AUTOBIOGRAPHY

OF

FRIEDRICH FROEBEL

TRANSLATED AND ANNOTATED BY

EMILIE MICHAELIS, _Head Mistress of the Croydon Kindergarten and Preparatory School_, AND

H. KEATLEY MOORE, MUS. BAC. , B. A. , _Examiner in Music to the Froebel Society and Vice-Chairman of the CroydonKindergarten Company. _

*"Come, let us live for our children. "*

SYRACUSE, N. Y. :C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER. 1889. 

German Books on Pedagogy. 

1. _Comenius. Grosse Unterrichtslehre. _ Mit einer Einleitung, "J. Comenius, sein Leben und Werken, " von LINDNER. Price $1. 50. 

2. _Helvetius. Von Menschen, seinen Geisteskraften und seinerErziehung. _ Mit einer Einleitung, "Cl. Adr. Helvetius, 1715-1771. EinZeit- und Lebensbild, " von LINDNER. 12mo, pp. 339. Price $1. 50. 

3. _Pestalozzi. Wie Gertrud ihre Kinder lehrt. _ Mit einer Einleitung, "J. H. Pestalozzi's Leben, Werke, und Grundsätze, " von RIEDEL. Price$1. 25. 

4. _Niemeyer. Grundsätze die Erziehung und des Unterrichtes. _ Mit einerEinleitung "Aug. Herm. Niemeyer, sein Leben und Werken, " von LINDNER. 2vols. Price $3. 00. 

5. _Diesterweg. Rhenische Blätter. _ Mit einer Einleitung, "F. A. W. Diesterweg, " von JESSEN. Price $1. 25. 

6. _Jacotot. Universal Unterricht. _ Mit einer "Darstellung des Lebensund der Lehre Jacotot's, " von GOERING. 12mo, pp. 364. Price $3. 75. 

7. _Fröbel. _ Pädagogische Schriften. Herausgegeben von SEIDEL. 3 vols. Price $7. 00. 

8. _Fichte. _ Pädagogisch Schriften und Ideen. Mit "biographischerEinleitung und gedrängter Darstellung von Fichte's Pädagogik, " vonKEFERSTEIN. Price $2. 00. 

9. _Martin Luther. _ Pädagogische Schrifte. Mit Einleitung von SCHUMANN. Price $1. 50. 

10. _Herder als Pädagog. _ Von MORRES. Price 75 cts. 

11. _Geschichte der Pädagogik. _ in Biographen, Uebersichten, und Probenaus pädagogischen Hauptwerken. Von NIEDERGESAESS. Price $2. 50. 

11. _Lexikon der Pädagogik. _ Von SANDER. Price $3. 50. 

For sale by

*C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y. *

PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 

It will be long before we have a biography of Froebel to compare withDeGuimp's _Pestalozzi_, of which an English translation has justappeared. Meantime we must content ourselves with two longautobiographical letters contained in this volume, which, thoughincomplete, have yet the peculiar charm that comes from the candidrecord of genuine impressions. 

The first of these letters, that to the Duke of Meiningen, has alreadyappeared in English, in a translation by Miss Lucy Wheelock forBarnard's _American Journal of Education_, since reprinted in pp. 21-48of his _Kindergarten and Child Culture_, (see p. 146), and in a smallvolume under the title _Autobiography of Froebel_ (see p. 146). While afaithful attempt to reproduce the original, this translation struggledin vain to transform Froebel's rugged and sometimes seemingly incoherentsentences into adequate and attractive English, so that the long letterhas proved to most English readers formidable and repellant. But in theoriginal it is one of the most charming productions in literature, candid and confidential in tone, and detailing those inner gropings forideas that became convictions which only an autobiography can reveal. These qualities are so admirably preserved in the translation by MissEmily Michaelis and H. Keatley Moore that it seemed to leave nothing tobe desired. They have not only given a faithful rendering, but they haveimpressed upon it the loving touch of faithful disciples. Accordingly Ipurchased from the English publishers the American rights to thistranslation; and have reproduced not only this letter, but that to thephilosopher Krause, with Barop's "Critical Moments, " and the"Chronological Abstract, " all from duplicates of the English plates. 

The rest of the volume appears for the first time. The Bibliographyseemed desirable, and is confined to attainable books likely to be ofvalue to American teachers. The Index is full, but not fuller than thefragmentary character of the material seemed to require. The Table ofContents will also serve to make reference easy to the principal evensof Froebel's history. 

In the lives of Pestalozzi and of Froebel many resemblances may betraced. Both were sons of clergymen. Both were half-orphans from theirearliest recollections. Both were unhappy in childhood, weremisunderstood, companionless, awkward, clumsy, ridiculed. Both were asboys thrown into the almost exclusive society of women, and bothretained to the last strongly feminine characteristics. Both werethroughout life lacking in executive ability; both were financiallyimprovident. Both were dependent for what they did accomplish uponfriends, and both had the power of inspiring and retaining friendshipsthat were heroic, Pestalozzi's Krüsi corresponding with Froebel'sMiddendorf. Both became teachers only by accident, and after failure inother professions. Both saw repeated disaster in the schools theyestablished, and both were to their last days pointed at as visionarytheorists of unsound mind. Both failed to realize their ideas, but bothplanted their ideas so deeply in the minds of others that they tookenduring root. Both lacked knowledge of men, but both knew and lovedchildren, and were happiest when personally and alone they had childrenunder their charge. Both delighted in nature, and found in solitarycontemplation of flowers and woods and mountains relief from thedisappointments they encountered among their fellows. 

But there were contrasts too. Pestalozzi had no family ties, whileFroebel maintained to the last the closest relations with severalbrothers and their households. Pestalozzi married at twenty-three awoman older than himself, on whom he thereafter relied in all histroubles. Froebel deferred his marriage till thirty-six and then seemsto have regarded his wife more as an advantage to his school than as ahelp-meet to himself. 

Pestalozzi was diffident, and in dress and manner careless to the pointof slovenliness; Froebel was extravagant in his self-confidence, and attimes almost a dandy in attire. Pestalozzi was always honest and candid, while Froebel was as a boy untruthful. Pestalozzi was touchingly humble, and eager to ascribe the practical failure of his theories to hispersonal inefficiency; Froebel never acknowledged himself in the wrong, but always attributed failure to external causes. On the other hand, while Froebel was equable in temperament, Pestalozzi was moody andimpressionable, flying from extreme gaiety to extreme dejection, slamming the door if displeased with a lesson a teacher was giving, butcoming back to apologize if he met a child who smiled upon him. UnderRousseau's influence Pestalozzi was inclined to skepticism, and limitedreligious teaching in school to the reading of the gospels, and thepractice of Christianity; Froebel was deeply pious, and made itfundamental that education should be founded plainly and avowedly uponreligion. 

Intellectually the contrast is even stronger. While Froebel had auniversity education, Pestalozzi was an eminently ignorant man; hispenmanship was almost illegible, he could not do simple sums inmultiplication, he could not sing, he could not draw, he wore out allhis handkerchiefs gathering pebbles and then never looked at themafterward. Froebel was not only a reader but a scientific reader, alwaysseeking first to find out what others had discovered that he mightbegin where they left off; Pestalozzi boasted that he had not read abook in forty years. Naturally, therefore, Pestalozzi was always anexperimenter, profiting by his failures but always failing in his firstattempts, and hitting upon his most characteristic principles byaccident; while Froebel was a theorist, elaborating his ideas mentallybefore putting them in practice, and never satisfied till he hadproperly located them in his general scheme of philosophy. 

And yet, curiously enough, it is Pestalozzi who was the author. His"Leonard and Gertrude" was read by every cottage fireside, whileFroebel's writings were intelligible only to his disciples. Pestalozzihad an exuberant imagination and delightful directness and simplicity ofexpression; Froebel's style was labored and obscure, and his doctrinesmay be better known through the "Child and Child Nature" of the BaronessMarenholz von Buelow than through his own "Education of Man. "

The account of Froebel's life given in this volume is supplementedsomewhat by the "Reminiscences" of this same Baroness, who becameacquainted with him in 1849, and was thereafter his most enthusiasticand successful apostle. Till some adequate biography appears, thatvolume and this must be relied upon for information of the man whoshares equally with Pestalozzi the honor of educational reform in thiscentury. 

 C. W. BARDEEN. Syracuse, June 10, 1889. 

COMMENTS UPON FROEBEL AND HIS WORK. 

Und als er so, wie Wichard Lange richtig sagt, der Apostel desweiblichen Gechlechts geworden war, starb er, der geniale, unermüdlichthätige, von Liebe getragene Mann. --SCHMIDT, _Geschichte der Pädagogik_, Cöthen, 1862, iv. 282. 

En résumé, Rousseau aurait pu être déconcerté par les inventionspratiques, un peu subtiles parfois, de l'ingénieux Froebel. Il eûtsouri, comme tout le monde, des artifices par lesquels il obligeaitl'enfant à se faire acteur au milieu de ses petits camarades, à imitertour à tour le soldat qui monte la garde, le cordonnier qui travaille, le cheval qui piétine, l'homme fatigué qui se repose. Mais, sur lesprincipes, il se serait mis aisément d'accord avec l'auteur de_l'Education de l'homme_, avec un penseur à l'âme tendre et noble, quiremplaçait les livres par les choses, qui à une instruction pédantesquesubstituait l'éducation intérieure, qui aux connaissances positivespréférait la chaleur du sentiment, la vie intime et profonde de l'âme, qui respectait la liberté et la spontanéité de l'enfant, qui enfins'efforçait d'écarter de lui les mauvaises influences et de faire à soninnocence un milieu digne d'elle--COMPAYRÉ's _Histoire Critique desDoctrines de l'Éducation en France depuis le XVIme Siécle_, Paris, 1879, ii. 125. 

We might say that his effort in pedagogy consists chiefly in organizinginto a system the sense intuitions which Pestalozzi proposed to thechild somewhat at random and without direct plan. --COMPAYRÉ's _Historyof Pedagogy_, Payne's translation, Boston, 1886, p. 449. 

Er war gleich Pestalozzi von den höchsten Ideen der Zeit getragen undsuchte die Erziehung an diese Ideen anzuknüpfen. So lange die Mutternicht nach den Gesetzen der Natur ihr Kind erzieht und bildet und dafürnicht ihr Leben einsetst, so lange--davon geht er aus--sind alleReformen der Schule auf Sand gebaut. Trotsdem verlegt er einen Theil dermütterlichen Aufgabe in den Kindergarten, in welchem er die Kinder vorihre Schulpflichtigkeit vereinigt wissen will, (1) um auf die häuslicheErziehung ergänzend und verbessernd einzuwirken, (2) um das Kind aus demEinzelleben heraus Zum Verkehr mil seinesgleichen zu führen, und (3) umdem weiblichen Geschlechte Gelegenheit zu geben, sich auf seinenerzieherischen Beruf vorzubereiten. --BÖHM's _Kurzgefasste Geschichte derPädagogik_, Nürnberg, 1880, p. 134. 

Le jardin d'enfants est évidemment en opposition avec l'idéefondamentale de Pestalozzi; car celui-ci avait confié entièrement à lamère et au foyer domestique la tâche que Froebel remet, en grandepartie, aux jardins d'enfants et à sa directrice. A l'égard des rapportsde l'éducation domestique, telle qui elle est à l'heure qu'il est, ondoit reconnaître que Froebel avait un coup-d'oeil plus juste quePestalozzi. --_Histoire d'Éducation_, FREDERICK DITTES, Redolfi's Frenchtranslation, Paris, 1880, p. 258. 

While others have taken to the work of education their own pre-conceivednotions of what that work should be, Froebel stands consistently alonein seeking in the nature of the child the laws of educational action--inascertaining from the child himself how we are to educate him. --JOSEPHPAYNE, _Lectures on the Science and Art of Education_, Syracuse, 1885, p. 254. 

Years afterwards, the celebrated Jahn (the "Father Jahn" of the Germangymnastics) told a Berlin student of a queer fellow he had met, whomade all sorts of wonderful things from stones and cobwebs. This queerfellow was Froebel; and the habit of making out general truths from theobservation of nature, especially from plants and trees, dated from thesolitary rambles in the Forest. 

As the cultivator creates nothing in the trees and plants, so theeducator creates nothing in the children, --he merely superintends thedevelopment of inborn faculties. So far Froebel agrees with Pestalozzi;but in one respect he was beyond him, and has thus become, accordingto Michelet, the greatest of educational reformers. Pestalozzi saidthat the faculties were developed by exercise. Froebel added thatthe function of education was to develop the faculties by arousing_voluntary activity_. Action proceeding from inner impulse(_Selbsthäligkeit_) was the one thing needful, and here Froebel asusual refers to God: "God's every thought is a work, a deed. " AsGod is the Creator, so must man be a creator also. Living acting, conceiving, --these must form a triple cord within every child of man, though the sound now of this string, now of that may preponderate, andthen again of two together. 

Pestalozzi held that the child belonged to the family; Fichte on theother hand, claimed it for society and the State. Froebel, whose mind, like that of Frederick Maurice, delighted in harmonizing apparentcontradictions, and who taught that "all progress lay through oppositesto their reconciliations, " maintained that the child belonged both tothe family and to society, and he would therefore have children spendsome hours of the day in a common life and in well-organized commonemployments. These assemblies of children he would not call schools, forthe children in them ought not to be old enough for schooling. So heinvented the term _Kindergarten_, garden of children, and called thesuperintendents "children's gardeners. "--R. H. QUICK, in _EncyclopaediaBritannica_, xix edition. 

 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

 PAGE

 INTRODUCTORY 1, 2

 LETTER TO THE DUKE OF MEININGEN 3-101

 Birth and early life 3, 104

 Enters the girls' school 9

 Goes away from home to Stadt-Ihm 15

 Is apprenticed to a forester 24

 Returns to his father's house 27

 Goes to the University of Jena 28, 105

 Returns home again 35

 Goes to Bamberg as clerk 33

 Becomes land-surveyor 39

 Goes to the Oberfalz as accountant 42

 Soon after to Mecklenberg 42

 Gets small inheritance from his uncle 43

 Goes to Frankfurt 48, 107

 Becomes teacher in the Model School 31, 109

 Visits Pestalozzi 52

 Resigns to become a private tutor 65, 110

 Takes his three pupils to Yverdon 77

 Returns to Frankfurt 84

 Goes to the University of Göttingen 84, 111

 Goes to Berlin 89, 111

 Enters the army 91, 111, 120

 Becomes curator in Berlin 96, 111, 121

 Enlists in the army again 100, 121

 SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS BY THE TRANSLATORS 102, 103

 LETTER TO KRAUSE 104-125

 Begins at Griesheim his ideal work 113, 121

 Undertakes education of his nephews 121

 Moves to Keilhau 122, 127

 NOTE BY THE TRANSLATORS 126

 CRITICAL MOMENTS IN THE FROEBEL COMMUNITY 127-137

 Froebel goes to the Wartensee 131

 Then to Willisau 132, 136

 Then to the Orphanage at Burgdorf 135, 136

 Visits Berlin 137

 NOTES BY THE TRANSLATORS 138, 139

 Death of Froebel 138

 CHRONOLOGICAL ABSTRACT OF FROEBEL'S LIFE AND MOVEMENT 140-144

 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF FROEBEL 145-152

 INDEX 153-167

INTRODUCTORY. 

The year 1882 was the centenary of Froebel's birth, and in the present"plentiful lack" of faithful translations of Froebel's own words weproposed to the Froebel Society to issue a translation of the "Educationof Man, " which we would undertake to make at our own cost, that theoccasion might be marked in a manner worthy of the English branch of theKindergarten movement. But various reasons prevented the Society fromaccepting our offer, and the lamentable deficiency still continues. Wehave therefore endeavoured to make a beginning by the present work, consisting of Froebel's own words done into English as faithfully as weknow how to render them, and accompanied with any brief explanation ofour own that may be essential to the clear understanding of the passagesgiven. We have not attempted to rewrite our author, the better to suitthe practical, clear-headed, common-sense English character, but havepreferred simply to present him in an English dress with his nationaland personal peculiarities untouched. 

In so doing we are quite aware that we have sacrificed interest, for inmany passages, if not in most, a careful paraphrase of Froebel would bemuch more intelligible and pithy to English readers than a truerendering, since he probably possesses every fault of style exceptover-conciseness; but we feel that it is better to let Froebel speak forhimself. 

For the faithfulness of translation we hope our respective nationalitiesmay have stood us in good stead. We would, however, add that a faithfultranslation is not a verbal translation. The translator should ratherstrive to write each sentence as the author would have written it inEnglish. 

Froebel's opinions, character, and work grow so directly out of hislife, that we feel the best of his writing that a student of theKindergarten system could begin with is the important autobiographical"Letter to the Duke of Meiningen, " written in the year 1827, but nevercompleted, and in all probability never sent to the sovereign whose nameit bears. That this is the course Froebel would himself have preferredwill, we think, become quickly apparent to the reader. Besides, in theboyhood and the earliest experiences of Froebel's life, we find thesources of his whole educational system. That other children might bebetter understood than he was, that other children might have the meansto live the true child-life that was denied to himself, and that bytheir powers being directed into the right channels, these childrenmight become a blessing to themselves and to others, was undoubtedly ingreat part the motive which induced Froebel to describe so fully all thecircumstances of his peculiar childhood. We should undoubtedly have aclearer comprehension of many a great reformer if he had taken thetrouble to write out at length the impressions of his life's dawn, asFroebel has done. In Froebel's particular case, moreover, it is evidentthat although his account of himself is unfinished, we fortunatelypossess all that is most important for the understanding of the originof the Kindergarten system. After the "Letter to the Duke of Meiningen, "we have placed the shorter account of his life which Froebel included ina letter to the philosopher Krause. A sketch of Barop's, which variesthe point of view by regarding the whole movement more in its outeraspect than even Froebel himself is able to do, seemed to us alsodesirable to translate; and finally we have added also a carefullyprepared "chronology" extended from Lange's list. Our translation ismade from the edition of Froebel's works published by Dr. Wichard Langeat Berlin in 1862. 

 EMILIE MICHAELIS. H. KEATLEY MOORE. THE CROYDON KINDERGARTEN, _January 1886_. 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FROEBEL. 

(A LETTER TO THE DUKE OF MEININGEN. )

I was born at Oberweissbach, a village in the Thuringian Forest, in thesmall principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, on the 21st April, 1782. My father was the principal clergyman, or pastor, there. [1] (He died in1802. ) I was early initiated into the conflict of life amidst painfuland narrowing circumstances; and ignorance of child-nature andinsufficient education wrought their influence upon me. Soon after mybirth my mother's health began to fail, and after nursing me nine monthsshe died. This loss, a hard blow to me, influenced the whole environmentand development of my being: I consider that my mother's death decidedmore or less the external circumstances of my whole life. 

The cure of five thousand souls, scattered over six or seven villages, devolved solely on my father. This work, even to a man so active as myfather, who was very conscientious in the fulfilment of his duty asminister, was all-absorbing; the more so since the custom of frequentservices still prevailed. Besides all this, my father had undertaken tosuperintend the building of a large new church, which drew him more andmore from his home and from his children. 

I was left to the care of the servants; but they, profiting by myfather's absorption in his work, left me, fortunately for me, to mybrothers, who were somewhat older than myself. [2] This, in additionto a circumstance of my later life, may have been the cause of thatunswerving love for my family, and especially for my brothers, whichhas, to the present moment, been of the greatest importance to me inthe conduct of my life. Although my father, for a village pastor, wasunusually well informed--nay, even learned and experienced--and was anincessantly active man, yet in consequence of this separation from himduring my earliest years I remained a stranger to him throughout mylife; and in this way I was as truly without a father as without amother. Amidst such surroundings I reached my fourth year. My fatherthen married again, and gave me a second mother. My soul must have feltdeeply at this time the want of a mother's love, --of parental love, --forin this year occurs my first consciousness of self. I remember that Ireceived my new mother overflowing with feelings of simple and faithfulchild-love towards her. These sentiments made me happy, developed mynature, and strengthened me, because they were kindly received andreciprocated by her. But this happiness did not endure. Soon mystep-mother rejoiced in the possession of a son of her own;[3] and thenher love was not only withdrawn entirely from me and transferred to herown child, but I was treated with worse than indifference--by word anddeed, I was made to feel an utter stranger. 

I am obliged here to mention these circumstances, and to describe themso particularly, because in them I see the first cause of my earlyhabit of introspection, my tendency to self-examination, and my earlyseparation from companionship with other men. Soon after the birth ofher own son, when I had scarcely entered my boyhood, my step-motherceased to use the sympathetic, heart-uniting "thou" in speaking to me, and began to address me in the third person, the most estranging of ourforms of speech. And as in this mode of address the third person, "he, "isolates the person addressed, it created a great chasm between mystep-mother and me. [4] At the beginning of my boyhood, I already feltutterly lonely, and my soul was filled with grief. 

Some coarse-minded people wished to make use of my sentiments and mymood at this time to set me against my step-mother, but my heart andmind turned with indignation from these persons, whom I thenceforthavoided, so far as I was able. Thus I became, at an early age, consciousof a nobler, purer, inner-life, and laid the foundation of that properself-consciousness and moral pride which have accompanied me throughlife. Temptations returned from time to time, and each time took a moredangerous form: not only was I suspected as being capable of unworthythings, but base conduct was actually charged against me, and this insuch a way as left no doubt of the impropriety of the suspicion and ofthe untruthfulness of the accusation. So it came to pass that in thefirst years of my boyhood I was perforce led to live to myself and inmyself--and indeed to study my own being and inner consciousness, asopposed to external circumstances. My inward and my outward life wereat that time, even during play and other occupations, my principalsubjects for reflection and thought. 

A notable influence upon the development and formation of my characterwas also exercised by the position of my parents' house. It was closelysurrounded by other buildings, walls, hedges, and fences, and wasfurther enclosed by an outer courtyard, a paddock, and a kitchen garden. Beyond these latter I was strictly forbidden to pass. The dwelling hadno other outlook than on to the buildings to right and left, the bigchurch in front, and at the back the sloping fields stretching up a highhill. For a long time I remained thus deprived of any distant view: butabove me I saw the sky, clear and bright as we so often find it in thehill country; and around me I felt the pure fresh breeze stirring. Theimpression which that clear sky and that pure air then made on me hasremained ever since present to my mind. My perceptions were in thismanner limited to only the nearest objects. Nature, with the world ofplants and flowers, so far as I was able to see and understand her, early became an object of observation and reflection to me. I soonhelped my father in his favourite occupation of gardening, and in thisway received many permanent perceptions; but the consciousness of thereal life in nature only came to me further on, and I shall return tothe point hereafter in the course of my narrative. Our domestic life atthis time gave me much opportunity for occupation and reflection. Manyalterations went on in our house; both my parents were exceedinglyactive-minded, fond of order, and determined to improve their dwellingin every possible way. I had to help them according to my capacity, andsoon perceived that I thereby gained strength and experience; whilethrough this growth of strength and experience my own games andoccupations became of greater value to me. 

But from my life in the open air amongst the objects of nature, and fromthe externals of domestic life, I must now turn to the inner aspects ofmy home and family. 

My father was a theologian of the old school, who held knowledge andscience in less estimation than faith; but yet he endeavoured to keeppace with the times. For this purpose he subscribed to the bestperiodicals he could obtain, and carefully examined what informationthey offered him. This helped not a little to elevate and enlighten theold-fashioned truly Christian life which reigned in our family. Morningand evening all its members gathered together, and even on Sunday aswell, although on that day divine service would of course also call uponus to assemble for common religious worship. Zollikofer, Hermes, Marezoll, Sturm, and others, turned our thoughts, in those delightfulhours of heavenly meditation, upon our innermost being, and served toquicken, unfold, and raise up the life of the soul within us. Thus mylife was early brought under the influence of nature, of usefulhandiwork, and of religious feelings; or, as I prefer to say, theprimitive and natural inclinations of every human being were even in mycase also tenderly fostered in the germ. I must mention here, withreference to my ideas regarding the nature of man, to be treated oflater, and as throwing light upon my professional and individual work, that at this time I used repeatedly, and with deep emotion, to resolveto try and be a good and brave man. As I have heard since, this firminward resolution of mine was in flagrant contrast with my outward life. I was full of youthful energy and in high spirits, and did not alwaysknow how properly to moderate my vivacity. Through my want of restraintI got into all kinds of scrapes. Often, in my thoughtlessness, I woulddestroy the things I saw around me, in the endeavour to investigate andunderstand them. 

My father was prevented by his manifold occupations from himselfinstructing me. Besides, he lost all further inclination to teach me, after the great trouble he found in teaching me to read--an art whichcame to me with great difficulty. As soon as I could read, therefore, Iwas sent to the public village school. 

The position in which my father stood to the village schoolmasters, thatis to say, to the Cantor, [5] and to the master of the girls' school, andhis judgment of the value of their respective teaching, decided him tosend me to the latter. This choice had a remarkable influence on thedevelopment of my inner nature, on account of the perfect neatness, quiet, intelligence, and order which reigned in the school; nay, I maygo further, and say the school was exactly suitable for such a child asI was. In proof of this I will describe my entrance into the school. Atthat time church and school generally stood in strict mutualrelationship, and so it was in our case. The school children had theirspecial places in church; and not only were they obliged to attendchurch, but each child had to repeat to the teacher, at a special classheld for the purpose every Monday, some passage of Scripture used by theminister in his sermon of the day before, as a proof of attention to theservice. From these passages that one which seemed most suitable tochildren was then chosen for the little ones to master or to learn byheart, and for that purpose one of the bigger children had during thewhole week, at certain times each day, to repeat the passage to thelittle children, sentence by sentence. The little ones, all standing up, had then to repeat the text sentence by sentence in like manner, untilit was thoroughly imprinted on their memories. 

I came into school on a Monday. The passage chosen for that week was, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God. " I heard these words every day in thecalm, serious, somewhat sing-song voices of the children, sometimesrepeated by one child, sometimes by the whole number. And the text madean impression upon me such as none had ever done before and none everdid after. Indeed, this impression was so vigorous and permanent, thatto this day every word spoken, with the special tone and expression thengiven to it, is still vivid in my mind. And yet that is now nearly fortyyears ago! Perhaps even then the simple boy's heart felt that thesewords would be the foundation and the salvation of his life, bringing tohim that conviction which was to become later on to the working andstriving man a source of unconquerable courage, of unflinching, ever-ready, and cheerful self-sacrifice. In short, my introduction intothat school was my birth into the higher spiritual life. 

Here I break off my narrative to ask myself whether I dare venture topause yet a little longer over this first period of my life. But thiswas the time when the buds began to unfold on my tree of life; this wasthe time when my heart found its pivot-point, and when first my innerlife awoke. If, then, I succeed in giving an exact description of myearly boyhood, I shall have provided an important aid to the rightunderstanding of my life and work as a man. For that reason I venture todwell at some inordinate length on this part of my life, and the morewillingly since I can pass more quickly over later periods. 

It often suggests itself to me, while thus reviewing and describing mylife, just as it does with teaching and education--namely, that thosethings which are by most men thrown aside as common and unimportant arethe very things which are, as I take it, of weightiest import. In myeyes, it is always a mistake to leave a gap in the rudimentary andfundamental part of a subject. Still I know one may exhaust the patienceof a reader by touching on every minute detail, before he has beenpermitted to glance at the whole picture and to gather its scope andobject. Therefore I beg your Highness[6] to pass over, at all events onthe first reading, anything that may appear too long and too detailed. 

Against standing rules, I was received in the girls' school, on accountof the position of my father as pastor of the district. For the samereason I was placed, not with the pupils of my own age, but close to theteacher, which brought me among the elder girls. I joined in theirlessons as far as I could. In two subjects I was quite able to do this. First, I could read the Bible with them; and, secondly, I had to learnline by line, instead of the little texts of the younger childrenalready spoken of, the hymns for the following Sunday's service. Ofthese, two especially light up the gloomy lowering dawn of my earlyboyhood, like two brilliant stars. They are--"Schwing dich auf, meinHerz und Geist, " and "Es kostet viel ein Christ zu sein. "[7] These hymnswere hymns of life to me. I found my own little life expressed therein;and they took such a hold upon me that often in later years I have foundstrength and support in the message which they carried to my soul. Myfather's home life was in complete harmony with this discipline of theschool. Although divine service was held twice on Sundays, I was butvery seldom allowed to miss attending each service. I followed myfather's sermons with great attention, partly because I thought I foundin them many allusions to his own position, profession, and life. Looking back, I consider it of no slight importance that I used to hearthe service from the vestry, because I was there separated from thecongregation, and could the better keep my attention from wandering. 

I have already mentioned that my father belonged to the old orthodoxschool of theology; and in consequence the language both of his hymnsand of his sermons was mystical and symbolic--a style of speech which, in more than one sense, I should call a stone-language, because itrequires an overwhelming power to burst its walls, and free from thisouter shell the life contained within. But what the full strength oflater life seems too weak to attain, is often accomplished by theliving, life-awakening, and life-giving power of some simple, thoughtfulyoung soul, by some young spirit first unfolding its wings, busilyseeking everywhere for the causes and connections of all things. Evenfor such a youth, the treasure is to be gained only after longexamination, inquiry, and reflection. If ever I found that for which Iso longingly sought, then was I filled with exceeding joy. 

The surroundings amidst which I had grown up, especially those in whichmy first childhood was passed, had caused my senses to be much and earlyexercised. The pleasures of the senses were from the first, therefore, an object for the closest consideration with me. The results of thisanalysing and questioning habit of my early boyhood were perfectly clearand decisive, and, if not rendered into words, were yet firmly settledin my mind. I recognised that the transitory pleasures of the senseswere without enduring and satisfying influence on man, and that theywere therefore on no account to be pursued with too great eagerness. This conviction stamped and determined my whole being, just as myquestioning examination and comparison of the inner with the outerworld, and my study of their inter-connection, is now the basis of mywhole future life. Unceasing self-contemplation, self-analysis, andself-education have been the fundamental characteristics of my life fromthe very first, and have remained so until these latest days. 

To stir up, to animate, to awaken, and to strengthen, the pleasure andpower of the human being to labour uninterruptedly at his own education, has become and always remained the fundamental principle and aim of myeducational work. 

Great was my joy when I believed I had proved completely to my ownsatisfaction that I was not destined to go to hell. The stony, oppressive dogmas of orthodox theology I very early explained away, perhaps assisted in this by two circumstances. Firstly, I heard theseexpressions used over and over again, from my habit of being present atthe lessons given by my father in our own house, in preparation forconfirmation. I heard them used also in all sorts of ways, so that mymind almost unconsciously constructed some sort of explanation of them. Secondly, I was often a mute witness of the strict way in which myfather performed his pastoral duties, and of the frequent scenes betweenhim and the many people who came to the parsonage to seek advice andconsolation. I was thus again constantly attracted from the outer to theinner aspects of life. Life, with its inmost motives laid bare, passedbefore my eyes, with my father's comments pronounced upon it; and thingand word, act and symbol were thus perceived by me in their most vividrelationship. I saw the disjointed, heavy-laden, torn, inharmonious lifeof man as it appeared in this community of five thousand souls, beforethe watchful eyes of its earnest, severe pastor. Matrimonial and sexualcircumstances especially were often the objects of my father's gravestcondemnation and rebuke. The way in which he spoke about these mattersshowed me that they formed one of the most oppressive and difficultparts of human conduct; and, in my youth and innocence, I felt a deeppain and sorrow that man alone, among all creatures, should be doomed tothese separations of sex, whereby the right path was made so difficultfor him to find. I felt it a real necessity for the satisfaction of myheart and mind to reconcile this difficulty, and yet could find no wayto do so. How could I at that age, and in my position? But my eldestbrother, who, like all my elder brothers, lived away from home, came tostay with us for a time; and one day, when I expressed my delight atseeing the purple threads of the hazel buds, he made me aware of asimilar sexual difference in plants. Now was my spirit at rest. Irecognised that what had so weighed upon me was an institution spreadover all nature, to which even the silent, beautiful race of flowers wassubmitted. From that time humanity and nature, the life of the soul andthe life of the flower, were closely knit together in my mind; and I canstill see my hazel buds, like angels, opening for me the great God'stemple of Nature. 

I now had what I needed: to the Church was added the Nature-Temple; tothe religious Christian life, the life of Nature; to the passionatediscord of human life the tranquil peace of the life of plants. Fromthat time it was as if I held the clue of Ariadne to guide me throughthe labyrinth of life. An intimate communion with Nature for more thanthirty years (although, indeed, often interrupted, sometimes for longintervals) has taught me that plants, especially trees, are a mirror, orrather a symbol, of human life in its highest spiritual relations; and Ithink one of the grandest and deepest fore-feelings that have everemanated from the human soul, is before us when we read, in the HolyScriptures, of a tree of knowledge of good and evil. The whole of Natureteaches us to distinguish good from evil; even the world of crystals andstones--though not so vividly, calmly, clearly, and manifestly as theworld of plants and flowers. I said my hazel buds gave me the clue ofAriadne. Many things grew clear to me: for instance, the earliest lifeand actions of our first parents in Paradise, and much connectedtherewith. 

There are yet three points touching my inner life up to my tenth year, which, before I resume the narrative of my outer life, I should like tomention here. 

The folly, superstition, and ignorance of men had dared to assume then, as they have done lately, that the world would soon come to an end. Mymind, however, remained perfectly tranquil, because I reasoned thus withmyself firmly and definitely:--Mankind will not pass from the world, nor will the world itself pass away, until the human race has attainedto that degree of perfection of which it is capable on earth. The earth, Nature in its narrowest sense, will not pass away, moreover, until menhave attained a perfect insight into its essence. This idea has returnedto me during my life in many a varied guise, and I have often beenindebted to its influence for peace, firmness, perseverance, andcourage. 

Towards the end of this epoch, my eldest brother, already spoken of, wasat the university, and studied theology. [8] Philosophic criticism wasthen beginning to elucidate certain Church dogmas. It was therefore notvery surprising that father and son often differed in opinion. Iremember that one day they had a violent dispute about religion andChurch matters. My father stormed, and absolutely declined to yield; mybrother, though naturally of a mild disposition, flushed deep-red withexcitement; and he, too, could not abandon what he had recognised astrue. I was present also on this as on many other occasions, anunobserved witness, and can still see father and son standing face toface in the conflict of opinion. I almost thought I understood somethingof the subject in dispute; I felt as if I must side with my brother, butthere seemed at the same time something in my father's view whichindicated the possibility of a mutual understanding. Already I felt in adim way that every illusion has a true side, which often leads men tocling to it with a desperate firmness. This conviction has become moreand more confirmed in me the longer I have lived; and when at any time Ihave heard two men disputing for the truth's sake, I have found that thetruth is usually to be learnt from both sides. Therefore I have neverliked to take sides; a fortunate thing for me. [9]

Another youthful experience which also had a decided influence informing my cast of character, was the following:--There are certainoft-repeated demands made upon the members of our Established Church;such as, to enter upon the service of Christ, to show forth Christ inone's life, to follow Jesus, etc. These injunctions were brought home tome times without number through the zeal of my father as a teacher ofothers and a liver himself of a Christian life. When demands are made ona child which are in harmony with child nature, he knows no reluctancein fulfilling them; and as he receives them entirely and unreservedly, so also he complies with them entirely and unreservedly. That thesedemands were so often repeated convinced me of their intense importance;but I felt at the same time the difficulty, or indeed, as it seemed tome, the impossibility of fulfilling them. The inherent contradictionwhich I seemed to perceive herein threw me into great depression; but atlast I arrived at the blessed conviction that human nature is such thatit is not impossible for man to live the life of Jesus in its purity, and to show it forth to the world, if he will only take the right waytowards it. 

This thought, which, as often as it comes into my mind, carries me backeven now to the scenes and surroundings of my boyhood, may have been notimprobably amongst the last mental impressions of this period, and itmay fitly close, therefore, the narrative of my mental development atthis age. It became, later, the point whereon my whole life hinged. 

From what I have said of my boyish inner life, it might be assumed thatmy outer life was a happy and peaceful one. Such an assumption would, however, not be correct. It seems as if it had always been my fate torepresent and combine the hardest and sharpest contrasts. My outer lifewas really in complete contrast with my inner. I had grown up without amother; my physical education had been neglected, and in consequence Ihad acquired many a bad habit. I always liked to be doing something oranother, but in my clumsy way I made mistakes as to choice of materials, of time, and of place, and thus often incurred the severe displeasure ofmy parents. I felt this, being of a sensitive disposition, more keenlyand more persistently than my parents; the more so as I felt myselfgenerally to blame in form rather than in substance, and in my inmostheart I could see there was a point of view from whence my conduct wouldseem, in substance at all events, not altogether wrong, still lessblameworthy. The motives assigned to my actions were not those whichactuated me, so far as I could tell; and the consciousness of beingmisjudged made me really what I had been believed to be before, athoroughly naughty boy. Out of fear of punishment I hid even the mostharmless actions, and when I was questioned I made untruthful answers. 

In short, I was set down as wicked, and my father, who had not alwaystime to investigate the justice of the accusations against me, remembered only the facts as they were represented to him. My neglectedchildhood called forth the ridicule of others; when playing with mystep-brother, I was always, according to my mother, the cause ofanything that went wrong. As the mind of my parents turned more and moreaway from me, so on my side my life became more and more separated fromtheirs; and I was abandoned to the society of people who, if mydisposition had not been so thoroughly healthy, might have injured meeven more than they did. I longed to escape from this unhappy state ofthings; and I considered my elder brothers fortunate in being all ofthem away from home. Just at this melancholy time came home my eldestbrother. He appeared to me as an angel of deliverance, for he recognisedamidst my many faults my better nature, and protected me againstill-treatment. He went away again after a short stay; but I felt that mysoul was linked to his, thenceforth, down to its inmost depths; andindeed, after his death, this love of mine for him turned the wholecourse of my life. [10]

The boon was at last vouchsafed me, and that at my greatest need, toleave my father's house. Had it been otherwise, the flagrantcontradiction between my outer and inner life must necessarily havedeveloped the evil inclinations which had begun in earnest to fastenupon me. A new life entirely different from the former now opened beforeme. I was ten years and nine months old. But I pause yet another momentin the contemplation of this period before I pass to its narration. Inorder to be clearly understood by your serene Highness, which is verynecessary to me if I am to attain my object, I will compare, with yourpermission, my former life with my present. I shall endeavour to showhow I trace the connection of my earlier and my later life; how myearlier life has proved for me the means of understanding my later; how, in general, my own individual life has become to me a key to theuniversal life, or, in short, to what I call the symbolic life and theperpetual, conditioned, and unbroken chain of existence. 

