Pennell Institute - Whirlpool Yearbook (Gray, ME)

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10 HIP OP ENNE LL WHIRLPOOL he was only forty-second in honors. As a sideline during his college life he was editor of the college paper and manager of the baseball team, which is surprising in view of his great scholastic nature. After graduation he attended the University of Virginia to prepare for the greatest of southern careers—the Law. Tiring of his musty law books and dignilied pro- fessors, he left at mid-year, going home to Wilmington to prepare for his career as he wished. . t last Wilson decided that the fiery eloquence of the southern legal advocate was not for him, and he turned to literary fields. Пе began by writing Congressional Government in the United States та subject of great interest to him. This book was a success and was made the basis of his thesis at Johns Hopkins, where he secured his doctor's degree. In 1885 he was made professor of history at Bryn Mawr. Let us turn for a few moments to another angle of his life which was probably more to him than all the pomp and cireumstance which later were his due. In writing of Wilson's life it must be remembered that Wilson was a southern gentleman reared in a cultured home in the old South of history and romantic tradition, where family was everything and seldom did the son of the planter marry with the daughter of the poor white. Wil- son was received in the best southern families. In the course of human events he was visiting a certain Judge Hilyer of Rome, Georgia. While there he attended the Presbyterian Church and was much attracted by the daughter of the pastor, so much so that at his earliest opportunity he secured an introduction to her. This acquaintance continued into friendship and then into a love affair—all within a year. In 1883 the engagement was announced. In two years they were married and from this time on to her death Ellen Axton was the perfect wife. She justified the belief that her husband had judged wisely and well in the days of his youth. Returning again to his academic career, we find Wilson professor at Wesleyan, then at Princeton, and finally President of Princeton University. During his various professorships he had continued his literary endeavors and had made an enviable reputation for himself as a writer of histories. In 1910 he was summoned as the standard bearer of the New Jersey Democracy on a liberal platform. Пе was elected and carried out his cam- paign pledges by not only giving the state a fearless administration but restoring the progressive spirit of the past throughout the state. 1n. 1912, because of a break in the Republican party, he was nominated for the presi- dency and won the election. against Colonel Roosevelt and Мт. Тай. Through factional struggles he received the greatest electoral majority ever given a candidate for the office up to that time. One of his first steps after entering the presidency in March, 1913 was to have the present tariff low- ered from a general level of 45 to 25 per cent, and to have the free list

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THR PENNE OM Б INO PO WE 9 coaches, all eame through Gray from Paris, Augusta, Portland, Bridgton, Alfred, and other places. In 1833 there were three taverns and three gro- сету stores here, and long trains of farmers came from Vermont and New Hampshire with loads of farm produce on their way to Portland. Gray was a central place for “musters.” political meetings, and con- ventions of all kinds, and here in the old church Neal Dow delivered his first speech for Prohibition. Today the village is mainly residential, and the business is almost wholly done by garages and filling stations. The generation is fast passing which remenibers the fireside stories of the grandmothers who told of days when bears were often seen and wolves howled at night in the lone woods. Young . merica of the Gray of a half century ago needed no Wild West shows or moving pictures to get thrills, for adventures with bears and other wild animals were frequently met. We well know that much of the success of our ancestors is due to the men of the families, and while we would give to them all due praise, vet we would not forget the share which the mothers bore in the hardships of those early days. Their loneliness in the wilderness, their anxiety in days of siek- ness, when no doctor could be had, their patience in trouble, and their cour- age, which knew no fear, should be held in everlasting remembrance in the hearts of their descendants. WARREN MANCHESTER, 33. WOODROW THOMAS WILSON If I were to tell you of the achievements of a great man at the begin- ning of our country 1 would tell you of Washington, but for a man of our present 20th Century, | choose Wilson. Woodrow Thomas Wilson, twenty-cighth president of the United States, was born at Staunton, Virginia, on December 2%, 1856, aud died at Washington, D. C., on February 3. 1924. Не was the son of Scotch- Irish parents, who had lived in Pennsylvania, Canada and Ohio. James Wilson, his paternal grandfather, emigrated from Ireland in 1807, When Wilson was about a усаг old his father, Rev. Joseph К. Wilson, became the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia, where the family remained until 1870. Then Mr. Wilson moved to Columbia, South Caro- lina, where he was a professor in the Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Woodrow Wilson was prepared for college under a tutor. Пе attended Davidson College in Pennsylvania for a year, and spent a year in home study under his uncle. [n 18375 he entered Princeton University. During his four years of college life he excelled in debating апа public speaking. lle was unquestionably one of the most brilliant men of the class of 59, vet

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THE PENNELL WHIRLPOOL 11 enlarged. He introduced the Federal Reserve Act. and approved the Clayton Anti-Trust and the Federal Income Tax laws. In 1914 the World War broke out. and Wilson did all in his power to keep the United States a neutral country. Because of his stand in this regard he was re-e'ected in 1916, but when Germany declared a blockade around England, France and Italy, he was forced to let the United States enter the War. He conducted the war with a vigor and persistence which was remarkable. It is a significant fact that, although the conduct of the war involved billions of dollars, no financial scandal has ever been raised against his administration. - fter the war had been brought to a success- ful close, Wilson attempted to formulate a plan to provide for outlawry of war but failed, partly through his own fau't and partly by the methods of Senator Lodge of Massachusetts. He went to Europe, arriving there on December 14, 1918. While in Europe he prepared the Fourteen Points and the League of Nations. After a long, hard struggle the Treaty of Versailles was accepted by the European countries, but when he returned to the United States he was met hy bitter opposition and the League of Nations was repudiated. Не re- tired from office on March 4, 1921, broken in spirit and in body. Fle died an unhappy and disappointed man. HonTENsE CASWELL and LAWRENCE CARTER. THE IMITATORS “If [ were you,” advised Babs, Га ask Uncle Jack before I got mixed up in that boathouse business. “Азу, what's the use? exclaimed Jim. “The folks said we could go. Jim апа Babs were two of four playmates who were always together. They generally were known as the “lolly Four’—Robert Wagner, nick- named Bud, his sister, Barbara, called B abs for short, and the two Stuarts, Fred and Jim. As these four were cousins, Uncle Jack was really their uncle. Uncle Jack had many friends, but he liked the children best, and they all worshipped him. [le would always stop his work to listen to them. Babs continued, Yes, but they didn't know it was going to be a smoking matinee.” “Well, Dad smokes,” argued Bud, and we've got to begin sometime. Пе can't complain if we do as he does. Maybe you're right, Babs agreed. but it won't do any harm to ask Uncle Jack. Пе is square and he won't stop you from going.