ing slowly down across his very path. No boat, indeed, but the dismasted hulk of a vessel, its bows shattered and sunk, but its stern high and safe above the water, and human figures looking down from it curiously upon him. He raised his arm and feebly waved it; as feebly shouted a reply to the hail that met his dull cars, and then the song of the siren shut out all other sound, a thick darkness closed his eyes, and he had fainted. An hour after, when James Murray unclosed those heavy eyes, he stared incredulously into the face bending so tenderly over him, and moved uneasily within the arms that folded themselves about him. But he could not shake off the dream. "Hope?" whispered he, incredulously. "Yes, dear, dearest father, it is indeed your own wicked child, to whom God has kindly given time and space to ask your forgiveness." The father feebly closed his eyes without reply-it was all so strange. It was so little while since he had longed to live that he might ask her forgiveness. A man's voice spoke next: Mr. Murray did not answer, but went to sleep with a queer smile upon his lips. To think that this should be the end of all the threats and curses he had heaped upon the head of that young man! Hope was ready with the tea, and before night her father was nearer to being "all right" than could have been expected after the severe exposure he had undergone. The next day he was able to sit up and hear the story of the Tresethen's voyage and present position. He was not surprised at learning that this very hulk on which they now found themselves was the remains of the destroyer of the Roebuck. That shock, so fatal to the smaller vessel, was not harmless to the larger. Her bows were badly stove, and shortly after the collision a cry was raised that the ship was sinking, and must immediately be deserted. With the selfishness of terror the crew seized upon the boats and refused to allow the passengers a place. The Captain, after exerting alike uselessly his authority and his powers of persuasion, declared finally that unless the passengers were taken he himself would remain behind. "So much the better!" cried the brutal boat "Let me pour some more of this brandy be-swain as he pushed off the overloaded boat, which tween his lips, dearest. You should not have spoken yet of such matters." "I could not help it, Miles. I have so longed to say it. But see, he is getting better surely; see the color in his lips. Oh, father dear, open your eyes once more!" James Murray did not resist that appeal, but opening his eyes, fixed them more lovingly upon his daughter's face than she remembered him ever to have done before. was immediately hidden by the darkness. The three, thus abandoned, sat down quietly upon the quarter-deck and waited for their death. It did not come, and in the morning they perceived, that, having settled to a certain depth, the ship would sink no farther, at least toward the stern. The cabin and cabin stores were thus saved to them, insuring shelter and subsistence so long as the hulk should float in its present position. A quantity of charcoal stored in an empty stateroom promised the comfort of fire, and in all, except the uncertainty of permanent safety, their situation might be as agreeable and comfortable as it had been during the first days of their voyage. But a few more hours brought yet another shock to convince them that no man may cal"Where is he now-Miles?" asked Mr. Mur-culate in what form his last hour shall meet him. ray, feebly. Tears rushed into her own, but she restrained them at a look from her husband, and only stooped to kiss her father's cheek. "It was Miles who saved you," whispered she, after a moment. "He leaped in and drew you to the vessel." "Here. Oh, darling father, you forgive us both-I see that you do!" And then the tears would come, and did. "And now, Sir, if you are strong enough I will take you down to the cabin and put you in a berth," said Tresethen, presently. "We have the after-part of the ship at our command, and may be very comfortable here for a long time if the fair weather holds." "Wait a while and I'll go down myself. I'm too heavy for any one to carry." "I think not, Sir, if I may try." And the broad-shouldered young Englishman, raising his reluctant burden from the deck, carried him carefully down the steep steps, and after stripping off his wet and almost frozen clothes, placed him carefully in a berth and covered him deep with blankets. "Now, if you will take a good long sleep, Sir," said he, cheerily, "I think you'll wake up all right, and Hope will have some hot tea ready for you." The Captain, whose great weakness was a love of gain, had mentioned several times that a great deal of money might be collected from the seamen's chests in the forecastle, if we could get at them, as the sailors had, according to custom, received their wages for the outward voyage upon the day of sailing. The next morning after the shipwreck he had been heard to quietly leave the cabin at an early hour and ascend the companion-way. Some time after, Tresethen, going up to join him, was startled at finding only his coat lying upon the deck. The Captain was never seen again; and the two survivors could only surmise that he (being a bold and skillful swimmer) had dived into the forecastle to try to