THREE KINGDOMS. 



CHAPTER I. 



HISTORY OF THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION THE ORIGIN. 



THE Agassiz Association, for the observation and 

 study of natural objects, was founded in 1875 by 

 the writer, in connection with a school which he was 

 then teaching in Lenox, Mass. It was the outgrowth 

 of a life-long love for nature, and a belief that edu- 

 cation is incomplete unless it include some practical 

 knowledge of the common objects that surround us. 

 For several years the little school society continued its 

 work pleasantly and with profit. The president grad- 

 ually came to the opinion (strengthened "by reading 

 an account of a somewhat similar, though far more 

 limited, organization in Switzerland), that there might 

 be other communities in which a like society would be 

 welcomed, and several branch societies were organ- 

 ized. To test the matter more fully, having obtained 

 the cordial co-operation of the editors of the St. 

 Nicholas, a general invitation to unite in the work was 

 published in 1880, in the November number of that 

 magazine. It was substantially as follows : 



THE INVITATION. 



You must know that, across the ocean and over the 

 Alps, the boys and girls of Switzerland have a bright 

 idea. They have formed a society, and they have a 

 badge. The badge is a spray of evergreen, and the 

 society is a Natural History Society. 



