professor and mrs. louis agassiz.—prof. alexander agassiz.—papanti’s dancing-school.—i invent fancy dances.—we swim, skate, and ride on horseback.—boston’s purple-glass windows.
among the pleasant friends who came to “green peace” were professor and mrs. louis agassiz. thus it naturally happened that i was sent to the agassiz school. the journey from south boston to cambridge took so long, in those days, that i gave it up after three months’ trial. as i was then only twelve years of age, i did not fully appreciate the advantages offered by the school—advantages of which girls from distant parts of the united states were very glad to avail themselves. the special feature of the school, however, even the youngest pupils were old enough to enjoy. who could help enjoying the closing hour of the day when the scholars assembled in the big class-room to listen to a delightful talk from the lips of the great naturalist himself? as he stood before the great blackboard, now drawing figures, now explaining to us the development of the little animals whose growth forms the coral reefs, the movement of the glaciers, or the reason of the gradual recession of niagara falls, we sat listening to his words with eager interest. he adapted himself to our youthful comprehension with the utmost ease—or, if there was any effort made, it was not an apparent one.
a great charm of these talks was that in them the professor brought us the fresh fruits of his own experience. he had personally investigated the glaciers before coming to america. the theory that they had once covered the earth originated with him, if i remember aright. he had also visited the coral reefs. i have understood from prof. alexander agassiz that his father’s views about these were not fully accepted by later scientists. to the lay mind it would appear that science is almost as fickle as fashion!
of darwinism professor agassiz was a vigorous opponent. the new doctrine seemed to him irreconcilable with the idea of a divine providence, and would, he feared, destroy the faith of mankind. professor agassiz and professor asa gray found themselves diametrically opposed on this question. there is a legend of a lively meeting between them in cambridge, where words almost led to blows!
an account of the agassiz school would be incomplete if it did not mention the agassiz omnibus, a white, high-stepped vehicle which took its winding way through the thoroughfares of old-fashioned boston, calling for the girls at streets and places which have now vanished into the past like the old ’bus itself, or, if they exist at all, exist only as soulless business streets, with great granite blocks of shops replacing the dear old houses shaded by lofty trees.
the purple-glass windows which they had inherited from an earlier generation (some are still to be seen on beacon hill) furnished indisputable proof of the wonderful virtue of early boston boys, or of the extreme watchfulness of puritan parents.
while there were some very studious girls, about whose profound learning wonderful stories were whispered, who patronized the agassiz omnibus, there were also fashionable and rather frivolous young ladies among our number—who danced at balls and parties in the evening and as a natural consequence came to school very tired in the morning. human nature in mid-victorian days was very much as it is now. one sad memory is indissolubly connected with the agassiz omnibus. it relates to the hats i wore—and to those which, had fate permitted, i should have liked to wear. the views of my dear mother on the subject of headgear differed from those of her neighbors. in boston the sumptuary laws of this period prescribed that your hat should be as nearly as possible the exact ditto of that worn by every other woman and girl in the town. during this particular spring white-straw bonnets, trimmed with green ribbon outside and pink ribbon inside, were the regulation wear. now blue was my color, and my bonnet was garnished with a ribbon of bluish gray tint, more becoming to me than the universal pink. i was prepared to accept this variation from type, the bonnet being pretty in itself. but, alas! this was not the worst. our mother also had an idea that round hats were more suitable for school-girls than bonnets. accordingly, i was provided with a brown straw shade-hat, the brim of which seemed huge to my excited imagination. it was expected that i should wear this to school, reserving the bonnet for best.
i adopted the desperate expedient of wearing my winter bonnet out of the proper season. oh, how i scrutinized the girls, as they entered the omnibus, to see how many still wore their winter bonnets! several obligingly did so, but their number became daily less. at last i was driven from the burrow—or trench—of that velvet bonnet and obliged to come out into the open. a few times i tremblingly wore the huge round hat—the only one in the stage. once or twice i took refuge in the cambridge street-cars—but here lurked the danger of harvard students with their critical eyes. at last i boldly put on the sunday blue bonnet. what if it did fade and wither from too frequent exposure? at least i should be saved from wearing the despised round hat!
even then, however, there were exceptions to this sumptuary law, practised in cambridge itself, had i only known it.
it was perhaps in this very year, 1858, that charles francis adams, jr., then a student at harvard, drew upon himself a remonstrance from his fellows on account of his headgear, to which he made the following reply:
“an adams can wear any sort of hat he wishes.”
his fellow-student, my brother-in-law, related this story to me many years afterward, in a grieved spirit. i assured, him that charles francis adams, jr., was right. certain families of the hub possessed at that date a prescriptive right to dress as they pleased, every one knowing who they were.
young mr. adams, far from showing conceit, was simply illumining the way for us all in the direction of personal independence.