recover the treasure hidden there, and had either become entangled in the wreck, or struck his head in the descent so as to stun himself. At any rate the sea never gave up this one of its many secrets, and Tresethen and his bride remained alone, until, by almost a miracle, James Murray was brought to join them. A week was passed away, and, spite of all the after all. It would have been worse if I had perils of their position-spite of their uncertain died floating on that spar, and you had gone future-Hope thought and said that it was the down when your shipmates did, and neither of happiest week of all her life. Her father hav- us had ever said the words we have said since. ing once made up his mind to forgive and like It would have been worse, even if you had got her husband, did it so heartily that his daugh- safely to England and lived out your lives, with ter sometimes smiled merrily at finding her own the weight on your consciences of having started opinions and arguments peremptorily set aside wrong; while I, a poor, miserable, lonely old in favor of Tresethen's, and in noticing the hon-man, had staid in America cursing and swearest admiration in the face of the older man, ing at my disobedient children." when his new son argued eloquently and firmly, "Oh, father!" although respectfully, with Murray's unreasoning prejudice against England and Englishmen. Tresethen, too, beginning with a mere feeling of compassion and forbearance, grew to feel a real affection for Hope's father-to regard him with that complacent fondness one always feels for a person he has won over from opposition to amity. But these pleasant days were drawing to a close. Hope, awaking one night from uneasy dreams, was startled by hearing the plash of water close to the edge of her berth, and putting out her hand, dipped it into the ice-cold element stealing so treacherously upon her sleep. Rousing hastily her husband and father, and procuring a light, her terrible suspicions were soon confirmed. The wreck was settling. They must at once abandon the cabins, and trust themselves to the shelterless deck. Hastily gathering what food was at hand, and snatching some clothing from the beds, the fugitives fled from the cruel foe, steadily if slowly pursuing them. The first effort of both men was to shelter as much as possible the delicate girl so dear to both; but when Hope was wrapped closely in shawls and blankets, and seated between them upon the deck, there seemed no more to be done but to wait resignedly, till that creeping, sliding water, whose warning plash sounded every moment nearer, should at last reach and overwhelm them. "What should be the cause of this sudden change?" asked Mr. Murray, breaking with an effort the painful silence. "Well, I did girl, and so that Mr. Hepworth will tell you-would have told you, I may as well say. No, children, I think, on the whole, Almighty God has done full as much for us as we any way deserve, considering we none of us have kept straight to the mark; and I for one have wandered off far enough. Now, son and daughter, don't you agree with me that we shall all go off into eternity the happier and the better for this last week we've spent together?" "Indeed I do, Sir," said Miles, solemnly; and Hope, sobbing on her father's neck, answered him with quivering kisses. "I know I haven't lived what the ministers call a godly life," said James Murray again, after a little thought. "But I hope I've been sorry first or last for all the wrong I've done; and I've heard it read that such as repented were to be forgiven. I don't know yet. We all shall soon. Hope, child, can't you say over one of those prayers I used to hear your mother teaching you in the old times?" Controlling her own emotion with quiet womanly strength, Hope, after a little pause, repeated in her clear, low voice the simplest and the greatest of all petitions, the Lord's own prayer. When she had done, no more was said for a long while. Each one took counsel with his own heart, and silently set his house in order for the mighty visitor who stood close without the door. At last Tresethen said, quietly, "The day is dawning." All eyes turned eastward and watched silently while the sun rose through a glory of purple and golden clouds and came to look at them. Presently his light and warmth revivified their chilled frames, and, creeping closer together, they divided the food they had brought with them in their hasty flight. It was not much, not more than would last one day; but as all thought, though none said, it was very unlikely that another sunrise should find them in need of earth "Captain Jones told me," said Tresethen, "the reason the vessel did not sink at once was that he had caused a bulkhead, as nearly airtight as he could get it, to be placed across some portion of the hold, thinking that, in case of just such a disaster as befell us, this confined body of air would, as it actually did, buoy up the stern and prevent the wreck from sinking. In the first moments after the collision he supposed that his experiment had failed, and did not mention it to us until several hours of safety had reas-ly food. sured him. I suppose this partition must now have given way at some point, so as slowly to admit the water. Probably it was just beneath our feet last night, while