62 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ 



it to me." As we left the cottage, Cecile said, "You 

 will not fail to send the lace," and the woman an- 

 swered with so much dignity, "We are very poor, but 

 we are also honest." Afterwards we went to other 

 cottages where they all looked excessively poor, but 

 at the same time with a sort of self-respect and pro- 

 priety that I could not help admiring in the midst of 

 so much poverty. We saw one poor woman, a lace 

 worker, that had twelve children, two of whom were 

 paralyzed; but on the wall of her poor little room hung 

 her white wedding wreath, framed, and kept as a pre- 

 cious souvenir of younger days. I feel that in going 

 about with Swiss people I get a glimpse into Swiss life 

 that strangers, travelling through the country as for- 

 eigners, do not often have. 



TO MRS. THOMAS G. GARY 



I WRITE you of everything that happens and some- 

 times I am so surrounded with new things and new 

 people that all that has passed at home seems to me 

 like some dim and distant dream. Perhaps for that 

 very reason when it comes upon me like truth it over- 

 whelms me even more than if I were at home. Still 

 you must think of me as having a great deal of pleas- 

 ure. It is a happiness such as I have seldom had in 

 my life to see Agassiz united to all his relations and 

 friends again, and they are so fond of him, so happy 

 in having him that I cannot but fully sympathize 

 with him and have my share too of happiness. 



The "overwhelming" event to which Mrs. Agassiz 



