Transcriber's Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
THE OLD HOUSE AT FRUITLANDS, HARVARD, MASSACHUSETTS
In front are the mulberry trees planted by the philosophers for the propagation of silkworms.
BRONSON ALCOTT’S FRUITLANDS
NOTE
I desire to express my thanks to Mr. John S.Pratt Alcott, of Brookline; Mr. F. B. Sanborn,of Concord; Dr. Joseph Wiswall Palmer, ofFitchburg; and Mr. Alvin Holman, of Leominster,for facts and data concerning the ConsociateFamily at Fruitlands, and for theirassistance in collecting and acquiring the greaterpart of the original furniture which was therein the days of the Community.
And I further thank Mr. John S. Pratt Alcottfor the privilege of including Louisa’s and Anna’sDiaries at Fruitlands, and Mr. Alcott and Messrs.Little, Brown & Company for the use of LouisaM. Alcott’s Transcendental Wild Oats.
FOREWORD
For many years articles have appeared fromtime to time in magazines and books regardingthe Community at Fruitlands, but it has remainedfor Miss Sears to gather them togetherwith infinite patience for publication, and thislittle book is the result, the first connected storyof the life and beliefs of that little Communitywhich tried so hard to live according to its idealsin spite of criticism and censure and whose membersnearly starved as a result of their devotion.
A great deal of credit is due to Miss Sears forher success in gathering material to make thisstory of Fruitlands so complete, and I take thisopportunity, as the oldest surviving member ofthe Alcott family, of expressing to her our gratitudefor the very interesting and complete accountof the Fruitlands experiment.