MRS. WOODROW WILSON 413
and offered as a gift. Anything relating to the men of the A.E.F. was of deep interest to their ex-commander, and so I sent a cheque to the soldier and soon the bed arrived. It worked on the principle of the Morris chair, with the difference that the occupant could raise or lower the back by means of a lever on the side; and the mattress was covered with cretonne so as to convey the effect of an armchair or a couch. The inventor said he had tried to evolve something to help his wounded comrades. At the top of that list he put Woodrow Wilson.
My husband enjoyed resting on the sunlit little loggia at the back of the house overlooking the garden while I read aloud to him. I read so many detective stories that one day I told Woodrow in a state of alarm that I had suddenly found myself thinking in terms of crime. This amused him very much, and he said that he thought for his own safety we had better turn to something else. So we re-read Walter Bagehot and many biographies, and the magazines like The Forum, The Living Age, The Atlantic Monthly. Finally he proposed we turn again to Dickens and Scott, and we re-read almost every one of those authors' best books.
In the evenings Mr. Wilson took pleasure in looking over the illustrated magazines. These did not strain his eyes, which, however, became more and more impaired. We got all the architectural publications, such as The House Beautiful, House and Garden, die funny magazines—Life, Punch, etc.— and finally the moving picture magazines. I can see him now, seated in an armchair with a good reading light shedding its radiance on a small table piled with these publications. A rack beside him held his reading glasses as well as a magnifying glass so he could study details, a pocket electric light, writing paper and pencils. Wherever he sat this litde stand was pkced at hand. Thus I would find him every night after I had finished my dinner, for, his dinner over, he would set out to entertain himself until my coming. He always looked up and held out his hand to welcome me with a