The Days of a Man 



D899 



"Eating 



Barrows 



color and personality. In his response, Dr. Wheeler 

 thanked me for a willingness to come to Berkeley 

 every time they inaugurated a new president! 



In those days San Francisco's famous hospitality 

 P art ty expressed itself in a succession of dinners. 

 On these occasions both Wheeler and I were usually 

 among the guests, and, seated at equal distance 

 from the toastmaster, were called on in turn for 

 an after-dinner speech, acquiring thereby a certain 

 degree of skill and a parallel distaste for the opera- 

 tion. With this experience in mind, my colleague 

 a few years ago warned Dr. Wilbur, the new presi- 

 dent of Stanford, that he would "have to eat his 

 way through." 



Wheeler had a large fitness for organization and 

 a taste for public affairs. During his long adminis- 

 tration the institution made great strides in use- 

 fulness, in prestige, and in numbers; and Stanford's 

 friendly rivalry, instead of weakening, proved a 

 growing source of strength. As a result, as I have 

 frequently asserted, the pressure of education to 

 the square inch is greater in California than any- 

 where else on earth! Upon his retirement as emeri- 

 tus at the end of twenty years, Wheeler was suc- 

 ceeded by Dr. David Prescott Barrows, formerly 

 dean of the faculties and professor of Political 

 Science. Barrows is a man of genial personality, 

 with large practical experience as head of the De- 

 partment of Public Instruction in the Philippines, 

 and later, during the Great War, in various lines 

 of foreign service. 



The year 1899, as I have already indicated, was 



one of the most important in the history of Stan- 



660 



