Emerson's master. Whatever principles Emerson had, Alcott gave him.
And Emerson was a good pupil; he was faithful to his master to the
end.

"When did I know him first? Hard to remember. He was the head of
Fruitlands, as Ripley was of Brook Farm. They were entirely different
men. Diogenes and his tub would have been Alcott's ideal if he had
carried it out. But he never carried it out. Ripley's ideal would
have been Epictetus. Ripley would have taken with him the good things
of this life; Alcott would have rejected them all."

"How did he receive you at Fruitlands?"

"Very kindly, but from mixed and selfish motives. I suspected he
wanted me because he thought I would bring money to the community.
Lane was entirely unselfish.

"Alcott was a man of no great intellectual gifts or acquirements. His
knowledge came chiefly from experience and instinct. He had an
insinuating and persuasive way with him--he must have been an ideal
pedler."

"What if he had been a Catholic, and thoroughly sanctified?"

"He could have been nothing but a hermit like those of the fourth
century--he was naturally and constitutionally so odd. Emerson,
Alcott, and Thoreau were three consecrated cranks: rather be crank
than president. All the cranks look up to them."

Beside these later reminiscences we shall now place the contemporary