the agassiz school was held in the professor’s own pleasant house on quincy street, cambridge, very near harvard college. probably the older girls were conscious of this fact, but i was too young to bear it much in mind. the students whom i met occasionally in the street seemed to me great and august beings. time, however, brings its revenges. in later life, when my sons were undergraduates, i had occasion to revisit cambridge. the students no longer inspired me with awe; whether they were afraid of me or not i cannot say.
in his charming wife professor agassiz had a most efficient helpmeet who entered into all his plans and followed his work with loving zeal and intelligence. mrs. agassiz, who survived her husband for many years, was a very charming woman. she had a noble and whole-souled nature, which one fancied was contagious, for the moment at least. i think it would have been impossible to do a mean thing while in her company.
in the days of the agassiz school she was still a young woman, and we all felt that she was the presiding genius of the establishment as she flitted from room to room in her pretty, trim morning dress and cap with its fresh flowing ribbons, which seemed to correspond so well with the sweetness and freshness of her disposition. she heard the lessons of the younger pupils, but i am sure that she exercised a sweet and wholesome influence over all the scholars, old and young.
prof. alexander agassiz taught in his father’s school. i remember him in those days as a handsome, rather melancholy-looking young man who was suspected of being afraid of the biggest girls. not long afterward he married one of them, miss anna russell, daughter of my father’s old chum, george russell. prof. alexander agassiz was much more reserved and grave than his father, whose genial temperament was full of warmth and sunshine. occasionally he also gave us a lecture.
during many years of his life, louis agassiz worked through a great part of the night, sleeping very late in the morning. it is said that one sunday morning mrs. agassiz, while dressing for church, suddenly called out, “agassiz! there is a snake in my boot!” to which the professor drowsily replied, “i wonder where the others are!”
i remember a lecture where he showed us an orange to represent a sea-urchin. with a sudden movement he opened the fruit, which we then saw had been cut, into the form of a starfish, thus showing the relationship between the two types of creatures, and the audience burst into applause.
in 1859 our parents made a visit to the west indies which our mother described in a trip to cuba. we children stayed with various relatives and friends, mrs. charles h. dorr, at that time living in jamaica plain, hospitably receiving me. i thus came to know the young girls living in that pleasant suburb, and to attend the school of miss lucia m. peabody. the double attraction was so strong that i was willing to take the trip of some six miles daily, for more than three years, walking from south boston to the jamaica plain horse-car in boston.
miss peabody not only loved study herself, but made it attractive to others. she was an excellent teacher, to whom i owe much gratitude.
if it had not been for charlotte bowditch, i should have been the first scholar in arithmetic. but charlotte, who was a granddaughter or great-niece of the famous navigator, was hopelessly ahead of us all. this was an excellent thing for my vanity.
among my school memories is that of a very extraordinary dictionary belonging to one of my friends. the learned german—he must have been a german—who compiled it had evidently been imposed upon by some wag. thus the synonyms for “to die” were given as “to kick the bucket,” “to hop the twig,” “to go to davy jones’s locker.” i do not think the book was vicious, but it abounded in slang. perhaps it was prepared for the use of sailors in foreign ports!
our physical culture began early. we learned to swim without especial instruction, each one of us following out his or her own ideas, brother harry keeping his head under water, sister julia paddling dog-fashion, i swimming on my back.
we learned to ride very young, beginning with josé, a little spanish donkey presented to us by albert sumner, a brother of charles. he had been for some years the mount of mr. sumner’s daughter kate, and was an animal of high character. in his letter of introduction mr. sumner duly sets forth josé’s many excellent traits, mentioning also that as he came from barbary he must be a pure barb! he was a gentle animal, but possessed of the amiable determination characteristic of his species. he never bit, kicked, nor scratched, but he was a person of dignity and his movements were marked by great deliberation. the only way in which we could coax him out of a walk was to run before him, holding out a piece of bread. this soon became fatiguing to the advance courier.
when we had a children’s party, he was brought out for the entertainment of the visitors. josé did not like to have strange children on his back, and could tell at once when the reins were in the hands of an inexperienced rider. in this case he would turn toward the fence, putting his head and forefeet under the lowest board. he thus obliged the child either to dismount or to come in contact with the fence. sometimes he would vary the proceedings by running to the barn.
indeed, running away was one of josé’s accomplishments, so inconsistent is donkey nature. the fences at south boston were from time to time adorned with little posters bearing the legend: “lost—a small brown donkey. the finder will please return him,” etc.
once my brother harry, who was perhaps eight years of age, received an official letter beginning, “sir, your ass is in the pound.”
josé was from time to time the shrine of a singular pilgrimage. a group of people, bearing a child sick with whooping-cough, would arrive at “green peace” and ask to interview our donkey. the parents took their station, one on each side of josé, and passed the child to each other three times over and under the animal. in order to make the cure complete, a piece of bread was put in the donkey’s mouth and then given to the child. the superstition rests on the theory that the donkey is a sacred animal, since christ once rode on him; witness the cross upon his back.
