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2. In the Dragon’s Lair
- The University Press of Kentucky
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CHAPTER 2 IN THE DRAGON’S LAIR The oddest career whose unfolding we saw at early Stanford was that of Homer Lea. —William Irwin Lea attended Stanford until his health failed. Repeated absences from the classroom due to illness and injury dampened his enthusiasm for college life. He grew impatient during his forced inactivity and recuperation and found more exciting prospects to pursue than college. The mysteries and intrigue of the Orient beckoned to him. Lea had barely settled into the first semester of campus life at Stanford before health issues intervened. Not many weeks after his twenty-first birthday, and shortly before the end of the fall semester, his headaches and eyesight worsened. He knew he could not endure the semester. He also knew that to drop out and go back to Los Angeles and possibly Occidental might be an irreversible step away from his goals. He decided on a pragmatic but difficult course of action. He left the university temporarily to recuperate, taking incomplete grades in half his courses.1 The treatment and rest Lea received over the Christmas break enabled him to return to Stanford undaunted in late January 1898 to take up where he had left off. By no means cured, however, he began consulting a San Francisco physician in the hopes of stabilizing his health enough to remain in school on a regular basis. He redoubled his academic efforts and managed to handle the new semester course load while successfully completing most of his delinquent fall course work. However, even under a physician’s care, the strain continued to take its toll. Toward the end of the semester his eyes were in such a 26 • Homer Lea poor condition that he could not use them for more than a few minutes at a time. Fortunately, he did not have to take a leave of absence again. He was determined to finish the semester. He underwent a series of nasal operations that helped his sight, and although he had to remain confined to his room for several days at a time, he did not have to leave the university.2 Lea enjoyed college life at Stanford despite his poor health. He majored in economics, with every intention of becoming a lawyer. He joined the Euphronia Literary Society, one of Stanford’s premier debating clubs, and took up fencing again until severe headaches and eye trouble forced him to give it up. As a competitor, he held his own against some of the best fencers on campus. He also established himself with a new group of friends. His enthusiasm for discussion and his love of military history quickly earned him a place as one of Stanford’s extraordinary and dynamic personalities.3 Looking back on those early days at Stanford, writer William Irwin recalled Lea’s passion, personality , and enigmatic qualities: [T]he oddest career whose unfolding we saw at early Stanford was that of Homer Lea. Pathetically hunchbacked, his torso seemed only a bulb fastened on to his legs and his face had that appearance of a wise child common among people with his affliction. For all that, he carried himself with a defiant dignity. He seemed to repel most advances towards intimacy , probably because he felt that pity prompted them. But he played chess, and so did I; that led to acquaintance. He was always drawing the analogy between chess and war. A clever move with his castle and, “see, I’ve brought my heavy artillery into action,” he would say. I found then, that war was his hobby—our American Civil War especially. . . . A good fellow the College called him, but queer. Even his roommates did not pretend to understand him.4 While other students adorned their dormitory room walls with pictures of girls or sports figures, Lea preferred huge maps of the world on which he could play out his military fantasies. World events often carried him away to expound on wild ideas of international hemispheric wars and the impending sack of America by expanding predatory powers. He waged great world wars on his maps, using colored pins to mark the day-by-day movements of the military forces at [54.205.243.115] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 07:22 GMT) In the Dragon’s Lair • 27 his command. One week he might have masterminded a war between Japan and Germany and the next between China and America. Or another week the players might have been Russia and...