Stanford University - Quad Yearbook (Palo Alto, CA)

Page 31 text:

Anil from the ery place where mother lo -e seemed to go down in defeat hefore the stroke of death, this nohle woman came forth with a tender, i;racitnis interest in all the l )o ' s and i irls. who in years to come would slather here u])on her own estate and within these goodly buildings to receive training and ei|ni|inient for that life of useful service which she would have chosen for her own son. The old word of the Psahnist was again made flesh, for ( iod enlarged them when thev were in distress mitil their generous ])urpose included a mnltitiidc of sons and daughters which no man as yet can number. It is not for me to utter here those words of (lersonal eulogy which are upon our lips. Look up and out upon these stately buildings. Look into the faces oi the serious and cultured men who compose the faculty. Look upon the faces of promise which belong to the alumni and the student body. Let your vision stretch on into the future and include the innumeralile company yet to be blessed by the benefaction of this l ' ni ersity. and you will read the eulogy which needs no word of mine. hen I)a i(l Livingstone died in Africa, far inland, the faith- ful black men — his native friends whom he had led into Christian life — took his body upon their shoulders and bore it all the way, 200 miles, to the sea coast, where it was placed on board a Britisli ship to l)e carried to its last resting place in Westminster Abbe) ' . It was a beautiful service, and the world will never forget their de otion. And if all those who have been blessed and who are yet to be blessed by the generous kindness of Mrs. Stanford could have gathered, there would have been enough of them to have stretched hands all the way across the wide sea to sunnj- Hawaii and to have ofTered her body the conveyance of loving appreciation to its resting place beside the I ' niversity to which she has given her- self without measure. Yet after all the body is but the outworn and discarded tenement from which the life has moved into ampler quarters, and our highest service is best rendered to the souls of those we lo e. If all those to whom she has been a friend could, come they would take her s])irit in the arms of their gratitude and bear it to the place where it may become a jjillar in the temple of our God, to cro no more out.

Page 30 text:

Address at the Funeral of Jane Lathrop Stanford Res-. Chas. R. Bkown [■ . ha c reached the place where we are to render this last sad office to all that remains on earth of this honored and g-enerous family. The dust returns to dust as it was. but the memor} ' of what they have been and ha e done will abide here forever, and the helpful influence of the service they have ren- dered will rest uneeasino-ly upon our State and our Nation, and upon the yountj manhood and womanhood of lands across the sea. The his ' h office of sorrow has been abundantly declared in literature, in art and life. Idie sweet singer of Israel, looking back upon the supreme bereavement of his life, said : Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress — the suffering had served to widen the range of his sympathies and to extend his purpose of usefulness. One of the most widely read poems in the English language sprang from Tennyson ' s sorrow o er the death of his friend Hallam. The lo ■eliest building which adorns the earth, the Taj Mahal, grew out of the sorrow of a generous man over the death of his devoted wife. The strains of that I uneral March and Seraphic Chant, by Ciuilmant, wdiich alone is able to contend for pre-eminence in that field with the celebrated composition of Chopin, was written within three days after the death of the composer ' s mother. Somehow the eyes that have been washed with tears, come to have a clearer vision of the beauty of holiness and of service and of God. We think of all this as we gather here around this mausoleum and imdcr the shadow of these noble imiversitv buildings. It was far away in sunny Italy that the light died out of the sky for these devoted parents. Possessed of ample means and with the highest aspirations for the de -elopment and usefulness of their only son, it seemed, when he died, that the very purpose of exist- ence for them was utterly gone. lUit in the ' er}- hour of this overwdielming sadness, Senator Stanford rose up and said, The children of California shall be my children — and the plans for this splendid institution began to take shape in his mind.

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The Stanford Spirit. Father and mother and son — They are gone — They have gone from us, one by one ; But though they have passed from our sight They have left us a Spirit and Light, And that Light and that Spirit live on ! Out of the yearnmg of youth. In the dawn, To give of the beauty and truth That were his, to his fellow-man. Came the impulse, the fire that foreran The beacon of hght that lives on. Out of the wisdom of love That had won In the struggle with grief, above The despair of the darkness and pain Rose the Light that shall never more wane. The Spirit and Light that live on. And they are thrice blessed who gave Not alone Of their wealth, but of love; and the grave Shall not hide them — their grace shall abide In our hearts and their gifts shall be multiplied While the Light and the Spirit live on !