April 24, 1907 (Wednesday)

QUAKER DONATES $1 MILLION FOR THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG BLACKS: A Philadelphia Quaker named Anna T. Jeanes (right) has donated $1 million to set up an endowment to help southern states educate young black students. According to the front-page article in today's New York Times, this gift "is said to be by far the largest single gift for public elementary school purposes ever donated by any philanthropist in this country." Miss Jeanes is older than 80 and is the last member of a long-established Quaker family.

YALE STUDENTS ARE TOO ROWDY: For about a month, an orchestra has played music in the Yale University dining hall, presumably as an aid to digestion. However, the students' method of showing their appreciation has caused a problem at the university. According to today's New York Times, the students have BROKEN hundreds of dollars' worth of furniture and glassware. Each student has received a notice to "hereafter confine their applause to handclapping and yelling."

JACK LONDON BEGINS HIS CRUISE: A brief article on the front page of today's Washington Post notes that author Jack London left San Francisco yesterday on what he hopes to be a 6-year trip around the world. He's doing it on board the "Snark" (shown above at Honolulu in August of 1907). The cruise will become a a wonderful book.