Famous Givers and Their GiftsBolton, Sarah Knowles
History
Famous Givers and Their Gifts
Bolton, Sarah Knowles
Philanthropists
"He had selected, catalogued, and described for his projected museum
seventeen cases of antique glass vases, bronze work, and terra-cotta
statuettes, dating back far into the centuries, and which illustrate the
creative genius of those early ages of our race."
Such a youth wasted no time in foolish pleasures or useless companions.
Like his father he loved history, and sought out, says Dr. Newman, the
place where Pericles had spoken, and Socrates died; "reverently pausing
on Mars Hill where St. Paul had preached 'Jesus and the Resurrection;'
and lingering with strange delight in the temple of Eleusis wherein
death kissed his cheek into a consuming fire."
At the close of Dr. Newman's memorial address the favorite hymn of young
Leland was sung, "Tell Me the Old, Old Story." From this crushing blow
of his son's death Mr. Stanford never recovered. For years young
Leland's room in the San Francisco home was kept ready and in waiting,
the lamp dimly lighted at night, and the bedclothes turned back by
loving hands as if he were coming back again. The horses the boy used to
ride were kept unused in pasture at Palo Alto, and cared for, for the
sake of their fair young owner. The little yellow dog whose broken leg
was set was left at Palo Alto when the boy went to Europe with his
parents. When he was brought back a corpse, the dog knew all too well
the story of the bereavement. After the body was placed in the tomb, the
faithful creature took his place in front of the door. He could not be
coaxed away even for his food, and one morning he was found there dead.
He was buried near his devoted human friend.
"Toots," an old black and tan whom young Leland had brought from Albany,
was much beloved. "Mr. Stanford would not allow a dog in the house save
this one," says a writer in the San Francisco _Chronicle_. "'Toots' was
an exception, and he had full run of the house. He was the envy of all
the dogs, even of the noble old Great Dane. 'Toots' would climb upon the
sofa alongside of Mr. Stanford, and forgetting a well-known repugnance
he would pet him and say, 'There is always a place for you; always a
place for you.'"
The year following the death of young Leland, on Nov. 14, 1885, Mr.
Stanford and his wife founded and endowed their great University at Palo
Alto. In conveying the estates to the trustees, Mr. Stanford said,
"Since the idea of establishing an institution of this kind for the
benefit of mankind came directly and largely from our son and only
child, Leland, and in the belief that had he been spared to advise us as
to the disposition of our estate he would have desired the devotion of a
large portion thereof to this purpose, we will that for all time to come
the institution hereby founded shall bear his name, and shall be known
as the 'Leland Stanford, Jr., University.'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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