V ^^s ov^^ma- ^^^.^^ ^Mm>^\ ^^^r$i c^ <-^>^- C..f% 0^ o«'*«^,'^o. A!i>' ..t.- ^ • "( L^" PESTALOZZI I 1 1 1 WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR Le(;ons pratiques de langue allemande. 3 vols. Pans, 1889-1893. Vocabulaire etymologique allemand-fran<;ais et fran(^ais-aUemand. 1 vol. Paris, 1893. La Reforme de Veducation en Allemagne au dix-huitieme siecle. {Gained a prize from the French Academy.) 1 vol., 597 pp. Paris, 1890. La Chalotais als Vorkdmpfer der loeltlichen Schule. Leipzig, 1891. Herb art : Principals oeuvres pedagogiques (translation). 1vol., 4:00 pp. Paris and Lille, 1893. Geschichte der Philanthropinismus. 1 vol., 494 pp. Leipzig, 1896. Die Reform der Universitdten in FranTcreich. Leipzig, 1896. L' Enseignement secondaire en Allemagne, d'apres les documents officiels. 1 vol., xxvii and 129 pp. Paris, 1900. De V enseignement des langues vivantes : essai d' orientation pMa- gogique has€ sur Vhistoire et Vexperience. Paris, 1901. Edited by NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER PESTALOZZI THE FOUNDATION OF THE MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BY 3 3-^13 "■ » , ®> >,« A. PINLOCHE Sometime Professor at the University of Lille Professor in the Lycee Charlemagne and the JEcole Poly technique, Paris Priifet alles, behaltet das Gute und wenn etwas Besseres in euch selber gereift, so setzet es zu dem, was ich auch in diesen Bogen in Walirheit und Liebe zu geben versuchte, in Wahrlieit und Liebe binzu. (Weigh all, keep what is good, and if something better ripen in you, add it in truth and love to what I have tried to give in truth and love in these sheets.) Pestalozzi, Schwanengesang, Motto. NEW YORK CHAELES SCRIBNEE'S SONS 1901 o ■> J THE H8RARY OF OONGRESS, Two Coeiea ftEceiveo i^OV. 9 1901 OOPVHWHT eNTRY CLASS n^ XXc. No. COPY a .'CqjPYRiGHT, 1901, BY CniRtES SCRIBNER'S SONS Published November, 1901 NorhjooH 3Press J. S. Cushin? & Co. — Berwick & Smith Norwood M»8?. U.S.4k. CONTENTS PAGE Introduction ix Bibliography xv PART I CHAPTER I. Childhood and Youth of Pestalozzi ... 3 11. Neiihof (1771-1798) 15 III. Stanz (1798-1799) 30 IV. Burgdorf and Miinchenbuchsee (1799-1805) . 37 V. Yverdon (1805-1825) 64 VI. Neuhof again (1825-1827) 114 PART II BOOK I I. Education from the Social Point of View . . 121 11. Aim and Theory of Education .... 125 III. On the Education of Lower Classes . . . 140 IV. Private Education and Public Education . . 146 BOOK II I. Criticism of the Existing Methods . . . 149 n. J^ature, Aim, and Division of Elementary Edu- cation 161 V vi CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE III. The Elementary Method 179 /\jr0 Sense-perception as the Psychological Founda- tion of Intellectual Education . . . 197 V. The Method of Sense-perception, or Elementary Method 210 VI. Moral and Religious Education .... 256 BOOK III I. Other Doctrines . 276 II. Pestalozzi on his Own Work .... 280 PART III I. Pestalozzi's Influence on Germany, especially in Prussia 289 II. Pestalozzi's Influence in Other Countries . . 301 Index 303 i INTEODUCTION INTRODUCTION When we consider the importance that is attached to popular education in all civilised countries at the present time, we experience a certain difficulty in remembering that it was not always thus, and only a study of history convinces us that this anxiety to raise the lower classes intellectually and morally to a higher level does not date farther back than a century. It is a curious thing that, while France realised the political enfranchisement of citizens at the price of the most frightful of revolutions, in a neighbouring coun- try, Switzerland, which was also to profit largely by this revolution, a man of genius, as earnest as he was modest, worked almost single-handed at the intellec- tual and moral enfranchisement of the lower classes, and, completing the work of France, immortalised himself by creating, at the price of his repose and happiness, what was until then almost unknown, the education of the lower classes. This man was Pestalozzi. We may indeed declare, without fear of exaggera- tion, that before Pestalozzi popular education did not exist at all. Even in the country where statesmen paid the greatest attention to the subject, in Ger- many, it was far from existing in reality. Luther had certainly proclaimed the need of it, but the elementary, school, which he really created, had for a long time ix X INTRODUCTION been a mere class for the teaching of the catechism. It would, however, be unjust to omit the mention of the earnest endeavours of Francke,^ the founder of pietism, and of the philanthropinist Eochow,^ an old Prussian officer turned canon, who, touched by the misery of the rural population, had realised that instruction was the only means of improving their lot, and had founded a school at his own expense, with which the pastor was to have nothing to do. But Francke's schools had retained an essentially religious character, and Eochow's attempt, although supported by the government of Frederick II, was opposed by the clergy, and the reactionary govern- ment of Frederick William II did not continue the experiment ; consequently it had no other result than that of once more attracting the attention of Prussian 1 It was in 1695 that Francke one day found four thalers and sixteen groschen (about three dollars and a half) in the poor- box, and determined to found a school for the poor with this sum. Later on he founded a training school for teachers, the first of the celebrated Francke training schools in Halle, to which sec- ondary schools have since been attached. ( Vide Pinloche, La E^/oj^me cle l' Education en Allemagne au XVIII^ siecle, p. 4.) 2 Rochow (1734-1805) published in 1772 his Attempt at a Primer for the Children of the Rural Population or for Use in Village Schools {Versuch eines Schulbuches fiir Kinder der Landleute, Oder zum Gebrauch in Dorfschulen) , in which he demanded free education for the people. The same year he became teacher at the modest school at Reckahn (the cost of which he paid out of his own pocket) , which soon became an object of curiosity and universal admiration. He also published besides The Peasants^ Friend {Der Bauernfreund, 1773) and the Childre)i^s Friend {Der Kinderfreund, 1775), a species of reading book for the use of the lower classes, which had an immense success ; a treatise entitled The Ameliora- tion of the National Character through Elementary Schools { Von Verhesserung des Nationalcharakters durch Volksschulen, 1779). Vide Pinloche, ibid., pp. 420-432. INTRODUCTION xi statesmen to the necessity of organising the instruc- tion of the people independently of the Church, and of demonstrating to them the possibility of such organi- sation. With these few isolated exceptions, the children of the lower classes only learnt at school reading and writing (and that very indifferently) and in the Prot- estant countries their catechism before confirmation. And the pastor generally handed even the duty of teaching that over to the clerk. Often again the office of teacher was filled by some zealous workman, some old soldier, or even some servant out of a place, who gathered the children together for an hour or two on Sundays to teach them reading and writing as well as he could. The trade of schoolmaster had become the refuge of all who could not get employment else- where. To such educators was the instruction of the people abandoned towards the end of the eighteenth century. As the method used was on a par with the teachers, one may easily conceive the result. The rod mostly took the place of all pedagogy, and in the most favour- able cases the memory was the only faculty exercised. Comenius, certainly, had made considerable progress as early as the seventeenth century, and had indicated to a certain extent the road to follow by pointing out what profit could be gained in teaching by observa- tion, direct or by the help of pictures of actual objects, and by creating the method since called perceptive, or teaching by the help of sense-perception. But these methods, which were of a purely empirical nature, had fallen into oblivion; and Basedow, who went back to them later on, at the end of the eighteenth xii INTRODUCTION century, without however grasping the full extent of the educational problem which remained to solve, had only applied them to the instruction of the children of the middle classes, so that his attempt had had no result "outside secondary education. Finally, we know that Rousseau himself was of opinion that the poor had no need of education, and went so far as to declare that he would never trouble himself about a puny, sickly child, even if he were to live to be eighty. For Pestalozzi was reserved the undying fame of having not only restored to credit the pro- cesses of the method of sense-perception, already known and applied, but, above all, of having realised both the social importance of the education of the people and the most suitable means of determining its method. Are we to believe Pestalozzi when at the time that he was publishing his first writings on education he tells us that he " had not read a book for thirty years," and that he "knew nothing of what Rousseau and Basedow had done or desired to do," although ever since "half the world had been stirred up in favour of the reform of education " ^ ? His relations with Iselin sufficiently prove that he could not have been completely ignorant of the well-advertised work of the philanthropinists, as we have shown elsewhere.^ As to Emile, at the time when Pestalozzi lived, it was not even necessary to have read it to be affected by its influence, which was indeed universal, and made itself profoundly felt in all parts of the civilised world. He himself aljudes to this influence. But if we cannot deny that Pestalozzi profited, even if only 1 3, 176. 2 pinloche, La Rdforme, etc., p. 533. INTRODUCTION xiii unconsciously, by the movement of opinion created by Eousseau and Basedow, and even in particular by some of the pedagogical processes restored to credit by the latter, who had not invented them either,^ we must nevertheless acknowledge that his originality was not less complete and powerful because it was above all in himself, and that his ideas as a whole actually constitute a new doctrine, as is shown in the summary which is the object of this work. We cannot justly or fully appreciate the work of a man who was at the same time a practical worker as well as a theorist on education unless we know his life and his writings. After the imposing mass of docu- ments patiently collected and published by Mr. Morf,^ the very complete introduction, in spite of some errors, of Mr. Friedrich Mann in his edition of Selected Works,^ and especially the excellent study of Mr. J. Guil- laume,* and the most valuable data given in the Pesta- lozzi BUittey-,^ by Dr. 0. Hunziker, director of the Pestalozzian Museum at Zurich,® not to mention innu- merable other works on the subject, there is nothing left to be done for the biography of Pestalozzi, unless indeed new documents be discovered. It has therefore seemed to us sufficient to give the indispensable sum- mary taken from reliable sources. But until now there has not existed a luminous and complete account of the 1 See on this subject the complaints of the philanthropinist Wolke : Morf, Zur Biographie, etc., Ill, pp. 168 et seq. 2 Zur Biographie Pestalozzis, 4 Bde., 1865-1889. 3 Pestalozzis ausgewdhlte Werke, 4 Bde. 4 Pestalozzi, etude biographique, 1890. 5 Pestalozzi Blatter, the special organ of the Pestalozzian Mu- seum since 1880 {vide biography) . 6 Founded in 1879 under the name of Pestalozzi StUhchen. xiv INTRODUCTION doctrines of the great pedagogue, which are scattered through the medley of eighteen volumes/ and ex- pressed in a form that is far from being literary, in a language often obscure and even incorrect, and con- sequently almost inaccessible to the majority of read- ers. That is especially the work we have undertaken, trying to bring some order and light into the chaos, and confining the author to a fixed plan, which is, we acknowledge, quite incompatible with his character. We know that we lay ourselves open to some reproach in proceeding thus. But if we admit the impossi- bility and also the uselessness of reproducing in ex- tenso such a vast mass of writings, many of which, even if we confine ourselves strictly to pedagogical works, have lost their interest for us, we must also acknowledge that no other means remained of put- ting the essential points of this original and powerful pedagogy in the light they deserve, without which it is impossible to conceive and to understand the whole of modern education. 1 Pestalozzis sammtUche Werke, etc., edited by Seyffarth, 1869- 1873. BIBLIOGRAPHY We cannot attempt to give a complete list of the numerous editions and translations of the different works of Pestalozzi and of the countless publications having reference to the great pedagogue. The most important of these are to be found in Raumer's History of Pedagogy (Geschichte der Padagogik), Vol. II, p. 489 ; in J. Guillaume's biographical study (pp. 437 et seq.), quoted hereafter; and in Israel's Versuch einer Zu- sammenstellung der Schriften von und uber Pestalozzi, Zscho- pau, 1894. I. WORKS BY PESTALOZZI Complete Woi^ks : Pestalozzis sammtliche Schriften, 15 vols. Cotta. Stutt- gart und Tubingen, 1819-1826. Pestalozzis sammtliche Werke, 18 vols., ed. by Seyffarth. Brandenburg, 1869-1873. Pestalozzis sammtliche Werke, ed. by Seyffarth. Liegnitz, 1899-1901 (enlarged edition ; the most complete in ex- istence). Selections from Pestalozzi'' s Works: Pestalozzis ausgewahlte Werke, ed. by Fr. Mann, 4 vols. (Bibliothek padagogischer Klassiker, H. Beyer. Langen- salza), 1871, and later on: How Gertrude teaches her Children, translated by Lucy E. Holland and Frances C. Turner, and edited by E. Cooke. London, 1894. XV xvi BIBLIOGRAPHY 11. THE LATEST AND MOST IMPOETANT WORKS ON PESTALOZZI Karl von Raumer, Geschichte der Padagogik (Vol. II, chapter on Pestaiozzi). Stuttgart, 1843-1847. Henry Barnard, Life, Educational Principles, and Methods of John Henry Pestaiozzi (contains a translation of Raumer's article and of several of Pestaiozzi' s works, and a short account of Pestaiozzi and his co-workers). New York, 1859. Morikofer, Die schweizerische Literatur des 18. Jahrhunderts (chapter on Pestaiozzi). Leipzig, 1861. H. Morf, Zur Biographic Pestalozzis, 4 vols. Winterthur, 1868- 1889. O. Hunziker, Geschichte der schweizerischen Volksschule, 3 vols. Zurich, 1881-1882, id. Allgemeine deutsche Biographie (article on Pestaiozzi) and several notices. F. H^risson, Pestaiozzi ^16ve de J. J. Rousseau. Paris, 1886. J. Guillaume, Pestaiozzi, 6tude biographique. Paris, 1890. B. Gebhardt, Die Einfiihrung der Pestalozzischen Methods in Preussen. Berlin, 1896. Part I PESTALOZZrS LIFE CHAPTER I CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF PESTALOZZI (1746-1771) Pestalozzi's earliest youth. — His first education. — His uni- versity studies. — Influence of Rousseau's writings. — The Helvetian Society. — Pestalozzi's ideas on social questions. — He turns farmer. — His marriage. — Failure of his attempt at farming. Heinrich Pestalozzi was born at Ztiricli on the 12thL of January, 1746. He belonged to a family of Italian Protestant refugees which had settled in that town toward the middle of the sixteenth century. His father, Johann Baptist Pestalozzi, who was twenty- eight years old when Heinrich was born, had a certain reputation as surgeon and as oculist. His mother, Susanne Hotz, of Richtersweil, was the niece of the General Hotz who perished in 1799 at the battle of Schannis. Johann Baptist Pestalozzi died in 1751, leaving Susanne with three children, the survivors of seven, Heinrich, then scarcely five years old, his brother, aged six, who later on went to sea, never to return, and a younger sister who, in 1777, married Gross, a merchant of Leipzig. In order to meet the needs of the family with her more than modest resources, Pestalozzi's mother had to practise the most rigid economy and even to endure privations. " My mother," he tells us, " sacrificed 3 4 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE herself with the most utter self-devotion to the bring- ing up of her three children, depriving herself of everything which at her age and in her surroundings could have had attractions for her." She was wonder- fully helped in this by a servant for whom Pestalozzi ever cherished a grateful remembrance, the faithful Babeli, who had promised the dying father not to abandon those whom he left behind. "Difficult as the conscientious fulfilment of this promise might be, the thought never came into her mind, that she could ever cease, or want to cease, to keep it. The position of my widowed mother de- manded the utmost economy, but the trouble our Babeli took to perform impossibilities in this respect is almost incredible. In order to buy a basket of vegetables or fruit a few kreuzers cheaper, she would go back three or four times to the market and watch for the moment when the market-women wanted to go home. ... If we children only wanted to set foot in the street, or go somewhere where we had no business, Babeli stopped us with the words : ' What do you want to go and ruin your clothes and your shoes all for nothing for ? Look how your mother deprives herself of everything in order to bring you up properly ; how she goes nowhere for weeks and months, and saves every kreuzer she possibly can for your education.' . . . My brother and sister and I always had very grand Sunday clothes ; but we were only permitted to wear them a short time, and we had to change as soon as we came home, so that they might last a long time as Sunday clothes." Pestalozzi attributes to this exclusively maternal bringing up, firstly, his exaggerated sensibility, and secondly, that lack of manly qualities which a paternal CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF PESTALOZZI 5 guidance is alone capable of developing. Weak and delicate from his birth, never having, as he says, " come out from behind the stove," he remained the most awkward and clumsy child of his age ; he was the laughing-stock of his fellows, and, what is more impor- tant, he gained no knowledge of life or of men. "My character as a child was determined by my feelings ; I was carried away completely by the impres- sions of the moment; I acted hastily and without reflec- tion. I only saw life in the narrow confines of my mother's sitting room, and in the no less narrow tram- mels of my school life ; real life was almost as strange to me as if I did not dwell in the world in which I lived. I thought everybody was at least as good- natured and confiding as I was myself. Consequently, I was as a matter of course, from my youth up, the victim of every one who wanted to make game of me. It was not in my nature to think evil of any one, until I actually saw the evil done or suffered from it myself." The schoolmaster, too, declared that "one would never get anything out of that child," and his schoolfellows made fun of him on account of his unpleasing coun- tenance and his extraordinary untidiness and dirtiness. Pestalozzi's grandfather was pastor at Hongg, in the canton of Zurich, and took a great interest in the village school there. He superintended the teaching of the children, visited their families, and assumed, in short, the functions of educator of the people whose spiritual direction was confided to his care. "His school, however defective it might be in point of method, was in living connection with the moral life and the home education of the people, and this com- bined education cultivated effectively and energetically 6 PESTALOZZPS LIFE the practice of habits of attention, obedience, industry, and effort, in short, laid the essential foundations of education."^ Young Pestalozzi, who often went to Hongg, had before him, then, at an early age, the model of a good man, who, although he followed the errors of the old systems of education, nevertheless attached the greatest importance to the education of the lower classes ; and there is no doubt that this example, joined to the sight of the misery of the rural population, which he there had the opportunity of see- ing closely, must have struck him and influenced him in the choice of a vocation. Pestalozzi was first sent to the elementary school, and although Zurich then possessed an educational organisation superior to that of other Swiss and even German towns, he retained an impression of his school life, which we can easily picture to ourselves, if we remember what was then the condition of the educa- tion of the people. From the elementary school he passed to the preparatory school .and then to the Zurich Latin school (collegium humanitatis), and finally to the Carolinum, also called collegiunn publicum^ a kind of higher public school, where among his teachers were two men, celebrated in the history of German litera- ture, Bodmer and Breitinger, who were to have the greatest influence on him. We may easily believe him when he tells us that the instruction given in this establishment, excellent as it was as regards its intrinsic value, contributed nothing toward developing his practical sense. But is he right when he makes this same instruction responsible for the evils which he afterward had to 1 Schwanengesang . § IGO. // CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF PESTALOZZI 7 endure ? He recognises himself, that he did not al- ways profit by it as much as might have been desir- able. "Although I was one of the best pupils, I nevertheless, with an incomprehensible thoughtless- ness, made mistakes, of which not one of the worst was guilty. While, as a rule, the essence of the sub- jects taught appealed strongly to my interest, the form in which they were presented left me mostly in- different and without ideas. Although I was behind my schoolfellows in some parts of certain subjects, in other parts I excelled them to an unusual degree." ^ The professors of the Carolinum were eminently men of high culture, but they were not sufficiently in touch with the necessities of practical life. " ^ Free- dom, independence, beneficence, self-sacrifice, and patriotism,' was the motto of our public education. But the means of attaining all this which was espe- cially recommended to us, intellectual preeminence, was left without a sufficient and thorough develop- ment of those practical qualities which essentially lead to the desired end. They taught us to dreamily seek for independence in the verbal recognition of truth, without making us feel keenly the need of what would have been essentially necessary, if we were to attain both inward and outward independence, do- mestic and civic." This idealism went so far " that we boys imagined we could prepare ourselves thoroughly for the petty civic life in one of the Swiss cantons, by a superficial school knowledge of the great Greek and Koman civic life." ^ In everything men had got 1 Schivanengesang, § 163. 2 In an article entitled Agis, which appeared in the Lindauer Nachrichten, Pestalozzi depicts a king of this name reforming the 8 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE farther and farther away from nature. All the books of the time, however much good they might contain, were the products of an utter artificialness, and no longer had that good sense, that simplicity, that natu- ral force, characteristic of the pristine national spirit, which was exactly what the youth contemporary with Pestalozzi wished to reconstitute. The appearance of Emile came just at the right moment to rouse these ideal aspirations. " As soon as Emile appeared, my visionary nature, already unpractical to the highest degree, was enthusiastically taken possession of by this likewise most unpractical book of dreams." Like so many others, Pestalozzi thought he had found in Eousseau's doctrines the "universal panacea" which was to give a new life to education, and consequently to the human race. The Contrat Social also made a deep impression on him, with the result that he gave up the ecclesiastical career to which, with the major- ity of the pupils of the Carolinum, he had intended to devote himself. The non-success of his first sermon also contributed to confirm this decision, and to make him resolve to enter the legal career, which seemed to him more likely to give him the means of attaining, sooner or later, an active influence over his fellow- citizens and his country. But he was dissuaded from this project by the friend on whose counsels he most relied, Bluntschli. Bluntschli, at that time very ill and hopeless of recovery, on his death-bed adjured him not to embrace a career which his good nature and confid- ing disposition made most dangerous for him. " Seek a calm and peaceful career," he said, " and never begin manners of the Lacedfemonians according to the ideas of Rousseau. (Ed. Seyffarth, vol. 8.) CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF PESTALOZZI 9 any important undertaking, the failure of which might in any way be dangerous to you, without having a man at your side who, with reliable fidelity, will help you with his cool, dispassionate knowledge of men and of business." ^ Pestalozzi had joined the Helvetiayi Society, founded by Bodmer in order to propagate liberal ideas among young men. The weekly meetings of this society were devoted chiefly to debates, in which Rousseau's politi- cal ideas had the chief share. These meetings natu- rally came to be regarded with suspicion by the authorities, for the "patriots," as they called them- selves, did not hesitate to denounce the abuses of power of which many officials had been guilty. In a journal founded by the society in 1765, for the discussion of moral questions, Der Erinnerer, to which Pestalozzi, then hardly twenty years of age, contrib- uted, we find the first traces of his vocation for an educational career. " A young man," he says, " who plays such a small part in his country as I do, has no right to criticise, or to suggest improvements ; people tell me so nearly every day of my life. But surely I may be permitted to express my wishes ? . . ." And among these wishes the chief is, "that no eminent man may deem it beneath him to work with untiring courage for the general good, that no one may look down with disdain on his fellow-creatures of an in- ferior rank, if they are among the most faithful and industrious of men." Later on he expresses the wish " that some one might publish a little collection of the principles of education, excellent and simple, so that the average citizen, or the average country- 1 Schioanengesang , § 163. 10 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE man, might understand them, and that some generous 2)ersons might distribute this little book free of charge, or for the sum of a schilling (a half-penny), that all the clergy, both in the towns and in the country, might distribute and recommend it, and finally that all the parents who read it might conform to these wise rules of Christian education. . . ." But he adds, " it is a good deal to wish at a time ! " The relations of Pestalozzi with the Helvetian So- ciety had most unpleasant consequences for him. One member of the society, Miiller, a young theologian, had fled, to escape the actions which the Mayor of Zurich had decided to take against him on account of the publication of a political article. Pestalozzi was accused of having advised him to flee, and was arrested together with several others. As his guilt was not actually proved, he was only condemned to pay the costs of the action. His hatred of tyranny was naturally only increased by this, and from that moment he was considered as a demagogue by the authorities. As to the journal of society, they took the opportunity of suppressing it. Deeply affected by the death of his friend Blunt- schli, — indeed he himself was made seriously ill by his grief, — Pestalozzi suddenly renounced literature, or, as he says, bookish things (BUchersachen), and resolved to devote himself to agriculture. Love of nature was then the order of the day, and Rousseau, not content with converting his contemporaries by his writings, was exerting himself, as occasion offered, to carry them away by his eloquence. Bodmer tells us that one day, on his way to Geneva, the author of Emile received the visit of one of the Swiss "patriots," CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF PESTALOZZI 11 Schulthess, and praised to him the condition of the tiller of the soil as the happiest of all. " In the coun- try of slavery," he said, " one should be an artisan ; in the country of liberty, one should become a farmer. A farmer can lead a peaceful life at home and culti- vate the tender sentiments of the heart." And he told him how "there was in Italy an association of peasants whose statutes contained as their first article that not one of them should be able to read." ^ Such inducements were not even necessary to convince young men already influenced by the writings of physiocrats (notably by the Peasant Philosopher of Hirzel),^ and to bring this passion for nature to the point of manifesting itself in action. "It is astonishing," writes Bodmer, "how several of our best students have taken it into their heads to become farmers. They have already begun their apprentice- ship by helping peasants reap, in order to see if they could endure heat, perspiration, rain. . . ." Not less enthusiastic, Pestalozzi went, on Lavater's recommendation, to study agriculture under Tschiffeli, a rural proprietor of Kirchberg, in the Bernese Em- menthal. Tschiffeli had a most prosperous farm, the success of which had gained for him a great reputa- tion. He arrived there in the course of the autumn of 1767, and was delighted from the very beginning. " Here I am," he writes at once, " and my happiness exceeds all expectation. Tschiffeli is the best of fathers, the greatest of farmers. I am going to learn farming in all its branches, and shall certainly become independent of the whole world." And a little later : 1 Letter to Sulzer, 1765. (Morf, vol. 1, p. 84.) 2 Die Wirtschaft eines philosophtschen Bauern, 1761. 12 PESTALOZZrS LIFE " I have now a lucrative career. Tschiffeli is really growing rich with his farm. I am learning the busi- ness thoroughly, and am sure I shall be able to set up for myself." These letters, so full of promise, were written to the sister of one of his friends, Anna Schulthess, the daughter of a respected Zurich merchant. He had made her acquaintance and come to honour her noble sentiments on the occasion of the death of Bluntschli, who was a great friend of hers. From this time Pes- talozzi had carried on a regular correspondence with her ; and although she was seven years older than he was, he resolved to unite his existence to hers. She was no less desirous of this, for Pestalozzi's exterior, which was rather unpleasant than otherwise, had not prevented her from appreciating the greatness of his soul. " Be sure," she wrote, " that you would owe little gratitude to Nature, if she had not given you your great black eyes, through which shine the good- ness of your heart, the greatness of your mind, and the depth of your love." ^ However, Anna's parents were far from sharing her enthusiasm, for young Pestalozzi's agricultural proj- ects inspired them with but small confidence, and they had not the smallest intention of giving him their daughter on the strength of such shadowy hopes for the future. Nevertheless, the young farmer filled his letters to overflowing with details of the organisation he was planning and the profits which he hoped to make. He took the greatest pains to prove to his future helpmate that this farm would bring in suffi- cient " to support a family willing to live in a humble 1 Morf, vol. 1, p. 101. CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF PESTALOZZI 13 way in the country." He was even convinced, as was Tschiffeli his master, that he had found the means, " not only of assuring the existence of his family, but also of attaining a happy lot by his own exertions." And he added, " If only my plan please you, if only it can reassure you and your worthy parents, how happy I should then be ! " ^ After having spent a year at Kirchberg, he returned to Zurich, and bought, with what remained to him of his paternal inheritance, a piece of uncultivated land in the plain of Birrfeld, in the canton of Argovie, where he intended raising mad- der and vegetables on a large scale. He had suc- ceeded in interesting the father of one of his friends, banker Schulthess, in his enterprise, and induced him to put fifteen hundred florins into the concern. Then, until he should be able to build a house on his land, he took up his abode at Miilingen, a little village on the Reuss, three-quarters of an hour's walk from his farm. Still Anna's parents, especially her mother, contin- ued to turn a deaf ear to his projects. Even the in- tervention of such friends as Lavater, Fiissli, Hotz, and Heidegger, the burgomaster of Zurich, failed to prevail on them to give their consent. All these could obtain was, that the parents should not oppose the union of the young people by force. They let their daughter go without any other dowry than her mar- riage outfit, her harpsichord, and her money box. "You will have to content yourself with bread and water," said her mother to her, as she left. The mar- riage took place on the 30th of September, 1769, in the church at Gebistorf, only a few friends being 1 Morf, vol. 1, p. 105. 