Correspondence (incoming) - W-Z

what kind of work it is for I'm willing to do anything to obtain an education. I am twenty-four years of age. Have had to work for my living all my life. But I am ambitious to be something and I know a good education will go a long ways toward making something out of me. I do hope you will give this request enough consideration to grant it. If you will I shall feel very grateful toward you all my life. Janitor work, gardening or any kind of work around the Institution will suit me. Yours Respy, G.N. Wright, Seattle [W.T.?]

Ithaca,N.Y., May 26th, 1892. To Governor and Mrs. Stanford,

My dear friends:-

At various times you have done me the honor to consult me, and recently you have asked me as to my impressions regarding your University: It is on this account that I now take the liberty of sending you a memorandum resulting from my recent visit: Surroundings of the University: First, as to the location: I was astonished and delighted at the position of the institution and the beauty of its surroundings. I had not imagined a region so attractive, nor had I supposed it so easy of access. Still less had I expected to find in all the country about it evidences of so much progress, and especially of a community prepared so fully to profit by the work which such an institution as yours is to do. During the month of my residence at Palo Alto I have been brought under the charm of the situation and surroundings with ever-increasing interest. Buildings: I can imagine nothing more perfect, whether as regards utility or beauty than the general plan of the main educational structures which hangs in the University library. The part already completed , the interior of the main quadrangle, is certainly far more beautiful than any other group of University buildings in the United States. It seems to me ideal as regards

its fitness for the work proposed, richness of material, and beauty and dignity of style. It was a most happy thought to adapt the early Spanish construction to modern uses, and it could not have been better carried out. Evening after evening, I have walked under its archways and along its corridors, fascinated by the blending beauty of the sky, landscape and buildings. Day after day, as I walked there, to and from lecture room and library, I have been more and more impressed by the vision of the young men and young women who for centuries to come shall throng its courts, and go forth over the whole Pacific coast, owing to your dear son and yourselves the impulse and power to make the world better than they have found it. I am familiar with the principal university buildings of our own and other countries, and have thought much upon university architecture. May I not venture then one or two suggestions? First: I hope that whether the two end groups are ever completed or not, the great central group may be completed at an early day, so that you and I may enjoythe sight of it during our life-time. The front row buildings, besides being very useful, as giving space for library, museum, etc., will add immensely tothe effect, especially to all approaching the institution, and with the interior courts which will be formed between it and the existing buildings, will greatly enhance the beauty of the whole. Secondly: While the original style should be carefully maintained, I think there should be a slight modificationin the

proposed "Chapel". It should be made large enough to serve as an auditorium for the whole body of students, with accomodation, say, for fifteen hundred on the ground floor, and say, five hundred on each of two, galleries, thus giving room for about twenty-five hundred in all. This is no mere advice at a venture. All great universities have felt greatly the need of such an auditorium. Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Princeton, and many others, have provided them, while others have used large adjacent halls or churches, as is the case at Yale and Cornell. Thirdly: One little thing, very small in cost compared with the outlay on the buildings, would be an exquisite addition to the whole,- giving it a voice by day and night; and that a chime or peal of sweet-toned bells, which should be rung at stated times,and chimed by the clock at the hours and quarters. Such a chime of, say, ten bells, or even a peal of four bells, properly tuned, and especially with a clock for chiming them, and marking the time on four dial faces, would be useful and beautiful. We find that our chiming clock at Cornell University, while of practical value in keeping professors and students aware of the flight of time, is ideally useful in developing the sense of beauty, and attaching Faculty, graduates, students and visitors to the place. Think of the voices of sweet-toned bells, sounding from the quadrangle during the day, giving warning of the flight of time, and then during the night, echoing under the arches, and

floating over to Menlo Park, and the surrounding villages. It is the only thing needed to complete the beautiful impression made by that whole creation and its surroundings. I am aware that there has been talk of a subscription among the students for this purpose, but I cannot advise waiting for this. Such a subscription will take a long time and when raised it is a grave question whether it will be expended wisely. I would advise placing the bells, either peal or chime there at once. A good peal of four bells could be bought in thiscountry of C.H.Mencely of Troy, for about $3000 to $4000; a good chime of nine bells, like ours at Cornell, in the key of G, with a large bell on D below, bought of the same firm, would probably cost about $[4?]500. But your surroundings are so exquisitely beautiful, and your aim is so evidently to have the best, that I, cannot avoid suggesting to you to order your bells at the best place in the world- the establishment of Van [Aerschot?] at Leige in Belgium. The tone of their bells is exquisitely beautiful. Whose of the "Holy Trinity" Church in Philadelphia, which they made, are far superior to any ever cast in this country. [Menealy's?] bells are decidedly good, but there is a sweetness in those Belgium bells which our makers cannot yet attain to, and I think it would be a patriotic service to give the makers on the Pacific coast an example of the best that can be done in that line. If bought in Belgium a chime would probably cost $10000 to $15000, including duty.