The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-07
A LOWELL CENTENARY.

This Sunday. will mark the cen tenary of the birth of one of the dis tinguished members of that remarka- ble New England family, the1Lowells. The Rev. Robert, Traill Spence Lowell was born in Boston on Oct. s, 1816, and, while he did not achieve such wide fame in the domain of letters as his younger brother, James Russell Lowell, he was the author of several volumes which still endure. His mas terpiece, ''The New Priest of Concep- ton Bay'' ranks among the best of the novels which have Newfoundland for a setting.
 Like most of the Lowells, Robert was educated at Harvard, graduating in 183 He studied medicine and afterwards theology, and in 1S42 was ordained clergyman of the Church of England by the Bishop of, New foundIand and Bermuda He Accom- panied the Bishop, to the Isles Of the Lily as chaplain, and later went to Newfoundland, where he was settled for some years as rector of Bay Rob ert During a severe famine which prevailed in Newfoundland in 1S46 he was appointed commissioner for
 
 great service as a medical man. The work and anxiety incident to his New foundland charge made him very ill, and in 1847 he was forced to abandon his labors and return to the United States. a-t
 His. next field of activity was in Newafk, N. 'J., where he conducted a
 mission for the poor. Later he was rector of a church in Duanesburg, N. Y.,l head master at St. Marks School in Southboro. Mass, and Latin
 professor at Union College. Until his
 death, which occurred in Schnectady,
 N. Y., in 1891, he was regular con- tributor to periodicals of the higher class. His novel of Newfoundland l life, ''The New Priest of Conception
 Bay" was published in Boston in 1858 He also wrote Antony Brade," tale of schoolboy life; volume of poems entitled Fresh Hearts That
 Failed Three Thousand Years Ago. and "A Story of Two From an Old Dutch Town" El Robert Lowell was little more than | two years the senior of his more dis | tinguished brother, James Russell Lowell, whose centenary will be scele- brated on Feb. 22, 1919. While Rob- | ert chose medicine and theology,
 James studied law, but both turned
 naturally to literature. The great poet
 and diplomat died on Aug. 12, 1891, l just a month before his elder brother passed away.
 l Mary Lowell Putnam, the sister of
 James Russell Lowell and Robert
 Lowell, wasSalso writer of considera- ble ability, her books including two
 dramatic poems entitled '"The Tragedy
 of Errors and "The Tragedy of Sue cess" as well as Records of an Ob-
 scure Man." a History of the Con
 stitutfon of Hungary" and numerous
 periodical contributions in prose and \ verse.
 | The mother of the three gifted
 authors was descended from the Scandinavian family of Trail or Troll
 of the Orkney Islands, celebrated in
 Scott'sI Pirate" She possessed in
 an eminent degree the faculty of ac- quiring languages. and this talent was inherited by her children. Her daugh-
 ter, Mrs. Putnam, was an extraordinary linguist, her attainnnents in this di-
 rection including Latin, Greek, He
 brew, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch,
 Portuguese, German, Swedish, Danish, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Turkish, Arabic, Sanscrit, and several Oriental
 languages.
 l The father of Robert, Charles Rus sell and Mary Lowell was the Rev. Dr.. Charles Russell, who was pastor of a