14 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE present. Pestalozzi was twenty-three years of age, his wife thirty. The displeasure of the parents was luckily not of long duration, for, three months after the marriage, they received the visit of the young couple " most amiably,'^ and the mother even returned it shortly after. But it was not long before their fears as to Pestalozzi's enterprise were justified. On the 25th of April, 1769, the banker Schulthess went to Mtilingen with his two sons to see how the affair was getting on. The result of his visit was the cancelling of the deed of partnership, of which he sent him notice On the 17th of May, " because," he said, " he considered the enterprise a failure." Pestalozzi and his wife were overwhelmed. Pestalozzi went to Zurich and, thanks to the intervention of some friends, he succeeded in obtaining a delay from his partner, but not in com- pletely dispelling his distrust. At last, after weary waiting, in October, a new arrangement was concluded between the two partners, and peace and some hope thereby restored to the young couple, who were rejoic- ing at the birth of a son. CHAPTER II NEUHOF (1771-1798) I. The home for poor children (1771-1780). — The settling at Neuhof . — New difficulties. — Foundation of a Home for poor children. — Education and industrial occupation. — Pes- talozzi's hardships. — Closure of the Home. II. Period of literary activity (1780-1798). — Pestalozzi's first writings. — Leonard and Gertrude. — Importance of this work in making Pestalozzi known to the public. — He is made a citizen of France. — Relations with Nicolovius, Klop- stock, Wieland, Goethe, Herder, and Jacobi. — Fichte's visit. In the spring of 1771 Pestalozzi established himself and his family in his new house, which he called Neuhof. The house was only built as far as the first story, and was never completed.^ The cost of building had necessarily diminished the capital intended to be used in the working of the farm, which, moreover, succeeded less than ever. Schulthess, the banker, sent two competent men ^ to inspect the condition of the enterprise on the spot and report to him. Although both of them were friends of Pestalozzi, they could not do otherwise than recognise his want of foresight and 1 This building was destroyed by fire in 1858 and the space between the four walls was occupied by a mill worked by steam, to which was added a saw-mill. Beside it is the pretty country house begun by Pestalozzi, in which he wished to found his Home. 2 Mais and Schinz. 15 16 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE his incapacity, to which the very choice of the ground bore witness. He himself confessed later on, in speak- ing of this visit, "that the greater part of the land, which had hardly been ploughed at all for many years, was almost like the soil of a stone-quarry, without a trace of mould, and even on the ploughed land, after a few days' rain, there was nothing to be seen but a number of little white limestones, which covered the ground. They were astonished at the imprudence of my purchase, and still more at the expensive and unsuitable plan of the dwelling house which I had begun, and certainly as far as that was concerned they were perfectly right." ^ On their report Schulthess withdrew definitely from the concern, with a loss of five thousand florins. Far from being cast down, Pestalozzi resolved to continue with his own unaided resources. At first he tried to improve his land by the use of marl. Unfortu- nately he had none of the qualities necessary to an undertaking of this kind. " A man who contemplates and measures the stars," writes his friend Schinz, " who gives himself up to the most profound specula- tion, who has the best and finest feelings, but who has not a mind for any of the details of human life, or for domestic necessities, who, in his thoughts at the stars, stumbles into a quagmire at his feet, who can neither talk to nor act with any of his fellow-creatures without offending them by his unpleasant exterior and his un- couth, disorderly ways — how could such a man ever hope to be able to get on in actual life ? The madder plantation did not succeed at all ; Tschiffeli gained nothing by it, and Pestalozzi, his pupil, lost a great 1 Schioanengescmg, § 164. NEUHOF 17 deal. He could not keep accounts, because he did not choose to submit to the minute details of bookkeeping, and only troubled himself as to the general result." This witness is confirmed by Morikofer, who wrote on the 3d of May, 1773, " Pestalozzi carries a very heavy burden ; he has no method in anything." Overwhelmed with debts, he made the state of his affairs worse by adding a spinning-mill to his farm. His brothers-in-law furnished him with part of the first materials for this. One of these, Heinrich Schul- thess, was soon to see that he had no more of the qualities necessary to succeed in an industrial under- taking than in agriculture. " He lacks order, skill, and patience, and cannot work a step at a time. He will have to give up commerce and manufacture, unless he is to be a source of torment and shame to himself and our family." He himself said later on, " The cause of the failure of my undertaking had nothing to do with the undertaking itself ; it lay essentially and exclusively in me and in my decided incapacity for every kind of undertaking, for which essentially prac- tical qualities are necessary." ^ At the end of a short time Pestalozzi^s debts reached the sum of fifteen thou- sand florins, and it was only owing to the generosity of his brothers-in-law, who gave up their share of the in- heritance, that he escaped complete ruin. Neverthe- less his farm still remained incumbered with debts to the amount of four thousand florins. "The dream of my life, the hopes of a great and beneficent sphere of action, of which a peaceful, quiet, domestic life should be the centre, had now completely vanished."^ All these difficulties did not prevent ^ Schwanengesang , § 164. 2 Jitid. 18 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE Pestalozzi from devoting himself to the education of I his son Jacob. From the beginning of 1774 he kept | a very regular diary, in which we already see in appli- ■ cation the essential principles of the great rediscoverer j of the method of sense-perception.^ ' Pestalozzi then conceived the project of founding, with the help of public subscription, a home for : poor children. Orphans or foundlings were at that • time handed over to peasants, who mostly got as ■ much as they could out of the work, without troubling | themselves about the education, of the children, and i often enough compelled them to beg on the high- ! ways. Seized by the idea that "it is exceedingly j difficult to give the poor and lower classes a simple i education in accordance with nature, where the educa- ■ tion of all those who are not poor or in need is unnat- I ural and artificial to a high degree," ^ he resolved to i gather together poor children, and while making them • work in the spinning-mill for their keep, to give them an education suitable to their condition, and prepare : them for an active and useful life by preserving them ' from misery and moral corruption. He considered ■ that the true means of helping these unfortunate chil- : dren was not to give them alms out of pity or com- i miseration, " but to call forth, and put into action, '■ the power every human being possesses of satisfying , his needs and doing his duty in his state of life."^ : Consequently education was the first consideration in his plan. At a time when philanthropic ideas were so com- ' mon, such a design might fail to attract attention. ; 1 Vide p. 39. 3 Bitte an Menschen/reunde, etc. 2 Schivanengesany , § 165. ; NEUHOF 19 Thanks to the active help of friends convinced of the utility of the scheme, such as pastor Schinz of Zurich, Lavater, Ftissli, some rich inhabitants of Basle and of Berne, and above all the philanthrope Iselin (the dis- ciple of the political economist Quesnay, and Eous- seau), at that time registrar at Basle, whose passion for the social weal and for popular education made him naturally enough a protector of Pestalozzi's, the latter not only gained on all sides numerous adhe- rents, but also large subscriptions flowed in, and a sum of money was offered as a loan without interest. The members of his family were less enthusiastic, although he pointed out that by this means, too, he could improve his position. His brother-in-law, Kas- par Schulthess, then pastor at Neufchatel, even con- jured him to give up his " ill-digested " plan of bringing up poor children, when he had enough to do '' to bring up himself and his own children." With the subscriptions he had received, Pestalozzi could open his house, toward the end of 1774, to some fifty poor, abandoned children, some of whom he had himself picked up in the streets. The work was placed under the supervision of Miiller, the bailiff of Marnen. Pestalozzi neglected nothing that could develop the faculties of these unfortunate children, and tried to give them an intellectual, a moral, and a religious education. He had them taught not only a handicraft, but also reading, writing, and arithmetic, and tried to influence them morally by edifying dis- courses. Unfortunately, most of the children were already too much tainted with vice to be able to profit by this beneficent direction. Some of them even were already so much accustomed to beggary and a vaga- 20 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE bond life, that they could not help detesting before- Ijand the kind of culture which Pestalozzi wished to give them. " They considered the condition they were in with me as a kind of humiliation compared to that in which they were before. Every Sunday, my house was filled with mothers or relations of such children, who found that their condition did not at all come up to their expectations." ^ It even happened that they were fetched at night " in their Sunday clothes " and taken home unknown to their benefactor. " Nevertheless," Pestalozzi tells us, " these difficul- ties might gradually have been more or less overcome, if I had not tried to carry on my experiment on a scale quite out of proportion with my capacities. I had no knowledge of mankind, of business or of factories. My ignorance of all was as great as my need of know- ledge. . . ." ^ He made, moreover, the mistake of add- ing to his spinning-mill a trade in cotton tissues, which did not succeed any better. The establishment was soon a failure, and the deficit was such that Pestalozzi was unable to meet his engagements. In his distress Pestalozzi sent to Iselin, with the request to publish in his Ephemerides ^ an " Appeal to Philanthropists," * to invite them to support his work. In this address he undertook, in case of negligence on his part, to return all subscriptions, and promised to furnish an annual report on the progress of the under- taking. While recognising his faults, by which he 1 Schwanengesang , § 166. 2 /^jt^, 8 Ephemeriden der Menschheit (1776-1778, 1780-1782). * Bute an Menschenfreunde und Goniier zu giltiger Unterstut- zung einer Anstalt, armen Kindern auf einem Landhause Auferzie- hung und Arbeit zu geben, 1777. KEtJHOF 21 was the first to suffer, he adjured philanthropists to continue to give him their confidence, and to save from imminent ruin an undertaking which, in spite of its faults, had succeeded and might have happy- results. This address was soon after followed by a series of letters in which Pestalozzi laid down his ideas on the education of the poor.^ After three years' experience, he was delighted to note the fact that not only had industrial labour in his school not injured the physical development of the children, but that many of those who had not thriven in idleness, had developed wonderfully after having been put to work at the mill. He intended besides to combine work with physical exercise and strengthening games, and accustom the children as far as possible to work on the farm, and at gardening. Unfortunately he met with great difficulties. The children, accustomed to mendicity, found it hard to work, and necessitated heavy expenses before they could earn money. Pestalozzi had hoped to reim- burse himself by keeping them a long time, but there again he experienced nothing but disappoint- ment, and was deeply hurt by the ingratitude of the families. "The severity one is obliged to employ against the idleness and the bad behaviour of some of the children," says he, " is wrongly interpreted. . . . When the mothers or relatives see the children in the workshop, they often assume an insulting attitude toward me. I do not know what they expect, or de- mand, or what they think. ^ My poor child, must you work like that all day long ? Would you not rather come home ? Have you enough to eat ? Is the food 1 Ephemeriden, etc., April and September, 1777. 22 PESTALOZZrS LIFE well cooked? Would you not rather come home?' Then the child, who did nothing at all as long as he lived with his mamma, begins to cry, and his mother, seeing he can now earn a little and that he has good clothes on, persuades him to come home, and, to justify her conduct, speaks ill of the institute." As to the morality of the children, it was deplorable ; there was no other means of improving it a little than religion. Pestalozzi recognised, moreover, that to direct such an institute, it Avas necessary to have a good know- ledge of industry and commerce. Nevertheless, he does not lose courage. He will not even have people con- tinue to point out all the difficulties which must be inherent in every important scheme for the good of humanity. " Even if there were still more than there are, and even if the remnant of strength which is left in me were less than it is, I should strive to my last breath toward this end. Experience has taught me how long and weary the road may be. But even if it were still longer and still more painful, my soul ardently desires to follow it, and I shall devote my life to the attainment of this final goal. ... It gives me indescribable pleasure to see young children, boys and girls, formerly miserable little creatures, grow and develop, to see contentment depicted on their faces, to teach their hands to work, to raise their souls to their Creator, to see the tears of innocence in prayer shine in the eyes of beloved children, and to discern the glimmering of hope of sentiments and morals worthy of the young, in a degraded and abandoned race. It is joy and happiness beyond description to see human beings, the image of their Almighty Creator, grow up in so many forms and with such different NEUHOF 23 gifts, and then perhaps to discover, where' no one expected it, in the miserable and abandoned son of the poorest artisan, a great spirit, a genius to be saved. . . ." The promised report on the progress of the institute, dated the 18th of September, 1777, appeared in May in the Ephemerides} The inmates of the house then numbered fifty, thirty-six of whom were children. Pes- talozzi reckoned on being able to increase this number in the following spring. While still complaining of the ingratitude of the relatives, he notes with joy that more and more interest is taken in his work, for the amount of the subscriptions received during the pre- ceding year had reached the sum of sixty louis d'or. A second report, drawn up in the spring of 1778 and published in June,^ gives us interesting details of the interior organisation of the institute, which numbered, besides a sort of housekeeper, Madlon Spindler, "a foreman weaver, two workmen, one workwoman, and two spinning-hands, a man whose duty it was, besides attending to the winding, to teach the children to read and spell, two male and two female servants." The profits were not in proportion to the expenses, for they all lived in a condition approaching misery. "For years," he says, "I lived in the midst of fifty little beggars, sharing in my poverty my bread with them, living like a beggar myself in order to teach beggars to live like men." ' Pestalozzi's debts increased continuously. His wife 1 Bruchstuck aus der Geschichte der niedrigsten Menschheit. Anrufung der Menschlichkeit zum Besten derselben. 2 Zuverldssige Nachricht {Ephemeriden, Juni, 1778). 3 Wie Gertrud Hire Kinder lehrt, 1 Ausgabe, p. 3. 24 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE had already put almost all that remained of her money into the concern, and was now ill from anxiety. Con- sequently, in spite of his appeals to philanthropists, in spite of many proofs of sympathy from them, in spite of Iselin's devotion and constant efforts on his behalf, Pestalozzi was compelled at the beginning of 1780 to close the doors of his institute, and he was only saved from complete ruin by the help of some friends and by the touching goodness of his creditors. II As was to be expected, there was no lack of voices in the public and even among Pestalozzi' s friends to scoff at his failure. " Poor fellow," they said, " you are more incapable than the worst day-labourer of helping yourself, and yet you imagine you can help the lower classes." ^ Flissli, the bookseller, who was ^^ almost the only person left with whom he could freely discuss his situation and obtain a little friendly sympathy," told him that his best friends did not scruple to say " that he would end his days in a hos- pital, if not in a lunatic asylum." ^ Only one did not desert him, Iselin, "his Iselin," he called him, "his father, his master, his support, his comfort " ; he gave him back his faith in himself, and it was to the influ- ence of Iselin and Flissli that Pestalozzi owed the first suggestion of writing books for the people. Pestalozzi only saw in this new kind of work a means of improving his pecuniary situation, for no one had less than he the gift of writing. " I had so neglected 1 Wie Gertrud Hire Kinder lehrt, I, 5. 2 Schwanengesang, § 166. NEUHOF 26 my mental culture, that I could hardly write a line without making mistakes."^ He consented to write, as he would have consented "to make periwigs, if he could have thereby earnt bread for his wife and child.'' His two first attempts ^u4. HermiVs Eveniyig,^ pub- lished in May, 1780, in the Ephemerides, and a treatise on a subject proposed by the Basle Society for the Pro- motion, etc., on the Advisability of restricting the Luxury of the Citizens in a little State of which the Welfare de- pended on Commerce,^ which brought him in the first prize of thirty ducats, divided between him and Pro- fessor Meister, — passed unnoticed. Pestalozzi then tried to write some stories in the style of Marmontel's Contes Moraux, which he found one day on his table. He wrote five or six, but none of them satisfied him. The last, Leonard and Gertrude* was the work to which he owes his fame. " This," he tells us, " flowed from his pen and developed of itself, without his hav- ing the least plan of it in his mind, or even having thought of such a thing." ^ The first part of this social romance, corrected by Iselin, appeared in 1781 in Berlin without the author's name, and was followed in 1783 by a French translation, likewise published in Berlin.^ The three other parts appeared in 1783, 1 Sehwane7igesang, § 168. 2 Die Abendstunde eines Einsiedlers, 1780. 3 Invneweit ist es schicklich in einem kleinen Staate, dessen Wohlstand aufder Handelschaft beruht, dent Aufwand der BUrger Schranken zu setzen, 1780. * Lienhard und Gertrud: ein BuchfUr das Volk. 5 Schwanengesang, § 168. 6 Leonard et Gertrude, ou les Moeurs villageoises, telles qu'on les retrouve a la ville et a la cour. Histoire morale traduite de 26 PESTALOZZPS LIFE 1785, and 1787 respectively. Meanwhile he published Christopher and Elsa (1782), a sort of commentary on the first part of Leonard and Gertrude, which was not a success, and a periodical entitled Ein Schwei- zerblatt (1782), in which at Iselin's advice he was to discuss " everything small or great which is good for domestic use." This ceased to appear at the end of a year. Then followed a treatise Ori Legislation and Infanticide (1783), on a discussion raised by a philan- thropist ; a collection of satirical fables and parables, entitled lllustratioyis to my ABC Book or to the First Principles of my Philosophy {i.e. Leonard and Gertrude), written about the same time, but not published until 1797.1 The success of Leonard and Gertrude in Germany as well as in Switzerland surpassed all expectation. The newspapers and almanacs of the time were full of the praises of this book, which contrasted strangely with the immoral romances of the time. The author, whose name had been revealed to the public by the Ephemerides, received welcome encouragement from all sides. The okonomische Gesellschaft of Berne awarded him not only a sum of thirty ducats,^ but also a gold medal worth twenty ducats, which Pesta- lozzi was unluckily forced to sell a few weeks after. Many important personages sent him their congratu- lations ; Count von Zinzendorf , Chancellor of the Ex- chequer under the Emperor Joseph II, congratulated I'allemand: Avec clouze estampes dessinees et gravees par D. Chodowiecki, Berlin, 1783. 1 Figuren zu meinem ABC Buck oder zu den Anfangsgrunden meiens Denkens. 2 See the correction of the error on this topic handed down to us by Pestalozzi's biographers, J. Guillaume, Pestalozzi, p. 51. NEUHOF 27 him especially on having dared to draw the attention of the nobility and middle classes to the moral and material needs of the rural population. " The differ- ent classes of society," he wrote, " are really so much strangers to one another and so isolated that one almost forgets that the lowest feeds the other two. Your projects and your attempts for the education of the poor, for the reclaiming of waifs and strays, and especially all that you claim for the instruction of the people, in a word, everything which ought to be the object of legal measures, will be of great importance to me, and I shall receive with great pleasure any- thing you may write to me on the subject."^ This correspondence between the Austrian minister and the author of Leonard and Gertrude was continued up to 1790. Pestalozzi had another interesting correspondence, occasioned by the publication of his book, with the Minister of the Grand Duke Leopold of Tuscany, Count von Hohenwart, who held out hopes to him of a post under his government, so that Pestalozzi might put his ideas in application. Unfortunately, when in 1790 Leopold succeeded his brother Joseph as Em- peror of the Holy Roman Empire, he did not fulfil these promises, and even left a memorial which Pes- talozzi sent him unanswered. It was during this period that Pestalozzi joined the German order of the Illuminated, a species of Free- masons, to which order he certainly still belonged in 1782. It ceased to exist in 1784. The fame of the author of Leonard and Gertrude spread even to France. The Legislative Assembly by a decree on the 26th of 1 Letter dated from Vienna, April 2(5, 1784. 28 PESTALOZZrS LlI^E August, 1792, awarded to Pestalozzi, together with Washington, Schiller, Klopstock, and others, the title of citizen of France, and invited him to assist in the work of the French Revolution. At first Pestalozzi was inclined to go to Paris, but erelong, frightened no doubt at the turn which events were taking, and at the revolutionary propaganda which threatened to spread from France into other countries, he gave up this idea. But he embodied his political opinions in a manuscript entitled Yes or No, Opinions expressed on the Political Opinions of European Humanity by a Free Man (February, 1793), which, however, he did not dare to publish.^ In 1791 Pestalozzi made at Zurich the acquaintance of Nicolovius, who later became Councillor of the Prussian government and was charged with the di- rection of public instruction. Pestalozzi kept up an intimate correspondence with him for some time. In the course of the summer of 1792 he visited his sister at Leipzig, and there made the acquaintance of Klop- stock, Wieland, Goethe, Herder, and Jacobi. Finally, in 1793, he received a visit from Fichte at Richters- weil, where he had gone to spend some months with his uncle, Hotze. Fichte, then settled at Zurich, had married a friend of Pestalozzi's wife. The visit cemented the friendship of the two men, Fichte hav- ing already conceived a great esteem for Pestalozzi, whose ideas on popular education he highly appre- 1 This work was published for the first time in'1782 in Seyffarth's edition of the Complete Works, under the title Essay on the Causes of the French Revolution, from a copy made by Fran Niederer. The original manuscript was not discovered until later. (J. Guil- laume, op. cit., p. 104.) NEUHOF 29 ciated, and Fichte promised to do all he could to help to put them into execution. The Discourses to the German Nation ^ proved that the German philosopher did not forget his promise. All these testimonials of sympathy did not, how- ever, help Pestalozzi out of his miserable situation, nor provide him with the sphere of action which he so long ceased to have, for the application of his ideas. Since the closing of his Home, his farm had gone steadily downhill for lack of helpers and capital, in spite of the devotion of Elisabeth Naf, the model servant who had succeeded in restoring order and sometimes even comfort into his wretched abode. She was, if we are to believe Nicolovius, Pestalozzi's model for Gertrude.^ The last article which Pestalozzi published during his stay at Neuhof was a philosophic essay, entitled My Investigations into the Course of Nature in the Develop- ment of the Human Bace,^ already composed in 1793, but which did not appear until 1797. No notice was taken of this work to which Pestalozzi attached great importance ; he was consequently deeply mortified. After Iselin's death, in 1782, Pestalozzi had no friends who really took much interest in his welfare. We must, however, mention Felix Battier, a Basle merchant, who took Pestalozzi's son, Jacob, into his house to teach him his business. He likewise advised Pestalozzi to sell his farm, Neuhof, but Pestalozzi refused, for he still dreamed of realising his plans. 1 Reden an die deutsche Nation, Berlin, 1808, pp. 292 et seq. 2 J. Guillaume, op. cit., p. 42. 3 Meine Nachforschungen uber den Gang der Natur in der Entwickelung des Menschengeschlechtes, 1797. CHAPTER III STANZ (1798-1799) Pestalozzi's pedagogic vocation. — The support of Stapfer and Legrand. — Foundation of the orphanage at Stanz. — Pesta- lozzi's teaching. — Success of the work stopped by political events. — Pestalozzi's departure. In 1798, as an after consequence of the French Revolution, Switzerland became the "Helvetian Re- public, one and indivisible," and Stapfer, the minister of arts and sciences, a distinguished philosopher and philologist, resolved to undertake the reform of ele- mentary schools, at that time in a lamentable condi- tion, especially in rural districts, and also to found training colleges for teachers. Pestalozzi thought the moment had come for the realisation of his dreams. Some friends of his, desiring to help him out of his pecuniary difficulties, offered him a political post, but he remembered the advice of his friend Bluntschli, and declined it, giving as his answer to "the man who then played the chief part in Switzerland," i.e. Stapfer, "who had promised him all his support in this career,^ ' I want to he a sclwolmaster.'' " A short time after, on the 21st of May, 1798, Stapfer being away, he wrote to the minister of justice to offer him his services in view " of a sweeping reform of educa- tion and of the schools for the lower classes of the 1 Schv)anengesang , § 170. 