informant38
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...But of these sophisms and elenchs of merchandise I skill not...
Milton, Areopagitica

Except he had found the
standing sea-rock that even this last
Temptation breaks on; quieter than death but lovelier; peace
that quiets the desire even of praising it.

Jeffers, Meditation On Saviors


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4.11.02

Students, parents, and savvy educators praised Alcott, but others weren't ready for his ideas and he subscequently lost all of his infant schools. The final blow came in 1837, when he enrolled a Black child into his Boston school.


Alcott was a man with a mission, a man without bigotry, and one who rejected the accumulation of material goods, and for this he was misunderstood, without a school, and a way to earn a stable income.

The Alcott family had financial burdens. Not that Bronson Alcott didn't work hard: he chopped wood, he built his friend Emerson summer house, he shared his intellect with his friends and through the books and articles he wrote, he grew an apple orchard, and throughout his life he ventured near and far delivering his "Conversations" to anyone who would listen.These were talks, largely presented in parlors, but also in halls and churches, on topics ranging from Plato, God, and education, to vegetarianism and animal rights. Sometimes he was paid a handsome amount for sharing his thoughts, other times very little. He could have been called a preacher without a permanent parish.

It has been oft claimed that Alcott "lived off" his daughter Louisa May, author of Little Women. If there had been no Bronson Alcott, there could have been no Little Women. Those familiar with the Alcott family know that the children's' novel was based largely on reality. The Transcendentalism that runs throughout the novel, and its sequels, including Little Men, is the result of the loving atmosphere Bronson Alcott created for his family that was supported by his wife.

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