TURTLE EGGS FOR AGASSIZ 35 



naturalists know. As this was quite out of the 

 question, he did the easiest thing — asked Mr. 

 Jenks of Middleboro' to get him the eggs. Mr. 

 Jenks got them. Agassiz knew all about his get- 

 ting of them ; and I say the strange and irritating 

 thing is, that Agassiz did not think it worth while 

 to tell us about it, at least in the preface to his 

 monumental work. 



It was many years later that Mr. Jenks, then 

 a gray-haired college professor, told me how he 

 got those eggs to Agassiz. 



" I was principal of an academy, during my 

 younger years," he began, "and was busy one 

 day with my classes, when a large man suddenly 

 filled the doorway of the room, smiled to the four 

 corners of the room, and called out with a big, 

 quick voice that he was Professor Agassiz. 



" Of course he was. I knew it, even before he 

 had had time to shout it to me across the room. 



"Would I get him some turtle eggs? he 

 called. Yes, I would. And would I get them to 

 Cambridge within three hours from the time they 

 were laid *? Yes, I would. And I did. And it was 

 worth the doing. But I did it only once. 



" When I promised Agassiz those eggs I knew 



