24 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



girls' school. The upper story of the house was con- 

 verted into schoolrooms, the recitations were to overflow 

 into the other stories. The unrivaled reputation of Louis 

 Agassiz as a great and inspiring teacher immediately 

 made the school unique and gave it an unqualified suc- 

 cess. It became the girls' school of its day; special 

 omnibuses brought the pupils out from Boston ; while 

 parents in other parts of the country made arrangements 

 for their daughters to live in the neighborhood, that 

 they might enjoy its special advantages. 



In speaking of the scope of the school the elder 

 Agassiz said, " We will teach the girls everything but 

 mathematics, and the poor things can learn that almost 

 anywhere else;" a remark hardly just to the son, who 

 unlike the father was an excellent mathematician. 



Those were busy days for Agassiz, who, while pursu- 

 ing his studies at the Scientific School and the Chemical 

 Laboratory, prepared the tabular view of the studies of 

 the school, kept the books, and paid the teachers, be- 

 sides teaching the girls mathematics, chemistry, physics, 

 French, and Latin. 



It was a trying experience for a young man of twenty, 

 to teach with dignity and success a school full of girls, 

 some older than himself. Many of his sisters' friends 

 were pupils in the school, and it must often have been 

 difficult for him to forget that the night before he had 

 danced with them in Boston or Cambridge. 



In 1857 there was a celebrated race between the 

 Volante, a crew composed of well-known young men 

 about town, and the university crew of which Agassiz 

 was still bow. His pupils and two thirds of Boston lined 

 the " Back Bay," and watched the defeat of the Harvard 

 boat after an exciting struggle. The next morning at 



