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RECREA TION. 



DAVID STARR JORDAN, LL.D. 



The subject of this sketch is one of 

 the most remarkable men of 

 our day. 

 No man has ever acquired so great a 

 fund of knowledge with so little appar- 

 ent effort as has David Starr Jordan. 

 From a bashful farmer's boy he has be- 

 come the head of one the greatest col- 

 leges in the country. A classmate of 

 his says, " Dave Jordan was a genius 

 even in his boyhood. He never had 

 to study ; he just simply looked at 

 his lessons and knew them." A former 

 teacher said of him, " You cannot teach 

 such a boy as Jordan was. He knew 

 all we were going to tell him before we 

 were half through saying it." 



He was born at Gainesville, New 

 York, in 185 1, so that he is still a young 

 man, yet his published works are num- 

 bered by the hundreds. He was gradu- 

 ated at Cornell, whence he was appointed 

 Professor of Natural history, at Lom- 

 bard University, Galesburg, 111. He was 

 an instructor at the Warsaw Academy, 

 and at several other schools and colleges. 

 A former pupil of one of these says," Pro- 

 fessor Jordan was one of the most original 

 and interesting men I have ever known. 



His lectures were revelations. They 

 sparkled with wit and wisdom, yet he 

 seemed never to have made a moment's 

 preparation for one of them. He seemed 

 never to know what he was going to say, 

 but always said something of great 

 value/' 



Jordan built the State University, at 

 Bloomington (Ind.), from a cipher to 

 one of the foremost institutions of its 

 class, and is now doing a much greater 

 work at Stanford University. He is 

 worth more to California than any gold 

 mine she ever had. His best known 

 books are " Science Sketches," " The 

 Manual of the Vertebrate Animals," and 

 " Synopsis of Fishes of North America;" 

 but all his works are of deep interest 

 and of great value to the student of 

 nature. The editor of the Popular 

 Science Monthly, recently said of Jor- 

 dan, " He never writes anything that is 

 not good." 



His article in this issue of Recre- 

 ation, entitled " How the Trout Came 

 to California," will be recognized by all 

 ichthyologists as one of the most valuable 

 contributions ever made to that science. 



Readers of Recreation may con- 

 gratulate themselves on the fact that Pro- 

 fessor Jordan is one of its contributors. 



I am receiving a great many such 

 letters as this, for all of which I am 

 grateful to the writers. 



" Sandwich, III., Sept. n, 1894. 

 " Mr. G. O. Shields, 



' ' Dear Sir — Your circular letter of 1st at 

 hand. I enclose herewith $1.00, for one year's 

 subscription to Recreation. Having all your 

 books in my library, and having enjoyed them, 

 not only once but many times, 1 anticipate many 

 a treat in reading your magazine. 



" I wish you abundant success in this new 

 venture. 



" Yours truly, 



" J. B. Castle." 



Let your subscription to Recrea- 

 tion begin with number 1. At the 

 end of the year have the twelve 

 numbers bound and you will have a 

 gallery of engravings that you would not 

 sell for $50.00, to say nothing of the 

 reading matter that will come with them. 



There are a number of surprises in 

 store for readers of Recreation, in 

 the way of beautiful pictures. Look out 

 for them. 



