CAMBRIDGE 39 



(yawning) they have escaped. I wonder where the 

 others are." This is a true tale. The rest of the pleas- 

 ing monsters were secured, and Agassiz had the au- 

 dacity to call upon me to admire their beauty, when 

 he had caught them again. 



Let us hope that it was one of the same family of snakes 

 and not the member of still another colony that once pro- 

 vided Miss Emma Cary with a mauvais quart d'heure in 

 the course of a night that she was passing in Oxford Street, 

 when she woke to remember on discovering no matches 

 for her candle by her bedside that a lost snake was gliding 

 about the house, and to wait in terror for daylight, expect- 

 ing every moment to feel something cold and slimy wriggle 

 across her face. The snake turned up later on the stairs and 

 was forthwith consigned to a jar of alcohol. The hero of a 

 still more disquieting adventure was a bear cub which had 

 been sent to Oxford Street from Maine and was kept in due 

 subjection in the cellar, until one day he arose in his might, 

 and breaking his chain decided to join the family and some 

 guests at dinner. As he entered the dining-room by one 

 door, the company at the table left by the other, and he was 

 given carte blanche to devour the dinner. He was summarily 

 banished to a livery stable in retribution for this escapade 

 and before long was found worthy of a dose of prussic acid. 



Agassiz's marine specimens lent a fresh color also to the 

 summers at Nahant, which took on a new character for 

 Mrs. Agassiz after her marriage. Mr. Cary then arranged 

 a home for her and for Mrs. Felton by moving to his land 

 a cottage of four or five rooms, to which additions were 

 made so that it could be comfortably shared by the two 

 sisters and their households. A laboratory for Agassiz was 



