The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-11-03
New Vice President Is Home
Loving Man.
Was Born on independence
Day, 1872.
PRIZE WINNER IN SCHOOL
Tho Governor, Lives in ''TwO-
Family" House.
Lawyer by Profession and Also
Good Cook.

| Boston, Nov. 3.-Ca1vin Coolidge.
vicepresident elect, former "law-and-
order" governor of Massachusetts, is
just what his name implies sturdy
| son of New England. unassuming al
most taciturn, endowed with single
ness of purpose and the same determ-
nation that gave his ancestors, John
and Mary Coolidge, the courage to
make themselves home in the wilder
ness of forest that was Massachusetts
in 1880.
Born on a farm, the son of a pros
| porous farmer near Plymouth. VT,
Calvin Coolidge spent his early youth
much as any other farmers son, in
doing the chores about the farm. His
ambitions however did not lead him
to follow in the footsteps of his father,
and the latter with the wisdom of one
who understands, encouraged and as
sisted young Coolidge in his plans to
enter college.
Born ON July Fourth.
Coolidge was born on independence
day, 1872, a coincidence which his adj
mirers say gave him singleness of pur-
pose and Yankee obstinacy character
istic of the man.
History and affairs of government
were subjects of intense interest to
Coolidge even when a boy. He special
lied in these subjects at Amherst COL
=
1895 In his senior year he won first
honors, gold medal offered by the
Sons of the American Revolution, for
the best essay by an undergraduate of
an American college, on the principles
of the War for American Independ-
ence.
| After studying law for less than two
years in small office at Northamp-
ton, Mass, Coolidge was admitted to
the bar. He took a prominent part in
the city government being elected TO
the city council. and later was elected
to the Massa chusetts House of Repre-
sentatives. He was mayor of North
ampton in 1910 ard 1911, and later
was elected to the state senate in which
I he served four years. His participa-
ton IN the government of his state
was the first step in Coolidge's politi-
cal career. After serving in the SEN
ate, he was elected ieutenant-goVer-
nor and held office for three years
until he was elected governor in 1919.
He was reelected in 1920.
His firm stand for law and order
during the police strike in Boston
brought Coolidge national recognition,
and was the most significant incident
in his career and the first step toward
the place of honor to which he has
been elected.
Coolidge does not answer the de-
Scription of the popular conception OF
a politician. He is reserved, even shy.
He is not a good public speaker, his
voice being colorless and seldom rises
above a certain note. 1t is what
Coolidge has to say and the very ap-
parent air of personal conviction that
holds his audiences and makes up for
what he lacks in tricks of oratory. AS
politician he showed none of the
traditional traits-bluster and extrava-
giant promises-nor did he indulge in
bitter personalities. His criticisms is
calculated to be constructive rather
than destructive and he propounds his
ideas of government upon his principle
! that there will come out of govern
ment what is put into it,
Away from the glare of public life,
the vice president-elect lives the quiet
life of the average American citizen.
He is devoted to his home and family,
and is the most important member in
the councils of his two sons, John and
Calvin, jr., who call upon him for adj
vice and bring into play their fathers
skill with tools in constructing boyish
t"contraptions" such as automobiles
and kites.
Friends Call Him "CaI"
"Cal." as Coolidge is known to his
close friends, whether it be at his
home at Northampton or resting at
the old homestead near Plymouth, is
the type of home-loving man who tink-
ers about the household. He still can
plough a furrow straight and clean,
milk COW and toss hay with the best
| of them.
/ At his home in a two-family house,
the other side of which is occupied by
a, professor, Calvin Coolidge frequent
| ly elected to wash dishes, dust the par
lor and tend" the furnace. He is also
proud that he can cook "middling
we'll"
1t was while studying law in North
ampton that Coolidge met his wife,
then Miss Grace A. Goodhue of Bur-
lington, Vermont. Miss Goodhue was
teaching school in Northampton and
lived directly across the street from
the boarding house in which Coolidge
maintained a small room filled with
ponderous books of law and volumes
of history He was anything but a
ladies man" and it was months after
he first saw the girl that was to be-