276 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 
was obliged to resign it. Her appeals for contributions from 
Cambridge, issued yearly in the form of leaflets, by their 
simplicity, directness, and freedom from sentimentality 
were effective at the time and are still interesting. Her own 
enthusiasm for the work among the children of the Kinder- 
garten appears in the following letter. 
TO MRS. CORNELIUS CONWAY FELTON 
Cambridge [May 7, 1894] 
... THE other day Alice Longfellow and I had a 
pleasant morning together; we drove over to the 
Kindergarten for the Blind and were wonderstruck, 
as one always is, however often he may have seen it, 
with the skilful work and the seeming enjoyment of 
these children. There are classes of little boys of seven 
or eight who are as versed in Longfellow’s poetry as 
any children of real eyes could be. When Alice came 
in and they were told who it was, their faces grew 
radiant. They asked if they might recite something 
from her father’s poems. The teacher seemed to think 
they would not remember on such a sudden call, but 
they were sure they could, and they recited eight or 
ten together, the “Blacksmith” (in chorus) without a 
mistake and with such sweet and intelligent expres- 
sions that you could not hear it without emotion. The 
teacher told me that last year (with Alice’s permis- 
sion) she took them to Craigie House. Alice was not 
at home, but they wanted to come in and look about. 
When they came to the old clock on the stairs, she 
said the children were touched as by some very sacred 
