The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-09-08

He did not always leave definite intel
lectual impressions as the result of his
conversations; but he gave his hearers
beautiful thoughts and noble impulses.
He was listened to gladly by many
persons year after year, and to not
few he proved genuine help.
1t was not merely what Alcott said
which enabled him to influence other
minds. His intense idealism and his
utter want of practical talent made
him the constant butt of the Philistines;
and to those who were in sympathy
with him it was not easy to follow his
other worldly strain Of lofty thought.
What helped to attract people to him
was his gentleness, his simplicity, his
purity and his manliness. He had the
manners of prince, and the dis
tinguished air Of peer. He was a
man of the greatest purity of mind; no
coarseness. no sensuality, tainted his
nature. He could have uttered in any
company all that passed through his
mind, so thoroughly pure was he in
sentiment and in thought. He had a
remarkable evenness and serenity of
temper. 1t might be said that he was
wanting in temper, but that he was
manly and robust in his character.
The reader of Alcott's books will
not find them equal to his genius, and
yet they deserve to stand on the same
shelf with those of Emerson, Thoreau,
Burroughs and Whitman. Those now
published by Roberts Brothers are the
Record of Mr.. Alcott's School,"
"Tablets," "Table Talk" Concord
Days" "Sonnets and CAM onets,o and
New Connecticut" The volume of
Conversations on the Gospels" being
reports of series of conversations in
the Temple school, is not now in print.
His little volume on Emerson; Phil
osopher and Seer,'' is to be reprinted
in September by Cupples and Hurd. 1t
is an affectionate and noble account Of
his friend, first printed many years ago
as birthday tribute, and enlarged after
Emerson's death. 1t also contains his
Jon, Monody," beautiful poetic
tribute to Emerson. This book, more
than any other which Alcott published,
shows his highest quality as a writer
and most nearly resembles his CONVEX
sational manners.
Alcott had but limited poetical
range. Verso numbered him; he could
not make it a means of free movement
and flight. His style was crude and
his manner tame. His poetical vol
umes, however, have an interest other
than that of the poetry they contain.
His "SJnnets and CAM onets" is series
of tributes to his friends, Furness,
Emerson, Harris, Sanborn, Thoreau,
Hawthorne, Bartol, Phillips, and others.
In these poems the verse may be crude,
but the characteriZ alton is just and
true. His New Connecticut" is an
account of his own boyhood and of his
early experiences with the world. 1t
was intended as the beginning of a
poetical biography, but his failing
health compelled its abandonment. 1t
is quaint and interesting book, full of
the memories of by-gone time, and
showing how moral and spiritual hero
was developed in the midst of simple
and homely scenes. The book was
edited by Mr.. Sanborn, who drew from
Alcott's diaries much rich and valuable
matter illustrative of his early life, and
has given it to the reader in the form
Of long series of interesting notes.
The whole makes volume of unique
value and interesi, which is deserving
of much wider reading than it has
yet received.
In his Tablets, . "Table-Talk, !" and
Concord Days. Alcott presents him
self to his reader as thinker These
volumes have an interest of their own;
they are unlike anything else we have
in American literature. They have
something of the outdoor flavor of
Thoreau's books, but they have also a
literary and bookish character wanting
to his. They are full of quotations of
kind not to be met with elsewhere,
which give value and charm to these
pages. One must turn to the "Religio
Medici, THE Complete Angler" or
1.-The Anatomy of Melancholy" to find
books like these. 1t is reasonably sure
that Alcott's books will last as long as
those of Barton, Browne, and Walton,
and have the same kind of readers and
the same enduring charm and delight.
These are good books for serious and
thoughtful hours, not for continuous
reading, but as the means of giving
direction and tone to ones own medita-
lions.
In bringing this brief paper TO a
close cannot refrain from more dis
tincsively personal word of tribute.
For period of.two or three years /
met Mr.. Alcott frequently, learned to
admire him, and to appreciate his I'M
worldliness, his purity and his serenity
of character. His name had long been