The Alcotts in Harvard. By Annie M. L. Clark. (j.
C. L. Clark, Lancaster, Mass., U.S.A. 6s.)—In 1863 the Alcott family, with a small company of enthusiasts, of whom Bronson Alcott was the chief, came to Harvard. Bronson Alcott was a notable person in various ways, and did some service in the world, especially in ethicational matters. His most obvious characteristic was his very rigid vegetarianism. Eggs, of course, were forbidden ; to eat an egg is the same, so to speak, as to swallow a fowl whole. Milk was also prohibited, because to take it was to rob an animal. Even of vegetables those that grew underground were dis- couraged. Then in the matter of clothing, wool was prohibited; cotton was grown by slave labour ; only linen remained. To be clad in linen and live on fruit did not suit a New England climate, and the life was hard, especially to the Alcott children, who were not sustained by their elders' enthusiasm. The second in age of these children—four in number—was Louisa, the author of that delightful book, "Little Women," and of others scarcely less admirable. (We believe that the Spectator was the first English journal to recognise her genius.) She afterwards described the experiences of the community in "Transcendental Wild Oats." She herself, too early lost to the world of letters, is described in this volume by one who cherishes a loving remembrance of her. Other personages, more or less known, make their appearance in these pages, R. W. Emerson among them. Emerson sympathised with the Alcott enthusiasms in theory ; but he had an element of practical good sense which kept him from being carried off his feet. Bronson Alcott himself he styled "a tedious archangel," and said that he was always feeling his shoulders to see whether the wings were sprouting. This is a very pleasing little book, with some interesting illus- trations.
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