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Katherine Sanborne
Katherine Sanborne
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Franklin Benjamin Sanborn was a cousin of Kate Sanborn, and it was no doubt he to whom Swamiji referred when, in his letter of August 20, he wrote: "A cousin of my lady friend who is coming to-day to see me writes to her, `a real Hindu devotee is an interesting study but I am too old to be cheated by the esoteric Buddhists!' "" But if Franklin Sanborn had his doubts as to whether his cousin's guest was a real Hindu devotee or an "esoteric Buddhist," by which he meant an exponent of Theosophy, those doubts were soon dispelled. There is no question that after meeting Swamiji Mr. Sanborn thought highly of him. Indeed the two must have delighted in each other's company, for Sanborn was at heart an idealist and one of those few-remaining New Englanders whose thought had been molded by the Transcendentalist movement. At the age of fourteen he had discovered Transcendentalism at the tag end of its life and, enchanted, had later become a close friend of Emerson, Thoreau, and Bronson Alcott, whose biographies, among others, he was to write-an undertaking that led to his being called "the Plutarch of the Transcendentalist movement " Apart from being an author, he was extremely active in organizing and promoting works of benevolence. He served as secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Charities-the first of its kind in America-and helped in founding many other charitable institutions. He also was among the founders of the Concord Summer School of Philosophy. (ND 1.26)
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