30 STANZ 31 people." He communicated his ideas and his projects to Legrand, one of the members of the Swiss Direc- tory, who recognised, as he did, that " the culture of the people would attain its maximum of efficiency by the perfect education of a sufficiently great number of individuals, taken from the poorest classes, on condi- tion that the children should not be raised above their station by this education, but should be thoroughly fitted for it." On Stapfer's return, Pestalozzi submitted to him his plan of a school for poor children, similar to the one which he had described in Leonard and Gertrude. The Directory approved of this plan, and promised not only an annual contribution of three thousand francs, but also all facilities for the installation. But the difficulty of finding a suitable building delayed the execution of this project. Meanwhile the Directory, knowing Pestalozzi's devotion to the cause of liberty, charged him with the task of drawing up an address to the cantons which had not yet accepted the Con- stitution, and also intrusted to him the editorship of the Helvetisches Volksblatt, a newspaper started by the government. As the little town of Stanz, capital of the canton of Mdwalden, had been burnt down by the troops of the Directory, in consequence of an insurrection, the gov- ernment had to undertake the charge of more than five hundred children, either orphans or the children of needy parents, and determined, on the 5th of December, 1798, to found an orphanage under Pesta- lozzi's management and the supervision of Businger, a priest, and Truttmann, a government inspector. The new institute was installed in an annex of the 32 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE convent of the Clarisses in Stanz, and organised at once to receive eighty children, with a first grant of six thousand francs. Full of enthusiasm, Pestalozzi betook himself on December 7th to Stanz. "I was glad to go," he writes. "My eager desire to put my hand at last to the work of realising the great dream of my life would have made me ascend the highest Alps, 1 could almost say would have made me begin without fire and water, if I were only allowed to begin." He met with very great material difficulties, but he did not let himself be cast down. On the 14th of January, 1799, the first children were admitted, but for lack of beds they had to spend the night at home, and re- turned covered with vermin. Obliged to do every- thing himself, having as his only helper a housekeeper and her daughter, Pestalozzi worked day and night, by turn director, teacher, nurse, and servant of the children confided to his care. Four weeks after, the institute numbered sixty-two pupils, although there were still only beds for fifty. In spite of the open hostility of the Roman Catholic population of Stanz, who considered Pestalozzi as a heretic and as the offi- cial of a foreign government besides, he left no stone unturned in order to win the affection of the chil- dren, to whom he devoted himself with a paternal care. As at Neuhof, — in conformity moreover with the plan he had submitted to the Directory, — he at first wanted to combine instruction properly so-called with manual labour; but he soon recognised that before there could be any question of that, " element- ary education in study and in work must be imparted, each by itself and independently, and the peculiar STANZ 33 nature and needs of each be determined." He already considered manual labour more from the point of view of physical exercise, and as a preparation for earning a livelihood, than with regard to the actual present pecuniary profit which might be made by the work. Similarly, his aim was less to teach reading and writing to the children than to develop their moral powers in as many directions, and as effectively as possible. That is why his general principle was to bring the knowledge of the most insignificant thing taught to perfection. He trained his pupils to become his helpers. He put a more advanced child between two less advanced, and made him teach them what he had learnt, for Pestalozzi desired to make every indi- vidual child capable of teaching others. The teaching of morality, limited to the notions of right and duty, was above all practical, and founded, according to Pestalozzi's principle, on conceptions gained by the medium of sense-perception, i.e. he con- nected it with the actual experience of the child. He held no discourses, gave no didactic ex^planations, but seized all the occasions furnished by the daily life of the children. The whole secret of his success lay in the children's devotion to their master. " I knew no order, no method, no art, which was not founded on the natural results of the conviction the children had of my love for them." " As I had," relates Pestalozzi, " to teach the chil- dren single-handed, without any help whatever, I learnt the art of teaching many at once, and as I had no other means than that of repeating aloud to them, and making them repeat what I had said after me, the idea naturally occurred to me of making them 34 PESTALOZZrS LIFE draw, write, and work while tliey learnt. The con- fusion of the number of children repeating all at once conducted me to the necessity of making them repeat all together, in rhythm, and this speaking all together increased the impression of what was taught. The complete ignorance of everything made me long keep to the elements, and this conducted me to experiences on the increased inner power which is gained through the perfection of the first rudiments, and of the con- sequences of the feeling of completion and perfection, even at the lowest step. I realised, as I never had before, the connection of the elements of every branch of knowledge to its perfect outline, and felt, as I had never felt before, the immeasurable gaps which must always be created if these elements are left in a state of confusion or imperfection. The results gained by attention to this point surpassed my expectations. A consciousness of power quickly developed in the chil- dren, of powers of which they were hitherto uncon- scious, and especially a general sense of beauty and order. They were conscious of themselves ; and the irksomeness which is generally felt in school dis- appeared like a ghost out of my schoolrooms; they wanted to do something, — they could do it, — they persevered, — finished and laughed; their mood was not the mood of learners, it. was the mood of children who feel unknown forces awaken in them, and in consequence are in an elevated frame of mind. "It was at Stanz that I felt how decisive were my experiences on the possibility of founding the education of the people on a psychological basis, of laying actual perceptions on its foundation, and tearing off the mask from the superficial verbosity STANZ 35 of education as then given. I felt that I could solve the problem, to the satisfaction of the man who looked deeply and was possessed of strength without preju- dice; but I could not yet prove what I knew well enough to the prejudiced herd, which like geese have been, from the time they crept out of their shell, fed in the kitchen and in the coop, and consequently have lost all power of swimming and of flying." The Directory was informed of the success of the undertaking by the reports of Truttmann and Businger, who were loud in his praise. "It is astonishing," writes the former to Eengger, the minister, on the 11th of February, 1799, to see what this excellent man has done, and the great progress made in so short a time by the pupils, who are most eager to learn. There is no doubt the State will be recompensed in a very few years for the sacrifices it has made in this beneficent work." Businger again wrote to the Directory, "One can hardly believe one's eyes and ears when one sees and hears what he has attained in so short a time." And yet the very man who re- ported these results seemed not to understand Pesta- lozzi's idea. Truttmann, for instance, felt himself called upon to advise him to modify his institute after the model of the orphanage at Zurich, and as he could not prevail on him to do so, communicated to the minister his doubts as to the final success of the undertaking. And some months after, in November, 1799, Businger wrote, " Pestalozzi, the worthy citizen, undertook the management of this orphanage with the best of good will and with all possible energy, but his temper, embittered by much suffering, the weakness which is the result of his age, the manner in which he 86 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE neglects everything external, and other defects, con- tribute to the result, that this good work has from the beginning failed in its beneficent aim, and that every man of foresight would have wished to see Pestalozzi anywhere but here." He was not understood better by the children's families, for they only saw in him a needy man whose chief aim was to earn a livelihood for himself. Stapfer, the minister, was almost the only one who did not judge him wrongly, and he con- tinued to give Pestalozzi his support. As the French had made Stanz their headquarters, and established a hospital in the orphanage building, the children who could be sent back to their parents were sent home, and most of the others quartered out in families ; there only remained twenty-two out of the eighty pupils of the institute. " That was the re- ward of my work at Stanz," Pestalozzi writes sor- rowfully, "work which perhaps no mortal man ever attempted on such a scale and under such circum- stances." Discouraged and exhausted, he was compelled to rest for a time, and went up to the mountains to try and recover his strength, his friend Zehender having invited him to stay at his house at Gurnigel. But Pestalozzi still clung to the hope of going back to Stanz. CHAPTER IV BURGDORF AND MUNCHENBUCHSEE (1799-1805) Pestalozzi's arrival at Burgdorf. — His teaching at the town school. — His first ideas of the ^ jB C of Sense- Perception and first application of his method. — Favourable report of the scholastic commission. — Pestalozzi is appointed teacher. — Arrival of his first co-worker, Kriisi. — Kriisi's and Ram- sauer's accounts of Pestalozzi's manner of teaching. — New colleagues, Tobler and Buss. — Support given by the Societij for the Promotion of Education and by the government. — Foundation of the Burgdorf Institute. — Prosperity of the Institute. — Publication of How Gertrude teaches her Chil- dren, the first work in which the principles of the method were laid down. — Success of this work from the point of view of Pestalozzi's reputation. — Number of foreign visitors. — Official inspection and report of Dean Ith ; the institute is declared a national establishment. — Reports of Soyaux of Berlin and Gruner of Saxony ; details as to the application of the method at the institute. — Pestalozzi elected member of the Consulta. — His journey to Paris. — Interview with Bonaparte. — His disappointment. — Arrival of Muralt and Niederer. — Publication of elementary text-books. — Removal of the institute to Miinchenbuchsee. — Pestalozzi and Fellen- burg. — Pestalozzi's departure for Yverdon. After some weeks' rest at Gnrnigel, Pestalozzi re- turned to Stanz, more determined than ever to carry out his idea. Stapfer, who always believed in his genius, communicated with the Directory, in a letter in which he eloquently recalled Pestalozzi's services and dwelt on his desire of continuing his experience 37 38 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE as a teacher in the schools at Burgdorf, which Pro- fessor Fischer, a disciple of Salzmann, the philan- thropist, was then occupied in reorganising. "He asks," wrote Stapfer, "neither salary nor title; he merely asks for rooms free of charge in a government building." The Executive of the Directory granted this request and gave Pestalozzi rooms in the castle at Burgdorf, with permission to teach in the local schools, and the promise of a quarterly sum of one hundred and sixty Swiss livres (ten louis d'or), if he succeeded, i.e. "if his work benefited the pupils and furthered the per- fecting of his method." Pestalozzi began his new duties in the tenants' school at Burgdorf. The schoolmaster, Samuel Dysli, bootmaker by trade, was to share his schoolroom and his pupils with him. But Pestalozzi's presence soon resulted in exciting Dysli's mistrust and jealousy and making Dysli only see in him a rival desirous of tak- ing away his pupils. At his instigation, the parents united in declaring that they would not permit the new master to experiment any longer on their chil- dren. Pestalozzi was then authorised to teach in an elementary school conducted by a Fraulein Stahli. Continuing at Burgdorf the experiments he had commenced at Stanz, he began to teach, as he says himself, empirically, with neither plan nor method. " I crowed," as he puts it, " my ABC every day from morning till night, put rows of syllables indefatigably together, filled whole exercise books with columns of them and columns of figures, and tried in every possible way to bring the rudiments of reading and arithmetic to their utmost simplicity, and into forms contrived BURGDORF AND MUNCHENBUCHSEE 39 by the greatest psychological art to bring the child very gradually from the first step to the second, but then in uninterrupted continuity from the foundation of the absolutely comprehended second, quickly and surely to the third and fourth. But instead of the letters which I made the children in Stanz draw on their slates, I made these children draw angles, squares, lines, and curves. In the course of this work, there un- folded itself gradually in my mind the idea of the possi- bility of an A B C of sense-perception, to which I now attach great importance, and with the working out of which the whole extent of a general method of instruc- tion stood complete, though still obscure, before my eyes." The exercise books of which he speaks were as a matter of fact the manuscripts of the books which he proposed to publish on the application of his ele- mentary method, and were to be used in the teaching of reading and arithmetic. As he could not resume his post at Stanz, in spite of his desire to do so and Stapf er's favourable report, for the orphanage had been reorganised and confided to the management of Businger, the priest, Pestalozzi again reverted to his original idea of starting an edu- cational establishment at Neuhof. He also desired to publish his elementary books. Stapfer asked for and obtained an advance from the government of sixteen hundred livres (one hundred louis d'or), to help him in the realisation of this project, but material difiicul- ties prevented him from establishing himself at Neuhof. At the end of the scholastic year, in March, 1800, Pestalozzi received the visit of the Board of Educa- tion, which reported very favourably on his manner 40 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE of teaching. The report, addressed to Pestalozzi him- self, remarked that in eight months he had not only taught children of five and six years of age to read perfectly, but that the best among them could already write and draw well, and had made a good beginning in arithmetic. Moreover, he had succeeded in awaking among all a taste for history, natural history, geog- raphy, geometry, etc., so that if their future masters only knew how to profit reasonably by this prepa- ration, they would find their task singularly facili- tated. But what in the eyes of the members of the Board still more distinguished Pestalozzi's method from other methods in use until then, was that it could " be applied at the earliest age at which instruc- tion is given in the family circle, by every mother, every child that is a little older than the beginner, and even by every intelligent servant in the midst of her household avocations." As a reward for his ser- vices, Pestalozzi was appointed, in the following May, teacher of the second boys' school in Burgdorf. It was about this time that Pestalozzi had the good fortune to find a valuable fellow-worker in Kriisi, a young teacher who had come from the canton of Ap- penzell in January at Fischer's invitation, with twenty- eight poor children, whom he was going to teach. These were boarded out in charitable families. Fischer died suddenly in May, 1800, and then Pesta- lozzi suggested to Kriisi that they should join their schools. He obtained permission from government to house both in the castle at Burgdorf. Kriisi gladly and gratefully accepted the partnership. An experi- ence in teaching of six years' duration had developed qualities in this young master which his colleague did BURGDORF AND MUNCHENBUCHSEE 41 not possess, but which he had the sense to recognise. " Pestalozzi," he tells us, " gave me a free hand, for he saw that as a teacher I possessed many qualities which he lacked. On the other hand, I conceived a high esteem for his views, his efforts, and his experi- ments, I was encouraged by the confidence he had in me and delighted at his affection for me, although at the same time I did not approve of many details of his method." And Krtisi gives us interesting par- ticulars of Pestalozzi's manner of teaching. " He had, I was going to say, almost brazen lungs, and any one who had not, would have to give up all idea of speak- ing or rather shouting continuously as he did. Even if I had had such lungs myself, I should often have desired that he and his pupils, when reciting or an- swering in class, might have used more moderation and lowered their voices. There were other points on which I never could entirely agree with him. For ex- ample, he wanted to teach two subjects to a class at the same time ; he tried especially to combine exer- cises in speaking with freehand drawing and writing. Now it seemed to me that undivided attention directed to one subject and one piece' of work at a time would have been infinitely more profitable than such divided attention. But these differences, far from disturbing the harmony of our relations, often only contributed to throw more light on the subject, and to show up more clearly the advantages or disad- vantages of this or that proceeding. However this may be, Pestalozzi did not conceal his joy at having at length found an assistant who tried to fathom his views and to attain the end he strove after." We have also at this interesting period the testi- 42 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE mony of one of Krtisi's Appenzell pupils, Johann Ramsauer, then ten years of age. " I learnt nothing there in ordinary school fashion," he writes, "any more than the other pupils did ; but Pestalozzi in- spired enthusiasm, and his devotion, his love, his utter disregard of himself, his precarious and difficult situa- tion, which even the children remarked, made a most deep impression on me, and knit my childish heart to his by bonds of eternal gratitude. ... In this school, where the whole teaching according to Pesta- lozzi's ideas was to have as starting-point language, number, and form, there was no scheme of work prop- erly so called and no time-table. Pestalozzi did not confine himself to any fixed hour, but generally kept on at the same subject for two or three hours at a time. There were about sixty of us, boys and girls from eight to fifteen years of age, and the school hours were from eight to eleven in the morning and from two to four in the afternoon. The whole teach- ing was reduced to drawing, arithmetic, and exercises in speaking. There was no reading or writing, con- sequently we had neither printed books nor exercise books. We learnt nothing by heart, neither the Bible nor anything else. As to drawing, we had neither copies nor were we told what we were to draw ; we had nothing but a piece of red chalk and a slate, and while Pestalozzi recited to us, as exercise in speaking, sentences on natural history, we were to draw ' what we chose.' But we did not know what to draw, so that some of the children drew men and women, others houses, others lines, curves, or any- thing else that came into their heads. Besides Pesta- lozzi never looked at what we had drawn, or rather BURGDORF AND MUXCFIENBUCHSEE 43 scrawled. The condition of our clothes, especially of our cuft's and elbows, was a sufficient proof that we had been using red chalk. In order to learn to count, we had to every two pupils a little diagram pasted on cardboard, on which dots were arranged in squares. These we had to count, and by their help add, sub- tract, multiply, and divide. From these diagrams Kriisi and Buss afterward made tables of unity, and later on fraction tables. But as Pestalozzi contented himself with reciting aloud and making the pupils repeat after him, one at a time, without ever asking us any questions or giving us any sums to do, these exercises, excellent as they were in their way, had no great result. He was besides not patient enough to make the pupils repeat or to put questions to them, and in his boundless zeal he seemed not to trouble himself about any one child. The best part of his teaching consisted of exercises in speaking, those at least which he put us through on the designs of the wall-papers in the class room. These were real exer- cises in sense-perception. The wall-papers were very old and all torn, and we often had to stand in front of them for two or three hours at a time, to say what we saw in the figures and holes there, as regards form, number, position, and colour, and compose longer and longer sentences on what we saw. Thus he asked us : — Boys, what do you see 9 (He never addressed him- self to the girls.) Answer, A hole in the wall. A tear in the partition. Pestalozzi. Very well. Repeat after me, I see a hole in the wall-paper. I see a long hole in the wall-paper. 44 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE Behind the hole I see the 'wall. Behind the long and narrow hole I see the wall. Repeat again, I see the figures on the wall-paper. I see black figures on the wall-paper. I see round black figures on the wall-paper. I see a square yelloio figure on the wall-paper. Beside the square yelloio figure on the wall-paper I see a black round one. The square figure is joined to the round one by a thick black line, etc. The exercises on natural history were less success- ful. While we were drawing on our slates in the manner I have already described, he made us re- peat : — Amphibious animcds. Amp)hihious animals which have paivs. Amjyhibious animals ichich climb. Monkeys. Tailed monkeys. Tailless monkeys. We did not understand a single word, for he never explained anything to us, and he recited it all in a chanting fashion, so quickly and so indistinctly, that it would have been a miracle if we had understood any of it, or got any good at all out of it. Besides he shouted fearfully and perpetually, which prevented him from hearing what w^e repeated after him, the more so because he never stopped when he had fin- ished one sentence, but recited a whole page in one breath. Everything he thus recited was written on a sheet of cardboard, and our share of the repetition was generally limited to repeating the last word or BURGDORF AND MUNCHENBUCHSEE 45 syllable. There never was any attempt at question- ing us, or making us repeat an exercise a second time. " As Pestalozzi in his zeal never bound himself to fixed hours, we generally kept on till eleven o'clock at what we began at eight, and at ten o'clock he was gen- erally hoarse and utterly exhausted. We knew when it was eleven o'clock because we heard the noise the other school children made in the streets, and then we all ran off without stopping to say good-bye. ^' Although Pestalozzi strictly forbade his colleagues to use corporal punishment, he did not hesitate to resort to it himself, and boxed the boys' ears right and left. But most of his pupils made his life such a burden to him that I was sorry for him, and kept all the quieter. He soon noticed this, and often took me for a walk at eleven o'clock. Every fine day he went to hunt for stones, which was his chief diversion. I, too, had to pick up stones, although it seemed very singular to me, for there were millions of them, and I did not know which to take. He did not understand anything about them either, but he filled his pockets and his handkerchief with them every day all the same, and carried them home, though he never looked at them again after that. He kept this hobby all his life ; and it was hard to find a handkerchief in the whole school at Burgdorf which was not full of holes made by taking pebbles home." ^ It was also in 1799, towards the end of the year, that Pestalozzi received the visit of Herbart, on his return from Marchlingen, where he had just spent 1 Ramsauer, Kurze Skizze meines pddagogischen Lebens, 1838, pp. 7-10. 46 PESTALOZZrS LIFE two years as tutor in the family of Von Steiger, who was bailiff there. This visit made a great imj^ression on Herbart, who gives us the following account of it : ^ — " A dozen children from five to eight years of age were summoned at an unusual hour of the evening to the school ; I was afraid that they would be ill-tem- pered, and that the experiment I had come to see would be a failure. But the children came without a trace of reluctance ; an animated activity lasted with- out interruption to the end." After having praised the exercises in answering all together, and admired the pupils' skill in drawing geometrical figures, Herbart adds: — " But why did Pestalozzi cause so much to be learnt by heart ? Why did he seem to have chosen the sub- jects of instruction with so little regard to the chil- dren's natural inclinations ? Why did he always only make them learn, never converse with them, never talk, never joke, never tell them stories ? — Why were his sentences so disconnected, why did the names he gave stand out so solitary ? — Why did everything which is so often suggested to mitigate the seri- ousness of school here seem despised? — How did he, the man who was otherwise from the very begin- ning so friendly, so amiable, who greeted everything human in so human a fashion, whose first word seemed to say to every stranger: 'Here let every one who deserves to find a heart find one' — how was it that such a man, I say, did not give more pleasure to, did not more combine the agreeable with the useful for, the children who occupied his whole soul ? " These questions did not certainly puzzle me as much iSee Festalozzibldtter, p. 307. BURGDORF AND MUNCHENBUCHSEE 47 as they would have puzzled others. My own experi- ence and experiments had prepared me to estimate children's mental powers far more highly than people generally do, and to seek for the causes of their willing- ness or unwillingness to learn far from superfluous pastimes on the one hand, or supposed dryness and difficulty of such things which demand seriousness and attention on the other. I had often found that with children what was supposed to be easy was difficult, and what was supposed to be difficult was easy. I had long considered the feeling of clear grasp the only real condiment in instruction. And a perfect regularity of progression which should answer all the demands which could be made on it was for me the great ideal, in which I saw the all-penetrating means of ensuring its real efficacy. Just the very search for this system- atic progression, this arranging and joining together what must be taught at the same time and what suc- cessively, was, as 1 understood, Pestalozzi's chief aim. If we assume that he has found it, or at any rate is on the right road to finding it, every non-essential addition, every assistance by circuitous routes, in the form of distraction, of diverting the mind from the chief object in view, must be harmful and to be deprecated. If on the other hand he has not found that true succession of steps to knowledge, it must be found or at any rate be improved upon and continued ; but then too his method is at any rate so far correct, in that it throws away harmful additions ; its laconic brevity is its essential merit. No useless word is heard in the school ; conse- quently the continuity of grasp is never interrupted. The teacher speaks perpetually so that the children may repeat after him, a v/rong letter is at once wiped 48 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE from the slate ; thus the chikl can never stop at his errors. The right path is never forsaken ; and thus every moment has its progress. " And yet the committing to memory of names, sen- tences, definitions, and the apparent lack of concern as to whether it was all understood, caused me to doubt and to put questions. Pestalozzi answered by another question: ^ Would the children learn so quickly and so cheerfully if they understood nothing?' I had seen this cheerfulness with my own eyes ; I could not explain it if I did not assume the existence of a mental activity. But this assumption of mine was more belief than conviction. In further conversation, however, Pestalozzi led me to the idea that the inward compre- hensibleness of the instruction was after all much more important than the momentary understanding. Most of what was learnt by heart here had to do with objects of the daily sense-perception ; the child, with his description in his mind, left the school, met with the object described, perceived it with his senses, and now perhaj^s for the first time comprehended the meaning of the words, but he comprehended them more completely than if the teacher had tried to explain his words by other words. Do then the happy moments of understanding and especially those of more concentrated thought, combination, and medita- tion come just in certain lesson hours ? The lessons give the comprehensible, and put together those things which belong together ; time and opportunity will later on bring comprehension, and join and cement what has been brought together. " We must not forget that it was only a question here of young children. For such a word or a name is not, BURGDORF AND MUNCHENBUCHSEE 49 as it is for us, the mere sign of a thing : for them the word is itself a thing; they stop at the sound; and not until that has become an everyday thing to them do they learn to forget it while thinking of the thing." ^ As the work increased it became necessary to look out for new helpers, especially as neither Pestalozzi nor Kriisi could teach singing or drawing. Kriisi went to Basle to visit his fellow-countryman and friend, Tobler. Tobler had been a teacher and was now a theological student and at the same time master of a school for poor children. He suggested as master for singing and drawing a young Wlirttemberger book- binder, Buss by name, who had a taste for music and drawing. Buss gladly accepted, and " hastened to Pes- talozzi without making any inquiries as to salary or other conditions." ^ Tobler at first could not make up his mind to leave his school ; but Kriisi urged him so strongly that he finally promised his help, and he arrived at Burgdorf a few weeks later. His duties were to help Pestalozzi in his literary work, teach geography, and direct the moral and religious educa- tion of the children. " Our staff consisted then of four persons, and was a curious mixture, the result of a singular combination of circumstances : a founder, who joined to his high reputation as author that of a visionary, of a man use- less in practical life, and three young men, one of whom was a teacher, who after a neglected youth sud- denly flung himself into university studies, and 1 Herbart, tfher PestalozzVs neueste Schrift : Wie Gertrud ihre Kinder lehri. (Complete Works, ed. by Rohrbach, Vol. I, pp. 137 et seq.) 2 Kriisi, Erinnerungen aus meinem pddagogischen Leben und Wirken., 1840, p. 15. 50 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE devoted himself unsuccessfully to all sorts of experi- ments in teaching ; another a bookbinder, who in his free hours tried to gratify his taste for drawing and singing ; finally the third, a village schoolmaster, who followed his calling as well as he could, having had no preparation for it. Any one who saw this group of men, and remembered that not one of them had where to lay his head, could not be blamed for only expect- ing a meagre result from their efforts. And yet the work succeeded. The institute won the confidence of the public to a degree which surpassed the expectation of all who knew us, and above all it gained ours. On all sides from far and near pupils arrived by crowds."^ At the beginning of June, at the initiative of Stapf er, the minister, a Society of the Friends of Educa- tion had been founded, the aim of which was to pro- mote Pestalozzi's efforts, and make them known to the public. This society appointed a commission and sent it to Burgdorf to study the working of his method. Before setting out, however, the commission invited Pestalozzi to give an account of his principles and of his proceedings in an address to them. In this address Pestalozzi enunciated for the first time the principle of his method.^ At the close of its visit, the commis- sion drew up a very favourable report, which brought Pestalozzi a grant of five hundred francs from govern- ment, and caused him to determine to make an appeal to the public for help in his undertaking. All this encouragement made Pestalozzi decide, to resume his independence and found an institute of his 1 Kriisi, Erinnerungen aus meinem pddagogisclien Leben und Wlrken, p. 15, ^ This account of his method is reprodnced almost literally in letters 4 and 5 of Hoiv Gertrude teaches her Children. BURGDORF AND MUNCHENBUCHSEE 51 own. He sent in his resignation as village teacher, and on the 24th of October, 1800, advertised in the newspapers the opening of an educational establishment for pupils belonging to the middle classes. The gov- ernment granted him the free use of the castle at Burgdorf for his school. The fee for board and tui- tion was fixed at from sixteen to twenty louis a year. Later on he meant to add an orphan asylum and a training college for teachers to this boarding school. Thanks to the help of the Society of the Friends of Education, which issued an appeal on November 20, "to the citizens (male and female) of Helvetia" for a subscription of thirty-two thousand francs, the sum necessary to start the undertaking, and also to some favourable notices which appeared in some important German newspapers, pupils came in rapidly, and soon the Burgdorf castle was not large enough to hold them all. Soon after this, Pestalozzi lost his son Jacob, who died at Neuhof on the 15th of August, 1801, after several months' ilhiess. The prosperity of the institute at length enabled Pestalozzi to begin to edit for the public the principles of his method, which he embodied in his book, Hoio Gertrude teaches her Children. This appeared in October, 1801 ; but the first letter is dated the 1st of January previous to this. In spite of its title, the work is nothing more or less than a series of letters on education, the two first containing many biographical details. The series, fourteen in number, was addressed to Gessner, the bookseller. The publication of this work gained for Pestalozzi a wider and more lasting fame. Visitors came in crowds from the whole of Switzerland and Germany, 52 PESTALOZZrS LIFE to see for themselves the "method'' in application. Dean Ith, who was sent by the government to inspect the establishment, drew up a most favourable report, on the strength of which the Helvetian government trans- formed Pestalozzi's establishment into a national in- stitute, and awarded the head-master, as well as his elder colleagues, a fixed salary, and moreover paid part of the cost of the publication of the elementary books they compiled. One of the visitors who came from abroad to see the institute, Soyaux of Berlin, has left us a most interest- ing portrait of Pestalozzi. " It was only necessary to see this man,'' he says, " to have the best opinion of him : he is always immersed in thought ; he sees more in himself than outside himself ; more in the world of his ideas than in the actual world. A spirit of unrest, an inner impulse, drives him on some days from one room to the other, from one colleague to another. One would then say he was in pursuit of an idea which always fled before him, and that he was devoting his whole mind to solving some complicated problem. . . . At other times he spends whole days in his room, where he passes his time in meditation and writing, wholly oblivious of himself and his affairs. To begin a con- versation with him is easy enough, but it is seldom that one is able to fix him on one subject, and lead him to a satisfactory conclusion. He only breaks the thread of his meditations for a few minutes, says a kind word or two, and then draws back into his shell. When, however, one can direct his attention to well-grounded objections and doubts, he becomes lively and commu- nicative. He speaks rapidly and to the point, in an energetic and decisive manner. Contradiction does BURGDORF AND MUNCHENBUCHSEE 53 not irritate him, but has rarely any other effect than to fix him more firmly than ever in his own opinion. *' His heart is full of affection and friendship. He seems to prefer to communicate with his friends and pupils by a mute expression of his feelings than by ideas and words. A friendly tap, an energetic shake of the hand, a benevolent look, a sympathetic or grate- ful clasp of the hand, are more in accordance with his nature than wordy reflections or superficial remarks. . . . He recoils from no sacrifice if the aim is good and noble. He carries his oblivion of the interests of himself and his family too far, for he takes in too many children free of charge. " The firmness and independence of his mind mani- fest themselves also in his exterior. He cannot plume himself on social breeding. He expresses his thoughts and convictions, his feelings and desires, in a clear and original manner. Unaccustomed to the forms of Euro- pean society, he abandons himself to the natural im- pulses of his mind and heart. He is quiet, sincere, earnest, hearty, modestly firm, lively without being carried away by sensual impulses, attentive from force of sympathy, but lacking refinement, without any trace of outside influence in his words or actions. As he has not been educated by men, he does not know how to exert an active influence on them. He is a thinker rather than an educator." On the subject of the prac- tical part of Pestalozzi's teaching, Soyaux remarks that " his principles are still in germ and are rather at the stage of projects than of maturity and completion." Nor must one expect perfect organisation. Soyaux admires the spirit of concord and the love of progress which inspires all the members of the institute. 