Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-09-23
NEW ERA AT STANFORD
Changes Possible by Death Of
Wife of University's Founder.
REMOVAL OF PERSONAL FEATURES

william e. Curtis Writes That This
VIII BE Done In Reverence For
Donors and That Trustees Seek to
Avoid Ridiculous Vanities = VIII
Train Useful Men Rather Than
Scholars-Two Handsome Buildings
Being Erected.
The death of the late Jane Lathrop
Stanford has simplifed matters
great deal at Stanford university and
has removed an influence from that in
Etitution that was all powerful, but
not all wise, says William E. Curtis,
the Chicago Record Herald's special cor
respondent, writing from Palo Alto,
Cal. Mrs. Stanford was a noble wo-
man. Her soul was filed with the
Z loftiest aspirations and was over
whelmed with desire to benefit her
fellow man, but her ideas were not
always practical, and the board OF
trustees often found it difficult to con-
{ vince her of that fact. The individu-
atty Of the Stanford family-father,
4 mother and son-has been stamped up
on the institution with such force that
I 1t can never be effaced, but 1t Is ex-
pected that in time certain changes
{ will be made to divest it of some Of the
evidences Of their personalities that
often suggest criticism, If not ridicule.
This will be done gradually and rever-
emily, without the slightest disrespect
to the memory of the noble man and
woman whose lives and enormous for
tunes were dedicated to the education
: of the sons and daughters of other peo-
pie because they were deprived by
Providence Of the privilege of educat-
ing children Of their own.
The trustees Of the institution have
i, never discussed these question formal
7 ". They have not yet formed plan
4 or even an opinion, although they have
doubtless received many suggestions
and have given the matter much
thought. 1t would be impossible for
them to have escaped the comments of
visitors or those of the students upon
ss the personal character of some Of the
i exhibits in the museum, for example,
7 or the inscriptions that deface certain
portions Of the buildings. Those in
4 scriptions are particularly offensive,
because they stare everybody in the
face No one can visit the university
without being irritated by them.
, counted the name of Jane Lathrop STAN
ford in thirty-five different places and
the name of Leland Stanford in fifty
!. seven, and, while one must admit that
!. both of them had the right to inscribe
. their names upon their own property,
they should be protected from the crid-
cisms that are always directed at the
display of such bad taste. The memo
rial chapel, for example, which is
with possibly one or two exceptions
the finest piece of ecclesiastical archi-
lecture in the United States, has been
debased by the introduction Of per-
rs onal Inscriptions and paintings and
marbles which Mrs. Stanford was in
duced to buy from spectators in Eu.
rope. A magnificent arch. which fur
nishes an entrance to the most stately
quadrangle of modern scholastic archi-
lecture, has beneath 1t grotesque-
indeed, a pitiful-exhibition Of vanity
D and affectation in the form Of bronze
group Of the Stanford family.
A section of the museum is filed
with personal relics of Senator and
Mrs. Stanford and their son. for whose
monument the university was founded.
The boy evidently had a very bright
mind and mature ideas for one Of his
age, and while he was travelling in Eu-
rope be became possessed Of a COM
mendable idea-to make a collection Of
the interesting things he saw for the
entertainment and education Of other
boys who were deprived Of the oppor-
tunity of travel. This little collection
Of his is the nucleus Of the university
It can be seen and understood by every
person who enters the building, but its
: Eignifleance and the lesson ii should
leach are destroyed by placing around
. Il the playthings and clothing Of his
childhood and other personal objects
) which were preserved by a heart
broken mother and to her were more
precious than the treasures Of the
Louvre or the British museum. The
Dnly purpose their exhibition can serve
3 to show how much Mrs. Stanford
boved her son and how devoted she
vas to his memory, but the institution
itself is a sufficient evidence Of that af-
lection. without exposing II to the
ridicule Of thoughtless visitors. Most
mothers have such mementoes hidden
away somewhere in their hottest Of
holes and consider them too sacred
Tor the world to see. Mrs. Stanford sd-
Fertised her grief and her affection in
The most public manner possible, and
these little evidences Of her tenderness
continually provoke shocking and ir-
reverent remarks.
Beside the personal belongings Of her
son are similar relics Of herself and her
husband which are equally out Of place.
Some Of them-her rare laees. for ex-
ample. and objects which relate to his
pubic rfe-shOuld be preserved. but
there is scarcely room In any museum
for the old clothes Of people Of less
->ature than George Washington and
Abraham Lincoln
They tell NE at Palo Alto that there
was no mystery about the death Of
airs. Stanford. that il was caused By
an attack Of acute Indigestion and that
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