The Gavelyte, April 1913

The Gavelyte VOL. V II. APRIL, 1913. NO. 4 Character Sketch-Woodrow Wilson. \Voodrow Wilson has been schooling himse lf, p~rhaps unconsc iou ly, but nevertheless carefully and studiously for forty years for the exa lted office wh ich he assumed :\larch 4th. There has never been a closer student of Ame rican poli t ica l affa irs since Hamilton and Madi w n. There is nothing about Congress or the ·wh it e H ouse that will take him by surprize. At the age of twenty-nine, he had written a college th esis that showed him to b e, even at that time on e of the keenest analysi sts o f our ational Legis lat ure we ever h;i.d. He is we ll info rmed on his duties at the White Hou e, having published a treatise on th e powers arid limitations uf the Pre ident. He has made a thorough and extensive study of the American people in all their social and political relations. The country has been accustomed to regard the office of the Ch ie f Execu– tive as within the rear.:h of the most experienced politican-but fo r a school– maste r to leap into th e presidency-before having been in the pul itical arena for three years is something unique. James WIison, the gr§lndfather of W oodrow Wilson emigrated from Ireland to America about a century ago and settled in Philadel!Jhia, t hen the ca pita l o f the United States. H e became a printer on one of the lead ing pa pe rs of America, the "Aurora" th en edited by Thomas Jefferson. Later he became the editor in chief- In 1820 lured by the attractions of the great West, he wen t to Steubenville, 0, a nd edited the "\Vestern Herald . He became a g rea t power in the Democra tic P a rty and was known throughout the state as "Judg e Wilson" It was there amid these surrounding of hardy, vigorou , pioneer life, that Jos eph R. Wilso11, the father of the President, wa born and grew to manhood. Jos . R . Wil son hegan his career as a t eacher but his natura l taste was fo r the ministry, and atter carefu l preparation he entered :i Presbyterian p ul pit. He married Miss Jane t Woodrow of Chillicothe, 0. She was born in Carlis le, England but came with her parents to this coun try when she was two yea rs uld . Jm,eph \,\ ibun wa c.alled to a pastorate at Staunton, Va 11 ere Dec ~~. IHGfi, Woodrow \Vil sun was born duri11g Xrna week, t he ch ee r of wlii cli o c:..<1siun !:>Cems never tu have left him. Virginia now renews he r