ALCOTT, AMOS BKONSON. 



ALCOTT, LOUISA MAY. 



11 



1630, and the descendant of the former, Capt. 

 John, who held a commission from his kins- 

 man Gov. Trumbull, lived on his father's es- 

 tate, " Spindle Hill," where his grandson, Ainos 

 Bronson, the son of Joseph Chatfield and Anna 

 Bronson Alcox, was born. "My father was 

 skilful in handicraft, and in these arts I inher- 

 ited some portion of his skill, and early learned 

 the use of his tools," wrote Mr. Alcott in his 

 diary, when describing his life in the primitive 

 days of New England. In 1814 he entered 

 Silas Hoadley's clock-factory in Plymouth, and 

 at the age of sixteen began to peddle books 

 about the country. In 1818 he sailed to Nor- 

 folk, Ya., where he hoped to engage in teach- 

 ing, but, failing in this, he bought silk and 

 trinkets and made a peddling tour in the adja- 

 cent counties, where he enjoyed the hospital- 

 ity of the planters, who, astonished at the in- 

 tellectual conversation of this literary Autoly- 

 cus, received him as a guest. He spent the 

 winter of 1822 in peddling among the Quakers 

 of North Carolina, but abandoned this life 

 in 1823, and began to teach. He soon estab- 

 lished an infant-school in Boston, which imme- 

 diately attracted attention from the unique 

 conversational method of his teaching ; but 

 this was in advance of the time, and he was 

 denounced by the press and forced to retire. 

 He then removed to Concord, Mass., where he 

 devoted himself to the study of natural theol- 

 ogy and reform in civil and social institutions, 

 education, and diet, and frequently appeared 

 on the lecture platform, where his originality 

 made him attractive. In 1830 he married Mi>s 

 Abby May, a descendant of the Quincy and 

 Sewall families, and removed to Germantown, 

 Pa., but in 1834 he returned to Boston, and 

 reopened his school, which he continued for 

 several years. His system was to direct his 

 pupils to self-analysis and self- education, forc- 

 ing them to contemplate the spirit as it un- 

 veiled within themselves, and to investigate all 

 subjects from an original standpoint. A jour- 

 nal of the school, kept by one of his pupils, 

 Elizabeth P. Peabody, was published under the 

 title of " A Record of Mr. Alcott's School " 

 (Boston, 1834 ; 3d ed., 1874). The school sug- 

 gested to his daughter that of " Plumfield," 

 which is described in " Little Men." 



At the invitation of James P. Greaves, of 

 London, the friend and fellow-laborer of Pes- 

 talozzi in Switzerland, Mr. Alcott went to Eng- 

 land in 1843, and Mr. Greaves having died in 

 the mean time, Mr. Alcott was cordially re- 

 ceived by his friends, who gave the name Al- 

 cott Hall to their school in Ham, near London. 

 On his return he was accompanied by Charles 

 / Lane and H. G. Wright, with whom he en- 

 deavored to establish the '' Fruitlands," in Har- 

 vard, Mass., an attempt to form a community 

 upon a philosophical basis, which was soon 

 abandoned. After living for a while in Bos- 

 ton, Mr. Alcott returned to Concord, where 

 his life was that of a peripatetic philosopher. 

 For forty years he was the friend and compan- 



ion of Emerson, who described him to Carlyle 

 as u a majestic soul, with whom conversation 

 is possible." He frequently gave " conversa- 

 tions " in cities and villages, on divinity, ethics, 

 dietetics, and other subjects. These gradually 

 became formal, and were continued for nearly 

 fifty years. They have been thus described : 

 " lie sits at a table or desk, and after his audi- 

 tors have assembled begins to talk on some sci- 

 entific subject mentioned beforehand. He con- 

 tinues this for one hour exactly his watch 

 lying before him in a fragmentary, rambling 

 manner, and concludes with some such phrase 

 as ' The spirit of conversation is constrained to- 

 night,' 'Absolute freedom is essential to the 

 freedom of the soul,' 'Thought can not be con- 

 trolled.' Then he stops, and the next evening 

 begins with another theme, treats it in the 

 same desultory way, and ends with similar ut- 

 terances." 



The opening of the Concord School of Phi- 

 losophy, in 1878, gave him new intellectual 

 strength, and he was prominent in its proceed- 

 ings. The last years of his life were spent with 

 his daughter Louisa, in Boston. He was the 

 intimate friend of Channing, Hawthorne, Gar- 

 rison, Phillips. Emerson, and Thoreau. The 

 latter describes him as " One of the last phi- 

 losophers Connecticut gave him to the world ; 

 he peddled first her wares, afterward, as he de- 

 clares, her brains. These he peddles still, bear- 

 ing for fruit his brain only, like the nut its 

 kernel. His words and attitude always sup- 

 pose a better state of things than other men 

 are acquainted with, and he will be the last 

 man to be disappointed as the ages revolve. 

 He has no venture in the present. ... A true 

 friend of man, almost the only friend of human 

 progress, with his hospitable intellect he em- 

 braces children, beggars, insane, and scholars, 

 and entertains the thought of all, adding to it 

 commonly some breadth and elegance. Which- 

 ever way we turned, it seemed that the heavens 

 and the earth had met together since he en- 

 hanced the beauty of the landscape. I do not 

 see how he can ever die; Nature can not spare 

 him." 



Besides numerous contributions to periodical 

 literature, including papers entitled " Orphic 

 Sayings" in "The Dial" (Boston, 1839-'42), 

 he wrote "Conversations with Children on the 

 Gospels'" (2 vols., Boston, 1836); "Tablets" 

 (1868); "Concord Days" (1872); "Table- 

 Talk" (1877): "Sonnets and Canzonets" 

 (1882); and "The New Connecticut," an auto- 

 biographical poem, edited by Franklin B. San- 

 born (Boston, 1887). 



His daughter, LOFISA MAY, author, born in 

 Germantown, Pa., Nov. 29, 1832; died in 

 Boston, Mass.. March 6, 1888. was educated by 

 her father. Her first literary attempt, "An 

 Address to a Robin," was made at the age of 

 eight, and she soon began to write stories. In 

 1848 she wrote her first book, " Flower-Fables." 

 for Ellen Emerson, but this made no impres- 

 sion on its publication in 1855. In 1851 she 



