Stanford University - Quad Yearbook (Palo Alto, CA)

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DZWID STZXIQIQ JQIQDZXN. SEE FRONTISPIECE. . y S-if T was said of John Bright that,.even in. his greatest ora- ,A tions, he gave no sense of strain the impression always left was, not that he had spurred himself to unusual effort, j 4,679 but rather that he was holding himself well under check, Lg Ney! with power still in reserve, to be drawn on in case of further need. Once in a while, but not often, we meet with a man whose whole bearing and manner unmistakably suggest such large resourcesbof native strength, such inexhaustible personal capital, and then we say to ourselves, such a one is in himself greater than anything he has done, greater than anything he may ever do. To know the President of Stanford University, however slightly, is to feel instinctively that he belongs to this small class, A to know him well, is to be convinced of it. Those of us who have been privileged to work side by side with Dr. Jordan would never think of referring to facts of accomplishment, no matter how remarkable, for evidence of his mental and moral strength - his strength of character. We accept him as one of the world's strong men 3 and his words and deeds, instinct as they are with the force of his splendid personality, are for us but partial revelations of it, after all. We never regard them as final. Perhaps the best proof of a man's essential greatness of character is, that he first comp-els us to expect great things of him, and then never dis- appoints us. In,Dr. J ordan's presence, we have always a feeling of com- plete adequacyg we are satisfied that when the new occasion comes, the man will be equal to it. This beyond all else, perhaps, makes him the ideal leader. In the conduct of a great and diflicult enterprise, we admire his extraordinary capacity for work, his easy mastery of details, his genius for organization, his rare insight into men, his certainty of judgment, this self- possession, his breadth and sanity of view. But at bottom, such things really count less .than his power of inspiring and maintaining confidence and enthusiasm -than that pervasive vigor of personality which it is per- haps impossible to analyze, and certainly impossible not to feel. We do not wonder that his stress should always be laid on character, that individu- ality and sincerity should be the first and last words of his gospel. For character, individuality, sincerity, are the foundations of his own strength. Sucha man will necessarily have his own way of looking at all things, his own manner of re-stating even the common-place. No one who reads I

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these lines will need to be reminded of Dr. Jordan's originality of thought and expression. His spoken or written word seems always to have the entire weight of the man's character' behind itg it has always the racy freshness of the man's genius as well. Take an idea of your own to him, or one that you have picked up in reading, and he will at once set it in unexpected lights, link it with other ideas, making it thus reach out far upon all sides, and put it into illuminating phrase. Even a quotation becomes his in the quoting g like Moliere, he can take what belongs to him wherever he finds it. It is through this power of assimilation, as well as by virtue of his spontaneity, his grasp, his knowledge, his sweep of mental vision, that he is one of the most suggestive of teachers. The style is also in his case e'mphatiCa11y of the man. People sometimes complain that in his lectures he sets all the recognized laws of public speaking at defiance 3 but how many of us would have him on the platform or in the class-room other than just as he is ? And when once you have heard him lecture, his Writing seems to be every Whit as immediate and personal as his speech. Every paragraph from his pen, With its simplicity, verility, terseness and directness, bears the sign-manual of the writer. Outsiders are not alittle puzzled by Dr. Jordan's reticence, and one often hears him described as unapproachable, sphynx-like, a man not easy to fathom or understand. Strangers watch his face in repose, mark its massive intellectuality, and pronounce him distant, unemotional. This is quite explicable. Dr. Jordan has his reserves ,'i16 frequently suggests to us the sage who was silent in seven languages. He is not cut out for what is ordinarily called social success. He has no ready command of 'small talk g and among the formalities of conventional intercourse he is apt, as one may note, to withdraw into himself. But We who see him at closer quarters, in the varied cirumstances of our college life, understand how large and Warm is the heart that beats beneath the calm and impassive exterior that he commonly turns to the world. We have learned to appreciate his manly simplicity, his kindliness, his geniality, we have learned to love, too, his quaint and delightful humor, his boyish enjoyment of little things. He is fond of saying- and the thought is illustrative of his whole conception of education-that it is men, not books or buildings, that make the great University. Those who stand without our circle will recognize the enormous power his personality has had in the making of our great institution. But We who are Within that circle, while We understand this, know also, as others cannot, the hold he has upon the affections of all who in any way are Working for the higher life of the world under his guidance and leadership. WILLIAM HENRY HUDSON.