The Days of a Man ^899 



which followed. 1 But Mrs. Stanford's singleness of 

 purpose was well expressed in a letter she wrote to 

 me on September 3, 1898: 



A sacred Every dollar I can rightfully call mine is sacredly laid on 



trust the altar of my love for the University, and thus it ever shall 



be. 2 



I shall now turn back and resume my story from 

 another side. 



NOTE 



According to the Albanian proverb, "Open a cask of sugar 

 and the flies will come all the way from Bagdad." The settle- 

 ment of a great estate has somewhat the same effect. Many 

 spurious claims were presented, and the attorney was obliged 

 to fight them all to avoid a deluge. One well-known newspaper 

 man put in a claim for $2500 for advertising to wit, he had 

 printed an account of the opening exercises. 



The demoralizing effects of unearned legacies were often 

 apparent, a few of the remotely related legatees having spent 

 their share in advance, and then blamed "Uncle Leland" for 

 his "stinginess" and wasting of money on a superfluous uni- 

 versity. 



Among the assets were scores of notes of politicians and as- 

 sociates who had borrowed from Stanford. Some were duly 

 paid; many, however, could not be collected. 



1 Even so, during ray administration, notwithstanding a large increase in 

 funds after 1900, there was never at any time anything like all the money we 

 urgently needed. 



2 For further extracts from personal letters of Mrs. Stanford see Appendix C 

 (page 691). 



I 5*0 



