Cary T. Grayson Diary

Title

Cary T. Grayson Diary

Creator

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

Identifier

WWP17169

Date

1919 May 18

Source

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

Language

English

Text

The President arose at nine o’clock, had breakfast, and at 10:15 the President, Mrs. Wilson and I left the house to attend the Stoch Presbyterian Church to hear a sermon by the Reverend Hugh Black. It was an old-fashioned church. You would not realize that you were in a city church, as the edifice reminded you more of a country church. A great many American soldiers were present, and in the same pew with the President,Mrs. Wilson and myse.lf were Lloyd George and his daughter. Clemenceau also had been invited, but he failed to put in an appearance.

The invitation to attend this service was received by the President on Saturday. The President said at the Saturday morning’s conference: “I have an invitation to attend the Scotch Presbyterian Church tomorrow, and I move that we have no meeting tomorrow () but that we all go to church.” The motion not to have a meeting was agreed to. The President said to his colleagues: “When I was President of Princeton University I frequently spent my summers in Scotland bicycling. One Sunday I cyl cycled to church, wearing my bicycle costume. Covered with dusy I entered the church and told the usher that I was an elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. He looked at me suspiciously, and finally escorted me to a seat in the rear of the church and well to the side, where I worshipped in solitary grandeur.” Lloyd George seemed to be much amused at this incident. Clemenceau, however, saisd that he would not have attended services in that costume. Whereupon I said: “Would you have gone in any costume?” Clemenceau answered: “No.” Lloyd George then spoke up and said to Clemenceau: “Have you ever been to church in your life?” Clemenceau said: “No, I never have.”

The sermon was one of the most impressive to which the President had ever listened. It was a sermon on the Lessons of War.

We returned to the house at twelve o’clock. Upon our return we found that Colonel House had sent another compromise plan to the President concerning Fiume.The President asked Mr. Miller, who was the bearer of the message, to tell the following story to Colonel House and Orlando --- it was a story which the President’s father had told him (the President):He (The President’s father) was driving along a country road. He came upon a section where a small pig was standing in the middle of the road gazing through a fence at a field of corn. While the President’s father watched, the pig moved over to where the fence had been built around the curved trunk of a fallen tree. This tree was hollow but was in the shape of a semicircle, with both ends pointing out into the road. The pig seemingly believing that he had found a way to the desired food started in at one end of the hollow log and came out a few yards further on in exactly the same roadway from which he had started. The pig gazed back again into the field, and then turned and went back over the original path, coming out the second time exactly where he had started from. This was too much for the pig, who grunted loudly in disapproval and started on the run down the road.”

The President made the application to Mr. Miller of the story by saying that every time he was sent a proposal of a compromise in the Italian situation he found that the proposal was very much like the hollow tree in that it seemed to lead in the general direction of the corn-field but after all returned hoim back to where he started from.

The President, Mrs. Wilson, Dr. Axson,Miss Benham and I had lunch, and after lunch we motored to Barbisone, near Fountainebleau.The President got out and walked around the village, visiting the studios of Francis Millet and others. He was not recognized by any one until he passed a bicycle shop in which an American was working. He was without a collar, wearing felt slippers, and his hands were greasy. He walked out of his shop and greeted the President, saying: “If I can be of any assistance to you in showing you around, I shall be glad to do so. I am from New Jersey.” He acted as a guide for a few minutes. By this time the native population recognized the President, and in a short while he was surrounded by a big crowd, which spoiled his fun as a sight-seer. He then entered his motor and proceeded thorough the beautiful forest to Fountainebleau and the Chateau there. He got out of his car at the Chateau, walked through the grounds, visited the carp-pond and other places of interest. We returned to Paris at about seven o’clock.

After dinner the President, Mrs. Wilson, and Dr. Axson, spent a quiet evening together.

Original Format

Diary

Files

http://resources.presidentwilson.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/PCST19190518.pdf

Citation

Grayson, Cary T. (Cary Travers), 1878-1938, “Cary T. Grayson Diary,” 1919 May 18, WWP17169, Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.