The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 28, 1897, Page 17

¥ ~ atiful ranch nestling among | e foothills above Martinez dwells man who has out-Thoreaued and gained for himself au inter- | that claimed him for their own. reputation as a close observer of | The Sierra range is about 500 miles long, ' in her most awful moods, and yet | seventy miles wide and from 7000 to 15, whose ‘personality is probably as little 000 feet high. Lke all the mountain jn0wn to the world at large as was that of | ranges of California, seen from the plains, e recluse of Walden Pond to the con- | they look bare, brown and uninteresting, mptuous world about him. | giving no hint of the mighty forests, the For something over two years Thoreau | deep, mysterious canyons, the great lakes dwelt by Walden Pond and kept his|and rivers hidden away among their vast- famous and fascinating record of the wild | nesses. Yet all these are there by the life about him, but for more than thirteen | thousands, and to Mr. Muir the trails of years John Muir dwelt, solitary, among | wolf and mountain sheep and all the the fastnesses of the high Sierrss, beside | teeming wild life of the range are as the great glaciers that have been thestudy | familiar as Front and East streets are to always hurrying back as soon as possible to his beloved mountains and the glaciers every year or 50 for a week au a time, but , denly asked: of his lifetime. Away to the northwest, in the mountains of Alaska, stands the little hut where he dwelt for some year: and made his observations of Muir Glacier; and here and there, on Whitney, | Hood, Shasta and Lyell, are other cabins. | none of them more than the merest camps | for a night, where the hero of science made his lonely awelling-place. | ‘““There is something uncontrollable in | every man that makes him do the thing | he supremely desires, even when his jude- | ment disapproves,” John Muir said once, | when asked why he elected to spend some | of the best years of his life in places where | not even the Indians wandering through | the mountains d d venture. | Certainly this something uncontrollable | rulea his destiny and compeiled him to | the pursuit of his supreme desire. He | wanted 10 know something about the mar- velous ice formations of the Pacific Coast mountain ranges. So he studied them Agassiz said of him that “‘he prob- knew more about glaciers than any | other man in the world.” 1 spent a charming “day with Mr. Mair | and his family on the Martinez ranch not | long sgo. The famous mountaineer does { not look the hardy, daring, even reckless | explorer that he has been. He 1s of | medium height, slender, even delicate, in pearance, with lau; z blue eyes ana | curling hair, now thickly sprinkled with | gray. He is a moael farmer, and the casual observer mignt spend a day with | him and see only the leisurely, wealthy| country gentleman of scholarly - taste, | with a dilection for scientific stud. | little inclined to indolence, perhaps—an | inclination which the genial Californian | climate fosters In her children. Bat there is scarcely a perilous, albeit inaccessible, peak of the high Sierras that Mr. Muiri has not scaled, carrying no blankets, sleeping in snowy rifts and icy caves, liv ing upon dry bread and the chilly waters of the melting glaciers month after month through long Sierra wintes ing down to the haunts of ci | San Francisco merchants. The great can- vons of the range, according to Mr. Muir, ve all, without exception, been cut by glacial action, and awsy up among the peaks glaciers are still at work grading the mountains and making new passes that may yet be highways of traffic along | which Macdulay’s intelligent New Zea- lander may ride in a horseless carriage when he visits California. “I must get back to the mountains soon,” Mr. Muir said to me, on the day 1 spent at the ranch. *It would be awful to die down here on the level. I'm not thinking of dying yet, but when I do leave here it must be from the peaks.” It re- minded me of something he has some- where said in print, “These mountain mansions are decent, delightful, even di- vine piaces to die in compared with the | doleful chambers of civilization.” “You must have bad some narrow es- capes, Mr, Muir,” Isaid, “in your years of climbing icy peaks.”’ He smiled. was climbing Ritter once,” he began, ‘'when, for the only time in my whole life, my nerves failed me. Ihad been going on all fours for hours and I had no ax to cut my way. I had breakfasted houus be- fore on bread and tea, and was faint and exhausted. It wasin the dead of winter. Ishould never have attempted that trip before midsummer, but I was hungry to get to tne top of the north spurs. Ritter iz some 13,000 feet high, and surrounded by glaciers and canyons thonsands of feet deep. 1 was up probably 12,000 feet, when suddenly foot and hand hold failed me. There was no going back; there wis no going forward. never expected to get out of that place. I simply hung there and waited until the | secona should come for me to drop. I ppose it was a sheer slide of 5000 feet once one siarted.” I waited breathless for the continua- tion of the narrative, but apparentiy the bardy mountaineer thought he had told enough, for aftera long silence he sud- Ilay sprawled there | on the ice absolutely unable to move. I | storm in the Sierras?” | answer no. God provides for claimed. “I’'ve seen Shasta and Whitney and Hood fling out banners males long to the north wind. When the wind whirls | | | | | i “Did you ever see a wind- | about the peaks it catches up the light, I was forced to | crisp snow and sweeps it away in wonder- “It is the grandest spectacle | ful, banner-like clouds {hat ure the most us”” Mr. Muir ex- | glorious things human eye ever saw. The sun shining on them tinges them with gold and crimson and they catch the biue of thesky and the huesof the rainbow flash from the sparkling snow-crystals. They fling out, out, upon the wind until your very soul flees after them, and then vou know what it is to be alive!” Mr. Muir is not always. in the mood that talks. Years of solitary dwelling in icebound fortresses JOHN MUIR, THE HERMIT OF THE GLACIERS. Hanging dream-like and eyrie, Under the morning star, _ do not make a man garrulous; buton that long spring afternoon he satand spun stories that were like tales out of dreamland. He told of climbing for weeks along the course of a glacier—not- ing its movement, studying its action— carrying on his back a sack of bread, in his pocket some matches and a packet of tea. These were his stores. A little melted snow or ice boiled in a tin cup made his tea, and on this fare he did such work, endured such hardships as feli to the lot ot few men. ‘Bread and books are all a man needs,” he said, as he deftly severed the joints of 2 plump, brown turkey at table. *‘Have some mare of the dressing?”’ and he fell to telling of a Christmas morning be spent on the top of a Sierra ridge, where half a hundred birds flocked about him to share his holiday meal of dry bread and water. ‘‘[ never carried a gun,” he said, “and I suppose they would not have known one, anyway, but they were tame as house doves. I could gather an audience any morning by whistling. The birds would fly round and round my head, poising ou their out- stretched wings, and drink in every not: 1 asked him if it was really true, a state- ment of his I had somewhere seen, to the effect that he had found all wild creatures seeming to possess a curious dislike for the air of ©*Old Hundred.” “True as preaching,” he cried. “I've tried 1t hun- dreds of times. I remember once a Doug- lass squirrel came bothering about camp, and I couldn’t frighten him off. Money couldn’t have hired me to kill the little chap, but he would raid my bread-pack before my very eyes and sit and chatter nonsense at me right over my head. He liked to hear me whistle, and would lis- ten, keeping time with his little red head, aslongas I had breath to make a sound. | Atlast I remembered former experiences with birds and small creatures, and 1 be- gan to whistle ‘Old Hundred.” Upon my word, I hadn’t reached the second line before that fellow's heels twinkled in the air, and he was gone like a flash,” and the glacial stadent chuckled over the memory. Mr. Muir’s thirteen years of close ob- servation of the glacial phenomens have yielded him a vast amount of knowledge regarding the formation of the many lakes and rivers held within the Sierra’s fastnesses. His theories regard- ing these are original and interesting. According to him every lake 1n the Sierras is a glacier lake. They have been formed by the slowly melting glaciers. They havedis- appeared, from time to time, as the great ice-current has receded. Some have met with accidental death, so to speak, be- neath avalanches, and the basins of others that will gladden the eyes of explorers centuries hence are now forming bsneath mighty glaciers. ' His discussions on the subject are full of fascinating suggestion. Half the literary industry on Mr. Muir's part that enabled Thoreau to give the world lasting volumes of record concern- ing the wood-life about Walden Pond would put us 1n possession of data of un- questioned value concerning the chain of great mountains he has ranged so freely. He showed me a small mountain—or, at all events, a foothill—of manuscript notes taken during his wanderings, from which he promises one day to make a book, but thus far one small volume of desultory sketches is all the world has profited from his unigue explorations. Newest Thing in Money-Sweating One of the most puzzled men in town is a Montgomery-street restaurant-keeper who recently took in a $20 gold piece which filled all the ordinary requirements of genuineness so far as a superficial test could reveal the true facts, But a few days ago a banker stepped into his place and saw the $20 piece which the restaur- ant man had received