180 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 
are steadfast; I shall never be parted from him any 
more.” I think his character is noble and ardent. 
His intellect is of the encyclopedic kind, though it 
is true that his steady purpose (that of applying all 
he can learn to the welfare and enlightenment of 
his people) gives coherence and unity to what would 
otherwise seem a rather fragmentary accumulation 
of disconnected facts. His capacity for receiving and 
retaining that kind of knowledge is wonderful; how 
far he digests it I do not know, but he acquires a 
certain familiarity with means and processes which 
makes it more easy for him to introduce them after- 
ward in his own country. 
The following note from Longfellow is in harmony with 
the foregoing letters. It was written in acknowledgment 
of a basket of flowers which Mrs. Agassiz had sent to him 
on the same day with a birthday greeting, although his 
birthday had occurred a fortnight earlier. The “three 
friends,’’ with whom Longfellow recorded his friendship in 
the well-known series of sonnets, Three Friends of Mine, 
were President Felton, Agassiz, and Charles Sumner. 
TO MRS. LOUIS AGASSIZ 
Cambridge, March 12, 1877 
Dear Mrs. Aaassiz: I thank you very much for 
these lovely roses and lilies that are filling my room 
with perfume, and still more for your kind remem- 
brance of me and my birthday. Coming a little 
late they are all the more welcome, and friendly 
remembrance is never too late. 