54 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE The establishment then included one hundred and two persons, seventy -two being pupils of from iive to thirteen years of age, ten masters, and several foreign- ers who had come to learn the method. There were no classes pro2:)erly so called, but the pupils were divided into five or six groups, which were differently constituted according to the needs of their studies. There were no books for the beginners, except the ABC for the children who were learning to read. Diagrams hung in all the class rooms. " The smallest children learn to count by the help of pebbles, leaves, trees, etc., and to draw lines on their slates. Others count the lines on the first diagram and learn to add and subtract by their help. In the first lessons, the master repeats aloud, and makes the pupils repeat after him, this exercise of the method, word for word, pointing to the diagram, until they perfectly compre- hend what they are to do ; then they follow his exam- ple, i.e. each one in turns takes the master's pla(?e and teaches the others just as he did. Thus the pupil learns and teaches at the same time. These arith- metic lessons are continued according to fixed and rigor- ous rules ; the master has only to see that there are no gaps in continuity and no confusion. The more advanced pupils are occupied at the same time with other diagrams. Then follow some examples of sums on fractions worked mentally by pupils of eight and nine years of age." Soyaux goes on to give us the description of the teaching of drawing, and the teaching to speak by the help of the A B C of sense-perception, and especially draws attention to the ease with which the pupils drew geometrical figures, and even maps on a reduced BURGDOUF AND MUNCIIENBUCIISEE 65 scale, most accurately without the help of any instru- ment. Here again are other interesting details on the life led in the establishment. " At six o'clock in the morn- ing all the house is astir, and at the stroke of ten at night the children are assembled in the hall. Pesta- lozzi stands in their midst and holds a paternal moral review. But, as he likes to have no witnesses at such a time, I have not dared to gratify my wish to be present at his expense." The physical and moral health of the children is perfect. " They have no highly seasoned food to excite their palates, nothing to ener- vate their bodies, to intoxicate their senses, to cramp their hearts, nor to corrupt their morals. Separated from the world, kept in constant activity and always under the supervision of their masters, they give themselves up to their childish innocence and their natural light-heartedness. Their daily occupations take such possession of their minds that they do not think of anything but . . . drawing and arithmetic. Even on Sundays they come together of their own accord in the class rooms to do sums, either alone or in groups together. How many times I have seen children enthusiastically reciting to themselves their tables of sense-perception ! . . . "As to discipline, the ruling principle is to leave the children the greatest liberty possible, and only to prevent abuses. Nowhere does the restrictive force of a rule make itself felt. Masters and pupils are as simple and natural in their manner as isolated inhab- itants of mountains. They know nothing of acquired politeness, of refined manners, of sounding phrases, of the usages of society. The children obey their natural 56 PESTALOZZrS LIFE impulses in all their freshness and simplicity; they are not in the least self-conscious. While enjoying the most complete liberty, they nevertheless keep within certain rightful limits ; obstinacy, unkind teas- ing, love of quarrelling, etc., are extremely rare among them. Ever since the foundation of the institute there has been no need of punishment. There is no trace of bigotry, nor of the pedantic manner so repug- nant in schoolmasters. Pestalozzi's principles as re- gards moral education are excellent. ^ Try to retain the natural living warmth in the heart of the young, for it is in this natural warmth and not in the glimmer of the lamp of moral reflections that the germs of good develop ; . • • put yourself in such relations with the child that he may love you and have full confidence in you.' . . . "Thus masters and pupils live in a beneficent har- mony. . . . The masters do not dream of making their authority felt by commands or reproofs; they utter their prohibitions in a gentle warning tone; their praise is reduced to ... a pleased look, a clasp of the hand. The children for their part are attached to their guides and have a hearty confidence in them, and are never wanting in the respect which the masters command by their intelligence, their even temper, and their good intentions. It is always diffi- cult to keep to the golden mean. That is the case here too. The children are, as a matter of fact, too little restricted. There are hardly any rules at all. During lessons they can sit or stand as they choose, and take whatever places they like. . . . Naturally, with the high spirits of their years, they resemble a group of persons pushing and shoving to get the best BURGDORF AND MUNCHENBUCHSEE 57 place more than a class of pupils who desire to learn, among whom there ought to be a certain order, if the aim proposed is to be attained. However, the peculiar character of this method puts certain limits to. the confusion, by calling all their liveliness into play in the lesson, and by taking complete possession of all the pupils' energies at once. For they do not answer one at a time, each according to his capacity, but all together. This may have its good points, but the shouting which the children take such pleasure in ought not to be allowed. I have been sometimes actually put to flight by the deafening noise made when several classes recited at the same time. The excessive exhaustion which is the result cannot be good for the voice ; the ear gets accustomed to the clamour, and finally the boy cannot speak at all with- out shouting." But all that contributed to keep up the children's interest and pleasure, so that study seemed to them a recreation rather than mental fatigue. Another visitor, this time from Saxony, Gruner, has left us a touching description of these gatherings, or " moral reviews," at which Soyaux did not venture to be present. All the pupils except the very youngest were present at these gatherings, which took place mornings and evenings. There were no formal cere- monies, " they exercised the attraction and action by heat and energy." ... "A small number of pupils, about six or eight perhaps, joyfully shook off their drowsiness early in the morning to be with Father Pes- talozzi. How many times I have seen this little group wait quietly and confidingly, often in the dark (in winter a little after six o'clock), for their teacher, their adopted father and friend ! Never did I remark 58 PESTALOZZrS LIFE among them at such a time any outbursts of youth- ful agility. One would have said that the reason for which they were gathered together so early in the hall, and the expectation of what Father Pestalozzi was going to say to them, had given them the gravity of serious young men. They talked together quietly and confidentially. "But here is Pestalozzi coming in with a light. What benevolence and what cordiality shine in his face, and how they are expressed in his fatherly good morning ! He shakes hands with this child and that, he speaks to each one according to his character. Sometimes he addresses them all together. In a familiar tone and with fatherly interest he questions each one about himself, about his health, if he is not quite well, on the progress he has made in such and such an exercise which he finds difficult, or about some talent which his parents wish to be specially cultivated. He reminds the children of their j^arents, and begs them to try to please them. Often he pro- ceeds from remarks specially addressed to one pupil to exhortations addressed to all, appealing from the particular case to the moral and religious sentiments which Nature has put in the heart of all. . . . "Sometimes he praises a pupil for good conduct, for manifestations of his good heart and noble senti- ments. He encourages another to imitate him, re- minding him that he, too, has faculties for good, which he ought to exercise. He exhorts a third to be grate- ful to his Creator for having given him a good capac- ity for learning, and begs him never to forget the duty which is obligatory on him, of making something important out of his life. He addresses himself some- BURGDORF AND MUNCHENBUCHSEE 59 times to a fourth, to reprove him in an energetic, fatherly fashion, if repeated complaints have been made to him, or if he, who knew so well how to read children's minds, saw in his germs which caused him anxiety. From time to time he interspersed a joke. But in all his remarks, however varied they may be, there is the same tone throughout of hearty fatherly warmth. That is why it all comes home to the chil- dren as a body and also to each particular one. . , . "Pestalozzi then proceeds from particular objects to general reflections, and never fails to choose topics which appeal to the children's hearts. Almost always his language is singularly lucid and clear. However, it sometimes happens that he is carried away to dis- cuss abstract ideas and obscure subjects, less within the range of all, or considerations which do not directly appeal to the feelings. As soon as he per- ceives this, he breaks off and passes on to the reading. " At the end of morning prayers, Pestalozzi begs his pupils to meditate often during the day on what he has said to them, and to let their meditation influence their actions. In the evening, he generally begins by asking the pupils how they have kept the resolutions made in the morning. And then it is by no means rare to see how open and sincere children are when treated in a manner perfectly in accordance with their nature." ^ Pestalozzi was elected in November, 1808, member for the cantons of Berne and Zurich on the Swiss dele- gation or Consulta, which was convoked by Bonaparte to meet at Paris and deliberate on the new Helvetian constitution. Pestalozzi had hoped that his journey would help to make his method known in France. 1 Gruner, Briefe aiis Bargdorf, pp. 259 et seq. 60 PESTALOZZrS LIFE But although Chaptal, the minister, had been apprised of his efforts, Pestalozzi met with nothing but indiffer- ence. It is even said that he tried to obtain an audi- ence from the First Consul, and that Bonaparte replied, " He could not trouble himself about the A B O." Worse still, the Journal de Paris treated him as a quack. Much discouraged, he returned to Burgdorf without waiting for the end of the work of the Consulta. " I, too, have been to Paris," he said later on, " but I saw nothing there." The only good result of his journey was to gain for his work Johann von Muralt of Zurich, a very distinguished young theologian, whom he had met at Paris and so attracted that Muralt refused the offer of a post as tutor from Mme. de Stael to become Pesta- lozzi's colleague at Burgdorf, in May, 1803. The same year other new masters entered the institute, among them Johann Niederer, an ardent admirer of Pesta- lozzi's, who after three years' hesitation gave up his ministrations as pastor at Sennwald, in the canton of Appenzell, to place himself at Pestalozzi's disposal. The same year, too, appeared Pestalozzi's elementary works, i.e. (1) The ABC of Sense-perception, or the Teaching of Geometry by the Help of Sense-perception ; ^ (2) The Teaching of Arithmetic by Sense-perception ;^ (3) The Book for Mothers.^ As the new government of Berne required the castle at Burgdorf for the new prefect, Pestalozzi, who was moreover regarded with suspicion by the authorities on ^ A B C der Anschauung oder Anschauungslehre der Maszver- haltnisse. 2 Anschauungslehre der Zahlverhdltnisse. 3 Buch der Mutter, oder Anleitung fiir Mutter, ihre Kinder be- merken und reden zu lassen. BURGDORF AND MUNCHENBUCHSEE 61 account of his radical ideas, was invited to transfer his institute to Mlinchenbuchsee, two leagues from Berne, to the old Johanniter monastery there. This building was, however, only granted him for the space of one year. The grants made him were withdrawn and repay- ment demanded of the four thousand francs advanced for the publication of his elementary books. Thanks to the generosity of the governments of several other cantons, Pestalozzi only had to repay fourteen hundred francs. On all sides, too, people declared that his in- stitute ought to be kept up, if it were only on account of the enthusiasm excited by it throughout all Europe. At the news that he would have to leave Burgdorf, several towns, Yverdon among them, made him most advantageous offers to induce him to transfer his es- tablishment to their territory. As he could not count on retaining the castle at Mlinchenbuchsee for long, Pestalozzi let himself be tempted by the position of Yverdon, on the border of the lake of Neufchatel, for he hoped to be able to spread his ideas into French- speaking districts. As, on the other hand, the num- ber of masters whom he had trained in his method was greater than he needed, he conceived the plan of establishing there a second institute, to which he promised to devote his energies at least six months in the year. He went there toward the middle of August. The municipality gave a banquet to cele- brate his arrival and promised to make all alterations necessary in the castle. The week following. Buss brought six or eight pupils from Mlinchenbuchsee, who were to form the nucleus of the institute at Yverdon. Pestalozzi's family had been sent to Neu-* hof during these changes. 62 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE While these negotiations were pending, the installa- tion of the institution at Mtinchenbuchsee took place, on the 22nd of June, 1804. A quarter of an hour's journey from Mtinchenbuchsee was the important agri- cultural establishment of Hofwyl, which contained no fewer than four hundred persons, under the able man- agement of Fellenberg, with whom Pestalozzi was on friendly terms. Some of Pestalozzi's colleagues, among them Muralt and Tobler, who had already thought of relieving him of the material part of the management, secretly entered into negotiations with Fellenberg, and found him quite ready to fall in with their views and take over the management of the in- stitute at Mtinchenbuchsee. They then submitted the plan to Pestalozzi, pointing out to him the repose and the independence he would enjoy, and on the 1st of July, 1804, they got him to sign a treaty by which the actual management of the establishment was intrusted to Fellenberg, so as to leave Pestalozzi, it was said, who remained owner of the institute, an annual pen- sion of fifty louis and leisure to continue his literary work. As a matter of fact, Pestalozzi was reduced to complete inactivity. The establishment began with sixty-seven pupils and seven teachers, and everything seemed to indicate that it would prosper. Unfortunately serious dissen- sions soon occurred between Pestalozzi and Fellenberg, whose utterly dissimilar characters necessarily brought them into collision. In the course of September, a violent scene took place between them, and only the intervention of Niederer and Muralt prevented an open rupture. But that svifficed to disgust Pestalozzi with his stay at Mtinchenbuchsee. On the 19th of BURGDORF AND MUNCHENBUCHSEE 63 October, 1804, he set out for Yverdon, accompanied by Niederer and Krtisi. The Miinchenbuchsee estab- lishment remained under Fellenberg's direction as far as the household management was concerned, under that of Tobler and Muralt for the educational part. Here we may consider Pestalozzi's career as a teacher as terminated, for from this time he devoted himself entirely to his literary work. " I began my work at Burgdorf," he wrote some time after, " and I finished it at Burgdorf." ^ 1 Morf , III, p. 105. CHAPTER V YVERDON (1805-1825) Settlement at Y verdon. — Difficulties at starting in the institute. — Arrival of three Prussian pupil teachers. — Account of the life at the institute according to different witnesses. — Niederer's predominating influence. — Niederer and Joseph Schmid ; their rivalry. — Inspection of the institute by order of the Helvetian diet. — Father Girard's report in the name of the commission. — Witness of Karl von Raumer. — Wordy ■war occasioned by the report of the board of inspection. — Schmid's departure. —Jullien's visit — Starting of a printing- press and sale of books ; disastrous undertaking. — Appoint- ment of a committee of domestic management. — Schmid's return. — Pestalozzi's visit to the Tsar Alexander of Russia and to the king of Prussia. — New conflict between Niederer and Schmid. — Decay of the institute. — Niederer's departure. — Revolts of the masters. — Negotiation with Fellenberg and rupture. — Success of the subscriptions for the Complete Works of Pestalozzi. — Opening of the orphanage at Clindy. — Fusion of the orphanage and institute. — Fresh quarrels with Niederer. — Decay and closure of the Establishment. The beginning at the Yverdon institute was most arduous, and Pestalozzi and his faithful disciples, Niederer and Kriisi, who shared his room until the castle was ready to receive them, even had to endure privation. Having received from the king of Denmark a present of a hundred louis d'or, in acknowledgment of his kind reception of two Danes, — Strom and 64 YVERDON 65 Torlitz, — sent to Burgdorf to study the method, Pes- talozzi hastened to send to Miinchenbuchsee for some poor children there, whom Fellenberg had admitted very much against his inclination. But the notables, who always regarded Pestalozzi with suspicion, did not confide their children to his care, and in the month of December the institute only numbered eighteen pupils. Yet Kriisi declares that this was the happiest period of Pestalozzi's existence, and says he rarely saw him more joyous and more peaceful, relieved of all care for the morrow by his pension, and enjoying his life with the careless happiness of a child. It was at this time that he wrote his work entitled Views, Experiences, and Means of promoting a Method of Education which is in Coiiforrtiity with Human Nature} which he did not publish until 1807, and then only in part. In consequence of new scenes with Fellenberg, into the details of which we need not enter, the latter tried, it seems, to oust Pestalozzi. There was a com- plete rupture, and Pestalozzi's old colleagues, refusing to remain any longer at Miinchenbuchsee, left Fellen- berg to go to Yverdon, taking with them those of their pupils whose families consented to their removal. Fellenberg, enraged, demanded the payment of a con- siderable indemnity, and seized the furniture of the institute as pledge. Pestalozzi went to Miinchen- buchsee to regulate the matter, and there was another violent scene between the two, in the course of which Pestalozzi took off his shoes, telling Fellenberg to take them too if he chose, that would not prevent him from 1 Ansichten, Erfahrimgen, mid Mittel zur Befdrderung einer der Menschennatur angemessener Erzlehungsweise. 66 PESTALOZZrS LIFE going across Berne to Yverdon barefoot, together with his teachers and his pupils. Finally the affair was ended by a promise to pay, which Pestalozzi signed. Then the institute was free to move, and in the first days of July, 1805, all the staff was reunited at Yverdon. Here begins the most glorious, and at the same time the most troublous, period of Pestalozzi' s existence, — glorious because of the triumph of his ideas in Europe, troublous because of the difficulties inseparable doubt- less from every educational establishment, but singu- larly aggravated by Pestalozzi's lack of the special capacities necessary for a head-master, his too confid- ing disposition, and his absolute lack of a sense of the practical. It will be remembered with what vigour Prussia, crushed at Jena, set about the work of its regenera- tion, and that Fichte, the philosopher, contributed to this work by his celebrated Discourses to the German Nation, in which he declared without hesitation Pesta- lozzi's method to be the only one suitable to serve as basis of a truly national education.^ These warnings were to obtain all the more favour- able a hearing, from the fact that the men who then directed public education in Prussia — Nicolovius, Suvern, and some of their colleagues — already knew Pestalozzi either personally, or through his writings, or by the reputation of his institute, and had been converted to his ideas. Queen Louise herself, who was a great admirer of his, took an active part in the movement. On the 11th of September, 1808, Schroter, the minister to whom the king had just i 1 Vide p. 29. YVEKDON 67 intrusted the organisation of national education in the Prussian provinces, wrote to Pestalozzi as fol- lows: "Entirely convinced of the great value of the method of education invented and so happily applied by you, I have resolved to proceed to a complete reform of education in the Prussian prov- inces, founded on the introduction of this method in the primary schools, from which I expect the greatest benefit for the culture of the people." A.nd he an- nounced to him his intention of sending two young men at once to Yverdon, to " draw at the source itself for the spirit of the whole method of education and instruction," to be initiated in the method " under the guidance of its venerable originator," and not only to " learn the different isolated parts, but also to grasp the whole in its various relations and its most intimate connections." As soon as Pestalozzi had answered and given his opinion on the choice of these young men, a cabinet order appointed three men — Preuss, Kawerau, and Hemming, who was then at Basle — to go as boarders to Yverdon and " be trained there to teach in the Prussian States." A yearly sum of three hundred and fifty thalers was allotted to each. The three pupil teachers arrived at Yverdon in the course of May, 1809, followed by a fourth in Septem- ber, and soon there came from all parts of Germany a host of young men whose patriotism impelled them to the teaching profession. Pestalozzi's joy may be easily imagined, and his eager desire to fulfil all ex- pectations, and the superhuman work he imposed on himself to satisfy all the demands of his visitors. He rose at two o'clock in the morning in order to C8 PESTALOZZrS LIFE devote himself to his literary work, and exacted the same zeal from his colleagues, and still more from the teachers whose training he had undertaken. He made these too take their share of the housework, which was divided among the inmates. They had to chop firewood, light the lires, and copy manuscript, when they were not occupied in teaching. "There were years," Ramsauer tells us, "when not one of us would have been found in bed after three o'clock in the morning, and we worked summer and winter from three to six o'clock." Blochmann, a master of the institute, also tells us that " the pupils rose at five o'clock, the masters at four, or even earlier, and that for several years the latter had night duty, so that one of them was always up to take care of the house and wake Pestalozzi at two o'clock, and the others at the time he appointed. From six to seven the pupils prepared their lessons, then Pestalozzi read prayers in the presence of all the inmates of the house, and gen- erally also of the girls' school.^ A text from the Bible, a canticle of Gellert, or a subject of morality furnished him matter for a somewhat lengthy dis- course, which he delivered walking up and down — a discourse which was often very stimulating and edify- ing. After prayers, the pupils washed themselves in the courtyard, and in winter the more robust went in their shirt-sleeves to the edge of the half -frozen canal. (None of the pupils and hardly any of the masters wore hats or cravats even in the town.) The ablutions finished, they were mustered for review and then conducted to breakfast. From eight to twelve 1 Opened in 1806 at Yverdon, under the management of Kriisi and Hopf . YVERDON 69 came school, in which religion, languages, arithmetic, and geometry were the chief subjects taught. From twelve to one, all, old and young, went to the border of the lake to play or bathe. The midday meal was short and simple. School began again at two o'clock, which was as bad for the masters as for the pupils. At four o'clock came recreation on the border of the lake again (play, gymnastics, or bathing), then the afternoon meal, at which the masters assembled in a separate room to talk freely among themselves. From five to six the pupils prepared their lessons for the following day; then they were again assembled for prayers, after that came supper, and at nine all the pupils went to bed. Each of the masters had the supervision of forty pupils one day in three, and be- sides every upper master had the special charge of a certain number of pupils whom he took once a week to Pestalozzi, after having handed him reports on their work, progress, and conduct. Pestalozzi gener- ally received them in bed, and the manner in which he praised those who had deserved it, and reprimanded those who had been forgetful of their duty, was as original, as it was effective with the children, and in- structive to us. Saturday, at nine o'clock, the masters' meeting took place, at which each child was discussed and questions of discipline handled. On other days, at the same hour, educational conferences were held, at which Pestalozzi was not present ; only on extraordi- nary occasions we met in his room. Then he was some- times humorous and pleasant, sometimes passionate, and sometimes even became so violent that he rushed out of the room, banging the door after him ; but then at the sight of some child's happy, peaceful face 70 PESTALOZZrS LIFE he soon recovered his temper, became pleasant again, and scolded himself for having been so violent." ^ We have also extremely interesting accounts of Pestalozzi and of the inner life of the institute from okl pupils. The first of these is the Vaud historian, Vulliemin, who relates as follows : — '' I was eight years old when I entered the Pestalozzi institute. Picture to yourselves, children, a very ugly man, with hair sticking up all over his head, his face deeply pitted by smallpox and covered with red spots, his beard ragged and in disorder, no cravat, trousers half unbuttoned, falling in folds over wrinkled stock- ings, which also fell over enormous slippers ; his walk hurried and jerky; then eyes which sometimes ex- panded as they darted forth lightning, sometimes shut, to lend themselves to inner contemplation ; fea- tures which sometimes expressed deep sadness, some- times happiness full of benignity ; a voice, which spoke now slowly, now precipitately, and was now tender and melodious, now loud as thunder : such was he whom we used to call Father Pestalozzi. "Although he was just as I have here described him, we all loved him, for he loved us all ; we loved him so dearly, that when we had not seen him for some time, we were quite sad, and once he appeared we could not turn our eyes away from him. " We knew that at the time when the wars of the Helvetian Revolution had multiplied the number of poor and orphan children, he had gathered together a great many round him, and had devoted himself to them ; that he was the friend of the unfortunate, of little ones, of all children. 1 Heinrich Pestalozzi, pp. 118-119. YVERDON 71 "My fellow-citizens at Yverdon, the town where I was born, had generously put at his disposal the old castle founded by ' Little Charlemagne,' ^ the long halls of which surrounded vast courtyards, and gave plenty of room for playgrounds, as well as class rooms, for a numerous family. There were from a hundred and fifty to two hundred of us young peo- ple, of all nationalities, enclosed in these walls, where we by turns studied and gave ourselves up to merry frolics. It often happened that our game at pris- oners' base, begun in the castle courtyard, was fin- ished on the grassy swards which are bounded by the promenade Derrih'e le Lac. In winter we made a mighty snow fortress, which some attacked and others heroically defended. None of us were ever ill, or very rarely. " Every morning early we came, one after the other, to have a cold water douche. We always went bare- headed. One winter day, however, when the cold, bleak wind, not that to which the Greeks gave the pretty name of Boreas, but the icy blast which swept over the square at Yverdon, made all flee before it, my father taking pity on me, put a hat on my head. Unlucky article of attire, my schoolfellows had hardly caught sight of it than a cry was raised, a hat! a hat ! one hand soon knocked it off my head, a hundred others sent it flying through the air, into the court- yard, into the corridors, then into the attic, and finally a last blow sent it through a window, and into the river which washes one of the castle walls. I never saw it again; it went to relate my misadventure to the lake. 1 Surname of Count Pierre of Savoy (1203-1268). 