only a short time before. The banker had a queer look in his eyes as he took the coin and rapped it sharply with his knife and the restaurant- keeper had a stranger expression as he saw his supposed $20 piece break into two pieces. “How is th1s?"’ he demanded. The banker answered: *It is the same old game. I had one of those pieces my- self, and since that I have tested gold pieces of the $20 denomination very care- fully. If thathad been genuine my test would not have broken it.” Then the restaurant-keeper and the banker carefuily examined it togsther. The outside of the gold piece was all right, seemingly, when the dissevered parts were placed together. The milling seemed to be up to the standard. The weight was correct. But the inside of the piece was half filled with a composition which was not the customary gold and alloy. | Still closer examination revealed that the gold had been sawed through with exquisite | care and sei!l just inside of the milling. | Then the milling had been removed and from the interior of the piece some of the gold had been extracted and the baser composition was made to take the place of the more precious metal. Then, with equal deftness and skill, the milling had been replaced and soldered in some way | and the trick was done. THE STATE UNIVERSITY'S NEW ERA Clmmnuw mmmmuwnummmumummmxmmxmnflwflfi *E must be very careless or very | # blind who does not discern in the unanimous grant by the Legislature of an additional 1-cent tax to the University of California, in the libara! donations of public-spirited citizens and in the increasing interest taken by the people at large in the affairs of the wmstitu- tion, substantial ev.dence of the spread to | this coast of the spirit which has led to the foundation in the East of such noble monuments of high education s the uni- versities of Johns Hopkins and Chicago. It is evident that California does not pro- pose to lag behind the older States in the development of modern university life, and that neither money nor endeavor will be lacking to secure on the Pacific Coast the evolution of the bigh ideais which are the test of a lofty civilization. Professor Joseph Le Conte expressed a simple truth when he said that the best minds were as one on the vital necessity of realizing at Berkeley the true idea of a university, and on the duty which devolves on its facuity to prepare its graduates for leadership in the world of thought and the world of action. Four yearsago President David|Stair Jor- dan, now of Stanford, delivered the oration on Charter day at the University of Berke- ley. In thataddress he struck the key- note of modern high education, in the sentence: “The very essence of republi- canism is popular education.” Not the education of the past, which was barren and old fogyish, and in the course of which musty old men in libraries tried to make young men as dry and dreary as them- selves; nor the education of Europe,which turned out gentlemen and clergymen garbed in a patehwork of superficial at- 1ainments; but the ideal education of to- day, which takes the common man and trains him to be wise and gentle and noble. This cannot be done by books or lectures; it must be accomplished through the noble influence of self-culture, in a congenial atmosphere which makes for right living, right thioking and right acting. In this State public opinion has al- ways been feeble, and consequently the standara of patriotism has been low. Scholars have been afraid to combat fraud. We have inherited the weaknesses and crimes of the mother country, and have not acquired strength enough to throw them off. It is the businessofa great university to grow a race of kings of men, who shall be clear-sighted enough to discern the truth, and brave enough 10 express it at all costs. They must not be of the breed of Mr. Facing-both-ways. They must realize that it is their business 10 solve public problems as they arise, and to solve them in the right way; else they wil and a wry ng in all questions; it is the business of higher education to find the | Some one oncs | right and to stick to it. said that 15 per cent of the acts in our statute-book were rank violations of the | laws of sacial and economic science; ii de- volves upon our universities so to edu- cate those who lead the people that such errors shall not be repeated. Their past 2pathy is largely responsible for the alleged failure of republican insti- tutions. What does it benefit a man to understand the Greek digamma and the rules of conic sections if the Legislature he helps to elect is the servant of arrogant monopolists, ignorant demagogues and reckless agitators; if the San Francisco delegation represents not the citizens, but simple ignorance and greed; if questions of public policy are settled not by the rule of right or wrong, but by considerations of party ascendency and personal ambi- tion? . The president of one of the youngest and most progressive of our universities