Representative women of New England/Helena Higginbotham
HELENA HIGGINBOTHAM.— Among the authors who have recently made their bow to the public, and who have met with instant appreciation, is Helena Higginbotham, of Springfield, Mass. She was born in Philadelphia in 1874, but came as a tiny child to Massachusetts, since which time her home has been in Huntington and Springfield.
Her father, John Francis Higginbotham, was born and reared in Manchester, England; while her mother, Helen Hazelhurst Higginbotham, was of Spanish origin.
After a three years' cour.se at the Springfield High School, Miss Higginbotham, who from childhood had .shown much talent for sketching, took the two years' course in drawing at the Cowles Art School, Boston, later attending the Art Students' League in New York. Nature has endowed Miss Higginbotham generously with mental and physical gifts. When a little girl she sketched with ease, and in occasional fits of petulance eased her injured feelings by making quick caricatures of those who had offended her. These were so clever that the subjects, instead of feeling re.sentful, were lost in admiration. It was as easy for her to use her pen as her crayons; and, though too shy for a long time to offer her literary work, she gradually began contributing to newspapers and magazines. In September, 1902, Lee & Shepard published her book, "Rover's Story," which she had illustrated herself. She has another volume in progress, and intends to make literature her profession. Some of the articles contributed by her to magazines are not what might be considered of a literary nature, most of them being on mechanical subjects, such as wiring houses for electric bells and for lighting gas by an electrical current. In electrical engineering she takes a great interest, and her articles on this subject are ba.sed upon personal experience. She .says in regard to it: "Having wired nine houses, and after keeping them in repair without the aid of an electrician, I have found the occujiation far more interesting than literature, even if one does have to climb ladders to fasten insulators above the second-story windows, to attach the outside wires, or go down cellar among the cobwebs to make 'grounds,' set up batteries, and all the rest incidental to the business."
Miss Higginbotham is intensely fond of children and animals, and in all she writes there is a wholesome, happy flavor. Bright and vivacious in manner and of a gracious personality, she makes an instant and favorable impression upon those with whom she comes into contact, who preserve pleasing recollections of her apt and interesting conversation.