72 PESTALOZZrS LIFE " Our teachers were for the most part still young men, some had been made orphans by the revolutionary age in which they lived, and were the first who had grown up under the eye of Pestalozzi, their father and ours ; some, too, were men of letters, learned men who had come to share his task. On the whole, there was very little learning. I had heard Pestalozzi boast at an advanced age that he had read nothing for forty years. His first pupils, our masters, read as little as he did. Their teaching was addressed to the intelli- gence rather than the memory, and its aim was the harmonious cultivation of germs placed in us by Providence. ' Strive always,' Pestalozzi continually repeated, 'to educate the child, not to teach him tricks, as one teaches a dog tricks ; for that is what education in ordinary schools often amounts to.' Our studies were confined chiefly to number, form, and language. " Language was taught us by the help of sense-per- ception ; we were taught to see, and in consequence to form correct ideas on the relations of things ; we had no difficulty in expressing ourselves clearly on what we thoroughly understood. " The first elements of geography were taught us in the open country. We were taken in our daily outing to a narrow walk in the neighbourhood of Yverdon, by the side of which the Buron flows. We were made to study it as a whole, and in all its details, until we had a correct and full perception of it. Then we were told to supply ourselves with clay, of which there were large deposits on one side of the valley, and we filled big baskets, which we had brought with us for this purpose. When we had got back to the castle, we sat YVERDON 73 down to long tables, and each one of us reproduced in relief the part which had been assigned to him of the valley which we had studied. The next day we went again to the valley, made new explorations, this time from a higher elevation than before, and each time added to our work. We continued in this way until we had finished the study of the river-basin at Yver- don, of which we gained a bird's-eye view from the top of the Montela, which overlooks the whole, and had also finished our model. Then, and not till then, we passed from the model to the map, which we did not look at until we had gained an insight into its meaning. "We were made to invent geometry, the masters contenting themselves with pointing out the end to attain, and putting us on the road to it. Arithmetic was taught in the same way. Our sums were done in our head and vivd voce without the help of paper. Some of us had gained a surprising faculty in these exercises on mental arithmetic, and as quackery gains ground everywhere, we were the only ones who were exhibited to the numerous strangers attracted daily to Yverdon by Pestalozzi's fame. We were told over and over again that a great work was being carried on in our midst, that the eyes of the world were on us, and we had no difficulty in believing what we were told. " What was so emphatically called Pestalozzi's metJiod was, it is true, an enigma to us. So it was to our teachers. Like the disciples of Socrates, every one of them interpreted the master's doctrines in his own fashion ; but we were far from the times when these divergencies created discord, when our chief masters, after having each one of them laid claim to be the only one who really understood Pestalozzi, 74 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE ended by declaring that Pestalozzi did not really understand himself ; that he had only come to be what he was — Schmid said by Schmid's help, Niederer by Niederer's. At the time when I first frolicked among these walls, inhabited by healthy and vigorous boys, scenes similar to those which Moliere delighted his audience with, when he put the professors in the Bourgeois Gentilhomme on the stage, — scenes which were to bring about the ruin of the establishment, — had not taken place. All the members of Pestalozzi's large family were now knit together by their faith in him. Not but what he was then, as he was later on, an inefficient manager. He had no idea of order, tact, or skill in ruling men. In his childish simplicity, he had no place in his heart for mistrust, he believed in no evil, and, easy as he was to deceive, was bound sooner or later to be hoodwinked right and left ; but at the time of which I speak he still had power over the hearts and wills of all. One incident will show you the spirit which prevailed in those early days. " These teachers, who later on made the welkin ring with their quarrels, received no fixed salary. Their daily needs were supplied, and they asked for nothing beyond this. The box in which the pupils' fees were placed was kept in the room of the father of the fam- ily, and each one of our masters had a key to it. Did he want a coat or a pair of shoes ? he opened the box and took according to his necessities. Things went on like that for nearly a year, without anything very wrong taking place. One would have thought oneself among the early Christians." ^ 1 VuJliemin, Souvenirs racont^s a ses petits-enfants (Guillaume, pp. 225 et 229). YVERDON 75 Here again is the account of another Vaud pupil, quoted by Mile. Chavannes in her biography of Pesta- lozzi : — " I entered the Yverdon institute when I was about seven years and a half, in June, 1808; and I only remained there nine months. It was the most brill- iant period in the history of the institute. There were one hundred and thirty-seven pupils, not only Swiss, Germans, and French, but also Spaniards, Ital- ians, Kussians, and even Americans. The teaching of mathematics was carried so far that boys of twelve did in their head such sums as these, — how many times is | contained in 2J ? 44 x 1 J a; = 60, find x. On the other hand, religious feeling, and above all Christian faith, were far less cultivated ; thus I had a great many lessons in mental arithmetic and German, but I do not remember that we were ever made to read the Bible, or learn any of it by heart. Pestalozzi delivered a religious discourse every morning, walking up and down the big hall among the assembled mas- ters and pupils ; but as it was all in German, and the good old man's pronunciation was very indistinct, I gained no benefit from it. . . . As > regards bodily needs, the food and the cleanliness left very much to be desired. In spite of that, although I suffered very much in the beginning, far from Vevey and my kind parents, I gradually got used to things, and I became all the more attached to my devoted masters, because they shared in all the games and because, by an excess of freedom, the pupils were allowed to say ' thou ' to them.^ I was above all most heartily attached to their 1 " Thou " in most European countries is used to relatives, chil- dren, and intimate friends, "you" to everybody else. •76 PESTALOZZrS LIFE excellent head-master, Pestalozzi. I still see before me the good old man, v/ith his short breeches negli- gently braced, his stockings falling over his shoes, his shirt, his dishevelled hair and beard, but casting such beaming and tender looks from his eyes that every one was attracted to him ; all — men, women, and chil- dren — were glad to get his affectionate embrace. I must also add in praise of this excellent man, that if he did not develop in me the fear of God and faith in the Saviour, I learnt from him to do my work as a pupil from a sense of duty, rather than with the help of the dangerous stimulus of rewards and praise." ^ This is the account given us by M. de Guimps, who was a pupil at the institute from 1808 to 1817: " The pupils enjoyed great liberty : the two gates of the castles were open all day, and there was no gate- keeper ; one could come and go as one chose, as in a simple family, and the children never abused this liberty. There were generally ten lesson-hours a day, from six in the morning until eight o'clock at night ; but each lesson only lasted an hour, and was followed by a short interval during which we generally changed rooms. Besides, some of these lessons consisted of gymnastics or manual labour, such as pasteboard modelling or gardening. The last hour of the day, from seven to eight o'clock, was devoted to free work ; the children said they worked for themselves and could draw or learn geography, write to their parents, or put their exercise books in order, just as they felt inclined. " The youngest masters, who were, as a rule, pupils iMlle. Chavannes, Biographie de H. Pestalozzi, 1853, pp. 141-143 (quoted by Guillaume, p. 229). YVERDON 77 from Berthoud (Burgdorf), had entire charge of the supervision out of lesson hours; tliey slept in the dormitories, played with the pupils in recreation hours, and enjoyed the games as much as the pupils did; they accompanied them to the garden, to the bathing, to the promenade, and were much liked; they were the ones whom the pupils called ^thou.' They were divided into groups, and were on duty all day one day m three, for this supervision occupied them from morning till evening. "Three times a week the masters handed in the reports on the conduct and work of the pupils to Pestalozzi. The boys were called in five or six at 'a time to the old man to receive his remonstrances and his exhortations. Pestalozzi took them one after another into the corner of his room and whispered with them : he asked if the boy had nothing to tell him, to ask of him ; he tried thus to gain his confi- dence, to know how he was, what he liked and what he disliked. Every Saturday the work of the week was passed in review at a general meeting. '• The faithful Lisbeth, Mme. Kriisi, who had fol- lowed her master to Yverdon as housekeeper, had brought with her the domestic and culinary customs of the German Swiss, and those who came from French-speaking districts had much difficulty in get- ting accustomed to this order of things, which was of a somewhat primitive simplicity. The food was at least good and wholesome in material if not in the preparation, and there was plenty of it, and the meals were numerous in accordance with the demands of German stomachs. " At seven o'clock, at the end of the first lesson, the 78 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE pupils went to perform their ablutions in the court- yard; the water pumped up from the well flowed through a long pipe with holes bored in it at both sides, so that each child got his dash of pure, cold water ; jugs and basins were unknown. The toilet completed, they breakfasted off porridge. At eight o'clock lessons began again. At ten o'clock there was a pause, during which those who were hungry went to Mme. Kriisi for bread and dried fruits. At twelve, an hour's recreation, bathing, or a game at prisoner's base on the grass at Derrih'e le Lac, etc. ; at one o'clock, dinner of soup, meat, and vegetables ; at half-past one, lessons until half-past four. Then came the afternoon meal ; sometimes a slice of cheese as big as one's hand, sometimes enormous slices of bread, covered with a thick layer of butter. The pupils came up in single file and carried off their bread and butter to eat it where they liked during the recreation, which lasted until six o'clock. Sometimes the boys spent their recreation at Derri^re le Lac, sometimes in the large garden belonging to the castle, where every child had his own little plot to cultivate. Erom six to eight came more lessons, then supper, which was the same as dinner. "When we consider the material conditions of the life which the masters at the Yverdon institute led, we cannot doubt their devotion to Pestalozzi and his work, nor the nobility of the sentiments which had attracted and now kept them faithful to him. We have said what the food was like, the furniture was still more primitive; some of the older masters lived out of the castle ; but all the others, in the midst of this swarm, had not a room of their own to which YVERDON 79 they could retire; when they needed a retreat for quiet work, they constructed little plank studies in the upper stories, or settled down in the round towers which rise at the four corners of the old build- ing. "M. and Mme. Pestalozzi occupied a room on the second floor of the north side ; they often invited some masters to drink coffee with them ; often, too, they held evening receptions to which some pupils were ad- mitted, and invited the town inhabitants or strangers passing through. Mme. Pestalozzi did the honours with a kind, nay touching, goodness. Although she had never regained her health after the disasters at Neuhof, she had kept all her freshness of imagination and a kind of poetry of the heart which made her the centre of most agreeable conversation. " As to Pestalozzi himself, he accosted every one with the most tender benevolence ; his conversation was lively, intellectual, full of imagination and original- ity, but difficult to follow on account of his bad pro- nunciation. But he was very variable; in a moment he v/ould pass from a frank and expansive gayety to a meditative and concentrated sadness. . Habitually ab- sent-minded, preoccupied, a prey to feverish agitation, he could never sit still ; he walked about the corridors of the castle, one hand behind his back or under his coat, the other holding the end of his cravat between his teeth. Every day he came in like that to the les- sons ; then, if the teaching pleased him, he grew radi- ant, he caressed the children and talked smilingly to them ; but if the master's proceedings did not please him, he went out at once in a rage, and banged the door after him. 80 PESTALOZZrS LIFE "He continued to work at the perfecting oi his method and new applications of it with indefatigable zeal ; every morning he had an under-master, generally Ramsauer, called to his bed to write at his dictation. But he was seldom content with his own work ; it was corrected again and again, and often begun afresh. " When the season permitted, several hours in the afternoon were devoted every week to military exer- cises. The pupils formed a little battalion, with flag, drum, band, and arsenal ; they became skilled in the most complicated manoeuvres. When they proceeded to exercises in shooting, the non-commissioned officers were occupied in making cartridges under the direction of the chief instructor. From time to time they had sham fights in a place chosen some miles from the town. Sometimes, too, they practised shooting at a target ; the conqueror was rewarded with a sheex) and its lamb, and the use of a little stall in the garden. " Gymnastics were practised, and games at prisoner's base, etc., were played regularly. In winter the boys skated as well, and in summer bathed in the lake, and took long mountain walks. "It will be remembered that manual labour was in Pestalozzi's programme ; it was often tried in the institute, but was never continued in a regular fashion. The great number and the diversity of the pupils and of the occupations was probably the obstacle which was insurmountable. The gardening succeeded the best; sometimes the pupils had their little plots to cultivate ; sometimes they were sent by turns, two and two, to work for some hours under the direction of the gardener. The children often succeeded pretty well in bookbinding and pasteboard modelling; they con- YVERDON 81 structed solid figures with it for the better understand- ing of geometry. But their skill and their cleverness were specially exercised in the decorations for festivals. " New Year's Day was celebrated by a speech from Pestalozzi, and a religious ceremony, followed by the distribution of presents from the parents, and a grand dinner ; in the evening there was a torchlight proces- sion (every pupil made his own torch), then came a ball at which the girls from the institute appeared, and also guests from the town. Between New Year and the 12th of January there were few lessons ; everybody was busied with the preparations for the festival of the 12th, Pestalozzi's birthday. On that occasion, the pu- pils of every class decorated their room, turning it more or less into a grove, with cottage, chapel, ruin, and some- times even a waterfall or fountain. They took long walks in the neighbouring woods to look for fir trees, ivy, and moss. They prepared transparencies with em- blems and inscriptions. Often too, on that day, the pupils gave some dramatic performance, the subject of which was generally taken from the heroic deeds of Swiss history in the Middle Ages; they made their costumes themselves of cardboard and coloured paper, likewise their cuirasses, helmets, etc. On Christmas Eve there was the traditional German Christmas tree, a fir tree with apples, gilt nuts, etc., illuminated by many candles, in the middle of the prayer room. "Singing played a great part in Pestalozzi's insti- tute, and was the delight of nearly all the inhabitants of the house; everybody sang there, all day and every- where. The two Swiss masters, Pfeiffer and Nageli, had seconded Pestalozzi's desires in this respect, by publishing charming collections of songs for the young. 82 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE Germany is rich in sweet melodies and simple poems, appropriate to the needs and character of childhood. They taught us some French songs too, but that was a poor and unsatisfactory source. In spite of some praiseworthy efforts, France has not yet risen above this inferiority." ^ Finally we will add Pestalozzi's portrait as sketched by Toerlitz, one of the two teachers sent to Yverdon by the government of Denmark, in his account of his stay at the institute : " Pestalozzi is as ugly as a man can possibly be. His clothes are re]3ulsively dirty, and his shoes have not been blacked since they left the shoe- maker's hands. He never combs his hair, and he only sends for the barber on Fridays. His stockings, as a rule, fall down over his shoes. When he gives himself up to work, he goes to bed with his clothes on and dic- tates. Then his ideas are put on paper in just as odd a manner as they float about in his mind. ..." As we have devoted a special chapter to the influ- ence which Pestalozzi's doctrines had on the education of foreign countries, which dates from this time, we shall confine ourselves to finishing his biography properly so-called, by contenting ourselves with relat- ing briefly the facts relative to the history of the institute at Yverdon. The enormous wealth of the pupils sent to Yverdon by parents who did not trouble themselves at all about the idea of elementary education but who merely wanted to have their children pushed on as fast as possible, and the mixture of French and German pupils, had obliged Pestalozzi to follow a very different path to the one he had traced for himself. He had to do with 1 M. de Guimps, Histoire de Pestalozzi, pp. 332-340. YVERDON 83 an exacting public, and the reports be published for their benefit, which contrast singularly with the devel- opment of his idea contained in his previous works, especially in How Gertrude teaches her Children, bear witness to his anxiety to please, as far as his some- what indifferent staff permitted. They had to work, as Pestalozzi says, " for show." " It seemed that the idea of elementary education, originally trumpeted forth with such magniloquence and prolixity, had com- pletely disappeared from our midst." ^ This contradiction must also be attributed to the influence of ISTiederer, one of the chief masters of the establishment, who, by his lively intelligence, his per- spicuity, and his university education, exercised a great ascendency over Pestalozzi and played a prominent part in the institute. Niederer not only had charge of the religious instruction in the upper classes, but also gave lectures on the method and assisted in the literary work. But abandoning himself to his ideal- istic tendencies, he soon went his own way, and, as Pestalozzi remarks, "created his own system on the idea of elementary education," and obtained thus great influence over the minds of all the masters, and gained Pestalozzi's entire confidence.^ And Pestalozzi con- fesses naively, " I no longer understand myself ; if you want to know what I think and what I wish, go and ask ISTiederer." The contrast between these two men, however, was too great for the illusion to be of long duration. Among those of Pestalozzi's colleagues who consid- ered that they ought to counteract Niederer's tenden- 1 Meine Lebensschicksale als Vorsteher meiner Erziehungsinsti- tut in Burgdorf und Iferten, 1826. 2 ijjid., p. 30. 84 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE cies and his invading influence, we must especially mention Joseph Schmid, an old pupil whom Pestalozzi had persuaded to stay on as teacher. He was an essen- tially practical man and at the same time a teacher of no mean power. No character could be conceived more diametrically opposed to that of Niederer. He, too, justly gained a great influence in the institute, which could not fail to displease Niederer. Pesta- lozzi showed " a little too soon and too imprudently," as he says, his preference for this young teacher, in whom he already saw " the chief supporter of the house," and to whom he gave all his confidence. But that highly displeased Niederer. There were as a mat- ter of fact germs of discord, which were not long in coming up ; for Pestalozzi had not the necessary firmness to root them out at the beginning. He ex- presses his distress on this subject in his New Year's Speech, 1808, wlAch he made before his coffin, as was his custom when he considered it advisable to work upon the feelings of his hearers. ^ " I am not happy. The ice broke under my feet every time I tried to get a firm foothold. . . . The bond which unites us all has shown itself loose at places where it ought to be closest. I have seen corruption spread where I thought salvation reposed on a deep foundation. . . . I have seen love grow cold just when I thought it blazed up to the greatest heat, confidence disappear just when I needed it most as the breath of my life." 1 Pestalozzi had had a coffin made in 1806 with a death's head on it, and generally kept it under his bed. On solemn occasions he had it put in the middle of the room, saying: " Do you see me in this coffin ? How do you feel at the sight ? " (Ramsauer, Memora- bilien, 1846, p. 65.) YVERDON 85 And after accusing himself of being the cause of all the evil, he concludes: "Behold my coffin. That is my salvation." The same year four masters — Tobler, Hopf, Bar- roud, and Steiner — left the institute. Niederer, more and more irritated at the importance which Pestalozzi attached to Schmid, also wanted to leave with Kriisi, but Pestalozzi succeeded in persuading him to stay. Froebel/ who had already visited the institute in 1805, came back in 1808 with his pupils, the sons of Herr von Holzhausen, of Frankfort, and spent two years there. Meanwhile attacks began to be made on the estab- lishment from all sides, especially in the Swiss news- papers. At the instigation, as it seems, of Niederer, but certainly against the advice of Schmid, who knew the weak points of the institute, Pestalozzi addressed himself to the Helvetian Diet, on the 20th of June, 1809, to ask " that it would deign to give a public mark of attention either to the institute at Yverdon, or to the method of elementary education there in use, which having obtained the suffrages of several States and of a great number of learned and highly respected men, now attracts the attention of all Europe." The Diet acceded to his request and confided the inspection of the institute to a commission composed of three members, — Merian, member of the petty coun- cil of the canton of Basle, Trechsel, professor of mathematics at Berne, and Father Girard, director of the schools at Freiburg.^ 1 Vide H. Courthope Bowen, Froehel and Education through Self-activity, New York, 1897. 2 Report of the Sittings of the Diet, June 22, 1809 (Guillaume, p. 268). 86 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE The commission arrived at Yverdon, in November, 1809, and after a five days' visit commissioned Father Girard to draw up a report. While doing justice to the efforts of Pestalozzi and his colleagues, Father Girard did not spare them in his criticism. Niederer had desired to confine the examination solely to the doctrines of the Pestalozzi school, but Father Girard refused, saying with much good sense : " The specu- lative part was not our business. We had to ex- amine what was actually being done, not what was aimed at. Perhaps a more profound and subtle phi- losophy than ours will find a kind of lowness in our report. Our ideas will not be noble enough, and we shall have used too vulgar a form of speech. In this case, we should venture to observe that expressions do not make things, and that all the sublimity of meta- physics often only consists in saying things which every one knows, in words which nobody can under- stand." As to the originality of the principles on which the education at Yverdon was based, he says : " The great maxims on which the institute at Yverdon is grounded are most undoubtedly the invariable maxims of good- ness and beneficence. But is Pestalozzi the inventor of these principles ? He himself has no such high opinion of himself. He by no means considers him- self the creator of his art ; but he is proud to be the disciple of it. ^ We do not lay claim to the honour of the invention,' he said to us once in the midst of his children, 'but we try to put in practice what com- mon sense taught men thousands of years ago.' We see from these words that Pestalozzi traces the birth of the art which he professes very far back indeed. YVERDON 87 He attributes it to common sense, wliicli is old, and not to science, whicli is new, and he sees it every- where where men exist. We may abide by this declaration, which does honour to the master's mod- esty, while it puts to confusion the vanity of some of his disciples. Undoubtedly exaggerated praise, with- out rhyme or reason, an exclusive and disdainful at- titude, cannot be profitable to education. Its best interests demand equity and tranquillity. Of what consequence, after all, is the invention when we have only to consider the thing and its utility ? The prin- ciples of education decidedly belong to good sense, and if we sometimes pause to comment on the worthy old man's words, we do not dream of proving a truth that has no need of proofs. It will be a homage that we pay to the common light which sheds its rays on all men, and a kind of reparation that it perhaps has a right to expect from us under these circum- stances." In the application of the method to the various branches of instruction. Father Girard finds nothing very new, except in the teaching of drawing and singing. In answer to the question whether the institute could serve as a model to primary schools. Father Girard answers, "If it were simply a question of general rules, which one willingly calls by the name of Pestalozzi's method, although this term has not as yet a very definite meaning, it is evident that this method and these rules must animate all our institu- tions." But he does not find that the means employed can be imitated. " We regret to find that there are so few parts which can be used as they are. We always 88 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE come back to the same results, — the studies at Yver- don connect themselves only very imperfectly with public instruction. . . . The institute goes its way; our teachers go theirs, and there is no likelihood that they will ever meet." And in conclusion : " We must always regret that Pestalozzi should have been dragged out of the modest career he chose for himself with so much zeal and devotion. This primary school, model for all the others, will only be a thought in his uneasy and toilsome life — a beautiful thought, doubtless, which will do honour to his heart, and make his memory live. Let us render justice to his intentions, to his efforts, to his perseverance; let us profit by these useful ideas, let us benefit by the examples held up to us ; and let us pity the destiny of a man who, baffled perpetually by circumstances, has never been able to do exactly what his soul desired." The report gives us also most interesting details as to the condition and progress of the institute. For instance, it tells us that there were then at Yverdon one hundred and sixty-five pupils, of whom one hun- dred and thirty-seven were boarders. Eighty-seven of the pupils were foreigners. There were besides thirty-two pupil-teachers, of whom all were foreigners except five. " The greater number of these lived in the town and were utterly independent of the insti- tute. . . . The pupils of this category were classed as foreigners learning the method; this name is very appropriate, because one would be wrong to picture to oneself a training college for teachers, such as those which exist elsewhere." The school for girls, lodged in a house in the vicinity of the castle, was still, so to speak, in its cradle, and numbered a dozen pupil- YVERDON 89 teachers; "here we find on a small scale a training college for women-teachers." To revert to the boys' school: "Every branch of instruction has a certain number of professors, each one of whom takes a certain part of the subject in question and takes up the thread where his prede- cessor broke off. These professors form a special committee, which meets once a week to exchange the experiences and reflections which have been caused by the teaching, for the benefit of all and for the teaching as a whole. Besides the instruction depart- ment there are two others, one for discipline and the other for religion. The masters in charge of the one collect the reports of the masters who have had super- vision duty, and decide on the question of the breaches against the rules. The masters in charge of the other, which is higher and more important, watch over the moral and religious conduct of the pupils ; they con- sider the characters of the pupils, their vices and bad habits, and meditate on measures to prevent or remove these. Pestalozzi is present at the meetings of these committees, and is the guiding spirit and the soul of them. At the end of each week there is a general meeting, the resolutions of which have the force of law. There is no regard of persons there, each one has the rank which his enlightenment, his activity, and the confidence which he inspires in his colleagues assign him. Whoever has anything to propose, has the right to speak. The head himself is so little jealous of the preeminence which is his due by right of his character, his age, and his name, that on ceremonious occasions, if he takes part in them at all, he makes over tp one of his friends the charge of 90 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE presiding over the assembly. The Board of Manage- ment has an office, the members of which have an onerous task. This is twofold : one part, literary and scientific; the other, the correspondence with the pupils' parents. The latter keep registers, in which detailed reports as to the progress and character of each child are entered, and extracts from these are afterward sent home to the children's families. The literary side corresponds with foreign teachers and the public; it edits the periodical works which are printed in Switzerland and Germany, and inserts articles in learned reviews. Pestalozzi presides over this extensive work and shares with his friends a task which he could not manage alone." ^ This report, communicated in manuscript form to Pestalozzi in the spring of 1810, called forth great discontent among the staff of the institute. Pestalozzi declared that " the idea of the elementary education, on which he desired an examination, had not been exam- ined at all." However that may be, the report was sent to the Diet on the 12th of May, 1810, which decided that it should be published in French and German. There was no further result except that in the session of 1811 the Diet expressed to Pestalozzi the gratitude of his country. Some days before the arrival of the commission at Yverdon, the institute had received the visit of Karl von Raumer, who later on wrote his History of Peda- gogy. Raumer was then about twenty-six years of age. He had been filled with enthusiasm by the perusal of Fichte's Discourses to the German Nation, 1 Rapport sur Vinstitut de M. Pestalozzi, quoted by Guillaume, pp. 271-277. YVERDON 91 had left Paris, where he was studying science, to come and watch the method which, according to the elo- quent philosopher, was to regenerate the German nation. He has left us some impressions of this visit which deserve to be reproduced. "We were taken to Pestalozzi. His dress was in great disorder, for he wore an old grey coat, no waist- coat, short breeches, and stockings which fell in wrinkles over his slippers ; his thick, black, wavy hair was all tumbled and in disorder; his forehead was furrowed with deep wrinkles ; his dark blue eyes sometimes wore a gentle and tender expression, some- times were full of flames. One hardly noticed his ugliness, for his physiognomy was radiant with geni- ality ; one read his long sufferings, and at the same time his great hopes, in the features of his worn face. Soon after we saw Niederer, who made on me the impression of a young Koman Catholic priest ; Krlisi, somewhat stout, fair, blue-eyed, with a gentle, kindly air ; Schmid, more careless in his attire than even Pestalozzi, with strongly marked features, and the piercing eye of a bird of prey. . . . The interior of the castle made a somewhat gloomy impression on me; but its situation is splendid; a large meadow separates it from the southern end of the fine lake of Neufchatel, on the shores of which rise the Jura slopes covered with vineyards."^ "A few days after my arrival, the commission of inspection appointed by the Diet came to Yverdon and stayed five days. Those were wretched days for Pestalozzi and his masters; they foresaw that the commission, which confined itself to results which 1 Raumer, Geschichte der Pddagogik, 2°"^ ed., Vol. II, p. 423. 