INTRODUCTION 9 



scenes of youth better than those of later years; 

 though one is apt also to exaggerate the importance 

 of happenings in youth and to get some things out 

 of focus. As to dates, many of them will not be 

 exact, and I shall often have to say " about " ; but, 

 at any rate, I shall not set down anything in malice 

 nor for the purpose of leading my children and 

 friends to think " What a big man am I ". 



I began this autobiography in 1904-5 and 

 handed over a lengthy manuscript to my daughter 

 for criticism. But on April 18, 1906, at 5.20 in 

 the morning, a severe earthquake occurred in San 

 Francisco, California, where she was then living. 

 Fires soon afterward broke out and, as the water 

 mains were shattered, the flames spread almost 

 immediately and very rapidly. Mary was living 

 at a Settlement on South Park near Third Street 

 at that time and lost nearly all of her belongings, 

 my manuscript with the rest. 



In Palo Alto, where I was living, the chimney 

 of our house was destroyed, as were almost all the 

 others in the town; much plastering cracked and 

 fell, a few buildings were thrown out of plumb 

 and two recently constructed concrete-block build- 

 ings were leveled to the ground. The Stanford 

 University buildings suffered most, the damage to 



