THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION 



75 



cupied, and such facilities for the con- 

 duct of your work as transcend fifty 

 or a hundred times the limited condi- 

 tions under which you now labor. If 

 you are spared for two years, and your 

 beneficent works grows and spreads it- 

 self as I firmly believe it will, wher- 

 ever the English tongue is spoken or 

 read, and doubtless in places where it 

 is translated into other languages, I 

 shall, if God spares me in health and 

 strength, and prosperity, found the AA 

 Home and your own home upon fire- 

 proof foundation. For the rest, you 

 must trust me, and leave me a free 

 hand to work out my own conception 

 of what you need to conduct your 

 work under the best possible condi- 

 tions. To that extent I am bound, 

 while you are absolutely free. I shall 

 consult you from time to time, because 

 I need instruction, but in the main I 

 must press on to the execution of a 

 purpose which has been slowly grow- 

 ing in my mind since I first had the 

 pleasure of meeting you, and if 1 leave 

 in your hands the veto power, surely 

 I have done you or yours, no injury." 



THE REQUEST TO VACATE. 



May 3, 191 1, from abroad — received 

 May 16, 191 1. "Your favor of the 24th 

 ulto. reaches me here to-day, and I 

 note its enclosures. 



"From my point of view, the experi- 

 ment of two years has failed, and 

 through no fault of yours or mine. I 

 had hoped the public would generally 

 respond to the claims of the AA, to the 

 end that the good work might progress 

 with adequate compensation to what 

 you term the Bigelow family. 



"On the contrary, it appears from 

 the advance copy of your Annual Re- 

 port that not only are you unremun- 

 erated but the AA is in debt to you for 

 cash. This is a situation which I here- 

 by terminate, so far as my authority 

 goes. The Association seems to have 

 practically no assets and can conduct 

 its mission from any post office ad- 

 dress. 



"I have decided to put the property 

 known as Arcadia, to other uses, but 

 I desire you to vacate it at the con- 

 venience of yourself and your family. 



"You have made a brave fight, and I 



salute you in honor, but the public has 

 failed you support. 



"With kindest regards to you all, I 

 remain, 



"P. S. I send this through Mr- 

 who has full authority to represent 

 me." 



EDWARD F. BIGELOW'S REPLY TO THE 

 ABOVE LETTER. 



May 19, 191 1. "Your letter brings 

 joy in the personal kindness and 

 praise, and sorrow in the calamity. 

 It is evident that my faithful work 

 has pleased you, and the limited ex- 

 tent of the patronage and aid given 

 Arcadia by the public has disappointed 

 you. In the beginning I supposed you 

 were working wholly for the Cause 

 and not so much for me, though I was 

 aware of your personal friendship and 

 fully reciprocated it. Perhaps your 

 misunderstandings were due to the 

 fact that, in our few weeks' acquain- 

 tance previous to your original pro- 

 position of Arcadia, I did not tell you 

 more fully of the self-sacrificing spirit 

 of the AA. I must follow the example 

 of my illustrious predecessor in his 

 thirty-three years' work without sal- 

 ary, in addition to the contribution of 

 some money. He earned a living for 

 himself and family as a librarian. I 

 have done so by school and editorial 

 work. Our spare time has been de- 

 voted to the Agassiz Association 

 without financial income, and the cus- 

 tom for thirty-six years should not 

 now be changed. Your original offer 

 (letter of November 25th, 1908) and 

 the partial explanation of your plans 

 at my home at about that time, with 

 the figurative reference to the 'light 

 on the corner,' naturally led me to 

 think that the whole test of success 

 was, 'If ... . your beneficent work 

 grows and spreads itself.' The first 

 information I ever had that your test 

 of the success of your plan would be 

 in the establishment of a good busi- 

 ness for me was in your letter of July 

 26th, 1909, from Jefferson, New Hamp- 

 shire, received while we were getting 

 settled in Arcadia. In that letter you 

 expressed what was to me an entirely 

 new point of view. : 



" 'My hope was, and I do not yet 



