If the circumstances in which Jacques and Pierre grew up were modest and not free from cares, nevertheless there reigned in the family an atmosphere of gentleness and affection. In speaking to me for the first time of his parents, Pierre Curie said that they were "exquisite." They were, in truth, that. The father's spirit was a little authoritative--always awake and active. And he possessed a rare unselfishness. He neither wished nor knew how to profit by personal relations to ameliorate his condition. He loved his wife and sons tenderly, and was ever ready to aid all who needed him. The mother was slight, vivid in character, and, even though her health had suffered through the birth of her sons, was always gay and active in the simple home that she so well knew how to make attractive and hospitable. When I first knew them they lived at Sceaux, rue des Sablons (to-day rue Pierre Curie) in a little house of ancient construction half concealed amidst the verdure of a pretty garden. Their life was peaceful. Doctor Curie went where his duties called him, either in Sceaux or in neighboring localities. Beyond this he occupied himself with his garden or his reading. Near relatives and neighbors came to visit on Sundays, when bowling and chess were the favorite amusements. From time to time Henri Brisson sought out his old companion in his tranquil retreat. Great calm and serenity enveloped the garden, the dwelling, and its inhabitants. Pierre Curie was born the 15th of May, 1859, in a house facing the Jardin des Plantes, rue Cuvier, where his parents lived at the time when his father was working in the Museum laboratories. He was the second son of Doctor Curie and three and a half years younger than his brother Jacques. In after life he retained few particularly characteristic memories of his childhood in Paris; yet he did tell me how vividly present in his mind were the days of the Commune, the battle on the barricade so near the house where he then lived, the hospital established by his father, and the expeditions, on which his brother accompanied him, in search of the wounded. It was in 1883 that Pierre moved with his parents from the capital to the suburbs of Paris, living first, from 1883 to 1892, at Fontenay-aux-Roses, then at Sceaux from 1892 to 1895, the year of our marriage.