LOUIS AGASSIZ. 303 



fishes, frogs, tadpoles, indeed, everything which he 

 could obtain from Lake Morat. In the house he 

 had pet birds, hares, rabbits, field-mice, with their 

 families, all cared for as though they were royal 

 visitors. 



He was skilful as a carpenter and boot-maker. 

 When the village cobbler came to the house, two or 

 three times a year, to make shoes for the family, 

 the lad was quick to imitate him, and made well 

 fitting shoes for his sister's dolls. 



Mrs. Elizabeth Gary Agassiz, in her fascinating 

 life of her husband, tells this incident of his boy- 

 hood : " Though fond of quiet, indoor occupation, 

 he was an active, daring boy. One winter day, 

 when about seven years of age, he was skating 

 with his little brother Auguste, two years younger 

 than himself, and a number of other boys, near the 

 shore of the lake. They were talking of a great 

 fair held that day at the town of Morat, on the 

 opposite side of the lake, to which M. Agassiz had 

 gone in the morning, not crossing, upon the ice, 

 however, but driving around the shore. 



" The temptation was too strong for Louis, and 

 he proposed to Auguste that they should skate 

 across, join their father at the fair, and come home 

 with him in the afternoon. They started accord- 

 ingly. The other boys remained on their skating 

 ground till twelve o'clock, the usual dinner hour, 

 when they returned to the village. Mme. Agassiz 

 was watching for her boys, thinking them rather 

 late, and, on inquiring for them among the troop of 