Since, throughout the period which I have just described, my inner self, my life and being, my desires and endeavours, were not discerned by myparents, so is it with me now with regard to certain GermanGovernments. [11] And just as my outward life then was imperfect andincomplete, through which incompleteness my inner life wasmisunderstood, so also now the imperfection and incompleteness of myestablishment prevent people from discerning the true nature, the basis, the source, the aim and purpose, of my desires and endeavours, and frompromoting them, after recognising their value, in a right princely andpatriotic spirit. 

The misapprehension, the oppression under which I suffered in my earlyyears, prepared me to bear similar evils later on, and especially thosewhich weigh upon me in the present circumstances of my life. And as Isee my present private and public life and my destiny reflected in apart of my former life, just so do I read and trace the presentuniversal life in my former individual life. Moreover, in the same wayas I tried as child or boy to educate myself to be a worthy manaccording to those laws which God had implanted, unknown to me, withinmy nature, so now do I strive in the same way, according to the samelaws, and by the same method, to educate the children of my country. That for which I strove as a boy, not yet conscious of any purpose; thehuman race now strives for with equal unconsciousness of purpose, butfor all that none the less truly. The race is, however, surrounded byless favourable circumstances than those which influenced me in myboyhood. 

Life in its great as well as in its small aspects, in humanity and thehuman race as well as in the individual (even though the individual manoften wilfully mars his own existence)--life, in the present, the past, and the future, has always appeared to me as a great undivided whole, inwhich one thing is explained, is justified, is conditioned and urgedforward by the other. 

In order that, if it be possible, there should remain no obscuritywhatever in my actions, thoughts, and life, I shall proceed to considerthem all, down to the very latest event which has happened to me; thatis, the writing-down of this statement of my life for your Highness. Mylife experience it is which urges me to do this; not any whim orcaprice. Common worldly wisdom would challenge such a step if it wereknown; no one would desire to take it, no one would dare to take it. Idare it, and I do it, because my childhood has taught me that where fortrust we find distrust, where for union we find division, where forbelief we find doubt, there but sad fruit will come to the harvest, anda burdensome and narrow life alone can follow. 

I return again to the narrative of the development of my inner and outerlife. 

A new existence now began for me, entirely opposed to that which I hadhitherto led. An uncle on my mother's side came to visit us in thisyear; he was a gentle, affectionate man. [12] His appearance among usmade a most agreeable impression upon me. This uncle, being a man ofexperience, may have noticed the adverse influences which surrounded me;for soon after his departure he begged my father by letter to turn meover to him entirely. My father readily consented, and towards the endof the year 1792 I went to him. He had early lost both wife and child, and only his aged mother-in-law lived in his house with him. In myfather's house severity reigned supreme; here, on the contrary, mildnessand kindness held sway. There I encountered mistrust; here I wastrusted. There I was under restraint; here I had liberty. Hitherto I hadhardly ever been with boys of my own age; here I found fortyschoolfellows, for I joined the upper class of the town school. [13]

The little town of Stadt-Ilm is situated in a somewhat wide valley, andon the banks of a small limpid stream. [14] My uncle's house had gardensattached, into which I could go if I liked; but I was also at liberty toroam all over the neighbourhood, if only I obeyed the strict rule of thehouse to return punctually at the time appointed. Here I drank in freshlife-energy in long draughts; for now the whole place was my playground, whereas formerly, at home, I had been limited to our own walls. I gainedfreedom of soul and strength of body. 

The clergyman who taught us never interfered with our games, played atcertain appointed playgrounds, and always with great fun and spirit. Deeply humiliating to me were the frequent slights I received in ourplay, arising from my being behind boys of my age in bodily strength, and more especially in agility; and all my dash and daring could notreplace the robust, steady strength, and the confident sureness of aimwhich my companions possessed. Happy fellows! they had grown up incontinual exercise of their youthful boyish strength. I felt myselfexceedingly fortunate when I had at length got so far that myschoolfellows could tolerate me as a companion in their games. Butwhatever I accomplished in this respect by practice, by continual effortof will, and by the natural course of life, I always felt myselfphysically deficient in contrast with their uncramped boyish powers. Setting aside that which I had been robbed of by my previous education, my new life was vigorous and unfettered by external restraint; and theytell me I made good use of my opportunity. The world lay open before me, as far as I could grasp it. It may indeed be because my present life wasas free and unconstrained as my former life had been cramped andconstrained, anyhow the companions of my youth have reminded me ofseveral incidents of that time which make me think that my good spiritsled me to the borders of wildness and extravagance; although as a boy Iconsidered my demeanour quieter by far than that of my companions of myown age. My communion with Nature, silent hitherto, now became freer andmore animated. And as, at the same time, my uncle's house was full ofpeace and quiet contemplation, I was able as I grew up to develop thatside of my character also; thus on every side my life becameharmoniously balanced. 

In two places, alike centres of education, I found myself as beforequite at home, even though I was more frequently than ever the victim ofabsence of mind--I mean the church and the school. In the latter Iespecially enjoyed the hours devoted to religious instruction. As withmy uncle himself, and with his life, so was it also with his sermons;they were gentle, mild, and full of lovingkindness. I could follow themquite readily, and in the Monday repetition at school I was able to givea good account of them. But the religious instruction of our ownschool-teacher responded best to my needs; all that I had worked out formyself was placed by him in a fuller light, and received from him ahigher confirmation. Later in life, when I had grown to manhood, I spokewith my uncle on the excellence of this teaching, and he made reply thatit was indeed very good, but was too philosophical and abstruse forthose to whom it was addressed; "for thee, " continued he, "it may havebeen well suited, since thou hadst already received such unusually goodinstruction from thy father. " Let that be as it may, this teachingenlightened, animated, and warmed me, --nay, glowed within me till myheart was completely melted, especially when it touched upon the life, the work, and the character of Jesus. At this I would burst into tears, and the longings to lead in future a similar life took definite form, and wholly filled my soul. When I now hear tales of the ebullitions ofmy youthful spirit occurring in that period of my life, I cannot helpthinking that they must have led superficial observers to the erroneousopinion that the monitions and teachings of religion swept over myspirit without leaving a trace of their passage. And yet how wronglywould such observers have judged the true state of my inner life!

The subjects best taught in the school of Stadt-Ilm were reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion. Latin was miserably taught, and stillworse learnt. Here, as in so many similar schools, the teaching utterlylacked the elucidation of first principles. The time spent on Latin wastherefore not wasted upon me, in so far that I learnt from it that sucha method of teaching could bear no fruit among the scholars. Arithmeticwas a very favourite study of mine; and as I also received privatetuition in this subject, my progress was so rapid that I came to equalmy teacher both in theory and practice, although his attainments were byno means despicable. But how astonished was I when, in my twenty-thirdyear, I first went to Yverdon, and found I could not solve the questionsthere being set to the scholars! This was one of the experiences whichprepossessed me so keenly in favour of Pestalozzi's method of teaching, and decided me to begin arithmetic myself from the very beginning overagain, according to his system. But more of this later. 

In physical geography we repeated our tasks parrot-wise, speaking muchand knowing nothing; for the teaching on this subject had not the veryleast connection with real life, nor had it any actuality for us, although at the same time we could rightly name our little specks andpatches of colour on the map. I received private tuition in this subjectalso. My teacher wished to advance further with me; he took me toEngland. I could find no connection between that country and the placeand country in which I dwelt myself, so that of this instruction also Iretained but little. As for actual instruction in German, it was not tobe thought of; but we received directions in letter-writing and inspelling. I do not know with what study the teaching of spelling wasconnected, but I think it was not connected with any; it hovered in theair. I had lessons, furthermore, in singing and in pianoforte playing, but without result. I merely mention all this now, in order to be ableto refer to it later on. 

My life the whole time of my stay with my uncle had three aspects: thereligious life developing and building up my moral being; the externallife made up of boyish play, into which I threw my whole energy; and thelife of thought quietly showing itself within my uncle's peaceful home. To this last influence also I yielded myself with equal earnestness, andfelt no suspicion of the apparent contradiction which my outward lifeexhibited to such a mood. Like my school-fellows, I lived withoutcontrol; as far as I saw or felt, I was untrammelled; and yet I do notcall to mind that any of us ever committed a seriously culpable action. 

Here I am obliged to mention something which as an educationist I can byno means pass lightly by. We received instruction from twoschoolmasters: one was pedantic and rigid; the other, more especiallyour class-teacher (_conrector_), was large-hearted and free. The firstnever had any influence over his class; the second could do whatever hepleased with us, and if he had but set his mind to it, or perhaps if hehad been aware of his power, he might have done some thoroughly goodsound work with his class. In the little town of Stadt-Ilm were twoministers, both ephors[15] of the school. My uncle, the principalminister, was mild, gentle, and kind-hearted, impressive in daily lifeas in his sacred office or in the pulpit; the other minister was rigideven to sternness, frequently scolding and ordering us about. The firstled us with a glance. A word from him, and surely few were so brutish asto refuse that word admittance to their heart. The long exhortations ofthe other went, for the most part, over our heads, leaving no tracebehind. Like my father, my uncle was a true shepherd of his flock; but agentle lovingkindness to all mankind reigned in him. My father was movedby the conviction of the rectitude of his actions; he was earnest andsevere. Both have been dead over twenty years; but how different is thespirit they have left behind amongst their congregations. Here, they areglad at being released from so strict a control, and, if I am rightlyinformed, unbridled license has sprung up amongst them; there, thelittle town raises itself to higher and ever higher prosperity, and allthings are made to serve towards mental culture, as well as towards aright citizen-like business activity. I permit myself this digression, because these results were paralleled as a life-experience in my ownlife. 

In this manner I lived, up to my confirmation; all but a few weeks, thatis, which I spent at my parents' house during the long holidays. Here, too, everything seemed to take a gentler turn, and the domestic, thriftyactivity which filled the place, and always struck me anew in myperiodical visits home, wrought upon me with most beneficial effect. Thecopper-plate engravings in my father's library were the first things Isought out, especially those representing scenes in the history of theworld. A table showing our (German) alphabet in its relations with manyothers made a surprising impression upon me. It enabled me to recognisethe connection and the derivation of our letters from the old Phoeniciancharacters. This gave me a dim conception of the inner connection of allthose languages of which, as my brother had studied and was stillstudying them, I often heard, and saw in print. Especially the Greeklanguage lost much of its strangeness in my eyes, now that I couldrecognise its characters in the German alphabet. All this, however, hadno immediate consequence in my life; these things, as echoes from myyouth, produced their effect upon me at a later time. 

At this time, too, I read all sorts of boys' books. The story of SamuelLawill impressed me most vividly; I, too, longed for such a ring, whichby its warning pressure on my finger could hinder my hand from effectingunworthy purposes, and I was very angry with the youthful owner of thering in the story, who threw it away in irritation because it pressedhim right hard at a moment when he wished to commit a passionatedeed. [16]

My confirmation, and the preparation for it, all conducted by my uncle, was over. I had received from it the most impressive and the mostfar-reaching influence in my whole life, and all my life-threads foundin it their point of union and repose. I had now to be prepared for somebusiness calling, and the question was raised, for which? That I shouldnot study at the university had already been decided long before by theexpress determination of my step-mother. For since two of mybrothers[17] had devoted themselves to study, she feared that thefurther additional expense would be too heavy a burden upon my father'smeans. It may be that this intention had already influenced and limitedmy whole course of instruction; and probably only the little narrowcircle of future business aims had been considered; the eye had notlooked upon the boy as a future man. Possibly from this cause I was keptso little to Latin; it was enough if I learnt, as our mode of expressionran, to "state a _Casus_" (that is, to decline a noun). From my ownexperience it was thus shown to me how eminently injurious it is ineducation and in instruction to consider only a certain circle of futureactivities or a certain rank in life. The wearisome old-fashionededucation _ad hoc_ (that is, for some one special purpose) has alwaysleft many a noble power of man's nature unawakened. 

A career in our country frequently chosen by the worthiest and mostanxious parents for their sons is that of a post in the Treasury andExchequer. Aspirants to such a post have two means of entering and twostarting-points in this career; either they become a clerk to one of theminor officials in the Treasury or Exchequer, or the personal servant ofone of the highest officials. As my knowledge of writing and figuresseemed to my father satisfactory and sufficient for such a post, and ashe knew well that it might lead, not merely to a life free frompecuniary cares, but even to wealth and fortune, he chose this career asmine. But the minor Treasury official who might have found employmentfor such a young man, showed various reasons why he could not or wouldnot as yet receive me as a clerk. There was something in my nature whichrevolted against the second mode I have mentioned of entering thiscareer; something which I never afterwards experienced, but which at thetime absolutely prevented me from choosing such a mode of starting inmy future profession, and that in spite of the most alluring hopes thatwere held out to me. My father meant well and honestly by me, but fateruled it against him. Strangely enough, it happened that in my latercapacity of schoolmaster, I became the educator and teacher of two ofthe nephews of that very man into whose service my father had meant tohave sent me; and I hope to God that I have been of greater service tothat family by filling the heart and brain of these young people withgood and useful notions than if I had brushed the clothes and shoes oftheir uncle, and spread his table with savoury dishes. In the lattercase, very likely an externally easy and happy existence might have beenmine, whereas now I wage a constant fight with cares and difficulties. 

Suffice it to say, this career was closed to me; a second was proposedby my mother, but from this my father delivered me by expressing adecided disapproval. 

My own desires and inclinations were now at last consulted. I wanted tobe an agriculturist in the full meaning of the word; for I lovedmountain, field, and forest; and I heard also that to learn anythingsolid in this occupation one must be well acquainted with geometry andland-surveying. From what I had learnt of the latter by snatches now andthen, the prospect of knowing more about it delighted me much; and Icared not whether I began with forestry, with farming, or with geometryand land-surveying. My father tried to find a position for me; but thefarmers asked too high a premium. Just at this time he became acquaintedwith a forester who had also a considerable reputation as land-surveyorand valuer. They soon came to terms, and I was apprenticed to this manfor two years, to learn forestry, valuing, geometry, and land-surveying. I was fifteen years and a half old when I became an apprentice to theforester, on Midsummer Day 1797. 

It was two days' journey from my home to the forester's, for hisdistrict was not in our country. The man often gave me proofs of histhorough and many-sided knowledge; but he did not understand the art ofconveying his knowledge to others, especially because what he knew hehad acquired only by dint of actual experience. [18] Further, some workof timber-floating[19] with which he had been entrusted hindered himfrom devoting to me the stipulated time necessary for my instruction. 

As soon as I saw this quite clearly, my own activity of mind urged me tomake use of the really excellent books on forestry and geometry which Ifound lying to my hand. I also made acquaintance with the doctor of alittle town near by, who studied natural science for his amusement; andthis friend lent me books on botany, through which I learnt also aboutother plants than just those of the forest. A great deal of my timeduring the absence of the forester (when I was left quite to myself) Idevoted to making a sort of map of the neighbourhood I lived in; butbotany was my special occupation. My life as forester's apprentice was afour-fold one: firstly, there was the homelier and more practical sideof life; then the life spent with Nature, especially forest-nature; thenalso a life of the study, devoted to work at mathematics and languages;and lastly, the time spent in gaining a knowledge of plants. My chosenprofession and the other circumstances of my position might have broughtme into contact with many kinds of men; but nevertheless my liferemained retired and solitary. My religious church life now changed to areligious communion with Nature, and in the last half-year I livedentirely amongst and with my plants, which drew me towards them withfascination, notwithstanding that as yet I had no sense of the innerlife of the plant world. Collecting and drying specimens of plants was awork I prosecuted with the greatest care. Altogether this time of mylife was devoted in many various ways to self-education, self-instruction, and moral advancement. Especially did I love toindulge my old habit of self-observation and introspection. 

I must mention yet another event of the greatest importance from thepoint of view of my inner life. An hour's walk from where I then livedwas a small country town. A company of strolling actors arrived there, and played in the prince's castle in the town. After I had seen one oftheir performances, hardly any of those which followed passed without myattendance. These performances made a deep and lively impression uponme, and this the more that I felt as if my soul at last receivednourishment for which it had long hungered. The impressions thus gainedlasted so much the longer, and had so much the greater influence on myself-culture, in that after each performance my hour's walk home by darkor in the starlight allowed me to recapitulate what I had heard, and soto digest the meaning of the play. I remember especially how deeply aperformance of Iffland's _Huntsmen_ moved me, and how it inspired mewith firm moral resolutions, which I imprinted deep in my mind under thelight of the stars. My interest in the play made me seek acquaintancewith the actors, and especially with one of them, an earnest young manwho attracted my attention, and to whom I spoke about his profession. Icongratulated him on being a member of such a company, able to call upsuch ennobling sentiments in the human soul; perhaps even expressed awish that I could become a member of such a company. Then the honestfellow described the profession of an actor as a brilliant, deceitfulmisery, and confessed to me that he had been only forced by necessity toadopt this profession, and that he was soon about to abandon it. Onceagain I learned by this to divide cause from effect, internal fromexternal things. My visits to the play brought upon me a most unpleasantexperience, for my father, when I spoke to him without concealment of myplaygoing, reproached me very bitterly for it. He looked upon my conductas deserving the highest punishment, which was in absolute contradictionwith my own view; for I placed the benefit I had derived from myattendance at the play side by side with what I had received by myattendance at church, and expressed something of the kind to my father. As often happened in later life, so also on this occasion it was myeldest brother who was the mediator between my father and myself. 

On Midsummer Day 1799 my apprenticeship came to an end. The forester, who could now have made my practical knowledge of service to himself, wished to keep me another year. But I had by this time acquired higherviews; I wished to study mathematics and botany more thoroughly, and Iwas not to be kept back from my purpose. When my apprenticeship was overI left him, and returned to my father's house. 

My master knew well that he had not done his duty towards me, and withthis probably humiliating consciousness before him, and in spite of thethoroughly satisfactory testimonial that he gave me, he committed a verymean action against me. He did not know anything about my private study;for instance, my completely working through some elementary mathematicalbooks, which I had found myself quite well able to understand. Besides, he was dissatisfied that I would not stay another year with him. Hetherefore sent a letter to my father, in which he complained bitterly ofmy conduct, and shifted the blame of my ignorance of my calling entirelyon to my shoulders. This letter actually arrived at home before I did;and my father sent it on to my eldest brother, who was minister in avillage through which I had to pass on my way home. Soon after I reachedmy brother's house he communicated to me the contents of thisinculpatory letter. I cleared myself by exposing the unconscientiousbehaviour of my master, and by showing my private work. I then wrote areply to my master, clearly refuting all his accusations, and exhibitingon the other hand his behaviour towards me; and with this I satisfied myfather and my brother. But the latter reproached me for having sufferedwrongdoing so long without complaint. To that I gave the simple answer, that my father, at the beginning of my apprenticeship, had told me notto come to him with any complaint, as I should never be listened to, butshould be considered as wrong beforehand. My brother, who knew myfather's severity and his views on such points, was silent. But mymother saw in one declaration of the forester the confirmation of herown opinion about me. The forester declared, that if ever anything wasmade of me, the same good fortune might be told of the first-comerwithout further trouble, and my mother assented heartily to his opinion. 

Thus disappeared once more the light, the sunshine, which had gladdenedme with its warmth, especially in the more recent part of my life. Thewings of my mind, which had begun to flutter of themselves, were againbound, and my life once more appeared all cold and harsh before me. Thenit happened that my father had to send some money to my brother(Traugott), who was studying medicine in Jena. The matter pressed; so, as I had nothing to do, it was decided that I should be the messenger. 

When I reached Jena I was seized by the stirring intellectual life ofthe place, and I longed to remain there a little time. Eight weeks ofthe summer half-year's session of 1799 yet remained. My brother wrote tomy father that I could fill that time usefully and profitably in Jena, and in consequence of this letter I was permitted to stay. I tooklessons in map and plan-drawing, and I devoted all the time I had to thework. At Michaelmas I went home with my brother, and my step-motherobserved that I could now fairly say I had passed through theuniversity. But I thought differently; my intelligence and my soul hadbeen stimulated in many ways, and I expressed my wish to my father to beallowed to study finance there, thus returning to my previous career. Myfather was willing to give his permission if I could tell him how tofind the means. I possessed a very small property inherited from mymother, but I thought it would be insufficient. However, after havingconferred with my brother, I talked it over with my father. I was stilla minor, and therefore had to ask the consent of my trustee to realisemy property; but as soon as I had obtained this I went as a student toJena, in 1799. I was then seventeen years and a half old. 

A testimonial from my father attesting my capacity for the curriculumprocured me matriculation without difficulty. My matriculationcertificate called me a student of philosophy, which seemed verystrange, because I had set before me as the object of my studiespractical knowledge; and as to philosophy, of which I had so oftenheard, I had formed a very high idea of it. The word made a greatimpression upon my dreamy, easily-excited, and receptive nature. Although the impression disappeared almost as soon as conceived, itgave, however, higher and unexpected relations to my studies. 

The lectures I heard were only those which promised to be useful in thecareer I had now again embraced. I heard lectures on appliedmathematics, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, mineralogy, botany, naturalhistory, physics, chemistry, accounts, cultivation of forest trees andmanagement of forests, architecture, house-building, and land-surveying. I continued topographical drawing. I heard nothing purely theoreticalexcept mathematics; and of philosophical teaching and thought I learntonly so much as the intercourse of university life brought with it; butit was precisely through this intercourse that I received in variousways a many-sided intellectual impulse. I usually grasped what had beentaught; the more thoroughly since, through my previous life, I hadbecome well acquainted with the principal subjects, and already knewtheir relation to practical work. 

Some of the lectures were almost easy for me--for instance, those onmathematics. I have always been able to perceive with ease and pleasurerelations of geometrical figures and of planes; so that it seemedinexplicable to me that every farmer should not be equally capable ofunderstanding them. This I had said before to my brother, who tried togive me an explanation; but I did not yet grasp it. I had expected Idon't know exactly what, but certainly something higher, somethinggrandiose; very likely I had expected something with more life in it. The mathematical course, therefore, at first seemed to me unimportant;but later on I found that I, also, could not follow every detail. However, I did not think much of this, because I readily understood thegeneral meaning, and I said to myself that particular cases would notcause me any mental fatigue if I found it necessary to learn them. 

The lectures of my excellent teacher were not so useful to me as theymight have been, if I could have seen in the course of instruction andin its progress somewhat more of necessary connection and less ofarbitrary arrangement. This want of necessary connection was the reasonof the immediate dislike I always took to every course of instruction. Ifelt it even in pure mathematics, still more was it the case in appliedmathematics, and most of all in experimental physics. Here it seemed tome as if everything were arranged in arbitrary series, so that from thevery first I found this study a fatigue. The experiments failed toarrest my attention. I desired and sought after some inner connectionbetween the phenomena, deduced from and explained by some simple rootprinciples. But that was the very point withheld from me. Mathematicaldemonstrations came like halting messengers; they only became clear tothe mind's eye when the truth to be demonstrated lay before me alreadyin all its living strength. On the other hand, my attention was rivetedby the study of gravitation, of force, of weight, which were livingthings to me, because of their evident relation to actual facts. 

In mechanics (natural philosophy) I could not understand why so many ofthe so-called "mechanical powers" were assumed, and why several of themwere not reduced to cases of the inclined plane. 

In mineralogy my previous education had left many gaps unfilled, especially as regards the powers of observation. I was fond of mineralspecimens, and gave myself much trouble to comprehend their severalproperties; but in consequence of my defective preparation I foundinsuperable difficulties in my way, and perceived thereby that neglectis neither quickly nor lightly to be repaired. The most assiduouspractice in observation failed to make my sight so quick and so accurateas it ought to have been for my purpose. At that time I failed toapprehend the fact of my deficient quickness of sight; it ought to havetaught me much, but I was not prepared to learn the lesson. 

Chemistry fascinated me. The excellent teacher (Göttling) alwaysdemonstrated the true connection of the phenomena under consideration;and the theory of chemical affinity took strong hold upon me. 

Note-taking at these lectures was a thing I never thought of doing; forthat which I understood forthwith became a part of me, and that which Ifailed to understand seemed to me not worth writing down. I have oftenfelt sorry for it since. But as regards this point, I have always hadthrough my whole life the perfectly clear conviction that when I hadmastered a whole subject in its intimate relations I could go back upon, and then understand, details which at the time of hearing had beenunintelligible to me. 

In botany I had a clear-sighted, kind-hearted teacher (Batsch). Hisnatural system of botany[20] gave me great satisfaction, although I hadalways a painful perception of how much still remained for him toclassify. However, my view of Nature as one whole became by his meanssubstantially clearer, and my love for the observation of Nature indetail became more animated. I shall always think of him with gratitude. He was also my teacher in natural history. Two principles that heenunciated seized upon me with special force, and seemed to me valid. The first was the conception of the mutual relationship of all animals, extending like a network in all directions; and the second was that theskeleton or bony framework of fishes, birds, and men was one and thesame in plan, and that the skeleton of man should be considered as thefundamental type which Nature strove to produce even in the lower formsof creation. [21] I was always highly delighted with his expositions, forthey suggested ideas to me which bore fruit both in my intelligence andin my emotional nature. Invariably, whenever I grasped theinter-connection and unity of phenomena, I felt the longings of myspirit and of my soul were fulfilled. 

I easily understood the other courses I attended, and was able to take acomprehensive glance over the subjects of which they treated. I had seenbuilding going on, and had myself assisted in building, in planting, etc. ; here, therefore, I could take notes, and write complete andsatisfactory memoranda of the lectures. 

My stay in Jena had taught me much; by no means so much as it ought tohave taught me, but yet I had won for myself a standpoint, bothsubjective and objective. I could already perceive unity in diversity, the correlation of forces, the interconnection of all living things, life in matter, and the principles of physics and biology. 

One thing more I have to bring forward from this period. Up till now mylife had met with no sympathetic recognition other than the esteem whichI had enjoyed of the country physician during my apprenticeship--he whoencouraged me to study natural science, and smoothed away for me many adifficulty. But now such sympathy was destined to offer itself as ameans of education and improvement. For there were in Jena just then twoscientific associations, one for natural history and botany, the otherfor mineralogy, as it was then called. Many of the young students, whohad shown living interest and done active work in natural science, wereinvited to become members by the President, and this elevating pleasurewas also offered to me. At the moment I certainly possessed fewqualifications for membership; the most I could say was that my facultyfor arranging and classifying might be made of some use in the NaturalHistory Society, and this, indeed, actually came to pass. Although myadmission to this society had no great effect upon my later life, because it was dissolved at the death of its founder, and I did not keepup my acquaintance with the other members afterwards, yet it awakenedthat yearning towards higher scientific knowledge which now began tomake itself forcibly felt within me. 

During my residence at the university I lived in a very retired andeconomical way; my imperfect education, my disposition, and the state ofmy purse alike contributing to this. I seldom appeared at places ofpublic resort, and in my reserved way I made my brother (Traugott) myonly companion; he was studying medicine in Jena during the first yearof my residence there. [22] The theatre alone, of which I was stillpassionately fond, I visited now and then. In the second year of thisfirst studentship, in spite of my quiet life, I found myself in anawkward position. It began, indeed, with my entrance into theuniversity, but did not come to a head till my third half-year. When Iwent to the university, my father gave me a bank draft for a smallamount to cover my expenses, not only for the first half-year, but forthe entire residence, I think. My brother, who, as I said, was with meat Jena for the first year, wished me to lend him part of my allowance, all of which I did not then require, whereas he was for the moment indifficulties. He hoped soon to be able to repay me the money. I gladlygave him the greater part of my little draft; but unfortunately I couldnot get the money back, and therefore found myself in greater andgreater difficulties. My position became terribly urgent; my smallallowance had come to an end by the close of the first year, but I couldnot bring myself to leave the university, especially now that a yearningfor scientific knowledge had seized me, and I hoped for great thingsfrom my studies. Besides, I thought that my father might be induced tosupport me at the university another half-year. 

My father would hear nothing of this so far as he was concerned; and mytrustee would not agree to the conditions offered by my father (to coveran advance); so I had to pay the penalty of their obstinacy. 

Towards the end of my third half-year the urgency of my difficultiesincreased. I owed the keeper of an eating-house (for meals) thirtythalers, if I am not mistaken. As this man had caused me to be summonedfor payment several times before the Senate of the University, and I hadnever been able to pay, and as he had even addressed my father, only toreceive from him a sharp refusal to entertain the matter, I wasthreatened with imprisonment in the case of longer default of payment. And I actually had to submit to this punishment. My step-mother inflamedthe displeasure of my father, and rejoiced at his inflexibility. Mytrustee, who still had the disposal of some property of mine, could havehelped me, but did not, because the letter of the law was against anyinterference from his side. Each one hoped by the continuance of mysorry plight to break the stubbornness of the other. I served asscapegoat to the caprices of the obstinate couple, and languished assuch nine weeks long in the university prison at Jena. [23] At last myfather consented to advance me money on my formally abandoning, beforethe university board, all claim on his property in the shape ofinheritance; and so, in the end, I got free. 

In spite of the gloom into which my position as a prisoner plunged me, the time of my arrest was not utterly barren. My late endeavours towardsscientific knowledge had made me more and more conscious of my need of asolid foundation in my knowledge of Latin; therefore I now tried tosupply deficiencies to the extent of my ability, and with the help of afriend. It was extremely hard to me, this working my way through thedead and fragmentary teaching of an elementary grammar. It always seemedto me as if the mere outer acquisition of a language could but littlehelp forward my true inner desire for knowledge, which was deeply inearnest, and was the result of my own free choice. But wherever theknowledge of language linked itself to definite external impressions, and I was able to perceive its connection with facts, as, for instance, in the scientific nomenclature of botany, I could quickly make myselfmaster of it. This peculiarity of mind passed by me unnoticed at thetime; I knew and understood too little, nay, indeed, almost nothing ofmyself as yet, even as regards the actions of my every-day life. 

A second occupation of this prison period was the preparation of anexercise (or academical thesis) in geometry, which I undertook that Imight the sooner obtain an independent position in some profession. 

Thirdly, I studied Winckelmann's "Letters on Art. " Through them somegerms of higher artistic feeling may have been awakened within me; for Iexamined the engravings which the work contains with intense delight. Icould quite perceive the glow of pleasure that they aroused, but at thetime I took little account of this influence, and indeed the feelingfor art altogether was late in developing itself in me. When I nowglance over the earlier and later, the greater and smaller, artisticemotions which have swayed me, and observe their source and direction, Isee that it was with arts (sculpture as well as music) as it was withlanguages--I never succeeded in accomplishing the outward acquisition ofthem: yet I now feel vividly that I, too, might have been capable ofsomething in art had I had an artistic education. 

Further, there came into my hands, during the time of my imprisonment, abad translation of an abridgment of the Zendavesta. The discovery [inthese ancient Persian Scriptures] of similar life-truths to our own, andyet coupled with a quite separate religious standpoint from ours, aroused my attention, and gave some feeling of universality to my lifeand thought; this, however, disappeared as quickly as it had come. 

By the beginning of the summer term in 1801 I was at length set freefrom arrest. I at once left Jena and my academical career, and returnedto my father's house. I was just nineteen years old. It was but naturalthat I should enter my parents' house with heavy heart, overcloudedsoul, and oppressed mind. But spring warmed and awakened all nature oncemore, and recalled to life, too, my slumbering desire for better things. 

As yet I had busied myself but little with German literature, and thenames of Schiller, Goethe, Wieland, and the rest I now, for the firsttime, began to learn. In this, too, it was with me as in so many otherthings; any mental influence that came before me I had either to fullyinterweave with my inner life, or else altogether to forego itsacquisition. 

With this peculiarity of temperament, I could master only a ratherrestricted amount of mental material. My father's library was once moreransacked. I found not much that was of any use to me, for it containedchiefly theological works; but I seized with the greatest enjoyment on abook which had come out some ten years before in Gotha, a general viewof all the sciences and fine arts in their various ramifications, with ashort sketch of the object of the several sciences and of the literatureof each department. The arrangement was based upon the usual divisionof the faculties, but it served to give me a general outlook, longdesired, over the whole of human knowledge, and I was right glad to havefound this "Mappe du monde littéraire"--for that was its title. Iresolved to turn this book to the best advantage I could, and set aboutputting my resolution into practice. In order to make a collection ofcomprehensive extracts of scientific matters from the severalperiodicals received by my father (who shared for that purpose in ajoint subscription with other preachers and educated people), I hadalready begun a sort of diary. The form of this journal wasshapeless--everything was put down as it came, one thing after theother; and thereby the use of it all was rendered very inconvenient. Now, however, I perceived the value of division according to a settledplan, and soon hit upon a scheme of procedure. 

I aimed at collecting all that seemed worthy to be known, all that wasnecessary for cultured men in general, and for myself in my own callingin particular; and this rich treasure was to be brought out underfavourable circumstances, or whenever need was, from its storehouse. Also I desired to acquire a general idea of those subjects which thecraving for knowledge, growing ever more and more sharp within my soul, was always urging me thoroughly to work through over again. I felt happyin my work; and I had already been chained to my task for several days, from early morning till late at night, in my little distant chamber withits iron-barred windows, when my father suddenly and unexpectedly walkedinto the room. He looked over what I had done, and remarked the quantityof paper used over it, which indeed was not small. Upon this cursoryinspection he held my work for a foolish waste of time and paper; and itwould have been all over with my labour of love for that time, if mybrother (Christoph), who had so often stood as protector by my side, hadnot just then been on a visit with us. He had become the minister of aplace which lay a few hours' journey from Oberweissbach, and at thismoment was staying with my parents. My father at once told him of whathe considered my useless, if not indeed injurious occupation; but mybrother saw it differently. I ventured, therefore, to continue, with thesilent permission of my father. And indeed the work proved of actualservice to me, for it brought a certain order, breadth, and firmnessinto my ideas which had the most beneficial effect upon me. 

My father now strove to procure me a settled position in my chosencalling; or at all events to provide some active work which would bringme into nearer connection with it. And for this purpose a fortunateopportunity soon offered. Some of my father's relatives had property inthe district of Hildburghausen, managed by a steward. The friendlyfooting on which my father stood with these relatives permitted me tostudy practical farming under this steward. There I took part in all theordinary farming occupations. These, however, did not attract megreatly, and I ought to have at once discovered what an unsuitablecareer I had chosen, if I had but understood my own nature. 

The thing that most painfully occupied my mind at this time was theabsence of cordial understanding between me and my father. At the sametime I could not help esteeming and honouring him. Notwithstanding hisadvanced age he was still as strong and as healthy in body as in mind, penetrating in speech and counsel, vigorous in fulfilment and actualwork, earnest, nay, hard, in address. He had a firm, strong will, and atthe same time was filled with noble, self-sacrificing endeavour. Henever shirked skirmish nor battle in the cause of what he deemed thebetter part; he carried his pen into action, as a soldier carries hissword, for the true, the good, and the right. I saw that my father wasgrowing old and was drawing near the grave, and it made me sorry to feelthat I was yet a stranger to such a father. I loved him, and felt howmuch good resulted from that love; so I took the resolution to write tomy father, and by letter to show him my true nature, so far as I couldunderstand myself. Long did I revolve this letter in my mind; never didI feel strength nor courage to write it. Meanwhile a letter called meback home in November, after I had been some months engaged on theestate. I was called upon to help my father, now quite weak and almostbedridden; at all events I could assist him in his correspondence. Family and other cares and the activities of life absorbed my wholetime. What I meant to have done in my letter now happily became possiblein speech from man to man, in glances from eye to eye. My father wasoccupied by cares for my future prospects up till the end. He died inFebruary 1802. May his enlightened spirit look down full of peace andblessing upon me as I write; may he now be content with that son who soloved him!

I now stood in every respect my own master, and might decide thedirection of my future life for myself, according to the circumstanceswhich lay around me. With this intention I once more left the paternalroof at Easter, to undertake the post of clerk in the Office of Woodsand Forests which formed one part of the general administration (dividedinto Treasury, Woods and Forests, and Tithe departments) of the as yetepiscopal territory of Bamberg. [24] My district lay amidst unusual andlovely scenery; my duties were light, and when they were over I was freeto roam in the neighbourhood, now doubly beautiful in the springtime, tolive out my life in freedom, and gain strength for mind and soul. 

Thus once again I lived much out of doors and in companionship withNature. My chief was proud of the possession of a considerable library, of which I made good use; and in this manner many of the publicationsthen issuing from the press, and treating of matters connected with theoccupation which I had chosen, passed through my hands, as well as thoseon other subjects. I was especially attracted by some volumes whichcontained aphorisms, thoughts, and observations on conduct, selectedfrom ancient and modern writers and thinkers. My character grew upon andentwined itself around these aphorisms, which I could easily glanceover, and as easily retain, and, more than all, which I could weave intomy own life and thoughts, and by which I could examine my conduct. Imade extracts of those which were in closest accord with my inner life, and bore them always about my person. 

Amidst these surroundings my life contained many elements of growth. Although my chief, as well as his family, was a strong Roman Catholic, he chose a (Protestant) private tutor recommended to him by ProfessorCarus. This gentleman had many excellent qualities, so that we soonbecame great friends. We had also both of us the pleasure of beingacquainted with some highly-cultured people, the families of thephysician, of the minister, and of the schoolmaster in the neighbouringProtestant village, which was as yet still a fief of the Empire. [25] Myfriend the tutor was a young man quite out of the common, with anactively inquiring mind; especially fond of making plans forwide-stretching travel, and comprehensive schemes of education. Ourintercourse and our life together were very confidential and open, forthe subjects he cared for were those dear to me; but we were ofdiametrically opposite natures. He was a man of scholastic training, andI had been deficiently educated. He was a youth who had plunged intostrife with the world and society; my thought was how to live in peacewith myself and all men. Besides, our outward lives bore such differentaspects that a truly intimate friendship could not exist between us. Nevertheless our very contrasts bound us more closely together than wedeemed. 

Practical land surveying at this time chiefly interested me, for it atonce satisfied my love for out-of-doors life, and fully occupied myintelligence. But the everlasting scribbling which now fell to my shareI could not long endure, in spite of my otherwise pleasant life. 

