The Days of a Man 



university went to Monterey on a picnic, an inci- 

 j ent w hich strengthened the ties already binding 

 "Pioneer" teachers and students to one another. 

 In 1893 a similar outing took us all to the Felton 

 " Big Trees." Faculty homes were meanwhile freely 

 opened to the young people, joint exploring ex- 

 cursions to mountain and sea were common, and 

 the "major professor" relation including the pro- 

 fessor's wife was no mere item of officialism, 

 rather a source of enduring personal intimacy. 

 These special conditions, so natural in early days, 

 continued for many years, and formed a substantial 

 element in the development of "the Stanford 

 spirit." 



Senior- One unique factor of that and a later period as 

 we " was ^ annua ' niatch game at Commencement 

 time between the faculty baseball team and one 

 made up from the senior class. This custom I had 

 introduced with success at the University of Indiana. 

 In 1909 a falling batting average led me to give up 

 playing, and not long after the practice was dropped, 

 the spectacle of the president covering first base 

 having always been the leading attraction. Yet it 

 is only fair to say that the remarkable attire in 

 which the successive senior players appeared also 

 constituted a special drawing card. The Pioneers, 

 for example, came on the field in flannel shirts and 

 overalls, carrying each a pick and shovel. One set 

 garbed themselves in ballet costumes, another in 

 Mother Hubbards these last presumably to their 

 regret, for the valiant base runners struggled hope- 

 lessly at times against the clinging skirts. 



Other colorful incidents further enlivened such 



