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[544] birthday verses by Longfellow, which were read the next day at a dinner given to Agassiz by the ‘Saturday Club.’ In speaking of Longfellow's relation to this club, Holmes says: ‘On one occasion he read a short poem at the table. It was in honor of Agassiz's birthday, and I cannot forget the very modest, delicate musical way in which he read his charming verses.’ Although included in many collections of Longfellow's Poems, they are reproduced here, because the story seems incomplete without them.

The fiftieth birthday of Agassiz.

It was fifty years ago,
     In the pleasant month of May,
In the beautiful Pays de Vaud,
     A child in its cradle lay.

And Nature, the old nurse, took
     The child upon her knee,
Saying: “Here is a story-book
     Thy Father has written for thee.”

“Come wander with me,” she said,
     “Into regions yet untrod;
And read what is still unread
     In the manuscripts of God.”

And he wandered away and away
     With Nature, the dear old nurse,


Houghton, Mifflin and company, New York, Boston, 1885.

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H. W. Longfellow (3)
L. R. Agassiz (3)
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