Palestine daily herald. [volume] (Palestine, Tex.) 1902-1949, 1908-12-22
HIGC|NsON's BIRTHDAY
Noted Writer and Historian ceIebrat.
ed His Eighty-Fifth Birthday In
Boston, Mass, Today.
Special to the Herald.

Special to the Herald.
Boston, Mass, Dec. 22.-Thomas
Wentworth Higginson, the noted writ
er and historian, celebrated his S5th
{ birthday at his home on Buckingham
street, Cambridge, today. Notwith,
standing his old age, Colonel Higgin-
son is still physically and intellectual
ly sound and vigorous, but he no long
er INDUCES in violent exercise as in
the days of his earlier manhood. He
spent the day quietly in his charming
home, which is ever filled with an at
mosphere of culture and refinement.
Today it was fragrant with beautiful
flowers, which had been sent by
friends from near and far, giving
proof of the high regard which Mr..
Higginson enjoys among a host of
friends and admirers. They were
gifts of admiration for the brilliant
man of letters as well as of love for
the man Higginson.
Loads of letters and kilograms of a
congratulatory character arrived dur
ing the day and many of the closer
friends of Boston's literary dean call
ed in person to congratulate him upon
his anniversary and chat with him
for little while He was bright and
cheerful and talked interestingly with
his callers. He was in a reminiscent
mood and recalled many intensely in
teresting incidents of his varied ca
-reer.
Mr. Higginson was born in Cam
bridge on December %, 1923, in the
house which his father had built on
Kirkland street and which is still
standing. His father was steward of
Harvard College and well educated
man. His mother and his aunt, Mrs.
Charming, were both highly cultured
and gifted women and young Higgin-
son thus had the good fortune of
growing up in an atmosphere of cul-
tnre, refinement and literary taste He 4
entered Harvard at the age of four-1
teen and became one of the 305 boys
then in the college. Throughout his
undergraduate life he lived with his |
family at Vaughan House. now one of |
the Radcliffe College buildings, but |
spent a great deal of his spare time |
at Fay House, the charming home of |
his aunt, Mrs. Claiming. There he
came in frequent contact with the
select literary circle which included |
lowell and his beautiful and gifted !
iiancee, Maria White; Levi Thaxter,
afterward the husband of Celia Thax-I
ter; Leyerett Saltonstals Mary Story
and William Story, the sculptor. 81
Young Higginson himself wrote
verses at that time and submittedJt
them to the king and queen, as Low
ell and Maria White were called by
the members of that literary coterie
He left Harvard in 1910 and soon n
thereafter entered the church But |,
he did not remain a clergyman more
than short time. He was too liberal
in his views and made himself practi- II
cally, impossible by his opposition to II
the institution of slavery He develop
ed into strong abolitionist and, on
of bic 20 dica1 viou,c u,oc o,-o,, l
imprisoned for few days After two
years and one-half in charge of his III
small congregation at Newburyport he
and accepted a call to the
Free Church in Worcester, then the
center of the, anti-slavery propaganda.
There he came in contact with the
Emigrant Aid Society which, in Sep
TENDER, 1856, sent him to Kansas, to
spread the views of the society in
that part of the country.
During his stay in Kansas young
became intimately acquaint-
ed with the Inflated John Brown, who
became a martyr of his convictions
and was hanged on December 2, 1859,
at Charlestown, Va. When the war
broke out Higginson offered his SER
vices to the union and became colonel
Of the First South Carolina colored
which distinguished itself
under his able leadership. After two
years of honorable service Colonel
Higginson was compelled by wound
which he had received in battle. to
his commission.
After his retirement from the army
Mr.. Higginson went to Newport, R. l.,
cor a rest and it was there he wrote
several of his most charming books