°millllllllllllM™«.n''''* idears.An address 3 1924 013 108 240 ONE OF MRS. STANFORD'S IDEALS An Address Delivered on the Occasion OF THE .Celebration of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary OF THE Opening of Stanford University FOUNDERS' DAY, MARCH 10. 1917 BY JOHN CASPER BRANNER, Ph. D., LL. D., Dr. S.,. , l C^«, President Emeritus Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013108240 ONE OF MRS. STANFORD'S IDEALS As we "ring out the old" today and ring in the thousand years to come — to the young, the active and the vigorous the look toward the future and the new is necessarily more inspiring than the look into the past. But an intelligent interest in what the future holds for us depend? to some extent upon a knowledge of what has led up to the present, for past and future .are but parts of the whole, and as we look forward and press forward into the promising future let us not fail to "hold fast to that which is good" and to hold the past in proper reverence and respect, in so far, and only in so far, as it is worthy of reverence and respect. Inasmuch as Mrs. Stanford had much to do with our past, I trust it may interest you to learn something of my personal acquaintance with her and of some of the impressions as to her ideals, and especially of one particular ideal, gained from that acquaintance. I have never felt entirely at liberty to speak of such matters before, but it now seems proper for me to do so before the facts are forever lost. The story is necessarily a disconnected one, for her views were mostly expressed quite informally and frankly and as occasion happened to call them forth. The more I saw of Mrs. Stanford, the more I respected and esteemed her. She was a very positive character ; she had her own ideas and she did not hesitate to express them in vigorous and well chosen language. She had great and serious responsibilities thrown upon her when Mr. Stanford died, and she did not always receive the support she counted on in the .discharge of her many and perplexing duties. Her life was in some respects, therefore, far from being an easy one, and she was genu- inely grateful to those who were loyal to her. I never saw much of her until after Senator Stanford's death, but as 2 ONE OF MRS. Stanford's ideals that occurred in 1893, my acquaintance with her may be said to date from that year. I imagine that one of the reasons we seemed to work together so well was because we both believed in orderliness. Though she was deeply interested in the faculty and in the students, any and every tendency toward disorder on their part she resented with merciless indignation. She felt that a disorderly person lacked the very foundations on which good and successful citizens must build their conduct and their business. Orderliness and propriety were the watchwords of her household. In speaking on this subject one day she gave many examples of the thrift she insisted upon in her home. One of the things that she looked after with care was the kitchen. She had a Chinese cook who had been with her many years and to whom she was much attached, but she saw to it herself that there was no waste in the kitchen. She told me that the the cook had strict and standing orders that scraps of food must not be thrown away, but must be used up ; and- she lamented the fact that there was so much and such wicked waste of good food among us Americans, and especially among the very people who could least afford it. She thought these simple and elementary, but highly important, matters should be impressed upon every one of our students. It is to her personal orderliness and care that we owe the large and interesting collection of family heirlooms preserved in the private room of our museum. And she never felt herself above looking after the smallest details, either in her home, in her business or in the affairs of the university. She had a delightful sympathy with the students ; she greatly enjoyed their freshness and breeziness ; and she liked to think up ways of contrib- uting to their legitimate pleasures. When driving about the university grounds it gave her genuine delight to see the students and to be recog- nized and spoken to by them. Some one complained to her on a certain occasion about the fraternity men playmg ball in their front yards on Sundays. She stoutly defended the ball players, with whom she was entirely in sympathy, and their Sunday amusements were never interfered with. But she had no svm pathy whatever with anything irregular or improper in their lives or conduct. In her relations with the faculty she usually wanted everyone to have ONB 01? MRS. Stanford's ideals 3 what he wished and needed, but she knew the limitations, for the time being, of the funds at her command ; she was also looking ever to the future and she knew that, in time, the departments would get whatever they required. For these reasons she was often fretted by the impatience and the complaints of insatiable professors who wanted everything and wanted it right now. She felt that she was entitled to the sympathy, support and backing of the professors and that, instead of getting that support, her course was picked .at and her motives and methods questioned. Of .course these complaints were not addressed to her directly, but many of them reached her nevertheless. Really I sometimes wondered whether she could hold out to the end in the face of such irritating, carping criticism. But she was no general fault finder and in spite of the annoyances she took a philosophic view of the matter. Speaking of this subject one day she said: "Mr. Branner, if you ever undertake to do a kindness to any one, do it because you think it is the right thing to do, and don't expect grat- itude. For if you do, you are likely to be disappointed." She seemed particularly anxious that the experience gained in her own long and varied life should be turned to account and passed along to the young, just as she wanted her wealth to be of use to mankind after she was dead and gone. Running through all of her plans and all of her thoughts was the idea that nothing was too good for this university. Indeed she literally ran- sacked the very world itself for whatever she thought would make it better. To me there was nothing more mteresting or more striking in the char- acter of Mrs. Stanford than what she said when speaking to me on one occasion about the church and what she expected of it in this community and in the lives of our alumni. While walking about the buildings and grounds of the university with her one day, she spoke very freely and very feelingly of her plans in regard to many things and of her aspirations in regard to the university itself. The last place she visited was the church, where she lingered long over many details, in every one of which she was deeply interested. It was quite late in the afternoon when we went out and walked along the arcade toward her carriage. She seemed to feel that she had talked too much about what filled her mind, espe- ONi; OP MRS. STANFORD'S IDEALS dally about the church, and she added, "But Mr. Branner, while my whole heart is in this university, my soul is in that church. Some days- later when I was at her home on the campus she brought up again the subject of her deep interest in the church. I was especially interested to get her views on this subject because, as some of you will remember, there were strange stories floating about in regard to her rehgious views. What she said impressed me profoundly at the time and it impresses me more and more as the years go by. I have always, regretted that what she said to me could not have been pre- served