Cary T. Grayson Diary

Cary T. Grayson Diary

Grayson, Cary T. (Cary Travers), 1878-1938

WWP17147

1919 April 26

Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Staunton, Virginia

English

The President had breakfast at 8:30 o’clock; and at 11:00 he attended a meeting of the Big Three. At 2:00 o’clock the President went to the Crillon Hotel to confer with the various members of the American Commission. At 3:00 o’clock the Big Three met with the financial experts. They considered the amended report of the American and British financiers, who had revised the questions of reparations to be dealt with in the Peace Treaty. At the meeting at the Crillon Hotel the questions at issue ranged from responsibilities to a cursory discussion of the Italian situation. No immediate important decision was reached.

We had dinner at 7:00 o’clock, and after dinner the President said to me in our evening conversation: “I made a pun today that amused Lloyd-George. Lloyd-George was standing at the window and said: ‘I notice that the foliage in Paris is much further advanced than it is out in the country, and I wonder what is the cause of this.’” The President replied: “I would suggest that it is because our soldiers come to Paris for their leaves.”

The President loves to tease and it is a characteristic which he himself says often threatens to get him into trouble. He said: “I suppose I came by it naturally honestly, because my father was the greatest tease I ever knew.” He then told the following story about his father: In Augusta, Georgia, where his father was a Minister of the Presbyterian Church, one day while driving he stopped at a watering place on the street to water his horse, and a member of his congregation, who knew him very well, said to him: “Doctor Wilson, your horse is looking exceedingly well; in fact, he looks better cared for than you.” Whereupon his father replied: “Yes, I agree with you, and there is a good reason for it; I myself take care of my horse, and my congregation takes care of me.” He told me that his father always advised him that he should not indulge in extemporaneous speaking without writing something every week -- not particularly regarding his speech, but to see his own thoughts in writing. He told the President that he should do this at least once a week. He would then have an opportunity to see the defects in his expressions, which he might not be able to detect from an extemporaneous speech. His father would not let him write a speech at length and then re-write it by cutting it down. He would tell him to go on the principle of building a house -- lay the foundation and erect the frame-work, and then build up around it.

Today I had my first horse-back ride in France. I joined Mr. Henry Morgenthau, ex-Ambassador to Turkey, for a ride through the Bois. We were accompanied by his niece, Miss Edith Strauss.

Diary