profundity; unpractical and incapable in the ordinary affairs of life
to a degree not adequately compensated for by such a grasp as he was
able to get on the realities that underlie them; and with an imposing
aspect which corresponded wonderfully well with his interior traits.
That, in his prime, his persuasive accents and bland self-confidence,
backed by the admiration felt and expressed for him by men such as
Emerson, and some of the community at Brook Farm, should have induced
an open-minded youth like Isaac Hecker to take him for a time at his
own valuation, is not strange. The truth is, that it was one of
Father Hecker's life-long traits to prove all things, that he might
find the good and hold fast to it. There was an element of justice in
his make-up which enabled him to suspend judgment upon any
institution or person, however little they seemed to deserve such
consideration, until he was in a condition to decide from his own
investigations. We shall see, later on, how he tried all the
principal forms of Protestantism before deciding upon Catholicity,
strong as his tendency toward the Church had become. We have never
known any other man who, without exhibiting obstinacy, could so
steadfastly reserve his judgment on another's statement, especially
if it were in the nature of a condemnation.

When Isaac Hecker first made his acquaintance, Mr. Alcott had but
recently returned from England, whither he had gone on the invitation
of James P. Greaves, a friend and fellow-laborer of the great Swiss
educator, Pestalozzi. Mr. Alcott had gained a certain vogue at home
as a lecturer, and also as the conductor of a singular school for
young children. Among its many peculiarities was that of carrying
"moral suasion" to such lengths, as a solitary means of discipline,
that the master occasionally publicly submitted to the castigation
earned by a refractory urchin, probably by way of reaching the