judgment, that he miscalculated means and ends, that he jumped
from theory to practice without a moment's interval, preferred
to be guided by instinct rather than by processes of reasoning,
and deemed this to be the philosopher's way.

In the memoranda of private conversations with Father Hecker
we find several references to Mr. Alcott. The first bears date
February 4, 1882, and occurs in a conversation ranging over the
whole of his experience between his first and second departures
from home. We give it as it stands:

"Fruitlands was very different from Brook Farm--far more ascetic."

"You didn't like it?"

"Yes; but they did not begin to satisfy me. I said to them:
'If you had the Eternal here, all right. I would be with you.'"

"Had they no notion of the hereafter?"

"No; nothing definite. Their idea was human perfection. They set out
to demonstrate what man can do in the way of the supremacy of the
spiritual over the animal. 'All right,' I said, 'I agree with you
fully. I admire your asceticism; it is nothing new to me; I have
practised it a long time myself. If you can get the Everlasting out
of my mind, I'm yours. But I know' (here Father Hecker thumped the
table at his bedside) 'that I am going to live for ever.'"

"What did Alcott say when you left?"