T'he Days of a Man 1885 



and curiosity for a small private collection, the nu- 

 cleus of a great museum he meant some day to give 

 to the city of San Francisco. Naturally, then, his 

 parents first thought of carrying out the boy's own 

 purpose, though on a more elaborate scale, with 

 large provision for educational facilities, lectures, 

 and the like. The idea, however, did not satisfy 

 them as being sufficiently generous. Ultimately Mrs. 

 Stanford fulfilled young Leland's general intentions 

 as a small part of their benefaction to the youth, 

 not alone of California, but of the whole wide world 

 as well. 



Plans jor The museum project being set aside, their choice 

 endow- now i a y between endowing a university or a great 

 technical school. If the former, should they found 

 an entirely independent institution, or should the 

 money be given in some form or other to the Uni- 

 versity of California? The latter alternative was 

 soon rejected, however, because the management of 

 the state institution appeared to be deeply entangled 

 in partisan politics a fact quite obvious to Mr. 

 Stanford, as once when he had been appointed trus- 

 tee by the governor, the legislature, then controlled 

 by a clique within the Democratic party, refused to 

 endorse his name. Though to some extent a poli- 

 tician himself, he felt that party differences had no 

 legitimate concern with education. And in the end, 



ualistic influence affected the decision. Mrs. Drake had no more to do with 

 it than a babe unborn." 



It is, however, true that both Mr. and Mrs. Stanford were for some time 

 deeply interested in certain phases of spiritualism which seemed perhaps to 

 give the basis for a demonstrable belief in immortality, a faith in which they 

 found great consolation. Accompanied by General and Mrs. Grant they 

 attended several seances in Washington, though they never received through 

 mediums any evidence they regarded as convincing. 



