Excerpt from Letters of James Russell Lowell, Vol. 1 He was the youngest of the household of four broth ers and two sisters. He was a handsome boy and his mother's darling. There was nothing precocious in his intelligence, but from his earliest days he was sensitive to the influences of Nature and a keen observer of the aspects of her life. He had the poetic temperament, which showed itself in his quick emotions and ready sympathies. His development was healthy; he was full of boyish spirits, liking out-doors better than the school room, and acquiring more through his unconsciously exercised powers of observation than through lessons conned from books. His first schooling was at a dame school in Cambridge. Lowell has told some of his childish reminiscences in a little poem inserted in the Introduction to the First Series of the Biglow Papers. It is the record of conditions of childhood which have long Since passed away, together with the simplicity of life which made them possible; but the record, as he says, will not seem wanting in truth to those survivors of the old time whose fortunate education began in a country village. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.