New Britain herald., 1924-02-04
CRIMSON CLOSEST
 TO EX.PRESIDENT
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 portals in her first moments as its mistress met with an unimportant but painful accident. There was a call for a doctor; answered immediately by Grsyson.
 Mrs Wilson commended to her husband this modest young man, who seemed so devoted to duty. He became Mir. Wilson's aide and physician, and as the years went on, his friend. No political wires were pulled; no infiu- ence figured in the disposition in one of the most coveted posts in Washing ton.
 A little more than a year later, one hot August afternoon, with a world war bursting into flame, the first Mrs. Wilson lay on her death bed. Her last words to Grayson were: .Take good care of Woodrow. Promise!" How well that promise was kept probably only a recording angel may now know.
 Some time after Mrs. Wilson's death, Dr. Grayson introduced to Miss Helen Woodrow Bones President Will sons kinswoman and guest at the White House, a friend of long &C., quaintance, Mrs. Edith Boiling Galt. Miss Bones took her into the small White House circle where Mfr. Wilson met her. The lady later became Mrs. Woodrow Wilson.
 Made Rear Admiral
 Sometime after that, Mir. Wilson on nfa,p n Iay nf Q ial ls of the navy department, nominated Grayson for promotion to the rank Of rear admiral. The real truth Of that matter was that in conversation with Mir. Daniels soon before her death, the | first Mrs. Wilson asked the secretary | of the navy to give to her husbands physician and aide some rank com | mensurate with his responsibilities, | and to insure his attachment to the White House against any routine ar rangement. He never knew he had been nominated for promotion until he read it in the newspapers. There was opposition, somewhat like that which attended President Roosevelt's promotion of General Wood. It so of- tended Grayson's modesty that later when he had an opportunity to be- come surgeon general of the navy he declined it.
 Probably no one will ever know what the complexities and difficulties of his position as physician friend and confidant Of Woodrow Wilson really were. One thing is certain, He de- voted seven years of his life to keep ing Woodrow Wilson q well man and four more to keeping him alive.
 The late Dr. s. Weir Mitchell Of had declared that Mir. Wilson never would serve out his first term in the White House. Grayson fought the first warnings of an in- sdious malady with regimen of re- taxation, open air and exercise and his first stroke of paralysis after the return from his league Of nations speaking trip in 1919, Grayson Of all .he physicians called for consultation said he could prolong the patients fife. .Ho did, inore than four years, and lost hts fight only when as Mir. Wilson himself said: The old ma . chine has broken down."
 When Mir. Wilson went abroad to he peace conference he was not only Nr. Wilson's physician but he was his yes and ears-his intelligence officer. Many European statesmen wondered z where Mir. Wilson learned the inti- s nate things he really came into pos icssion of through his quiet, modest ! ioctor.
 Other persons who professed to wonder why they fell into presidential isfavor could learn the reasons why, ould they induce Grayson to divulge ome things Woodrow Wilson con- ss ded 10 him. Many things about which historians will wonder could e cleared up if Grayson would tell-- ut he won't.
 From the time Mir. Wilson fell i'll n the west in 1919 and a few days iter suffered the stroke which even- ually led to his death, Dr. Grayson ended him as he would have tended nc of his children; and a man who 2 ras commonly described as cold and !, lmost incapable of affection and < ompanionship. responded as he fould to a dutiful son. '
 The whole story, Of course, will z ever be told. One of the few people 'ho claim to have known Woodrow Wilson well, fewer still will claim to ' yer have rlimpsed behind what they ' ommonly agreed upon as the cur- . ain of impcrsonality" which yelled his . 1ncr nature.
 His friend and physician is one who ]. we'd behind that curtain. Closest :, -iends say that now is the first time s hey have known him to give way to !, he most human Of emotions-the z, hedding of tears. =
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