Early in the spring of 1803 I left my situation and went to Bamberg, feeling sure that the political changes by which Bamberg had beentransferred to Bavaria, and the general survey of the district which wastherefore in contemplation, would immediately provide me with a sphereof work suited to my capabilities. My expectations were not falsified. In pursuance of my plan I introduced myself to the land-surveyors inBamberg, and at once received employment from one of them. He had hadconsiderable surveys in hand, and was still engaged upon them. As Ishowed some proficiency in mapping, he entrusted me with the preparationof the necessary maps which accompanied the surveys. This kept meemployed for some time on work sufficiently remunerative for my needs. 

Of course the question in hand with the new Government was theappointment of land-surveyors, and those who were resident in the townwere invited to send in maps of Bamberg as specimens of their work. Through the instruction I had enjoyed in my youth I was not unacquaintedwith such work. I therefore took pleasure in drawing a map, which I sentin. My work was approved, and I received something for it; but being astranger, inexperienced, and young, and having hardly taken the best waytowards my purposed aim, I obtained no appointment. 

After I had finished the work I have mentioned the survey of a smallprivate property was put into my hands to carry out. From thisengagement ensued consequences which were most important for me. I noteonly one point here. One of the joint owners of this property was ayoung doctor of philosophy, who leaned towards the new school ofSchelling. It could hardly be expected but that we should talk overthings which stirred our mental life, and so it came about that he lentme Schelling's "Bruno, oder über die Welt-seele"[26] to read. What Iread in that book moved me profoundly, and I thought I really understoodit. The friendly young fellow, not much older than myself--we hadalready met in Jena, --saw the lively interest I was taking in the book, and, in fact, I talked it over with him many a time. One day, after wehad been to see an important picture-gallery together, he addressed mein these words, which from his mouth sounded startlingly strange, andwhich at the time seemed to me inexplicable:--

"Guard yourself against philosophy; she leads you towards doubt anddarkness. Devote yourself to art, which gives life, peace, and joy. "

It is true I retained the young man's words, but I could not understandthem, for I regarded philosophy as a necessary part of the life ofmankind, and could not grasp the notion that one could be vergingtowards darkness and doubt when one calmly investigated the inner life. Art, on the other hand, lay much further from me than philosophy; forexcept a profound enjoyment in works of art (for which I could give noclear reason), no glimmering of an active æsthetic sense had yet dawnedupon me. This remark of my friend the doctor's called my attention tomyself, however, and to my life and its aim, and made me aware of twovery different and widely separate systems of life. 

My friend, the tutor of the Government official under whom I had servedat Bamberg, had in the meantime left his situation. He told me beforeleaving that he had it in his mind to go to Frankfurt, and thence intoFrance. I saw his departure with regret, little dreaming that life wouldin a few years bring us together again, and that he would indirectlydecide my future career. But, as it so often happens in life, parting inthis instance but led up to meeting, and meeting to parting. 

The occurrences I have named had little result upon my outward life, which for the time ran its peaceful course. I pass over manycircumstances important to the uplifting and development of my characterand my moral life, and come at once to the close of my stay in Bamberg. 

I had now once more earnestly to turn my attention to procuring certainand settled employment. In truth, as regarded my future, I stood quitealone. I had no one to lend me a helping hand, so I made up my mind togo forward, trusting only in God and destiny. I determined to seek for asituation by means of the _Allgemeine Anzeiger der Deutschen_, [27] apaper then very much read, and I thought it would be good to send in tothe editor, as a proof of my assertions of competency, an architecturaldesign, and also a specimen of my work in practical surveying, togetherwith explanations of both of them. As soon as my plan was fullyconceived I set to work at it. For the architectural sketch I chose adesign of a nobleman's country mansion, with the surroundingoutbuildings. When I had finished it, with very few professionalappliances to help me, it contained a complete working out of all thevarious necessary plans, and as a critical test of its accuracy andsuitability to the proposed scale of dimensions, I added a statement ofall the particulars and conditions involved in it. For theland-surveying I chose a table of measurements compiled from the map Ihad previously drawn, which I carried through under certain arbitraryassumptions. These works, together with my advertisement, I sent in 1803to the office of the paper I have mentioned, with the request that theeditor, after reading my testimonials and inspecting my work, would adda few confirmatory words as to my qualifications. Work and testimonialsalike were to the satisfaction of the editor, and my request for aneditorial comment was granted. I received several offers, each onecontaining something tempting about it. It was difficult to make achoice, but at last I decided to accept a position offered me as privatesecretary to the President and Privy-Councillor Von Dewitz, ofMecklenburg-Strelitz, at this time resident on one of his estates, Gross-Milchow. 

Amongst the other offers was one from Privy-Councillor Von Voldersdorf, who was looking out for an accountant for his estates in theOberpfalz. [28] This situation did not suit me so well as the other, butI accepted a proposition to fill up the time till the arrangements forthe other post had been completed, by going down to these estates ofHerr Von Voldersdorf, and bringing into order, according to a certainspecified plan, the heavy accounts of his steward, which were at thistime much in arrear. I set off for the Oberpfalz in the first days of1804. But I was soon called away to Mecklenburg to the situation atGross-Milchow which I had definitively chosen, and in the raw, frightfully severe winter-time of February I journeyed thither by themail-coach. Yet, short as had been my stay in the Oberpfalz, andcontinual and uninterrupted as had been my labour in order that I mightget through the work I had undertaken, the time I spent in Bavariayielded me much that was instructive. The men, ingenuous, lively youngfellows from Saxony and Prussia, received me very kindly, and thevariety of their different services and their readiness to talk aboutthem, gave me a good insight into the inner relationship between thelanded aristocracy and their retainers. In recalling these circumstancesI thankfully acknowledge how my ever-tender loving destiny took painskindly to prepare me for each vocation next to come. I had never beforehad the opportunity to see the mode of keeping accounts used on a greatestate, to say nothing of keeping them myself, and here I had this verywork to do, and that after a plan both ample and clear, in which everyparticular, down to the single details, was carefully provided for. Thiswas of the greatest service to me. Precisely the conduct of suchwell-ordered accounts was to be my work later on; therefore, having thegeneral plan I have referred to firmly established in my mind, and beingwell practised in its operation, I set off well prepared for my newsphere of work. Thanks to this, I was able to satisfy most completelynot only my new employer, but also his lady, who used to examineeverything minutely with severe scrutiny. 

The surroundings of Herr Von Dewitz's estate were uncommonly pretty forthat part of the country. Lakes and hills and the fresh foliage of treesabounded, and what Nature had perhaps overlooked here and there Art hadmade good. My good fortune has always led me amongst pretty naturalscenery. I have ever thankfully enjoyed what Nature has spread before myeyes, and she has always been in true motherly unity with me. As soon asI had gained some facility in it my new work became simple, ran itsregular course which was repeated week by week, and gave me time tothink about my own improvement. 

However, my engagement on this estate was, after all, but a short one. The bent of my life and disposition was already taken. A star had arisenwithin my mind which I was impelled to follow. On this account I couldregard my employment at this time only as a sheet anchor, to be let goas soon as an opportunity offered itself to resume my vocation. Thisopportunity was not long in making its appearance. 

My uncle (Hoffmann), who, like my brother, bore me always lovingly inhis thoughts, had lately died. Even on his deathbed he thought of me, and charged my brother to do all he could to find me some settledoccupation for life, and at any rate to prevent me from leaving the postI held at the moment before I had some reasonable prospect of a secureand better engagement elsewhere. Providence willed it otherwise. Hisdeath, through the small inheritance which thereby came to me, gave methe means of fulfilling the dearest wish of my heart. So wonderfullydoes God direct the fate of men. 

I must mention one circumstance before I part for ever in this accountof my life from my gentle, loving second-father. On my journey toMecklenburg, when I saw my uncle (at Stadt-Ilm) for the last time, I hadthe deep joy of a talk with him, such as a trusting father might holdwith his grown-up son, bound to him by every tie of affection. He freelypointed out the faults which had shown themselves in my boyhood, andtold me of the anxiety they had at one time caused him, and in this wayhe went back to the time when I was taken into his family, and to thecauses of that. "I loved your mother very dearly, " said he; "indeed, shewas my favourite out of all my brothers and sisters. In you I seemed tosee my sister once more, and for her love I took charge of you andbestowed on you that affection which hitherto had been hers alone. " Anddear as my own mother had become to me already through the many kindthings I had heard said of her, so that I had even formed a distinctconception of what she was like, and seemed actually to remember her, she became even dearer to me after these reminiscences of my uncle thanbefore, for did I not owe to her this noble and high-mindedsecond-father? My conversation with my uncle first made clear to me whatin later life I have found repeatedly confirmed--that the sources, springs or motives of one's present actions often lie far away beyondthe present time, outside the present circumstances, and altogetherdisconnected with the persons with whom one is concerned at the momentthen passing. I have also repeatedly observed in the course of my lifethat ties are the faster, the more enduring and the truer the more theyspring from higher, universal, and impersonal sources. 

The person who in Mecklenburg stood next above me in position in thehouse and in the family was the private tutor, whom I found alreadythere--a young doctor of philosophy of Göttingen University. We did notcome much into contact on the whole since he as a university graduatetook a far higher stand than I; but through I came into some connectionwith the clergymen of the district, and this was of benefit to me. Asfor the farmers the bailiffs, etc. , their hospitable nature was quitesufficient of itself to afford me a hearty welcome. Thus I lived in away I had for a long time felt I much needed, amidst many-sidedcompanionable good-fellowship, cheerful and free. Healthy as I was inbody and soul, in head and heart, my thoughts full of brightness andcheerfulness, it was not long before my mind again felt an eager desirefor higher culture. The young tutor went away, and after his departuremy craving for culture grew keener and keener, for I missed theintellectual converse I had been able to hold with him. But I was soonagain to receive succour. 

The President, [29] besides the family at home, had two sons at thePädagogium in Halle. [30] They came to visit their parents, accompaniedby their special tutor, a gentleman destined to become famous later onas the renowned scholar, Dr. Wollweide. 

Dr. Wollweide was a mathematician and a physicist, and I found himfreely communicative. He was so kind as to mention and explain to me themany various problems he had set before himself to work out. This causedmy long slumbering and suppressed love for mathematics as a science, andfor physics, to spring up again, fully awake. For some time past mytendency had leaned more and more towards architecture, and, indeed, Ihad now firmly determined to choose that as my profession, and to studyit henceforth with all earnestness. My intellectual cravings and thechoice of a profession seemed at last to run together, and I feltcontinually bright and happy at the thought. I seized the opportunity ofthe presence of the scholar whom I have named to learn from him whatwere the best books on those subjects which promised to be useful to me, and my first care was to become possessed of them. Architecture was nowvigorously studied, and other books, too, were not suffered to lie idle. 

The following books took great hold upon me: Pröschke's "Fragments onAnthropology" (a small unpretending book), Novalis' Works, and Arndt's"Germany" and "Europe. "[31] The first of these at one stroke drewtogether, so that I could recognise in them myself as a connected whole, my outer existence, my inner character, my disposition, and the courseof my life. I for the first time realised myself and my life as a singleentity in contrast to the whole world outside of me. [32] The second booklay before me the most secret emotions, perceptions, and intentions ofmy inmost soul, clear, open, and vivid. If I parted with that book itseemed as if I had parted with myself; if anything happened to the bookI felt as though it had happened to me, only more deeply and withgreater pain. The third book taught me of man in his broad historicalrelations, set before me the general life of my kind as one great whole, and showed me how I was bound to my own nation, both to my ancestors andmy contemporaries. Yet the service this last book had done me was hardlyrecognised at this time; for my thoughts were bent on a definite outwardaim, that of becoming an architect. But I could at all events recognisethe new eager life which had seized me, and to mark this change tomyself, I now began to use as a Christian name the last instead of thefirst of my baptismal names. [33] Other circumstances also impelled me tomake this change; and, further, it freed me from the memory of the manydisagreeable impressions of my boyhood which clustered round the name Iwas then called. 

The time had come when I could no longer remain satisfied with mypresent occupation; and I therefore sent in my resignation. Theimmediate outward circumstance which decided me was this. I had kept upa correspondence with the young man whom I had known as a private tutorwhen I held a Government clerkship in Bamberg, and who left hissituation to go to Frankfurt, and then on into France. [34] He hadafterwards lived some time in Frankfurt, occupying himself withteaching, and now was again a private tutor in a merchant's house in theNetherlands. I imparted to him my desire to leave my present post, andto seek a situation with an architect; and asked his opinion whether Ishould not be most likely to effect my object at Frankfurt, where somany streams of diverse life and of men intermingle. And as my friendwas accurately acquainted with the ins and outs of Frankfurt life, Iasked him to give me such indications as he could of the best road totake towards the fulfilment of my designs. My friend entered heartilyinto my project, and wrote to me that he intended himself to spend sometime in Frankfurt again in the early summer; and he suggested that if Icould manage to be there at the same time, a mutual consideration of thewhole matter on the spot would be the best way of going to work. Inconsequence of this I at once firmly decided to leave my situation inthe following spring, and to join my friend at Frankfurt. But where wasI to find the money necessary for such a journey? I had required thewhole of my salary up till now to cover my personal expenses and thesettlement of some debts I had run up at Bamberg. 

In this perplexity I wrote again to my eldest brother, who had up tillnow understood me so well, and I asked him for assistance. I was at thistime in a peculiar dilemma. On the one hand, I felt very keenly that Imust get out of my present position, while on the other, by myunchanging changeableness I feared to wear out the indulgence andpatience of my worthy brother. In this strait I just gave him whatseemed to me as I wrote it an exact account of my real state of mind;telling him that I could only find my life-aim in a continual strivingtowards inward perfection. 

My brother's answer arrived. With a joyful tremor and agitation I heldit in my hands. For hours together I carried it about me before Iunsealed it, for days together before I read it; it seemed so improbablethat my brother would feel himself able to help me towards theaccomplishment of the desire of my soul, and I feared to find in thatletter the frustration of my life's endeavour. When, after some days ofvacillation between hope and doubt, I could bear the situation nolonger, and opened the letter, I was not a little astonished that itbegan by addressing me at once in terms of the most moving sympathy. AsI read on the contents agitated me deeply. The letter gave me the newsof my beloved uncle's death, and informed me of legacies left by him tome and my brothers. Thus fate itself, though in a manner so deeplyaffecting, provided me with the means for working out my next plan. 

The die was now cast. From this moment onwards my inner life received aquite new signification and a fresh character, and yet I was unconsciousof all this. I was like a tree which flowers and knows it not. My inwardand outward vocation and endeavour, my true life-destiny and my apparentlife-aim were still, however, in a state of separation, and indeed ofconflict, of which I had not the remotest conception. My resolve heldfirm to make architecture my profession; it was purely as a futurearchitect that I took leave of all my companions. 

At the end of April 1805, with peace in my heart, cheerfulness in mysoul, an eager disposition, and a mind full of energy, I quitted my oldsurroundings. The first days of an unusually lovely May (and I mighthere again recall what I pointed out above, that my inner and personallife invariably went familiarly hand in hand with external Nature) Ispent with a friend, as a holiday, in the best sense of the word. Thiswas a dear friend of mine, who lived on an exceedingly finely-situatedfarm in the Uckermark. [35] Art had improved the beauty of the somewhatsimple natural features of the place, in the most cunningly-devisedfashion. In this beautiful, retired, and even solitary spot, I flitted, as it were, from one flower to another like a very butterfly. I hadalways passionately loved Nature in her adornments of colour and of dewypearls, and clung to her closely with the gladsomeness of youth. Here Imade the discovery that a landscape which we look upon in sympatheticmood shines with enhanced brilliancy; or as I put the truth into wordsat the time, "The more intimately we attach ourselves to Nature, themore she glows with beauty and returns us all our affection. " This wasthe first time my mind had ventured to give expression to a sentimentwhich thrilled my soul. Often in later life has this phrase proveditself a very truth to me. My friend one day begged me to writesomething in his album: I did so unwillingly. To write anything borrowedwent against me, for it jarred with the relations existing between meand the book's owner; and to think of anything original was a task Ifelt to be almost beyond my powers. However, after long thinking it overin the open air, comparing my friend's life and my own in all theiraspects, I decided upon the following phrase:--"To thee may destiny soongrant a settled home and a loving wife! To me, while she drives merestless abroad, may she leave but just so much time as to allow mefairly to discern my relations with my inmost self and with the world. "Then my thoughts grew clear, and I continued, "Thou givest man bread;let my aim be to give man himself. "

I did not even then fully apprehend the meaning of what I had said andwritten, or I could not of course have held so firmly to my architecturescheme. I knew as yet neither myself nor my real life, neither my goalnor my life's path thither. And long afterwards, when I had for sometime been engaged upon my true vocation, I was not a little astonishedover the prophetic nature of this album-phrase of mine. 

In later life I have often observed that a man's spirit, when it firstbegins to stir within him, utters many a far-away prophetic thought, which yet, in riper age, attains its realisation, its consummation. I have especially noticed this recently in bright-minded and activechildren; in fact, I have often been quite astounded at the reallydeep truths expressed by them in their butterfly life. I seemed tocatch glimpses of a symbolic truth in this; as if indeed the humansoul were even already beginning to shake itself free from itschrysalis-wrapping, or were bursting off the last fragments of theeggshell. 

In May 1805, while on my journey, I visited my eldest brother, of whom Ihave so often spoken, and shall have yet so often to speak, and foundhim in another district, to which he had been appointed minister. He wasas kind and full of affection as ever; and instead of blaming me, spokewith especial approval of my new plans. He told me of projects which hadallured him in his youth, and still allured, but which he had lackedthe strength of mind to speak of. His father's advice and authorityhad overawed him in youth, and now the chain of a settled position inlife held him fast. To follow the inward voice faithfully and withoutswerving was the advice he offered me, and he wrote this memorandumin my album when I left him, as a life motto:--"The task of man is astruggle towards an end. Do your duty as a man, dear brother, withfirmness and resolution, fight against the difficulties which willthrust themselves in your path, and be assured you will attain the end. "

Thus cheered by sympathy and approval, I went my way from my brother's, strengthened and confirmed in my determination. My road lay over theWartburg. [36] Luther's life and fame were then not nearly so wellappreciated and so generally understood as now, after the Tercentenaryfestival of the Reformation. [37] My early education had not been of thekind to give me a complete survey of Luther's life and its struggle; Iwas hardly thoroughly acquainted indeed with the separate events of it. Yet I had learnt in some sort to appreciate this fighter for the truth, by having in my last years at school to read aloud the AugsburgConfession to the assembled congregation during the afternoon service oncertain specified Sundays, according to an old-fashioned Churchcustom. [38] I was filled with a deep sense of reverence as I climbed"Luther's path, " thinking at the same time that Luther had left muchbehind still to be done, to be rooted out, or to be built up. 

Shortly before Midsummer Day, as I had arranged with my friend, Ireached Frankfurt. During my many weeks' journey in the lovelyspringtime, my thoughts had had time to grow calm and collected. Myfriend, too, was true to his word; and we at once set to work togetherto prepare a prosperous future for me. The plan of seeking a situationwith an architect was still firmly held to, and circumstances seemedfavourable for its realisation; but my friend at last advised me tosecure a livelihood by giving lessons for a time, until we should findsomething more definite than had yet appeared. Every prospect of aspeedy fulfilment of my wishes seemed to offer, and yet in proportion asmy hopes grew more clear, a certain feeling of oppression manifesteditself more and more within me. I soon began seriously to ask myself, therefore:--

"How is this? Canst thou do work in architecture worthy of a man's life?Canst thou use it to the culture and the ennoblement of mankind?"

I answered my own question to my satisfaction. Yet I could not concealfrom myself that it would be difficult to follow this professionconformably with the ideal I had now set before me. Notwithstandingthis, I still remained faithful to my original scheme, and soon began tostudy under an architect with a view to fitting myself for my newprofession. 

My friend, unceasingly working towards the accomplishment of my views, introduced me to a friend of his, Herr Gruner, the headmaster at thattime of the Frankfurt Model School, [39] which had not long beenestablished. Here I found open-minded young people who met me readilyand ingenuously, and our conversation soon ranged freely over life andits many-sided aspects. My own life and its object were also broughtforward and talked over. I spoke openly, manifesting myself just as Iwas, saying what I knew and what I did not know about myself. 

"Oh, " said Gruner, turning to me, "give up architecture; it is not yourvocation at all. Become a teacher. We want a teacher in our own school. Say you agree, and the place shall be yours. "

My friend was for accepting Gruner's proposal, and I began to hesitate. Added to this, an external circumstance now came to my knowledge whichhastened my decision. I received the news namely, that the whole of mytestimonials, and particularly those that I had received in Jena, whichwere amongst them, had been lost. They had been sent to a gentleman whotook a lively interest in my affairs, and I never found out through whatmischance they were lost. I now read this to mean that Providence itselfhad thus broken up the bridge behind me, and cut off all return. Ideliberated no longer, but eagerly and joyfully seized the hand held outto me, and quickly became a teacher in the Model School ofFrankfurt-on-the-Main. [40]

The watchword of teaching and of education was at this time the name ofPESTALOZZI. It soon became evident to me that Pestalozzi was to be thewatchword of my life also; for not only Gruner, but also a secondteacher at the school, were pupils of Pestalozzi, and the first-namedhad even written a book on his method of teaching. The name had amagnetic effect upon me, the more so as during my self-development andself-education it had seemed to me an aspiration--a something perhapsnever to be familiarly known, yet distinct enough, and at all eventsinspiriting. And now I recalled how in my early boyhood, in my father'shouse, I had got a certain piece of news out of some newspaper oranother, or at least that is how the matter stood in my memory. Igathered that in Switzerland a man of forty, who lived retired from theworld, --Pestalozzi by name, --had taught himself, alone and unaided, reading, writing, and arithmetic. Just at that time I was feeling theslowness and insufficiency of my own development, and this news quietedme, and filled me with the hope and trust that I, too, might, through myown endeavour, repair the deficiencies of my bringing-up. As I havegrown older I have also found it consolatory to remark how the cultureof vigorous, capable men has not seldom been acquired remarkably late inlife. And in general I must acknowledge it as part of the groundworkunderlying my life and the evolution of my character, that thecontemplation of the actual existences of real men always wrought uponmy soul, as it were, by a fruitful rain and the genial warmth ofsunshine; while the isolated truths these lives enshrined, theprinciples those who lived them had thought out and embodied in somephrase or another, fell as precious seed-corn, as it were, or as solventsalt crystals upon my thirsty spirit. And while on this head I cannothelp especially calling to mind how deep and lasting was the impressionmade upon me in my last year at school by the accounts in the HolyScriptures of the lives of earnestly striving youths and men. I mentionit here, but I shall have to return to the subject later on. [41]

Now to return to the new life which I had begun. It was only to beexpected that each thing and all things I heard of Pestalozzi seizedpowerfully upon me; and this more especially applies to a sketchynarrative of his life, his aims, and his struggles, which I found in aliterary newspaper, where also was stated Pestalozzi's well-known desireand endeavour--namely, in some nook or corner of the world, no matterwhere, to build up an institution for the education of the poor, afterhis own heart. This narrative, especially the last point of it, was tomy heart like oil poured on fire. There and then the resolution wastaken to go and look upon this man who could so think and so endeavourto act, and to study his life and its work. 

Three days afterwards (it was towards the end of August 1805) I wasalready on the road to Yverdon, [42] where Pestalozzi had not long beforeestablished himself. Once arrived there, and having met with thefriendliest reception by Pestalozzi and his teachers, because of myintroductions from Gruner and his colleagues, I was taken, like everyother visitor, to the class-rooms, and there left more or less to my owndevices. I was still very inexperienced, both in the theory and practiceof teaching, relying chiefly in such things upon my memory of my ownschool-time, and I was therefore very little fitted for a rigorousexamination into details of method and into the way they were connectedto form a whole system. The latter point, indeed, was neither clearlythought out, nor was it worked out in practice. What I saw was to me atonce elevating and depressing, arousing and also bewildering. My visitlasted only a fortnight. I worked away and tried to take in as much as Icould; especially as, to help me in the duties I had undertaken, I feltimpelled to give a faithful account in writing of my views on the wholesystem, and the effect it had produced upon me. With this idea I triedto hold fast in my memory all I heard. Nevertheless I soon felt thatheart and mind would alike come to grief in a man of my disposition if Iwere to stay longer with Pestalozzi, much as I desired to do so. At thattime the life there was especially vigorous; internally and externallyit was a living, moving, stirring existence, for Prince Hardenberg, commissioned by the Austrian Government, had come to examine thoroughlyinto Pestalozzi's work. [43]

The fruits of my short stay with Pestalozzi were as follows:--

In the first place, I saw the whole training of a great educationalinstitution, worked upon a clear and firmly-settled plan of teaching. Istill possess the "teaching-plan" of Pestalozzi's institution in use atthat time. This teaching-plan contains, in my opinion, much that isexcellent, somewhat also that is prejudicial. Excellent, I thought, wasthe contrivance of the so-called "exchange classes. "[44] In each subjectthe instruction was always given through the entire establishment at thesame time. Thus the subjects for teaching were settled for every class, but the pupils were distributed amongst the various classes according totheir proficiency in the subject in hand, so that the whole body ofpupils was redistributed in quite a distinct division for each subject. The advantage of this contrivance struck me as so undeniable and soforcible that I have never since relinquished it in my educational work, nor could I now bring myself to do so. The prejudicial side of theteaching-plan, against which I intuitively rebelled, although my owntendencies on the subject were as yet so vague and dim, lay, in myopinion, in its incompleteness and its onesidedness. Several subjects ofteaching and education highly important to the all-round harmoniousdevelopment of a man seemed to me thrust far too much into thebackground, treated in step-motherly fashion, and superficially workedout. 

The results of the arithmetical teaching astounded me, yet I could notfollow it into its larger applications and wider extent. The mechanicalrules of this branch of instruction seemed to whirl me round and roundas in a whirlpool. The teacher was Krüsi. The teaching, in spite of thebrilliant results within its own circle, and in spite of the sharpnessof the quickened powers of perception and comprehension in the childrenby which it attained those results, yet, to my personal taste, hadsomething too positive in its setting forth, too mechanical in itsreception. And Josias Schmid[45] had already, even at that time, feltthe imperfection of this branch of instruction. He imparted to me thefirst ground-principles of his later work on the subject, and his ideasat once commanded my approval, for I saw they possessed two importantproperties, manysidedness and an exhaustive scientific basis. 

The teaching of drawing was also very incomplete, especially in itsfirst commencement; but drawing from right-angled prisms with equalsides, in various lengths, which was one of the exercises required at alater stage, and drawing other mathematical figures by means of whichthe comprehension of the forms of actual objects of every-day life mightbe facilitated were much more to my mind. Schmid's method of drawing hadnot yet appeared. 

In physical geography, the usual school course, with its many-colouredmaps, had been left far behind. Tobler, an active young man, was theprincipal teacher in this section. Still, even this branch had far toomuch positive instruction[46] for me. Particularly unpleasant to me wasthe commencement of the course, which began with an account of thebottom of the sea, although the pupils could have no conception oftheir own as to its nature or dimensions. Nevertheless the teachingaroused astonishment, and carried one involuntarily along with itthrough the impression made by the lightning-quickness of the answers ofthe children. 

In natural history I heard only the botany. The principal teacher, whohad also prepared the plan of instruction in this subject for all theschool, was Hopf, like the rest an active young man. The school coursearranged and carried out by him had much that was excellent. In eachseparate instance--for example, the shape and position of leaves, flowers, etc. --he would first obtain all the possible varieties of formby question and answer between the class and himself, and then he wouldselect from the results the form which was before them in nature. Theselessons, which were in this way made so attractive, and whose meritsspoke for themselves, showed, however, when it came to practicalapplication, an unpractical, I had almost said, a self-contradictoryaspect. 

(When, afterwards, in 1808, I visited Yverdon for the second time, Ifound to my regret neither Tobler nor Hopf there. )

With the method used for the German language I could not at all bringmyself into sympathy, although it has been introduced into later schoolbooks elsewhere. Here also the arbitrary and non-productive style ofteaching ran strongly counter to me at every step. 

Singing was taught from figures. [47] Reading was taught fromPestalozzi's well-known "A. B. C. "

[Memorandum. --All this lay dark within me, its value unrecognised evenby myself. But my intellectual position tended to become more settled bypassing through these experiences. As to my state at the time, I have, as accurately as may be, described it above, as at once exalted anddepressed, animated and dull. That Pestalozzi himself was carried awayand bewildered by this great intellectual machine of his appears fromthe fact that he could never give any definite account of his idea, hisplan, his intention. He always said, "Go and see for yourself" (verygood for him who knew _how_ to look, how to hear, how to perceive); "itworks splendidly!"[48] It was at that time, indeed, surprising andinexplicable to me that Pestalozzi's loving character did not win everyone's heart as it won mine, and compel the staff of teachers to drawtogether into a connected whole, penetrated with life and intellectualstrength in every part. His morning and evening addresses were deeplytouching in their simplicity; and yet I remarked in them even already atthat time some slight traces of the unhappy dissensions afterwards toarise. [49]]

I left Yverdon in mid-October (1805) with a settled resolution to returnthither as soon as possible for a longer stay. As soon as I got back toFrankfurt, I received my definite appointment from the Consistorium. [50]The work that awaited me upon my arrival from Switzerland at the ModelSchool (which was, in fact, properly two schools, one for boys and onefor girls) was a share in the arrangement of an entirely new educationalcourse and teaching-plan for the whole establishment. The schoolcontained four or five classes of boys and two or three of girls;altogether about two hundred children. The staff consisted of fourpermanent masters and nine visiting masters. 

As I threw myself heartily into the consideration of the necessities andthe present position of the school, and of the instruction given there, the working out of this plan was left almost wholly in my hands, underthe conditions imposed upon us. The scheme I produced not only succeededin winning the approbation of the authorities, but proved itself duringa long period of service beneficial in the highest degree, both to theinstitution itself and to its efficiency; notwithstanding that it putthe teachers to some considerable personal inconvenience, as well asmaking larger claims upon their time than was usual. 

The subjects of instruction which fell to my share were arithmetic, drawing, physical geography, and German. I generally taught in themiddle classes. In a letter to my brother I spoke of the impression madeupon me by my first lesson to a class of thirty or forty boys rangingfrom nine to eleven; it seemed as if I had found something I had neverknown, but always longed for, always missed, as if my life had at lastdiscovered its native element. I felt as happy as the fish in the water, the bird in the air. 

But before I pursue this side of the development of my life I must touchupon another which was far more important to the evolution of mycharacter as man, as teacher, and as educationist, and which, indeed, soon absorbed the first within itself. 

Not long after my old friend, to meet with whom I had come to Frankfurt, had introduced me to Gruner, he went back himself to his work as privatetutor. Afterwards he heard of a family (in Frankfurt) desiring a privatetutor for the sons. Since he could not introduce me personally to thisfamily he did so by letter, and several weeks before my journey toYverdon he had, in fact, written to them about me in very kindly terms. It was for three sons principally that instruction and education wererequired. They came to see me, and after they had gone their personalpeculiarities and their previous teaching and training, with theresults, were fully described to me, and I was then consulted as totheir future education. Now to education as an object[51] I had in truthnever yet given a thought, and the question threw me into greatperplexity. Nevertheless it required an answer, and moreover a preciseanswer. 

In the life and circumstances of these lads I discovered frequentsimilarities with my own boyhood, which sprang to my memory as Ilistened. I could therefore answer the questions which were put to meout of the development and educational experiences of my own life; andmy reply, torn as it was from actual life, keenly felt and vigorouslyexpressed, bore upon it the stamp of truth. It was satisfactory to theparents; and education--development, which hitherto had been subjectivealone for me--that is, as self-development--now took an objective form, a change which was distinctly painful to me. Long, long it was before Icould bring this business of education into a form expressible by words. I only knew education, and I could only educate, through direct personalassociation. This, then, I cultivated to the best of my power, followingthe path whither my vocation and my life now called me. 

To say truth, I had a silent inward reluctance towards privatetutorship. I felt the constant interruptions and the piece-meal natureof the work inseparable from the conditions of the case, and hence Isuspected that it might want vitality; but the trusting indulgence withwhich I was met, and especially the clear, bright, friendly glance whichgreeted me from the two younger lads, decided me to undertake to givethe boys lessons for two hours a day, and to share their walks. Theactual teaching was to be in arithmetic and German. The first was soonarranged. I simply followed Pestalozzi's course. But as to the languageI encountered great difficulties. I began by teaching it from theregular school-books then used, and indeed still in use. I preparedmyself to the best of my ability for each lesson, and worked up whateverI felt myself ignorant of in the most careful and diligent way. But themode of teaching employed in these books frustrated my efforts. I couldneither get on myself nor get my pupils on with it. So I began to takefor my method Pestalozzi's "Mothers' Book. " In this way we went on muchbetter, but still I was not satisfied; and, indeed, I may say that for avery long time no system of instruction in German did satisfy me. 

In arithmetic, by using the "Tables of Units"[52] in Pestalozzi'spamphlet, I arrived at the same results which I had seen inSwitzerland. Very often my pupils had the answer ready when the lastword of the question had scarcely been spoken. Yet I presently found outsome defects in this method of teaching, of which I shall speak lateron. [53]

When we were out walking together, I endeavoured to my utmost topenetrate into the lives of the children, and so to influence them forgood. I lived my own early life over again, but in a happier way, for itnow lay clear and intelligible before me in its special as well as itsgeneral characteristics. 

All my thoughts and work were now directed to the subject of the cultureand education of man. This period of my life became full of zeal, ofactive development, of advancing culture, and, in consequence, ofhappiness. And my life in the Model School also, with my boys and withmy excellent colleagues, unusually clever men, was very elevating andencouraging. 

Owing to the position and surroundings of the school buildings, which, though not apparently extensive as seen from the street, contained aconsiderable courtyard and a spacious garden, the scholars enjoyedperfect freedom of exercise, and could play just as they liked incourtyard or garden; with the result, moreover, of thereby affording amost important opportunity to the various teachers of becoming reallyintimate with the characters of the boys they taught. And there grew upout of all this a voluntary resolution on the part of the teachers thatevery teacher should take his boys for a walk once a week. Each adoptedthe method he liked best; some preferred to occupy the time of the walkover a permanent subject; others preferred leaving the subject tochance. I usually occupied my class with botanising; and also asgeographical master, I turned these occasions to profit by leading on myboys to think for themselves and to apprehend the relations of variousparts of the earth's surface: on these and other perceptions gained inthis way I based my instruction in physiography, making them my point ofdeparture. 

The town was at once my starting-place and my centre. From it Iextended our observations to the right and to the left, on this side andon that. I took the river Main as a base line, just as it lay; or I usedthe line of hills or the distant mountains. I settled firmly thedirection of the four quarters of the compass. In everything I followedthe leading of Nature herself, and with the data so obtained I workedout a representation of the place from direct observation, and on areduced scale, in some level spot of ground or sandy tract carefullychosen for the purpose. When my representation (or map) was thoroughlyunderstood and well impressed on every one's mind, then we reconstructedit in school on a black board placed horizontally. The map was firstsketched by teachers and pupils between them, and then each pupil had todo it by himself as an exercise. These representations of the earth'ssurface of ours had a round contour, resembling the circular outline ofthe visible horizon. 

At the next public examination of the school, I was fortunate enough, although this first attempt was full of imperfections, to win theunanimous approval of the parents present; and not only that, but theespecial commendation of my superiors. Every one said, "That is howphysiography[54] should be taught. A boy must first learn all about hishome before he goes further afield. " My boys were as well acquaintedwith the surroundings of the town as with their own rooms at home; andgave rapid and striking answers as to all the natural peculiarities ofthe neighbourhood. This course was the fountain-head of the teachingmethod which I afterwards thoroughly worked out, and which has now beenin use for many years. 

In arithmetic I did not take the lower, but the middle classes; and herealso my teaching received cheering encomiums. 

In drawing I also taught the middle classes. My method in this subjectwas to work at the thorough comprehension and the representation ofplanes and solids in outline, rising from the simplest forms to complexcombinations. I not only had the gratification of obtaining goodresults, which thoroughly satisfied those who tested them, but also ofseeing my pupils work with pleasure, with ardour, and withindividuality. In the girls' school I had to teach orthography[55] inone of the elementary classes. This lesson, ordinarily standing byitself, disconnected with anything, I based upon correctpronunciation. [56] The teaching was imperfect, certainly; but itnevertheless gained an unmistakable charm for both teacher and pupils;and, finally, its results were very satisfactory. 

In one of the other classes of the girls' school I taught preparatorydrawing. I took this by combinations of single lines; but the method waswanting in a logically necessary connection, so that it did not satisfyme. I cannot remember whether the results of this teaching were broughtto the test or not. 

Such was the outcome of my first attempts as a teacher. The kindindulgence and approval granted to me, more because of my goodintentions and the fire of my zeal than for my actual performance, spurred me on to plunge deeper into the inquiry as to the nature of trueteaching. But the whole system of a large school must have its settledform, with its previously-appointed teaching-course arranged as to timesand subjects; and everything must fit in like a piece of clockwork. Mysystem, on the other hand, called only for ready senses and awakenedintellect. Set forms could only tolerate this view of education so faras it served to enliven and quicken them. But I have unfortunately againand again observed during my career, that even the most active life, ifits activity and its vitality be not properly understood and urged everonward, easily stiffens into bony rigidity. Enough, my mind, now fullyawakened, could not suffer these set forms, necessary though they were;and I felt that I must seek out some position in which my nature couldunfold itself freely according to the needs of the development of mylife and of my mind. 

This longing endeavour of life and mind, which could not submit to thefetters of external limitations, may have been the more exaggerated atthe time by my becoming acquainted with Arndt's "Fragments on HumanCulture, "[57] which I had purchased. This book satisfied at once mycharacter, my resolves, and my aspirations; and what hitherto layisolated within me was brought into ordered connection through itspages, while ideas which possessed me without my perceiving them tookdefinite form and expression as the book brought them to light. Indeed, I thought then that Arndt's book was the bible of education. 

In those days I spoke of my life and my aims in the following words: "Idesire to educate men whose feet shall stand on God's earth, rooted fastin Nature, while their head towers up to heaven, and reads its secretswith steady gaze, whose heart shall embrace both earth and heaven, shallenjoy the life of earth and nature with all its wealth of forms, and atthe same time shall recognise the purity and peace of heaven, thatunites in its love God's earth with God's heaven. " In these phrases Inow see my former life and aims vividly brought before me as in apicture. 

