New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-03-05
A. BRONSON ALCO1T DEAD.
SKETCH OF THE POEr-PHILosoPHER.
BeYRosD IN CONNECTICUT EXPERIMENTS IN
TEACHING SCHOOL At BOSTON.
boston. March A Bronson Aicott. the well
known author, died In this city to-day.

known aufh0r, Ocu In tnlS City to-uay'
Amos Bronson Alco,l was Dor. wo,cutt Conn. No.
vember 90 1893. His carly life wss that Of most New
Enslsnd boys Of his time winter schooling and summer
labor He excced In the common school studies. snd
read on the books within reach sometimes walking ten
miles borrow In his last printed volume. entitled
The New Connecticut" an photographed poem. he
gives the Incidents OF his boyheod and youth. They
homey and narrow enough The only novel part oil
this rhyung narrative that relating his adventures In
the South A. pedler Of small He was then Of
m ase to Lrot BY experience and observation and 1t
stood the equivalent the liter foreign Of Europe
He visited and talked rather more than he peddled.
stopped any that contained books long enough
TO read such attracted him, and only INDUCED
himself in uncommony sharp bargain; IL must have
been tho fret anu last time. for he was absorbed
in unwordly pursuits; religion. philosophy.
education early became his passion. and Jacob Boehme
and Plato the last that aroused his fading faculties
Mr.. Aicott only or twice o poet. and In the
little poem which spcsknR there is inspiring
line, but the notes In quantity ana worth than
tbs text and contain curious and valuable inforna-
and rccollectons Of New England country CUSTOMS
ideas and language prevalent sixty seventy
and passed away.
On returning the South ne became schoomaster.
His great and attained by new and original
methods His wei known theory Of prc-eNistenec. that
souls precede their assumption Of human FORM must
have suggested itself 10 him very early; In consonance
which locked upon young children jus, from
OF purity and spontaneous intelligence ami treated
them with tire Difference duc to sling gods untainted
by experience and by maturity. How much he may
have been indebted wordsworh's Ole Immortality
may be conjectuc1 This doctrine has poetica stand
point rather than speculative and is Incapable Of de-
yelopmcnt 1t is tue not much beyond the nursery {;
there, indeed abies worshpped; there the young
dynties their feet kissed TO doary and are In
fact, considered wonderful and superior beings But
the wboe conception, 1t Affects notion OF mans
destiny is anront to human lIfe and all that may
DO added It by seventy years OF strenuous effort.
Mr. AIcott continued his vocation OF teacher in Boston
whittier he w,nt in 1873. For six seven years no
taught classes OF young boys and girls belonging to
families Of advanced ideas 1t looked upon new
experiment. and step forward in education. Tho old
routine abolished and very direct, Intrinsic per
sons relation sought to be formed between pupil
and teacher There was great deal OF conversation and
questioning the part Of Mr. Alco and many renarka
BILE answers part II the children. For some time
thought probable that the secret Of the universe
always Boston's fotle. would at last be penetrated
Later the quest removed to Concord, where 1t Is
still kept up There wanting however scohers
and obsructionists and when Mr. Al 1T following his
theory OF divine element out Of which wo all
descend. undertook test many moral and religious
principles by confronting them with unbiased nfantle
inegences under his charge. there went up the usual
protest against such incipent inndeisy.
REMOVAL TO CU>CORD
II was surmIsed that the race tho Boston blood. was
being corrupted the fountsnhead The records
of this school edited by Miss T. r. Peabody In
1884 and volumes OF Conversations on the G0sleL
the grades OF the school, printed In 1890 Al the
end OF this experiment Mr. Acott removed to Concord
where sympahes had long preceded him and prepared
him a hearty welcome. 1t is said that Emerson took
much interest In the practical arrangements incident l"
this removal and settlement In Concord
In Concord Mr. Alcott devoted himself TO queaons or
morals the large living; dit and ali things be-
longing body his study to the end OF that u
the might be improved and become III Tor thought
and true worship. He himself In tho main. vege
fba. NJ He
believed excellent health and strength due
simple habits and bloodiess food Life must have
been rather dyllic in those early Concord days There
considerable mild, drab coored skylarking; much
walking and river excursions and building Of summer
houses In which Alcott the master workman and In
all startling contrast TO industrious sad England
ways
In 1912 Acot went to England ct the solicitations Of
friends there had heard OF his educational theories
and had begun experiment with them lie returned
bringing with him two English friends Charles Lane and
IL. q. Wright. In company with whom he undertook to
establish In the town Of Harvard, Mass near Concord
new Eden which he named " Frutsnds." The old ser
pent crept In as usual What else could have been e.
pected when they deliberately determined TO eat nohs
but spples They ate the fatal tree not OF know
edge but OF impossible IDEAL and again they went
forth into the world But Acott was always iona OF
peering back through that unfortunate gate
hear OF him In Boston. but no soon returned
to Concord, which he never left again.
lie appeared In print as contributor to " Inc
Dali magazine edited by Emerson. and the OF the
Trsnscendentssts. His contributions consisted OF or
phic Sayngs" very commonplace both In conception ana
form and only remarkable for the claim Implied In their
remote mystical title They only made more apparent
the fact that the had ceased But he never could
write because writing being alone with ones self
and he all required the cooperation and Indeed,
personality OF another in order to evoke ana ma eS-
pres his ideas In 1865 he printed prvstey
small volume on Emerson since regularly published In
1868 he published volume entitled Tablets perhaps his
best work prose this Concord Days' us72). Table
Talk QS77), all OF similar character-collectons OF
sentenceA short essays without Conference
and OF htns lon artistic faculty
The languas and full Of tho Emorsonizu ter
nipoogy One bestates TO say this became Emerson be-
indebte to HIM and that which APP
pears imperfect pecuar utterAnce on tho pages OF
Acott may bs-n al his own al adopted and 40 i'm
proved w Emssoa tho latter writer original
Acott the imta'or
HIS prose has NO syla good taker did not need to
writ. He could not the rcsler what he could
often beautifully t. hsarer Yet he had natural wWh
TO some endurn recor OF himself something 10
Justify his reputation among his csnempsrares ana resem
bling soorae. OF hs oharacterstcs he had not the
fortune pshei reporter among ms fol-
lower. and Il was attempt 10 be his Plato.
Asco,rs prose full OF and valuable quotatsns but
they thoss that aiora re PAGE. all
from Concord II clear they read the
aatho hat 10 each others common place
books He published but volume OF posiry Consouos
and sOuues 1881 The toboxrAphlca poem to winch
audsd privately prn.oL We believe no ono
has Concert rho has not trsi his hand 1T the
sphinx Thsbes had only one bat Concord has them ct
every corner Acytt hal his prvIte whom he
wrote little 3osm waci sum entv shows his favorfte
my thica tendency and his quite characteristic poetoai
manner:
"Gale not the Charmsrs face
In an unguarded hour
Iest, ciaspei forthrixht IN her embrace.
Thy self the maid dsv0ur;
Unless thou supply tho key
That oOes her Z arful mystery"
The difficulty at Concord though they tho correct
grammatical gender has they fully
oynized that the sphinx They tried ~
solve her 0h thou ghL which only mado her still moro
stony little couch OF wou have unsealed her ps
her secret and . 1t have nd more human 90 ug
from kuerso and Alcott.
HIS ATTACK or APOPLExY.
], the OF 1897 Mr. AIcott had freuusnt slight
attacks OF vertg, which In October ted
OF apopi-xy paralysis which threatened 10 terminate
fatally within few days At,u his condition inn roysd