Page:Margaret Fuller Ossoli (Higginson).djvu/38

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III.

GIRLHOOD AT CAMBRIDGE.

(1810-1833.)

Sarah Margaret, the oldest of the eight children of Timothy and Margaret (Crane) Fuller, was born May 28, 1810, in that part of Cambridge still known as Cambridgeport. There are attractive situations in that suburb, but Cherry Street, can scarcely be classed among them, and the tide of business and the pressure of a tenement-house population have closed in upon it since then. The dwelling of Timothy Fuller still stands at the corner of Eaton Street, and is easily recognized by the three elms in front, two of which, at least, were planted by him in the year when Margaret was born. The garden, in which she and her mother delighted, has long since vanished; but the house still retains a certain dignity, though now divided into three separate tenements, numbered respectively 27, 29, and 31 Cherry Street, and occupied by a rather migratory class of tenants. The pillared doorway, and the carved wreaths above it, give still an old-fashioned grace to the somewhat dilapidated birthplace of Margaret Fuller.