Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1874-06-11
An AnccdOte Of Arasslz.


An AnccdOte Of AgassIz.
Now that all who have ever known or
seen Agassiz arc remembering him, it
may not bc embarrassing to recall a lit
tic incident which happened, nearly
twenty years ago, III one of tho Massa.
chlsetts Normal Schools.
That honorcd old Commonwealth,
never did wiser or more generous
thing than when she engaged the two
men, Aga"siz and Ciuyot, to lecture in
her Normal Schools to the young men
and women who were to be, not only
her own future teachers, but also the
teachers i'll many other states. 1 was
then q pupil at the Oldest Of them-thc
school i'll birmingham. Thithcr was
wont to come Guyot, and, sojourning
among us for u week or ten days, talk
t" us of earth and man, of genesis and
creation, SO simply, so kindly, that We
forgot tho distance between us. And
thither came also Agassiz. with his
frank, noble, kindly face, to speak to us
OF the animal kingdom. 1t was during
one Of these stays that the incident to
which wo refer occurred.
,41nring the noon t.tcrmlsslOn ono OF
tho girls had picked up and brought
with her to her desk one Of the little
gray snakes so common in Massachu-
sets country fields, and while group
OF girls were standing by, she suddenly
produced it. There was at once start
and an exclamation Of disgust and
loathing, and the expected sensation
had been quite satisfactorily produced.
Agassiz, who was standing on the plat
form talking with the principal and
waiting for the school to he called to
order, instantly came rapidly down the
aisle to the excited and Disguised group.
md on seeing the cause of the comma
ton ut once took the little frightened
creature gently, almost tenderly, into
his strong hand, and as the snake twist
ed itself around his fingers and wrist.
he sud quietly, rs if it was friend.
"Oh 1t is the Coluber Dekayi, 50
named from DIR. DeKay, who first char
actcrizedit." The words were nothing.
but the gesture and manner were indie
scrlbable, ut once SO protective and so
rcverential that they, as we'll as the
whole scene, have always stood out clear
in my memory with tho vividness of one
Of Chauccr's pictures. It was as if the
voice, instead of the simple remark of
recognition which it actually uttered,
had said
" lle prayetll we'll who lovcth we'll
Both man and bird and beast
lilo praycth best WHO loycth best
All things, both great and small,
For the dear God who lovotll US,
He made and loveth ALL
I cannot answer for the impression
OH the others, but know that to one
at least, that gesture and action, 80
characteristic of tho man, struck the
key note of her teaching for many years
afterwards, i'll many different places,
and to thousands of pupils, and the
grateful remembrance of it is to me
now like floral Offering which I lay
upon his distant, honored grave.
ANNA G. BRACKET.
What llalstead Thinks Of Charlotte
Cushman.
The venerable tragic actress, Miss
Charlotte Cushman, goes triumplantly
and grandly through the dramatic read
ings which she is giving to crowded
these nights but you ought
to see her any night after she has got
through and has been driven away from
the scene of her triumphs in the Acad-
envy of Music. One who met her the
other night ut the hotel just rs she re-
turned with her maid, describes her OH
coming in as utterly "played out"
For moment she looked quite gone,
when, on entering the door, she leaned her
head against the wood work, and closed
her eyes forrest. Even her manner and
Dir were commanding, but with no osten-
tation nbont them. Presently the light
returned to her suburb and kindly face,
and she was able to pass few friendly
words before seeking the couch on
which, it is to I've hoped, her weary form
found rest. It is no wonder that, at
such time, her appearance stirred up
a pathetic and sympathet interest
which was not lesscned by the knowl-
edge of the fatal disease under which
she is patient sufferer. AS it was with
this great tragic actress twenty years
ago, when first 1 saw her, so it is now.
When she plays or when she reads, she
puts MI that she it, and all that she has,
into her work. Genius with her is not
y plaything, but serious all-absorbing
that voice, that power which
lies behind them both, and that spirit
which stands behind that power, are all
genuine in their gravity. Through a
long lifetime Miss Clshman has tower
Ell III solitary grandeur MS the American
queen of tragedy; but, beside all this,
she is a woman of the noblest character
and gentlcst soul.