Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1923-08-09
COOLIDGE RIGIDLY FULFILLS
ALL PROMISES, FRIEND SAYS;
EXTREMELY MODEST MAN

moments Oh lHdL pIOlIlSC' IL NAl'
be redeemed.
President Coolidge IS a deeply re-
ligious man. His accession to the
presidency will be hailed with JOY
by God-fearing men and women out
Calvin Coolidge carries his religion
and not his sectarianism Into MS
public life. He never has been
ashamed to acknowledge his rellgl
Gus convictions-not in any narrow
sense, for no American is more tot
Grant in these matters than the new
chief executive. Yet one can sense
the deep religious side of his nature
when his last act before leaving his
ancestral home up in the hills or
Vermont after he had been sworn
in as president of the United States,
was 20 visit the little family GENE
terry back of his boyhood home
where five generations of Coolidges
are laid to rest to pay homage to his
mother. With uncovered head alone
under the clear blue sky he spent
several minutes beside her grave
communing with his creator and the
spirit of his mother.
Veneration for Mother
Like Lincoln and all great men,
Calvin Coolidge has a deep Venefa-
ton for the memory of his mother'
Like Iincoln's mother, Mrs. Cool
idge died when Calvin was a small
boy. but he always has her in MIND
When he was governor of Massa-
chusetts there used to stand on ms
big. flat mahogany desk at the state
house. 2. little old daguerreotype OF
his mother. When confronted with
4 difficult state problem, it was 10
that little old picture that he turned
for inspiration, guidance ana al
vice. Her memory to him Is the
sweetest thing in his life, together
with his beautiful and accomplished
wife. his two manly boys and no.
BILE father whose Yankee modesty
prevents him from publicly speaking
in praise of his gifted son.
Calvin Coolidge, who was chris
tened John Calvin Coolidge, was
raised on a Vermont farm, as they
say in the Green mountain state.
He knows the trials and trtbu.atlons
of the dirt farmer. There IS not
anything done on q farm that he
cannot do. The writer saw him
pitching and raking hay in the field
near his fathers home the day be-
fore President Harding died. The
way. he handled the horse and the
hay rake and the manner in which
he drove his three-tine fork into the
windroWs of the neWmoWn hay prov
ed that he was haymaker par ex
ccIlence. He can milk a cow, drive
a yoke of oxen, handle an ak like
a woodsman and swing a scythe with
the best of the farm hands.
Does Two Mems Work
His father told me the same day
that when Calvin was at home in
his college days he was worth any
two men the old gentleman could
hire.
When young Coolidge went to col
lege at Amherst he attracted atten7
ton and comment for the same reaI
son that he attracted attention in
public life. He was different from
the run OF students. He wasted no
time on athletics but he did study
hard and the honors he brought
home proved it. He was the orator
of his class. The year of his grad,
uation he won 500 IN gold for the
best essay submitted u college grad
yates that year on American his
tory. With his characteristic mod
esty, the essayist told none of his
friends of his good luck and il II
were rot that one of the partners in
the firm where he was studying law
read an item about it in the local
Springfield paper, nobody would
have known it.
Worked for Education
Calvin Coolidge could not afford to
enter a law school to study law. He
fitted himself for the Massachusetts
bar in a law office in Northamp-
ton, doing clerical work and rum
ming errands in payment for his in
struction. With a little help finan-
cially from his farmer-sheriff father,
he mastered enough law to be ad-
mitted to practice, hung out his
shingle in Northampton and lived on
his income, living within his income
and saving a little besides, it may be
noted, has been one of his rules Of
life. 1t was in Northampton that
he wooed and won Grace Goodhue,
a bright, vivacious school teacher
from Burlington, VT, and this gra-
cious, kindly woman is now the first
lady of the land.
In the same little Massachusetts
city, Calvin Coolidge started on his
meteoric political career which has
led him into the White House.
(Mr. Hennesy's dispatch Tuesday
will deal with the new presidents
surprising political career0