AGASSIZ AND PENIKESE. 21 



After a few moments the professor addressed us. 

 He thanked us all for coming to meet him on that 

 far off, lonely island; and he thanked himself for 

 being able to be present; he thanked the kind giver 

 of the island and its endowment, Mr. Anderson, for 

 himself and for all, that he had been moved to such 

 a generous bestowment of property and happiness to 

 the community; and he thanked the friends there 

 present at its opening for their sympathy with the 

 plans of the trustees for the institution, as well as for 

 their hearty co-operation in furthering those plans: 

 Then he thanked God for his goodness to them all. 

 After this, speeches were made, and many prominent 

 public men took part in the tributes of praise that 

 were bestowed freely upon all interested in the 

 school, whether teachers, pupils, or any that sym- 

 pathized with the grand work thus initiated, and 

 the company broke up, happy and pleased with 

 their first public introduction to Penikese. 



Our first day at the Island, thus it began! It was 

 intensely warm, and the sun shed down its almost 

 vertical rays upon a soil, dry and sandy, with scanty 

 vegetation, though with a liberal supply of rocks and 

 boulders, which were scattered everywhere about the 

 place. Viewed simply in itself, it was a most unat- 

 tractive spot, and at first I could scarcely persuade 

 myself that I should enjoy my stay here, yet for all 

 the unattractiveness of the place, a secret something 

 filled my mind with pleasant thoughts, and I found, 

 even in the rocks and boulders, and the dry, sandy 

 soil, with its occasional patches of green, a solace for 

 all the objectionable features of the situation. We 

 had met together upon this desolate island, a band 

 of brothers, stranger brothers as yet, to be sure, 

 but, although still unacquainted with each other, a 

 common bond of sympathy was drawing us nearer 

 and nearer one to another master and pupil in a 

 friendship that was to last a life time. Thus, at the 

 very beginning, each rock, each grain of sand, each 

 blade of grass even, was invested with an interest 



