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WOODEOW WILSON 541 1875 he set out for Princeton College, which was to play such a large part in his life. The four years at college are a pretty sure index of much that happens later in a man 's life. Not that the best abilities always show themselves at this tune, nor that the estimates placed on a man by his instructors or his fellow-students are always correct The character of the life of the college must influence greatly the expression of a man's abilities, and the standards of judgment are frequently artificial, or at least greatly different from those by which a man will be judged in later life. But the direction of a man's interests, his native reactions to situations, the main current of his ambitions, his tastes and ideals, must show themselves in a marked degree in the college life. Here is the first little world in which the young man tastes freedom and self-reliance, the first free field in which he may exercise some considerable degree of choice. How this freedom and choice are used is an im- portant indication of the stuff that is in the student. Woodrow Wilson's career as a student at Princeton is no exception to this. The class which entered in September, 1874, and graduated in June, 1879, had a remarkable number of men of high ability. Hale says there never has been a Princeton class of so high an average ability. In this group of men Wilson easily made a place for himself, not only as a leader of student activities, but as a man conspicuous for his personality and all-round ability. Like many another man who has '^made good" in later life, his name was not among the list of highest for grades made and honors received. He was, however, much above the av- erage and was ranked 41 in the class of 122. The chief mark, however, of his career as an undergraduate was his pursuit of an interest freely chosen and followed with stubborn per- severance. Before he had been in college a half year he had determined on public life as a career and the preparation for it as his chief business in college. From that time on the college curriculum and all other col- lege activities were incidental to this one central purpose. He did much independent reading on his favorite theme. In