The Washington times., 1925-03-09

| ease and luxury they deserve
| Would it be just to them?" II
| I said: IF I know anything OF
your wife and daughters, they
would rather scrub to earn their
bread than to have you do less than
your best work in life; your full
duty"
He continued: "And then those
fine fellows at Princeton, who have
stood by me during all this bitter.
heart breaking affair Of the college
wouldn't be deserving them?"
told him, what seemed to me
to be the truth, as seen by an out
slider, that his work there was real
ly done. After this, it would be only
q grim fight to hold the line-no
real advance. added:
IF your ideas and ideals are
right ones, they will endure. You
have made them clear to all"
Then he said: "The life OF the
next Democratic President would be
heII-and il would probably kill
me-"
"Ah! But you would rather die in
harness, fighting for all the great
things for which you stand. than
live less than up to the best you
know!"
There these two stood, In ono
of the high moments of life, amid
the charm of an exotic civiliza-
ton. surrounded by scores Of their
fellows, little realizing that a mo-
mentous decision for myriads of
men was forming in the heart OF
that long-jawed, bright-eyed. forth.
right. middle-aged Irishman. It is
no wonder that Mary Peck could
not forget It.
II Made Governor.
Presently a political opportunity
presented itself, coincidently with
situation which prompted his
resignation from Princeton-and IN
1910 he was elected governor OF
New Jersey!
After a successful term as Gov.
ernor came the nomination. on the
Democratic ticket, and after u
heated session at Baltimore, for
the Presidency of the United States.
RooseveIt's swash- buckling, SLANT
bang. noisy. saber-rattling campaign
of 1912 struck Wilson as rather
cheap and ineffective. Yet proba
bly, each had wholesome respect
for the talents in the other which
he could not himself command. To
Roosevelt, Wilson was a father
impotent, generally inept, aca-
dennic wrist-slapper. Yet the in
stinctive chivalry Of Roosevelt and
his bubbling sense of 1lumor put O
grand quietus upon one phase ct
the campaign which might have
annoyed, even II 1t did not injurc,
Wilson.
whispering SANDERS were con-
Meeting Wilson's name with the
fact that Mrs. Mary II. Peck han
secured a divorce. Campaign lying
appeals to the moron mind which
loves to create myths.
The same type of mind created
the myth that there were certain
Peck letters, letters from Wood.
row Wilson to Mrs. Mary Peck, OF
an discriminating nature; that the
letters were offered for sale; that
various friends of the President
had bought the letters, paying
sums varying from $4,000 TO
$50, 200; that Louis Brandels, as
an attorney, had negotiated the
sale, and In return was put on
the supreme bench: that MRS.
Peck held q job i'm the treasury
DEPARTMENT at Washington, ana
that Colonel House had taken her
20 Europe twice to get her out
Of the country.
THE basis i'm fact for this myth
was the woodrow Wilson CORE
snondence with Mrs. Peck beginning
in 1907 and ending in 1913. she
received some two hundred letters.
Scores of people have seen tnem'
publishers and friends of Mrs. PECK.
They are such letters as the Dear
MARIA letter which Colonel Roose-
Welt wrote to Mrs. Bellamy Storer.
indeed. Colonel Roosevelt wrote
MANY letters to wives, widows, SIS
tars. and daughters of friends IN
mIIch the same tone and tempo Lnat
the peck letters were written. Iney
could have been printed In the
"Sunday School Times. some OF
the Peck letters are or historical
interest. Others apparently are
diarv notes. All Of them are IN
nocuous. It would have oeen I'M
nossible to inject into that series
IF letters any epistle OF an amaIoIy
nat1Ire. so static are they $50 Ut
terly on one key and In one mous
and method.
A Rare Grace.
But from this conclusion one
must not assume that Woodro"
Wilson found no charm in mary
peck. She brought rare ana
lovely grace into his life as she
aid wherever she came. A beautl-
fuJ woman she was with a nlmOle
mind: nimble but dainty, full OF
rare fantasies. When he wrote OF
a woman of another day and land
ir his youth: "She had besides
beauty most lively and stimulat-
ing wit: such a mind as we most
desire to see in woman--a nina
that stirs without irritating you'
that rouses yet does not belabor'
amuses vet subtly instructs" ne
was describing Mary Peck. whom
he would not meet for nearly thirty
years.
But a youth who held in his heart
a, presentiment Of such a soul could
not fail to enjoy her when he FOUND
her. His letters are set upon a
monotone, without being exactly
monotonous, static, without being
dull, but always through the letters
one finds urges upon urges for her
to write.
! Her letters to him must have
been major intellectual calisthenics
nv Nf