Little by little a desire gained strength within me to free myself frommy engagement at the Model School, to which I had bound myself asteacher for at least three years. The headmaster (Gruner), whom I havealready named, was sufficiently a student of men to have perceived thatso excitable a man as I could never work harmoniously in such aninstitution as that which he directed; so I was released from myengagement, under the condition that I should provide a suitablesuccessor. Fate was propitious to me once more. I found a young privatetutor with whom I had long been in friendly correspondence, and who hadall those qualities which were lacking in me. He was not only thoroughlyproficient in the grammar of his mother tongue (German), but also in thegrammar of the classical tongues; and, if I am not mistaken, in Frenchalso. He had a knowledge of geography far beyond anything I could boast, was acquainted with history, knew arithmetic, possessed some familiaritywith botany, --much greater, indeed, than I suspected. And what was worthmore than all this, he was full of vigour in mind, heart, and life. Therefore the school was every way the gainer by my departure, sogreatly the gainer indeed, that from that time no further change hasbeen necessary. That same teacher still lives and works in that samepost. [58]

Before I begin a new chapter of my career, there are yet a few thingswhich need mention. 

To know French was at that time the order of the day, and not to know itstamped a man at once as of a very low degree of culture. To acquire aknowledge of French, therefore, became one of my chief aims at themoment. It was my good fortune to obtain instruction from an unrivalledteacher of French, M. Perrault, a Frenchman by birth, who still, eventhough an old man, diligently worked at the study of his mother tongue, and who at the same time wrote and spoke German with elegance. I pursuedthe study with ardour, taking two lessons a day, because I desired toreach a certain proficiency by a given time. Slow, however, were mysteps, for I was far from having a sufficient knowledge of my own tonguewhereon to build a bridge that might carry me into French. I never couldproperly acquire what I did not fully understand in such a way that ithad a living meaning for me; and so from all the genuine zeal andconsiderable cost which I spent over this study I gained by no means acorresponding result; but I did learn a good deal, much more even than Ithen knew how to turn to account. My teacher cast on one side all theusual grammatical difficulties of French study, he aimed at impartingthe language as a living thing. But I with my ignorance of languagecould not completely follow this free method of teaching; and yet, nevertheless, I felt that the teacher had fully grasped the meaning andthe method of his work, and I always enjoyed the lessons on thisaccount. He was especially successful in accustoming my ear to theFrench pronunciation, always separating and reducing it to its simplesounds and tones, and never merely saying "this is pronounced like theGerman _p_, or _b_, or _ä_, or _ö_, " etc. The best thing resulting fromthis course of study was the complete exposure of my ignorance of Germangrammar. I must do myself the justice to say that I had given myselfextraordinary trouble over the works of the most celebrated Germangrammarians, trying to bring life and interconnection or even a logicalconsequence into German grammar; but I only confused myself the worsethereby. One man said one thing, another quite the reverse; and not oneof all of them, as far as I could see, had educed his theories from thelife and nature of the speech itself. I turned away a second time, quitedisheartened, from the German grammarians, and once more took my ownroad. But unfortunately the dry forms of grammar had, quite against myown will, stuck like scales over my eyes, dimming my perceptions; Icould find no means to rid myself of them, and they wrought fatally uponme now and long afterwards. The more thoroughly I knew them the morethey stiffened and crushed me. 

My departure from the school was now arranged, and I could let my mindpursue its development free and unshackled. As heretofore, so now also, my kindly fate came lovingly to my help: I can never speak of it withsufficient thankfulness. The three lads to whom I had hitherto givenprivate instruction in arithmetic and language now needed a tutor, astheir former tutor was leaving them. The confidential charge was laidupon me, because I of all men best knew their nature and its needs, ofseeking out some fit teacher and educator for them from amongst myacquaintance. As for myself this tutor business lay far from my ownthoughts, and I therefore looked round me in every direction, and withall earnestness, for some one else. Amongst others I applied to myeldest brother, telling him my views as to the necessary requirements ofa true educator. 

My brother wrote back very decidedly and simply, that he could notpropose any one to me as a teacher and educator who would fulfil therequirements I had set forth, and further, he did not think I shouldever be able to find such a person; for if one should be foundpossessing ample knowledge and experience of life in its externalaspects, he would be deficient in a vigorous inner life of his own, andin the power to recognise and foster it in himself and his pupils; and, on the other hand, another man who might have this power would bedeficient in the first-named (practical) qualities. I reported theresult of my labours. It caused much disappointment, indeed it could notbe otherwise, because the welfare of the children was really sought, inall love and truth, and the highest and best obtainable at that day wasdesired on their behalf. The family did not venture to press the postupon me personally, knowing my love of freedom and independence. 

So stood matters for several months. At last, moved by my earnestaffection for the lads, and by my care to deserve the confidence withwhich their mother had entrusted to my hands the provision for theireducation, I endeavoured to look at things from the point of view oftheir parents. This brought me at last to the determination to becomemyself the educator and teacher of the lads. After a hard struggle withmyself, the hardest and most exhausting I had undergone for a long time, I made known my decision. It was thankfully received, and understoodquite in the spirit which had actuated me in forming it. 

I communicated my decision to Gruner, with whom I still kept in thefriendliest relation. He looked at me with downright astonishment, andsaid, "You will lose all hopes of the position you have so long soughtand waited for. " I replied that I should protect myself as to myposition and my relations with others by a very definite writtencontract. To which the man of experience retorted, "Certainly, andeverything will be punctually fulfilled, so that you cannot say that anyone condition of all those you stood out so firmly for has failed to beobserved; nevertheless you will find you will lose on all points. " Sospake experienced shrewdness, and what had I to set against it? I spokeof the educational necessities and wants of these children. "Good, " saidhe, "then you will leave your own educational necessities and your ownwants out of the question?" How it mortified me, that worldly wisdomshould be able to speak thus, and that I was unable to controvert it! Wetalked no more about the matter. 

And keen as was the internal conflict over this decision and thisresolve of mine, equally keen was the external contest which I had towage in entering on my new post. 

There were, namely, two immutable conditions in our agreement. One wasthat I should never be compelled to live in town with my pupils, andthat when I began my duties my pupils should be handed over entirely tomy care, without any restriction; that they should follow me into thecountry, and there form a restricted and perfectly isolated circle, andthat when they returned to town life my duties as preceptor should be atan end. The time for beginning my new career drew nigh. As thestipulated dwelling for myself and my pupils was not yet ready, I wasexpected to take up my abode, for a few days, with my pupils in theirtown house. But I felt that it was clear that the least want of firmnessat the outset would endanger my whole educational plan; therefore, Istood firm, and indeed gained my point, though at the price of beingcalled headstrong, self-willed, and stubborn. That my assumption of mypost was attended with a sharp contest was a very good and wholesomediscipline for me. It was the fitting inauguration of a position and asphere of work which was henceforth to be attended, for me, withperpetual and never-ending strife. 

But as to this family and all its members, my earnest unbendingmaintenance of my resolve had a most wholesome effect upon them, even towinning in the end their comprehension and approval, though this waslater and long after I had quitted the situation. It was ten or elevenyears afterwards--that is, four or five years after my departure--thatthe mother of these lads expressed her entire approval of the adamantineperseverance I had exhibited in my convictions. 

I entered my new sphere of educational work in July 1807. I wastwenty-five years old, as far as years went, but younger by severalyears in regard to the development of my character. I neither feltmyself so old as I was, nor indeed had I any conception or realisationof my age. I was only conscious of the strength and striving of my life, the extent of my mental culture, the circumstances of my experience inthe world, and especially of--what shall I call it?--the shiftlessnessand undeveloped state of my culture as far as its helplessness with theexternal world was concerned, of my ignorance of life both as to what itreally was, and how it showed in its outer aspect. The state of myculture was such as only to serve to plunge me into conflict, throughthe contradiction and opposition in which I found myself henceforwardwith all existing methods; and consequently the whole period of mytutorial career was one continual contest. 

It was a salutary thing for me that this was my appointed lot from thevery beginning. Now and later on I was therefore able to say to myselfby way of consolation and encouragement: "You knew beforehand just howit would be. " Still, unpleasantness seldom arrives in exactly the mannerexpected, and the unexpected is always the hardest to bear. Thus it waswith me in this case; my situation seemed to contain insurmountabledifficulties. I sought the basis for them in imperfect culture; and thecause of the disconnected nature of the culture I had been able toattain, lay, so I perceived, in the interruptions which marred myuniversity career. Educator and teacher, however, I had determined tobecome and to remain; and as far as I could know my own feelings and myown powers, I must and would work out my profession in an independentfree fashion of my own, founded on the view of man and his nature andrelationships which had now begun to dawn upon me. Yet every man findsit above all things difficult to understand himself, and especially hardwas it in my own case. I began to think that I must look for helpoutside myself, and seek to acquire from others the knowledge andexperience I needed. 

And thus there came to me once again the idea of fitting myself bycontinuing my university studies to become founder, principal, andmanager of an educational establishment of my own. But the fact was tobe considered that I had turned away from the educational path on whichI had entered. Now, when the imperfection of my training pressed itselfupon me, I not only sought help from Nature as of old, that schoolallotted to me by fate, but I turned also for assistance to myfellow-men who had divided out the whole field of education and teachinginto separate departments of science, and had added to these theassistance of a rich literature. This need of help so troubled andoppressed me, and threw my whole nature into such confusion, that Iresolved, as soon as might be, once more to proceed to one of theuniversities, and necessarily, therefore, to relinquish as speedily aspossible my occupation as an educator. 

As I always discussed everything important with my brother, I wrote tohim on this occasion as usual, telling him of my plans and of myresolve. But for this time, at least, my nature was able to work out itsdifficulty without his help. I soon came to see that I had failed toappreciate my position, and had misunderstood myself; and, therefore, before I had time to get an answer from my brother to my first letter Iwrote to him again, telling him that my university plans had been givenup, and that my fixed resolve now was to remain at my post. He rejoiceddoubly at my decision, because this time he would have been unable toagree with me. [59]

No sooner had I firmly come to my decision than I began to apply mythoughts vigorously to the subjects of education and instruction. Thefirst thing that absorbed me was the clear conviction that to educateproperly one must share the life of one's pupil. Then came thequestions, "What is elementary education? and of what value are theeducational methods advocated by Pestalozzi? Above all, what is thepurpose of education?"

In answering the question, "What is the purpose of education?" I reliedat that time upon the following observations: Man lives in a world ofobjects, which influence him, and which he desires to influence;therefore he ought to know these objects in their nature, in theirconditions, and in their relations with each other and with mankind. Objects have form, measurement, and number. 

By the expression, "the external world, " at this time I meant onlyNature; my life was so bound up in natural objects that I altogetherpassed by the productions of man's art or manufacture. Therefore for along time it was an effort to me to regard man's handiwork, withPestalozzi's scholars, Tobler and Hopf, as a proper subject forelementary culture, and it broadened my inward and outward glanceconsiderably when I was able to look upon the world of the works of manas also part of the "external world. " In this way I sought, to theextent of such powers as I consciously possessed at that time, to makeclear the meaning of all things through man, his relations with himself, and with the external world. 

The most pregnant thought which arose in me at this period was this: Allis unity, all rests in unity, all springs from unity, strives for andleads up to unity, and returns to unity at last. This striving in unityand after unity is the cause of the several aspects of human life. Butbetween my inner vision and my outer perception, presentation, andaction was a great gulf fixed. Therefore it seemed to me thateverything which should or could be required for human education andinstruction must be necessarily conditioned and given, by virtue of thevery nature of the necessary course of his development, in man's ownbeing, and in the relationships amidst which he is set. A man, it seemedto me, would be well educated, when he had been trained to care forthese relationships and to acknowledge them, to master them and tosurvey them. 

I worked hard, severely hard, during this period, but both the methodsand the aims of education came before me in such an incoherent heap, sosplit up into little fragments, and so entirely without any kind oforder, that during several years I did not make much progress towards myconstant purpose of bringing all educational methods into an orderlysequence and a living unity. As my habitual and therefore characteristicexpression of my desires then ran, I longed to see, to know, and to showforth, all things in inter-connection. 

For my good fortune, however there came out about that time certaineducational writings by Seller, [60] Jean Paul, [61] and others. Theysupported and elevated me, sometimes by their concurrence with my ownviews, expressed above, sometimes by the very contrary. 

The Pestalozzian method I knew, it is true, in its main principles, butnot as a living force, satisfying the needs of man. What especially layheavy upon me at this time, however, painfully felt by myself though notapparent to my pupils, was the utter absence of any organised connectionbetween the subjects of education. Joyful and unfettered work springsfrom the conception of all things as one whole, and forms a life and alifework in harmony with the constitution of the universe and restingfirmly upon it. 

That this was the true education I soon felt fervently convinced, and somy first educational work consisted merely in being with my pupils andinfluencing them by the power of my life and work; more than this I wasnot at all in a position to give. 

Oh, why is it that man knows so ill and prizes so little the blessingsthat he possesses for the first time?

When I now seek to make myself clear as to the proper life and work ofan educator, my notes of that time rise fresh and fair to meet me. Ilook back from now into that childhood of my teacher's life, and learnfrom it; just as I look back into the childhood of my man's life, andsurvey that, and learn from that, too. Why is all childhood and youth sofull of wealth and so unconscious of it, and why does it lose it withoutknowing it only to learn what it possessed when it is for ever lost?Ought this always to be so? Ought it to be so for every child, for everyyouth? Will not a time come at last, come perhaps soon, when theexperience, the insight, the knowledge of age, and wisdom herself, shallbuild up a defence, a shelter, a protection for the childhood of youth?Of what use to mankind is the old man's experience and the greybeard'swisdom when they sink into the grave with their possessors?

At first my life and my work with my pupils was confined within narrowlimits. It consisted in merely living, lounging, and strolling in theopen air, and going for walks. Although I was disgusted with the methodsof town education, I did not yet venture to convert life amidst Natureinto an educational course. That was taught me by my young pupilsthemselves; and as from the circumstances of my own culture I eagerlyfostered to my utmost every budding sense for Nature that showed itself, there soon developed amongst them a life-encompassing, life-giving, andlife-raising enjoyment of natural objects. In the following year[62]this way of life was further enhanced by the father giving his sons apiece of meadowland for a garden, at the cultivation of which weaccordingly worked in common. The greatest delight of my pupils was tomake little presents of the produce of their garden to their parents andalso to me. How their eyes would gleam with pleasure when they werefortunate enough to be able to accomplish this. Pretty plants and littleshrubs from the fields, the great garden of God, were transplanted by usto the children's gardens, and there carefully tended. Great was thejoy, especially of the two younger ones, when such a colonist franklyenrolled himself amongst the citizens of the state. From this time forthmy own childhood no longer seemed wasted. I acknowledged how entirelydifferent a thing is the cultivation of plants, to one who has watchedthem and studied them in all the stages of their own free development, from what it is to one who has always stood aloof from Nature. 

And here already, living cheerfully and joyfully in the bosom of Naturewith my first pupils, I began to tell myself that the training ofnatural life was closely akin to the training of human life. For did notthose gifts of flowers and plants express appreciation andacknowledgment of the love of parents and teacher? Were they not theoutcome of the characteristic lovingness and the enthusiasticthankfulness of childhood? A child that of its own accord and of its ownfree will seeks out flowers, cares for them, and protects them, so thatin due time he can weave a garland or make a nosegay with them for hisparents or his teacher, can never become a bad child, a wicked man. Sucha child can easily be led towards love, towards thankfulness, towardsrecognition of the fatherliness of God, who gives him these gifts andpermits them to grow that he, as a cheerful giver in his turn, maygladden with them the hearts of his parents. 

That time of conflict contained within it an element of special andpeculiar meaning to myself. It brought before me my past life in itsmany various stages of development; and especially the chief eventswhich had formed and influenced it, with their causes and their effects. And it always seemed to me of particular importance to go back upon thevery earliest occurrences in my life. But of the actual matters of factof my earliest years very few traces now remained; for my mother, whocould have kept them in her memory for me, and from whom I could nowhave learnt them, had died even before my life had really awakened. Amongst the few relics remaining to me was a written address from mygodmother (the so-called Baptismal Letter), which she had sent meimmediately after my baptism, according to the Thuringian custom of thetime, as a sort of portion or dowry for my entrance into life. It hadcome into my possession after the death of my father. This letter, of asimple, Christian, tenderly religious, womanly soul, expressed in plainand affecting terms the true relation of the young Christian to that towhich by his baptism he had become bound. Through these words the innerlife of both mind and soul, of my boyhood and of my youth, was broughtbefore me with all its peace and blessedness; and I could not helpseeing how much that I then longed for had since come to pass. My soul, upon this thought, regained that original inspiriting, enlightening, andquickening unity of which I stood so much in need. But at the same timeall the resolutions of my boyhood and youth also rushed back upon me, and made it manifest how much more had yet to happen before they, too, were accomplished; and with them they brought the memory of those typesand ideals with which the feeble boyish imagination had sought tostrengthen itself. But my life had been far too much an inward andstrictly personal life to have been able, or even to have dared to standforth in any outwardly definite form, or to take any fixed relation toother lives, except in matters of feeling and intelligence. Indeed thepower of manifesting myself properly was a very late accomplishment withme, and was, in fact, not gained until long after the recommencement ofmy present educational work. [63] I cannot now remember, during all thetime of this educational work, that my personal life stood out in anyway from the usual ordinary existence of men; but before I can speakwith certainty upon this point I must procure information as to thecircumstances of my earlier life. This much is clear, that my life atthe time I am speaking of has remained in my memory only in its generalordinary human aspect. It is true, however, that then, as always in mylater life, it was and ever has been very difficult to me to separate inthought my inner life from my outer, and to give definite form andoutward expression to the inner life, especially as to religiousmatters. 

I dare not deny, that although the definite religious forms of theChurch reached my heart readily both by way of the emotions and bysincere conviction, and cleansed and quickened me, yet I have alwaysfelt great reluctance to speak of these definite religious forms withothers, particularly with pupils and students. I could never make themso clear and living to a simple healthy soul as they were to myself. From this I conclude that the naturally trained child requires nodefinite Church forms, because the lovingly-fostered, and thereforecontinuously and powerfully-developed human life, as well as theuntroubled child-life also, is and must be in itself a Christian life. Ifurther conclude that a child to whom the deeper truths of life or ofreligion were given in the dogmatic positive forms of Church creedswould imperatively need when a young man to be surrounded by pure andmanly lives, whereby those rigid creeds might be illuminated andquickened into life. Otherwise the child runs great danger of castingaway his whole higher life along with the dogmatic religious forms whichhe has been unable to assimilate. There, indeed, is the most elevatedfaith to be found, where form and life work towards a whole, shed lightupon each other, and go side by side in a sisterly concord, like theinward life with the outward life, or the special with the universal. 

But I must return from this long digression, and resume the account ofmy life and work as an educator. 

Bodily exercises were as yet unknown to me in their educationalcapacity. I was acquainted only with jumping over a cord and withwalking on stilts through my own boyish practice therein. As they fellinto no relation with our common life, neither with the pursuits andthoughts of my pupils nor with my own, we regarded them purely aschildish games. 

What the year brings to a man in the season when Nature lies clear andopen before him, that it does not bring to him in the season when Natureis more often locked away from his gaze. And as the two seasons bringdiverse gifts, so do they require diverse things in return. In thelatter part of the year, when man is perforce driven more upon himself, his occupations should take on more narrowly personal characteristics. Just as the winter's life with nature is more fixed and narrowed, soalso is the winter's life with men; therefore, a boy's life at this timeneeds material of some definite fashion, or needs fashionless materialwhich can be shaped into definite fashion. My pupils soon came to me, urged by this new necessity. What life requires that life provides, wherever life is or has been; what youth requires that youth provides, wherever youth is or has been. And what the later man's life requiresfrom a man, or from men in general, that also is provided by the boy'slife and the youth's life when these have been genuinely lived through. The demand of my pupils set me upon the following question: "What didyou do as a boy? What happened to you to satisfy that need of yours forsomething to do and to express? By what, at the same period of yourlife, was this need most fully met, or what did you then most desire forthis purpose?" Then there came to me a memory from out my earliestboyhood, which yielded me all I wanted in my emergency. It was the easyart of impressing figures and forms by properly arranged simple strokeson smooth paper. [64] I have often made use of this simple art in mylater life, and have never found it fail in its object; and on thisoccasion, too, it faithfully served my pupils and me, for our skill, atfirst weak both on the part of teacher and pupil, grew rapidly greaterwith use. 

From these forms impressed upon paper we rose to making forms out ofpaper itself, and then to producing forms in paste-board, and finally inwood. My later experience has taught me much more as to the best shapesand materials for the study of forms, [65] of which I shall speak in itsproper place. 

I must, however, permit myself to dwell a little upon this extremelysimple occupation of impressing forms on paper, because at the properage it quite absorbs a boy, and completely fills and contents thedemands of his faculties. Why is this? It gives the boy, easily andspontaneously, and yet at the same time imperceptibly, precise, clear, and many-sided results due to his own creative power. 

Man is compelled not only to recognise Nature in her manifold forms andappearances, but also to understand her in the unity of her innerworking, of her effective force. Therefore he himself follows Nature'smethods in the course of his own development and culture, and in hisgames he imitates Nature at her work of creation. The earliest naturalformations, the fixed forms of crystals, seem as if driven together bysome secret power external to themselves; and the boy in his first gamesgladly imitates these first activities of nature, so that by the one hemay learn to comprehend the other. Does not the boy take pleasure inbuilding, and what else are the earliest fixed forms of Nature butbuilt-up forms? However, this indication that a higher meaning underliesthe occupation and games which children choose out for themselves mustfor the present suffice. And since these spontaneous activities ofchildren have not yet been thoroughly thought out from a high point ofview, and have not yet been regarded from what I might almost call theircosmical and anthropological side, we may from day to day expect somephilosopher to write a comprehensive and important book about them. [66]From the love, the attention, the continued interest and thecheerfulness with which these occupations are plied by children otherimportant considerations also arise, of quite a different character. 

A boy's game necessarily brings him into some wider or fullerrelationship, into relationship with some more elevated group of ideas. Is he building a house?--he builds it so that he may dwell in it likegrown-up people do, and have just such another cupboard, and so forth, as they have, and be able to give people things out of it just as theydo. And one must always take care of this: that the child who receives apresent shall not have his nature cramped and stunted thereby; accordingto the measure of how much he receives, so much must he be able to giveaway. In fact, this is a necessity for a simple-hearted child. Happy isthat little one who understands how to satisfy this need of his nature, to give by producing various gifts of his own creation! As a perfectchild of humanity, a boy ought to desire to enjoy and to bestow to thevery utmost, for he dimly feels already that he belongs to the whole, tothe universal, to the comprehensive in Nature, and it is as part of thisthat he lives; therefore, as such would he accordingly be considered andso treated. When he has felt this, the most important means ofdevelopment available for a human being at this stage has beendiscovered. With a well-disposed child at such a time nothing has anyvalue except as it may serve for a common possession, for a bond ofunion between him and his beloved ones. This aspect of the child'scharacter must be carefully noticed by parents and by teachers, and usedby them as a means of awakening and developing the active andpresentative side of his nature; wherefore none, not even the simplestgifts from a child, should ever be suffered to be neglected. 

To sketch my first attempt as an educator in one phrase, I sought withall my powers to give my pupils the best possible instruction, and thebest possible training and culture, but I was unable to fulfil myintentions, to attain my end, in the position I then occupied, and withthe degree of culture to which I had myself attained. 

As soon as this had become fully evident to me, it occurred to my mindthat nothing else could be so serviceable to me as a sojourn for a timewith Pestalozzi. I expressed my views on this head very decidedly, andaccordingly, in the summer of 1808, it was agreed that I should take mythree pupils with me to Yverdon. 

So it soon afterwards came about I was teacher and scholar, educator andpupil, all at the same time. 

If I were to attempt to put into one sentence all I expected to find atYverdon, I should say it was a vigorous inner life amongst the boys andyouths, quickening, manifesting itself in all kinds of creativeactivity, satisfying the manysidedness of man, meeting all hisnecessities, and occupying all his powers both mental and bodily. Pestalozzi, so I imagined, must be the heart, the life-source, thespiritual guide of this life and work; from his central point he mustwatch over the boy's life in all its bearings, see it in all its stagesof development, or at all events sympathise with it and feel with it, whether as the life of the individual, of the family, of the community, of the nation, of mankind at large. 

With such expectations I arrived at Yverdon. There was no educationalproblem whose resolution I did not firmly expect to find there. That mysoul soon faithfully mirrored the life which there flowed around me, myreport for 1809 sufficiently shows. [67]

To throw myself completely into the midst, into the very heart, ofPestalozzi's work, I wished to live in the main buildings of theinstitution, that is to say, in the castle itself. [68] We would havecheerfully shared the lot of the ordinary scholars, but our wish couldnot be granted, some outside jealousies standing in the way. However, Isoon found a lodging, in immediate proximity to the institution, so thatwe were able to join the pupils at their dinner, their evening meal, andtheir supper, and to take part in the whole courses of theirinstruction, so far as the subjects chosen by us were concerned; indeed, to share in their whole life. I soon saw much that was imperfect; but, notwithstanding, the activity which pressed forth on all sides, thevigorous effort, the spiritual endeavour of the life around me, whichcarried me away with it as it did all other men who came within itsinfluence, convinced me that here I should presently be able to resolveall my difficulties. As far as regarded myself personally, I hadnothing more earnest to do for the time than to watch that my pupilsgained the fullest possible profit from this life which was so rich invigour for both body and soul. Accordingly we shared all lessonstogether; and I made it my special business to reason out withPestalozzi each branch of instruction from its first point of connectionwith the rest, and thus to study it from its very root. 

The forcible, comprehensive, stimulating life stimulated me too, andseized upon me with all its comprehensiveness and all its force. It istrue it could not blind me to many imperfections and deficiencies, butthese were retrieved by the general tendency and endeavour of the wholesystem; for this, though containing several absolute contradictions, manifest even at that time, yet vindicated on a general view its innerconnection and hidden unity. The powerful, indefinable, stirring, anduplifting effect produced by Pestalozzi when he spoke, set one's soul onfire for a higher, nobler life, although he had not made clear or surethe exact way towards it, nor indicated the means whereby to attain it. Thus did the power and manysidedness of the educational effort make upfor deficiency in unity and comprehensiveness; and the love, the warmth, the stir of the whole, the human kindness and benevolence of it replacedthe want of clearness, depth, thoroughness, extent, perseverance, andsteadiness. In this way each separate branch of education was in such acondition as to powerfully interest, but never wholly to content theobserver, since it prepared only further division and separation and didnot tend towards unity. 

The want of unity of effort, both as to means and aims, I soon felt; Irecognised it in the inadequacy, the incompleteness, and the unlikenessof the ways in which the various subjects were taught. Therefore Iendeavoured to gain the greatest possible insight into all, and became ascholar in all subjects--arithmetic, form, singing, reading, drawing, language, physical geography, the natural sciences, etc. 

I could see something higher, and I believed in a higher efficiency, acloser unity of the whole educational system; in truth, I believed I sawthis clearer, though not with greater conviction, than Pestalozzihimself. I held that land happy, that man fortunate, by whom the meansof true education should be developed and applied, and the wish to seethis benefit conferred upon my country naturally sprang from the love Ibore my native land. [69] The result was the written record of 1809already referred to. 

Where there is the germ of disunion, where the whole is split up, evensometimes into contradictory parts, and where an absolute reconcilingunity is wanting, where what connection there may be is derived ratherfrom casual outward ties than from inner necessary union, the wholesystem must of necessity dig its own grave, and become its own murderer. Now it was exactly at such a time of supreme crisis that I had the goodor the evil fortune to be at Yverdon. All that was good and all that wasbad, all that was profitable and all that was unprofitable, all that wasstrong and all that was weak, all that was empty and all that was full, all that was selfish and all that was unselfish amongst Pestalozzi andhis friends, was displayed openly before me. 

I happened to be there precisely at the time of the great Commission of1810. Neither Pestalozzi nor his so-called friends, neither anyindividuals nor the whole community, could give me, or would give me, what I wanted. In the methods laid down by them for teaching boys, forthe thorough education of boys as part of one great human family, --thatis, for their higher instruction, --I failed to find thatcomprehensiveness which is alone sufficient to satisfy the human being. Thus it was with natural history, natural science, German, and languagegenerally, with history, and above all, with religious instruction. Pestalozzi's devotional addresses were very vague, and, as experienceshowed, were only serviceable to those already in the right way. [70] Ispoke of all these things very earnestly and decidedly with Pestalozzi, and at last I made up my mind, in 1810, to quit Yverdon along with mypupils. 

But before I continue further here, it is my duty to consider my lifeand work from yet another point of view. 

Amongst the various branches of education, the teaching of languagesstruck me with especial force as defective, on account of its greatimperfection, its capriciousness and lifelessness. The search for asatisfactory method for our native language occupied me in preference toanything else. I proceeded on the following basis:--

Language is an image, a representation of our separate (subject) world, and becomes manifest to the (object) world outside ourselves principallythrough combined and ordered sounds. If, therefore, I would image forthanything correctly, I must know the real nature of the original object. The theme of our imagery and representation, the outside world, containsobjects, therefore I must have a definite form, a definite succession ofsounds, a definite word to express each object. The objects havequalities, therefore our language must contain adjectives expressingthese qualities. The qualities of objects are fundamental or relative;express what they are, what they possess, and what they become. 

Passing now to singing and music, it happened very luckily for me thatjust at this time Nägeli and Pfeifer brought out their "Treatise on theConstruction of a Musical Course according to the Principles ofPestalozzi. " Nägeli's knowledge of music generally, and especially ofchurch music, made a powerful impression upon me, and brought music andsinging before me as a means for human culture; setting the cultivationof music, and especially of singing, in a higher light than I had everconceived possible. Nägeli was very capable in teaching music andsinging, and in representing their function as inspiring aids to purehuman life; and although nearly twenty years have elapsed since I heardthose lessons of his, the fire of the love for music which they kindledburns yet, active for good, within my breast. And further, I was taughtand convinced by these two super-excellent music teachers, whoinstructed my pupils, that purely instrumental music, such as that ofthe violin or of the pianoforte, is also in its essence based upon andderived from vocal music, though developed through the independentdiscovery of a few simple sound-producing instruments. Not only have Inever since left the path thus opened to me at its origin, but I haveconsistently traced it onwards in all care and love, and continue torejoice in the excellent results obtained. This course ofmusic-teaching, as extended and applied later on, has always enjoyed theapprobation of the thoughtful and experienced amongst music teachers. 

I also studied the boys' play, the whole series of games in the openair, and learned to recognise their mighty power to awake and tostrengthen the intelligence and the soul as well as the body. In thesegames and what was connected with them I detected the mainspring of themoral strength which animated the pupils and the young people in theinstitution. The games, as I am now fervently assured, formed a mentalbath of extraordinary strengthening-power;[71] and although the sense ofthe higher symbolic meaning of games had not yet dawned upon me, I wasnevertheless able to perceive in each boy genuinely at play a moralstrength governing both mind and body which won my highest esteem. 

Closely akin to the games in their morally strengthening aspect were thewalks, especially those of the general walking parties, moreparticularly when conducted by Pestalozzi himself. These walks were byno means always meant to be opportunities for drawing close to Nature, but Nature herself, though unsought, always drew the walkers close toher. Every contact with her elevates, strengthens, purifies. It is fromthis cause that Nature, like noble great-souled men, wins us to her; andwhenever school or teaching duties gave me respite, my life at this timewas always passed amidst natural scenes and in communion with Nature. From the tops of the high mountains near by I used to rejoice in theclear and still sunset, in the pine-forests, the glaciers, the mountainmeadows, all bathed in rosy light. Such an evening walk came indeed tobe an almost irresistible necessity to me after each actively-spent day. As I wandered on the sunlit, far-stretching hills, or along the stillshore of the lake, clear as crystal, smooth as a mirror, or in the shadygroves, under the tall forest trees, my spirit grew full with ideas ofthe truly god-like nature and priceless value of a man's soul, and Igladdened myself with the consideration of mankind as the belovedchildren of God. There is no question but that Pestalozzi's generaladdresses, especially those delivered in the evening, when he used todelight in evoking a picture of noble manliness and true love of mankindand developing it in all its details, very powerfully contributedtowards arousing such an inner life as that just described. 

Yet I did not lose myself in empty fancies; on the contrary, I kept mypractical work constantly before my eyes. From thinking about my deadparents my thoughts would wander back over the rest of my family, turning most often to that dear eldest brother of mine, who has now notbeen referred to for some time in these pages. He had become thefaithful watchful father of several children. I shared in his unaffectedfatherly cares, and my soul was penetrated with the desire that he mightbe able to give his sons such an education as I should feel obliged topoint out to him as being the best. Already, ever since I was atFrankfurt, I had communicated to him my thoughts on education andmethods of teaching. What now occurred to me out of my new knowledge asapplicable to his case, I extracted, collected together, and classified, so as to be able to impart it to him for his use at the firstopportunity. 

One thing which greatly contributed to the better consideration andelucidation of the Pestalozzian mode of teaching was the presence of alarge number of young men sent from various governments as students toYverdon. With some of these I was on terms of intimacy, and to theexchange of ideas which went on amongst us I owe at least as much as tomy own observation. 

On the whole I passed a glorious time at Yverdon, elevated in tone, andcritically decisive for my after life. At its close, however, I feltmore clearly than ever the deficiency of inner unity andinterdependence, as well as of outward comprehensiveness andthoroughness in the teaching there. 

To obtain the means of a satisfactory judgment upon the best method ofteaching the classical tongues, I took Greek and Latin under a youngGerman, who was staying there at that time; but I was constructing amethod of my own all the while, by observing all the points which seemedvaluable, as they occurred in actual teaching. But the want of asatisfactory presentation of the classical tongues as part of thegeneral means of education and culture of mankind, especially when addedto the want of a consideration of natural history as a comprehensive andnecessary means of education, and above all the uncertain wavering ofthe ground-principles on which the whole education and teaching restedat Yverdon, decided me not only to take my pupils back to their parents'house, but to abandon altogether my present educational work, in orderto equip myself, by renewed study at some German university, with thatdue knowledge of natural science which now seemed to me quiteindispensable for an educator. 

In the year 1810 I returned from Yverdon by Bern, Schaffhausen, andStuttgart to Frankfurt. 

I should have prepared to go to the university at once, but found myselfobliged to remain at my post till the July of the following year. Thepiece-meal condition of the methods of teaching and of education whichsurrounded me hung heavy on my mind, so that I was extremely glad whenat last I was able to shake myself free from my position. 

In the beginning of July 1811 I went to Göttingen. I went up at once, although it was in the middle of the session, because I felt that Ishould require several months to see my way towards harmonising myinward with my outward life, and reconciling my thoughts with myactions. And it was in truth several months before I gained peace withinmyself, and before I arrived at that unity which was so necessary to me, between my inward and my outward life, and at the equally necessaryharmony between aim, career, and method. 

Mankind as a whole, as one great unity, had now become my quickeningthought. I kept this conception continually before my mind. I soughtafter proofs of it in my little world within, and in the great worldwithout me; I desired by many a struggle to win it, and then to set itworthily forth. And thus I was led back to the first appearance of manupon our earth, to the land which first saw man, and to the firstmanifestation of mankind, his speech. 

Linguistic studies, the learning of languages, philology, etc. , nowformed the object of my attack. The study of Oriental tongues seemed tome the central point, the fountain head, whither my search was leadingme; and at once I began upon them with Hebrew and Arabic. I had a dimidea of opening up a path through them to other Asiatic tongues, particularly those of India[72] and Persia. I was powerfully stimulatedand attracted by what I had heard about the study of these languages, then in its early youth--namely, the acknowledgment of a relationshipbetween Persian and German. Greek also attracted me in quite a specialway on account of its inner fulness, organisation, and regularity. Mywhole time and energy were devoted to the two languages I havenamed. [73] But I did not get far with Hebrew in spite of my genuine zealand my strict way with myself, because between the manner of looking ata language congenial to my mind and the manner in which the elementarylesson book presented it to me, lay a vast chasm which I could find nomeans to bridge over. In the form in which language was offered to me, Icould find and see no means of making it a living study; and yet, nevertheless, nothing would have drawn me from my linguistic studies hadI not been assured by educated men that these studies, especially mywork on Indian and Persian tongues, were in reality quite beside themark at which I aimed. Hebrew also was abandoned; but, on the otherhand, Greek irresistibly enthralled me, and nearly all my time andenergy were finally given to its study, with the help of the best books. 

I was now free, happy, in good mental and bodily health and vigour, andI gained peace within myself and without, through hard work, interruptedonly by an indisposition which kept me to my room for a few weeks. Afterworking all day alone, I used to walk out late in the evening, so thatat least I might receive a greeting from the friendly beams of thesetting sun. To invigorate my spirit as well as my bodily frame I wouldwalk on till near midnight in the beautiful neighbourhood whichsurrounds Göttingen. The glittering starry sky harmonised well with mythoughts, and a new object which appeared in the heavens at this time, aroused my wonder in an especial degree. I knew but little of astronomy, and the expected arrival of a large comet[74] was, therefore, quiteunknown to me; so that I found out the comet for myself, and that was asource of special attraction. This object absorbed my contemplation inthose silent nights, and the thought of the all-embracing, wide-spreading sphere of law and order above, developed and shapeditself in my mind with especial force during my night-wanderings. Ioften turned back home that I might note down in their freshness theresults of these musings; and then after a short sleep I rose again topursue my studies. 

In this way the last half of the summer session passed quickly away, andMichaelmas arrived. 

The development of my inner life had meanwhile insensibly drawn melittle by little quite away from the study of languages, and led metowards the deeper-lying unity of natural objects. My earlier plangradually reasserted itself, to study Nature in her first forms andelements. But the funds which still remained to me were now too small topermit of the longer residence at the university which that plannecessitated. As I had nothing at all now to depend upon save my ownunaided powers, I at first thought to gain my object by turning them tosome practical account, such as literary work. I had already begun toprepare for this, when an unexpected legacy changed my whole position. Up to now I had had one aunt still living, a sister of my mother's, whohad spent all the best years of her life in my native village, enjoyingexcellent health and free from care. By her sudden death I obtained, ina manner I had little expected, the means of pursuing my much-desiredstudies. This occurrence made a very deep impression upon me, becausethis lady was the sister of that uncle of mine whose death had enabledme to travel from Gross Milchow to Frankfurt, and so first set me uponmy career as an educator. And now again the death of a loved one made itpossible for me to attain higher culture in the service of this career. Both brother and sister had loved with the closest affection my ownmother, dead so far too soon, and this love they had extended to herchildren after her. May these two loving and beloved ones who throughtheir death gave me a higher life and a higher vocation, live for everthrough my work and my career. 

