Louis Agassiz. 



of the Massachusetts Legislature when they made 

 their annual visit to the museum, Agassiz pressing 

 the claim of the new scheme as a part of the educa- 

 tional development of the institution that they had 

 so ably fathered. The appeal to the Legislature was 

 published in the press and read by chance by John 

 Anderson, of New York, who at once became inter- 

 ested in the plan and a few days later tendered 

 Agassiz a site for the proposed school on the island 

 of Penikese, one of the group in Buzzard^s Bay, so 

 well-known by the rhyme : 



'* Naushon, Nonamesset, 

 Uncatena, and Wepecket, 

 Nashawena, Pesquinese, 

 Cuttyhunk, and Penikese.** 



To the gift Mr. Anderson added $50,000 with 

 which to fit out the school ; and so the Anderson 

 School of Natural History took form, and on the 

 4th of July Agassiz set sail for the island. He 

 found everything in the crudest condition, but a 

 strong appeal to carpenters and other workers 

 brought order out of chaos, and soon the old stable, 

 out of which the sheep had been turned to make 

 way for medusae, echinoderms, men and women, 

 became habitable just in time for the steamer con- 

 taining the visitors and students. In the old barn, 

 still hung with festoons of silken make, through 

 which the swallows darted and chirped a welcome, 

 this grand old man, with bared head, opened the 

 school in silent prayer. This incident was made the 

 subject of the following poem by Whittier : 



