Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-05-23
sy JoSEPHUS DANIELS,
Former Secretary of the Navy
19f3-1e21.
ARTICLE So.

ARTICLE SO.
The American ability to laugh
when things get desperate is as good
proof as any Of the Americans fit
ness to survive.
Most people think of Woodrow VIII
son as a stern man, a man Oh I'M
bending gravity, a man whose very
smile is serious. They don't know
him as we do who lived with him
through the years Of anxiety and
burden which were his. Sometimes
as I look back on them I wonder
that he did not give way under the
strain long before armistice day
came.
Through the nearly three years OF
apprehension which preceded our
entrance into the war, the years OF
neutrality and negotiation, the years
of trying to deal honorably with
truculent government, the years OF
divided sentiment at home, the draft
upon energy and nervous vitality had
been great
When we actually entered the war it
was in a measure relief, but relief from
one sort of pressure merely to face an
other which, as days went by, grew
heavier.
CALM AND USHURRIED
IN DARK DAYS.
We who were with him IN those days
can testify to how spIendidly he bore
the weight Of responsibility. He met each
emergency with calm. unhurried mind.
He gave to each problem deliberate
thought He acted with decision and
promptitude when the facts were before
him. He maintained a fine sense Of
proportion as to relative values of things,
and he wasted little time on trifies or
matters Of routine and red tape. He
thought and planned and directed on a
big-scale map Americas possibilities for
service Always one felt his tremendous
faith in America The inspiration Of it
was magnificent.
But there was a sanity about his seri-
business. he looked at his responsibilities
seriously, but not too seriously. He knew
that unless the tension on human mind
and nerve is relieved they can not do
their work efficiently, and they may
snap.
Entertainment. fun. laughter have their
essential places in life; they are needed
most by those who have the most serious
tasks to do. Men who are absorbed
for hours and days at a time in such
problems Of life and death as concerned
the President are saved from collapse By
the power to escape through Jest or
{ play. The man who can not avail him
self Of this avenue Of escape will not be
long for the duties he should perform
Lincoln not only rested his own mind.
but refreshed the minds Of his cabinet
by interpolating into the anxious days
OF Civil War occasional readings from
Artemus Ward, or humorous stories
which he had gathered here or there in
his wide field Of human contacts.
EXERCISED REGULARLY;
LIKED FUNNY STORIES.
Woodrow Wilson kept his body in trim
by regular exercise and not fnfreQuent
visits to the golf links. His brilliant mind
relaxed itself by yielding TO its keen ap-
probation for a humorous story-either
the telling or the hearing Of it. l do not
think there was ever a Cabinet meeting
when he did not illustrate his views with
a story. Sometimes from his own ex-
periences: sometimes from incidents
NuAEH ndu nGpnElEu uFEEaEhs. IL was
not always a funny story, but it often
was.
I remember when we were getting let
ters threatening all sorts OF dire things
II we went to war with Germany, and the
newspapers were full OF rumors OF spies
and plots and treachery and treason, the
President told this story-new TO me
about traitors:
When Benedict Arnold was given a
rowing commission to destroy the revo-
lutionary cause be went south. There
he met North Carolina patriot who not
knowing to whom he was talking. was
roasting Arnold. What" asked Ar
mold, would the people OF North Caro-
lima do to Arnold If they were to cap
ture him7"
We'll" the North Carolinian said.
They would cut off the leg injured when
be was bravely following Washington
and give it an honorable burial. Then
we would hang the balance Of the d
rascal"
DAKOTA as A
BRITISH PROVINCE.
After we entered the war and found
ourselves in close association with the
allied nations there was naturally a lot
OF good -natured char Of an international
sort. That much Of It should relate to
England was the inevitable consequence
of earlier history. The President. who
knew the English people well and liked
them, took great enjoyment out Of one
or two stories which were told at their
expense.
! recall HIS telling US Of an incident
which happened when he was spending
summer in England in the years before
he entered the White House
"The bishop Of North Dakota was in
England on a visit" he said, "and it was
announced that he would preach in
church not far from where I was stay
ing, so decided to 90 to hear my dis
tinguished fellow-countryman.