18933 The Die Is Cast 



were canceled — a matter of at least a year or two 

 perhaps, even if everything went well. 



At the end of the fortnight she called me to her 

 home to say that the die was cast. She was going 

 ahead with Leland Stanford Junior University. 

 To that end she would let us have all the money 

 she possibly could ; for a time it might not be much — 

 we must get down to bedrock, meanwhile, however, 

 keeping the institution open and doing our level 

 best. 



The task was not easy, as a few details out of many 

 will make clear. It had been the founder's an- 

 nounced intention to offer the highest scale of sal- 

 aries as a means of securing the best available 

 teachers. To a large extent this plan was carried 

 out, the average in each grade having been for the 

 most part higher than in other large institutions 

 generally. But even the amounts due for the first Professors 

 three weeks of the month of Tune (for which Stan- '"' , 

 ford was personally responsible) could not be paid snvants 

 until the courts ruled by whom and to whom such 

 sums were due. As to continued remuneration, 

 president and professors alike had to be regarded 

 by the Probate Court as Mrs. Stanford's personal 

 servants — the University, as such, having for the 

 time no recognized status. 



And for two months no money was available for The bag 

 any purpose whatever. One picturesque incident °f ^°^^ . 

 will illustrate our predicament. Late in August, 

 Probate Judge James B. Coffey sent down to Mrs. 

 Stanford a bag containing the sum of ^500 in twenty- 

 dollar gold pieces to meet the immediate needs of 

 her servants. Stating that the household could 

 wait, she told me to divide the money among those 



n 495 3 



