142 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 
pupil and associate, Susan Bowen. Professor 
H. H. Straight and his bride, both then teachers 
in the State Normal School at Oswego, were also 
with us. These four, whom all of us loved and 
respected, were the first of our number to be 
claimed by death. 
Among our teachers, besides Agassiz, were Burt 
G. Wilder, Edward S. Morse, Alfred Mayer, Fred- 
erick W. Putnam, then young men of growing 
fame, with Arnold Guyot and Count Pourtaleés, 
early associates of Agassiz, already in the fulness 
of years. Mrs. Agassiz was present at every lec- 
ture, note-book in hand; and her genial personality 
did much to bind the company together. 
The old barn on the island had been hastily 
converted into a dining-hall and lecture-room. A 
new floor had been put in; but the doors and walls 
remained unchanged, and the swallows’ nests were 
undisturbed under the eaves. The sheep had been 
turned out, the horse-stalls were changed to a 
kitchen, and on the floor of the barn, instead of 
the hay-wagon, were placed three long tables. At 
the head of one of these sat Agassiz. At his right 
hand always stood a movable blackboard, for he 
seldom spoke without a piece of chalk in his hand. 
He would often give us a lecture while we sat at 
the table, frequently about some fish or other crea- 
ture the remains of which still lay on our plates. 
Our second day upon the island was memorable 
above all others. Its striking incident has passed 
into literature in the poem of Whittier: “The 
Prayer of Agassiz.” 
When the morning meal was over, Agassiz arose 
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