Against this accusation I place the record of the man whom especially
spiritual minded and liberally educated men like George Ripley, John S.
Dwight, William Henry Channing and many others delighted to know and to
honor.
Charles Fourier was born at Bezancon, France, April 7, 1772. The son of
a merchant, he had a collegiate education, and took prizes for French
and Latin themes and verses. He was found of geography but more fond of
cultivating flowers, and of music. At eighteen years he entered into
commercial pursuits. By the siege of Lyons he lost the fortune his
father left him, and was forced into the army, where he served two
years. This portion of his life was involved in the romance of war and
revolution, during which he was doomed to death, but made a fortunate
escape from it.
He was always noted for the avidity with which he sought knowledge, and
his honesty was outraged at an early age, being punished by his father
for telling the truth of goods on sale, thereby losing a purchaser.
Again his soul revolted when at Marseilles in 1799, where he was
employed, for he was selected to superintend a body of men who secretly
cast an immense quantity of rice into the sea, which monopolists had
allowed to spoil in a time of famine rather than to sell at a
reasonable profit.
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