So the employer
found that some of his customers were a good deal annoyed.
Another rather famous writer who lived in Concord in my time
was Mr. A. Bronson Alcott. He used to talk to the children
in the Sunday-school, and occasionally would gather them together
in the evening for a long discourse. I am ashamed to say
that we thought Mr. Alcott rather stupid. He did not make
any converts to his theories among the boys.
He once told us that it was wicked to eat animal food; that
the animal had the same right to his life that we had to ours,
and we had not right to destroy the lives of any of God's
creatures for our own purposes. He lived only on vegetable
food, as he told us. But he had on at the time a very comfortable
pair of calfskin boots, and the boys could not reconcile his
notion that it was wicked to kill animals to eat, with killing
animals that he might wear their hides. When such inconsistencies
were pointed out to him he gave a look of mild rebuke at the
audacious offender, and went on with his discourse as if nothing
had happened.
The people who do not think very much of Alcott ought to
speak with a god deal of modesty when they remember how highly
Emerson valued him, and how sure was Emerson's judgment; but
certainly nobody will attribute to Alcott much of the logical
faculty.
Pages:
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138