Margaret Louisa Higgins was born in Corning, New York on September 14, 1879. She was sixth of the eleven children born to Michael Higgins and Anne Purcell. The constant cooking, washing, cleaning, sewing and nursing drained Anne's strength away. Anne's coughing got worse and she came down with consumption, a popular name for tuberculosis. Michael Higgins was a sculptor. In Corning, he made a living chiseling out of marble and granite, angels and saints for the local cemeteries. Unfortunely, work was irregular and the fees were never large enough to support the family (Lader 5).
             As a child, Margaret was told to try all religion by her father. Due to this advice, the Higgins children were named children of the devil, since they had no commitment to a church. Margaret got her rebellious ways from her father, who was the town's free thinker, something frowned upon in Corning. The first incident of out right rebellion came at the end of her 8th grade year at school. Margaret's teacher scolded her for being three minutes late. The taunting and mocking continued by classmates. Margaret politely tucked her books under her arm and left school, vowing never to return. Once the Higgins family got news of Margaret's walk out, a family council was called. Mary and Nan, her older sisters, agreed she should be sent away to school. The two sisters put their funds together to pay Margaret's tuition at Claverack College, near the town of Hudson in the Catskill Mountains. Margaret would get room and board by washing dishes and waiting on tables (Lader 22). Margaret was delighted at the teachers' warm and friendly attitude. Margaret also enjoyed the Saturday morning discussions on social and political issues.
             When her three years at Claverack ended, Margaret took a job teaching the first grade, in a public school in Paterson, New Jersey. In her class there were 84 immigrant children consisting o...