The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-04-05


Notes of Son ana Brother" the au-
thor IL To be congratulated on havins
attained what might be called a sue
cess OF piety, as we'll as upon having
produced volume which will repay all
the pains It costs the reader: and that
Is saying a great deal.
Thomas wentworth Hissinson.
The life of Thomas Wentworth Hip-
1inson BY his widow. MARY THAcHKH
HIoGrNsoN CHoughton Miffiin). is Amos,
an autobiography. for Col. Higginson
had the old fashioned habit OF putting
everything on paper and keeping the
papers, and Mrs Higginson quotes d.
rect from his letters. diaries and books
in generous measure.
Mr. Higginson, born 1929. lived eighty
eight years: Il full and busy life, tan
gent at numerous points upon contem-
pc rary activities. anything but a clois.
tered existence. 1t involves the New
England Of eighty or ninety years ago:
the Harvard OF the late 'S0s-he grad
uated with the class OF Al: the Massa-
chusetts Unitarian pulpit: abol!ticnism
the civil war. the pioneer days OF
woman suffrage in this country and
the literary associations Of the estab.
lishment Of the Atlantic. Mr.. Higgin-
son wrote voluminously. and in his mid
die life delightfully."-; but in this portrait
he shows rather more as the man OF
affairs than as the scribe. He did too
many things to do enough in any OF
them to attain greatness and last
ing fame; he said himself, in lS42, "Ny
yraat tnfallnc@,,oi Aifpc,,lt,- ho, haa,,
having too many irons in tho Are"
and surroundings.
Higginson and Lowell were school
boys together. 1t was to wentwor,h's
older brother, Thacher. that Lowell
wrote his amusingly effervescent note
Mt DEAR TuAoR: In the course OF human
events when the mind becomes induced with
active spirit. vi:h powerful imagination.
with extensive enterprise. with noble de-
to return to YOU thi~-saliust. Yrs,
J. r. L.
Wentworth Higginson entered Har.
ward at the age of II. in 1887, the
youngest in a class OF forty-five. He
was a tall lad. shy and reserved; in
tellectua,ly precocious but immature of
character. fond OF study and Of sports
much given TO retrospective brooding
and quite sentimental: not very popu-
lar with his older college mates He
was president of the college natural
history" society, and with excellence
in this study combined, oddly enough,
fondness for Greek and mathematics.
From his student diary:
p,.sta.n. n,,tr,,, -.
recitation. Lucky. l never rec!ted better.
President Q. was present at our recitation
In Herodotus. Got along decentiy.
beaded In geometry for the mrs, time.
Many OF the class having become slightly
booty. made somewhat of a NOISE in pray
ep.
what a sight the chapel presented at
prayers this morning. About coo panes of
glass blown up. the hand. of tho clock taken
OF and the dial stove In. The front panels
of the lower part OF the pulpit removed ard
all the damask between the pillars torn
away, and a Bone for Old Quin to pick"
written on the wall.
The Prex sent for m. Found "a cut
seventeen prayers. Must look out. Rather
bore. for shall have to Gu. some more
for skating
After graduation from Harvard Hig-
gibson taught in boys school. Sam
uel Yields, at Jamaica Plain; the next
year he engaged in private tutoring at
Brookline, and in '43 he went back to
Harvard. taking "a course in theology.
In IN Of he 4,
from the First Religious Society of
Newburyport; he was ordained Septem-
her Is and two weeks later married
Mary Claiming. At Newburyport he
engaged in various activities outside
the pulpit writing. lecturing and con-
Quoting school for factory girls. In
AS he ran for Congress on the Free
Soil ticket. He and Sam Longfellow
brother OF the poet. edited n volume
OF sea poems called "Thalatta." publ
cation of which had to be postponed
because, "a H!gg!nson jotted In his
diary, Mrs. Stowe eXhausts all the
paper mills" And the young minister
preached himself out OF tho pulpit"
for he was atire with anti-slavery zeal.
his preaching became too hot for the
ruling few in his congregation and no
resigned hoping that his empty pulpi,
would preach louder than living
minister In the next two years he
wrote newspaper articles. lcctured
against slavery and for prohibition and
took II prominent part In the work of
the Boston Vigilance Committee, which
kept yacht. the Flirt. cruising up and
down the coast nomina!ly for rent but
actually engaged in rescung escaped
slaves.
The political activities 10 llstas,eful
IN the sea captains OF NcWhuryport
brought him, in 1852. an invitation %
tho passionate Of a Fres Church at
Worcester, which he accepted. In 1851
he took part in the attempted rescue
OF Anthony Burns. an escaped slave
who was confined in the court house
IN Boston. In 1856 ne went to Kansas
az an agent Of the Kansas Na,iona,
Committee, and In '5S he met John
Brown. for whom he raised what funds
ha could and to whom he wrote: II am
Always ready 10 invest money in trea-
SON He even engaged In plot to
kidnap the Governor Of Virginia and
keep him as "hostage for the safety
of Brown" but the wild scheme failed
for want Of the sinews OF war. lie
visited the Browne at North Eliza, N.