LIFE AT HOME. 525 



his daughters grew up, he had the habit of in- 

 viting their more intimate companions to his 

 library for an afternoon weekly. On these 

 occasions there was always some subject con- 

 nected with the study of nature under discus- 

 sion, but the talk was so easy and so fully il- 

 lustrated that it did not seem like a lesson. 

 It is pleasant to remember that in later years 

 Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson revived this cus- 

 tom for his own daughters ; and their friends 

 (being, indeed, with few changes, the same 

 set of young people as had formerly met in 

 Agassiz's library) used to meet in Mr. Emer- 

 son's study at Concord for a similar object. 

 He talked to them of poetry and literature 

 and philosophy as Agassiz had talked to 

 them of nature. Those were golden days, 

 not to be forgotten by any who shared their 

 happy privilege. 



In the winter of 1855 Agassiz endeavored 

 to resume his public lectures as a means of in- 

 creasing his resources. He was again, how- 

 ever, much exhausted when spring came, and 

 it seemed necessary to seek some other means 

 of support, for without considering scientific 

 expenses, his salary of fifteen hundred dollars 

 did not suffice for the maintenance of his fam- 

 ily. Under these circumstances it occurred 



