The New York herald., 1922-03-12


THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGIN-
SON: 1s4s-1906. Edited by Mary
Thacher Higginson. Houghton
Miffiin Company.
" HE reader of these consecutive
memoranda Of sixty years
in the life of Col Higginson,
this eminent example of the New
England gentleman of the old school,
will be struck by the aptness of his
words about old letters in the few
sentences which he wrote for New
port in 1864. used by his editors as
foreword:
1T is beYitching and fascinat-
Ing thing to read old letters; they
are so full of vitality that
we can scarcely bear it. I feel this
strangely in turning over my many
papers. ;. ;"
Through all this long autobio-
graphical record of a strong and
interesting personality one is struck
by the lucid simplicity of his COM
ments on men and affairs and by
the implicit adherence to those prin-
ciples of his nature which did not
change, whatever different lights the
passing years threw upon his vision
Of the world as he saw it. This
something which was ourselves but
is no longer" was largely subcon-
scious reflection; the reader recog-
nizes the same spirit OF the man
through the years.
His earlier years in Cambridge and
Newburyport, his experiences in the
civil war. what he saw and thought
in his travels through the West, and,
much later, abroad, his life at New
port and in later years at Cambridge
again, and his Impressions of con-
temporaries at all the periods,
form faithful picture of a life and
day by day view of civilization
which was but now is no longer.
Indeed, it might seem that it was,
rather, the background of scenes
which had begun to shift, even be-
fore his death, while his figure was
little changed.
In May, 1854, he wrote:
I saw Charles Dana 0ater editor
Of the NEW YORK Sun, at Redding's
(bookstore). and hac sane talk. He
looks finely and was gay as usual,
but 1 never feel entirely at ease with
him-his corners are too clearly de-
fined. He is going to leave Brook
farm. but was indignant at the no.
tice of his having relaxed his hold
on the associated principles and
spoke with great emphasis on that
he Is not going into business. :.
He may be going to take Miss Mar
garet) Fuller's place in the Tribune :.
he has been wonderfully successful
as an editor
Says the editor: Another friend
of that period was William Henry
Hurlbut, fellow student at the Di-
vinity School. In letters to his
mother Mr.. Higginson reported some
of Hurlbut's experiences abroad"
He not only was blessed by the
Pope. but by the society of the
Countess Ossoli Margaret Fuller)
whom he admires very much. Why
she welded her 'undeveloped and un-
interesting Italian does not appear;
Hurlbut says, however. she prob
ably married him as a representa-
tive of an imagined possibility in the
italian character which 1 have not
yet been able to believe in I"
And after Hurlbut's return the
memoranda go on:
"Hurlbut was as agree
able as only he can be. He enter
tained me excessively, gave me more
Information on all subjects than any,
body else has (if 1 could only re-
member IT'D and told inimitable sto-
ries. :. He saw a good deal
of the Hunt family. He
thought highly of William Hunt
(the artist) and told us story about
him. This was to the effect that
Hunt came to Florence in poor
health and indolent, and came near
wasting his life as dilettdnte, but
was spurred to ambition by a note