great and sweeping changes were taking place in our of nationality-in those important years that lie between 1896 and 1900. Absurd as it may appear, previous to that I used to feel that he and I were mentally somewhat alike. There was cen years differ ence in our ages, and another diff ference of some moment ths diff ference between genius and the lack of it. But, with all that. there was some remote resemblance in the workings of our minds-even my perceptive sister used to see it. He and I would talk together for hours on end, conversations largely specu- lative.
 But gradually felt that a change was taking place. For one thing, he had been through an illness. from which he emerged more vigorous than before. He had always been a purposefuI man, but now he was a man of fixed and resolute purpose. He was as affectionate and companiable as ever. but he did not have time now for such prolonged and drift ing' conversations. The task was calling him. And I must believe that besides the merely personal change his own nature was unconsciously re- hecting the big and basic changes which were taking place in the na- ton and in national conceptions, changes that were leading America out of isolation into world relation ships. Perhaps he was, all uncon- sciously, enduring his vigils, prepara- tory to the great conflict that lax ahead of him in the dim mists of futurity. He grew more and more impatient of merely theoretical dis cussions; he must handle facts in all their difficult reality. I often heard him exclaim "I am so tired of a merely talking profession! I want to do something!" This was before he