EUROPE 63 
refers in this letter was the death of her father. The words 
with which she began one of her letters to him earlier in 
the summer, “ You are to me the central point in the family 
picture,” are a comment on their relations. Her affectionate 
reliance upon his judgment, which led her to consider his 
approval of her plan for the school as the first essential to 
the undertaking, will be recalled as well as her tribute to 
him quoted in the first chapter. There were in fact many 
resemblances in character and manner between them, and 
some of the traits that Mrs. Agassiz says were most 
marked in her father were also her own — purity of char- 
acter, unselfishness of conduct, readiness to render unpaid 
service to public institutions, and facility of expression in 
writing; in Mrs. Agassiz, too, there were reflected Mr. 
Cary’s habitual courtesy of manner and his tenderness 
to his children and grandchildren. His relations with his 
step-grandchildren were peculiarly charming. When, for 
example, at the time of Agassiz’s second visit to Charles- 
ton, Ida and Pauline Agassiz were left with Mr. and Mrs. 
Cary for the winter, he showed himself the same attentive 
host to the two little girls that he would have been to older 
guests, giving them his company at breakfast and dinner, 
which their school hours prevented them from taking with 
the family, speeding them on their way to school and 
always ready with a welcome for them on their return; 
and a few years later, when he and Mrs. Cary were in 
Paris and were joined by Ida Agassiz on her way to visit 
her grandmother, he accompanied her to Montagny and 
completely captivated Madame Agassiz by the old-fash- 
ioned elegance of his manners, in spite of the fact that 
neither spoke the language of the other. Again and again 
