174 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 
sioned by his scientific expeditions have been published in 
his biography and in a small degree reveal their intimacy, 
but hers to him, which would have given an outline of her 
daily life at this time, have been destroyed. A few letters, 
however, which she wrote to Mrs. Curtis, who was abroad 
in 1875 and 1876, convey an impression of her interests and 
of the cheerfulness that the current of sadness running 
through her wonted occupations did not sweep away. 
TO MRS. CHARLES P. CURTIS 
Cambridge, October 31, 1875 
WELL, my dear, there’s one thing you can’t do in 
Europe. You can’t hear Von Biilow play, because 
he’s playing for us. I have never enjoyed piano 
concerts so much; he plays so much good music, 
his programmes are so dignified, so well distributed, 
so that each piece tells by what precedes and by 
what follows as well as by its own beauty. I suppose 
Rubinstein has greater genius, but Von Biilow 
respects his art and his audience and is incapable 
of lowering the one and insulting the other, as 
Rubinstein certainly did in Boston. In Paris where 
he must do his best, Pauline said he played divinely. 
So he did sometimes here, but by no means always. 
Cambridge, November, 1875 
Way am I not gifted like you for letter writing, 
and I would make you laugh till you cry as I have 
just done in reading your last letters to Sallie and 
Mother. They all sound as if you were leading a 
