Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/396

 346 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Mr. Mitchell, on the plan being presented to him, cheerfully con- sented to have his contribution go into the construction of the Tower. The Mitchell Tower was made the central feature. Fronting on Fifty-seventh Street, it gave entrance to the entire group. It was modeled after the famous Magdalen Tower of Oxford. In it were installed the Alice Freeman Palmer Chimes in honor of the first Dean of Women. When this was done in 1908 it was arranged that every night, at five minutes after ten o'clock, the chimes should send out over the quadrangles the pleasing melody of the Alma Mater, indicating that the day was ended and the hour for rest had come. This custom looks back for its inspiration to a letter from Mr. Stagg to the President written November 30, 1904, in which he said: It is with the greatest pleasure and satisfaction that I herewith send you a check for $1,000 as a gift to the University. It was just a year ago during my sickness, you will remember, that the thought of making this gift came to me My mind went back to my own college days at Yale. The sweet chimes of Battell Chapel had always been an inspiration to me The thought came to me and filled me with the deepest satisfaction, "Why not have a good night chime for our own athletes to let its sweet cadence have a last word with them before they fall asleep; to speak to them of love and loyalty and sacrifice for their University and of hope and inspiration and endeavor for the morrow ? " Whenever therefore the Alice Freeman Palmer chimes are installed, it would be my wish to have a special cadence rung for our athletes who are in training perhaps five to ten minutes after the regular chimes at ten o'clock. As in the case of the Mitchell Tower, to Oxford Mr. Hutchinson and the architect went for the plan of the Commons also. The original for that building they found in the dining-hall of Christ Church. The cornerstones of these four buildings were laid on the last day of the Decennial Celebration, June 18, 1901. This made six cornerstones laid during the five days of the Celebration. The program of the five days was long and complicated, and the laying of these six cornerstones seemed to be very prominent features of it. At the Congregation dinner, Dean George E. Vincent created great merriment by saying that the makers of the program had evi-