GIFT OF MR. ANDERSON. 767 



was impassioned. It kept the freshness of 

 youth, because the things of which he spoke 

 never grew old to him, but moved him to the 

 last hour of his life as forcibly as in his 

 earlier years. 



This appeal to the Legislature, spoken in 

 the morning, chanced to be read in the even- 

 ing papers of the same day by Mr. John 

 Anderson, a rich merchant of New York. It 

 at once enlisted his sympathy both for the 

 work and for the man. Within the week he 

 offered to Agassiz, as a site for the school, 

 the island of Penikese, in Buzzard's Bay, with 

 the buildings upon it, consisting of a fur- 

 nished dwelling-house and barn. Scarcely 

 was this gift accepted than he added to it 

 an endowment of $50,000 for the equipment 

 of the school. Adjectives belittle deeds like 

 these. The bare statement says more than 

 the most laudatory epithets. 



Agassiz was no less surprised than touched 

 at the aid thus unexpectedly offered. In his 

 letter of acknowledgment he says : " You do 

 not know what it is suddenly and unex- 

 pectedly to find a friend at your side, full of 

 sympathy, and offering support to a scheme 

 which you have been trying to carry out un- 

 der difficulties and with very scanty means. 