92 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE were really worth noticing, would not draw up an enthusiastic report. . . . " I had come to learn and to make myself useful. I slept in one of the dormitories, I took my meals with the children, I was present at the lessons, at morning and evening prayers, and at the masters' meetings. At the end of some weeks, when I was spending the evening with Pestalozzi and the other masters at the Hotel du Sauvage, where they met every fortnight, Pestalozzi took me aside in the next room. There, after some preliminary words, he began to discuss certain masters of the institute with a freedom of lan- guage that astounded me ; what he said was in utter contradiction with the language used in the Report to the Parents, but not with what I had been able to see for myself. He concluded by proposing that my friend (Przystanowski) and I should join with Schmid, whose ability and energy he lauded to the skies, to inaugurate a radical reform in the institute. This proposition was so unexpected that I asked for time to consider. I communicated the news to my friend, who was as surprised as I was. This state of things naturally brought us and Schmid together ; we were thus initiated in the arcana imperii; we put our heads together to find out what were the obstacles to the prosperity of the institute and what the means of removing them. " The first defect which we proposed to remedy was caused by the mixture of German and French pupils ; as far as that was concerned, we should have made two institutes instead of one. This was, however, not pos- sible, principally by reason of external difficulties, which, however, could have been removed. Pestalozzi YVERDON 93 later on allowed that we were quite right, as is proved by a passage of his Lebensschicksale. Another draw- back was the absence of family life, at any rate, for the youngest pupils, those from six to ten years of age; I suggested to Pestalozzi to take a nice house some distance from the town for them, and then they could lead a life more approaching that in their own homes. But this proposal was also rejected. As may be supposed, the occasion was seized to hold a long discourse on the weak side of the institute, the absence of family life, and the impossibility of helping it. We then made a third proposition. As it seemed to us impossible that Pestalozzi's ideas could be realised at Yverdon under the actually existing circumstances, we suggested that he should found the institute for the poor in Argovie, which had been so long promised, and offered him our help for this purpose. He would not, however, consent. I then considered it my duty, in the interest of the child confided to my care, to leave the institute. I have no intention of justifying my attitude under these circumstances at the expense of others ; I will only add a word of explanation. At this time, Schmid and Niederer, so different with regard to talents, characters, and inclinations, were already in complete opposition ; with the best will in the world, it was impossible to effect a reconciliation between them; one had to take sides with the one or other of them. Pestalozzi himself sided with Schmid, whose resolute and indefatigable energy was sufficient guarantee that he would be an active helper in any reforms. I was thus, without any intention of my own, in opposition to Niederer. Although I could not share his opinions on many points, I ought to have 94 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE done justice to his enthusiasm and his self-sacrificing spirit. I was attracted by Kriisi's gentleness ; but he, too, was against Schmid. My attitude as silent ob- server displeased the youngest masters ; can I bear them ill-will on that account ? I ought to have appre- ciated the sincere, enthusiastic, indefatigable zeal of many of them, E-amsauer, for instance, even when their teaching did not show anything new ; but, mis- led by the Report, I had expected to find something new everywhere. In spite of all the imperfections, I should, nevertheless, certainly have stayed longer at Yverdon, and I should have worked there in patient and persevering hope, if I had not considered it my duty to remove the child who was intrusted to me. I left Yverdon, then, in May, 1810. Soon after, the con- flict, long in abeyance, burst out openly in passionate hostilities." ^ The publication of the report of the board of inspec- tion likewise gave rise to excited polemics which lasted three years, and could not fail to injure the institute. The important publication known under the name of the Gottengische Gelehrte Anzeigen was particularly aggressive, and accused the Yverdon insti- tute of bringing the pupils up in ideas contrary to religion, hostile to authority and to the aristocracy (April 13, 1810). This unjust attack provoked a vig- orous reply from Niederer, TJie Pestalozzi histitute to the Public,^ which only gave fresh life to the dis- cussion. At this time Schmid proposed to reorganise the institute and restore to it its original character of 1 Raumer, Geschichte der Pddagogik, 2nd ed., Vol. II, pp. 435-443. 2 Das Pestalozzische Institut an das Publikum, YVERDON 95 primary school, which it had completely lost; but Pestalozzi could not make up his mind to this. Then Schmid, not only on this account, but also for a reason " which only concerned himself and Niederer," left the house. This was in the course of the summer of 1810. This reason was not known for a long time, but was disclosed later on in documents published by Morf ; to the causes of rivalry which already separated Niederer and Schmid was added the presence of a young teacher, Luise Segesser, with whom both had fallen in love. Fraulein Segesser preferred Niederer, and had become engaged to him.^ Schmid's departure was a great blow to Pestalozzi. "My heart was torn at seeing him leave me, for I loved him as my own soul ; but I could do nothing." He also had the grief of seeing some of his best colleagues leave in the same year, among them Muralt, who had had a post offered him in St. Petersburg, Von Ttirk, Mieg, and Hoffmann. The others considered Schmid's departure "as a great piece of good luck."^ The latter, who had gone to Vienna, had published a pamphlet, entitled Educational Establishments a Disgrace to Humanity.,^ in which he unsparingly depicted the sad state of the institute. Some time after he became head-master of the primary school at Bregenz. Peace was restored to the institute after Schmid's departure, but the void he left was never filled. Pesta- lozzi had now no other prop but Niederer, to whom he 1 Morf, IV, 233. This engagement was, however, broken off the following year, and in 1814 Niederer became engaged to Fraulein Kasthofer. 2 Meine Lebensschicksale, etc., pp. 53, 54. 8 Erziehung sanstalten eine Schande der Menschheit. % PESTALOZZI'S LIFE thus addressed himself in his New Year's Speech, 1811 : *' Niederer, you who are the first of my sous, what shall I say to you ? what shall I wish you ? how shall I thank you ? You penetrate the depths of truth, you traverse the labyrinths as if you were walking on a beaten track ! . . . Friend, you are my helper, my house reposes on your heart, your eye flashes forth a ray which is its salvation, although my own weak- ness dreads it. Niederer, reign over my house like a propitious constellation." The same dithyramb is to be found in the speech the year following. ''I need your strength more than ever for my house and for my work. . . . Niederer, my faith in what you have is not to be shaken, and my uneasiness as to what you have not diminishes with every hour." In the course of the summer of 1810, the institute received the visit of Jullien, a French officer of high rank, inspector of reviews, who was on his way to Italy, and came to Yverdon on his way at the request of the minister of the interior, De Montalivet. Jullien remained two months at the institute, and after his arrival in Italy published his observations in a work entitled. Spirit of PestalozzVs Method of Education, preceded by an introduction published separately under the title. Report on the Educatioyial Institute at Yverdon (Milan, 1812). The favourable report, drawn up by him on what he saw at Yverdon, con- tributed to give Pestalozzi's name a great renown in France, and attracted a great number of French pupils. Some French newspapers reproached Jul- lien with having painted the Yverdon institute in too glowing colours; he defended himself in a letter to Mieg, one of Pestalozzi's colleagues, at the same YVERDON 97 time expressing a wish that the institute might fulfil its promises better. About this time Pestalozzi had the unfortunate idea of starting a printing-office in his castle. This was to continue the discussion provoked by the report of the commission of inspection. To this was added a book- seller's shop, which was, to use his own expression, "more a wasting and giving away than a selling of books. " ^ It was certainly a most disastrous under- taking, and as a consequence, he had to appeal to his friend Vogel at Zurich and to Mieg, then at Paris, to beg a loan which should help him out of his diffi- culties. Vogel could not accede to his request, but Mieg went to Yverdon to see what could be done, and found a deficit of twenty thousand francs. On his ad- vice and that of Vogel, Pestalozzi came to an arrange- ment, dated the 15th of November, 1813, which consisted chiefly in getting his wife to advance him six thousand francs, and in making over the school for girls, man- aged up to this time by his daughter-in-law, now Frau Custer, to a teacher who had had the sqholastic manage- ment since 1808, Fraulein Eosette Kasthofer. Praulein Kasthofer married Niederer in the January following. In consequence of this arrangement, Pestalozzi's wife and Frau Custer went to Neuhof in April, 1814, accompanied by the faithful Lisabeth, the housekeeper of the institute, who had been dis- missed, so that Pestalozzi remained alone with Nie- derer and his wife, both of whom were as incapable as he was of wisely managing the establishment. The situation, far from improving, became more and more critical, the more so as the young foreign pupil- 1 Meine Lehensschicksale, p. 65. 98 PESTALOZZrS LIFE teachers had almost all left, and their places had not been filled. Happily Jullien, who had confided his three sons to Pestalozzi's care, resolved to come to his aid, and persuaded him to put the management of his undertaking in the hands of a " Board of Eco- nomic Administration," composed of notable person- ages in Yverdon. This cession took place on the 28th of November, 1814, and raised the credit of the estab- lishment in the eyes of the public for some time. But a grave blow had been struck at the prosperity of the institute. Then it was that Schmid, who found himself threatened with the loss of his situation at Bregenz, as this town had again come under Austrian rule, communicated his fears to his friends at Yverdon. Immediately Niederer himself wrote, on the 16th of December, 1814, to invite him to come back, declaring that '• the present state of the institute was completely favourable to his return," for the economic difficulties had been removed, and from all sides " pupils, Span- ish, French, and English, had been announced in suffi- cient numbers." He declared besides that he felt himself " superior to egotism and ambition." ^ Pesta- lozzi and he were " ready to do everything they could to induce him to come." Schmid, who had kept on good terms with the institute, and had already spent some days there in the course of September, 1813, answered with enthusiasm that he would be happy to come back to Pestalozzi, declaring he, too, felt him- self " superior to egotism and ambition," and in accord- ance with his promise he returned to the institute at Easter, 1815, after having persuaded Pestalozzi to send for his family again. 1 Morf , IV, 399. YVERDON 99 In January, 1814, the Austrian authorities had ordered the castle at Yverdon to be turned into a military hospital, whereupon the municipality of this town sent a deputation to Alexander, the Emperor of Russia, then luckily at Basle. The Tsar received the deputation, headed by Pestalozzi, most amiably, and said, "I know why you have come; reassure your- self; you need not say another word; your affair is arranged ; you will not be disturbed in your house.'' Then he held a long conversation with Pestalozzi, dis- cussing what the latter had done and had attempted to do, and some months later he sent him the cross of the order of St. Vladimir, renewing the assurance of his homage and of his sympathy with Pestalozzi's efforts.^ Some time after, the king of Prussia having come to Neufchatel, Pestalozzi wanted, though very ill just then, to go and thank him too for the interest which he had taken in his work and in the cause of the education of the lower classes. In the course of the same year the institute received the visit of one of Pestalozzi's admirers, the Prussian chancellor, Von Bey me, who came accompanied by his wife to Yverdon. But his enthusiasm yielded to a complete disenchantment when he saw the real state of things. ''If this establishment last another year," he said, before he left Yverdon, " it will be a great wonder," for in the teaching he saw there were defects "which one would have blushed for in the lowest of village schools." ^ Eamsauer gives us an interesting account of the 1 Meine LebensschicJcsale , pp. 78-81. 2 J6icZ.,p. 78. L.ofC. 100 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE visits of foreigners, which shows what importance Pestalozzi attached to them and what illusions they gave rise to in his mind : — "Every time that a new visitor came, Pestalozzi went in search of the masters in whom he had most confidence, and said to them : ^ Here is an important personage who wishes to examine everything in de- tail. Show him what we can do, take your best pupils, your exercise books, and make him understand what we do and what we desire to do.' Hundreds and hundreds of times people came merely out of curiosity, often utterly foolish and ignorant persons, who came to Yverdon simply because it was the fashion; but Pestalozzi took them all for important personages. We had to interrupt the ordinary class- teaching on their account and hold a kind of examina- tion of the pupils. It was not unusual in summer for strangers to come to the castle four or five times in the same day, and we had to interrupt the lessons two, three, and four times on their account. "In 1814 the arrival of Prince Esterhazy was an- nounced at Yverdon. Pestalozzi, on hearing the news, ran all over the house crying : ^ Ramsauer, Ramsauer, where are you ? Come quickly with your best pupils, in gymnastics, drawing, arithmetic, geometry; you must take them to the Maison-Rouge (the hotel at which the prince was staying) ; he is a very impor- tant personage, immensely rich ; he has thousands of serfs in Hungary and Austria, he will not fail to found schools and to set his serfs free, if we succeed in gaining him for our cause.' I took some fifteen pupils with me to the hotel, and Pestalozzi presented me to the prince in the following terms : ^ This is YVERDON 101 the teacher of my pupils ; this young man came to me fifteen years ago from the canton of Appenzell with other poor children. He was educated by the free development of his individual faculties, and now he has become a teacher himself. You see from that, that the poor have just as many, if not more, faculties than the rich ; but among the poor, these faculties are rarely developed, and then not methodically. That is why the amelioration of primary schools is so impor- tant. But he is going to show you himself, better than I could, the results we obtain. I leave him then with you.' I then began to question the pupils, to talk, explain, and shout with so much zeal, that I was soon quite hoarse, and never doubted but what the prince was completely persuaded. At the end of an hour Pestalozzi came back. The prince expressed his satisfaction at what he had seen. We took our leave, and going downstairs Pestalozzi said to me, *He is convinced, quite convinced, and will certainly go and found schools in his Hungarian domains.' When he reached the bottom, he cried with one of his favourite expletives : * What have I done to my arm ? It hurts me; look, it is all swollen, and I cannot bend it.' And, as a matter of fact, his very wide sleeve had become too tight. I looked at the enormous key in the door of the Maison-Rouge, and I said to Pestalozzi, 'Oh, you must have knocked against this key, an hour ago, when we went up to the prince.' On look- ing at the key, we saw that Pestalozzi had struck it such a blow with his elbow that he had bent it ; and in his enthusiasm and his joy had remained a whole hour without noticing it. Such was the fire which burnt within him still at seventy, when he saw the pros- 102 • PESTALOZZI'S LIFE pect of doing good. I could quote many other ex- amples." ^ Schmid's return was soon almost as much regretted as it had before been desired. " He came back," Pes- talozzi tells us, " but he came back to be, as he had always been, a stumbling-block for many, a stumbling- block for all who, in their weakness and superficiality, imagined themselves on heights on which they were not in reality." ^ On his arrival, he found Pestalozzi in despair and ready to go back to Neuhof. He suc- ceeded in dissuading him from this idea, promising to raise the prosperity of the institute. He set to work at once and made radical reforms. " He first reduced the teaching staff, which was almost as numerous as at his departure, although the number of the pupils had diminished by half, and also reduced the sal- aries by half, although he increased the number of teaching hours." To give an idea of the "dilapida- tion " which prevailed in the economic administration of the establishment, Pestalozzi tells us that he had then for seventy-eight pupils, twenty-two teachers to whom they gave " board and lodging, light and laun- dry, besides an annual salary which represented a sum of ten thousand livres (Swiss money). "^ Finally, the printing-office was suppressed. To compensate for this Schmid fulfilled a dream Pestalozzi had long cherished,'' the publication of a complete edition of his works. He went himself to Stuttgart in Febru- 1 Ranisauer, Kurze Skizze meines pddagogischen Lebens, pp. 42- 43. ^ Ibid., p. 8S. s Ibid., p. 90. •*"Ihope," Pestalozzi wrote to Fellenberg on the 15th of No- vember, 1793, " that after having made enough sacrifices ... I shall nevertheless be able, after a lapse of some years, to make a small fortune by the publication of my works, which have been YVERDON 103 ary, 1817, to see Cotta, the publisher, and negotiated for most advantageous terms for Pestalozzi. The measures taken by Schmid with regard to the staff, advisable as they might be from an economic point of view, naturally resulted in new bitterness and in consequence in new difficulties for Pestalozzi. A greater trouble was in store for him, for his wife died at the age of seventy-six, after a few days illness, on the 12th of December. From that time quite alone, Pesta- lozzi threw himself completely into the arms of Schmid, whom he considered as his saviour. Schmid, hence- forth, ruled him completely, to the detriment of Nie- derer. Things came to such a pitch that Niederer threatened to leave the institute, if Schmid continued to behave as he did. Pestalozzi had great trouble in pacifying them, and the truce was not of long dura- tion. A more serious conflict between several masters of the institute took place some time after, likewise occasioned by Schmid's tyranny. Sixteen inmates of the house, among whom were Niederer, Kriisi, Ram- sauer, and Blockmann, sent in their resignation. But this time Pestalozzi followed his own preference, and declared he would rather lose them all than reduce the influence of Schmid, who alone had the power to save him. All except Niederer and Kriisi accord- ingly left the establishment in the course of the summer of 1816. They left without bearing Pesta- lozzi any malice, whom, on the contrary, they pitied from the bottom of their hearts. Kriisi, himself, in spite of his desire of conciliation, was obliged to leave a short time after. He opened a school of his own at most carefully revised. I count all the more on the assistance of my friends in raising a subscription," 104 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE Yverdon, for which Pestalozzi generously gave him his first pupils, then later on he went to Trogen, and finally became head-master of a training college at Gais. This break-up struck a terrible blow at the institute, which then numbered some hundred pupils, among whom were many English boys, for it left it with hardly any masters just at a time when it was becom- ing prosperous again. Jullien, who had brought Pestalozzi eighty pupils from France, and was now settled at Yverdon (since Easter, 1816), left the fol- lowing year, offended, it is said, by Schmid. He nevertheless remained a most enthusiastic partisan of Pestalozzi's institute. The misunderstanding between Niederer and Schmid grew worse and worse, so much so that in consequence of very unpleasant occurrences Niederer communi- cated to Pestalozzi on the 22d of January, 1817, his resolution of leaving the establishment. In spite of Pestalozzi's supplications, nothing could induce him to alter this resolution, and all that Pestalozzi could obtain was that he would continue to give the reli- gious instruction to those pupils who were being pre- pared for confirmation, which was to take place at Whitsuntide. On the day of the ceremony, Niederer, after having preached the usual sermon, considered it necessary, without letting Pestalozzi know his inten- tion beforehand, to announce from the pulpit his de- parture, in terms which Pestalozzi considered offensive. He accordingly rose to protest, and said "Niederer was there to confirm his pupils and edify his hearers by the ceremony, and not to discuss in the pulpit the enmity which subsisted between them." ^ 1 Meine LebensschicJcsale, p. 107. YVERDON 105 Niederer's departure did not put an end to the hos- tilities. A disagreement having arisen between Pes- talozzi and Frau Niederer on the question of the settlement of the accounts of the establishment for girls, which had been made over to her, Pestalozzi thought to put an end to the matter by giving a receipt in full for anything that might be owing to him. Niederer took great offence at this act of gen- erosity and insisted on a businesslike settlement of the accounts. The excitement which this affair caused Pestalozzi came at the same time as a new revolt of the masters of the institute, who threatened to discon- tinue their work if Pestalozzi did not raise their sala- ries and allow them "to drink coffee after dinner" with him.^ The combined effect of these dissensions excited Pestalozzi to such a pitch that Schmid, fear- ing for his reason, was compelled to take him up the Jura Mountains, to a little village called "les Bul- lets." The fresh mountain air soon soothed his nervous irritation, although he remained, as he says himself, in a certain " condition of weakness of mind, or rather of absent-mindedness joined to a very high degree of worry and discouragement." ^ He spent some weeks among the mountains and felt himself " a free man again," and so happy that he did not want to return to his institute, which seemed like "a hell he had happily escaped from." ^ He even embodied his sorrows in a poem which has been preserved for us by Fellenberg.'' 1 Meine Lebensschicksale, p. 110. ^ Ibid., -p. 126. sibid., p. 127. 4 Pestalozzi' s unedirte Brief e, p. 17. 106 PESTALOZZrS LIFE Slegenbogen, 9iegenbogen, S)u oerfunbeft @otte« SSonnel @d)ein and) mir iittt betner g-arben SDZilbem ©lan^e, fd)ein in meinen SBilben, lebenSlaugen ©tiirm! ^unbe mir ben befferen 9J?orgen, ^iinbe mir ben befjeren Sag, ^egcnbogen, ^liegenbogen! 3n ber ©tiirme Sagen §at mid) ®ott getragen. SJJeine @eele lobe @ott! 2)?u^ id) [terben (St)' bu mir erfd)einft, Unb mir grenben bringft Unb ben befjeren XaQ ; Tin^ id) auotrinfen S)en ^>ld) tcQ 3anU, S)en J^eld) ber UnDerfol)nIid)!eit 33i« auf feine ^efen? SD^ufe id) [terben, el)' mein ^riebc ^ommt, ber g-riebe, ben id) fnd)e? 3d) erfenne meine ®d)nlb, 3d) erfenne meine ®d)Uidd)e, Unb in l^tebe nnb mit 2^l)rdnen ^Ber^eil)' id) 9lUen il)re @d)ulb: S)od) im Sobe finb id) grieben, Unb im Sobe roirb erjd)einen W\x mein befjrer Sag! ^iinber meiner beffern Sage, Sieblid) mirft bn bann erjd)einen Ueber meinen bben ©ruft, 9?egenbogen, 9iegenbogen! SSie ber frifd)gefottne (Sd)nee, 2Bie bcQ SBinter^ l)eUe g-loden, 2)ie beim Sobe meiner ©attin, 3n ber ©onne lieblid) gidnsenb, ©anfen auf i^r offene^ @rab : YVERDON 107 SJegeubogen, Qiegenbogen, @o erfdjeiue bonu and) mir, ^iebtid), Iteblid), menn ic^ fterbe. 3u ber ®turme Sagen ^;>at mid) ©ott getragen, SD^eiite ®eele (obe ©ott! Rainbow, rainbow, you announce God's delight ! Appear to me, too, in your colours and mild splendour, appear in the wild storm of my life ! Announce to me a better morn, a better day, rainbow, rainbow. God has borne me through the days of storms. Praise God, my soul ! Must I die before you appear to me and bring me joy and a better day ; must I drink the cup of hostility, the cup of unforgiving enmity, to the very dregs ? Must I die, before my peace, the peace I seek, has come ? I acknowledge my fault, 1 acknowledge my weakness, and in love and with tears I for- give all their faults ; but I find peace in death, and in death will appear to me my better day ! Rainbow, rainbow, you announcer of better days, beautiful will you then appear over my dreary grave ! Like fresh-fallen snow, like the wliite flakes of winter, which at the death of my wife fell into her open grave, gleaming in the sun ; rainbow, rainbow, appear in your beauty for me when I die. God has borne me through the days of storms. Praise God, O my soul. On his return from the mountains, Niederer and his wife recommenced hostilities, and the affair dragged its weary length through a correspondence which waxed more and more bitter and only made things worse, without any possibility of coming to an under- standing. Not until seven years later did the parties concerned determine finally to appeal to law. Mean- while Niederer announced to the public that in order not to let Pestalozzi's ideas perish he had joined with Krtisi and Conrad Naf (a Zurich teacher, who had 108 PESTALOZZrS LIFE some years before started an institute for deaf-mutes at Yverdon), and that their establishment represented the true Pestalozzian tradition. Jullien, who still had two sons at the institute and was greatly concerned about Pestalozzi's situation, which grew worse and worse, thought he had found a means of delivering him by advising him to make over the management of the establishment to Fellen- berg, with whom he was again on friendly terms. Fellenberg fell in very willingly with this proposition and wrote to Pestalozzi from Berne, on the 23d of August, 1817, to suggest the idea to him. Pestalozzi consented to go to Hofwyl, where Fellen- berg made him an offer which seemed to him so advantageous that he commissioned Schmid to con- tinue the negotiations. Schmid, considering a trial necessary to see if concord could reign between the two persons concerned, suggested to Fellenberg that he should invite Pestalozzi to come and stay with him at his castle at Diemerswyl, which was about half a league from Hofwyl. Fellenberg profited by this visit to make Pestalozzi sign, on the 14th of October, a bond which, while relieving him from all j^ecuniary anxiety and assuring the future of his grandson, gave him the hope of at length realising the dream of his youth, viz., the foundation of an establishment for the poor, to which the whole sum raised by the subscription for Pestalozzi's work was to be devoted. On the other hand, Pestalozzi gave up all his independence, and although he had skilfully secured his right of not being separated from Schmid, in reality the latter' s influence was annihilated. Covered with shame at what he had done, Pestalozzi confessed to Schmid YVERDON 10» as soon as he returned, telling him he still counted on him to save him. We can picture to ourselves the vexation of Schmid, who did all he could to cancel the agreement, pointing out to Pestalozzi that he could not accept the partnership. But Fellenberg opposed him energetically, and a most violent quarrel took place, which ended in a definite rupture. Jullien was deeply vexed, and removed his two sons from the institute, their departure being followed by that of other French pupils. Although we may admit that Schmid was not abso- lutely disinterested in this affair, we must recognise that he defended Pestalozzi's interests better than he could have done himself. He made him comprehend that it was much more essential for him " to work to spread, defend, and establish on a more solid founda- tion his ideas on elementary education, than to utilise the methods, as yet not fully matured, in an establish- ment for the poor." ^ That was his aim when he negotiated the agreement with Cotta for him, and when he had appealed to foreign courts to take an interest in the publication of Pestalozzi's works. The success of the subscription organised by his efforts likewise attested to the truth of his remarks. Among the subscribers were the Emperor of Russia, who gave five thousand roubles, the king of Bavaria, who gave seven hundred florins, and the king of Prussia, who subscribed four hundred thalers. At the end of the year the sum total of the subscriptions had reached one hundred thousand francs, the half of which, accord- ing to the agreement, was to be paid over to Pesta- lozzi. The latter, in his joy, immediately determined i Meine Lebensschicksale, p. 132. 110 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE to devote this sum of fifty thousand francs to "the education of the lower classes and the poor," i.e. the foundation of an orphanage, and solemnly announced his intention in a speech made on his seventy-second birthday, on the 12th of January, 1818.^ On this occasion he sought a reconciliation with Niederer, and with Krilsi, whom he would have liked to interest in his new undertaking ; but he failed in his attempt. Pestalozzi chose, as the site of his orphanage, the village of Clindy, situated ten minutes' walk from Yverdon, and opened it on the 13th of September, 1818, with a dozen orphans, boys and girls, who were to be brought up "as poor children, and to be pre- pared for an existence suitable to the poor," i.e. " to be preserved from all temptations of wealth, of use- less enjoyment and desires difficult to gratify in pov- erty." ^ The pupils were to remain five years in the orphanage and be prepared for the calling of teachers. The number of pupils was soon increased to thirty, among them some paying pupils, whom Pestalozzi un- wisely accepted. Finally, in consequence of an appeal made to the English public, a number of pupils came from England. Greaves, an enthusiastic admirer of Pestalozzi's ideas, then staying at Yverdon, offered to teach his own language free of charge. Then they found themselves compelled to add instruction in French and Latin, so that the orphanage lost more and more its original character, and became an es- tablishment similar to that at Yverdon. Pestalozzi himself found it quite natural, in 1820, to join the pupils of the orphanage to those of the institute, in 1 Rede an sein Haus, 1818. 2 MeinQ Lebensschicksale, pp. 194, 195. YVERDON 111 the castle occupied by the latter. The girls were in- stalled in the second floor. The Yverdon municipality showed small satisfac- tion at this fusion of the two establishments, which completely changed the character of the institute, "On the one hand by joining to it a school for the the poor, on the other by trying to bring the interior arrangements into conformity with the luxurious tastes and habits of the English, of whom there was now a considerable number in the institute." ^ How- ever, Pestalozzi, who had already obtained, in July, 1817, the renewal of the concession of the castle for a period of five years after his death, " in favour of the persons whom he might designate to succeed him," ^ had taken his grandson, Gottlieb, into partnership in the undertaking, and asked that this period might be extended to fifteen or twenty years. At this news, Niederer, Kriisi, and Naf, who seemed for the last three years to have suspended hostilities, made repre- sentations to the municipality to prevent the negotia- tions from being successful, pointing .out that it was impossible for them to live in peace at Yverdon, if Schmid remained master of the institute. They gained the day, and Pestalozzi's request was refused. War then broke out more vigorously than ever. An action which Schmid had brought in 1821 against Niederer, Kriisi, and Naf for calumnious assertions, made by them against him in their letter to the municipality, provoked a wordy war, in which abuse was freely interchanged in newspapers and pamphlets. In his turn Niederer brought an action against Schmid for a libel contained in a pamphlet of Schmid's, en- 1 DeGuimps, p. 400. 2 ji^ia. 112 PESTALOZZI'S LIFE titled Truth and Error in PestalozzVs Memoirs demon- strated by Facts,^ which appeared in 1822. Pestalozzi was also implicated, as an accomplice of Schmid, in this libel. On the intervention of the government of Vaud, an umpire was appointed, who was to try to reconcile the parties; but just as they were on the point of coming to an understanding, the negotiations failed for some trivial cause. Pestalozzi and Schmid accordingly had to appear before the court of law at Yverdon, but were acquitted. In his turn Pestalozzi attacked Niederer for another abusive article, and public opinion was roused to such a pitch, that the Council of State ordered W. du Thon, the prefect of Yverdon, to appeal to both parties, and make them understand the necessity of putting an end to this scandal. The decision was accepted and signed by the belligerents on the 31st of December, 1823. These deplorable incidents had naturally struck a serious blow at the renown and prosperity of the insti- tute, and hastened its fall. The final blow was struck by the dismissal of Schmid, which his enemies obtained from the Council of State, in the shape of a decree of expulsion, dated the 6th of October, 1824. Then Pes- talozzi determined to leave Yverdon and transfer his orphanage to Neuhof. This was a plan which he had long had in his mind, and he counted on taking with him as teaching-staff the pupils he had trained at Clindy, and prepared for a teaching career. Unfor- tunately, not one was willing to accompany him, and, forgetful of all they owed their benefactor, they left him to turn to account elsewhere the instruction they 1 Wahrheit und Irrtum in Pestalozzis Lebensschicksalen durch Thatsachen dargelegt, 1822. YVERDON 113 had received from him, saying, "It was too much to ask from their gratitude, and they were not bound to sacrifice themselves to such an extent for him."