After her graduation, she spent a winter in the West Indies, and the following year was passed in Madrid with her brother, who was a member of the Spanish legation.

[2] She was the author of several books of prose and poetry; the most noted ones include The Olive and the Pine, Love in Spain, and a Memoir of Charles Lowe.

She was a member of the Society of American Authors of New York, the Authors' Club of Boston, the Woman's Education Association, and the Unitarian Church Temperance Society, as well as an honorary member of the Castilian Club, of the Heptorean Club, of the Teachers' Annuity Guild, honorary president of the Woman Suffrage League, a director of the Massachusetts Suffrage Association, president of the Woman's Alliance of the First Unitarian Church, and a member of the Cambridge Branch of the Indian Association.

[7] In the meantime, the elder brother, Horatio, after graduating from Harvard College, had enlisted in the Mexican–American War, and served as aide-de-camp on the staff of General Shields.

Lowe and her sister visited them, and while there, studied French, learned to speak Spanish, and attended many court balls and receptions, under the reign of Queen Isabella II.

After a trip in the Berkshires, they settled on the Pickman farm, which belonged to Dr. and Mrs. George B. Loring, and was situated about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from Salem.

Their stay on the farm was of short duration, but they were able to secure a nearby cottage close to the water, which they called "Mill-side", where Mrs. Lowe completed her first book, The Olive and the Pine, or Spain and New England.

[5] Mr. Lowe soon regained health and strength, after a year of rest and change, and accepted a call to the parish of the First Congregational Society in Somerville.

In this city, the Lowes established their first home, building a pleasant house on one of the hills commanding a view of Cambridge and Boston; and here their two daughters, Mary Foote and Jeanie Wood, were born.

Mrs. Lowe entered into church work; and she also, at the time of the American Civil War, published a second book, called Love in Spain,[11][12] a dramatic poem.

He was chairman of the army committee of the Association, and gave his time and strength to the Freedmen's Aid Society and to the Sanitary Commission.

Mr. Lowe's health declined rapidly during the winter and spring, and it seemed advisable to try the benefit of sea air for the invalid.

She also continued to werite, contributing notes on "Things at Home and Abroad" in The Unitarian Review, "Gleanings of Foreign Thought" for the Transcript, writing summer sketches for the Woman's Journal, also many poems for different occasions, and memorial verses for the dead.

(Lowe 1891, p. 1) Her last work was a volume of poems, many of which had been printed before, but rearranged and published in 1900, an Easter memorial tribute called The Immortals.

She was interested in many private and public philanthropies, advocating the cause of Native Americans and Afro-Americans, and giving her sympathies to all in need, from blind children in South Boston to the famine sufferers in the East.

In this undertaking, ladies met every week during the winter months for a number of years, and the society existed until the need of it was greatly lessened by the formation of the Somerville Associated Charities.

[17] Lowe enjoyed the work of her church, having among other duties taught a class of young women in the Sunday School for many years.

She presided at several Alliance meetings, although her friends well-knew that she was not able to bear the strain; but even in times of great weariness she would have days of enjoyment.

Not many months before, on a visit to Concord, Massachusetts, which always brought happiness to her, she took part in the music one evening, and sang to the young people about her.

One of the happiest recollections, to those nearest her, was of the last Christmas family gathering, in her own home, when she joined in the simple games and dances with her grandchildren.