ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 
CHAPTER I 
ANCESTRY 
T is preéminently true of Elizabeth Cary Agassiz that 
the memory of what she was possesses an even greater 
permanent value than what she did, and that indications of 
her character are of more importance in her biography than 
a record of her achievements, notable though some of these 
were. Not a complex nature, it was marked by strong indi- 
viduality, of which the principal elements were singularly 
pronounced — the influences of a New England ancestry 
extending over almost two centuries and of an inherited 
environment in Boston, blended with inborn gifts of mind 
and spirit schooled by the discipline of experience. But in 
her personality there was throughout her life a distinctive 
quality —the light of pure sweetness and truth— which 
should not be forgotten in estimating the value of her 
presence, yet which eludes analysis and, although it is re- 
flected in her letters and diaries, can be no more faithfully 
reproduced than the changing beauty of a dawn or sunset. 
The background of Mrs. Agassiz’s life always remained 
practically unchanged and was formed by her family con- 
nections and associations. On both her father’s and ‘her 
mother’s side she came of excellent Massachusetts stock, 
which provided her not only with the practical and moral 
equipment characteristic of such an heritage, but also with 