^ There was, moreover, nothing left of the money which the publication of his works had brought Pestalozzi. He thus found himself helpless, and was obliged to declare publicly, on the 17th of March, 1824, that it was henceforth impossible for him "to fulfil the hopes which he had awakened in the hearts of so many generous philanthropists and friends of educa- tion by his project of founding an orphanage." ^ He was forced to close his institute, which had fallen into utter decay, and on the 2d of March, 1825, he left Yverdon, accompanied by Schmid and the four last pupils, two of whom were Spaniards, for Neuhof. This was already occupied by his grandson, Gottlieb, and his family. ^' Truly," said he, " this parting caused me so much sorrow, that it seemed as if I had put an end to my life."^ The castle at Yverdon was shortly after made over to a boys' school founded by Krtisi and at that time under the management of Eank. 1 Meine LebensschicJcsale , p. 237. 2 Ibid., p. 241. 3 roid., p. 242. CHAPTER VI NEUHOF AGAIN (1825-1827) Pestalozzi's last years. His Swanks Dirge and his Fates of My Life. — Fresh troubles. — Pestalozzi's death. Pestalozzi survived the collapse of his work only two years. He thought to raise means by the pub- lication of a French and an English edition of his works, and sent Schmid to Paris and London to try to put his plan into execution, and find subscribers. And as he did not give up his hope of founding an orphan- age at Neuhof, for which the building was already be- gun, he recommended Schmid to utilise his stay in France and England, to gain information of the in- dustries which might be suitable for his establish- ment. But none of these projects could be realised. During Schmid's journey, Pestalozzi, more vigorous than ever, occupied himself with retracing his life and expounding his doctrines for the last time. This formed the subject of his two last works, the Swanks Dirge^ and My Fortunes as Superintendent of my Edu- cational Establishments at Burgdorf and Yverdon/^^ which are permeated by a profound melancholy. They were published in 1826. In May, 1825, he was enthusiastically elected presi- 1 Schwanengesang. 2 Meine Lebensschicksale als Vorsteher meiner Erziehungsanstal- ten in Burgdorf und Iferten. 114 NEUHOF AGAIN 115 dent of the Helvetian Society of Schinznach, and in his capacity of president made a speech On Father- land and Education at the meeting which took place at Langenthal on the 26th of April, 1826. Shortly after, on the occasion of a visit which he and Schmid paid to the orphanage at Beuggen, near Eheinfalden, on the 21st of June, 1826, a touching fes- tival was organised in his honour. He was also present, on the 21st of November following, at the meeting of the Society for the Promotion of Education (Kultur- gesellschaft) of the District of Brugg, at which his Attempt at a Sketch on the Essence of the Idea of Ele- mentary Educatioyi ^ was read. But new troubles awaited him. As a consequence of dissensions which took place between the wife of his grandson, Gottlieb, and Lisabeth, the latter had had to leave Neuhof in 1824, and had gone to Gais. Pesta- lozzi also had difficulties with the orphanage at Gais, where Lisabeth had placed her idiot son, on a ques- tion of money started by Schmid. Pestalozzi, sum- moned before the court at Brugg by the board of the orphanage, was deeply affected by this proceeding. On the other hand, the publication of his Memoirs provoked a new flood of calumnies, inspired by Fel- lenberg and printed in the newspapers. A most out- rageous pamphlet was moreover published by a former master at the institute, a man named Biber. The reading of this pamphlet caused Pestalozzi to have a violent attack of fever. He wished to emerge from the silent reserve which he had imposed on himself until then and draw up a refutation, but he was too 1 Versuch einer Skizze iiber das Wese^i der Idee der Elementar' hildung, etc. 116 PESTALOZZrS LIFE unwell, and only had the strength to dictate his last wishes to the pastor of Birr on the 15th of February, 1827. In this document, he expresses his regret at not being able to live a few months longer, so as to be able to justify himself and Schmid and also his de- sire that the latter might take his place and be a father to his children. He repeated that Schmid had been his saviour, and that he died his debtor. Finally he blessed his friends and forgave his enemies.^ He was moved to "Brugg, but died two days after, in the morning of the 17th of February. His coffin was carried to the cemetery at Birr by the teachers in the neighbourhood, with a very small number of friends and children from the village school as only mourners. In 1846 the government of the canton of Argovie had a monument erected in front of the new school at Birr, and thither his remains were carried. His epitaph appears on the following page. 1 Fellenberg's Klage, pp. 59-63. See this document in extenso in Guillaume, pp. 430-432. NEUHOF AGAIN 117 ^einrid? Pestalojst (Seboren in giirid? am \2. ^anuav {7^6, <5cstorben in Brugg ben \7. f^ornung i[827. 9ietter ber Slrmen in 9^eu^of, ^rebiger beg 35o(teS in l^ien^crb nnb ©ertnib, 3n ®tan5 35ater ber SBaifen, 3n iBurgborf unb 3JJunci)enbud)fee ©riinber ber nenen SSolf§jd)ute, 3n 3fferten (Srjie^er ber 9)fenfcf)l)eit. 2«enfd), (Sl)rift, S3urger. 2tIIeg fur 5tnbere, fiir fid) 9Hd)t8 ! (Segen feinem 9Zamen ! (Here lies Henry Pestalozzi, born in Zurich on the 12th of Janu- ary, 1746, died at Brugg on the 17th of February, 1827. Saviour of the poor at Neuhof, Preacher to the people in " Lienhard und Gertrud," Father of the Fatherless in Stanz, Founder of the new- elementary school at Burgdorf and Miinchenbuchsee, educator of humanity in Yverdon. Man, Christian, Citizen. Everything for others, nothing for himself ! Blessings be on his name ! ) Part II PESTALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY Mein Leben hat nichts Ganzes, nichts Vollendetes hervorge- bracht ; meine Schrift kaiin audi nichts Ganzes und nichts Vollendetes leisten. (My life has produced nothing whole, nothing complete ; my work cannot then either be a whole, nor complete.) Pestalozzi, Schwaneiigesang, Vorrede. INDEX OF THE WORKS OF PESTALOZZI REFERRED TO IN THIS SECOND PART Vol. of Titles of THE WoitK MaNN'8 Ed. Lienhard und Gertrud (1781- Leonard and Gertrude. i&n 1787). Abendstunde eines Einsied- A Hermit's Evening Hour. HI lers (1780). Aus dem Schweizerblatt : From the ' ' Schweizerblatt " : HI Von derErziehung (1782). On Education. Pestalozzi's Brief an einen Pestalozzi's Letter to a Freund iiber seinen Auf- Friend on his Stay at III euthaltin Stauz (1796). Stanz. Wie Gertrud ihre Kinder How Gertrude teaches her HI lehrt (1801). Children. Ansicbten und Erfahrungen, Views and Experiences with HI die Idee der Elementar- Regard to the Elementary __bildungbetreffend (1807). Education. ijber die Idee der Elemen- On the Idea of the Element- HI tarbildung (1809). ary Education. Reden an sein Haus (1808- Pestalozzi's Discourse to his IV 1818). House. Schwanengesang (1826) . Swan's Dirge. IV Note. — The Roman numbers refer to the numbers of the paragraphs of the editions of the Selected Works published by Fr. Mann. 120 BOOK I NECESSITY AND AIM OF EDUCATION — WAYS AND MEANS CHAPTER I EDUCATION FROM THE SOCIAL POINT OF VIEW Necessity of education from the social point of view. — Necessity of education for tlie people. — Education is a social duty. Necessity of Education from the Social Point of Vieiv — Man left to himself is naturally idle, ignorant, im- provident, thoughtless, careless, credulous, timid, and full of unbounded desires. And the dan- ^^^g^^/^^^j,,^ ^ gers which his vreakness encounters, and Gertrud, the obstacles placed in the way of his de- ^^' ^ *^* sires, make him also tortuous, cunning, crafty, suspi- cious, violent, bold, revengeful, and cruel. That is man such as he would inevitably become if he were abandoned to himself and deprived of culture; he would steal as readily as he would eat, and he would kill as readily as sleep. His need is his right, his de- sires are the foundation of his right, and his demands know no other limits than his idleness and the impossi- bility of obtaining more. It is then absolutely necessary for society, if it wishes the individual to be useful, or even merely en- 121 122 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY durable, to make of him something quite different to what he naturally is. The whole social value of man, i.e. the profit which society ought to gain by those of his faculties which may be turned to account, depends then on institutions, morals, methods of education, and on the laws which have for their aim his improvement and adaptation to the social order, by the repression of his natural in- stincts ; for Nature, far from preparing him for society, has on the contrary put the greatest obstacles in him- self. Man remains the original, primitive man of Na- ture in proportion as he lacks social culture; he remains the weak and dangerous being which the deni- zen of the forest is, on the one hand, as useless as he is dangerous to society, on the other, deprived of its advantages. It would be better for him then to remain in the forests ; at least he would be free and would not curse his chain. But it is by no means easy to transform the natural man; to do that, we must have all the wisdom of a legislator perfectly acquainted with human nature, or if you like, for both are true, the piety of an angelic, adorable virtue. Every gap in civil society, every check in social life, every hope of regaining by force or cunning his natural liberty, or the power of gratifying his natural instincts outside the pale of society, rekindles the spark of re- volt always hidden in the heart of the man of Nature, and quickens the always existent germs of our primi- tive instincts, and perpetually paralyses the forces which our social culture opposes to these instincts. Against all this the legislator must direct his efforts, if he desire to make men happy by social organisation, EDTJCATiON FROM SOCIAL POINT OF VIEW l23 and to enable him to enjoy the first benefits of the social state, justice and security, which are impossible of attainment if men remain without culture. All that is only possible after the individuals have been freed from their chief faults and from the vices inherent in their natural condition. A child is perfectly educated if he has learned to take care of what will later on belong to him, to Lienhard u. keep it in order, and to make use of it for Gertrud, the welfare of those belonging to him. ' ^ ^^' The aim of education is to prepare men to he what they will he in society. The child must be taught to reflect, so that he maybe open; prudent, ihid.,lY, so that he may not be compelled to be mis- § 40. trustful ; industrious, so that he may not become a beggar ; sincere, that he may inspire confidence ; rea- sonable, so that he may have confidence in himself. In short, he must be so brought up that he will be some- thing wherever he may be, which is very different to not being able to do anything, except with his mouth or on paper. One ought to try and make people what they will be in society according to their abilities, and for that one should in every case employ the man who understands a thing best, whether it is a qiiestion of ploughing a field or catching rats or mice. Necessity of Education for the People — Some people say it is of no use to give the common people too good an education. There must be moles as well j^^^ ^^^ as other creatures. Otherwise God would Elem.,%% not have created any. And how miserable ^^' ^^^' these creatures would be underground if they had good eyes. 124 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY Education is a Social Duty — Pestalozzi believes that all God's gifts are good. He considers that it is not possible that the rightful, natural cultivation of these gifts could ever be to the detriment of the human race ; on the contrary, the cultivation of these gifts, far from being left to the option of men, is at the centre, nay, is the centre of the range of the duties of the human race. This opinion is moreover justified and confirmed by the first unvarying principles of religion and Christianity. CHAPTER II AIM AND THEORY OF EDUCATION General aim and general principles of education. — Adapta- tion to individual conditions. — Worthlessness of general rules of education. — Superiority of practice to theory. — Useless- ness of philosophers. — Superiority of the lower classes from the point of view of education. — Models to follow. — Evil influence of schools. — Definition and fundamental principle of education. — Advantages of the education of former times. — Games as methods of education. — The family and not the school is the centre of education. — Responsibility of rulers. — Primary education is founded on the primary need of mankind. — Disadvantages of general rule in education. — The threefold aim of education : to fix the attention, to form the judgment, and to elevate the sentiment. — Superiority of home influence to books and methods. — Verbal education and practical education. — Disadvantages of general a priori principles for the knowledge of truth. — Special or profes- sional training. General Aim and General Principles of Education — The aim of education is not to turn out good tailors, bootmakers, tradesmen, or soldiers, but to turn out tailors, bootmakers, tradesmen, '^'^^Genrud ^ \ ' ihre Kinder and soldiers who are, in the highest mean- Ze7in,x,§22. ing of the word, men. Consequently the aim of all education and instruc- tion is and can be no other than the harmonious development of the powers and faculties of human nature. 126 126 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY Human nature in the whole range of its disposi- tions, powers, necessities, and relations is ^Fi^ ^^5 IS ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ point of starting and centre of education, but also the last aim, the exclusive object of its task. To live, to be happy in his state of life, and to Von der become a useful member of society is the Erziehung, destiny of man, is the aim of the educa- § ^' tion of children. Consequently the careful use of the ways and means by which every child, in his own state of life, may be naturally and easily brought to the talents, sentiments, judgments, and attachments by which he becomes happy in his state of life and a useful member of society, is the foundation of every good education. ^, , The child must be considered at every Idee der p t • in- • ^';em.,§i94. stage of education and oi instruction as a whole. It is not a question of merely cultivating Ihid., § 198. the intellect, but of cultivating man as a whole. Ibid., § 247. The art of pedagogy must, above all, cause, or at any rate permit. Nature to ripen in its own work, and never connect its processes to the unripened force of Nature; otherwise they never will and never can ripen. "^ child who knows how to pray, work, and think is said to be already half educated." Pestalozzi qesang Tqi ^^ ^^ *^^^ Opinion, and declares that his elementary education attains this result. AIM AND THEORY OF EDUCATION 127 Adaptation to Individual Conditions — Diverse as are the circumstances of men, diverse as are their needs, their customs, and their attachments, y^^ , just so diverse are the means and ways of Erziehung, educating every man to those sentiments ^§ ^~^^' and talents, through the cultivation of which he will probably become a more satisfied and a happier man in his state of life. Wortlilessness of General Rides of Education — The general rules of education which apply to all climates, all forms of government, and all callings are one and all of as much value as similar Sunday sermons, which so often and so much edify whole congregations, and on the other hand so seldom help a single man on the right path. Superiority of Practice to Theory — However, it is good in the world that while the teachers of men discourse vaguely from their heights to the people on what is right, women in country cottages execute with precision what the former one and all talk to the winds, when they speak of things they do not practise themselves. Uselessness of Philosophers — It is above all good in the subject of education that the domestic circum- stances of the common people, consequently of the generality of men, are such that almost everywhere parents necessarily, naturally, and spontaneously hit upon what is most important in their state of life and in their circumstances for the education of their chil- dren. If it were not so, and if men had to wait for the wise to give them food for their children, the human race would of a truth die out in all the four quarters of the globe. 128 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY Superiority of the Loiver Classes from the Point of View of Education — In fact, whichever way we look, the respectable common man is better educated for his needs and for his position than the people, small and great, of the upper classes, who have fallen into the hands of the ranks of the philosophical boys who, by dint of study, of argument on abstract subjects, and by abandonment to their feelings, daily lose more of the sense of sight and of hearing, and therefore can make nothing of housework, either for themselves or their pupils. Models to follow — We know that experience is the seal of truth, let it then be our lode star. Those men have been best educated for their position and their destiny who can best manage their households and their business. Look at the mansions of those noblemen, the houses of those citizens, and the cottages of those peasants whose prosperity has lasted for centuries, for there the principles of the true education of men have been likewise practised for centuries, and you will see that the household ways of all these people, however diverse their rank, have been essentially, absolutely identical and very simple. You will invariably see that husband and wife have learned from father and grandfather the manners and customs which will make the happiness of their family in future cen- turies, as they have done in the past. You will note that these people owe nothing to their schools, nor to methods of education. Whenever these families have died out, they have done so because the education of the children has not been in harmony with their state of life. AIM AND THEORY OF EDUCATION 129 Evil Influence of Schools. — The chief causes of the evil are to be looked for in universities and schools, where the education, even if good in itself, is too gen- eral and too artificial. The professional careers of professors, clergymen, and barristers, in short of all whose education has been most artificial, offer most examples of this family decay. Wherever this decay has taken place, it is because the children have been imprudently or forcibly Aveaned from the attachment to their station and to their father's profession, and because ordinary family education has been neglected. Consequently all methods of education which lead to these results are defective. Definition and Fundamental Principle of Education — The education of men is nothing else than the filing of every ring of the great chain which con- i^^^^j^^^^ ^, nects humanity and makes it a whole, and Gertrud, the mistakes of education consist in taking ^^^' § ^^' each ring of the chain separately to work at it, as if it were a whole in itself, and did not belong to the whole chain, and as if the strength and futility of every ring were due to the fact that it was gilt, sil- vered, or even set with precious stones, and not that it was firmly attached to the next rings to it, and that it had been made strong and supple enough to follow daily all the movements of the chain in all its windings. If man is to become what he ought to be, he must be as a child, and do as a child, w^hat makes ^^^ ^^^ him happy as a child. He must be as a Erziehung, child in everything he can be, but not more, ^^ '^'^^^^ without spoiling himself for what he will become 130 PESTALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY in his position and rank of life as a man. That is the first principle of a good education. Advantages of the Education of Former Times — That is why Pestalozzi has a respect for the education of former times. The great secret of the education of our forefathers consisted in that in all ranks of life they profited as soon as possible by the help of the children in the work of the house. This aim led them infinitely more easily to the chief points of view of the true education of man than our new theories. When we examine the results produced by this old method of education embodied in those men who by their life, by their management of their households, by their conspicuously wise conduct in their ranks of life and in their calling prove that they have been well educated, we almost always observe that the actual causes of their excellent education are not their university studies, not scientific system, but their domestic situation, the circumstances, opinions, and customs of their parents and relations, and a thou- sand other things which the present time neglects as insignificant. Thus a wise father says, I owe m}^ good fortune and happiness, and the happiness of my house, to one of my father's servants, whose strictness compelled me to do hundreds of things in the house which, but for him, I should have neglected. Now I see clearly that that has made me what I am. My father, says another, brought me up as if I should have to earn by my own exertions everything he left me, and experience has proved to me that with- out this wise precaution I should certainly have lost all he did leave me. AIM AND THEORY OF EDUCATION 131 Again, a third would say, I was kept to my call- ing or my business, as if my head, and my heart, and all my live senses were intended for nothing else than to live and die in my father's workshop, and now I perfectly see that I owe all I have become in the world, and outside the workshop, to the circumstance that I had to spend my youth so perpetually in it. And these statements are easily understood if we consider that most of the trades, pastimes, and occu- pations of men are of such a nature that they cannot be proj^erly followed unless they absorb a man entirely, both body and soul. According to the theories on education of our time, on the other hand, it is the accessory which plays the chief part ; people cannot invent enough means to let children enjoy their liberty as long as possible, i.e. leave them unaccustomed to the poor cart of life, to which, after all, they must be harnessed in the end. Games as Methods of Education — Thus people rack their brains to invent games to attract children's attention to what they want to teach, them.^ Our fathers played when their work was done, and that is certainly better than playing before, or at the same time as work ; they knew nothing of all the arts by which we attract children's attention ; but they made them at an early age do all sorts of things, and thereby naturally made them without any arts attentive to what they taught them. He who must do many things every day, and all sorts of things, and is made to do them well, will certainly 1 The Philanthropinists are here especially alluded to. Vide Pin- loche, La Ee/orme de Veducation en Allemagne au 18* Steele, p. 227. 132 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY be educated in the power of concentrating his attention, and once one has learned to concentrate one's attention on what one is doing, one does so in learning too, and the desired result is attained. But we turn the method the other way round, and want to fix our children's attention on strange and artificial objects, before their minds have been trained by father and mother, by the help of house- work and the attention it demands, and prepared for the more general artificial attention in study and school. That is putting the cart before the horse because it looks interesting, and then trying to make this piece of folly less conspicuous by making the cart go by machinery. Idlers are only pleased by tricks, and generally are free of their money to people who prance like fiery steeds ; but we who are of a different sort must not be surprised if such teams do not go well, or for long. For the educating of man to be a machine, or to cut capers, can never turn out well. The Family and not the School is the Centre of Edu- cation — He who works early and late at his business and happy and serene enjoys the blessing of his indus- try, his virtue, and his uprightness by the side of a virtuous wife and fond children, cannot easily go es- sentially wrong in their education. Thus Pestalozzi always comes back to this conclu- sion, that instead of founding training colleges for tutors and schoolmasters, we ought to facilitate and retain everything which makes men worthy, intelli- gent fathers, and prosperous citizens, i.e. what a prince AIM AND THEORY OF EDUCATION 133 must aim at if he wishes to give a truly good educa- tion to the children of his kingdom. Responsihility of Rulers. — Thus the happiness of Europe does not depend on the progress of those branches of knowledge which we comprise under the name of philosophy, which however so rarely help the poor to their right, or to their bread ; but it depends far more on princes again becoming fathers in their houses, and learning to consider the needs of their own concern. When shall we give up this abuse of words ? It is of the greatest consequence in the world that the man who has something to do should consider his duty as his concern. If the prince, the magistracy, and the innumerable army of their official servants, philosophical or other- wise, were to consider the peasant from as intelligent a point of view as a planter does his slaves, i.e. as merchandise, the bad quality of which would have a direct influence on his money-bags, the miserable lower classes would be very differently cared for to what they are now, and the education of citizens and of peasants would certainly become better than it is. But our philosophers dream in heights, and our princes live in heights where they lose sight of the things of common life. And the lower classes which obey such leaders body and soul are not accustomed to pay attention to the intrinsic value of the education of their children, as the merchant does to the intrinsic value of his mer- chandise. Thus the reason of the decadence of the lower classes is clear. 134 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY Primary Education is fotmded on the Primary Needs of Mankind — The first needs of man are corporal and sensual, and the satisfaction of these needs is what makes the first educating impression on the child, i.e. it is the first foundation of his education, and the first development of his powers and dispositions rests on it. More dependent and helpless than any other crea- ture on earth, the child at the mother's breast, and on his nurse's lap, feels its first impressions of morality in the vague feeling of love and gratitude which are almost always kept purest in the poor man by the feeling of his weakness and of his perpetual need. The child's corporal needs, then, are the foundation of the development of his powers. They conduct him to the twofold foundation of all true human wisdom and virtue, i.e. to love and gratitude, the basis of all human morality. The progress of the morality of man is in fact nothing else than the extension, the immediate de- velopment, the quickening, and the determining of the sentiments of gratitude and love which the baby already feels when satisfied, refreshed, and caressed. Pestalozzi is firmly of opinion that we should leave children on this simple path. All the success of education depends on the fashion in which a child has learned to satisfy his external and bodily needs, and the educator ought not to be dis- couraged, if, for a long time, he has to confine his attention to the senses and bodily needs of the child. Nature has enveloped man's higher faculties, as it were, with a shell ; if you break this shell before it opens of itself, you uncover an unfinished pearl and AIM AND THEORY OF EDUCATION 135 destroy the treasure of the life which you ought to have kept for your child. The premature development of mind and heart de- stroys man's true forces. When children round me cry for bread and waste their time, while I solve. problems in algebra or dream of the needs of the state which are satisfied without my help, or if I expound to them my dreams on things eternal, I fail to perform the first duty which man owes his Maker, the citizen his country, and a father his child, for there is no doubt that this first duty is to become a good father and to care for wife and child. Disadvantages of General Rules in Education — That is why the first and most essential rule of education is to consider most attentively the individual position of each child. All more general rules on education which consider not a definite, single individual, but the whole human race, easily lead astray. Man is at all times incapable of seizing general, wide points of view, and, on the other hand, very clever in seizing a definite single object, and master- ing it in all its details. It is easier to find hundreds capable of deducing correct principles of education from the observation of their own children than one who could render himself (by meditations on Nature and the general needs of man) fitted to educate one single child suitably to the needs of his position. You are so-and-so, and you will have to be this and that, in such and such a manner, our fathers used to say, and kept firmly in view what they wanted, what they could do, and what ought to be, and their chil- dren generally prospered in this narrow path marked out for them. 136 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY But we say, a man may become all sorts of things, and a child must be prepared for anything that may happen. And we make to ourselves images of the humanity we have no knowledge of, and we pay no attention to the boy we call Hans, and the boy be- comes a good-for-nothing fellow, because, lost in our dreams of humanity, we forget Hans, in whom the human being whom we wish to educate has grown up. True rules of human education must not only be true in themselves, but also in respect of the persons from whom we must expect the application. And in this respect, the principle of grounding the first de- velopment of the human powers on work in the house is conspicuously true, because father and mother, who in general are, and ought to be, the only educators of humanity, are always conducted by hundreds of cir- cumstances in their households to this principle. The Threefold Aim of Education : to fix the At- tention, to form, the Judgment, and to elevate the Senti- ments — To fix the child's attention, to sharpen and exercise his faculty of judgment, and to lift up his heart to noble sentiments is undoubtedly the essence of all the aims of education, and the exercising of chil- dren in housework is most certainly eminently adapted to further the attainment of this threefold aim. Work is always of itself the surest means of fixing the attention, because it is not impossible to do work well without sustained attention, and the variety which the housework of which children are capable offers, develops their capacity of fixing their attention on several different things at the same time. And just so man never exercises his faculty of judg- ment to more purpose than when he is early put to AIM AND THEORY OF EDUCATION 137 many kinds of work ; for all kinds of work and every occupation whatsoever make such demands on the faculties that the lack of a correct judgment makes itself felt at every turn. Finally, with regard to the elevation of the senti- ments of the heart, and the paving of the way for all domestic and civic virtue, the practice of prompt, cheerful, childlike obedience to parents, relations, and other members of the household is so obviously most surely attained by early exercise in work in the house, and childlike participation in domestic concerns, that it is clear that no other means could take its place. Superiority of Home Influence to Books and Methods — Books and artificial methods cannot in any respect be a substitute for home education; the best story, the most touching picture, in a book is for the child, as it were, a vision in a dream, without connection, without harmony, or inner truth ; but all that hap- pens before the child's eyes in the living room at home is naturally connected in his mind with hun- dreds of previous similar pictures of the same kind, consequently has inner truth for the child. That is why he can be so easily led by intercourse with mem- bers of his household and neighbours to a correct knowledge of men, and to an unhurried perception, while it is exceedingly difficult to attain this end by the help of books or of artificial methods of education. How many times it is unwearying patience in slowly turning a monotonous wheel, how often a fixed attention to a thousand little things, which insures peace in our homes, and how often are the dancing steps and the flight of genius to which we wish to raise our children the ruin of all domestic peace and 138 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY happiness. And yet we continue to dream, and daily- neglect more and more to teacli our children this care- ful attention to what they are doing, this inexhaustible patience under the inevitable, and this rigorous order- liness which make the happiness of life. Vei'bal Education and Practical Education — Man is so little destined to spend his life in chattering, and needs so much bread, which he cannot find without work, that it is incomprehensible that we should drive him so forcibly to the one and so noticeably neglect the other. It is by early accustoming a child to the work which will earn bread for his family that we make out of children men who fit into their hole wherever we put them ; while children who only receive a verbal educa- tion, when grown up, are always square pegs in round holes. Disadvantages of General d priori Principles for the Knowledge of Truth — Children whose knowledge has been forced, and who have been prematurely taught general principles based upon no actual experience, are like hens who hatch before they have laid their eggs. He who works hard, and learns much by experience, and thereby hits on general rules and principles in the things with which he has most to do, proceeds more surely, has in the course of his life what he needs where and when he needs it. But the philosophy of the man whose head has been early filled with gen- eral rules and principles, results of experiences which are not his own, and of lives which resemble his in no particular, and then will nevertheless apply these principles, although he does not know the facts from AIM AND THEORY OF EDUCATION 139 which they have been deduced, resembles the cheer- ful, childish chatter of town boys, who meet in their walks farmers driving a load of straw, and talk about their beautiful waggon of hay. General rules, before man' s mind has been trained to observation of single facts, to separation of kinds and species, to investigation of detail and to consider- ation of the different points of view from which every object may be regarded, always lead men away from the true sense of truth, and from all foundation of true philosophical knowledge. First learn your trade, and then, when you know it, you can talk about it, our forefathers used to say. But we teach our children to prophesy before they can spell; to chatter before they can work; and to guess before they can measure. Among the common people and the lower classes things still go on, thank goodness, in the old way. Among artisans and in all callings in which one only pays work, and not chatter and show, boys are still taught not to talk of a trade until they know it. Special or Professional Training — Special education for a state of life or a profession is only a sowing of the land, which is to be ploughed and pre- idee der pared for the seed by human education, ^iem,-, § 75. Where the land has not been ploughed, sowing of seed is in vain. Every special education which is not grounded on the foundation of human education misses its aim. CHAPTER III ON THE EDUCATION OF LOWER CLASSES Causes of the ignorance of lower classes. — Pestalozzi's essential aim. — On the education of the poor. Causes of the Ignorance of the Lower Classes — If the instruction of the lower classes has been neglected in Europe, that is due to psychological as WieGertrud ,, T-' • , \/ i.