cott B

character of the lovable philosopher, showing one of New England's intellectual

ther's earnest effort to learn how early in life the infant mind begins to awaken, to indicate comprehension, thought, or logic. As Maeterlinck

ely censured; but, not recognizing in his own life the claims of the body, devoting all his energies to mental growth, it is not surprising that he found his fatherly duty in the guidance of his childre

nd highly entertaining literary gift without the vicissitudes caused by her father's impractical nature and his sublime faith that at all times and in all e

with dolls and toys and games, developed appreciation, observation, and ingenuity. The creative faculty was arouse

of a harassing situation. In a letter to her brother, Colonel May, praising her husband's intellect, she laughingly comments up

y," it was started with a high and unselfish motive; it was developed to an astonishing d

data, it would be a treasure of wisdom to all mankind, replete with light to the metaphysical and ethical inquirer. Comparative philosophy deduced from an obser

rogress." When she was seven weeks old, her mother wrote: "It seems as if she were consci

ather's diary shows how well Ann

e day of her birth. This record has swollen to a hundred pages. I have attempted to discover, as far as th

ent of a baby

of L

tt chronicles an "interesting event," how interesting the father little dreamed, nor how important, not alone to the hous

nless those ties which connect it with others are formed, the wants of the soul become morbid and all its fr

ducing therefrom facts for his psychological history, these same little daughters were develo

baby bo

the prosecution of my studies. Dwelling in the primal regions which I wish to explore, they are the purest

and Louisa eighteen months, th

e and bright things which glitter in the arena of the young mind! How little of this fairy land do we know-we, whose early associations have all been swept from the heart-over whose spirits have passed the cold winds, the pelting storms, withering and destroying the heart's young verdure! What is there to unite us with the s

phy. As the boy saw in every rock and tree and flower an expression of the Infinite, is it any wonder that the man should have recognized God's higher manifestation in the

s to be developed, and on him devolves the amazing responsibility-sacred, personal, all his own-of filling these capacities, unfolding these energies, from the stores a

lessed with her father's brilliancy of mind, her mother's quick wit and love of fun, Louisa furnished a problem for endless study. She was less than two years old when her individuality had so asserted itself that her father found himself puzzled and admitted that ele

t babies' school days, when Anna was four y

ve a playroom, where they enjoy their own amusements, uninterrupted by the presence of adults-often a bar to the genuine happiness of chil

a baby

na and Louisa is set down by the father when his daug

happier, more capable of self control, more docile and obeys from love and faith. She has fine elements for excellence, moral and intellec

sa is practical, energetic. The first imagines much more than she can realize; the second, by force of will and practical talent, realizes all that she conceives-but conceives less; understanding, rather than imagination-the gift of her sister-seems to be her prominent faculty. She finds no difficulty in developi

e and useful spheres of action indicated in their conformati

lessings the history of th

Alcott at t

rtrait by M

ge

their spiritual debt to the gift o

n it is that the more I associate with them in the simple ways they love, the more do I seem to revere. Verily had I not been called to associate with children, had I not devoted myself to the study of human nature

ations came a sublime ambition, a desire to

ancy and childhood, and, if a Saviour of Adults was given in the person of Jesus, let me, without impiety or arrogance, regard myself as the Children's Saviour. Divine are both missions. Both seek out and endeavor to redeem the Infinite in

roach to a protest against the poverty he was called upon to endure was when, for a time, he was obli

for C

stic relations, so vital to virtue-to all that lives in the heart and imagination, are robbed of their essential glory, and the effect is felt throughout the character

An influence felt throughout the world, the