we sat so cheerfully talking over our future plans before separating for the night." "Dreadful!" murmured Hope, hiding her face the water, would allow. But here again the upon her husband's breast. "Well, I don't know, daughter and son," said James Murray, after a little pause. "It don't strike me that we've been so hardly dealt with The bright winter day passed on. The air, though keen, was not insupportably cold, and the little party were well provided with wrappings of various sorts, and exerted themselves, from time to time, to take such exercise as the limits of the deck, now very nearly level with waters stayed. For what reason they could not tell, but from an hour before sunset the settling of the wreck was suspended, and faint human hopes and longings came creeping back to the three hearts that thought to have done with them of distress held aloft by Tresethen was acknowlforever. edged from her decks; near and nearer, till she gracefully rounded to, and a boat was manned and lowered. Then, as it came leaping on across the waters, how those hungry eyes watched lest it should suddenly be swallowed up; lest it should not, after all, be meant for them; lest they should die some sudden death before it reached them. And then, when it was come Darkness fell, and the father slept, his head upon his daughter's lap. She, gathered to her husband's breast, neither spoke nor moved, and though her blue eyes did not close her spirit seemed far away. Tresethen, strong and manful, warded off as yet the subtle attacks of cold and hunger, watching sleeplessly the starry horizon, hoping, longing to see there the dim out-when rough hands, but tender hearts, helped line of a sail. The long night passed, the morning broke. Hope quietly arousing herself drew forth the remnant of her yesterday's food and tried to slip a portion into her father's mouth that he might unconsciously swallow it. But Murray awaking suddenly detected the pious fraud, and smiling feebly, said, "No, no, child; life is young and full of promise for you-keep it while you may. My race is run." "Will you not take it, father? Indeed I do not want it." "No, Hope; positively no." them aboard with many a word of pity and of wonder-then how the truth of their safety in very deed came crowding in upon their hearts, till even Tresethen turned away his face, while Hope and Murray sobbed aloud. All honor to that captain and that crew, Englishmen every one! All honor to the underlying good of human nature in its roughest form! How many ways it found to prove itself in the days before that merchantman dropped her anchor in Boston harbor! How affectionately Tresethen and Murray and Hope herself grasped the hard hands of those sailors as they parted from them at the wharf! How tender and how gladly, years after, they ministered to the wants of one of them who, sick and poor, sent to ask their charity! "Then you must, Miles. You are the strong-ly they ever recalled their faces and their names; est of us all. Eat, and you may yet be saved." "Do you think, my wife, that I would live so?" asked Tresethen, reproachfully. "What charm remains on earth for me, that I should take the morsel from your lips and watch you die of hunger in my arms? Eat this morsel yourself, my darling, if you love me!" "No, Miles, I can not-I will not. Indeed, I think it would choke me were I to attempt it." "Then we will divide it in three parts, and each agree to eat his own share for the sake of the others." "I will try," said Hope, faintly; and James Murray, sitting upright, could not restrain the hungry glare of his hollow eyes as he seized the portion offered him by Tresethen. Hope-her husband's eye upon her-swallowed with difficulty her own morsel, watching in her turn Tresethen, who, making a very good pretense at eating, quietly hid his untasted food, reserving it for Hope. And so Miles and Hope came home to the roof whence they had stolen a while before; and that angry father, who had pursued them with such threats of vengeance, welcomed them there as one welcomes all that makes life dear; and when the year came round, and there was a baby to be christened, none but Mr. Hepworth should bestow that benediction on its little head, and sanction with his presence the merry dinner afterward which Mr. Murray gave, as he told every one, in honor of "My grandson, Sir, Miles Tresethen, Junior!" WTT LOUIS AGASSIZ. ITH Humboldt terminated an important period in the history of science. GayLassac, Laplace, Arago, and Cuvier, who were with him the master minds whose unwearied la Again the sun rose and looked pityingly down upon the forlorn group clinging to that sink-bors served so largely to advance its boundaries ing wreck. The three watched it steadily. "Hope! Mr. Murray! what is that? There, close under the sun-you can hardly see it for the light! Is it can it be?—it is, a sail!" "You're right, boy; it is surely a sail!" cried the father, rising excitedly to his feet. Hope did not speak, but her dim eyes turned to Miles with a look of unspeakable thankful ness. It was indeed a sail—a homeward-bound merchantman, sweeping gayly on before a strong east wind, directly in the path of the sinking hulk. Every moment as it passed brought her nearer, and brought back life and hope to those three, so lately resigned to die. Nearer and nearer, till the fluttering ensign that those who immediately followed them found themselves in possession of an advance point never before gained in a single epoch, had one after the other been snatched away by death, and left him the sole (or nearly the sole, for the venerable Biot was then still living) representative of this great era. At last Humboldt, at the age of ninety, died in 1859; and those who had listened to the teachings of this great school of philosophers were left in possession of the great depository they had labored with such assiduity to enrich. Nor were the immediate recipients of this legacy of knowledge laggard in assuming the labors of their predecessors. Owen, Liebig, Geoffroy St. Hilaire, and Agassiz constitute the master spirits of another epoch whose cycle has not yet been completed, but whose discoveries and contributions, as already establish LOUIS AGASSIZ. ed, clearly demonstrate that it will fall but little remarkable advance in geological discoveries. It is a remarkable fact that Guyot, whom Ritter declared to be one of his best pupils, and who was Professor of Physical Geography in the University of Neufchatel; Matile, the Professor of History in the same institution; and Agassiz, should, after many years' conjoint labor as colleagues, find themselves residents of the United States, and professors of various schools in this country. It is pleasant to say that a warm friendship, begun in youth and continued through the varying shades of manhood, still subsists between these early associates. In 1833 Agassiz began the publication of his great work on "Fossil Fishes," in five quarto volumes, accompanied by about four hundred folio plates, comprising the figures and descriptions of nearly one thousand specimens of fossil fishes. This work at once won the admiration of all the savans of Europe, and established for him a reputation which he has since so honorably maintained. Born in the midst of those wonderful and majestic creations which tower up on every side in the lofty pinnacles and deep ravines of the Swiss Alps, his attention was early directed to an explanation of their phenomena. Every one knows that the deep valleys of these mountainous regions contain immense rivers denominated glaciers, as those of the Aar and Chamouni, whose waters are constantly frozen, and which gradually flow down to empty themselves into the Rhone with a motion so imperceptible that its progress is only determined by fixing points that may be permanent upon the icy current and contiguous shore, and at intervals of several months noticing the distance which those objects on the ice have receded from those on the bank of the stream. Hugri, who had placed a cabin on the Aar in 1827, found that in 1830 it had moved about 110 yards downward. Agassiz, in 1840, by fixing the position of the rock on the Aar, which he denominated "Hôtel des Neufchatelois," found that its motion was at the rate of 243 feet each year; at which rate of progress the frozen stream would finally flow from the lakes, whence it was collected to the Rhone, at an average rate of one mile in about twenty-two years. The ac It may be well to state that a few years since "The appearance of the Alps," says Agassiz, This glacial theory presupposes that this globe, which we inhabit with such conscious security, and which in its arrangement in the great solar circle is so disposed as to give a due proportion of dryness and moisture, and heat and cold to its various parts, so as to fit them for the abode of man and those animals which exist with him, was at least north of the Mediterranean at a day no farther distant than that which witnessed the upheaval of the Alps, entirely enveloped in one dense and unyielding investure of ice; that the whole of the North American continent was at that time subjected to a degree of cold so intense as to destroy every species of animal life and every particle of vegetation; and that with a restoration of this part of the earth's surface to a sufficient degree of heat-for it appears to have previously possessed an elevated temperaBut the phenomena of motion, however in- ture far more tropical than it now enjoys-it teresting, was of far less importance, as a ques- came forth from its icy investure bleak and bartion of large generalization, than what is known ren, and entirely devoid of animate existence. as "the glacial theory," which Agassiz an- While it is true that these very original and innounced in a paper read before the Helvetic So- genious speculations have not as yet obtained ciety of Natural History in 1837, which was a general acceptance, it is nevertheless certain that sess sufficient power to retain him hereafter in his adopted country. My acquaintance with Agassiz began at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Providence in 1855. This meeting was remarkable for the circumstance that the plan and organization of the Dudley Observatory was there arranged and such geologists as Buckland and Lyell in England, and Professor Hitchcock in the United States, have either adopted in whole or in part the theory as established by the facts upon which they have been enabled to generalize. Professor Hitchcock has found in the New England States evidences of striation of rocks which go far toward the