NOTES ON TRAVEL 279 



criticisms and questions were simple like themselves. 

 They did not take much interest in the intellectual work 

 of the students, nor care to know which were the old 

 buildings of the original foundation nor which college 

 in Cambridge (England) gave the model on which the 

 chapel had been built; they only now and then remarked, 

 " This must have cost a great deal of money. Say, 

 Sir, about how much ? " Even at the last, when leaving 

 the gates, their question was, " Just about how much 

 would you say it would take to build this here place ? " 

 The President made some answer, wondering that their 

 interest in education should only express itself in such 

 financial queries. A little later he wondered no more : 

 for the simple old couple who had called on him were 

 the founders of one of the great universities of the 

 Western States. The Rice Institute, which will doubt- 

 less one day be the Rice University, had a much more 

 melodramatic history. 



Towards the end of last century a certain Mr. William 

 M. Rice, a citizen of Houston, announced to some of his 

 friends that he was making a will, and intended to leave 

 his fortune to found an Institute for the teaching of 

 science in his native town. These friends were to form 

 an advisory committee when the time came to take 

 action. Not long after that he died under suspicious 

 circumstances, and though the will was found, a newer 

 one was produced, setting it aside, and leaving all the 

 money to a lawyer who had done business for him. 

 When the circumstances of his death were investigated 



