Palo Alio 



The Days of a Man 1:1891 



bilities were so challenging to one of my tempera- 

 ment that I could not decline. 

 First It was then arranged that Stanford University 



^t^V°Au should open on the first day of the following October. 

 Meanwhile I was to make a brief preliminary visit 

 to Palo Alto to look over the ground and adjust 

 necessary details. Until June I was of course in the 

 service of the University of Indiana, but at Easter 

 time Mrs. Jordan and I found it possible to pass 

 several days with the Stanfords. On the way we 

 spent a few hours in Los Angeles where I hired a 

 horse and carriage to go out to see the desert flora, 

 so conspicuous and interesting to me in 1880. But 

 the desert was gone — much of it covered by the 

 expa-.ding city, the rest obliterated by cultivation 

 and irrigation. 



At Menlo Park, then the nearest station to the 

 university, we were cordially entertained, and the 

 surpassing beauty of the Santa Clara Valley just 

 as the rainy season came to an end made an in- 

 delible impression on our minds. To Dr. Jenks I 

 wrote that the estate seemed "like a semi-tropical 

 Vossevangen," for the Sierra Morena, its background, 

 reminded me strongly of the mountains guarding 

 that charming Norwegian village. At the Uni- 

 versity, the beautiful Inner Quadrangle (of which I 

 shall have more to say by and by) was completed 

 except for doors and windows. After a general 

 survey of buildings and grounds and a full discussion 

 of ways and means, I returned to Bloomington full 

 of confidence and anticipation. 



Following the public notice of my appointment, I 

 received many letters of congratulation and multi- 



C 356 3 



