Born and bred in Cambridge, Colonel Higginson lived in Newburyport, Worcester, and Newport from 1847 to 1878. In the latter year he returned to Cambridge, and took up his residence in a house near the University. Soon after, he built a house on Observatory Hill, between Cambridge Square and Mount Auburn Cemetery, on ground over which he played as a boy. It is a plain-looking structure, combining the Queen Anne and the old colonial style, but very cosey and homelike within. The hall is modeled after that of an old family mansion in Portsmouth; and many other features of the house are copied from old New England dwellings. A sword presented to Colonel Higginson by the freemen of Beaufort, S. C., the colors borne by his regiment, and other relics of the Civil War, decorate the hall. To the left on entering is the study, along one side of which are well-filled book-shelves, on another a piano, while a bright fire burns in the open grate. Beyond is a smaller room, lined on all sides with books, in which Colonel Higginson does his writing. His book-shelves hold many rare books; a considerable collection by and about women, which he prizes highly and often uses, he presented to the Boston Public Library, where it is known as the Galatea Collection. His study has no special ornaments; its furniture is simple, and the book-cases are of the plainest sort. The most attractive article of furniture the room contains is his own easy-chair, which came to him from the Wentworth family, where it had been an heirloom for generations. Back of the parlor is the dining-room, which is sunny and cheerful, adorned with flowers, and adapted to family life and conversation. The pictures that cover the walls all through the house have been selected with discriminating appreciation. Many indications of an artistic taste appear throughout the house; and everywhere there are signs of the domestic comfort the Colonel enjoys so much. His present wife is a niece of Longfellow’s first wife. Her literary tastes have found expression in her “Seashore and Prairie,” a volume of pleasant sketches, in the publication of which Longfellow took a hearty interest; and in her “Room for One More,” a delightful children’s book. Domestic in his tastes, his home is to Colonel Higginson the centre of the world. Its “bright, particular star” is his daughter of twenty, his only child, to whom he is devotedly attached. His happiest hours are spent in her company, and in watching the growth of her mind.