Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1933-03-05

prayed He was an Ambassador Of good viii"
striving to "exalt the profoundly help
full example of Jesus life and His pertinent
parallels and lessons Of love and true happt-
ness in seeking the kingdom Of God"
Mrs. Taft was born into q Presbyterian circle
and was a member Of that communion until
her twelfth birthday, when she began to attend
Episcopal service. While her husband was
President she was q communicate at st. Johns.
and her daughter, Helen, was confirmed there.
Mrs Taft was Helen Heron before her mar
riage.
Woodrow Wilson was "a conservative ortho-
dox Presbyterian" Son of the Rev. Joseph r.
Wilson, 1t is said that his election to the Pres
idency was predicted for him by his parent.
The boy was born and reared in parsonage.
His first teacher was his mother, Janet or
Jessie woodrow, daughter and granddaughter
of Presbyterian clergymen. Later he went to
school to his father, then to Davidson College
and Princeton University. Deciding upon
teaching as his life work, he lectured after
graduation at Bryn Mawr, Wesleyan and
Princeton. He became president of his alma
mater in 1902. the first layman ever to hold
that position. When at last he was elected to
the highest Office in the gift of the American
people he found his faith necessity; without
it, he said he could not go on. Il do not
understand how any man can approach the
discharge of the duties of life" he confessed.
without faith in the Lord Jesus Christ"
Wilson while President worshiped at the
Central Presbyterian Church and on occasion
ATTENDED the New York Avenue, First and
Eastern Presbyterian Churches. He became a
close friend of the Right Rev. James E. Free
man. Bishop of Washington, in the last months
of his life, and when he died was entombed
at Washington Cathedral. Thousands annually
make a pilgrimage to the Bethlehem Chapel
where he rests crusader with his cross.
Wilson Ellen IOIIiSP Arson.
daughter of the Rev. Samuel Edward Arson.
Presbyterian minister Both her grandfatherS
had been clergymen. Married, June "a. 1885,
the young couple had a hard struggle at first
to make ends meet" but they were true help
mates, and somehow they managed" Mrs.
Wilson was ill when. she came to the White
House, but maintained a brave spirit despite
her disabilities. She died just at the hour when
the war drums were beginning to beat in
Europe, August 1914. BY none was she more
deeply mourned than by the poor of the Cap
ital, to whom she had been most kind
The President married again in 1915. His
second wife was Mrs Edith Boiling Gait, widow
of Washington business man. She accom-
panied her husband to the Peace Conference
at Paris and nursed him through his long ill
ness. An Episcopalian. she attends st. Johns
and Washington Cathedral.
\A/ARREN G. HARDING was pledged to the
w ministry by his parents. His father was
a Baptist, his mother a Methodist The boy
chose the Methodist Church at first, the Bap-
tit later. At Marion. Ohio. he was trustee
of Trinity Baptist Church In Washington. as
Senator and President. he attended Calvary
Baptist Church. His doctrine he summed up
in the phrase, mo nation can survive if it for
gets Almighty God."
Mrs Harding was Florence Killing De Wolfe.
Her family were Mennonites. She was her huS-
bands loyal helpmate through the greater part
of his career and aided him to reach the heights
of fame She died at Marion November q.
1924, loved and mourned by all who knew her.
Calvin Coolidge was of Puritan descent. A
great influence in his life was Amherst College.
where he was graduated in 1895 A long list
of civic offices in Massachusetts, brought him
at Hardings death to the White House. He
sought reelection and it was granted. "A man
of plain, unpretending temperament. he APP
peared to personify the New England virtues
While President he joined the Congregational
Church. which for years he had attended He
went to service at the First Congregational
Church in Washington. and on occasion to
Washington Cathedral and elsewhere. The
strength of our country" he wrote, rs the
strength of its religious convictions"
Mrs. Coolidge was the former Grace Goodhue.
A graduate of the University of Vermont. she
taught at Clarke Institute for the Deaf before
her marriage. She was immensely popular
while First Lady and does not seem to have
lost the affection of the people since her retire.
ment
Herbert Hoover is Quaker. "a practical
Christian" Early left an orphan. the memory
of his beloved parents carried him forward as
he believed they would wish. He travelled far.
worked without rest made a competence and
was almost entirely unknown when the World
War began. In the next four years his name
became one of the most widely celebrated in
the world He was heaped with honors as the
man who saved Europe" As President he had
tn hear the brIlnt of the International depreS-