LETTER FROM HIS MOTHER. 129 



FROM HIS MOTHER. 



ORBE, April 7, 1830. 



I cannot thank you enough, my dear Louis, 

 for the happiness you have given me in com- 

 pleting your medical examinations, and thus 

 securing to yourself a career as safe as it is 

 honorable. It is a laurel added to those you 

 have already won ; in my eyes the most pre- 

 cious of all. You have for my sake gone 

 through a long and arduous task ; were it 

 in my power I would gladly reward you, but 

 I cannot even say that I love you the more 

 for it, because that is impossible. My anxious 

 solicitude for your future is a proof of my 

 ardent affection for you ; only one thing was 

 wanting to make me the happiest of mothers, 

 and this, my Louis, you have just given me. 

 May God reward you by giving you all possi- 

 ble success in the care of your fellow-beings. 

 May the benedictions which honor the memory 

 of a good physician be your portion, as they 

 have been in the highest degree that of your 

 grandfather. Why can he not be here to 

 share my happiness to-day in seeing my Louis 

 a medical graduate ! . . . 



Agassiz was recalled from Vienna in less 



VOL. I. 9 



