4 



Louis Agassiz. 



the cobbler astonished his sister by presenting her 

 dolls with carefully-made foot-gear. He made a 

 miniature water-tight barrel after watching the cooper 

 in his father's vineyard, and could have made him- 

 self a suit of clothes had it been required, so well did 

 he profit by the stay of the tailor at the homestead. 



Such habits did not detract from the manly quali- 

 ties that constituted a prominent feature in his charac- 

 ter. He was, as a boy, bold, fearless, and courageous, 

 as shown on many occasions. His mother cites 

 several instances illustrative of his daring. One day 

 there was to be a fair in the town of Morat, on the 

 opposite side of the lake from Motier, and Louis 

 with his brother Auguste determined to skate over, 

 the lake being about two miles wide at this point. 

 Their mother did not hear of this plan until they had 

 started ; then taking her glass to watch them, fearing 

 that the ice was too thin or unsafe, she saw them 

 stop as if puzzled at a wide crack. Louis evidently 

 could cross, but for the younger boy it was too wide. 

 It did not require many moments for the intrepid 

 Louis to solve the problem, and the anxious mother 

 saw him drop upon his knees and reach the other side 

 of the opening, with his hands, thus forming a living 

 bridge over which the younger brother crawled in 

 triumph, after which Louis leaped the fissure and 

 they sped away over the ice, followed, it should be 

 said, by a man-servant, sent by the uneasy parent. 

 Although Agassiz was not sent to school until he 

 was ten years of age, owing to the admirable in- 

 struction he had received from both parents, he was 

 well abreast of boys of his age in almost every 



