EUROPE 63 



refers in this letter was the death of her father. The words 

 with which she began one of her letters to him earher in 

 the summer, " You are to me the central point in the family- 

 picture," are a comment on their relations. Her aflFectionate 

 reliance upon his judgment, which led her to consider his 

 approval of her plan for the school as the first essential to 

 the undertaking, will be recalled as well as her tribute to 

 him quoted in the first chapter. There were in fact many 

 resemblances in character and manner between them, and 

 some of the traits that Mrs. Agassiz says were most 

 marked in her father were also her own — purity of char- 

 acter, unselfishness of conduct, readiness to render unpaid 

 service to public institutions, and facility of expression in 

 writing; in Mrs. Agassiz, too, there were reflected Mr. 

 Gary's habitual courtesy of manner and his tenderness 

 to his children and grandchildren. His relations with his 

 step-grandchildren were peculiarly charming. When, for 

 example, at the time of Agassiz's second visit to Charles- 

 ton, Ida and Pauline Agassiz were left with Mr. and Mrs. 

 Gary for the winter, he showed himself the same attentive 

 host to the two little girls that he would have been to older 

 guests, giving them his company at breakfast and dinner, 

 which their school hours prevented them from taking with 

 the family, speeding them on their way to school and 

 always ready with a welcome for them on their return; 

 and a few years later, when he and Mrs. Gary were in 

 Paris and were joined by Ida Agassiz on her way to visit 

 her grandmother, he accompanied her to Montagny and 

 completely captivated Madame Agassiz by the old-fash- 

 ioned elegance of his manners, in spite of the fact that 

 neither spoke the language of the other. Again and again 



