189O Religious Services 



When the student first comes to Palo Alto, he finds him- 

 self in a very liberal atmosphere. He hears beliefs which may 

 have seemed too holy for mortals to question discussed with 

 the utmost freedom. He soon learns that if his religious opin- 

 ions are to be respected by the thinking class of students, he 

 must put them on a rationalistic basis. Instead of blindly ac- 

 cepting what he has been taught at home, he begins to ask 

 himself, "Why do I believe as I do.?" That question asked, 

 he has then cut the cable which moored his bark in the quiet 

 harbor of orthodoxy, and it is now rudderless and without a 

 compass on the stormy sea of doubt. Where he will land de- 

 pends upon the current in which he is drifting. . . . Our 

 student at last discovers that the university believes in "the 

 immortality of the soul and the existence of an all-wise and 

 beneficent Creator." "That obedience of His laws is the 

 highest duty of man" is a necessary inference. 



With the completion of the Church in 1901, a 

 resident chaplaincy was estabHshed, the incumbent 

 to be free for the time being from ecclesiastical 

 control and to be assisted as occasion arose by 

 outside clergymen. Dr. R. Heber Newton of New 

 York, the first appointee, was soon succeeded by 

 Dr. D. Charles Gardner who had served as his 

 assistant. Gardner has filled his position for eighteen Our 

 years with the general approval of students and '^'^^^^ 

 professors. A broad-minded man with the kindest 

 of hearts, he holds the respect and affection of all, 

 whether churchgoers or not; and to those in trouble 

 or anguish, either mental or physical, he is ever a 

 good shepherd. 



4 



On the opening day appeared the first issue of a "TheDaiiy 

 student paper. The Palo Alto. This clever publi- P^^^"^^^"" 

 cation of a distinctly lively and original character 



n 405 :] 