lately said that the honest citizen asked nothing of le; isiation except that it keep outof hisway. He wants no guardian- ship nor coddling. He can pay as he zoss. He wants no free lunches nor any- thing else for nothing. He scorns to be one of a nation of deadheads. Those are the principles which the university of the future will impress on its graduates. Throughout all time the university has shaped the civilization of its period and its country. Oxford and Paris engendered the spirit of an age in which culture was the monopoly of the nobility and the church. Against Spanish oppression the Duich raised the impregnable barrier of the University of Leyden. So in this country Coit Tyler of Cornell lately ob- served, with perfect truth, that the men of the early American colleges—Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia and William and Mary—made success in the Revolu- tionary War possible. In our day the enemies With which society has to contend are not robber barons, nor fanatical reli- glonists, nor foreign tyrants, but fallacies in political economy and social science; and once more it devolves upon the univer- sities to point out the path of truth aud honor; to teach the people the duty of tol- erance toward thoss whose skins are not of the same color as theirs, toward others whose opinions differ from those they hold, and to make the people feel the shame of embracing falsehood and fraud because they promise place and profit. Of course, the fulfillment of so noble a task as this depends upon the quality of the minds which are the leaders of 1 not stay solved. Thereis a right | | thought in the universities. A university lives through its professors. Of none of | them should it be possible to say that he has anything mean or cheap or paltry about him. His mind should be a crystal | globule and his heart should be- steel. He should be a natural-born leader of | men, like Acassiz, Asa Gray or Andrew Dickson White. The ideal professor was Louis Agassiz, the savant who, when his son, Alexander, informed bim that he proposed to marry, smilingly observed that he hoped the event would not inter- rupt his studies. The professor of the past was once de- scribed as a pump, who, when his piston was set going, pumped second-hand in- formation out of a reservoir by his side, and poured it into little pitchers which held their little mouths open for its recep- tion. This was the teacher who believed that the common school should stick to the three R’s and the university to the thzee studies which complete a liberal education—Greek, Latin and mathematics. Contrast this worthy’s scheme of educa- tion with the tripos proposed by the ven- erable Joe Le Conte, leading the modern student through mathematics and its branches, then through art, language, history and philosophy to the crowning science of sociology. Professor Le Conte does not let go his pupil’s hana till he has landed him on the serene heights where Herbert Spencer reigns; but on the way he does not disdain a little flirtation now and then with the studies which the old university professor called the ‘“side fixin’s” of a liberal education. Higher education is in its infancy; able minds are groping for substitutes for the moribund form of the old systems. The four-year curriculum 1s a back number. At Chicago they are dispensing with fresh- men and sophs, juniors and seniors, and the example will probably be contagious. As to degrees and diplomas, when a man writes B.A. or M.A. after his name every one knows that he is an Englisbman, and avery young Englishman at that. The “double first” and the ‘“‘senior wrangier” and “the prize-medalist” and the ‘“num- ber one” and ‘‘number two” are passing into history. Men wore such handles to their names when they felt it necessary to give the world public notice that they were not what they seemed, but were really smart fellows and fine scholars. The American graduate of the future will not require to file a certificate of his merit. It will show for itself. Now ard then aman is met who has succeeded in life without having enjoyed the advantage of a university education, and who disparages such a preparation for battle with the world. - That such persons are rare is demanstrated by the increased. and ever increasing number of young men | and young women who seek admission to | | Berkeley. In fact, it needs no argument | |to prove that a few years spent at a university are not only beneficial but are indispensable for those Wwho do not mean to be hewers of wood and drawers of water. Every community is ruled by u few men; the brightest, the bravest, the most cultured, the most hon- orable, the most universally respected. Where shall we find such men except 1n the ranks of university graduates? Itis only at a university that young minas in the receptive stage can be brought into contact with the ablest intellects of the past and of the present, and can obtain by attrition with each