My position was now a very pleasant one, and I felt soothing andcheering influences such as had not visited me before. 

In the autumn holidays, too, a friendly home was ready to receive me. Besides the country-clergyman brother, who so often was a power for goodin my life, I had another brother, also older than I, who had beenliving more than ten years as a well-established tradesman and citizenin Osterode, amongst the Harz Mountains; head of a quiet, self-contained, happy family, and father of some fine children. Myprevious life and endeavours as an educator had already brought me intoconnection with this circle; for I had not failed whenever I foundanything suitable to my brother's needs to let him know of it, as he wasthe conscientious teacher and educator of his own children. It was inthis peaceful, active family-circle of an intellectual tradesman's homethat I passed all the vacation time during which the universityregulations released me from vigorous work. It could not prove otherwisethan that such a visit should be of the greatest service to me in mygeneral development, and I remember it with thankfulness even yet onthat account. 

I return now to my university life. Physics, chemistry, mineralogy, andnatural history in general, were my principal studies. 

The inner law and order embracing all things, and in itself conditionedand necessitated, now presented itself to me in such clearness that Icould see nothing either in nature or in life in which it was not mademanifest, although varying greatly according to its severalmanifestations, in complexity and in gradation. Just at this time thosegreat discoveries of the French and English philosophers becamegenerally known through which the great manifold external world was seento form a comprehensive outer unity. And the labours of the German andSwedish philosophers to express these essentially conditionedfundamental laws in terms of weight and number, so that they might bestudied and understood in their most exact expression, and in theirmutual interchange and connection, fitted in exactly with my ownlongings and endeavours. Natural science and natural researches nowseemed to me, while themselves belonging to a distinct plane of vitalphenomena, the foundation and cornerstones which served to make clearand definite the laws and the progress of the development, the culture, and the education of mankind. 

It was but natural that such studies should totally absorb me, occupy mywhole energies, and keep me most busily employed. I studied chemistryand physics with the greatest possible zeal, but the teaching of thelatter did not satisfy me so thoroughly as that of the former. 

What in the current half-year's term I was regarding rather from atheoretical standpoint, I intended in the next half-year to studypractically as a factor of actual life: hence I passed to organicchemistry and geology. [75] Those laws which I was able to observe inNature I desired to trace also in the life and proceedings of man, wherefore I added to my previous studies history, politics, andpolitical economy. These practical departments of knowledge broughtvividly home to me the great truth that the most valuable wealth a mancan possess lies in a cultivated mind, and in its suitable exercise uponmatters growing out of its own natural conditions. I saw further thatwealth arose quite as much from vigour of production as from saving byeconomical use; and that those productions were the most valuable ofall, which were the outcome and representation of lofty ideas orremarkable thoughts; and finally, that politics itself was in itsessence but a means of uplifting man from the necessities of Nature andof life to the freedom of the spirit and the will. 

While I received much benefit from the lectures on natural history atthe university, I could not fall in with the views held there as tofixed forms--crystallography, mineralogy, and natural philosophy. Fromwhat I had heard of the natural history lectures of Professor Weiss inBerlin, I felt sure that I could acquire a correct view of both thesesubjects from him. And also since my means would not allow me to stayeven so long as one entire session more at Göttingen, whilst on theother hand I might hope at Berlin to earn enough by teaching to maintaina longer university career there, I came to the conclusion to go toBerlin at the beginning of the next winter session to study mineralogy, geology, and crystallography under Weiss, as well as to do some work atphysics and physical laws. 

After a stay of a few weeks with my brother at Osterode, I went toBerlin in October 1812. 

The lectures for which I had so longed really came up to the needs of mymind and soul, and awakened in me, more fervent than ever, the certaintyof the demonstrable inner connection of the whole cosmical developmentof the universe. I saw also the possibility of man's becoming consciousof this absolute unity of the universe, as well as of the diversity ofthings and appearances which is perpetually unfolding itself within thatunity; and then, when I had made clear to myself, and brought fully hometo my consciousness, the view that the infinitely varied phenomena inman's life, work, thought, feeling, and position, were all summed up inthe unity of his personal existence, I felt myself able to turn mythoughts once more to educational problems. 

To make sure of my power to maintain myself at the university, Iundertook some teaching at a private school of good reputation. [76] Mywork here, beyond the sufficient support it afforded me duringresidence, had no positive effect upon the endeavour of my life, for Ifound neither high intelligence, lofty aims, nor unity in the course ofinstruction. 

The fateful year 1813 had now begun. All men grasped weapons, andcalled on one another to fly to arms to defend the Fatherland. I, too, had a home, it is true, a birthplace, I might say a Motherland, but Icould not feel that I had a Fatherland. [77] My home sent up no cry tome; I was no Prussian, [78] and thus it came about that the universalcall to arms (in Berlin) affected me, in my retired life, but little. Itwas quite another sentiment which drew me to join the ranks of Germansoldiers; my enthusiasm was possibly small, but my determination wasfirmly fixed as the rocks themselves. 

This sentiment was the consciousness of a pure German brotherhood, whichI had always honoured in my soul as a lofty and sublime ideal; one whichI earnestly desired might make itself felt in all its fulness andfreedom all over Germany. 

Besides the fidelity with which I clung to my avocation as an educatoralso influenced my action in this matter. Even if I could not say trulythat I had a Fatherland, I must yet acknowledge that every boy, thatevery child, who might perhaps later on come to be educated by me wouldhave a Fatherland, that this Fatherland was now requiring defence, andthat the child was not in a position to share in that defence. It didnot seem possible to imagine that a young man capable of bearing armscould become a teacher of children and boys whose Fatherland he hadrefused to defend with his blood and even with his life if need were;that he who now did not feel ashamed to shrink from blows could existwithout blushing in after years, or could incite his pupils to dosomething noble, something calling for sacrifice and for unselfishness, without exposing himself to their derision and contempt. Such was thesecond main reason which influenced me. 

Thirdly, this summons to war seemed to me an expression of the generalneed of the men, the land, and the times amidst which I lived, and Ifelt that it would be altogether unworthy and unmanly to stand bywithout fighting for this general need, and without taking my share inwarding off the general danger. 

Before these convictions all considerations gave way, even that of mybodily constitution, which was far too weakly for such a life. 

As comrades I selected the Lützowers; and at Eastertide 1813 I arrivedat Dresden on my road to join the infantry division of Lützow's corps atLeipzig. [79] Through the retired nature of my self-concentrated life itcame about naturally that I, although a regularly matriculated student, had held aloof from the other students, and had gained no settledacquaintance amongst them; thus, out of all the vigorous comrades whom Imet at Dresden, many of whom were like myself, Berlin students, I didnot find one man I knew. I made but few new friends in the army, andthese few I was fated to encounter on the first day of my entrance intomy new work of soldiering. Our sergeant at the first morning halt afterour march out from Dresden, introduced me to a comrade from Erfurt as aThüringer, and therefore a fellow-countryman. This was Langethal; andcasually as our acquaintance thus began, it proved to be a lastingfriendship. Our first day's march was to Meissen, where we halted. Wehad enjoyed lovely spring weather during our march, and our repose wasgladdened by a still lovelier evening. I found all the universitystudents of the corps, driven by a like impulse, collected together inan open place by the shores of Elbe and near a public restaurant; andsome old Meissen wine soon served us as a bond of union. We sat abouttwenty strong in a jolly group at a long table, and began by welcomingand pledging one another to friendship. It was here that Langethalintroduced me to a university friend of his at Berlin, the youngMiddendorff, a divinity student from the Mark. [80] Keeping together in amerry little society till the middle of the lovely spring night, weunited again next morning in a visit to the splendid cathedral ofMeissen. Thus from the very first did we three join fast in a commonstruggle towards and on behalf of the higher life, and even if we havenot always remained in the like close outward bonds of union, we havefrom that time to this, now near upon fifteen years, never lost ourcomradeship in the inner life and our common endeavour afterself-education. Both Langethal and Middendorff had a third friend, namedBauer, amongst our comrades of the camp. With him also, as I think, Imade acquaintance as early as at Meissen, but it was more particularlyat Havelberg, later on, that Bauer and I struck up a friendshiptogether, which has ever since endured. Even when we have not beentogether in outward life, we have always remained one in our endeavoursafter the highest and best. Bauer closed the narrow circle of myfriends amongst our companions in arms. [81]

I remained true to my previous way of life and thought in the manner inwhich I viewed my new soldier life. My main care was always to educatemyself for the actual calling which at the moment I was following; thus, amongst the first things I took in hand was an attempt at finding theinner necessity and connection of the various parts of the drill and themilitary services, in which, without any previous acquaintance withmilitary affairs, I managed, in consequence of my mathematical andphysical knowledge, to succeed very fairly and without any greatdifficulty. I was able to protect myself, therefore, against many smallreprimands, which fell tolerably frequently on those who had thoughtthis or that instruction might be lightly passed over as too trivial tobe attended to. It came about in this way, when we were continuallydrilling, after the cessation of the armistice, that the militaryexercises we performed gave me genuine pleasure on account of theirregularity, their clearness, and the precision of their execution. Inprobing into their nature I could see freedom beneath their recognisednecessity. 

During the long sojourn of our corps in Havelberg previously alluded to, I strengthened my inner life, so far as the military service permitted, by spending all the time I could in the open air, in communion withNature, to a perception of whose loveliness a perusal of G. Forster's"Travels in Rhineland" had newly unlocked my senses. [82]

We friends took all opportunities of meeting one another. By-and-by weset to work to make this easier by three of us applying to be quarteredtogether. 

In the rough, frank life of war, men presented themselves to me undervarious aspects, and so became a special object of my thoughts asregards their conduct, and their active work, and most of all as totheir higher vocation. Man and the education of man was the subjectwhich occupied us long and often in our walks, and in our open-air lifegenerally. It was particularly these discussions which drew me forciblytowards Middendorff, the youngest of us. 

I liked well our life of the bivouac, because it made so much of historyclear to me; and taught me, too, through our oft-continued and severelylaborious marches and military manoeuvres, the interchanging mutualrelations of body and spirit. It showed me how little the individual manbelongs to himself in war time; he is but an atom in a great whole, andas such alone must he be considered. 

Through the chance of our corps being far removed from the actual seatof war, we lived our soldier life, at least I did, in a sort of dream, notwithstanding the severe exertions caused by our military manoeuvres, and we heard of the war only in the same sleepy way. Now and then, atLeipzig, at Dalenburg, at Bremen, at Berlin, we seemed to wake up; butsoon sank back into feeble dreaminess again. It was particularlydepressing and weakening to me never to be able to grasp our position aspart of the great whole of the campaign, and never to find anysatisfactory explanation of the reason or the aim of our manoeuvres. That was my case at least; others may have seen better and clearer thanI. 

I gained one clear benefit from the campaign; in the course of theactual soldier life I became enthusiastic upon the best interests of theGerman land and the German people; my efforts tended to become nationalin their scope. And in general, so far as my fatigues allowed, I keptthe sense of my future position always before me; even in the littleskirmishes that we had to take part in I was able to gather someexperiences which I saw would be useful to me in my future work. 

Our corps marched through the Mark, [83] and in the latter part of Augustthrough Priegnitz, Mecklenburg, the districts of Bremen and Hamburg, andHolstein, and in the last days of 1813 we reached the Rhine. The peace(May 30th, 1814) prevented us from seeing Paris, and we were stationedin the Netherlands till the breaking up of the corps. At last, in July1814, every one who did not care to serve longer had permission toreturn to his home and to his former calling. Upon my entrance intoa corps of Prussian soldiers I had received, through the influenceof some good friends, the promise of a post under the PrussianGovernment--namely, that of assistant at the mineralogical museum ofBerlin, under Weiss. Thither then, as the next place of my destinedwork, I turned my steps. I desired also to see the Rhine and the Main, and my birthplace as well; so I went by Dusseldorf back to Lünen, andthence by Mainz, Frankfurt, and Rudolstadt to Berlin. 

Thus I had lived through the whole campaign according to my strength, greater or less, in a steady inner struggle towards unity and harmonyof life, but what of outward significance and worth recollection hadI received from the soldier's life? I left the army and the warlikecareer with a total feeling of discontent. My inner yearning for unityand harmony, for inward peace, was so powerful that it shaped itselfunconsciously into symbolical form and figure. In a ceaseless, inexplicable, anxious state of longing and unrest, I had passed throughmany pretty places and many gardens on my homeward way, without any ofthem pleasing me. In this mood I reached F----, and entered a fairlylarge and handsomely-stocked flower garden. I gazed at all the vigorousplants and fresh gay flowers it offered me, but no flower took my fancy. As I passed all the many varied beauties of the garden in review beforemy mind, it fell upon me suddenly that I missed the lily. I asked theowner of the garden if he had no lilies there, and he quietly replied, _No_! When I expressed my surprise, I was answered as quietly as beforethat hitherto no one had missed the lily. It was thus that I came toknow what I missed and longed for. How could my inner nature haveexpressed itself more beautifully in words? "Thou art seeking silentpeacefulness of heart, harmony of life, clear purity of soul, by thesymbol of this silent, pure, simple lily. " That garden, in its beautifulvariety, but without a lily, appeared to me as a gay life passed throughand squandered without unity and harmony. Another day I saw many lovelylilies blooming in the garden of a house in the country. Great was myjoy; but, alas! they were separated from me by a hedge. Later on Isolved this symbol also; and until its solution image and longingremained stored in my memory. One thing I ought to notice--namely, thatin the place where I was vainly seeking for lilies in the garden alittle boy of three years old came up trustfully and stood by my side. 

I hastened to the scene of my new duties. How variously the differentoutward circumstances of my life henceforth affected me as to the lifewithin, now that this had won for itself once more an assured individualform, and how my life again resumed its true and highest aspect, I mustpass over here, since to develop these considerations with all theirconnections would take me too long. 

In the first days of August 1814 I arrived at Berlin, and at oncereceived my promised appointment. My duties busied me the greater partof the day amongst minerals, dumb witnesses to the silent thousand-foldcreative energy of Nature, and I had to see to their arrangement in alocked, perfectly quiet room. While engaged on this work I continuallyproved to be true what had long been a presentiment with me--namely, that even in these so-called lifeless stones and fragments of rock, tornfrom their original bed, there lay germs of transforming, developingenergy and activity. Amidst the diversity of forms around me, Irecognised under all kinds of various modifications one law ofdevelopment. 

All the points that in Göttingen I had thought I traced amidst outwardcircumstances, confirmatory of the order of the soul's development, camebefore me here also, in a hundred and again a hundred phenomena. What Ihad recognised in things great or noble, or in the life of man, or inthe ways of God, as serving towards the development of the human race, Ifound I could here recognise also in the smallest of these fixed formswhich Nature alone had shaped. I saw clearly, as never yet I had seenbefore, that the godlike is not alone in the great; for the godlike isalso in the very small, it appears in all its fulness and power in themost minute dimensions. And thereafter my rocks and crystals served meas a mirror wherein I might descry mankind, and man's development andhistory. These things began to stir powerfully within me; and what I nowvaguely perceived I was soon to view more definitely, and to be able tostudy with thoroughness. 

Geology and crystallography not only opened up for me a higher circle ofknowledge and insight, but also showed me a higher goal for my inquiry, my speculation, and my endeavour. Nature and man now seemed to memutually to explain each other, through all their numberless variousstages of development. Man, as I saw, receives from a knowledge ofnatural objects, even because of their immense deep-seated diversity, afoundation for, and a guidance towards, a knowledge of himself and oflife, and a preparation for the manifestation of that knowledge. What Ithus clearly perceived in the simpler natural objects I soon traced inthe province of living Nature, in plants and growing things, so far asthese came under my observation, and in the animal kingdom as well. 

Soon I became wholly penetrated and absorbed by the thought that it mustbe beyond everything else vital to man's culture and development, to thesure attainment of his destiny and fulfilment of his vocation, todistinguish these tendencies accurately and sharply not only in theirseparate ascending grades, but also throughout the whole career of life. Moreover, I made a resolution that for some time I would devote myselfto the study of the higher methods of teaching, so as to fit myself as ateacher in one of the higher centres of education, as, for example, oneof the universities, if that might be. But it was not long before Ifound a double deficiency, which quickly discouraged me in this design. For, firstly, I wanted a fund of specially learned and classicalculture; and next, I was generally deficient in the preparatory studiesnecessary for the higher branches of natural science. The amount ofinterest in their work shown by university students was, at the sametime, not at all serious enough to attract me to such a career. 

I soon perceived a double truth: first, that a man must be early ledtowards the knowledge of nature and insight into her methods--that is, he must be from the first specially trained with this object in view;and next, I saw that a man, thus led through all the due stages of alife-development should in order to be quite sure to accomplish in allsteadiness, clearness, and certainty his aim, his vocation, and hisdestiny, be guarded from the very beginning against a crowd ofmisconceptions and blunders. Therefore I determined to devote myselfrather to the general subject of the education of man. 

Though the splendid lectures I heard on mineralogy, crystallography, geology, etc. , led me to see the uniformity of Nature in her working, yet a higher and greater unity lay in my own mind. To give an example, it was always most unsatisfactory to me to see form developed from anumber of various ground-forms. The object which now lay before myefforts and my thought was to bring out the higher unity underlyingexternal form in such a self-evident shape that it should serve as atype or principle whence all other forms might be derived. But as I heldthe laws of form to be fixed, not only for crystals, but also just asfirmly for language, it was more particularly a deep philosophical viewof language which eventually absorbed my thoughts. Again, ideas aboutlanguage which I had conceived long ago in Switzerland crowded before mymind. It seemed to me that the vowels _a_, _o_, _u_, _e_, _i_, _ä_, _au_, _ei_, resembled, so to speak, force, spirit, the (inner) subject, whilst the consonants symbolised matter, body, the (outer) object. Butjust as in life and in nature all opposites are only relatively opposed, and within every circle, every sphere, both opposites are found to becontained, so also in language one perceives within the sphere ofspeech-tones the two opposites of subject and object. For example, thesound _i_ depicts the absolute subject, the centre, and the sound _a_the absolute material object; the sound _e_ serves for life as such, forexistence in general; and _o_ for individual life, for an existencenarrowed to itself alone. 

Language, not alone as the material for the expression of thought, butalso as a type or epitome of all forms and manifestations of life, appeared to me to underlie the universal laws of expression. In order tolearn these laws thoroughly, as exemplified in the teaching of theclassical languages, I now returned again to the study of these latter, under the guidance of a clever teacher; and I began to strike out thespecial path which seemed to me absolutely necessary to be followed intheir acquisition. 

From this time onwards I gave all my thoughts to methods of education, whereto I was also further incited by some keen critical lectures on thehistory of ancient philosophy. These again afforded me a clearconviction of the soundness of my views of Nature and of the laws ofhuman development. 

Through my work at the dynamical, chemical, and mathematical aspects ofNature I came once more upon the consideration of the laws of number, particularly as manifested through figures; and this led me to aperfectly fresh general view of the subject--namely, that number shouldbe regarded as horizontally related. [84] That way of considering thesubject leads one to very simple fundamental conceptions of arithmetic, which, when applied in practice, prove to be as accurate as they areclear. The connection of these (dynamical and arithmetical) phenomenawas demonstrably apparent to me; since arithmetic may be considered, firstly, as the outward expression of the manifestation of force, secondly (in its relationship to man), as an example of the laws ofhuman thought. 

On all sides, through nature as well as through history, through life aswell as through science (and as regards the latter through pure scienceas well as through the applied branches), I was thus encountered andappealed to by the unity, the simplicity, and the unalterably necessarycourse, of human development and human education. I became impelled byan irresistible impulse towards the setting forth of that unity andsimplicity, with all the force, both of my pen and of my life, in theshape of an educational system. I felt that education as well as sciencewould gain by what I may call a more human, related, affiliated, connected treatment and consideration of the subjects of education. 

I was led to this conviction on another ground, as follows:--Although myfriends Langethal, Middendorff, and Bauer served with me all through thewar in the same corps, and even in the same battalion, we were a greatdeal apart towards the close of the campaign, especially at the time wewere quartered in the Netherlands, so that I, at all events, at thedisbanding of the corps, knew not whither the others had gone. It was, therefore, an unexpected pleasure when, after a while, I found them allat Berlin again. My friends pursued their theological studies withearnestness, and I my natural science; therefore, at first we camelittle into contact with one another. 

So passed several months, when suddenly life threw us closer togetheragain. This came about through the call to arms in 1815. We all enlistedagain together as volunteers. On account of our previous service, and byroyal favour, we were at once promoted to officer's rank, and each onewas appointed to a regiment. However, there was such a throng ofvolunteers that it was not necessary for any State officials to becalled upon to leave their posts, or for students to interrupt theirstudies, and we therefore received counter-orders commanding us to stayat home. Middendorff, who felt sure of his speedy departure for thearmy, preferred not to take lodgings for the short time of his stay inBerlin, and as there was room enough in mine for us both, he came andstayed with me. Yet we still seemed to draw very little closer togetherat first, because of the diversity of our pursuits; but soon a bond ofunion wove itself again, which was all the stronger on that veryaccount. Langethal and Middendorff had endeavoured to secure asufficiency for their support at the university by taking privatetutorships in families, making such arrangements as that theiruniversity studies should not be interfered with. In the beginning oftheir work all seemed simple and easy, but they soon came upondifficulties both as regards the teaching and the training of thechildren entrusted to them. As our former conversations had so oftenturned upon these very subjects they now came to me to consult me, especially about mathematical teaching and arithmetic, and we set aparttwo hours a week, in which I gave them instruction on these matters. From this moment our mutual interchange of thought again became animatedand continuous. 

 * * * * *

Here the autobiography breaks off abruptly. Herr Wichard Lange had sometrouble in deciphering it from Froebel's almost unreadable rough draft, and here and there he had even to guess at a word or so. Froebel hadintended to present this letter to the Duke of Meiningen at the close of1827, when the negotiations began to be held about a proposed NationalEducational Institution at Helba, to be maintained by the duke, afterthe similar proposal made to the Prince of Rudolstadt for Quittelsdorfearlier in the year had broken down. It is not known whether the presentdraft was ever finished, properly corrected, and polished into permanentform, nor whether it was ever delivered to the duke. It is highlyprobable that we have here all that Froebel accomplished towards it. Itmay be added that soon after Froebel's repeated plans and drafts for theHelba Institution had culminated in the final extensive well-known planof the spring of 1829, the whole scheme fell through, from the jealousyof the prince's advisers, who feared Froebel's influence too much toallow him ever to get a footing amongst them. 

Another fragment of autobiography, going on to a further period of hislife, occurs in a long letter to the philosopher Krause, [85] datedKeilhau, 24th March, 1828, in reply to an article written by Krause fiveyears before (1823) in Oken's journal, the well-known _Isis_[86] inwhich article Krause had found fault with Froebel's two explanatoryessays on Keilhau, written in 1822, separately published, and appearingalso in the _Isis_, because Keilhau was there put forward as "aneducational institution for all Germany" (Allgemeine DeutscheErziehungs-Anstalt), whereas Krause desired it should rather styleitself "a German institution for universal culture" (Deutsche Anstaltfür Allgemeine menschliche Bildung). The rapid growth of Keilhau gaveFroebel at the time no leisure for controversy. In 1827 began the cruelpersecutions which eventually compelled him to leave Keilhau. Nowwhenever Froebel was under the pressure of outward difficulty, he alwayssought for help from within, and from his inward contemplation derivednew courage and new strength to face his troubles. Out of such musingsin the present time of adversity the long-awaited reply to Krause atlength emerged. The disputative part, interesting in itself, does nothere concern us. We pass at once to the brief sketch of his lifecontained in later parts of the letter, omitting what is notautobiographical. The earlier of these passages relate more succinctlythe events of the same period already more fully described in the letterto the Duke of Meiningen; but we think it better to print the passagesin full, in spite of their being to a great extent a repetition of whathas gone before. Certain differences, however, will be found notunworthy of notice. 

The Krause letter succeeded the other and more important letter (to theDuke of Meiningen) by some few months. Its immediate outcome was a warmfriendship between Krause and Froebel; the latter, with Middendorff ashis companion, journeying to Göttingen to make the philosopher'spersonal acquaintance, in the autumn of 1828. Long discussions oneducation took place at this interesting meeting, as we know fromLeonhardi, Krause's pupil. Krause made Froebel acquainted with the worksof Comenius, amongst other things, and introduced him to the wholelearned society of Göttingen, where he made a great, if a somewhatpeculiar, impression. 

PART OF FROEBEL'S LETTER TO KRAUSE, DATED KEILHAU, 24TH MARCH, 1828. 

. .. You have enjoyed, without doubt, unusual good fortune in havingpursued the strict path of culture. You have sailed by Charybdis withoutbeing swallowed up by Scylla. [87] But my lot has been just the reverse. 

As I have already told you in the beginning of this letter, I was veryearly impressed with the contradictions of life in word and deed--infact, almost as soon as I was conscious of anything, living as a lonelychild in a very narrowed and narrowing circle. A spirit ofcontemplation, of simplicity, and of childlike faith; a stern, sometimescruel, self-repression; a carefully-fostered inward yearning afterknowledge by causes and effects, together with an open-air life amidstNature, especially amidst the world of plants, gradually freed my soulfrom the oppression of these contradictions. Thus, in my tenth andeleventh years, I came to dream of life as a connected whole withoutcontradictions. Everywhere to find life, harmony, freedom fromcontradictions, and so to recognise with a keener and clearer perceptionthe life-unity after which I dimly groped, was the silent longing of myheart, the mainspring of my existence. But the way thither through theusual school course, all made up of separate patches, considering thingsmerely in their outward aspect, and connected by mere arbitraryjuxtaposition, was too lifeless to attract me; I could not rememberthings merely put together without inner connection, and so it cameabout that after two of my elder brothers had devoted themselves tostudy, and because my third brother showed great capacity for studyalso, my own education was narrowed; but so much the more closely did aloving, guiding providence bind my heart in communion with Nature. [88]

In silent, trustful association with Nature and my mathematics, I livedfor several years after my confirmation. In the latter part of the timemy duties led me towards the study of natural laws, and thus towards theperception of the unity so often longed for in soul and spirit, and nowat last gradually becoming clear from amidst the outwardly clashingphenomena of Nature. [89]

At last I could no longer resist the craving for knowledge which I feltwithin me. I thrust on one side all the ordinary school-learning which Iutterly failed to appropriate in its customary disconnected state (itwas meant only to be learned by rote, and this I never could recogniseas the exclusive condition of a really comprehensive culture of thehuman mind), and I went up in the middle of my eighteenth year to theUniversity of Jena. As I had been for two years past living completelywith Nature and my mathematics, and dependent upon myself alone for anyculture I might have arrived at, I came to the university much like asimple plant of nature myself. I was at this time peculiarly moved by alittle knowledge I had picked up about the solar system, includingparticularly a general conception of Kepler's laws, whereby the laws ofthe spheres appealed to me on the one hand as an all-embracing, world-encircling whole, and on the other as an unlimitedindividualisation into separate natural objects. My own culture had beenhitherto left to myself, and so also now I had to select my own studiesand to choose my courses of lectures for myself. It was to be expectedthat the lectures of the professors would produce a singular effectupon me, and so they did. 

I chose as my courses natural history, physics, and mathematics, but Iwas little satisfied. I seldom gained what I expected. Everywhere Isought for a sound method deriving itself from the fundamental principlelying at the root of the subject in hand, and afterwards summing up alldetails into that unity again; everywhere I sought for recognition ofthe quickening interconnection of parts, and for the exposition of theinner all-pervading reign of law. Only a few lectures made some poorapproach to such methods, but I found nothing of the sort in those whichwere most important to me, physics and mathematics. Especially repugnantto me was the piece-meal patchwork offered to us in geometry, alwaysseparating and dividing, never uniting and consolidating. 

I was, however, perfectly fascinated with the mathematical rules of"combination, permutation, and variation, " but unhappily I could notgive much time to their study, which I have regretted ever since. Otherwise, what I learned from the lectures was too slight for what Iwanted, being, unluckily, altogether foreign to my nature, and moreoften a mere getting of rules by heart rather than an unfolding ofprinciples. The theoretical and philosophical courses on varioussubjects did not attract me either, something about them always kept meat a distance; and from what I heard of them amongst my fellow-students, I could gather that here, too, all was presented in an arbitraryfashion, unnaturally divided, cut up, so to speak, into lifelessmorsels; so that it was useless for my inner life to seek forsatisfaction in those regions of study. But as I said above, there weresome of the lectures which fostered my interest in the inner connectionof all vital phenomena, and even helped me to trace it with somecertainty in some few restricted circles. 

But my financial position did not permit me to remain long at theuniversity; and as my studies were those which fitted the student forpractical professional life, though they were regarded from a higherpoint of view by myself in the privacy of my own thoughts, I had toreturn to ordinary every-day work, and use them as a means to earn myliving. Yet, though I lived the outward business life to all appearance, it remained ever foreign to my nature; I carried my own world withinme, and it was that for which I cared and which I cherished. Myobservation of life (and especially that of my own life, which I pursuedwith the object of self-culture), joined with the love of Nature andwith mathematics to work creatively upon me; and they united to fill mylittle mental world with many varied life-forms, and taught me at thesame time to regard my own existence as one member of the greatuniversal life. My plan of culture was very simple: it was to seek outthe innermost unity connecting the most diverse and widely-separatedphenomena, whether subjective or objective, and whether theoretical orpractical, to learn to see the spiritual side of their activity, toapprehend their mutual relations as facts and forms of Nature, or toexpress them mathematically; and, on the other hand, to contemplate thenatural and mathematical laws as founded in the innermost depths of myown life as well as in the highest unity of the great whole, that isindeed to regard them in their unconditioned, uncaused necessity, as"absolute things-in-themselves. " Thus did I continue without ceasing tosystematise, symbolise, idealise, realise and recognise identities andanalogies amongst all facts and phenomena, all problems, expressions, and formulas which deeply interested me; and in this way life, with allits varied phenomena and activities, became to me more and more freefrom contradictions, more harmonious, simple, and clear, and morerecognisable as a part of the life universal. 

After I had lived for some years the isolated life I have described, though I was engaged the whole time in ordinary professional pursuits, all at once there broke upon my soul, in harmony with the seasons ofnature, a springtime such as I had not before experienced; and anunexpected life and life-aim budded and blossomed in my breast. All myinner life and life-aims had become narrowed to the circle ofself-culture and self-education. The outer life, my profession, Icarried on as a mere means of subsistence, quite apart from my realinner self, and my sphere of operation was limited. I was drivenperforce from pillar to post till at last I had arrived where the Mainunites herself with the Rhine. [90] Here there budded and opened to mysoul one lovely bright spring morning, when I was surrounded by Natureat her loveliest and freshest, this thought, as it were byinspiration:--That there must exist somewhere some beautifully simpleand certain way of freeing human life from contradiction, or, as I thenspake out my thought in words, some means of restoring to man, himself, at peace internally; and that to seek out this way should be thevocation of my life. And yet my life, to all appearance, my studies andmy desires, belonged to my purely external vocation, [91] and to itsexternal citizenlike relations; and by no means to mankind at large, either regarded in itself or in its educational needs. Therefore thisidea of mine was in such violent contrast with my actual life that itutterly surprised me. In fact, and perhaps greatly because of thiscontrast, the idea would undoubtedly have been quite forgotten, had notother circumstances occurred to revive it. On myself and on my life atthe time it seemed to have not the slightest effect, and it soon passedfrom my memory. But later on in this same journey, [92] as I climbed downfrom the Wartburg, and turned round to look at the castle, there rushedupon me once more this thought of a higher educational vocation as myproper life-work; and again, being so far removed from my actualexternal life, it only flashed upon me with a momentary effulgence aninstant, and then sank. This, unconsciously to me, and therefore quitedisregarded by me, was the real position of my inner life when I arrivedat the goal of my journey, Frankfurt, from whence my life was so soon todevelop so largely. My energies at the moment were devoted towardsattaining some definite professional position for myself. [93] But inproportion as I began to examine my profession more closely in itspractical aspect, so did it begin to prove insufficient of itself tosatisfy me as the occupation of my life. Then there came to me thedefinite purpose of living and working at my profession rather to use itas a means to win some high benefit for mankind. [94]

The restlessness of youth, nay, that chance, rather, which has alwayslovingly guided me, threw me unexpectedly into relations with a manwhose knowledge of mankind, and whose penetrating glance into my innerbeing turned me at our very first interview from the profession of anarchitect to that of a teacher and an educator, two spheres of workwhich had, never previously occurred to me, still less had appeared tome as the future objects of my life. [95] But the very first time I foundmyself before thirty or forty boys from nine to eleven years old, forthat was the class allotted to me to teach, I felt thoroughly at home. In fact, I perceived that I had at last found my long-missed lifeelement; and as I wrote to my brother at the time, I was as well pleasedas the fish in the water, I was inexpressibly happy. Yet here from thevery first moment (and what a number of sacrifices had to be made, whata wealth of activity was poured out!) I had to give information, advice, and decisions on matters which hitherto I had not thought it necessaryseriously to consider, and so also here, in my new position, I soon cameto feel myself isolated, to stand alone. 

I sought counsel where I had so often found it. I looked within myselfand to Nature for help. Here my plan of culture, hitherto followed onlyfor my own needs, came opportunely to my assistance. When I wasconsulted by others, I looked to Nature for the answer, and let Nature, life, spirit, and law speak for themselves through me; then the answerwas not merely satisfactory. No! its simple, unhesitating confidence andyouthful freshness gladdened and quickened the inquirer. 

This was all well enough when universal human interests were concerned, but how about matters of instruction? I could, in fact, fairly confessthat in many respects I had no title to call myself a cultured man, forhitherto all my culture had been fragmentary or imaginative. 

Once again I found myself in conflict with my environment; for I couldnot possibly torture my scholars with what I myself had refused to betortured with--namely, the learning by heart of disconnected rules. Iwas therefore compelled to strike out fresh paths for myself, whichindeed my post rendered a delightful task; because I not only had fullliberty accorded me in this matter, but was even urged onwards in thatdirection by my duty, since the institution was a model school for thehigher development of teaching. My past self-culture, self-teaching, andself-development, and my study of Nature and of life now stood me ingood stead. 

But this letter is not intended to contain the whole history of thedevelopment of my mind; and I will therefore pass quickly forward, justmentioning that from this time for six years onwards, during which Ithrice completely changed the conditions of my life, [96] I held mostearnestly by this same temper of mind and this same endeavour; andalthough I still always lived in isolation as to my personal inner life, yet I was at many points in full contact with the brisk mental effortand activity of that stirring time (1805 to 1810), as regards teaching, philosophy, history, politics, and natural science. [97]

But the nobler, the more varied, the more animating was the lifesurrounding me, and the more I found all without me, as also all withinme, striving and tending towards harmony and unity, by so much the lesscould I longer be restrained from seeking out this unity, even should itbe at the sacrifice of all that was dear to me, if need were for that. Iwas impelled to seek to develop this unity all bright and living withinmy own soul, and to contemplate it in definite, clear, and independentform, so that finally I might be able to set it forth in my actual lifewith sureness and certainty. 

After nine years' interval I visited the university a second time; first(spring of 1810) at Göttingen, and then a year and a half later (autumnof 1811) at Berlin. [98]

I now began to pursue the study of languages. The linguistic treasureswhich recent discoveries had brought us from Asia excited my deepestinterest wherever I came into contact with them. 

But in general the means of acquiring languages were too lifeless, toowanting in connection to be of any use to me; and the effort to workthem out afresh in my own way, soon led me to a renewed study of Nature. Nature held me henceforth so fast that for years I was chaineduninterruptedly to her study, though truly languages went on as aside-study during the time. Yet it was not as separate entities that Iconsidered the phenomena I was working at; rather was it as parts of thegreat whole of natural life, and this also I regarded as reposing in onesupreme unity together with all mankind; Nature and man, the twoopposite mutually casting light upon each other and mirroring eachother. 

After the German war of the spring of 1813 had interrupted my studies atBerlin, and I had made acquaintance with a soldier's life, its need, andits habits in Lützow's corps, I returned in 1814 to my studies and to ascientific public post in Berlin. The care, the arrangement, and in partthe investigation and explanation of crystals were the duties of myoffice. Thus I reached at last the central point of my life andlife-aim, where productiveness and law, life, nature, and mathematicsunited all of them in the fixed crystalline form, where a world ofsymbols offered itself to the inner eye of the mind; for I wasappointed assistant to Weiss at the mineralogical museum of the BerlinUniversity. [99]

For a long time it was my endeavour and my dearest wish to devote myselfentirely to an academical career, which then appeared to me as my truevocation and the only solution of the riddle of my life; but theopportunities I had of observing the natural history students of thattime, their very slight knowledge of their subject, their deficiency ofperceptive power, their still greater want of the true scientificspirit, warned me back from this plan. On the other hand, the need ofman for a life worthy of his manhood and of his species pressed upon mewith all the more force, and, therefore, teaching and education againasserted themselves vigorously as the chief subjects occupying mythoughts. Consequently I was only able to keep my mind contented withthe duties of my post for two years; and, meanwhile, the stones in myhand and under my eyes turned to living, speaking forms. Thecrystal-world, in symbolic fashion, bare unimpeachable witness to me, through its brilliant unvarying shapes, of life and of the laws of humanlife, and spake to me with silent yet true and readable speech of thereal life of the world of mankind. 

Leaving everything else, sacrificing everything else, [100] I was drivenback upon the education of man, driven also to my refuge in Nature, wherein as in a mirror I saw reflected the laws of the development ofbeing, which laws I was now to turn to account for the education of myrace. My task was to educate man in his true humanity, to educate manin his absolute being, according to the universal laws of alldevelopment. [101] Therefore, leaving Berlin, and laying down my office, I began late in the autumn of 1816 that educational work which, thoughit still takes its impulse from me and exists under my leadership, yetin its deepest nature is self-sufficient and self-conditioned. 

Although I was not perhaps then capable of putting my convictions intowords, I at once realised this work in my own mind as comprehensive andworld-embracing in its nature, as an everlasting work to be evermoreperformed for the benefit of the whole human race; yet I neverthelesslinked it, and for this very reason, to my own personal life; that is, since I had no children of my own, I took to me my dear nephews whom Imost deeply loved, in order through them and with them to work outblessings for my home and my native land, for Schwarzburg and Thuringia, and so for the whole wide Fatherland itself. [102] The eternalprinciples of development, as I recognised them within me, would haveit thus and not otherwise. 

