Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/747

Rh lecture while we sat at the table, frequently about some fish or other creature, the remains of which still lay beside 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 in his place and spoke, as only he could speak, of his purpose in calling us too-ether. The swallows flew in and out of the building m the soft June air, for they did not know that it was no longer a barn but a temple. Some of them almost grazed his shoulder as he spoke to us of the needs of the people for better education-He told us how these needs could be met, and of the results which might come to America from the training and consecration of fifty teachers.

This was to him no ordinary school, still less an idle summer s outing, but a mission work of the greatest importance. He spoke with intense earnestness, and all his words were filled with that deep religious feeling so characteristic of all his thoughts. For to Agassiz each natural object was a thought of God, and trifling with God's truth as expressed in Nature was the basest of sacrilege.

What Agassiz said that morning can never be said again. No reporter took his language, and no one could call back the charm of his manner or the impressiveness of his zeal and faith.

At the end he said, "I would not have any man to pray for me now," and that he and each of us would utter his own prayer in silence. What he meant by this was that no one could pray in his stead. No public prayer could take the place of the prayer which each of us would frame for himself. Whittier says:

 Even the careless heart was moved, And the doubting gave assent With a gesture reverent To the Master well beloved. As thin mists are glorified By the light they can not hide, All who gazed upon him saw, Through its veil of tender awe, How his face was still uplit By the old sweet look of it; Hopeful, trustful, full of cheer And the love that casts out fear."

And the summer went on with its succession of joyous mornings, beautiful days, and calm nights, with every charm of sea and sky, the master with us all day long, ever ready to speak words of help and encouragement, ever ready to give us from his own stock of learning. The boundless enthusiasm which