establishment of this theory; and I may add, that I have likewise seen in the mount-prosecuted chiefly by Dr. Armsby of Albany, ain gorges of Western Maryland similar striations which it seems scarcely possible to account for on any other supposition. with such zeal that when the Association assembled at Albany the following year the whole arrangement was so far developed that its organization was inducted by an able address by Edward Everett. But whether this theory be true or not, yet the deductions of Agassiz on the glacial movements form very important contributions to sci- At Providence the harmony of the meeting ence, and are both exact and interesting. It is, was for a time disturbed by a rival faction, which however, rather as a naturalist than a physicist was somewhat jealous of the mode in which the that Agassiz has gained his greatest reputation; appointments were made by those who were inand when, at the suggestion of Humboldt, he trusted with the management of the Association. was requested by the King of Prussia to visit One of the most effective and conciliatory speakthe United States in order to investigate its fossilers on this occasion was Agassiz, who by his remains, it was rather as the author of the elabo-tact succeeded in a great degree in restoring harrate work on "Fossil Fishes," than as the promulgator of a new physical theory of the earth's perturbations, that he was warmly welcomed by scientific men. He arrived in the United States in 1846, accompanied by Count Portralis, who, as an attaché to the Coast Survey, has since contributed to the pages of its reports much exact information connected with this important branch of the public service. Agassiz had, while in Europe, received an invitation to deliver a course of lectures before the Lowell Institute, and soon after his arrival in Boston he was introduced in this manner to the public as a lecturer on Natural History. Possessing great natural powers as a public speaker, with a reasonably fair acquaintance with the English language, and ardent enthusiasm for the subject he was engaged in delineating, it is not remarkable that his lectures should have been exceedingly popular, or that his audiences should have filled to overflowing the edifice in which they were delivered. mony, upon the very eve of what promised to be an unpleasant if not irreconcilable discord which threatened the very existence of the Association. During the week appropriated to the meetings of the Association I frequently met him, at the dinner parties and evening receptions given by the citizens to the members. Agassiz, who was at that time somewhat under fifty years of age, possessed a remarkably fine personal appearance, and a physique which, while not overburdened with flesh, exhibited much power of endurance. Among the eminent savans assembled on this occasion, including Pierce of Harvard, Alexander of Princeton, Olmsted of Yale, Henry of the Smithsonian, Bache of the Coast Survey, Henry and William B. Rogers, and Sir William Logan, Agassiz had unquestionably the finest head and the most strikingly intellectual countenance. He was indeed not only a highly intellectual person in appearance, but a very handsome man, and withal was possessed of the blandest and most engaging manners. He originally contemplated a tarry of two years in the United States, and was provided by the Prussian Government with funds for this object; but soon after his arrival he met with Professor Bache, who not only tendered to him the use of the vessels engaged in the Coast Survey for the purpose of prosecuting his researches, but employed him on the special service of ex-was referred to him for settlement. amining the formation of the Florida Reefs. This piece of good fortune determined him to remain an indefinite period in the United States, in which he found a vast and hitherto nearly unexplored field for research in the department of natural history, to which he particularly devoted his attention. This resolve was finally made a permanent one by his appointment to the Professorship of Zoology and Geology in the Lawrence Scientific School, then just established. He has since become a permanent resident of Cambridge, has associated himself by marriage with a Boston lady, and drawn around him a circle of home associations which promise to pos The topics usually discussed at the social réunions were of a scientific character. On one occasion the party invited to dinner had assembled with the single exception of Agassiz. While waiting his coming the conversation turned upon the characteristics of the toad, and called forth a difference of opinion, which upon his arrival "Yes," replied Agassiz, in answer to the appeal, "on my way hither I saw a toad jumping in the path before me, and put him in my pocket for future examination. Here he is:" and to the surprise of the party he drew forth a living specimen of the object under discussion, and placing him in the palm of his hand commenced a dissertation upon its peculiarities and habits with as perfect nonchalance as if he had been invited thither for the express purpose. It is needless to say that the party listened with the utmost attention to his explanations, and relinquished the subject on the announcement that the dinner waited their attendance, in all proba |