THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION 



269 



AOASSIZ ASSOCIATION' 



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Established 1875 



Incorporated, Maasachusetts, 1892 



Incorporated, Connecticut, 1910 



Where are the Really Interesting 

 Things? 



A few days ago, a garage not far 

 from our office caught fire. The whole 

 town turned out to look, and I was 

 assured that it was a spectacular sight, 

 when the great volumes of black smoke 

 rolled upward, and the flames leaped 

 across the driveway and began to beat 

 against our post office building. If I 

 had been at home, I probably would 

 have joined the crowd to gaze upon 

 the fire and the smoke and the labor- 

 ing firemen. 



On the same day, in the Sound Beach 

 Astronomical Observatory, only a few 

 rods from this local conflagration, 

 which was watched by hundreds of 

 people, one could view a fire large 

 enough to devour half of the United 

 States, possibly the whole earth. Sound 

 Beach, yes, the state of Connecticut, 

 might be dropped into this fire and it 

 would vanish like a chip in a bonfire. 

 Not only for a few minutes, but for 

 days was this seething maelstrom of 

 whirling flame a spectacular sight. 



A few called to see it and some of 

 these appreciated what was taking 

 place and were awed by its grandeur. 

 Others looked at it and said, "Is that 

 little black thing what you call a spot 

 on the sun? It isn't much, is it? 

 True ; Things are "much" only rela- 

 tively. 



Not long ago, I wandered away with 

 my camera and came to a picturesque 

 ravine down which gurgles and laughs 

 and plunges a wonderful brook. From 

 its side I looked at this miracle of rush- 

 ing water, but I had the sight to my- 

 self. Not a human being was visible 

 in the moist earth at the ford, there 

 was no print of a foot except the print 

 of a cow's hoof. 



As I returned to the office, I saw the 

 road crowded with people, traffic sus- 

 pended, vehicles blocked and a multi- 



tude gazing. What was the attrac- 

 tion? A water main had burst. Spurt- 

 ing, gushing streams were leaping into 

 the air, muddy water filled the gutters 

 and ran into the ditches. At that mo- 

 ment the spirit of Lowell, the poet, said 

 to me. "The most winsome and way- 

 ward of brooks draws now and then 

 some lover's foot to its intimate re- 

 serve, while the spurt of a bursting 

 water pipe gathers a gaping crowd 

 forthwith." 



Why is it that the first shall be last 

 to attract the general mass of human 

 beings? On earth at the furtherest 

 for only a few decades, amidst a won- 

 derful universe, with every inch of 

 earth's surface crowded with wonder 

 and beauty, why do the gigantic events 

 of nature go unconsidered, and the 

 tiny marvels remain unseen? After 

 the earth has swung around the 

 sun for only a few more times, human 

 eyes will no longer be able to see them. 



If I were to go to a distant place, or 

 if I were to visit a great Exposition, 

 and had only a limited time in which 

 to stay, do you think that I would not 

 use ever}^ minute to the best possible 

 advantage? This world is only a lar- 

 ger and more extensive Exposition, 

 with God as the exhibitor. Why not 

 so live and see that there be not an 

 eternity's loss and possible regret that 

 more of the marvelous things of time 

 were not seen with that intensest en- 

 thusiasm that thev merit? 



Throug'h the printer's error after final 

 proofs had left this office. The Agassiz 

 Association was referred to in the Decem- 

 ber number as The Agassiz Society. It is 

 probable that all our long time friends 

 understood this to be an error, but we call 

 attention to it for the sake of those that 

 have recently come to us. We are not a 

 society, but an Association of societies 

 known as Chapters, together witli indi- 

 vidual Members. 



