The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-09-27
HERE is MORE ABOUT
WILSON
STARTS ON PAGE ONE

ducks out Of season and paid the game
warden a handsome penalty.
After dinner he goes in for reading
or amusement. Once a week Mr.. VIII
son has a motion picture show OF his
own, and frequently sees the feature
film at the same time 1t is being shown
at the theatres down town. Occasion
ally he goes to a vaudeville show, his
party taking seats in the last row and
entering and leaving with every effort
to avoid ostentatiNn. 1t rarely hap
pens, however, that somebody fails to
discover the visitors and din of hand
clapping always ensues.
Evenings at home, however. are
spent in the family circle. The former
president and Mrs. Wilson read a book
together, or perhaps. Mrs. Wilson
reads aloud. Sometimes it is one IF
the detective stories of which Mr.. Will
son was said to be SO fond They do
not now form as large a part of his
reading as may have been the case
years ago.
He takes to bed early, not to sleep.
however, but to relax, to read and
write. Like Mark Twain, he does much
4
up by pillows and with little writing
board across his knees, he reads and
makes notes, some of them voluminous
and in shorthand. Nobody knows what
they are about. He puts them care
fully away. They are not notes for
a book. which many expect.
Unless Mr.. Wilson changes his mind
decidedly he will write no reply TO
Robert Lansing or anyone else who
has criticised his policies. A writer
who has been given access to Mr.. VIII
sons papers, of which there are al
most a ton. is writing a book. but 1t
will be his own; not Mr.. wilson's.
'I'll give you any material I have
for your book" Mr.. Wilson told him.
I'm answer any questions you ask.
But it's your book. I don't even want
to see what you write"
However the evening may be spent,
however tired he may be, there is one
thing the former president never ne
elects. 1t is the reading of a few verses
of the bible. When he says goodnight
he invariably reads aloud some short
passage from the book which always
rests on the reading table at his
bedside
Friends and admirers ask what is
Woodrow wilson's real condition now?
He will be sixty-five years old next De-
cember and has passed through an ordeal
which few men survive. The measure of
his progress toward health must be meas
ured with those facts in mind. His nor
NAL weight in health while he was presi-
dent was $50 pounds. He showed little
departure from that figure now. His eye
sight is as good although he has discard
ed his fayorite nose glasses for spectacles.
His hair has turned snow white, but it
has not thinned His appetite is too ro-
bust to please his physicians. Last March
when he left the White House with Presi-
dent-elect Harding. an attendant had to
place his feet on each succeeding step
from the portico. The other day he sent
his attendant away and climbed alone,
not without some effort, into his auto
mobile, just to see If he could do it, and
seemed pleased to find that he could.
Motor nerves and muscles of his left
side have given more response to treat
ment than was hoped for. OF course they
are not fully active now. He still walks
with cane most OF the time but free
Quently hangs the crook over his arm
and goes 1t alone without my third leg
as he puts it.
Mr.. Wilson is far from a well man to-
day. He was far from well man when
he entered the White House over eight
years ago. But during the last two years
there have been times when his voice was
inaudible and when he could not support
himself alone. His condition today shows
more Improvement than his family and
friends dared hope for.
There are many angles to Mr.. Wilson's
present day psychology. Living in Wash
ington and easy Of access to party friends
at the capitol he might give consultation
on party politics but he does not. What
ever visitor may say in criticism OF the
republican administration, Mr.. Wilson
never makes a reply. He never permits
anyone in his presence to speak what he
regards as ''disrespect for the president
of the United States"
Somebody once raised the question
How do our ex-president's liver" Col
onel Roosevelt had a comfortable fortune
of his own augmented by income from
writings. Mr.. Taft, until he became chief
justice. had from time to time profitable
sources OF income. Mr.. Wilson brought
with him to the White House the small
savings of a life time which he preserved.
During his terms in the presidency his
royalties from books previously written
mounted into rather handsome sums.
Singularly enough, they have shown
marked slump since he left tho White
House. While ne was president circurn-
stances helped him save money.
The war and the suspension of social
functions and entertainments were quite
an item. 1t has been estimated that the
former presidents pocketbook was saved
at least SIS, 900 because he was not called
upon to wine and dine numerous digna-
taries and official persons.