Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born at Staunton, Virginia, December 28,
1856. At that time Staunton was a town of five thousand inhabitants,
situated in the beautiful and famous Valley of Virginia. Woodrow's
father, a thoroughly trained and able preacher, was pastor of the
Southern Presbyterian Church of the city.
When Woodrow was two years of age the family moved to Augusta,
Georgia. In those days Augusta, a city of fifteen thousand people, was
one of the leading manufacturing cities of the South. With its great
railroad shops, furnaces, rolling mills, and cotton mills, it was
indeed a hive of industry.
As a boy Woodrow was called "Tommy" by his playmates; but as he grew
into manhood he dropped his given name and signed himself--Woodrow
Wilson. His mother was a Woodrow, and by signing his name Woodrow
Wilson he hoped to do equal honor to each parent.
During Woodrow's boyhood days, the Civil War storm-cloud was
gathering; and when he was five years of age it broke in all its fury.
Fortunately for him, Augusta was far removed from the scenes of
conflict. Never can he remember having seen troops of southern
soldiers marching through the streets of the city. Only once was he
thoroughly frightened. When General Sherman was on his famous march to
the sea, word came that he was about to capture Augusta. Immediately
the few men who were left in the city, for most of them had gone to
war, gathered all sorts of fire arms and marched forth to meet the
enemy. All night they lay on their arms, but greatly to their relief
the foe never came.
Naturally enough the most vivid memories young Woodrow had of the war
were those in connection with the scarcity of food. Before the war the
people of the South had never thought of eating cow peas, as they were
thought to be fit only for cattle; but so scarce did food become that
Woodrow had to eat so much cow pea soup that even yet, whenever he
thinks of it, he feels the old time disgust.
Two things that happened immediately at the close of the war made a
deep impression upon the lad who was then nine years of age. All
through the war the president of the Southern Confederacy was, as you
know, Jefferson Davis. Imagine young Woodrow's surprise when he saw
the former president marched through the streets of Augusta, a
prisoner of war, guarded by Federal soldiers. They were on their way
to Fortress Monroe. During the war Woodrow, as we have already said,
saw very little of the Confederate soldiers; but as soon as peace was
declared, the Union soldiers took possession of the city, even
occupying his father's church as a temporary barracks. The hardships
suffered during the few years immediately at the close of the war were
even greater than those during the war itself.
A thrilling event in the life of the lad was the day when Augusta had
its first street cars. The bob-tail cars, with their red, purple, and
green lights, and drawn by mules, afforded all sorts of fun for the
boys. To make scissors by laying two pins crosswise on the rail for
the cars to pass over was one of their most pleasant pastimes.
In those days there were no free public schools with their beautiful
buildings for Woodrow to attend, so he was sent to a private school
that was held in rooms over the post office. With Professor Derry, who
was in charge of the school, spanking was the favorite form of
punishment. While Woodrow and his chums differed very decidedly with
the Professor's views regarding spanking, the boys were never able to
convince him that their views were right. Finally, the lads discovered
that pads made from the cotton that grew in the fields on every side
of the city served them well whenever the evil day of punishment
arrived. After they had made this discovery they were more reconciled
to the Professor's views.
The best chum Woodrow had was his father. Busy as he was with the
cares of his large church, he never was so occupied that he could not
find time to chum with his boy. For hours at a time he would read to
his son the worth-while things that Woodrow enjoyed hearing. Then,
too, the busy pastor was in the habit of taking a day off each week to
stroll with Woodrow in field, factory, or wood as the case might be.
On these long strolls the father and son talked over many of the
problems that were of interest to the lad. Little wonder, then, with
such comradeship, that Woodrow rapidly developed along right lines.
Like all boys, he was fond of building air castles. Dwelling much in
the realm of fancy, he imagined that he occupied all sorts of
positions and did remarkable things.