we owned for a time another donkey—billy—who possessed a most unamiable disposition. he was not our friend and companion like josé, and we did not ride on his back. he formed part of a donkey tandem which we drove at newport, our uncle sam having given us a delightful pony-carriage and harness. when we went abroad in this little conveyance a dreadful danger lurked by the wayside, for the andersons’ donkey lived in a field bordering on the road over which we were obliged to pass. like the evil spirit in the story of the three goats brausewind, he accosted us in a very rude way. josé and billy were evidently moved by the appeal of their fellow-donkey, and we were greatly troubled in mind. for a tandem, as every one knows, is a most difficult team to drive, even when undisturbed by asinine conversation.
my father trained us all to ride first with a leading-rein, afterward alone. by his side we rode many miles about the country. with cora, our pretty but imperfectly broken colt, i had some terrifying moments. we were in the habit of going out tête-à-tête, she and i, and all would go well until we met an ice-wagon, or crossed a certain railroad bridge. then she would shy and run, but fortunately i did not fall off.
lorenzo papanti, his dancing-classes and his hall, were among the institutions of old boston. it was said that this accomplished veteran had instructed three generations of bostonians in the art of dancing. he was by no means young when i first remember him, although his dark wig doubtless made him look older than he really was; his blue-gray eyes would have appeared less fishlike, his complexion less red and mottled, had he appeared before us without this adornment. for a man with a bald head to teach dancing might, it is true, seem incongruous. he was always in evening dress, dignified and graceful in his movements, as became one of his profession. age had no power to wither him. he bore a strong resemblance to william warren, the noted actor. when i saw portraits of the latter on cigar-boxes labeled “boston’s favorite,” i supposed they were likenesses of papanti.
in these days of division of labor it seems wonderful to remember that he had no assistant. he taught us to dance, playing at the same time on his fiddle. he kept us in good order, routing the truants out of the dressing-rooms if we stayed there too long to play and talk. he had the italian genius for governing, inherited, doubtless, from the ancient romans.
when mr. papanti sounded a preliminary flourish on his fiddle and asked us to take partners for the quadrille or the lancers, the boys did not rush joyously forward, as might have been expected. our master was often obliged to lead them out in a long, reluctant line, dragging back as much as they dared. with some twenty or thirty boys in tow, he would approach the girls, who were not very encouraging. it was pleasanter to dance with your girl friends than with strange boys who had little to say. a certain master j—— once ejaculated, “my stars!” in talking to his partner. we considered this very bad form. there were one or two little boys of greater conversational powers whom we admired.
mr. papanti duly instructed the elect of the class in the gavotte. it was a proud moment when you were chosen to take part in this. the “shawl” dance was even more select. the single couple—a brother and sister—who danced this had reached the height of human ambition at papanti’s.
the hall had a delightful spring floor, the like of which i have never beheld. it yielded beneath your feet like a live thing!
when we were children dancing was one of our home pleasures. our mother, who had an endless store of operatic airs in her memory, would sit down at the grand piano at the children’s hour. as her nimble fingers struck the keys away we all went, each doing a pas seul of some sort.
to sister julia belongs the credit of inventing the “frog” minuet. this is only suitable for very young children. you go down on your hands and knees, then you lift first the right arm and knee, after that the left, all in time to the music. the movement is rather slow.
my mother’s passionate fondness for music and love of dancing in her youth have been mentioned elsewhere. small wonder that these dramatic airs, as she played them, stirred the little daughter to whom dancing was the natural mode of expression. my performances were no doubt admired by the family much more than they deserved. as we were still lingering in a certain degree of puritanism, the invention of fancy dances was then rare.
among those which i “originated” were dances for the four seasons, and the dagger dance—usually performed with a silver fruit-knife—of lady macbeth. intimate friends of the family were allowed to witness these. alas! i once cast the dagger from me with so noble a passion that it narrowly missed one of the guests. after that greater reserve was necessary.
our mother was quick to recognize and to praise any little manifestation of talent or originality on our part. she did not look with an entirely favorable eye upon our competitors. thus neither she nor i wholly approved of the performance of a little girl who danced the cachucha, with castanets, at a party in providence. in the daytime the child was not as pretty as by gaslight. i suspect that she was freckled. however, she did not again cross my orbit.
in west roxbury lived another young girl who danced, miss emily russell, a daughter of mr. george russell. her performances were more ambitious than mine, being conducted on the footboard of a bedstead. friends were invited to see these, one lady appearing in diamonds and a corn-colored barège. the costume aroused some criticism. i have already intimated that in old boston it was necessary to dress with discretion.
my father taught us to skate first with one foot, thereby avoiding some tumbles. there was a great revival of skating shortly before the civil war. jamaica pond was in high favor, the cars going there being jammed with people. father revived his skating, as did many older people, a certain general arousing unfavorable comment by appearing on double runners—i.e., skates with two blades.
to me the exercise was even more delightful than riding on horseback. i still dream of flying along on skates in the most wonderful manner.
