Mary Thacher Higginson, Thomas Wentworth Higginson: the story of his life

I am getting on nicely in my parental relations. Order of performances thus. Rise 6 1/2-7, bathe, dress and see that the boys have dittoed by 7 1/2— up stairs till breakfast at 8—school 9-11 . .. dine at 3. From 4 to 8 1/2 my own master—8 1/2 to 10 three-handed whist with the venerable, and to bed 10 1/2– 11 regularly. Thus you see our life is systematic and simple—the aforesaid three-handed whist is as great a blessing as Homeopathy.

The Brookline stay was eventful, because under new influences Wentworth Higginson rapidly developed and matured. There was a large circle of relatives within a radius of a few miles, and he took part in their frequent meetings and merrymakings. It was in Brookline that he first met his second cousin, Mary Channing, daughter of Dr. Walter Channing, and sister of the Concord poet, Ellery Channing. A few years older than himself, unworldly, intellectual, and brilliant in conversation, she proved a congenial companion. She was a frequent visitor at the Perkins homestead, and after an acquaintance of a few months the cousins became engaged, Higginson being then a youth of nineteen.

One of the absorbing interests of his little world at this time was magnetism, various members of the circle trying experiments upon each other. ‘Nothing ’