Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 75.djvu/172

168

the final destiny of the jewels. She directed that they should be sold and their value made a permanent endowment of the library of the university.

And so the jewels have at least come to be the enduring possession of all the university—of all who may tread these fields or enter these corridors. In the memory of the earlier students they stand for the Quadrangle, whose doors they kept open, and for the adornment of the church, which shall be to all generations of students a source of joy and rest, a refining and uplifting influence. To the students who are to come in future days the message of the jewels will be read in the books they study within these walls and the waves of their influence spreading out shall touch the uttermost parts of the earth.

They say there is a language of precious stones, but I know that they speak in diverse tongues. Some diamonds tell strange tales, but not these diamonds. In the language of the jewels of Stanford may be read the lessons of faith, of hope and good will. They tell how Stanford was founded in love of the things that abide.

It was resolved by the Board of Trustees on May 29, 1908, as follows:

it was a cherished plan of Mrs. Jane L. Stanford that all jewels left by her should be sold after her death, and that the proceeds (estimated by her at more than five hundred thousand dollars) should be invested as a permanent fund, of which the income should be used exclusively for the purchase of books for the Library of the Leland Stanford Junior University; and

the pressing financial needs of the university compelled her temporarily to forego said plan, and to sell many of said jewels in her lifetime in order to raise money to maintain the university; and

by communication delivered to this board at its meeting, held February 22, 1905, Mrs. Stanford declared:

"In view of the facts and of my interest in the future development of the University Library, I now request the trustees to establish and maintain a library fund, and upon the sale of said jewels, after my departure from this life, I desire that the proceeds therefrom be paid into such fund and be preserved intact, and invested in bonds or real estate as a part of the capital of the endowment, and that the income therefrom be used exclusively for the purchase of books and other publications. I desire that the fund be known and designated as the "Jewel Fund." I have created and selected a Library Committee of the Board of Trustees, under supervision of which all such purchases should be made."

Now, in order to carry out said plan of Mrs. Stanford and to establish and maintain an adequate library fund, and to perform the promise made by this board to her, it is

Resolved, that a fund of five hundred thousand dollars, to be known and designated as the "Jewel Fund" is hereby created and established, which fund shall be preserved intact, and shall be separately invested and kept invested in bonds or real estate by the Board of Trustees, and the income of said fund shall be used exclusively in the purchase of books and other publications for the Library of the Leland Stanford Junior University, under the supervision and direction of the Library Committee of this Board of Trustees.

It was in these dark days that I was asked by President Cleveland through Mr. Charles S. Hamlin, to go to Bering Sea to help settle the fur seal disputes.

Before I started, in 1896, Mrs. Stanford said: Now that our