A. BRONSON ALCOTT

"For curious method expect none, essays for the most part not being placed as at a feast, but placing themselves as at an ordinary."

Thomas Fuller.

BOSTON
ROBERTS BROTHERS
1868.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
A. Bronson Alcott,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

Electrotyped and Printed by
Alfred Mudge & Son,
No. 34 School St., Boston.

CONTENTS.

BOOK I.—PRACTICAL.
I. THE GARDEN.page.
[1] Antiquity5
[2] Ornaments11
[3] Pleasures14
[4] Orchard20
[5] Sweet Herbs25
[6] Table Plants28
[7] Rations36
[8] Economies41
[9] Rural Culture48
II. RECREATION.
[1] TheFountains59
[2] The CheapPhysician65
III. FELLOWSHIP.
[1]Hospitality69
[2]Conversation75
IV. FRIENDSHIP.
[1] Persons81
[2] Woman88
[3] Family92
[4] Children95
V. CULTURE.
[1] ModernTeaching103
[2] SocraticDialectic108
[3] PythagoreanDiscipline113
[4] Mother Tongue118
VI. [BOOKS].127
VII. COUNSELS.
[1] Religious139
[2] Personal145
[3] Political148
[4] Soul's Errand151

BOOKII.—SPECULATIVE.

I. INSTRUMENTALITIES.
[1]Tendencies159
[2] Method162
[3] Man166
II. MIND.
[1] Ideas173
[2] The Gifts179
[3] Person181
[4] Choice184
III. GENESIS.
[1] Vestiges189
[2] SerpentSymbol191
[3] Embryons193
[4]Temperament195
IV. METAMORPHOSES.
[1] Sleep201
[2]Reminiscence203
[3]Immortality205