University of Virginia - Corks and Curls Yearbook (Charlottesville, VA)

Page 11 text:

IY' Y 1----main' - if Woodrow Wilson g That CORKS AND CURLS should be dedicated this year to Woodrow Wilson, the most distinguished living alumnus of the University of Virginia, is eminently fitting. ' But to write the dedication to such a man is a most difficult task. To damn him with faint praise is impossible. Yet, to sing his praises in the strain that his real merits require, would be to invite the charge that the writer was either blinded by the bias of personal friendship or carried away by partisan prejudice. To state the really essential things in a few words, and in words neither lukewarm nor so glowing as to cast suspicion upon their accuracy, is hard indeed. Yet some one must make the attempt, and if he who has been asked to do so proves unequal to the task, it will not be because he lacks interest in his theme. It is doubtless true that Woodrow Wilson, being mortal, has his faults. If we may trust the opinions of the New Jersey machine politicians, he has nothing else. But, if so, it must be said soberly and deliberately that the writer fwho knew him intimately as a student at' the University and has kept in touch with him for more than thirty-three yearsl, has not been able to discover what these faults were. Lest this article should seem like a one-

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Page 12 text:

4 coRKs AND CURLS voixxvi sided, fulsome eulogy, he has racked his brain in the effort to think of some fault of character or of heart in Woodrow Wilson. Could he think of any such fault, he would frankly state what it was. But the simple fact IS that he cannot. ' y . There exist persons who, knowing Wilson, not personally, but only through his public career, imagine him to be allbrainf and no heart. N0 mistake could be greater. That he has a big brain is entirely true. ,But the steam that drives the machinery of this brain comes straight from a big heart -a heart that beats strongly for his family, for his friends, for his country and for humanity at large. Though a gentleman by birth and breeding and education, his sympathies are not confined to those with as good blood, as excellent training and as extensive knowledge as his own. No man was ever more truthful and sincere than heg and when he says that he desires to advance the welfare of the people, he is not talking for effect, not merely angling for votes, but is giving expression to the genuine emotions of his hearty His' sympathy with the masses of men is profoundg but he is not envious of the rich, or desirous to injure them, save when they deliberately and selfishly oppress. the poor. When he speaks of the people, he means not simply- as demagogues do-the ignorant, the unlettered and the impecunious. l-le means everybody, employer and employee, merchant and banker, manufac- turer and farmer, rich and poor, wise and simple, learned and unlearnedg 'and he earnestly desires to promote the happiness of all classes, harmon- iously dwelling together in peace and concord. And this desire is due to the fact that he has that big heartlin his breast and that sympathy with all mankind. i A ' This sympathy is shown however, not simply in his political utterances and acts, nor in his efforts to purge Princeton of plutocratic snobbishness and to promote a broader and more democratic good fellowship among the student body. It is shown also in his private intercourse with acquaintances and friends. It is this sympathy, this sociability, that enables him to enjoy con- versation so greatly, and to add so keenly to the enjoyment of those with whom he talks. It is this that so endears him to his friends, while his bubbling hgmor, his rich fund of anecdotes and Limericks',, and his broad knowl- f e ge o njen and things charm 'and fascinate nearly all, both men. and women, with whom he is thrown. : :'-..ff1 j-t'F- V fr mf---.y ,.. .. 6 -1 Q .-1, .11 r '-1 --. , f I 1' . .. . . ' ' ' ' 4.x--Q '- v.-e---v-4.J4.i....g..,:,ffs-Assans1,b4L,.saa-a.d.s..g..s.,. . A ' U . . ,,,,.., -Q , . - .- - .. 1 ,,, . , ---+........... E., ....-, .. ., ,,.,......-..-,--.u...4. ' .. -