Timidly, very timidly, did I venture to call my work by the title of"German, " or "Universal German" education; and, indeed, I struck thatout from one of my manuscripts, although it was precisely the namerequired to start with as it expressed the broad nature of my proposedinstitution. An appeal to the general public to become thorough _men_seemed to me too grandiose, too liable to be misunderstood, as, indeed, in the event, it only too truly proved; but to become thorough Germans, so I thought, would seem to them something in earnest, something worththe striving for, especially after such hard and special trials as hadrecently been endured by the German nation. 

With your penetrating judgment you quarrelled with that term "Germaneducation;" but, after all, even the appeal to be made thorough Germansproved to be too grandiose and liable to be misunderstood. For every onesaid "German? Well, I _am_ German, and have been so from my birth, justas a mushroom is a mushroom;[103] what, then, do I want with educationto teach me to be a thorough German?" What would these worthy peoplehave said, had I asked them to train themselves to become thorough men?Now had I planned my educational institute altogether differently, had Ioffered to train a special class, body-servants, footmen or housemaids, shoemakers or tailors, tradesmen or merchants, soldiers or evennoblemen, then should I have gained fame and glory for the greatusefulness and practical nature of my institution, for certain; andsurely all men would have hastened to acknowledge it as an importantmatter, and as a thing to be adequately supported by the State. I shouldhave been held as the right man in the right place by the State and bythe world; and so much the more because as a State-machine I should havebeen engaged in cutting out and modelling other State-machines. But I--Ionly wanted to train up free, thinking, independent men! Now who wantsto be, or who cares to suffer another to be, a free-thinking, independent man? If it was folly to talk about educating persons asGermans, what was it to talk about educating them as men? The educationof Germans was felt to be something extraordinary and farfetched; theeducation of men was a mere shadow, a deceitful image, a blindenthusiasm. [104]

From this digression I now return, to continue my attempt at makingmyself known to you, as far as is possible, in a letter; by which I meanmy real inner self, as manifested in my endeavours and my hopes. 

Permit me, therefore, to go a step nearer towards what lies deepest inmy soul, at least that of it which is communicable to another person. Ihave started by stating my position from the side of knowledge, now letme state it also from another side. My experience, especially thatgained by repeated residences at the university, had taught me beyond adoubt that the method of education hitherto in use, especially where itinvolved learning by rote, and where it looked at subjects simply fromthe outside or historically, and considered then capable ofapprehension by mere exercise work, dulled the edge of all high trueattainment, of all real mental insight, of all genuine progress inscientific culture, of self-contemplation, and thus of all realknowledge, and of the acquisition of truth through knowledge. I mightalmost go further, and say that its tendency was towards rendering allthese worthy objects impossible. 

Therefore, I was firmly convinced, as of course I still am, that thewhole former educational system, even that which had receivedimprovement, ought to be exactly reversed, and regarded from adiametrically opposite point of view--namely, that of a system ofdevelopment. I answered those who kept asking what it was that I reallydid want after all, with this sentence: "I want the exact opposite ofwhat now serves as educational method and as teaching-system ingeneral. " I was, and am, completely convinced, that after this fashionalone genuine knowledge and absolute truth, by right the universalpossessions of mankind, shall find once again, not alone single studentshere and there, but the vast majority of all our true-hearted young menand of our professors spreading far and wide the elements of a noblehumanised life. To bring this into a practical scheme I held to be myhighest duty, a duty which I could never evade, and one which I couldnever shake off, since a man cannot shake off his own nature. 

Our greatest teachers, even Pestalozzi himself not excepted, seemed tome too bare, too empirical, [105] and arbitrary, and therefore notsufficiently scientific in their principles--that is, not sufficientlyled by the laws of our being; they seemed to me in no wise to recognisethe Divine element in science, to feel its worth, and to cherish it. Therefore I thought and hoped, with the courage and inexperience ofyouth, that all scientific and learned men, that the universities, inone word, would immediately recognise the purport of my efforts, andwould strive with all their might to encourage me by word and deed. 

In this I was egregiously mistaken; nevertheless I am not ashamed of theerror. But few persons raised their voices for me or against me; and, indeed, your article in the _Isis_ is the single sun-ray which reallygenerously warmed and enlightened my life and lifework. Enough! theUniversities paid no heed to the simple schoolmaster. [106] As to the"able editors, " they, in their reviews, thought very differently fromme; but why should I trouble myself further with remembering theirperformances, which were written simply with the object of degrading meand my work? They never succeeded in shaking my convictions in theleast. 

I regard the simple course of development, proceeding from analysis tosynthesis, which characterises pure reasoned thought, as also thenatural course of the development of every human being. Such a course ofdevelopment, exactly opposite to the path taken by the old-fashionedmethods of education, I now see mankind about to enter upon; nay, it hasbeen actually entered upon already in a few single cases, though thesecases are almost unknown and therefore unregarded; and with this newcourse of development a new period is to begin, a new age for allmankind, and therefore in the higher inner sense a new world; a world, perceiving and understanding, perceived and understood; a world ofcrystal clearness, creating an altogether new life for science, andcarrying onward therefore the true science, that is, the science ofbeing, and all that is founded upon this and conditioned by this. [107]

I may image forth the position of my educational establishment withregard to the universities, under the figure of family life. 

In a healthily constituted family it is the mother who first cares for, watches over, and develops the child, teaches him to "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest, " deriving everything she teaches from its centralunity, and gathering up her teaching into that unity again. 

The father receives his son from the hand and the heart of the mother;with his soul already full of true active life, of desire for theknowledge of causes and effects, for the understanding of the whole andits ramifications; with his mind open to the truth and his eyes to thelight, and with a perpetually nourished yearning for creative activity, able to observe while building up, and to recognise while taking apart;such in himself and his surroundings, always active, creative, full ofthought and endeavour, does the father receive his son in his home, totrain and teach him for the wider life outside. Thus should it be withmy educational institute and the universities; as regards the growth anddevelopment of man I only desire to take the place of the silentlyworking, tenderly cherishing mother. 

The life, the will, the understanding, these three must form the commonchord or triad of the harmony of human life, now one tone, now another, now two of the three, rising powerfully above the rest. But where thesetones are separate and inharmonious there they work to discord, as wesee but too clearly in daily life:--

 "Wrestling with life and with death, suspended between them we hang. "

In whatever family this chord is from the first set sweetly in tune, itspure concords uniting to form the fundamental harmony of existence, there all the hobgoblins of ordinary life, which even yet often unite toannoy us, will be driven far away, there will joy and peace perpetuallyinhabit, there will heaven descend to earth and earth rise up to heaven;to a heaven, moreover, as full of contentment, as responsive to everyyearning of the soul as ever the Church has painted. 

But since all true and earnest life must arise from and return to theideal life, to life in itself, so must a school of development, which isto lead men, by means of their ordinary life, towards that higher life, be itself a true school of religious training in the most comprehensivesense of the word. 

Man ought not to be contented with teaching merely directed to satisfyhis needs as a child of earth, but must demand and receive fromeducation a true foundation, a creative, satisfying preparation for allthe grades of development of nature and the world which mankindencounters, and for the everlasting here and beyond of each new momentof existence, for the everlasting rest, the everlasting activity, theeverlasting life in God. 

As, however, it is only as a Christian, be he consciously orunconsciously so, baptised or unbaptised, taking the Christian name orrejecting it, that he can think and act after this fashion, you can seeat once the reason why my system of education feels itself to be, and infact claims to be, an education after the true spirit, and following theprecepts of Jesus Christ. 

Through love, mutual faith, and a common aim towards acquiring, manifesting, and acting out knowledge, there has grown up round me alittle company of men bound together by beautiful human bonds, the likeof which you would with difficulty find elsewhere. In your last letteryou desired to have some account of these friends and members of myhousehold. I will describe them for you. 

But if my account is to be anything more than a lifeless list of names, and if, though it cannot be the closely-branched tree of life whichactually exists, it is at least to come as near it as a garland or anosegay to the tree, you must permit me to go back a little into my pastlife; for out of the self-same spirit, whence arose my own endeavoursand which gave its direction to my own life, arose also the circle ofthose friends who are now so closely united with me. 

The German war of 1813, in which so much seed-corn was sowed thatperhaps only the smaller part of it has yet sprung up, to say nothing ofblossoming and fruitage, sowed also the seed whence sprang the firstbeginnings of our association, and of our harmonious circle. In April1813 Jahn led me and other Berlin students to meet my future comrades inarms, Lützow's "Black Troop;" we went from Berlin to Dresden, and thencefor the most part to Leipzig. On this march Jahn made me acquaintedbefore we reached Meissen with another Berlin student, HeinrichLangethal, of Erfurt, as a fellow-countryman of mine; and Langethalintroduced me to his friend and fellow-student in theology, Middendorff, of Brechten, near Dortmund. [108]

A wonderfully lovely spring evening spent together by the friendlyshores of Elbe, and a visit to the magnificent Cathedral of Meissen, brought me nearer to these and other comrades; but it was the pleasantbanks of Havel at Havelberg, the charming situation of the grandcathedral, the "Rhine Travels" of Georg Forster, a common love fornature, and above all a common eager yearning for higher culture thatbound us three for ever together. [109]

The war in all its exhilaration and depression, its privation andpleasure, its transient and its permanent aspects, flowed on; sometimesnearer to us, sometimes further away. In August 1814 I was released fromservice, and returned to Berlin, there to enter upon the post[110] atthe University Museum, which I have already mentioned. 

Soon after, quite unexpectedly, I ran against my friends again, who hadcome back to Berlin to finish their studies. After being somewhatseparated by the nature of our work, they as eagerly studying theologyas I did natural science, our common need and inner aspiration broughtus once more together. They had taken some private teaching, and werefrequently driven to seek my counsel and instruction by the difficultiesof their new position. When the war broke out afresh in 1815, Middendorff had been living for several months previously with me asroom companion. Thus had life thrown us closely together, so that Icould see each one exactly as he was, in all his individuality, with hisqualities and his deficiencies, with what he could contribute, and whathe would have to receive from others. 

In October 1816 I left my post, and quitted Berlin, without as yetconfiding to any one exactly what outward aim I had in view, simplysaying that I would write and give some account of myself as soon as Ihad found what I set out to seek. In November of the same year my dearlyloved brother, [111] the eldest now living, whom I made my confidant sofar as that was possible, and who was at that time a manufacturer atOsterode in the Harz district, gave me his two sons to educate. Theywere his only sons, though not his only children; two boys of six andeight years old respectively. With these boys I set out for a village onthe Urn called Griesheim, and there I added to my little family, firsttwo, then a third, that is, altogether three other nephews, the orphansons of my late dearest brother, [112] he who had always best sympathisedwith me through life. He had been minister at Griesheim, and his widowstill lived there. He had died of hospital fever in 1813, just after thecessation of the war. I reckon, therefore, the duration of my presenteducational work from November 16th, 1816. 

Already I had written from Osterode to Middendorff at Berlin, invitinghim and Langethal to join me and help in working out a system of lifeand education worthy of _man_. It was only possible for Middendorff toreach me by April 1817, and Langethal could not arrive until even thefollowing September. The latter, however, sent me, by Middendorff, hisbrother, a boy of eleven years old;[113] so that I now had six pupils. In June of the same year (1817) family reasons caused me to move fromGriesheim to this place, Keilhau. [114] Next came other pupils also, withLangethal's arrival in September. My household was growing fast, and yetI had no house of my own. In a way only comprehensible to Him Who knowsthe workings of the mind, I managed by November to get the school that Inow occupy built as a frame-house, but without being in possession ofthe ground it stood on. 

I pass over the space of a year, which was nevertheless so rich inexperiences of trouble and joy, of times when we were cast down, andother times when we were lifted up, that its description would easilyfill many times the space even of this long letter. In June of thefollowing year I became in the most remarkable way possessor of thelittle farm which I still hold, in Keilhau, and thus for the first timepossessor also of the land upon which the schoolhouse had already beenerected. [115] As yet there were no other buildings there. 

In September 1818 I brought to the household, still further increased, and now so rich with children and brothers, its _housewife_, in theperson of a lady whom a like love of Nature and of childhood with myown, and a like high and earnest conception of education, as thepreparation for a life worthy of man, had drawn towards me. She wasaccompanied by a young girl whom she had some time before adopted as adaughter, and who now came with her to assist her in the duties of thehousehold. [116]

We had now a severe struggle for existence for the whole time up to1820. With all our efforts we never could get the school house enlarged;other still more necessary buildings had to be erected first, underpressing need for them. [117] In the year 1820, on Ascension Day, mybrother from Osterode, whose two sons were already my pupils, came tojoin me with his whole family and all his possessions; urged by hislove for his boys, and a wish to help in the advancement of my life'spurpose. As my brother, beyond the two sons I have mentioned, had threedaughters, my family was increased by five persons through hisarrival. [118]

The completion of the school-house was now pushed on with zeal; but itwas 1822 before we got it finished. Our life from this point becomes socomplex that it is impossible to do more than just mention what appliesto the Association formed by our still united members. 

In 1823, Middendorff's sister's son Barop, till then a divinitystudent in Halle, visited us; and he was so impressed by the wholework that he was irresistibly driven soon afterwards to join us in ourlife-task. [119] Since 1823, with the exception of such breaks as hiswork in life demanded, he has been uninterruptedly one of our community, sharing in our work. At this moment[120] he is in Berlin, serving hisone year with the colours as a volunteer, and devoting what time he hasto spare, to earnest study, especially that of natural science. We hopeto have him back with us next spring. In the autumn of 1825 Langethalbecame engaged to my wife's adopted daughter, who had come with her fromBerlin; and Middendorff became engaged to my brother's eldest daughter. Ascension Day 1826 was the wedding-day for both couples. Heaven blessedeach marriage with a daughter, but took back to itself the little one ofLangethal. 

Still another faithful colleague must I remember here, Herr Carl fromHildburghausen, who has been since New Year's Day 1825 a member of ourInstitute, his particular work being to teach instrumental music andsinging. He lives and works in the true spirit of the Institute, and isbound up heart and soul with its fortunes. [121] Of other teachers, whohave assisted us in the Institute for greater or less time, I need notspeak; they never properly belonged to our circle. Amongst all thespecially associated members of our little band, not one breach hasoccurred since the beginning of our work. I would I could feel that Ihad accomplished what I have aimed at in this letter--namely, to makeyou acquainted with the inner deep seated common life which reallybinds together the members composing our outwardly united association;although it has only been feasible rather to suggest by implication theinternal mental phenomena of the external bonds of union than properlyto indicate them and to set them clearly forth. 

 * * * * *

This ends the autobiographical part of the Krause letter. Here andthere in the footnotes the present editors, profound admirers of thegreat master, have ventured to criticise frankly the inordinate beliefin himself which was at once Froebel's strength, and his weakness. On the one hand, his noble and truly gigantic efforts were only madepossible by his almost fanatical conviction in his principles and inhis mission. On the other hand, this dogmatic attitude made it verydifficult to work with him, for persons of any independence of mind. He could scarcely brook discussion, never contradiction. This is mostcharacteristically shown by a fragment of Froebel's dated 1st April, 1829, as follows:--

"I consider my own work and effort as _unique_ in all time, as_necessary_ in itself, and as the _messenger of reformation_ for allages, working forwards and backwards, offering and giving to mankind allthat it needs, and all that it perpetually seeks on every side. I haveno complaint to make if others think otherwise about it; I can bear withthem;[122] I can even, if need be, live with them, and this I haveactually done; but I can share no life-aim with them, they and I have no_unity_ of purpose in life. It is not I, it is they who are at faultherein; I do not separate myself from them, they withdraw themselvesfrom me. "

To get a view of Froebel's work from the practical side, so as tosupplement the account we have received from Froebel himself as to theorigination and development of the principles upon which that work wasbased, we have selected a sketch by Barop entitled "Critical Moments inthe Froebel Community;" written for Dr. Lange's edition by Barop (thenthe principal and proprietor of Keilhau) about the year 1862. 

CRITICAL MOMENTS IN THE FROEBEL COMMUNITY. 

Under this heading Barop writes as follows:--

About 1827 we were in an unusually critical position. You know howlittle means we had when we began to create our Institution. [123]Middendorff had sacrificed his entire inheritance from his father, butthe purchase of the ground and the erection of necessary buildingscalled for considerable sums, so that Middendorff's addition to thecapital had disappeared like drops of water falling on a hot stone. My father-in-law, Christian Ludwig Froebel, had later on come forwardand placed his entire fortune unconditionally in the hands of hisbrother, [124] but even this sacrifice was not sufficient to keep awaycare and want from the door. My own father was a man of means, but hewas so angry at my joining the Froebel community at Keilhau[125] that herefused me any assistance whatever. Mistrust surrounded us on all sidesin these early years of our work; open and concealed enmities assailedus both from near and far, and sought to embitter our lot and to nip ourefforts in the bud. None the less for this, the institution blossomedquick and fair; but later on, through the well-known persecutiondirected against associations of students, it was brought to the vergeof ruin, for the spirit of 1815 was incarnate within it, and it was thisspirit which at the time (about 1827) was the object of the extremestirritation. [126] It would carry me too far were I to attempt to give acomplete account of these things. At times it really seemed as if thedevil himself must be let loose against us. The number of our pupilssank to five or six, and as the small receipts dwindled more and more, so did the burden of debt rise higher and higher till it reached a giddyheight. Creditors stormed at us from every side, urged on by lawyers whoimbrued their hands in our misery. Froebel would run out at the backdoor and escape amongst the hills whenever dunning creditors appeared. Middendorff, and he alone, generally succeeded in quieting them, afeat which might seem incredible to all but those who have known thefascination of Middendorff's address. Sometimes quite moving scenesoccurred, full of forbearance, trustfulness, and noble sentiment, on thepart of workmen who had come to ask us for their money. A locksmith, forinstance, was strongly advised by his lawyer to "bring an action againstthe scamps, " from whom no money was to be got, and who were evidently onthe point of failure. The locksmith indignantly repudiated the insultthus levelled against us, and replied shortly that he had rather losehis hard-earned money than hold a doubt as to our honourable conduct, and that nothing was further from his thoughts than to increase ourtroubles. Ah! and these troubles were hard to bear, for Middendorff hadalready married, and I followed his example. When I proposed for mywife, my future father-in-law and mother-in-law[127] said, "You surelywill not remain longer in Keilhau?" I answered, "Yes! I do intend toremain here. The idea for which we live seems to me to be in harmonywith the spirit of the age, and also of deep importance in itself; and Ihave no doubt but that men will come to believe in us because of ourright understanding of this idea, in the same way that we ourselvesbelieve in the invisible. " As a matter of fact, none of us have everswerved one instant from the fullest belief in our educational mission, and the most critical dilemma in the times we have passed through hasnever revealed one single wavering soul in this little valley. 

When our distress had risen to its highest pitch, a new and unexpectedprospect suddenly revealed itself. [128] Several very influential friendsof ours spoke to the Duke of Meiningen of our work. He summoned Froebelto him, and made inquiries as to his plans for the future. Froebellaid before him a plan for an educational institute, [129] complete inevery particular, which we had all worked at in common to draw up, inwhich not only the ordinary "learned" branches of education but alsohandicrafts, such as carpentering, weaving, bookbinding, tilling theground and so on were used as means of culture. During half the schoolhours studies were to be pursued, and the other half was to be occupiedby handiwork of one kind or another. This work was to give opportunitiesfor direct instruction; and above all it was so planned as to excite inthe mind of the child a necessity for explanations as well as to gratifyhis desire for creativeness and for practical usefulness. The awakeningof this eager desire for learning and creative activity, was one of thefundamental thoughts of Friedrich Froebel's mind. The object-teachingof Pestalozzi seemed to him not to go far enough; and he was alwaysseeking to regard man not only as a receptive being, but a creative, andespecially as a productive one. We never could work out our ideas inKeilhau satisfactorily, because we could not procure efficient technicalteaching; and before all things we wanted the pupils themselves. But nowby the help of the Duke of Meiningen our keenest hopes seemed on thepoint of gratification. The working out of the plan spoken of above, ledus to many practical constructions in which already lay the elements ofthe future Kindergarten occupations. These models are now scattered farand wide, and indeed are for the most part lost; but the written planhas been preserved. 

The Duke of Meiningen was much pleased with Froebel's explanationsof this plan, and with the complete and open-hearted way in whicheverything was laid before him. A proposition was now made that Froebelshould receive the estate of Helba with thirty acres of land, and ayearly subsidy of 1, 000 florins. [130] In passing it may be noticed thatFroebel was consulted by the duke as to the education of the hereditaryprince. Froebel at once said outright that no good would be done for thefuture ruler if he were not brought up in the society of other boys. Theduke came to his opinion, and the prince was actually so taught andbrought up. 

When Froebel came back from Meiningen[131] the whole community wasnaturally overjoyed; but their joy did not last very long. A man ofhigh station in Meiningen who was accustomed to exercise a sort ofdictatorship in educational matters, as he was the right-hand man of theprince in such things, a man also who had earned an honourable place inliterature (of which no one surely would seek to deprive him), fearedmuch lest the elevation of Froebel should injure his own influence. Wewere therefore, all of a sudden, once again assailed with the meanestand most detestable charges, to which our unfortunate position atKeilhau lent a convenient handle. The duke received secret warningsagainst us. He began to waver, and in a temporising way sent again toFroebel, proposing that he should first try a provisional establishmentof twenty pupils as an experiment. Froebel saw the intention in theduke's mind, and was thrown out of humour at once; for when he suspectedmistrust he lost all hope, and immediately cast from his mind what afew hours before had so warmly encouraged him. Therefore Froebel atonce broke off all negotiations, and set out for Frankfurt, to discussthe work at Keilhau with his friends; since after so many troubles hehad almost begun to lose faith in himself. Here by chance he met thewell-known musical composer Schnyder, from Wartensee. He told thisgentleman of the events which had just occurred, talked to him ofhis plans and of our work at Keilhau, and exercised upon him thatoverpowering influence which is the peculiar property of creativeminds. Schnyder saw the value of his efforts, and begged him to setup an educational establishment in his castle on the Wartensee, inSwitzerland. [132] Froebel hurriedly seized with joy the hand thus heldout to him, and at once set off for Wartensee with his nephew, mybrother-in-law Ferdinand. 

There Friedrich and Ferdinand Froebel had already been living andworking some little time when I was asked by the rest of the communitywho still remained at Keilhau to go and see for myself exactly how theywere getting on in Switzerland. With ten thalers[133] in my pocket, andin possession of one old summer coat, which I wore, and a threadbarefrock-coat, which I carried over my arm, I set off on "Shanks'smare"[134] to travel the whole way. If I were to go into details as towhat I went through on that journey, I should probably run the risk ofbeing charged with gross exaggeration. Enough, I got to my destination, and when I asked in the neighbourhood about my friends and their doings, I learned from every one that there was nothing further to say against"the heretics, " than that they were heretics. A few peasant childrenfrom the neighbourhood had found their way to them, but no one came tothem from any distance, as had been reckoned upon from the first byFroebel as a source of income. The ill-will of the clergy, which beganto show itself immediately the institution was founded, and which becamestronger as the footing of our friends grew firmer, was able to gatherto itself a following sufficient to check any quick growth of ourundertaking. Besides, the basis for such an establishment was not to befound at Wartensee. Schnyder had, indeed, with a generosity never toogreatly to be admired and praised, made over to us his castle and allits furniture, his plate, his splendid library, --in short, all that wasin or around the castle was fully at our disposition; but he wouldpermit no new buildings or alterations of any sort, and as the roomsassigned to us were in no way suitable for our use, it was evident thathis generous support must be regarded as only a temporary and passingassistance. We perceived the evil of our situation in all its keenness, but we saw no way out of the difficulty. 

In a most remarkable way there dawned upon us a new prospect at the verymoment when we least expected it. We were sitting one day in a tavernnear Wartensee, and talking of our struggles with some strangerswho happened to be there. Three travellers were much interested inour narrative. They gave themselves out as business people fromWillisau, [135] and soon informed us that they had formed the notion oftrying to get some assistance for us, and our enterprise for theirnative town. This they actually did. We received an invitation fromtwenty associated well-to-do families in Willisau to remove ourschool there, and more fully to work out our plans amongst them. Theassociation had addressed the cantonal authorities, and a sort of castlewas allotted provisionally to us. About forty pupils from the canton atonce entered the school, and now we seemed at last to have found what wehad so long been seeking. But the priests rose up furiously against uswith a really devilish force. We even went in fear of our lives, andwere often warned by kind-hearted people to turn back, when we werewalking towards secluded spots, or had struck along the outlying pathsamongst the mountains. To what abominable means this spirit of bigotryresorted, the following example may serve to show. 

In Willisau a church festival is held once a year, in which acommunion-wafer is shown, miraculously spotted with blood. The drops ofblood were believed by the people to have been evoked from the figureof Jesus by the crime of two gamblers; who, having cursed Jesus, flungtheir sword at him, whereupon the devil appeared. As "God be withus"[136] seized the villains by the throat, a few drops of bloodtrickled from Jesus' wounds. To prevent others, therefore, fromfalling in a like way into the power of the arch-deceiver, a yearlycommemorative festival is held at Willisau. The wafer is shown as awarning to devout people, who flock in crowds from all parts of theneighbourhood to join in the procession which closes the ceremony. Wefelt of course compelled to attend, and as we wished to take our part, we offered to lead the singing. I feared an outbreak, and I earnestlyimplored my friends to keep quiet under any circumstances, and whateverhappened, to give no pretext for any excitement. Our singing wasfinished, when in the place of the expected preacher, suddenly thereappeared a blustering, fanatical Capuchin monk. He exhausted himself indenunciations of this God-forsaken, wicked generation, sketched inglaring colours the pains of hell awaiting the accursed race, and thenfell fiercely upon the alarmed Willisauers, upbraiding them, as theirworst sin, with the fostering of heretics in their midst, the said"heretics" being manifestly ourselves. Fiercer and fiercer grewhis threats, coarser and coarser his insults against us and ourwell-wishers, more and more horrible his pictures of the flames of hell, into grave danger of which the Willisauers, he said, had fallen by theirawful sin. Froebel stood as if benumbed, without moving a muscle, orchanging a feature, exactly in face of the Capuchin, in amongst thepeople; and we others also looked straight before us, immovable. Theparents of our pupils, as well as the pupils themselves, and manyothers, had already fled midway in the monk's Jeremiad. Every oneexpected the affair to end badly for us; and our friends, outside thechurch, were taking precautions for our safety, and concerting measuresfor seizing the monk who was thus inciting the mob to riot. We stoodquite still all the time in our places listening patiently to the closeof the Capuchin's tirade: "Win, then, for yourselves an everlastingtreasure in heaven. " shouted he, "bring this misery to an end, andsuffer the wretched men to remain no longer amongst you. Hunt the wolvesfrom the land, to the glory of God and the rage of the devil. Then willpeace and blessing return, and great joy in heaven with God, and onearth with those who heartily serve Him and His saints. Amen. " Hardlyhad he uttered the last word than he disappeared through a side doorand was no more seen. As for us, we passed quietly through the staringand threatening mob. No hand was raised against us at that moment, butdanger lay about us on every side, and it was no pleasure to recognisethe fact that the sword of Damokles always hung by a hair over ourhead. Feeling very uneasy at our insecure condition, I was sent, on thepart of the rest, to the authorities of the canton, especially to AbbeGirard, [137] and the mayor, Eduard Pfyffer, to beg that they wouldprovide for our safety with all the means in their power. On my way Iwas recognised by a priest for one of the newly-introduced "heretics" asI rested a moment in an inn. The people there began to talk freely aboutme, and to cast looks of hatred and contempt at me. At last, the priestwaxing bolder and bolder, accused me aloud of abominable heresy. I aroseslowly, crossed with a firm step over to the black-frocked one, andasked him, "Do you know, sir, who Jesus Christ was, and do you hold Himin any particular esteem?" Quite nonplussed by my firm and quiet addresshe stammered out, "Certainly, He is God the Son, and we must all honourHim and believe on Him, if we are to escape everlasting damnation. " Icontinued, "Then perhaps you can tell me whether Christ was a Catholicor a Protestant?"

The black-frock was silenced, the crowd stared, and presently began toapplaud. The priest made off, and I was left in peace. My question hadanswered better than a long speech. 

In Eduard Pfyffer I found an estimable sterling man of humane and firmcharacter. He started from the fundamental principle that it was oflittle use freeing the people from this or that special superstition, but that we should do better by working for the future against slothof thought and want of independent mental character from the verybottom--namely, by educating our young people. Therefore, he setgreat store by our undertaking. And when I told him of our downcastspirits and the absolute danger in which we lived at the moment, hereplied:--"There is only one way to ensure your safety. You must winover the people. Work on a little longer, and then invite them all fromfar and near to a public examination. If this test wins over the crowdto your side, then, and only then, are you out of harm's reach. " I wenthome, and we followed this counsel. The examination was held on a lovelyday in autumn. A great crowd from several cantons flocked together, andthere appeared delegates from the authorities of Zürich, of Bern, andother cantons. Our contest with the clerical party, which had beencommented upon in most of the Swiss journals, had drawn all eyes uponus. We scored a great victory with our examination. The childrendeveloped so much enthusiasm, and answered so readily, that all wereagreeably surprised, and rewarded us with loud applause. From seven inthe morning till seven in the evening lasted this examination, closingwith games and gymnastic exercises performed by the whole school. Werejoiced within ourselves; for our undertaking might now be regarded asfairly floated. The institution was spoken of in the great Council ofthe Canton, and most glowing speeches were delivered in our favour byHerr Pfyffer, Herr Amrhyn, and others. The Council decided that thecastle and its outbuildings should be let to us at a very cheap rate, and that the Capuchin who had openly incited to riot against us shouldbe expelled from the canton. 

A little time after this examination a deputation from Bern cameto invite Froebel to undertake the organisation of an Orphanage atBurgdorf. Froebel suggested that he should not be restricted to teachorphans alone in the new establishment; his request was granted, and hethen accepted the invitation. 

With this, it seemed to me, my mission in Switzerland was at an end, andI began to long to return to Keilhau; my eldest son was now a year old, and I had never yet seen him. Middendorff left his family, and replacedme at Willisau, living there for four years far away from wife andchild. [138] At Keilhau I found things had improved, and the numbers hadincreased most cheeringly. I determined to throw all my strength intothe work of raising the mother institution from her slough of debt. Ibegan by a piece of honourable swindling: and borrowed of Peter to payPaul, covering one debt with another, but at the same time making itappear that we were paying our way. In this fashion our damaged creditwas restored, and as the receipts grew happily greater and greater, Ibegan to gain ground. Eventually I was able to send help to the otherbranches of our community, to increase my help as time went on, and toprepare a place of refuge for them if anything went wrong elsewhere. 

In Switzerland our enterprise did not develop as rapidly as we desired, in spite of the sanction of the Council of the Canton. The institutionat Willisau gained unlimited confidence there; but the malevolentopposition of the clerical party secretly flourished as before, andsucceeded in depriving it of all aid from more distant places. Underthese circumstances we could not attain that prosperity which so muchactivity and self-sacrificing work on the part of our circle mustotherwise infallibly have brought. 

Ferdinand Froebel and Middendorff remained in Willisau. Froebel and hiswife went to Burgdorf, to found and direct the proposed Orphanage. [139]In his capacity as Director, Froebel had to give what was called aRepetitive Course to the teachers. In that Canton, namely, there was anexcellent regulation which gave three months' leave to the teachers oncein every two years. [140] During this leave they assembled at Burgdorf, mutually communicated their experiences, and enriched their culture withvarious studies. Froebel had to preside over the debates and to conductthe studies, which were pursued in common. His own observations and theremarks of the teachers brought him anew to the conviction that allschool education was as yet without a proper foundation, and, therefore, that until the education of the nursery was reformed nothing solid andworthy could be attained. The necessity of training gifted capablemothers occupied his soul, and the importance of the education ofchildhood's earliest years became more evident to him than ever. Hedetermined to set forth fully his ideas on education, which the tyrannyof a thousand opposing circumstances had always prevented him fromworking out in their completeness; or at all events to do this asregards the earliest years of man, and then to win over the world ofwomen to the actual accomplishment of his plans. Pestalozzi's "Mothers'Book" (_Buch der Mütter_) Froebel would replace by a completetheoretical and practical system for the use of women in general. Anexternal circumstance supervened at this point to urge him onwards. His wife grew alarmingly ill, and the physicians prescribed completeabsence from the sharp Swiss mountain air. Froebel asked to be permittedto resign his post, that he might retire to Berlin. The WillisauInstitution, although outwardly flourishing, was limited more and morenarrowly by the bigotry of the priests, and must evidently now be soongiven up, since the Government had passed into the hands of the Jesuitparty. Langethal and Ferdinand Froebel were nominated Directors ofBurgdorf. [141] Middendorff rejoined his family at Keilhau. Later on, Langethal split off from the community and accepted the directionof a girls' school in Bern (that school which, after Langethal, thewell-known Fröhlich conducted); but Froebel never forgave him this step. Ferdinand Froebel remained, till his sudden and early death, Director ofthe Orphanage at Burgdorf. A public funeral, such as has never found itsequal at Burgdorf, bore witness to the amount of his great labours, andto the general appreciation of their value. 

When Friedrich Froebel came back from Berlin, the idea of an institutionfor the education of little children had fully taken shape in his mind. I took rooms for him in the neighbouring Blankenburg. [142] Long did herack his brains for a suitable name for his new scheme. Middendorff andI were one day walking to Blankenburg with him over the Steiger Pass. He kept on repeating, "Oh, if I could only think of a suitable name formy youngest born!" Blankenburg lay at our feet, and he walked moodilytowards it. Suddenly he stood still as if fettered fast to the spot, and his eyes assumed a wonderful, almost refulgent, brilliancy. Then heshouted to the mountains so that it echoed to the four winds of heaven, "_Eurêka!_ I have it! KINDERGARTEN shall be the name of the newInstitution!"

Thus wrote Barop in or about the year 1862, after he had seen all hisfriends pass away, and had himself become prosperous and the recipientof many honours. The University of Jena made him a doctor, and thePrince of Rudolstadt created him his Minister of Education. Froebelslept in Liebenstein, and Middendorff at the foot of the Kirschberg inKeilhau. They sowed and reaped not; and yet to possess the privilege ofsowing, was it not equivalent in itself to reaping a very great reward?In any event, it is delightful to remember that Froebel, in the Aprilof 1852, the year in which he died (June 21st), received public honoursat the hands of the general congress of teachers held in Gotha. Whenhe appeared that large assembly rose to greet him as one man; andMiddendorff, too, who was inseparable from Froebel, so that when oneappeared the other was not far off, had before his death (in 1853) thejoy of hearing a similar congress at Salzungen declare the system ofFroebel to be of world-wide importance, and to merit on that accounttheir especial consideration and their most earnest examination. 

A few words on Middendorff, culled from Lange's account, may beserviceable. Middendorff was to Froebel as Aaron was to Moses. Froebel, in truth, was "slow of speech and of a slow tongue" (Exod. Iv. 10), andMiddendorff was "his spokesman unto the people" (v. 16). It was thelatter's clearness and readiness of speech which won adherents forFroebel amongst people who neither knew him nor could understand him. In1849 Middendorff had immense success in Hamburg; but when Froebel came, later on, to occupy the ground thus conquered beforehand, he had tocontend against much opposition, for every one missed the easy eloquenceof Middendorff, which had been so convincing. Dr. Wichard Lange came toknow Froebel when the latter visited Hamburg in the winter of 1849-50. At this time he spent almost every afternoon and evening with him, andheld the post of editor of Froebel's _Weekly Journal_. Even after thisclose association with Froebel, he found himself unable thoroughlyto go with the schemes for the education of little children, theKindergarten, and with those for the training of Kindergarten teachers. "Never mind!" said Froebel, out of humour, when Lange told him this; "ifyou cannot come over to my views now, you will do so in ten years' time;but sooner or later, _come you must_!" Dr. Lange nobly fulfilled theprophecy, and the edition of Froebel's collected works (Berlin 1862), from which we derive the present text (and much of the notes), was hisgift of repentance to appease the wrath of the Manes of his departedfriend and master. Nor was he content with this; but by his frequentcommunications to _The Educational Journal_ (_Die Rheinischen Blätter_), originally founded by Diesterweg, and by the Froebelian spirit which hewas able to infuse into the large boys'-school which he long conductedat Hamburg, he worked for the "new education" so powerfully and sounweariedly that he must be always thankfully regarded as one of theprincipal adherents of the great teacher. His connection with theFroebel community was further strengthened by a most happy marriage withthe daughter of Middendorff. 

[1] Johann Jacob Froebel, father of Friedrich, belonged to the OldLutheran Protestant Church. 

[2] These were four (1) August, who went into business, and died young. (2) Christoph, a clergyman in Griesheim, who died in 1813 of the typhus, which then overspread all central Germany, having broken out in theover-crowded hospitals after the battle of Leipzig; he was the father ofJulius, Karl, and Theodor, the wish to benefit whom led their uncleFriedrich to begin his educational work in Griesheim in 1816. (3)Christian Ludwig, first a manufacturer in Osterode, and then associatedwith Friedrich from 1820 onwards, --born 24th June, 1770, died 9thJanuary, 1851. (4) Traugott, who studied medicine at Jena, became amedical man, and was burgomaster of Stadt-Ilm. Friedrich August Wilhelmhimself was born on the 21st April, 1782, and died on the 21st June, 1852. He had no sisters. 

[3] Karl Poppo Froebel, who became a teacher, and finally apublisher, --born 1786; died 25th March, 1824: not to be confounded withhis nephew, Karl, son of Christoph, now living in Edinburgh. 

