DESCENT AND BOYHOOD 7 



to the encampment, with one of the guides carrying 

 Alexander in a large basket strapped to his shoulders. 



In due time he went to school at the Gymnase of 

 Neuchatel. A number of small books, the prizes of his 

 school life, preserved from those days, show him to have 

 been a faithful little scholar. What is known of the early 

 life of the boy foreshadows his later years. He was 

 rather quiet, with the bewitching smile so characteristic 

 of the man. One of his cousins remembers him as very 

 gentle and patient in their noisy games. When she came 

 to play in his house, she saw a certain wardrobe with a 

 drawer where the little chap, already a collector, kept his 

 treasures, mostly mysterious objects in alcohol. When- 

 ever his playfellows approached too near this sacred 

 storehouse, he would exclaim earnestly, " Please don't 

 touch my anatomy ! " 



Another anecdote relieves one of any suspicion that 

 he might have lacked his full share of a healthy boy's 

 mischievousness, and shows that he develoj:ted at an 

 early age his characteristically democratic tendencies. 

 The small boys of Neuchatel were much interested in 

 politics. They were arrayed in two parties, the Royalists 

 and the Reds. The former, who consisted of the sons 

 of the nobility and " Swells," were devoted to Prussia, 

 and loyal subjects of Friederich Wilhelm ; the Reds were 

 Swiss who wished Neuchatel, like the other cantons, 

 to form part of Switzerland, and resented the author- 

 ity of the Governor, who was appointed by the King 

 of Prussia. The Governor, a retired Prussian general, 

 and a martinet who liked to show his authority in the 

 smallest details, was so lacking in the rudiments of humor 

 as to complain to Louis Agassiz that his little son was not 

 saluting him politely, and Alex was punished. Meeting 



