Mrs. Eddy Mentioned Them September 10, 1955 Issue

A. Bronson Alcott, 1799–1888

[Mentioned in Pulpit and Press, p. 5]

A. Bronson Alcott, the "pestalozzi of America," stopped attending the country school in Wolcott, Connecticut, when he was 13. On his father's farm Alcott had few playmates, and being a social person he loved the companionship at school. But he saw defects in the teaching, which consisted almost entirely of memory work. After several years' work on the farm, Alcott set out for Virginia to find a teaching position. Not securing one, he earned his living by peddling small items to the plantations on the James River. For 4 years he journeyed south, meeting on each trip cultivated people and through his contacts with them acquiring an easy social grace.

Alcott did his first teaching in district schools in Connecticut. To provide more books for children and to make the classroom more attractive, he used his own meager salary. Instead of beginning geography with the study of the solar system, he began by having the children make a map of the schoolyard, and he worked out to the solar system from there. These innovations cost him his position; but they were noted by educators and led to his going to Boston, where he conducted several schools. Here he also started a series of Conversations, which he continued to conduct from time to time till the end of his career.

After his schools had failed, Alcott moved to Concord to be near Emerson, a stanch supporter of the idealist and reformer. It was Emerson who financed a trip to England for Alcott that he might meet some English reformers, who later joined him in the communal living experiment at Fruitlands. Two years after Fruitlands closed, Alcott was made superintendent of the Concord public schools. This recognition gave him great joy. His daughter, Louisa May, picturing him at school festivals, said, "He was in his glory, and like a happy shepherd with a large flock of sportive lambs."

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Signs of the Times