BRONSON ALCOTT’S FRUITLANDS [Illustration: THE OLD HOUSE AT FRUITLANDS, HARVARD, MASSACHUSETTS In front are the mulberry trees planted by the philosophers for the propagation of silkworms. ] BRONSON ALCOTT’S FRUITLANDS COMPILED BY CLARA ENDICOTT SEARS WITH _TRANSCENDENTAL WILD OATS_ BY LOUISA M. ALCOTT [Illustration] BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge 1915 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ COPYRIGHT, 1876, BY LOUISA M. ALCOTT; 1904, BY JOHN S. P. ALCOTT; 1915, BY CLARA ENDICOTT SEARS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED _Published May 1915_ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NOTE I desire to express my thanks to Mr. John S. Pratt Alcott, of Brookline; Mr. F. B. Sanborn, of Concord; Dr. Joseph Wiswall Palmer, of Fitchburg; and Mr. Alvin Holman, of Leominster, for facts and data concerning the Consociate Family at Fruitlands, and for their assistance in collecting and acquiring the greater part of the original furniture which was there in the days of the Community. And I further thank Mr. John S. Pratt Alcott for the privilege of including Louisa’s and Anna’s Diaries at Fruitlands, and Mr. Alcott and Messrs. Little, Brown & Company for the use of Louisa M. Alcott’s _Transcendental Wild Oats_. CLARA ENDICOTT SEARS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FOREWORD For many years articles have appeared from time to time in magazines and books regarding the Community at Fruitlands, but it has remained for Miss Sears to gather them together with infinite patience for publication, and this little book is the result, the first connected story of the life and beliefs of that little Community which tried so hard to live according to its ideals in spite of criticism and censure and whose members nearly starved as a result of their devotion. A great deal of credit is due to Miss Sears for her success in gathering material to make this story of Fruitlands so complete, and I take this opportunity, as the oldest surviving member of the Alcott family, of expressing to her our gratitude for the very interesting and complete account of the Fruitlands experiment. JOHN S. P. ALCOTT. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS