182 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ 



land, I have determined to publish the material here col- 

 lected." In the earlier stages of the work Mrs. Agassiz 

 was assisted by her stepson, but eventually, owing to the 

 pressure of his other pursuits he was obliged to leave 

 it entirely in her hands, except for the final revision, 

 which he undertook. A greater amount of labor was en- 

 tailed than might be inferred even from the two volumes 

 that were the outcome. The larger part of the correspond- 

 ence w^as in French or in German script and often very 

 illegible. Therefore the normal difficulties of the selection, 

 arrangement and presentation of a mass of material were 

 vastly increased by the necessity of deciphering the origi- 

 nals and then of preparing satisfactory translations as pre- 

 liminaries to the composition of the whole. To this labor it 

 was impossible for Mrs. Agassiz to give uninterrupted time. 

 The nursery perpetually called her. Mere oversight of the 

 grandchildren did not satisfy her; she nursed them in their 

 illnesses and shared in their amusements. For example, her 

 diaries tell us on one day that she had herself taken Ro- 

 dolphe to school "to try his new sled"; on another, that she 

 was "practising" with Max on his new stereopticon; again, 

 during an absence of the boys' father, when the woes of 

 Rodolphe first with a diphtheritic throat and then with 

 earache were making complications, "Max accidentally 

 fired off his father's pistol. No harm done, but rather start- 

 ling." To coiliplete the story it should be added that the 

 next day a friend by request discharged the remaining 

 cartridges in the pistol amid the violent protests of George 

 that his rights as eldest son and natural guardian of the 

 household were being invaded. It is no wonder that Mrs. 

 Agassiz's days were, as she said, "broken to inch bits." 



