Famous Givers and Their Gifts

by Sarah Knowles Bolton

He gave directions that "no drinking saloons shall be opened upon any part of the premises." He "prohibited sectarian instruction," but wished "to have taught in the University the immortality of the soul, the existence of an all-wise and benevolent Creator, and that obedience to His laws is the highest duty of man." Mr. Stanford said, "It seems to us that the welfare of man on earth depends on the belief in immortality, and that the advantages of every good act and the disadvantages of every evil one follow man from this life into the next, there attaching to him as certainly as individuality is maintained."

The object of the University is, he said, "to qualify students for personal success and direct usefulness in life." Again he said, "The object is not alone to give the student a technical education, fitting him for a successful business life, but it is also to instil into his mind an appreciation of the blessings of this government, a reverence for its institutions, and a love for God and humanity."

Mr. Stanford wished plain and substantial buildings, "built as needed and no faster," urging the trustees to bear in mind "that extensive and expensive buildings do not make a university; that it depends for its success rather upon the character and attainments of its faculty."

Mr. Stanford chose for the president of his University David Starr Jordan, well-known for his scientific work and his various books. Though a comparatively young man, being forty years of age, Dr. Jordan had had wide experience. He was graduated from Cornell University in 1872, and for two years was professor at institutions in Illinois and Wisconsin. In 1874 he was lecturer in marine botany at the Anderson School at Penikese, and the following year at the Harvard Summer School at Cumberland Gap. During the next four years, while holding the chair of biology in Butler University, Indianapolis, he was the naturalist of two geological surveys in Indiana and Ohio. For six years he was professor of zoölogy in Indiana University, and for the six years following its president. For fourteen years he had been assistant to the United States Fish Commission, exploring many of our rivers, and part of that time agent for the United States Census Bureau in investigating the marine industries of the Pacific Coast. He had studied also in the large museums abroad.

Dr. Albert Shaw tells this interesting incident. "President Jordan had once met the young Stanford boy on the seashore, and won the lad's gratitude by telling him of shells and submarine life. It was a singular coincidence that the parents afterwards heard Dr. Jordan make allusions in a public address which gave them the knowledge that this was the interesting stranger who had taught their son so much, and had so enkindled the boy's enthusiasm. His choice as president was an eminently wise one."

Mr. Stanford wished ten acres to be set aside "as a place of burial and of last rest on earth for the bodies of the grantors and of their son, Leland Stanford, Jr., and, as the board may direct, for the bodies of such other persons who may have been connected with the University."

Mr. Stanford lived to see his University opened and doing successful work. The plan of its buildings, suggested by the old Spanish Missions of California, was originally that of Richardson, the noted architect of Boston; but as he died before it was completed, the work was done by his successors, Shepley, Rutan, & Coolidge.

The plan contemplates a number of quadrangles in the midst of 8,400 acres. "The central group of buildings will constitute two quadrangles, one entirely surrounding the other," says the University Register for 1894—1895. "Of these the inner quadrangle, with the exception of the chapel, is now completed. Its twelve one-story buildings are connected by a continuous open arcade, facing a paved court 586 feet long by 246 feet wide, or three and a quarter acres. The buildings are of a buff sandstone, somewhat varied in color. The stone-work is of broken ashlar, with rough rock face, and the roofs are covered with red tile." Within the quadrangle are several circular beds of semi-tropical trees and plants.

Miss Milicent W. Shinn, in the Overland Monthly for October, 1891, says, "I should think it hard to say too much of the simple dignity, the calm influence on mind and mood, of the great, bright court, the deep arcade with its long vista of columns and arches, the heavy walls, the unchanging stone surfaces. They seemed to me like the rock walls of nature; they drew me back, and made me homesick for them when I had gone away."

Behind the central quadrangle are the shops, foundry, and boiler-house. On the east side is Encina Hall, a dormitory for 315 men, provided with electric lights, steam heat, and bathrooms on each floor. It is four stories high, and, like the quadrangle, of buff Almaden sandstone.