SCHOOL LIFE. f 



teacher. Indeed it would seem that Agassiz's 

 own passion for teaching, as well as his love 

 of young people and his sympathy with intel- 

 lectual aspiration everywhere, was an inherit- 

 ance. Wherever his father was settled as 

 pastor, at Motier, at Orbe, and later at Con- 

 cise, his influence was felt in the schools as 

 much as in the pulpit. A piece of silver re- 

 mains, a much prized heir-loom in the family, 

 given to him by the municipality of Orbe in 

 acknowledgment of his services in the schools. 

 The rules of the school at Bienne were 

 rather strict, but the life led by the boys was 

 hardy and invigorating, and they played as 

 heartily as they worked. Remembering his 

 own school life, Agassiz often asked himself 

 whether it was difference of climate or of 

 method, which makes the public school life in 

 the United States so much more trying to the 

 health of children than the one under which 

 he was brought up. The boys and girls in 

 our public schools are said to be overworked 

 with a session of five hours, and an additional 

 hour or two of study at home. At the Col- 

 lege of Bienne there were nine hours of study, 

 and the boys were healthy and happy. Per- 

 haps the secret might be found in the fre- 

 quent interruption, two or three hours of 