with all the warmth, conviction and enthusiasm with which she spoke that day. But the best I can do is to tell you the story as I wrote it down on that same evening and in her own language as nearly as I could recall it. She said that while she was interested in education in a large sense, and was happy to devote her time, means and energies to whatever was usually regarded as the legitimate and indispensable equipment of a mod- ern university, she felt that institutions and educators were spending rel- atively too little time on moral and spiritual instruction. She feared that such views might be regarded as those of a religious fanatic, but she dis- claimed any undue influence on the part of the church as such, or from any source save her own experience and her own observations of life. "Look through the list of the faculty," said she, "and point out to me, if you can, the professor who, aside from the chaplain, makes it any part of his business to even mention things spritual or moral to his stu- dents. I fully realize the very encouraging fact that all studies are up- lifting if they are taken seriously, and if the student has an unlifting teacher. Students are required to take certain studies ; those who are to be engineers must take mathematics ; those who are to be chemists must take chemistry, and the geologists must take mineralogy, and so on ; but not a single department requires a student to be clean in his life or to study subjects that will help strengthen his moral character, or help him to have or to cultivate a proper attitude toward himself and toward mankind. You try to fit men to do their professional work, but vou lore sight of the very important fact that neither you nor anyone else wants to employ a man who lacks sound moral principles, no matter how much he may know about some particular subject. Yes, I know that you undertake to punish those who are guilty of grossly immoral conduct— ONH; 01^ MRS. STANFORD S IDEALS 5 if you happen to find them out — but punishing the wicked is not pre- venting wickedness and it is not helping those whose moral sense needs help. "You tell me that a student known to be of bad moral character is not admitted to the university; but you must confess that the attempt to discover such men before they come here is not very serious, for they do get in. And what is vastly worse," and she fairly blazed with indig- nation as she spoke, "what is vastly worse is that the president of this university has had to send away from here members of this very faculty — full professors and married men at that — whose over-familiarity with and irregular conduct toward the young women students showed them to be not only capable of conduct unbecoming gentlemen, but positively unfit to associate with decent people, much less to instruct young folks in anything whatever. And if there is in this world anything more vile and despicable than a man of education, and a professor in a university, who is put there to help, to teach, to inspire and to strengthen young men and young women, but who betrays his trust ,and seeks to besmirch, outrage, betray and destroy what he is expected to protect, to help and to save, I should not know where to look for it outside of the jungles of Africa. That, Mr. Branner, is why I am so much more interested in the church on the campus than I am in your precious rocks. For no amount of learning can take the place of decency, and no amount of sci- ence can take the place of backbone. And as the moral and spiritual life is more important than the life of our bodies, so moral and spiritual instruction is more important to young people than instruction of any other kind. That is why I think the church should be the heart and center of this university. I am aware of the fact that complaint has been made that the church was put where the library ought to be. That view can be defended on some grounds, I know, for I have heard it so defended, but on the highest possible grounds there is nothing so important to the young men and young women who come here as the instruction they should get from that pulpit. And that is why I said that while my heart is in the university, my soul is in the church. Take away the moral and spiritual from higher education and I want nothing to do with this or any other university. I don't mean that students require instruction in doctrines; that is just what I do not mean; and it was for that very reason that I wanted the church to be and to remain non-sectarian. There 6 ONE 01? MRS. STANFORD S IDEALS is more in Christianity than doctrine. And I want the church building to be left open all day so that students and others may go in and sit there in the quiet whenever they choose. It will do them good. Collections shall never be taken there; and I want the students to sing, and I want them to feel that the church is especially for them. "The church is the only institution today that makes or has made or pretends to make a stand against immorality in all its forms. Education does not ; nor does that science in which you are so interested and which you consider so all-powerful. In fact, I do not believe in a university education for all men and for that very reason. A man with an education and without morals is liable to become — indeed, he is almost sure to be- come — simply an abler, shrewder criminal whose ability to prey upon society has been increased by education. Like any other force education needs intelligent guidance if it is to serve any good purpose. And where shall we look for such guidance if we look not to the sound and unselfish principles taught by Christianity? "Don't think that I believe that any particular creed or that even the church itself is capable of making saints out of some folks. Such things are not matters of creed ; and I am well aware that some of the greatest rogues the world has ever seen stood high in the church. I mean that men and women should be sound at the core, whatever their doctrines may be." There was a great deal more on this subject, for these points were all enlarged upon out of the long and varied life of a woman of marked natural ability, strong character and individuaHty. To Mrs. Stanford the church stood for highmindedness, uprightness unselfishness and for what are generally known as the Christian virtues' and It was as the teacher of these virtues that she wanted to pass it and Its mfluences on to the members of this community, living and yet to live Chancellor Jordan will speak to you of the ideals with which the uni- versity started. Those were mostly the ideals of the president and the faculty. Of the ideals of Mrs. Stanford I have spoken of the one without which, in her opinion, a university must be a delusion and a mockery On account of certain influences that press upon this and upon every univer- sity, both from without and from within, that particular ideal of hers seems more important today than ever before. ONE OF MRS. Stanford's ideals 7 Ladies, and gentlemen, it used to be the custom among certain peoples to bury their most precious things with their dead. It is not a custom that appeals to us nowadays, but we sometimes see it done without the doers being aware of what is going on. The one final appeal I make to those of you who come after us here on this campus is that you refrain from burying with Dr. Jordan and me the precious principles we of the old faculty have striven for during the best twenty-five years of our lives, and especially do I appeal to you to keep always alive and eiifective the ennobling ideals and aspirations of the woman who was the real founder and the greatest benefactor of Stanford University.