[4] This needs explanation. In Germany, even by strangers, children areuniversally addressed in the second person singular, which carries withit a certain caressing sentiment. Grown persons would be addressed(except by members of their own family, or intimate friends) in thethird person plural. Thus, if one met a child in the street, one mightsay, _Willst Du mit mir kommen_? (Wilt thou come with me?); whereas toa grown person the proper form would be, _Wollen Sie mit mir kommen_?(Will THEY--meaning, will YOU--come with me?). The mode of speech ofwhich Froebel speaks here is now almost obsolete, and even in his daywas only used to a person of markedly inferior position. Our sentencewould run in this case, _Will Er mit mir kommen_? (Will HE--meaning, will YOU, John or Thomas--come with me?), and carries with it a sort ofcontemptuous superciliousness, as if the person spoken to were beneaththe dignity of a direct address. It is evident, therefore, that to asensitive, self-torturing child like Froebel, being addressed in thismanner would cause the keenest pain; since, as he justly says, it hasthe effect, by the mere form of speech, of _isolating_ the personaddressed. Such a one is not to be considered as of our family, or evenof our rank in life. 

[5] The Cantor would combine the duties of precentor (whence his title), leading the church singing and training the choristers, with those ofthe schoolmaster of the village boys' school. In large church-schoolsthe Cantor is simply the choir-master. The great Bach was Cantor of theThomas-Schule, Leipzig. 

[6] It will be remembered that this letter is addressed to the Duke ofMeiningen. 

[7] "Arise, my heart and spirit, " and "It costs one much (it is adifficult task) to be a Christian. "

[8] Christoph Froebel is here meant. He studied at the University ofJena. 

[9] In this case Froebel's usually accurate judgment of his owncharacter seems at fault; his opinions being always most decided, evento the point of sometimes rendering him incapable of fairly appreciatingthe views of others. 

[10] Froebel is alluding to his undertaking the education of his brotherChristoph's sons, in November 1816, when he finally decided to devotehis life to the cause of education. 

[11] At the time Froebel was writing this autobiographical letter(1827), and seeking thereby to enlist the Duke of Meiningen's sympathiesin his work, in order to found a fresh institution at Helba, he wasundergoing what was almost a persecution at Keilhau. All associations ofprogressive men were frowned upon as politically dangerous, and Keilhau, amongst the rest, was held in suspicion. Somewhat of this is seen in theinteresting account by Barop further on ("Critical Moments at Keilhau"). 

[12] Herr Hoffmann, a clergyman, representing the State in Church matterfor the district of Stadt-Ilm; a post somewhat analogous to that of ourarchdeacon. 

[13] Equal to an English middle-class school. 

[14] The Ilm, flowing through Thuringia into the Saale, a tributary ofthe Elbe. Oberweissbach is upon the Schwarza, also flowing into theSaale. Weimar stands upon the Ilm, Jena upon the Saale. 

[15] Superintendents. The _ephors_ of ancient Sparta amongst theirduties had that of the superintendence of education, whence the Germantitle. 

[16] This story is not now popular, but its nature is sufficientlyindicated in the text. 

[17] Christoph and Traugott. 

[18] In Germany a _Forstmann_, or forester, if he has studied forestcultivation in a School of Forestry, rises eventually to the position ofsupervisor of forests (_Forst-meister_). The forester who does not studyremains in the inferior position. 

[19] In the German State forests, the timber, when cut down, isfrequently not transported by road, but is made to slide down themountain-sides by timber-shoots into the streams or rivers; it is thenmade up into rafts, and so floated down to its destination. 

[20] Jussieu's natural system of botany may possibly be here alludedto. The celebrated "Genera Plantarum" appeared in 1798, and Froebel wasat Jena in 1799. On the other hand, A. J. G. Batsch, Froebel's teacher, professor at the university since 1789, had published in 1787-8 his"Anleitung zur Kentniss und Geschichte der Pflanzen, " 2 vols. We havenot seen this work. Batsch also published an "Introduction to the Studyof Natural History, " which reached a second edition in 1805. 

[21] In justice to Froebel and his teacher, it must be remembered thatthe theory of evolution was not as yet formed, and that those who dimlysought after some explanation of the uniformity of the vertebrate plan, which they observed, were but all too likely to be led astray. 

[22] The text (Lange, Berlin, 1862) says _meinen ältesten Bruder_, thatis, "of my eldest brother;" but this is quite an error, whether ofFroebel or of Herr Lange we cannot at present say. As we have alreadysaid in a footnote on p. 3, August was the eldest brother of Friedrich, and Christoph was the eldest then living. Traugott, who was at Jena withFriedrich, was his next older brother, youngest of the first family, except only Friedrich himself. It is Traugott who is meant in thispassage. 

[23] "In carcer;" that is, in the prison of the university, where in thelast resort students who fail to comply with university regulations areconfined. The "carcer" still exists in German universities. It has ofcourse nothing to do with the ordinary prison of the town. 

[24] The Prince-Bishop of Bamberg shared in the general Napoleonicearthquake. The domain of the bishopric went to Bavaria ultimately, thetitle alone remaining to the Church. 

[25] Shared the fate of the Bamberg possessions, and of many otherprincipalities and small domains at that time existent; namely, absorption under the Napoleonic _régime_ into the neighbouring States. This went to Bavaria; see the text, later on. 

[26] Bruno, or the Over-Soul. 

[27] "General Intelligencer of the German people. "

[28] Upper Palatinate, a province in the north of Bavaria. 

[29] Herr Von Dewitz, his employer. 

[30] The Pädagogium in Halle answered somewhat to our grammar schoolswith a mixture of boarders and day-scholars. It was founded by Franckein 1712, after the ideas of the famous Basedow, and was endowed by meansof a public subscription. 

[31] These were two pamphlets by the famous patriot and poet ErnstMoritz Arndt (1769-1860), published in 1805. 

[32] That is, Froebel realised the distinction of the subject-world fromthe object-world. 

[33] That is, he signed Wilhelm Froebel instead of Friedrich Froebel, for a time. It cannot have been for long, however. 

[34] The young man mentioned on page 39. 

[35] The pretty district bordering the river Ucker, in pleasing contrastwith the sandy plains of Brandenburg; it lies at no great distance fromBerlin, so that it forms the favourite goal for a short excursion withthe people of that arid city. 

[36] Whither Luther fled for refuge after the Diet of Worms in 1521; andwhere, protected by the Elector of Saxony, he lay concealed for a year. During this year he translated the Bible. 

[37] Held all over Protestant Germany in 1817. 

[38] Our children still in like manner "say their catechism" atafternoon church in old-fashioned country places. 

[39] This school, still in existence up to 1865 and later, but now nolonger in being, had been founded under Gruner, a pupil of Pestalozzi, to embody and carry out the educational principles of the latter. 

[40] There is a smaller town called Frankfurt, on the Oder. "Am Main, "or "An der Oder, " is, therefore, added to the greater or the smallerFrankfurt respectively, for distinction's sake. 

[41] He never does, for this interesting record remains a fragment. 

[42] Situate at the head of the lake of Neuchatel, but in the canton ofVaud, in Switzerland. 

[43] Austria was not the only country alive to the importance of thisnew teaching. Prussia and Holland also sent commissioners to studyPestalozzi's system, and so did many other smaller states. The Czar(Alexander I. ) sent for Pestalozzi to a personal interview at Basel. 

[44] _Wandernde Classen. _ Some of our later English schools have adopteda similar plan. 

[45] One of Pestalozzi's teachers, to whom especially was confided thearrangement of the arithmetical studies. 

[46] By positive instruction Froebel means learning by heart, or bybeing told results; as distinguished from actual education ordevelopment of the faculties, and the working out of results by pupilsfor themselves. 

[47] This must mean the system invented by Rousseau, a moderndevelopment of which is the Chevé system now widely used on theContinent. In England the tonic-sol-fa notation, which uses syllablesinstead of figures, but which rests fundamentally on the sameprinciples, is much more familiar. 

[48] _"Geht und schaut, es geht ungehür (ungeheuer). "_

[49] The miserable quarrels between Niederer and Schmid, which sodistressed the later years of Pestalozzi, are here referred to. 

[50] A Consistorium in Germany is a sort of clerical council orconvocation, made up of the whole of the Established clergy of aprovince, and supervising Church and school matters throughout thatprovince, under the control of the Ministry of Religion and Education. No educator could establish a school or take a post in a school withoutthe approval of this body. 

[51] That is, the education of other minds than his own; somethingbeyond mere school-teaching. 

[52] _Einertabelle_; tables or formulas extending to units only; asystem embodied to a large extent in Sonnenschein's "ABC of Arithmetic, "for teaching just the first elements of the art. 

[53] Like other matters, this, too, has been left undone, as far as thepresent (unfinished) letter is concerned. 

[54] _Erdkunde. _

[55] _Recht schreiben. _

[56] _Recht sprechen. _

[57] One of Arndt's pamphlets, then quite new. 

[58] 1827. 

[59] He would have refused to countenance Froebel's throwing up hisengagement. 

[60] Georg Friedrich Seller (1733-1807), a Bavarian by birth, became ahighly-esteemed clergyman in Coburg. He wrote on religious and moralsubjects, and those amongst the list of his works, the most likely to bealluded to by Froebel, are "A Bible for Teachers, " "Methods of ReligiousTeaching for Schools, " "Religious Culture for the Young, " etc. 

[61] Jean Paul Friedrich Richter (1763-1825). No doubt the celebrated"Levana, " Richter's educational masterpiece, which was published in thissame year, 1807, is here alluded to. 

[62] 1808. 

[63] This is in 1827. But the expression of his thought remained adifficult matter with Froebel to the end of his life, a drawback towhich many of his friends have borne witness; for instance, Madame vonMarenholtz-Bülow. 

[64] Probably done with the point of a knitting needle, etc. The designis then visible on the other side of the paper in an embossed form. 

[65] This account is dated 1827, it is always necessary to remember. 

[66] After all, the work was left to Froebel himself to do. These wordswere written in 1827. The "Menschen Erziehung" of Froebel ("Educationof Man"), which appeared the year before, had also touched upon thesubject. It was further developed in his "Mutter und Koselieder"("Mother's Songs and Games"), in which his first wife assisted him. Thatappeared in 1838. In the same year was also founded the _Sonntags-Blatt_(_Sunday Journal_), to which many essays and articles on this subjectwere contributed by Froebel. The third volume ("Pädagogik") of Dr. Wichard Lange's complete edition of Froebel's works is largely made upof these _Sonntags-Blatt_ articles. The whole Kindergarten system restsmainly on this higher view of children's play. 

[67] A report that Froebel drew up for the Princess Regent of Rudolstadtin 1809, giving a voluminous account of the theory and practice pursuedat Yverdon (Wichard's "Froebel, " vol. I. , p. 154). 

[68] The castle of Yverdon, an old feudal stronghold, which Pestalozzihad received from the municipality of that town in 1804, to enable himto establish a school and work out his educational system there. 

[69] Froebel desired to see in Rudolstadt, or elsewhere in Thuringia(his "native land"), an institution like that of Pestalozzi at Yverdon;and he sought to interest the Princess Regent of Rudolstadt by the fullaccount of Yverdon already mentioned. 

[70] This would scarcely seem probable to those who admire and lovePestalozzi. But we must remember that religious teaching appeals sointimately to individual sympathies that it is quite possible that whatwas of vital service to many others was not of so much use to Froebel, who was, as he frankly admits, out of harmony on many points with hisnoble-hearted teacher. 

[71] That the boys' characters were immersed in an element ofstrengthening and developing games as the body is immersed in the waterof a strengthening bath, seems to be Froebel's idea. 

[72] Sanskrit is here probably meant. 

[73] Hebrew and Arabic. 

[74] The comet of 1811, one of the most brilliant of the presentcentury, was an equal surprise to the most skilled astronomers as toFroebel. Observations of its path have led to a belief that it has aperiod of 300 years; so that it was possibly seen by our ancestors in1511, and may be seen by our remote descendants in 2111. The appearanceof this comet was synchronous with an unusually fine vintage harvest, and "wine of the great Comet year" was long held in great esteem. 

[75] _Geognosie. _

[76] The Plamann School, an institution of considerable merit. Plamannwas a pupil of Pestalozzi. One of the present writers studiedcrystallography later on with a professor who had been a colleague ofFroebel's in this same school, and who himself was also a pupil ofPestalozzi. 

[77] Froebel is here symbolically expressing the longing which pervadedall noble spirits at that time for a free and united Germany, for agreat Fatherland. The tender mother's love was symbolised by the ties ofhome (Motherland), but the father's strength and power (Fatherland) wasonly then to be found in German national life in the one or two largestates like Prussia, etc. It needed long years and the termination ofthis period of preparation by two great wars, those of 1866 and of 1870, to bind the whole people together, and make Germany no longer a"geographical expression" but a mighty nation. 

[78] In the beginning of this great contest it was Prussia who declaredwar against the common enemy and oppressor, Napoleon. The other Germanpowers, for the most part, held aloof. 

[79] The Baron von Lützow formed his famous volunteer corps in March1813. His instructions were to harass the enemy by constant skirmishes, and to encourage the smaller German states to rise against the tyrantNapoleon. The corps became celebrated for swift, dashing exploits insmall bodies. Froebel seems to have been with the main body, and to haveseen little of the more active doings of his regiment. Their favouritetitle was "Lützow's Wilde Verwegene Schaar" (Lützow's Wild Bold Troop). Amongst the volunteers were many distinguished men; for instance, thepoet Körner, whose volume of war poetry, much of it written during thecampaign, is still a great favourite. One of the poems, "Lützow's WildeJagd" ("Lützow's Wild Chase"), is of world-wide fame through the musicalsetting of the great composer Weber. In June 1813 came the armistice ofwhich Froebel presently speaks. During the fresh outbreak of war afterthe armistice the corps was cut to pieces. It was reorganised, and wefind it on the Rhine in December of the same year. It was finallydissolved after Napoleon's abdication and exile to Elba, 20th April, andthe peace of Paris 30th May, 1814. 

[80] _Die Grafschaft Mark. _ The Mark of Brandenburg (so called as beingthe mark or frontier against Slavic heathendom in that direction duringthe dark ages) is the kernel of the Prussian monarchy. It was in thecharacter of Markgraf of Brandenburg, that the Hohenzollern princeswere electors of the German Empire; their title as king was due not toBrandenburg, but to the dukedom of Prussia in the far east (once theterritory of the Teutonic military order), which was elevated to therank of an independent kingdom in 1701. The title of the present Emperorof Germany still begins "William, Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia. Markgraf of Brandenburg, " etc. , etc. , showing the importance attached tothis most ancient dignity. The Mark of Brandenburg contains Berlin. Middendorff seems to have been then living in the Mark. Froebel cannothave forgotten that by origin Wilhelm Middendorff was a Westphalian. 

[81] Of Bauer little further is to be known. He was afterwards professorin the Frederick-William Gymnasium (Grammar School) in Berlin, but hasno further connection with Froebel's career. On the other hand, afew words on Langethal and Middendorff seem necessary here. HeinrichLangethal was born in Erfurt, September 3rd, 1792. He joined Froebel atKeilhau in 1817. He was a faithful colleague of Froebel's there, andat Willisau and Burgdorf, but finally left him at the last place, andundertook the management of a girls' school at Bern. He afterwardsbecame a minister in Schleusingen, returning eventually to Keilhau. Oneof the present writers saw him there in 1871. He was then quite blind, but happy and vigorous, though in his eightieth year. He died in 1883. Wilhelm Middendorff, the closest and truest friend Froebel ever had, without whom, indeed, he could not exist, because each formed thecomplement of the other's nature, was born at Brechten, near Dortmund, in Westphalia, September 20th, 1793, and died at Keilhau November 27th, 1853, a little over a year after his great master. (Froebel had passedaway at Marienthal July 21st, 1852. )

[82] "Ansichten vom Nieder Rhein, Flandern, Holland, England, Frankreichin April, Mai, und Juni 1790" ("Sketches on the Lower Rhine, Flanders, "etc. ). Johann Georg Forster (1754-1794), the author of this book, accompanied his father, the naturalist, in Captain Cook's journey roundthe world. He then settled in Warrington (England) in 1767; taughtlanguages, and translated many foreign books into English, etc. He leftEngland in 1777, and served many princes on the Continent as librarian, historiographer, etc. , amongst others the Czarina Catherine. He waslibrarian to the Elector of Mainz when the French Revolution broke out, and was sent as a deputation to Paris by the republicans of that town, who desired union with France. He died at Paris in 1794. His prose isconsidered classical in Germany, having the lightness of French andthe power of English gained through his large knowledge of thoseliteratures. 

[83] The Mark of Brandenburg. 

[84] It is to be regretted that Froebel has not developed thispoint more fully. He speaks of "die Betrachtung des Zahlensinnes inhorizontaler oder Seiten-Richtung, " and one would be glad of furtherdetails of this view of number. We think that the full expressionof the thought here shadowed out, is to be found in the Kindergartenoccupations of mat-weaving, stick-laying, etc. , in their arithmeticalaspect. Certainly in these occupations, instead of number being built upas with bricks, etc. , it is laid along horizontally. 

[85] Carl Christian Friedrich Krause, an eminent philosopher, and themost learned writer on freemasonry in his day, was born in 1781. AtEisenberg, in Saxony. From 1801 to 1804 he was a professor at Jena, afterwards teaching in Dresden, Göttingen, and Munich, at which latterplace he died in 1832. 

[86] Lorenz Oken, the famous naturalist and man of science, was born atRohlsbach, in Swabia, 1st August, 1779. (His real name was Ockenfuss. )In 1812 Oken was appointed ordinary professor of natural history atJena, and in 1816 he founded his celebrated journal, the _Isis_, devotedchiefly to science, but also admitting comments on political matters. The latter having given offence to the Court of Weimar, Oken was calledupon either to resign his professorship or suppress the _Isis_. Hechose the former alternative, sent in his resignation, transferred thepublication of the _Isis_ to Rudolstadt, and remained at Jena as aprivate teacher of science. In 1821 he broached in the _Isis_ the ideaof an annual gathering of German _savants_, and it was carried outsuccessfully at Leipzig in the following year. To Oken, therefore, maybe indirectly ascribed the genesis of the annual scientific gatheringscommon on the Continent, as well as of the British Association for theAdvancement of Science, which at the outset was avowedly organised afterhis model. He died in 1851. 

[87] Those acquainted with the classical mythology will forgive us fornoting that Charybdis was, and is, a whirlpool on the Sicilian shore ofthe Straits of Messina, face to face with some caverns under the rock ofScylla, on the Italian shore, into which the waves rush at high tidewith a roar not unlike a dog's bark. 

[88] The peculiar dreamy boy, who by his nature was set against much ofhis work, and therefore seemed but an idle fellow to his schoolmaster, was thought to be less gifted than his brothers, and on that accountfitted not so much for study as for simple practical life. InOberweissbach he was set down as "moonstruck. " All this is more fullyset forth in the Meiningen letter, and the footnotes to it. 

[89] This was the time when he was apprenticed to the forester inNeuhaus, in the Thüringer Wald, and necessarily studied mathematics, nature, and the culture of forest trees. Eyewitnesses have described himas extremely peculiar in all his ways, even to his dress, which wasoften fantastic. He was fond of mighty boots and great waving feathersin his green hunter's-hat, etc. 

[90] _i. E. _, Frankfurt. 

[91] Architecture, etc. , at this time. 

[92] From Mecklenburg to Frankfurt. 

[93] _i. E. _, as an architect. 

[94] His plan evidently was to use architecture, probably Gothicarchitecture, as a means of culture and elevation for mankind, and notmerely to practise it to gain money. 

[95] It was in 1805 that Froebel was appointed by Gruner teacher in theNormal School at Frankfurt. 

[96] 1. Teacher in the Model School. 2. Tutor to the sons of Herr vonHolzhausen near Frankfurt. 3. A resident at Yverdon with Pestalozzi. 

[97] Froebel was driven to Yverdon by the perusal of some ofPestalozzi's works which Gruner had lent him. He stayed with Pestalozzifor a fortnight, and returned with the resolve to study further with thegreat Swiss reformer at some future time. In 1807, he became tutor toHerr von Holzhausen's somewhat spoilt boys, demanded to have the entirecontrol of them, and for this object their isolation from their family. The grateful parents, with whom Froebel was very warmly intimate, alwayskept the rooms in which he dwelt with his pupils exactly as they were atthat time, in remembrance of his remarkable success with these boys. Madame von Holzhausen had extraordinary influence with Froebel, and hecontinued in constant correspondence with her. In 1808 Froebel and hispupils went to Yverdon, and remained till 1810. But the philosophicgroundwork of Pestalozzi's system failed to satisfy him. Pestalozzi'swork started from the external needs of the poorest people, whileFroebel desired to found the columns supporting human culture upontheoretically reasoned grounds and upon the natural sciences. Aremarkable difference existed between the characters of the two greatmen. Pestalozzi was diffident, acknowledged freely his mistakes, andsometimes blamed himself for them bitterly; Froebel never thoughthimself in the wrong, if anything went amiss always found some externalcause for the failure, and in self-confidence sometimes reached anextravagant pitch. 

[98] Either Froebel or his editor has made a blunder here. Froebel wentto Göttingen in July 1811 (see p. 84), and to Berlin in October 1812(see p. 89). 

[99] At this time, however, the symbols of the inorganic world did notappeal to Froebel with the same force as those of the organic world. Ina letter to Madame von Holzhausen. 31st March, 1831, he writes: "It isthe highest privilege of natural forms or of natural life that theycontain agreement and perfection within themselves as a whole class, while differing and filled with imperfection in particular individuals;for look at the loveliest blooming fruit-tree, the sweetest rose, thepurest lily, and your eye can always detect deficiencies, imperfections, differences in each one, regarded as a single phenomenon, a separatebloom; and, further, the same want of perfection appears also in everysingle petal: on the other hand, wherever mathematical symmetry andprecise agreement are found, _there is death_". 

[100] Not a figure of speech altogether; for Froebel did really declinea professorship of mineralogy which was offered him at this time, inorder to set forth on his educational career. 

[101] That is, putting development into a formula--

Thesis-+-Antithesis | Synthesis. 

The true synthesis is that springing from the thesis and its opposite, the antithesis. Another type of the formula is this--

Proposition-+-Counter-proposition | Compromise. 

Understanding by "Compromise" (_Vermittlung_) that which results fromthe union of the two opposites, that which forms part of both and whichlinks them together. The formula expressed in terms of human life, forexample, is--

Father-+-Mother | Child. 

Philosophic readers acquainted with Hegel and his school will recognisea familiar friend in these formulæ. 

[102] Froebel travelled from Berlin to Osterode, and took with him bothhis brother Christian's sons, Ferdinand and Wilhelm, to Griesheim; thereto educate them together with the three orphans of his brotherChristoph, who had died in 1813, of hospital fever, whilst nursing theFrench soldiers. Of the sons of Christian, Ferdinand studied philosophy, and at his death was director of the Orphanage founded by Froebel inBurgdorf; Wilhelm, who showed great talent, and was his uncle'sfavourite nephew, died early through the consequences of an accident, just after receiving his "leaving certificate" from the gymnasium ofRudolstadt. 

As regards the sons of Christoph, they were the immediate cause ofFroebel's going to Griesheim, for their widowed mother sent for herbrother-in-law to consult him as to their education. Julius, the eldest, was well prepared in Keilhau for the active life he was afterwardsdestined to live. He went from school to Munich, first, to study thenatural sciences; and while yet at the university several publicationsfrom his pen were issued by Cotta. Later on he took an official post inWeimar, and continued to write from time to time. Meanwhile he completedhis studies in Jena and Berlin under Karl von Ritter, the greatauthority on cosmography, and under the distinguished naturalist, Alexander von Humboldt. In 1833 he became Professor at the PolytechnicSchool in Zurich; but his literary avocations eventually drew him toDresden. Here he was chosen Deputy to the National Assembly at Frankfurtin 1848. After the dissolution of that Assembly, Julius Froebel, incommon with many others of the more advanced party, was condemned todeath. He escaped to Switzerland before arrest, and fled to New York. Inafter life he was permitted to return to Germany, and eventually he wasappointed Consul at Smyrna. 

Karl Froebel, the next son, went to Jena also. He then took a tutorshipin England, and it was at this time (1831) that his pamphlet, "APreparation for Euclid, " appeared. He returned to the Continent tobecome Director of the Public Schools at Zürich. He left Zürich in 1848for Hamburg, where he founded a Lyceum for Young Ladies. Some yearslater, when this had ceased to exist, he went again to England, andeventually founded an excellent school at Edinburgh with the aid of hiswife; which, indeed, his wife and he still conduct. His daughters showgreat talent for music, and one of them was a pupil of the distinguishedpianist, Madame Schumann (widow of the great composer). 

[103] Or, as we say, A is A. 

[104] A great deal of Froebel's irony might all too truly be stillapplied to current educational work. 

[105] Empiricism--that is, _a posteriori_ investigations, based onactual facts and not _a priori_ deductions from theories, or generallaws, did good service before Froebel's time, and will do good serviceyet, Froebel notwithstanding. In Froebel's time the limits Kant so trulyset to the human understanding were overstepped on every side; Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel were teaching, and the latter especially hadan overpowering influence upon all science. Every one constructed aphilosophy of the universe out of his own brain. Krause, the recipientof this letter, never attained to very great influence, though had hebeen in Hegel's chair he might perhaps have wielded Hegel's authority, and there was for a long time a great likelihood of his appointment. Meanwhile he reconstructed the university at Göttingen. Even practicalstudents of Nature, such as Oken, did homage to the general tendencywhich had absorbed all the eager spirits of the vanguard of humanadvancement, amongst them Froebel himself. We see how firmly set Froebelwas against experience-teaching, _a posteriori_ work, or, as he callsit, empiricism. The Kantist, Arthur Schopenhauer, was not listened to, and dwelt apart, devouring his heart in bitter silence; breaking out atlast with the dreary creed of Pessimism. 

[106] Froebel is here hardly fair. How should people know much of him asyet? He had at this time written the following works:--(1) "On theUniversal German Educational Institute of Rudolstadt" (1822); (2)"Continuation of the Account of the Universal German EducationalInstitute at Keilhau" (1823); (3) "Christmas at Keilhau: a ChristmasGift to the Parents of the Pupils at Keilhau, to the Friends and theMembers of the Institute" (1824); (4) "The Menschen Erziehung, " the fulltitle of which was "The Education of Man: The Art of Education, Instruction, and Teaching, as attempted to be realised at the UniversalEducational Institute at Keilhau, set forth by the Originator, Founder, and Principal of the Institute, Friedrich Froebel" (1826), nevercompleted; (5) _Family Weekly Journal of Education for Self-culture andthe Training of Others_, edited by Friedrich Froebel, Leipzig andKeilhau. But Froebel, in his unbusiness-like way, published all theseproductions privately. They came out of course under every disadvantage, and could only reach the hands of learned persons, and those to whomthey were really of interest, by the merest chance. Further, Froebel, ashas already abundantly appeared, was but a poor author. His stiff, turgid style makes his works in many places most difficult tounderstand, as the present translators have found to their cost, and hewas therefore practically unreadable to the general public. In his usualself-absorbed fashion, he did not perceive these deficiencies of his, nor could he be got to see the folly of private publication. Indeed, onthe contrary, he dreamed of fabulous sums which one day he was torealise by the sale of his works. It is needless to add that the eventproved very much the reverse. As to criticism, it was particularly the"able editor" Harnisch who pulled to pieces the "Menschen Erziehung" sopitilessly on its appearance, and who is probably here referred to. 

[107] This passage may serve as a sufficient illustration of Froebel'smetaphysical way of looking at his subject. It is scarcely our habit atthe present day to regard the science of being (ontology) as a scienceat all, since it is utterly incapable of verification; but it is notdifficult to trace the important truth really held by Froebel eventhrough the somewhat perplexing folds of scholastic philosophy in whichhe has clothed it. 

[108] See the previous footnote, p. 93. 

[109] These events and situations are fully set forth in the letter tothe Duke of Meiningen, _ante. _

[110] As mineralogist. 

[111] Christian Ludwig Froebel. 

[112] Christoph. 

[113] This younger Langethal afterwards became a Professor in theUniversity of Jena. 

[114] The minister's widow lost her widow's privilege of residence atGriesheim by the death of her father, and bought a farm at Keilhau. 

[115] Froebel told his sister-in-law that he "desired to be a father toher orphaned children. " The widow understood this in quite a special andpeculiar sense, whereof Froebel had not the remotest idea. Later on, when she came to know that Froebel was engaged to another lady, she madeover to him the Keilhau farm, and herself went to live at Volkstädt. 

[116] This young girl, the adopted daughter of the first Madame Froebel, was named Ernestine Chrispine, and afterwards married Langethal. Froebel's first wife, Henrietta Wilhelmine Hoffmeister, was born atBerlin 20th September, 1780, and was therefore thirty-eight at the timeof her marriage. She was a remarkable woman, highly cultured, a pupil ofSchleiermacher and of Fichte. Before her marriage with Froebel she hadbeen married to an official in the War Office, and had been separatedfrom him on account of his misconduct. Middendorff and Langethal knewthe family well, and had frequently spoken with Froebel about this lady, who was admired and respected by both of them. Froebel saw her once inthe mineralogical museum at Berlin, and was wonderfully struck by her, especially because of the readiness in which she entered into hiseducational ideas. When afterwards he desired to marry, he wrote to thelady and invited her to give up her life to the furtherance of thoseideas with which she had once shown herself to be so deeply penetrated, and to become his wife. She received his proposal favourably, but herfather, an old War Office official, at first made objections. Eventuallyshe left her comfortable home to plunge amidst the privations andhardships of all kinds abundantly connected with educational struggles. She soon rose to great honour with all the little circle, and was deeplyloved and most tenderly treated by Froebel himself. In her willingnessto make sacrifices and her cheerfulness under privations, she set themall an example. She died at Blankenburg in May 1839. 

[117] The expected dowry was never forthcoming, which made mattersharder. 

[118] Christian had already assisted his brother at Griesheim, andbefore that, to the utmost of his power. The three daughters were (1)Albertine, born 29th December, 1801, afterwards married Middendorff; (2)Emilie, born 11th July, 1804, married Barop, died 18th August, 1860, atKeilhau; (3) Elise, born 5th January, 1814, married Dr. SiegfriedSchaffner, one of the Keilhau colleagues, later on. 

[119] Johannes Arnold Barop, Middendorff's nephew, was born at Dortmund, 29th November, 1802. He afterwards became proprietor and principal ofKeilhau. 

[120] March 1828. 

[121] This excellent man was drowned in the Saale while bathing, soonafter this letter was written. 

[122] He always regarded himself as perfectly tolerant. 

[123] Froebel moved from Griesheim to Keilhau in 1817. 

[124] In 1820. 

[125] It was in 1828 that Barop formally and definitely joined theFroebel community. 

[126] The long turmoil of the Napoleonic wars, the outcome of the FrenchRevolution, ceased in 1815; and the minds of the students and the otheryouths of the country, set free from this terrible struggle for liberty, turned towards the reformation of their own country. Many associationswere formed: perhaps here and there wild talk was indulged in. TheGovernment grew alarmed, and though the students had invariably actedwith perfect legality, all their associations were dispersed andforbidden. 

[127] Christian Froebel and his wife. 

[128] This was 1827-29. 

[129] This is the interesting plan of the Public Educational Institutionand Orphanage in Helba, with which admirers of Froebel are probablyalready well acquainted. It is given in full in Lange's "Froebel, " vol. I. , p. 401. 

[130] Say £100. 

[131] In 1829. 

[132] The Wartensee is a small lake in the canton Luzern, not far fromSempach. 

[133] About 30s. 

[134] Auf Schuster's Rappen, --_i. E. _, on foot. (This was in 1832. )

[135] A small town not far away, still in the canton Luzern. 

[136] This was a familiar name for the devil, till a few years back, inGermany; surprisingly recalling the term "Eumenides" for the GreekFuries, since it originated in a desire to speak of so powerful an enemyin respectful terms, lest he should take offence. 

[137] A Swiss educational writer of great power and charm. His schoolbooks, "Sur la langue maternelle, " are really valuable. 

[138] The editors venture to call attention to these little facts as asample of the extraordinary devotion and sacrifice which Froebel knewhow to inspire in his colleagues. This exchange of Barop and Middendorfftook place in 1833. 

[139] In 1833. 

[140] This regulation is still happily in force. 

[141] In 1836. 

[142] Blankenburg lies on the way from Schwarzburg to Rudolstadt, abouttwo hours' walk away from Keilhau. 

CHRONOLOGICAL ABSTRACT OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF FROEBEL, AND THE FROEBEL COMMUNITY. 

 * * * * *

1770. June 24th. --Birth of Christian Ludwig Froebel. 

1780. Sept. 17th. --Birth of Friedrich Froebel's first wife, Henriette Wilhelmine Hoffmeister, at Berlin. 

 Christian Froebel's wife, Johanna Caroline Mügge, was also born in 1780, on August 28th. 

1782. April 21st. --_Birth of Friedrich Froebel_, at Oberweissbach, Thuringia. 

1792. Froebel is sent to Superintendent Hoffman in Stadt Ilm. 

 Sept. 3rd. --Birth of Heinrich Langethal, at Erfurt. 

1793. Sept. 20. --Birth of Wilhelm Middendorff, at Brechten, near Dortmund, in Westphalia. 

1797. Froebel is sent to Neuhof in the Thuringian Forest to learn forestry. 

1799. Froebel returns home; goes thence as student to Jena. 

1801. He leaves Jena (having closed his career there with nine weeks' imprisonment for debt), and soon afterwards begins to study farming with a relative of his father's at Hildburghausen. 

 Dec. 29th. --Birth of Albertine Froebel (Madame Middendorff), eldest daughter of Christian Froebel. 

1802. Death of Froebel's father. Froebel becomes Actuary to the Forestry Department of the Episcopal State of Bamberg. 

 Nov. 29th. --Birth of Johannes Arnold Barop, at Dortmund, in Westphalia. 

1803. Froebel goes to Bamberg, and takes part in the governmental land survey, necessary upon the change of government, Bamberg now passing to Bavaria. 

1804. He takes, one after the other, two situations as secretary and accountant of a large country estate, first, that of Herr von Völdersdorf in Baireuth, afterwards that of Herr von Dewitz in Gross Milchow, Mecklenburg. 

 July 11th. --Birth of Emilie Froebel (Madame Barop), second daughter of Christian Froebel. 

1805. Death of Froebel's maternal uncle, Superintendent Hoffman. Froebel determines to become an architect, and sets out for Frankfurt to study there. Becomes, however, teacher in the Model School at Frankfurt, on Gruner's invitation. Visits Pestalozzi, at Yverdon, for a short time. 

1807. He becomes tutor in the family of Herr von Holzhausen in the suburbs of Frankfurt. 

1808. He goes to Pestalozzi at Yverdon with his pupils. 

1809. He draws up an account of Pestalozzi's work for the Princess of Rudolstadt. 

1810. Froebel returns to Frankfurt from Yverdon. 

1811. He goes to the University of Göttingen. 

1812. He proceeds thence to the University of Berlin. 

1813. Froebel, Langethal, and Middendorff enlist in Lützow's regiment of Chasseurs, a volunteer corps enrolled to take part in the resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Prussia. 

1814. Jan. 5th. --Birth of Elise Froebel (Madame Schaffner), Christian's youngest daughter. 

 After the Peace of Paris (May 30th, 1814) Froebel is appointed assistant in the Mineralogical Museum of the University of Berlin, and takes his post there in August. 

1816. Nov. 13th. --Froebel founds his "Universal German Educational Institute" in Griesheim. 

1817. Transference of the School to Keilhau. Arrival of Langethal and Middendorff. 

1818. First marriage of Froebel. 

1820. Christian Froebel arrives at Keilhau with his wife and daughters Froebel writes "To the German people. "

1821. Froebel publishes (privately) "Principles, Aims, and Inner Life of the Universal German Educational Institute in Keilhau, " and "Aphorisms. "

1822. He publishes the pamphlets "On German Education, especially as regards the Universal German Educational Institute at Keilhau, " and "On the Universal German Educational Institute at Keilhau. "

1823. He publishes "Continuation of the Account of the Educational Institute at Keilhau. "

1824. He publishes the pamphlet "Christmas at Keilhau. "

1826. Marriages of Langethal and Middendorff. Froebel publishes the "Education of Man" ("Menschen Erziehung"). Later he founds the weekly _Family Journal of Education_. 

1827. Letter to the Duke of Meiningen (translated in this present work), uncompleted, probably never sent to the duke. 

1828. Letter to Krause (partly translated in the present work). Barop formally becomes a member of the Educational Community at Keilhau. 

1829. Plan for a National Educational Institute in Helba, under the auspices of the Duke of Meiningen, now completed, the whole Keilhau community having worked upon it under Froebel's direction. 

1830. Death of Wilhelm Carl, one of the Keilhau community, by drowning in the Saale. 

1831. Froebel breaks with the Duke of Meiningen, and gives up the Helba project. 

 Visit to Frankfurt, and meeting with Schnyder. 

 Acceptance of Schnyder's offer of his Castle at Wartensee. 

 Opening of the Institution at Wartensee by Froebel and his nephew Ferdinand. 

1832. Barop goes to Wartensee. Transference of the School from Wartensee to Willisau. Froebel pays a short visit to Keilhau. 

1833. Froebel brings his wife to Willisau. The Bernese Administration invites him to consider a plan for the foundation of an Orphanage at Burgdorf. He is appointed lecturer for the Repetitive Courses for young teachers held there. Langethal comes from Keilhau to Willisau, Barop returns to Keilhau. 

1835. Froebel, his wife, and Langethal undertake the foundation of the Orphanage for Bern, in Burgdorf. Middendorff and Elise Froebel go from Keilhau to Willisau and join Ferdinand Froebel there. Froebel writes "The New Year 1836 demands a Renewal of Life. "

1836. Froebel and his wife leave Burgdorf for Berlin. Ferdinand Froebel and Langethal take over the direction of the Orphanage. 

1837. Opening of the first Kindergarten in Blankenburg. 

1838. Commencement of Froebel's _Sunday Journal_. 

1839. Froebel and Middendorff go to Dresden. Death of Madame Froebel. 

1840. Guttenberg Festival (400th anniversary of the invention of printing). Opening of the Universal German Kindergarten at Blankenburg, as a joint-stock company. Froebel and Middendorff in the following years make several journeys from Keilhau to various parts of Germany endeavouring to promote the erection of Kindergartens. 

1848. General Congress of Teachers, called by Froebel, at Rudolstadt. Second journey of Froebel to Dresden in the autumn. 

1849. Froebel settles at Liebenstein intending to train Kindergarten teachers there. Work at Hamburg, first by Middendorff, then by Froebel. 