other the high grain and polish which command the obedience though they may arouse the envy of the mob. It is only at a university that young men find their level, and, as the boys say, get.the nonsense knocked outof them. It is only in such institutions that whatever isnoblest in a young man is brought out, and that he is forced by competition to do his leve! best. Graduates of the saloon and the.corner grocery sneer at college professors and college students, taking comfort out of an alleged sayiug of Horace Greeley, that he would rather have the opinion of an illit- erate Kentucky farmer on a question of politics than that of a college pro- fessor in Western New York. Mr. Greeley, however, stocked his Tribune not with il- literate farmers, but with university grad- uates, and his own English was pure and undefiled. Every man who has read hi tory or observed life will testify that the opinion of the majority of men is generally wrong. The voice of the people is not the voice of God; quite the contrary. Itis the masses who embrace popular de- lusions and go crazy over 16 to 1, orother vagaries. It is the time-serving dema- gogue who aids and abets them in their folly from base and corrupt motives; the stalwart fight for the truth, which so often saves nations from the consequences of an ignoble policy, 1s fought by the few, who probably acquired their xnowledge at a university. But, say the masses, we can’t all send our sons and daughters to Berkeley. Of course not. The narrow precincts of that alma mater would be inconveniently crowded if you could. And though there are very few young men and young women who would not_be benefited by a few months’ or years' study at the uni- versity, there are undoubtedly, as the old saying ran, some 50-cent boys uvon whom a $2000 education would be wasted. But the father who assumes that his boy isa 50-cent boy before his mind has fully opened takes an awful responsibility. Some of the ablest men the world- has known were to_be marvels of stupidity at school. No ‘one had then come along with the key which opened the lock of their soul. .Was it Brutus who passed for a fool uniil’ Lucretia's wrongs roused him to expel the Tarquins from 5 BERKELEY'S PHILOSOPHICAL UNION mmxxuuum&mmm&um&uxu&mmunumu&umfl HE prominence to which the Philo- sovhical Union of the University of California hes attained is attested by the fact that Professors Royce and Watson and Dr. Harris could be secured to address it. Indeed, Dr. Harris says that it is & unique organization, compris- ing a larger number of intelligent students of philosophy, who are able to enter into subtle and profound discussions touching important questions in their science, than any other philosophical club in the world. It has had from the time of its organ- ization up to the present some 370 mem- bers on its roll, and of these several have advanced to positions of importance in the universities of our country. Of its charter members Dr. C. M. Bakewell, '89, is intructor of Greek philosophy in Har- vard University; Dr. G. M. Stratton, '88, having studied with distinguished success under Professor Wundt, and having ob- tained his Ph.D. summa cum lande from the University of Leipsic, now occupies a position in the department of philosophy in the University of California, and Dr. 8. E. Mezes, '84, and for four years a gradu- ate student in the same department, is now the head of the school of philosophy in the University of Texas. On account of the reputation of the union, it will be of interest to the public to know something of its history. In 1889 it occurred to Professor Howison, who had then been teaching in the Uni- versity of California for five years, that it would be pleasant to have a reunion of students who, during those years, nad worked in his depertment. It would be a mesas of bringing them together socially and of reviving among the graduates from the department their interest in philoso- phy. Accordingly he invited them to meet the professors of the university with their families, and other persons of distinction, at a supper to be given in North Hall during commencement week. There were about 200 guests in all, 150 of whom were students. Addresses were de- livered by friends of the cause and short papers were read by students. 8o great was the interest arising out of that reunion that on that day fifty of the students, graduates and undergradnates organized themselves into the “*Philosoph- ieal Union of the University of Califor- nia,” determining to perpetuate the ben- efit received by this coming together. They elected Professor Howison president and adopted a constitution, the preamble of which reads as follows: ‘We, the undersigned graduates and other members-of the department of phil- osophy in. the University of California, convinced of the supreme interest and im- Rome? JourN BONNER. port of philosophical studies for human . | life in all its aspects, individual or social, private or public, ana desiring, therefore, to promote them among ourseives and among oshers, especially in the communi- ties on the Pacific Coast, hereby unite in an organization, pledging ourselves to ad- vance this object by every right means in our power and adopting the following coustitution.’ This constitution states the object of the union to be: “The improvement of the membersin the knowledge of phil- osophy; the increase of its control over their aims and conduct; the formation of a detinite bond among them, and the strengthening of their sympathy, par- ticularly in regard to their common pur- suit of philosophy; the awakening of in- terest in philosophy, and ths dissemina- tion of it, among all persons on whom they can exert an influence; and, in par- ticular, the maintenance, at the seat of the university, of a central association for philosophical study and discussion.’ The society was to meet once a month and to carry on systematic work in philos- ophy. The first year was spent in the study of Plato’'s “Apology,” *Crito,” “Enthyphro” and *Phaedo’; two papers were read each evening, and the discus- sions were finally summed up by Pro- fessor Howison. The next subject studied was the “Theory of Knowledge,” to which the topics of the preceding year naturally led. Two years were spent on this funda- mental branch of philosophical study, ana the whole ‘history of philosophy was traversed in so far as it bears on the ques- tion whether there is knowledge that transcends actual experience or whether all knowledge is merely the resultof ex- perience. The work of the year was effectually re-enforced by a short series of lectures by W. R. Alger of Boston, enaing with one ' on ‘‘Immortality,”” which was a most impressive address. The two fol- lowing yesrs (1392-94) were spent in study- ing John Fiske’s ‘‘Destiny of Man’ and “Idea of God.”’ -Mr. Fiske himself was consulted, and wrote letters expressing his interest in the discussion. By this time it had become apparent that for a really successful prosecution of the studies proposed it was needful that the authors studied should come- before the union in person and express their views more fully than could be done in books; especially as the work of each year developed important criticisms that called for answer; and none could deal with such criticisms so well as the au- thors criticized. 1In 1894-95, Professor Royce’s book, “The Religious Aspect of Philosophy,” was studied, and Professor Royce bhimself came out in August, 1895, in response to the union’s invitation, snd delivered a | series of lectures, notably the public ad- dress in the Harmon Gymnasium on “The Conception of God,” calling forth replies from Professors Mezes, Le Conte and Howison. The next year, Professor Watson’s “Comte, Mill and Spencer” occupied the union, and the author came out to am- plify his views and to reply to criticisms, delivering five lectures, which culminated in one on “The Greek and Christian Ideals of Life.” This year a book by Dr. W. T. Harris, entitled “Hegel's Logic,” is the object of study, and the union bas already had a visit from him, during which he ad- dressed the society on the main topic ot the book, namely, “The Existence and Nature of God.” This brief sketch of the work hitherto done serves to give some idea of the scope and character of the work projected. The study of each year will result in a volume to be published by the Macmillan Com- pany of New York and London, which, it is hoped, will be a contribution of perma- nent vaiuve to philosophy. One of the volumes has already appeared, that by Professor Watson, beating the title, ‘‘Christianity and Idealism.” A part of the aim in these discussions and publica- tions is to place properly before the world the philosophical theories contributed to the history of thought by Professor Howi- son, and to present them in ‘he light afforded by discussions with qualified rep- resentatives of other doctrines. The members of the union are carefully selected, although it 13 not expected that each member will be an expert in philosophy. Many persons generaily interested in the work and desirous of belping to support a society with such aims have attached themselves to it, so that the members may b: divided into two classes, those directly engaged in philosophical study and those who, although not themse!ves so engaged, wish to help maintain an organization that reflects credit and honor upon our State; for the union is becoming known in Europe, as well as throughout the East, for the high character of the work done, and is undoubtedly one of the most effective agents in showing to the learned world our State Unmiversity in its true ligat. The ex-Empress Eugenie still cherishes a true Spaniard’s taste for strong scents, ner favorite odors being sandalwood and lemon verbena. The Queen Regent of Spain has a delicious perfume especially made for her use from the spice-scented blossoms of the carnations