Mr. William Hale in his excellent story of the life of Wilson
describes one of these flights of the imagination as follows: "Thus
for months he was an Admiral of the Navy, and in that character wrote
out daily reports to the Navy Department.
"His main achievement in this capacity was the discovery and
destruction of a nest of pirates in the Southern Pacific Ocean. It
appears that the government, along with all the people of the country,
had been terrified by the mysterious disappearance of ships setting
sail from or expected at our western ports. Vessels would set out with
their precious freight never to be heard from again, swallowed up in
the bosom of an ocean on which no known war raged, no known storm
swept.
"Admiral Wilson was ordered to investigate with his fleet; after an
eventful cruise they overtook, one night, a piratical looking craft
with black hull and rakish rig. Again and again the chase eluded the
Admiral. Finally, the pursuit led the fleet to the neighborhood of an
island uncharted and hitherto unknown. Circumnavigation seemed to
prove it bare and uninhabited, with no visible harbor. There was,
however, a narrow inlet that seemed to end at an abrupt wall of rock a
few fathoms inland. Something, however, finally led the Admiral to
send a boat into this inlet--and it was discovered that it was the
cunningly contrived entrance to a spacious bay; the island really
being a sort of atoll. Here lay the ships of the outlawed enemy and
the dismantled hulls of many of the ships they had captured. And it
may be believed that the brave American tars, under the leadership of
the courageous Admiral, played a truly heroic part in the destruction
of the pirates and the succor of such of their victims as survived."
Thus he dreamed dreams, studied, and chummed with his father until the
eventful day arrived when he must go away to college. But where should
he go? What college should he attend? A small Presbyterian college in
the South was chosen. Before the end of the first year he was taken
sick and had to leave college. Then it was that he decided to go to
Princeton University, a decision that had much to do with his future
career. Life in Princeton proved to be just the stimulus that he
needed. Here, surrounded by the keenest, most alert young men of the
country, he developed rapidly. Interested in every school activity,
from baseball to debating, he won for himself a prominent place in the
student body. So great was his thirst for knowledge, however, that his
graduation from Princeton did not satisfy him. Accordingly, he next
went to the University of Virginia where he was graduated from the
law school in 1881. But even this did not satisfy, so he spent two
years in Johns Hopkins University, receiving in 1885 the degree of
Ph.D., the highest degree that any university can give.
Thus equipped, he became a professor first in Bryn Mawr College, then
in Wesleyan University, and finally in Princeton. So pronounced was
his success as professor in his beloved university that in 1902 he was
made President of Princeton. So able was his leadership in Princeton
that the state of New Jersey called him to be its governor. Could a
University President make a good governor? The politicians were very
much in doubt. It is needless to say that all watched him with deepest
concern. Soon, however, it became apparent even to the most skeptical
that he was destined to be New Jersey's ablest governor. Gradually,
because of his strength, his popularity grew until the eyes of all the
nation were fastened upon him. From the governor's chair he rose to
the highest honor the Nation could bestow, he was elected to the
Presidency of the United States.
Little did he realize when he accepted this honor that with it would
come the heaviest burdens that any president save Abraham Lincoln had
been called upon to bear. For eight long years he patiently bore those
burdens and heroically faced every responsibility. Great as were the
demands made upon him, he always proved himself equal to the
emergency.
The last three years of his service as President found him dealing
with problems of the Great World War, and at its conclusion he was one
of the leading figures in the making of the final treaty of peace
between the warring nations.
To take part in the treaty-making, Mr. Wilson twice went to Paris. It
was the first time a president of the United States had ever traveled
beyond the borders of our own country.
At the expiration of his term of office, Mr. Wilson took up the
practice of law, at Washington.
* * * * *
"_To such a task we dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything
that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who
know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her
blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and
happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she
can do no other._"
--PRESIDENT WILSON'S WAR MESSAGE.
[Illustration: MARK TWAIN
(Samuel Langhorne Clemens)]