1850. Froebel returns to Liebenstein. Through the influence of Madame von Marenholtz-Bülow he receives the neighbouring country seat of Marienthal from the Grand Duke of Weimar for the purposes of his Training College. Foundation of a new _Weekly Journal of Education_ by Froebel, edited by Lange. Marriage of Elise Froebel to Dr. Siegfried Schaffner. 

1851. Jan. 9th. --Death of Christian Ludwig Froebel. 

 July. --Second marriage of Froebel, with Luise Levin. First appearance of the _Journal for Friedrich Froebel's Educational Aims_. 

1852. April. --Froebel is called to join the Educational Congress at Gotha, under the presidency of Theodor Hoffman. 

 June 21. --_Death of Froebel. _ His educational establishment at Marienthal is removed to Keilhau, under the superintendence of Middendorff. Madame Luise Froebel also assists to train students in the methods of the Kindergarten at Keilhau. 

1853. Middendorff enthusiastically received at the Congress at Salzungen, when addressing it on the Froebelian methods. 

 Nov. 27th. --Death of Middendorff. Madame Luise Froebel, for a time, directs Keilhau. 

1854. Madame Luise Froebel goes in the spring to Dresden, to assist Dr. Marquart in his Kindergarten and training establishment for Kindergarten teachers. Madame Marquart had been a pupil of Froebel. Keilhau ceases to be a training school for Kindergarten teachers. 

 In the autumn Madame Luise Froebel accepts the directorship of the Public Free Kindergarten in Hamburg, and trains students there. (She is still actively employed at Hamburg in the cause of the Kindergarten; 1886. )

 First introduction of the Kindergarten system into England by Miss Prætorius, who founds a Kindergarten at Fitzroy Square. Madame von Marenholtz Bülow, who was the support of Froebel's latest years, whose influence with the Grand Duke of Weimar procured him Marienthal, and whose whole leisure and power was devoted to his service, and to the interpretation of his ideas, comes to England to lecture and write in support of the cause of the Kindergarten. Publishes a pamphlet on "Infant Gardens, " in English. 

 Madame Ronge introduces the Kindergarten system at Manchester; and shortly afterwards the Manchester Kindergarten Association is founded. 

1859. Miss Eleonore Heerwart (pupil of Middendorff and Madame Luise Froebel), and the Baroness Adèle von Portugall (pupil of Madame von Marenholtz-Bülow and of Madame Schrader, the great niece of Froebel), come to England, and are both engaged at Manchester as Kindergarten teachers, but not in the same establishment. 

1860. August 18th. --Death of Madame Barop (Emilie Froebel). 

1861. The Baroness Bertha Von Marenholtz-Bülow promotes the foundation of the Journal _The Education of the Future_, and Dr. Carl Schmidt of Coethen undertakes the editorship. 

1874. April. --Madame Michaelis comes to England to assist the Kindergarten movement. Is appointed in the summer to lecture to the school-board teachers at Croydon. Founds Croydon Kindergarten, January 1875, with Mrs. Berry. 

 Nov. --The London School Board appoint Miss Bishop (pupil of Miss Prætorius) as their first lecturer on the Kindergarten System to their teachers of infant schools. About the same time Miss Heerwart (who had left Manchester to found a Kindergarten of her own in Dublin in 1866) is appointed principal of the Kindergarten Training College established at Stockwell by the British and Foreign School Society. 

 The Froebel Society of London is formed by Miss Doreck, Miss Heerwart, Miss Bishop, Madame Michaelis, Professor Joseph Payne, and Miss Manning; Miss Doreck being the first president. Very soon these were joined by Miss Shireff (president since 1877, when Miss Doreck died), by her sister Mrs. William Grey, by Miss Mary Gurney, and by many other well-known friends of educational progress. 

1879. Autumn. --The London Kindergarten Training College is founded by the Froebel Society, but as a separate association (dissolved 1883). 

1880. May. --The Croydon Kindergarten Company (Limited), is founded to extend Madame Michaelis's work in teaching and training, Madame Michaelis becoming the Company's head mistress. 

1882. Langethal died. Celebration of the Centenary of Froebel's birth by a concert, given at Willis's Rooms, London, on the part of the Froebel Society, to raise funds for a memorial Kindergarten at Blankenburg, by a fund raised at Croydon for the same purpose, and by a _soirée_ and conversazione, presided over by Mr. W. Woodall, M. P. , given at the Stockwell Training College by the British and Foreign School Society. 

1883. January. --The Bedford Kindergarten Company (Limited) founded, mainly upon the lines of the Croydon Company. First (and present) head mistress, Miss Sim. 

 Miss Heerwart goes to Blankenburg to found the memorial Kindergarten there. 

1884. International Exhibition, South Kensington (Health and Education). A Conference on Education was held in June, the section devoted to Infant Education being largely taken up with an important discussion of Froebel's principles, in which speakers of other nations joined the English authorities in debate. 

 The British and Foreign Society organised a complete exhibition of Kindergarten work and materials, to which all the chief London Kindergarten establishments (including Croydon) contributed; and most establishments gave lessons in turn, weekly, to classes of children, in order to show publicly the practical application of Kindergarten methods. These lessons were given gratuitously in the rooms devoted to the Kindergarten section of the exhibition. In October this section was closed by a conference of Kindergarten teachers from all England, held in the Lecture Theatre of the Albert Hall. 

 Autumn. --Dr. Wichard Lange, the biographer of Froebel, and collector of Froebel's works (from whose collection the present translation has been made), and by his numerous articles one of the best friends to the advocacy of Froebel's educational principles, died, under somewhat painful circumstances. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF FROEBEL. 

 * * * * *

WALTER, L. Die Froebel-Literatur. 8vo, pp. 198. Dresden. $1. 00

 * * * * *

GESAMMELTE PAEDAGOGISCHE SCHRIFTEN, hrsg. W. Lange. 8vo, 3 vols. [I. Autobiographie; II. Menschenerziehung; III. Pädagogik desKindergartens]. Berlin, 1862. 

PAEDAGOGISCHE SCHRIFTEN, hrsg. Friedrich Seidel. 12mo, 3 vols. [I. Menschen-Erziehung, pp. 330; II. Kindergarten-Wesen, pp. 463; III. Mutter- und Kose-Lieder, pp. 228]. Wien, 1883. 6. 50

MENSCHEN-ERZIEHUNG. Erziehungs-, Unterrichts-, und Lehrkunst. 12mo, pp. 330. Wien, 1883. 2. 00

THE EDUCATION OF MAN. Translated by Josephine Jarvis. 12mo, pp. 273. New York, 1885. 1. 30

---- The same, translated and annotated by W. N. Hailmann. 12mo, pp. 332. New York, 1887. 1. 50

L'EDUCATION DE L'HOMME. Traduit de l'allemand par la baronne deCrombugghe. 12mo, pp. 394. Paris, 1881. 

MUTTER- UND KOSE-LIEDER. Dichtung und Bilder zur edlen Pflege desKindheitlebens. Ein Familien-buch. 12mo, pp. 228. Wien, 1883. 2. 00

MOTHER'S SONGS, Games and Stories. Froebel's "Mutter- undKose-Lieder" rendered in English by Frances and Emily Lord. Containing the whole of the original illustrations, and the music, rearranged for children's voices, with pianoforthe accompaniment. 8vo, pp. 289. London, 1885. 3. 00

MOTHER-PLAY, and Nursery Songs. Illustrated by Fifty Engravings. With Notes to Mothers. By Friedrich Froebel. Translated from theGerman. 4to, pp. 192. Boston, 1878. 2. 00

THE MOTHER'S BOOK of Song. Two-part Songs for Little Singers, onthe Kindergarten System. The music composed by Lady Baker; editedby G. A. Macfarran. 16mo. New York. 

AUTOBIOGRAPHIE. Berlin, 1862. 

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRIEDRICH FROEBEL. Translated by H. KeatleyMoore and Emilie Michaelis. 12mo, pp. 180. Syracuse, 1889. 1. 50

[This contains the "Letter to the Duke of Meiningen, " never completed, ashorter account of his life in a letter to the philosopher Krause, asketch of Barop's, and a chronology extended from Lange. ]

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FROEBEL. Materials to aid a Comprehension of theWork of the Founder of the Kindergarten. 16mo, pp. 128. New York, 1887. . 30

[This contains the "Letter to the Duke of Meiningen, " Miss LucyWheelock's translation, taken from Barnard's _Journal of Education_. ]

FROEBEL'S EXPLANATION of the Kindergarten System. London, 1886. . 20

 * * * * *

HAUSCHMANN, A. B. Fr. Froebel: die Entwicklung s. Erziehungs-ideein s. Leben. 8vo, pp. 480. Eisenach, 1874. 2. 00

KRIEGE, Matilda H. The Founder of the Kindergarten. A Sketch. 12mo, pp. 29. New York. 

[See also MARENHOLZ-BUELOW, in next list below. ]

MARENHOLZ-BUELOW, Baroness B. Von. Reminiscences of FriedrichFroebel. Translated by Mrs. Horace Mann. With a sketch of the lifeof Friedrich Froebel, by Emily Shirreff. 12mo, pp. 359. Boston, 1877. 1. 50

[See also GOLDAMMER, MARENHOLZ-BUELOW. ]

PHELPS, Wm. F. Froebel (Chautauqua Text-Book, No. 15). 32mo, pp. 54. . 10

SHIRREFF, Emily. Froebel: a Sketch of his Life, with Letters tohis Wife. 12mo. London, 1877. 1. 00

[See also MARENHOLZ-BUELOW, above, and SHIRREFF, below. ]

 * * * * *

BAILEY'S Kindergarten System. Boston. . 20

BARNARD, Henry. Papers on Froebel's Kindergarten, with suggestionson principles and methods of Child Culture in different countries. 8vo, pp. 782. Hartford, 1881. 3. 50

BEESAU, Amable. The Spirit of Education. Translated by Mrs. E. M. McCarthy. 16mo, pp. 325. Syracuse, 1881. 1. 25

BERRY, Ada, and Emily MICHAELIS. Kindergarten Songs and Games. 12mo. London. . 75

BUCKLAND, Anna. The Use of Stories in the Kindergarten. 12mo, pp. 17. New York. . 20

---- The Happiness of Childhood. 12mo, pp. 21, in one volume withthe above. New York. . 50

[The two are reprinted in "Essays on the Kindergarten. " below. ]

CARPENTER, Harvey. The Mother's and Kindergartner's Friend. 12mo. Boston, 1884. 1. 00

CHRISTIE, Alice M. See MARENHOLZ-BUELOW, PEREZ, below. 

DOUAI, Adolf. The Kindergarten. A manual for the introduction ofFroebel's System of Primary Education into Public Schools; and forthe use of Mothers and Private Teachers. With 16 plates. 12mo, pp. 136. New York, 1871. 1. 00

DUPANLOUP, Monseigneur. The Child. Translated, with the author'spermission, by Kate Anderson. 12mo, pp. 267. Dublin, 1875. 1. 50

ECKHART, T. Die Arbeit als Erziehungsmittel. 8vo, pp. 23. Wien, 1875. 

ESSAYS ON THE KINDERGARTEN: being a selection of Lectures readbefore the London Froebel Society. 12mo, pp. 149. Syracuse, 1889. 1. 00

[See Buckland, Heerwart, Hoggan, Shirreff. ]

FELLNER, A. Der Volkskindergarten und die Krippe. 12mo, pp. 130. Wien, 1884. 

FRYE, Alex. E. The Child and Nature, or Geography Teaching withSand Modelling. 12mo, pp. 216. Hyde Park, 1888. 1. 00

GOLDAMMER, H. The Kindergarten. A Handbook of Froebel's Method ofEducation, Gifts, and Occupations. With Introduction, etc. , byBaroness B. Von Marenholtz-Bülow. Translated by William Wright. 8vo. Berlin, 1882. 4. 00

---- Gymnastische Spiele und Bildungsmittel für Kinder von 3-8Jahren. 8vo, pp. 195. Berlin, 1875. 

GURNEY, Mary. See KOEHLER, below. 

HAILMANN, W. N. Primary Helps, or Modes of making Froebel's MethodsAvailable in Primary Schools. 2d Ed. 8vo, pp. 58, with 15full-page illustrations. Syracuse, 1889. 1. 00

---- Four Lectures on Early Child Culture. 16mo, pp. 74. Milwaukee. . 50

---- Kindergarten Culture in the Family and Kindergarten. AComplete Sketch of Froebel's System of Early Education, adapted toAmerican Institutions. For the use of Mothers and Teachers. 12mo, pp. 119, and 12 plates. Cincinnati, 1873. . 75

---- The Kindergarten Messenger and The New Education. Vols. V, VI, [completing the series]. 8vo, 2 vols. , pp. 146, 188. Syracuse, 1882, 83. 4. 00

---- Primary Methods. A complete and methodical presentation ofthe use of Kindergarten Material in the work of the PrimarySchool, unfolding a systematic course of Manual Training inconnection with Arithmetic, Geometry, Drawing, and other SchoolStudies. 12mo, pp. 166. New York, 1888. 1. 00

HAILMANN, E. L. Songs, Games, and Rhymes for the Kindergarten. 12mo. Springfield. 1. 75

HEERWART, Eleonore. Music for the Kindergarten. 4to. London, 1877. 1. 25

---- Froebel's Mutter- und Kose-lieder. 12mo, pp. 18

[The last is reprinted in "Essays on the Kindergarten, " above. ]

HOFFMANN, H. Kindergarten Toys, and How to Use Them. Toronto. . 20

---- Kindergarten Gifts. New York. . 15

HOGGAN, Frances E. On the Physical Education of Girls. 12mo, pp. 24. 

[This is reprinted in "Essays on the Kindergarten, " above. ]

HOPKINS, Louisa P. How Shall My Child be Taught? PracticalPedagogy, or the Science of Teaching. Illustrated, 12mo, pp. 276. Boston, 1887. 1. 50

---- Educational Psychology. A Treatise for Parents and Educators. 24mo, pp. 96. Boston, 1886. . 50

HUBBARD, Clara. Merry Songs and Games, for the use of theKindergarten. 4to, pp. 104. St. Louis, 1881. 2. 00

HUGHES, James. The Kindergarten: its Place and Purpose. New York. . 10

JACOBS, J. F. Manuel pratique des Jardins d'Enfants. 4to. Brussels, 1880. 

JOHNSON, Anna. Education by Doing, or Occupations and Busy Workfor Primary Classes. 16mo, pp. 109. New York, 1884. . 75

KINDERGARTEN and the School, by Four Active Workers. 12mo, pp. 146. Springfield, 1886. 1. 00

KOEHLER, A. Die Praxis des Kindergartens. 4to, 3 Vols. , with morethan 60 Plates. Weimar, 1878. 

---- The Same, translated by Mary Gurney. Part I [First Gifts]. 12mo, Ill. London, 1877. 1. 25

KRAUS-BOELTE, Maria, and JOHN KRAUS. The Kindergarten Guide, illustrated. Vol. I [The Gifts]. New York, 1880. 2. 75

---- The Kindergarten and the Mission of Women. New York. . 10

KRIEGE, A. L. Rhymes and Tales for the Kindergarten and Nursery. 12mo, New York. 1. 00

LAURIE'S Kindergarten Manual. New York. . 50

---- Kindergarten Action Songs and Exercises. London. . 15

LYSCHINSKA, Mary. Principles of the Kindergarten. Ill. , 4to, London, 1880. 1. 80

MANN, Mrs. Horace. See MARENHOLZ-BUELOW, above, and PEABODY, below. 

MARENHOLZ-BUELOW, Baroness B. Von. The Child and Child-Nature. Translated by Alice M. Christie. 12mo, pp. 186. Syracuse, 1889. 1. 00

---- The same, translated as "a free rendering of the German" byMatilda H. Kriege, under the title "The Child, its Nature andRelations; an elucidation of Froebel's Principles of Education. "12mo, pp. 148. New York, 1872. 1. 00

---- The School Work-Shop. Translated by Miss Susan E. Blow. 16mo, pp. 27. Syracuse, 1882. . 15

---- Hand-work and Head-work: their relation to one another. Translated by Alice M. Christie. 12mo. London, 1883. 1. 20

MAUDSLEY, H. Sex in Mind and Education. 16mo, pp. 42. Syracuse, 1882. . 15

MEIKLEJOHN, J. M. D. The New Education. 16mo, pp. 35. Syracuse, 1881. . 15

MEYER, Bertha. Von der Wiege his zur Schule. 12mo, pp. 180. Berlin, 1877. 

---- Aids to Family Government, or From the Cradle to the School, according to Froebel. Translated from the second German Edition. To which has been added an essay on The Rights of Children and TheTrue Principles of Family Government, by Herbert Spencer. 16mo, pp. 208. New York, 1879. 1. 50

MOORE, N. A. Kindergartner's Manual of Drawing Exercises for YoungChildren upon Figures of Plane Geometry. 4to, pp. 16, and 17Plates. Springfield. . 50

MORGENSTEIN, Lina. Das Paradies der Kindheit. Eine ausfuhrlicheAnleitung fur Mütter und Erzieherinnen. F. Froebel'sSpiel-Beschäftigungen in Haus und Kindergarten. 2d ed. 8vo, pp. 292. Leipzig, 1878. 

MULLEY, Jane, and M. E. TABRAM. Songs and Games for our LittleOnes. 12mo. London, 1881. . 40

NOA, Henrietta. Plays for the Kindergarten: music by C. J. Richter. 18mo. New York. . 30

PAYNE, Joseph. Froebel and the Kindergarten System. 3d ed. London, 1876. 

[Now rare, but printed in "Lectures on Education, " Syracuse, 1884, $1. 00. ]

---- A Visit to German Schools. London, 1876. 

PEABODY, Elizabeth P. Moral Culture of Infancy, and KindergartenGuide, with Music for the Plays. By Mrs. Horace Mann, andElizabeth P. Peabody. 12mo, pp. 216. Boston, 1863. 2. 00

---- The Education of the Kindergartner. Pittsburgh, 1872. 

---- The Nursery: a Lecture. 

---- The Identification of the Artisan and Artist the Properobject of American Education. 

---- Froebel's Kindergarten, with a letter from Henry Barnard. 12mo, pp. 16. 

---- Lectures in the Training Schools for Kindergartners. 12mo, pp. 226. 

[Includes those on "The Education of the Kindergartner" and "TheNursery, " named above. ]

---- Education in the Home, the Kindergarten, and the PrimarySchool. With an Introduction by E. Adelaide Manning. 12mo, pp. 224. London, 1887. 1. 50

[A reprint of the "Lectures in the Training Schools. "]

---- and Mary MANN. After Kindergarten, what? A primer of Readingand Writing for the Intermediate Class, and Primary Schoolsgenerally. 12mo. New York. . 45

PEREZ, Bernard. The First Three Years of Childhood. Edited andtranslated by Alice M. Christie, with an introduction by JamesSully. 12mo, pp. 294. Syracuse, 1889. 1. 50

PLAYS AND SONGS, for Kindergarten and Family. Springfield. . 50

POLLOCK, Louisa. National Kindergarten Manual. 12mo, pp. 180. Boston, 1889. . 75

---- National Kindergarten Songs and Plays. 12mo, pp. 77. Boston. . 50

---- Cheerful Echoes: from the National Kindergarten for childrenfrom 3 to 10 years of age. 16mo, pp. 76. Boston, 1888. . 50

PREYER, W. The Mind of the Child. 12mo, 2 Vols. New York, 1888. 3. 00

RICHARDS, B. W. Learning and Health. 16mo, pp. 39. Syracuse, 1882. . 15

RICHTER, K. Kindergarten und Schule. Leipzig. 

RONGE, Johann and Bertha. A Practical Guide to the EnglishKindergarten (Children's Garden), for the use of Mothers, Governesses, and Infant Teachers: being an exposition of Froebel'ssystem of Infant Training: accompanied by a variety of Instructiveand Amusing Games, Industrial and Gymnastic Exercises, alsoNumerous Songs set to Music, 11th ed. 4to, pp. 80, and 71 plates. London, 1878. 2. 10

SHIRREFF, Emily. Essays and Lectures on the Kindergarten. Principles of Froebel's System, and their bearing on the HigherEducation of Women, Schools, Family, and Industrial Life. 12mo, pp. 112. Syracuse, 1889. 1. 00

---- Progressive Development according to Froebel's Principles. 12mo, pp. 14. 

---- Wasted Forces. 12mo, pp. 17. 

---- The Kindergarten in Relation to Schools. 12mo, pp. 18. NewYork. . 30

---- The Kindergarten in Relation to Family Life. 12mo, pp. 17. NewYork. . 20

[The last four are given in "Essays on the Kindergarten, " above]

---- Home Education and the Kindergarten. 12mo. London, 1884. . 75

---- The Kindergarten at Home. 12mo. London, 1884. 1. 75

---- Claim of Froebel's System to be called "The New Education. "New York, 1882. . 10

---- Essays and Lectures in the Kindergarten. New York. . 75

SINGLETON, J. E. Occupations and Occupation Games. 12mo, London, 1865. 1. 00

STEELE'S Kindergarten Handbook. New York. . 60

STEIGER'S Kindergarten Tracts. 24 nos. New York. . 10

STRAIGHT, H. H. Aspects of Industrial Education. 8vo, pp. 12. Syracuse, 1883. . 15

THOMPSON, Mrs. Elizabeth. Kindergarten Homes, for Orphans andother Destitute Children; a new way to ultimately Dispense withPrisons and Poor-Houses. 12mo, pp. 128. New York, 1882. 1. 00

WEBER, A. Die vier ersten Schuljahre in Vorbindung mit e. Kindergarten. 8vo, pp. 70. Gotha. . 50

---- Die Geschichte der Volksschulpädagogik und derKleinkindererziehung. 12mo, pp. 339. Dresden, 1877. 

WIEBE, E. The Paradise of Childhood. A Manual for Instruction inF. Froebel's Educational Principles, and a Practical Guide toKindergartners. 4to, pp. 78 and 74 plates. Springfield. 2. 00

---- The Paradise of Childhood: a manual of instruction and apractical guide to Kindergartners. 4to, 74 plates. London, 1888. 4. 00

---- Songs, Music, and Movement Plays. Springfield. 2. 25

WIGGINS'S Kindergarten Chimes. Springfield. 1. 50

WILTSIE'S Stories for Kindergartens and Primary Schools. Boston. . 30

All books of which prices are given may be had of the publisher of thisvolume. 

INDEX. 

Aaron to Froebel's Moses 138Activity at Yverdon 78Actor, life of an 26Adventists, doctrine of 12Æsthetic sense 41Agriculturalist, life of an 24, 140Aim of educational work 11Albums, sentiments in 49, 50Alexander I. Sends for Pestalozzi 54Amrhyn, Herr 135Ante-Darwinian theories 31"Aphorisms" 141Arabic, study of 85Architecture as a profession 45, 46, 48, 50, 51, 108, 141Architectural efforts 41Arithmetic, teaching of 20, 55, 59, 61, 99, 106---- philosophy of 100Arndt, Ernest Moritz 45---- "Fragments of Culture" 62Art, study of 34, 40Art of teaching 24Astronomy 86, 105Attire, peculiarities of 105Augsburg Confession 50Austria interested in Pestalozzi 54

Bach a Cantor 7Baireuth 42, 140Bamberg, life at 38, 47, 140Barop, Johannes Arnold 2, 16, 124, 138, 140, 141, 142---- "Critical Moments" 127-137Batsch, A. J. G. 31Bauer, Herr 92, 93, 100Belief in himself 126Berlin, life at 89, 95, 100, 111, 121, 141, 142Bern 93---- Langethal's school at 137Berry, Mrs. 143, 147Best friend, Froebel's 93, 94Bible biographies 53---- in schools 8"Bible of Education" 63Birth of Froebel 3, 4, 140Bishop, Miss, appointed London lecturer 143Bivouac life agreeable 94Blankenburg 137, 142, 144Boarding-school life 18Book-keeping 43Botany, love of 25, 27, 31, 56, 60Brandenburg, Mark of 92British and Foreign School Society 143, 144Brothers of Froebel. [See Froebel, below. ]Burgdorf, Orphanage at 93, 135, 136, 137, 142

Cantor 7Carl, Herr 124, 142Carus, Professor 38Characteristics in boyhood 7Chemistry 30, 87, 88---- organic 88Chevé system of singing 56Child's need of construction 77Crispine, Ernestine 123Christian education essential 120---- family life 7---- forms 74"Christmas at Keilhau" 141Church and school 8, 19---- attendance 10Class divisions elastic 54Classical education 84---- teaching 99"Come let us live _with_ them" 69Comenius 103Comet of 1811 86Commission of 1810 80Companionship 44Comprehensiveness essential 80Conditions of tutorship 66Confinement in boyhood 6Confirmation 22Congress of teachers at Rudolstadt 142---- at Gotha 142---- at Salzungen 143Construction essential to a child 77"Continuation of the account of Keilhau" 141Contradiction, life freed from 108Cosmical development 89Crisis at Yverdon 80Croydon Kindergarten 143Crystals a witness of life 112Crystallography 89, 97Culture, Froebel's plan of 107---- his own insufficient 109

Death of Froebel 93, 143---- of his father 38---- of his first wife 142Development, analysis to synthesis 118---- of being, laws of 112---- vs. Memorizing 116Devotes himself to study of education 98Dewitz, Herr von 42, 43, 45, 140Diary begun 36Diesterweg 139Divine worship at home 7, 10Doreck, Miss 144Drawing, study of 28, 55, 61, 62Dresden 91, 142, 143Duration of the world 13

Earlier and later life compared 16Early education 3---- mental struggles 14, 16Education _ad hoc_ 23---- aim of 11---- as an object 58---- at Jena 28---- in relationships 70---- purpose of 69---- reaches beyond life 119"Education of Man" 1, 76, 117, 141, 145Educator and teacher 68Energy in play 21---- in rocks 97England, first kindergarten in 143Ephors 21Escape from creditors 128"Exchange classes" 54Expression of thought difficult 73Eyes, deficient power of 30

"Family Journal of Education" 117, 141, 142Family ties 44, 83Father of Froebel. [See Froebel, Johann Jacob. ]---- and mother 118Fatherland vs. Motherland 90Fichte 116, 123Financial difficulties 33, 47, 106, 127, 128First consciousness of self 9---- grasp of the word KINDERGARTEN 137---- idea of a school of his own 68---- work as a teacher 57Following Nature in geography 61Foresight of vocation as a teacher 108Forestry-apprentice 24Form-development 98Form fixed for language 98Forms, study of 75, 76Forster, Johann Georg 94---- "Rhine Travels" 94, 121Francke's Pädagogium 55Frankfurt, life at 47, 50, 57, 141, 142---- Model School 57French, study of 64Froebel, temporary change of name 46---- family---- Johann Jacob, the _Father_ 3, 4, 6, 17, 19, 21, 26, 27, 28, 33, 34, 30, 37, 38, 43, 140 _Brothers. _---- Augustus 3, 32---- Christoph 3, 12, 13, 15, 23, 26, 27, 32, 36, 47, 49, 65, 68, 83, 87, 113, 122 ---- His widow misunderstands Froebel 122---- Julius Karl Theodor 3, 4---- Christian Ludwig 4, 87, 113, 121, 124, 127, 128, 140, 141, 142---- Traugott 4, 23, 28, 32, 33---- Karl Poppo 4, 104 _Nephews. _---- Ferdinand 113, 121, 131, 136, 137, 142---- Wilhelm 113, 121---- Julius 114, 122---- Karl 114, 122 _Nieces. _---- Albertine [Middendorf] 124, 140---- Emilie [Barop] 124, 140, 143---- Elise [Schaffner] 124, 141, 142---- Luise, Madame 143Froebel Society 1, 144Froebel's style as an author 1, 117Fröhlich 137

Games 135---- a mental bath 82Gardening 6, 71Geography, teaching of 60Geology 88, 97Geometry 24, 25, 29, 35German brotherhood 90---- land and people 95---- language teaching 56---- literature 35"German education" 114Gifts, first suggestion of 75Girard, Abbe 134Girls' school at Oberweissbach 8, 9Godlike not alone in the great 97Godmother of Froebel 73Goethe 35Gotha, congress of teachers at 142Göttingen, life at 84, 97, 103, 111, 141Göttling 30Government offices 23, 38, 95Grammar, study of 64Grammarians at odds 64Greek, study of 84, 85Grey, Mrs. William 144Griesheim 122, 124, 141Gross-Milchow 42, 140Gruner, Herr 51, 53, 58, 63, 66, 109, 141---- book on Pestalozzian methods 52Gurney, Mary 144, 147, 149Gymnastic Exercises 135

Halie 45Hamburg 138, 142, 143Hardenburg, Prince 54Harmonious development 55Harnisch 118Havelberg 92, 93, 121Hazel-buds the clue of Ariadne 12Hebrew, study of 85Heerwart, Eleonore 143, 144, 147Hegel 116---- his formulae adopted 113Helba, National Institution at 16, 102, 129, 141Hell, belief in 11, 133Hermes 7Higher methods of teaching 98Hildburghausen 37, 140History 88Hoffmann, Herr 17, 21, 43, 44, 140, 141Hoffman, Thedor 142Hoffmeister, Henrietta Wilhelmine 123, 140Holzhausen, Herr von 110, 141---- Madame von 110, 112Home of Froebel 6, 22, 27, 28---- abandoned 15, 35---- life 21, 22Hopf 56, 69

Identities and analogies sought out 107Iffland's "Huntsman" 26Illusions have a true side 13Impressions of Pestalozzi 54Imprisoned for debt 33, 140Individual life key to the universal 16Inner meaning of the vowels 99Inner law and order 87Instrumental music derived from vocal 82Introspection a characteristic 4, 11, 25, 46, 49, 56, 72, 103, 104, 109, 115"Isis" 102, 117Isolation of Froebel 4, 5, 91, 107

Jahn 120Jena, life at 28, 105, 138, 140Jesus Christ, education based on 120"Journal of Education" 117, 141, 142"Journal for Froebel's Educational Aims" 142Joy of teaching 58Jussieu's Botany 31

Kant 116Keilhau, life at 16, 102, 103, 117, 135, 141, 143Kindergarten occupations 129Knowledge of self through objects 97Körner in the "Wilde Schaar" 91Krause, Carl C. F. 102, 103, 116---- letter to 2, 103-125, 141Krüsi 55

Lange, Wichard 102, 138, 144, 145---- editor of "Family Journal" 138---- editor of Froebel's Works 3, 32, 138Langethal, Heinrich 91, 93, 100, 101, 120, 122, 123, 124, 137, 140, 141, 142, 144Language, philosophy of 81, 99---- teaching of 59, 64, 81, 84, 85Latin, study of 20, 23, 34, 84Legacies 86, 123Leipzig 91Leonhardi 103Lessons from Nature's training 72Letter to the Duke of Meiningen 2, 3-101, 141---- to Krause 102-125, 141, 146"Levana" 70Liebenstein, life at 142Life as a connected whole 104"Life, will, understanding" 118Lilies, vain search for 96London Kindergarten College 144Love of Nature. [See Nature, love of. ]Luther, Martin 50Lützow, Baron von 91, 141

Manchester Kindergarten Association 143Mankind as one great unity 84Manner in teaching 21Manning, Miss 144Manual training at Helba 121Map-drawing 39, 61"Mappe du Monde Litteraire" 36Marenholz-Bülow, Baroness von 73, 142, 143, 146, 149Marienthal 142, 143Marquart, Dr. 143---- Madame 143Master of the girls' school 7Mathematics 27Matrimony 11Mechanical powers, the 30Mecklenburg 42, 44Meiningen, Duke of 102, 129, 130---- Letter to 2, 3-101, 141, 142, 146Meissen 92, 120Memorizing of rules vs. Development 55, 109, 116"Menschen Erziehung" 1, 76, 117, 141, 145Mental struggles 65Metaphysics 40, 118Methods of Education 99Michaelis, Mme. 143, 146, 147Middendorf, Wilhelm 92, 93, 94, 100, 101, 103, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 127, 128, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143Mineralogy 30, 87, 89---- professorship declined 112Misapprehension of Froebel's motives 16Model School at Frankfurt 51"Moonstruck, " Froebel so considered 105Moral influence of the teacher 60, 83---- pride 5Mother of Froebel 3, 44, 72"Mothers' Songs" 76, 145Mugge, Johanna Caroline 140"Mutter- and Koselieder" 76, 145Nägeli 81---- and Pfeifer's "Musical Course" 81Name temporarily changed 46Napoleonic wars 91, 141---- reaction from 127Natural history 31, 32, 56, 87Natural History Society at Jena 32Nature, communion with 19---- love of 24, 31, 38, 43, 48, 71, 74, 82, 80, 94, 96, 104, 105, 107---- as an educator 71Nature's work vs. Man's 69Nature-Temple 12Nephews of Froebel. [See Froebel, Ferdinand, etc. ]Netherlands, Froebel in the 95Neuhof 24, 140Nieces of Froebel. [See Froebel, Albertine, etc. ]Niederer 57Note-taking 30Novalis's Works 45Number horizontally related 99

Oberfalz 42Oberweissbach 3, 105Object-teaching 69Oken, Lorenz 102, 116---- "Isis" 102"On German Education" 141"On the Universal German Education at Keilhau" 141Oriental tongues, study of 85Orphanage at Burgdorf 93, 135, 136, 137, 142Orthodox theology 10, 11, 13, 14Orthography 62

"Pädagogik" 76Pädagogium at Halle 45Paper, pricking of, suggested 75, 76Payne, Joseph 144, 150Permutations of numbers 106Perrault, M. 64Persian language, study of 85Personal characteristics of Froebel 13, 14, 15, 63, 67, 104, 111, 126---- of Pestalozzi 111Pestalozzi 20, 51-54, 57, 59, 69, 70, 77-81, 83, 89, 141---- aims contrasted with Froebel's 111, 116, 129, 136---- "Buch der Matter" 136---- "Einertabelle" 59---- general addresses 83---- school. [See Yverdon. ]Pfyffer, Eduard 81, 134, 135Philology, study of 22, 85, 98, 111Philosophy, danger of 40Physical backwardness 18---- constitution 91---- education 74---- geography 20, 55Physics 29, 87, 88, 89Physiography 60, 61Plamann school 89Plans for life-work 23Play a subject of study 82---- for school boys 60---- influence of 76Political economy 85Politics 88Portugall, Baroness Adele von 143"Positive instruction" 55Praetorious, Miss 143Pricking paper suggested 75---- philosophy of 76"Principles, Aims, and Inner Life" 141Private tutorship 59Professorship declined 112Pronunciation 63, 64Prophetic sentiments 49Pröschke's "Fragments" 45Prussian, Froebel not a 90Public school-examination 134Purpose of education 69

Quittelsdorf 102

Reaction from Napoleonic wars 126Reading, teaching of 7, 56Recognition by others 32Relationship, education in 70Religious experiences 8, 9, 19, 21, 25, 35, 74---- instruction 74, 80, 119---- persecution 133Repulsion to menial service 23"Rhenische Blätter" 139Rhine, Froebel crosses the 95Richter, Jean Paul 70Rigidity in teaching 62Rocks a mirror of mankind 97Ronge, Madame 143, 151Rousseau's system of singing 56Rudolstadt 117, 142---- Prince of 102, 138---- Princess Regent of 78, 80, 141

"Samuel Lawhill" 22Sanskrit, study of 85Schaffner, Siegfried 124Schelling 116---- school of 40Schiller 35Schleiermacher 123Schmidt, Carl 143Schmidt, Josias 55---- quarrels with Niederer 57Schnyder 130, 142Schopenhauer, Arthur 117Schrader, Madame 143Schwartzburg-Rudolstadt 3Scientific extracts 36Scribbling distasteful 36Self-consciousness 5, 11Self-development becomes objective 59Self-discipline 21Seiler, George Frederick 70Senses exercised 10Set forms in teaching 62Sex-life in plants 12Sexual conditions 11, 12Shirreff, Emily 144, 146, 151, 152Singing 56, 81Skeleton of man as type 31Soldier, Froebel as a 91-96, 111, 144"Sonntags-Blatt, " articles in 76Soul-cultivation 7---- emerging from chrysalis 49Sound method from fundamental principle 106Special education 23, 115Speech-tones 98Spelling, teaching of 20Spiritual endeavor at Yverdon. [See Religious experiences. ]---- experiences 19Stadt-Ilm 18, 44Step-brother of Froebel 15Step-mother of Froebel 4, 5, 27, 33Stimulation at Yverdon 79Stockwell Kindergarten College 143"Stone-language" 10Sturm 7Style of Froebel's writing 1, 117Subject vs. Object 46"Sunday Journal" 142Surveying, study of 39, 40, 41Symbols to the inner eye 111

Taking sides 13Teacher in the Plamann School 89---- requirements of a 65Teachers' institutes at Burgdorf 136Teaching suggested 51"Teaching-plan" of Pestalozzi 54"The Education of the Future" 143"The New Education" an antithesis 116"The New Year 1836 demands a Renewal of Life" 142Theatrical performances 26, 33Theological disputations 13Third person in address 5"Thou, " the German 5Thuringian forest, the 3"To the German People" 141Tobler 56, 69Translators, aims of the 1Trustee of Froebel's property 28, 33

Uckermark, the 48Uncle of Froebel. [See Hoffman, Herr. ]Unconscious tuition 9---- wealth of youth 71Unity 69, 70---- from clashing phenomena 105---- in Nature 98---- lacking at Yverdon 79---- of natural objects 86---- of the universe 89"Universal German" education 114, 141Universities neglect Froebel 117

Vivacity of early impulses 7Voldersdorf, Herr von 42, 140Von Dewitz 42, 43, 45, 140---- Holzhausen, Madame 110, 112, 141---- Lützow, Baron 91, 141---- Marenholz-Bülow 73, 142, 143---- Portugall, Baroness Adéle 143---- Voldersdorf 42, 140Vowels, inner meaning of 99---- vs. Consonants 98

Walks with pupils 60, 82Wartburg, the 50, 108Wartensee, the 130, 131, 142Was Christ Catholic or Protestant? 134Weber's "Wilde Jagd" 91Weimar, Grand Duke of 142, 143Weiss, Prof. 89, 95Wichard's "Froebel" 78Wieland 35Wife [first] of Froebel 123, 141Willisau, school a 93, 135-137, 142Winckelmann's "Letters on Art" 34Wollweider, Dr. 45Works written by Froebel 117, 141, 145, 146Yverdon, Pestalozzi's school at 20, 53-57, 77-84, 141---- lack of unity, etc 83---- wavering of ground principles 84

Zendavista 35Zollikofer 7