ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ 



CHAPTER I 



ANCESTRY 



IT is preeminently true of Elizabeth Gary Agassiz that 

 the memory of what she was possesses an even greater 

 permanent value than what she did, and that indications of 

 her character are of more importance in her biography than 

 a record of her achievements, notable though some of these 

 were. Not a complex nature, it was marked by strong indi- 

 viduality, of which the principal elements were singularly 

 pronounced — the influences of a New England ancestry 

 extending over almost two centuries and of an inherited 

 environment in Boston, blended with inborn gifts of mind 

 and spirit schooled by the discipline of experience. But in 

 her personality there was throughout her life a distinctive 

 quality — the light of pure sweetness and truth — which 

 should not be forgotten in estimating the value of her 

 presence, yet which eludes analysis and, although it is re- 

 flected in her letters and diaries, can be no more faithfully 

 reproduced than the changing beauty of a dawn or sunset. 

 The background of Mrs. Agassiz's life always remained 

 practically unchanged and was formed by her family con- 

 nections and associations. On both her father's and her 

 mother's side she came of excellent Massachusetts stock, 

 which provided her not only with the practical and moral 

 equipment characteristic of such an heritage, but also with 



