FIRST YEARS IN AMERICA 17 



and been sore trials to the decorous New Englanders 

 who frequented the house. Once a distinguished visitor 

 came to pass the night. As he apparently lacked all 

 the articles generally considered indisrjensable to the 

 shortest visit, he was asked if he wanted anything. To 

 this he contentedly replied, " Non, non — Ah ! un peu 

 de pornniade, s'il vous plait." 



On another occasion the son of the great Ampere 

 came to pay an afternoon call and stayed several weeks. 

 He proved to be a man of wide information and a 

 delightful and entertaining guest, but he had his little 

 peculiarities. After a few days he bethought him to 

 send for his baggage, a small hand satchel containing 

 an amazing quantity of scientific treasures. It was his 

 custom on Sunday to appear in a gorgeous expanse of 

 white shirt front. As the week advanced, this gradually 

 disappeared beneath a more and more closely buttoned 

 coat, to emerge again in full splendor on the following 

 Sunday. 



The winters were full of gayety and merriment. In 

 the evening there were pleasant sociables at different 

 houses ; in the daytime an hour or two could always be 

 found for skating on Fresh Pond. Here Agassiz and his 

 sister Pauline skated together with a skill and grace that 

 were celebrated in their day. Certainly the Cambridge 

 life of those old times had a delightful quality of its 

 own. Every one enjoyed so many things with his neigh- 

 bors that it seemed as if they were all living together 

 in a happy family circle. If there were a reading by 

 Mrs. Kemble, or something new at the Boston Museum, 

 where Warren acted to delighted audiences, or if Booth 

 were to play, the community hired an omnibus, and 

 everybody who could go, went. Afterward over a pleas- 



