The Days of a Man DSys 



commotion, and in the morning Agassiz was dis- 

 tinctly stern. At breakfast he rose and said that 

 six young men (whose names he gave) would leave 

 by the steamer at ten o'clock. Various appeals 

 were now made: *'the women didn't mind it" — 

 "it was only a student prank and had no signifi- 

 cance." But he remained firm. We were there for 

 serious purpose, he said; it was not the place or 

 time for "pranks." 

 First The third day I was one of those chosen for the 



dredging first dredging trip, on which we secured many 

 ^"^ creatures from sea bottom, quite new to us. At the 

 same time we learned something of the discomfort 

 possible in an unballasted schooner anchored to a 

 dredge in the open ocean; but with longer experience 

 I managed to master the situation. Among inter- 

 esting later trips on the Sprite^ we visited the island 

 of No Man's Land, far out at sea and inhabited by 

 a few fishermen whose outlook was wholly difi'erent 

 from ours. 



Agassh So the summer went on through a succession of 

 th\ joyous mornings, beautiful days, and calm nights, 

 optimist ^j^i^ ^j^g Master always present, always ready to 

 help and encourage, and the contagious enthusiasm 

 which surrounded him like an atmosphere never 

 lacking. A born optimist, his strength lay largely 

 in a realization of the value of the present moment. 

 He was a living illustration of Thoreau's aphorism 

 that "there is no hope for you unless the bit of sod 

 under your feet is the sweetest in this world — in 

 any world." 