-T ihre Kinder well as historical causes. r or while some lehrt, IX, arts and sciences rose to a very great height, ^ * all the foundations of natural education were lost. No part of the world ever rose to such a height, on the one hand, while, on the other, none ever fell so low. "With some arts and sciences, its head, like the statue of the prophet, reached the clouds ; but the instruc- tion of the lower classes, which ought to have been the fundament, is, like the feet of this gigantic statue, the most miserable, fragile, and worthless clay. The invention of printing was the cause of this lack of proportion between the advantages of the upper classes and the misery of the lowest. That Europe should overrate the influence of the invention of printing on learning was in the beginning natural enough, also that it should have let this invention dazzle it and make it giddy; but it is incomprehensible that it should still be a.ffected by that giddiness, and let it grow into 140 ON THE EDUCATION OF LOWER CLASSES 141 a nervous fever which ruins body and mind. It is unheard of that the use of the five senses, and espe- cially the sense of sight, the most general tool of sense- 'perception, should have been reduced to contemplate the idol of the new knowledge, letters, and books, so that the eyes, and even men themselves, are become mere instruments to read letters. The Keformation has, by the weakening of its peculiar spirit and by the worshipping of its dead forms and theories, which is the necessary consequence of that weakening, com- pleted what the invention of printing began, in that, instead of resolutely attacking the public stupidity of a monastic and feudal world, it has even taught it abstract ideas which have fixed the world all the more firmly in the mere knowledge of words. Just as a devastating river, stopped in its course by some fallen rock, takes a new direction, and continues its ravages from year to year, from generation to gen- eration, so the culture of the people of Europe, after having left, in consequence of the united action of these two great events, the smooth bed of sense-percep- tion, and after having taken a general, direction which is capricious and in no prepared channel, has continued from year to year and generation to generation its dev- astating action on men, until it has at last brought us, after centuries on this path, to the perfection of the general tonguey exercise of our knowledge, and through it to the tonguey exercise of unbelief, all of which is by no means calculated to conduct us to the calm wis- dom of faith and love. In any case it is irrefutable that the all-devouring verbal book-learning of the cul- ture of our time has resulted in making us discontented to remain what we are. 142 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY PestalozzVs Essential Aim — Pestalozzi's essential Ibid. VII ^ii^ is to render the instruction of the §§ 74, 75. lower classes possible in the family, the first instruction to be given by the mother. People object that the mother will not give it. Pestalozzi does not let himself be stopped by this, and declares he will pursue his way all the same. For people disparage the lower classes, because they neither know nor respect them. Mere word-quibblers, mere bookworms, have always been, and always will be, the same. Pestalozzi will therefore say with Him who defended the cause of truth of the people and of love against the errors of the scribes, "Father, for- give them ; for they know not what they do." People sometimes say it suffices to cultivate the heart of the people, their feelings of affection and Idee der love, but that it is not necessary to culti- Elem., § 117. yate the intellect at all. Pestalozzi indig- nantly refutes this monstrous assertion. If, on the one hand, he says, it is impossible to cultivate the intellect of the lower classes without cultivating their feelings, on the other, it is impossible to elevate their feelings without cultivating their intellect. "I had, and have no intention of teaching the world any art or any science, — I know none, — but I did, and do desire to facilitate in a ihre Kinder general manner the acquisition of the lehrt.Yli, elements of all arts and sciences to the lower classes, and to open to the faculties of the poor and weak the doors to art, which are the doors to humanity, and, if I can, burn down the barricade which, in spite of the empty boasts of our vaunted ON THE EDUCATION OF LOWER CLASSES 143 general enlightenmentj puts the middle classes of Europe, with respect to individual power, far behind savages, in excluding ten men out of eleven from the right of every member of society to instruction, or at any right from the possibility of making use of that instruction." "1 have worked indefatigably for the last half century at the simplification of the processes of the instruction of the lower classes, especially gcjiy^anen- at its most elementary stage, and at bring- gesang, ing them nearer to the course followed by ^*^^^^^^- Nature herself in the development of the human facul- ties. I have certainly handled much awkwardly, and have therefore brought down infinite suffering on my- self; but I have borne it hitherto patiently without ever slackening in my earnest striving after my aim.'^ To those who declare that "the elevation of the people is a dream," Pestalozzi answers: "No, it is no dream ! I will put the means to ele- _. _ Wz€ Gcvtvud vate the lower classes in the hand of , the ihre Kinder mother, in the hand of the child, and in ^^^^^ i> S& 17 IS the hand of innocence, and the wicked will ' be reduced to silence, and no longer utter the words, ^ It is a dream.' " Pestalozzi's education will not raise men out of their proper sphere, for it tends precisely to j^^^ ^^^ prevent the pupil taught by it from em- Elem., barking on a literary or scientific career, §§ 2* i>- 4 . if he is not destined to it by marked ability, and by the circumstances of his life. But his choice once made, he will dip deep into his 144 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY subject and will subordinate all other branches of knowledge to this one he has chosen. Thereby the professional and the working classes will both gain, and this will be a great advantage from a social point of view. On the Education of the Poor — Just as every man ought to be educated for his station, just so the poor IsELiN ought to be educated for poverty. In every Epheme- state of life man's virtue should be exercised nden, Yill. -^^ ^^iq limits of the obstacles and difficulties which await him later on. The essential part of the preparation for every career consists then in training for the difficulties of that career in patience, and in the subduing of all the desires which might become later on an obstacle in the accomplishment of the chief duties. This truth is above all important in the edu- cation of the poor, i.e. in the preparation for the hardest of all the states of life. The poor must then be fitted to earn their livelihood, and must not be given desires above their station. That is why Pestalozzi sees in the combination of industrial pursuits and education the most sure means of realising these conditions to the great advantage of the state. In ordinary benevolent institutions for children, their capacities are not developed from this point of view, so that the state, far from profiting by them, maintains a nursery of uneducated persons, incapable of enduring the hardships of the life of their class, and having none of the technical abilities which would enable them to rise out of it, and consequently pass from the orphanage to the hospital. ON THE EDUCATION OF LOWER CLASSES 145 Pestalozzi thinks that poor children from six to eighteen years of age might earn enough to pay for their education, and even make profits by their work. Pestalozzi does not, however, lose sight of the aim of education, which is, according to him, morality. " Man is capable of being guided to good in all cir- cumstances and in all kinds of work." Now children can be as easily educated to morality in an industrial establishment as elsewhere. But one must strive to attain the aim. The heart is only guided by the heart. The kind of work matters little, for no work is moral or immoral in itself. CHAPTER IV PRIVATE EDUCATION AND PUBLIC EDUCATION Respective advantages of the two systems of education. — School. — Conditions which the school ought to fulfil. Respective Advantages of the Two Systems of Education — Home bringing up offers in itself better and purer means for the application of the principles of ele- Idee der mentary education than any school, public Elem., or private. Unfortunately the lowest classes ^^ ■ are degenerated, presumption and weakness prevail in the middle classes, and in the higher ranks there is an almost absolute lack of power and truth in all the foundations of the pure home life, so that un surmountable obstacles stand in the way of the application of the processes of elementary education. Just as the home life of some children has the great- est advantages, especially in preserving a natural and easy tone, on the other hand the common life of many children together has advantages, as regards the de- velopment of the power and truth of real life, which can seldom be attained in the narrow circle of home life. Cannot the two be combined ? I know that it is difficult ; but I feel, too, that this combination must be the aim of a good boarding-school. It is the aim of ours. I know that we are still far from having attained our aim ; but also that we try to attain it, 146 PRIVATE AND PUBLIC EDUCATION 147 and feel the possibility of its attainment, even in the midst of the greatest obstacles. School — A boarding-school, conducted in a fatherly- spirit and acting on a childlike spirit, is one of the best means of mitigating the degeneracy which takes place even in the real home life, and at the same time of creating anew the lacking domestic spirit among men. From whatever point of view we look at it, he who feels himself, in spirit and in truth, the brother of hundreds, is a higher being than he who is only the most loving brother of one. If a boarding-school rises to the power of developing this feeling, its blessing is immeasurable. That is the aim, difficult doubtless to attain, which Pestalozzi has striven after from his youth up. Should one send the child to school? iMd., Before answering this question, it is §§277-285. necessary to lay down the conditions which the school must fulfil. Conditions which the School must Fulfil — The school must keep to the spirit which prevails at home, and add to the knowledge and power of the child what the circumstances of the home life could not give him. Does the school do that? Does it keep the child to the course of innocence, faith, and love, which he has begun at his mother's side? Does it firmly attach the power and knowledge which it can give the child to what his mother and his home life have already given him, to what he knows, what he has, what he can already do? Are the processes of the school education suitable to the child's condition, and 148 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY will they begin exactly at the point where the child has left off and take this point as its starting-point in all directions ? Then, yes ; even if the school only does half of all this, you must send him to it. The school must become, from the moral point of view, the continuation of the moral life which the child has led under his mother's care, and must strengthen his religious sense which was the basis of it; from an intellectual point of view it must con- tinue and expand the free, living observation of Nature and, in this respect, tend to transform the life in Nature into the life of Art. Its processes must in all respects be a continuation of those of the mother; similarly, from a physical point of view. But if the school does nothing of all this, if its processes and its exercises are diametrically opposed to the natural education which the child has had at home, if it confuses what the other had ordered, if it brings to a standstill what the other had set in motion, if it sends to sleep what the other had awakened, if it kills what the other had quickened, it is not capable of giving the child what he needs. But as often as not the mother is not capable of educating the child in conformity with Nature and consequently does not trouble herself as to whether the school is. Until both school and mother form the highest con- ception of the spirit of education, it is impossible to make home education the foundation of a natural school education, or to educate while instructing, or to instruct while educating. Elementary education alone can fill this great gap. BOOK II ELEMENTARY EDUCATION CHAPTER I CRITICISM OF THE EXISTING METHODS Defects of the education of the time. — Error of rationalism. ^- Culture of the Greeks. — Elementary education and the Greeks. — Elementary education and the lower classes. — Elementary education and the hitherto existing methods. — The catechetical method. — The Socrat.ic method. — Fatal consequences of the verbal instruction of schools. — Necessity of a thorough reform. — School and play. Defects of the Education of the Time — The school education of our time does nothing but sew the orna- ments of a superficial and useless know- j^^g ledge of many things (Vielwissen) on the der Elem., coat of vanity of our empty being, not yet ^^ '^^-^^■ developed in its essential qualities, as a tailor's appren- tice trims with motley fringes a coat which does not fit the man for whom it is made. Barbarians are at least strong in one respect. We are not even that. We imagined we were in many respects, thinking that a higher culture would de- velop the forces of our nature in all directions. Now this higher culture has not done so; it was for the human race not a higher culture; it was in general 149 150 PESTALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY nothing but a means of weakening men. It was with- out moral and inward elevation, it was limited and restricted to a superficial and earthly sense, and the development of man, as a whole, was not even its aim ; and his one-sided development must necessarily fail, because it found in the pure general development of the whole no binding connection and no educational basis. Both truth and love were as a rule wanting. The faculty of neither was developed. The consequence was exactly the same as we see in Nature, when a field, in the necessary connected and consistent cultivation, finds no general foundation, which shall at the same time purify its forces, convey nourishment, and inspire life — conditions which are necessary if the corn on it is to come to maturity. The earth without all this brings forth nothing but weeds, which choke the good seed. Now truth and love, these fruits of the mind and of the heart, are choked in an insufficiently developed mind and heart, just as the good seed of the field is choked by weeds. For want of sufficient culture men run wild, just as plants do. Instead of truth, we have appearances ; instead of love, selfishness ; instead of ripened powers, presumptuous weakness; instead of the tranquillity which the consciousness of inner worth gives, the restlessness which the lack of this consciousness neces- sarily creates in the human soul — that is our portion. Error of Rationalisrn — Lacking equally physical education and intellectual education, our generation has thrown itself headlong into the deadly sea of a hollow, superficial rationalism, and racing after the dreams of an easy and pleasant life, has fallen into the gulf of the actual world. CRITICISM OF EXISTING METHODS 151 The misfortune of the age is incalculable, that men let themselves be deceived by the semblance of an outward, superficial enlightenment, which had no deeper intellectual education and no higher education of the faculties as its foundation. People wanted in the weakness of this great error to make men reasonable by knowledge, and they could neither give them this knowledge in a reasonable man- ner nor give them the reason necessary to acquire this knowledge. They were far from being able to develop in them this faculty of reason, which the cor- rect recognition of real objects presumes, and which the latter serves to form in its turn. And never- theless they maintained they had attained a very high level of human culture and were even on the road to the high culture of the Greeks. Culture of the Greeks — But the Greeks founded their education on the development of the human faculties by free and independent human life, and not on the extension of their knowledge. Their gym- nasia were not a sort of philological training college for teachers, any more than their humanistic culture was founded on the study of foreign languages, ancient or modern, nor on Oriental or Egyptian literature, although their culture was as little primitive as ours. This monstrous error of seeking life in death, instead of trying to reanimate death by life, was reserved for our time. Among the Greeks the special education for calling or profession took as its point of starting their general education ; their special education did not precede their general education. In its turn their general education was the work of their civic institutions, of 152 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY their national strength, of their legislation, of their customs. And no one wanted less than they did to popularise science. That was reserved for us and our time, to bring up children on science by way of giving them the appearance of strength, while leaving them in their state of childhood. The Greeks did not do that and did not want to do so. They made men out of their children by education. Then the strong- est of these men, naturally of their own accord, strove to raise themselves to the higher standard which their scientific culture showed them. Toward this end I believe we ought anew to strive, and decidedly, as much as lies in our power, by the very same means which the Greeks used to attain it. Elementary Education and the Greeks — Are we approaching this condition by elementary education ? Pestalozzi thinks so. Just as we recognise in the divine element of Christianity the most perfect means of elevating the morality of our race, so we find, from the intellectual point of view, in the model which Greece offers us, the most perfect which has ever been given to humanity. And we believe that it lies in the spirit of elementary education to lead our race, through the necessary consequences of truth, in the development of our forces to the very same results, as those to which the culture of the Greeks had conducted a great proportion of that nation. The Greeks had for their education gymnasia, i.e. actual places where they could devote themselves to physical and intellectual exercises. Our time has instead schools, i.e. places where the pupils are morally weak- ened and taught tricks, for the greater part of our schools are nothing else. Now we believe that the CRITICISM OF EXISTING METHODS 153 method of elementary education is calculated to rees- tablish, these gymnasia and also to transform ele- mentary schools, following a conception higher even than that of the Greeks, into places of physical and intellectual exercise which will fit them for the bat- tle for truth and love, and thereby work successfully against the manifold erroneous opinions which have found room in the education of the people. Elementary Education and. the Lower Classes — We give ourselves at the present time all imaginable pains to teach the lower classes reading, writing, j^gg ^g^ and arithmetic, without troubling ourselves Elem., as to whether they can also speak and think. §§ 112-119. Everything, even what is best in our efforts for the lower classes, suffers under the weakness of our schools. Elemental^ Education and the hitherto Existing Meth- ods — However, Pestalozzi has incorporated in his elementary education everything good which ever ex- isted in methods of education. For the simple and straightforward educational method of our forefathers was much nearer to the principles of. elementary edu- cation than the artificially refined education of our epoch of weakness and corruption. Then no one main- tained, as they do nowadays, that the lower classes have no need of a good education, one satisfying the claims of our nature in its whole extent, nor of a school which shall vigorously strive to improve it. No honoured man in the land uttered the sentence, We do not owe the lower classes a good education, because they will not know how to make use of it; we may not give them such, because they are obliged to earn their bread by the sweat of their face. 154 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY People thought at that time that those sublime words, " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," were addressed to all men. We must then return to the opinion of our forefathers. Some men dare to say that we ought only to busy ourselves in cultivating the heart of the people ; it is not necessary to do anything for their mind. They themselves can do that better than any one else. Re- markable objection ! It is impossible to cultivate humanly the minds of the people without elevating their hearts; and, conversely, it is impossible to ele- vate their hearts without also cultivating their minds. We must remark on some of the contradictions of the adversaries of everything new, which are decidedly new. When Lavater offered sustenance to the heart of the people, and fostered their belief in the literal- ness of the Holy Scriptures, these people cried out at the top of their voices, " The heart is not everything, faith is not everything; the people need intelligence and intellectual culture as well for their life." And now that elementary education addresses itself to the mind as well, they cry again, "Away with it! the heart is all that matters for the people ! " Of a truth, they are like those men of whom it is written, " We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced ; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented." The Catechetical Method — The catechetical method is far from being a real exercise of the reasoning faculties. It is a mere verbal analysis of ihre Kinder complicated sentences, and has so far value lehrt, II, as preparatory exercise in the gradual elu- ^^ ~ ' cidation of conceptions as it lays the sepa- CRITICISM OF EXISTING METHODS 155 rated words and sentences singly before the child's eyes, disentangled for its more thorough perception. But in spite of this value, the catechetical method applied to these abstract notions is nothing but a repeating, in parrot fashion, of words which the children have not understood. The Socratic Method — As to the Socratic method, it is impossible with children who lack at the same time the background of previously acquired knowledge and the outward instrument of the knowledge of lan- guage. Thus Pestalozzi rejects the Socratic method, because he thinks we should not make the judgment of chil- dren, on any subject whatsoever, appear more ripe than it is in reality; but we should rather keep it back as long as possible, until they have considered every object which they are to discuss, from all points of view, and under many conditions, and until they are absolutely familiarised with the words which designate its nature and qualities. Fatal Consequences of the Verbal^ Instruction of Schools — Necessity of a Thorough Reform — The super- ficialness of the routine exercises which schwanen- children are put through generally incites gesang, § 88. to thoughtless chatter on subjects which should serve to instruct us. When the child does not understand what he is to learn, and nevertheless has to pretend that he understands it, thoughtless chatter on what he does not understand follows as a matter of course. His learning itself resolves itself into learning to chat- ter on what he does not understand. It is psychologi- cally correct that, and very easy to explain how, on 156 tEStALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY this road one can come to speak fluently about things, at which one has had to work so hard and so long, that one is utterly sick of them, without having come to a clear insight of what they are and what good they are. Our monastic instruction, by its neglect of all psy- chology, has not only removed us in all subjects from Schwanen- the supreme end of education, which is clear- gesang, ^91. ness of ideas, but has even undoubtedly resulted in depriving us of the means which Nature herself, independent of all art, offers us to help us in the rendering distinct of our conceptions, and also in making impossible for us the use of these means, by the ruining of our inner selves. Most of our public schools not only give us noth- ing, but actually extinguish that in us which man possesses in himself without schools, and what every savage possesses to a degree of which we have no conception. A man who has been educated by the monastic method to become a wordy fool, is as a matter of fact more inaccessible to truth than a savage, and more incapable than any one of profiting by the guidance of Nature, and by what she does to render our ideas clear and precise. "Our school education seemed to me like a great house, the upper story of which was dazzling in its Wie Gertrud ^^S^ ^.nd perfect art, but is only inhabited ihre Kinder by a few. The middle story is inhabited Ze/irf, IV, § 3. -j^^ more, but they have no staircases by which they can go up to the upper story in human fashion, and if any of them were in their need to show CRITICISM OF EXISTING METHODS 157 a desire of climbing up to this upper story in animal fashion, if they are seen, they get their fingers pretty generally knocked, and here and there even an arm or a leg which they used in this climbing up broken ; in the third, the lowest, lives finally a countless herd of men, who have exactly the same right to sunshine and fresh air as the ones above ; but they are not only left to themselves in the horrid darkness of windowless holes, but they are even rendered incapable, by band- ages and blinders, of raising their eyes up to the highest story." It is then of prime necessity that the educational cart of all Europe be not only better drawn, ibid., it must rather be turned round and started ^> § 18. on a new road. Our one-sided, superficial, thoughtless use of the tongue must first be killed and buried before it will again be possible to produce truth in our race by in- struction and language. And we must not content ourselves with half-meas- ures, we must lay aside in this instruction all lesson books which in a single one of their lines assume that the child can talk before he has learned how. School and Play ^ — • The spirit of ordinary pedagogy shows itself everywhere contraiy to morality, even when actually appealing to morality, and j^^g most conspicuously in the opposition which der Elem., it sets up between instruction and education ^^ ~ * and the inner and outward life of the child. It even sets up this opposition as a principle, viz., that a spirit must prevail in school hours quite different to that which prevails in free time and play hours. And at 158 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY the same time there is a most pronounced tendency to turn school into play and play into school. The opinion, that the spirit which prevails in les- son time should be quite different to that which pre- vails in playtime, would however be quite right, if we consider the matter without losing sight of the higher view of the unity of our nature. From this point of view, the child must be educated by freedom to necessity, by necessity to freedom. If a spirit prevails in lesson hours other than that which prevails in play hours, it is because the spirit of obedi- ence and necessity prevails in school hours, and the spirit of freedom and independence in play hours. Necessity, strict order, unvarying obedience to rules, should prevail in lesson hours. The spirit of the teacher and his treatment of the children should never- theless however be purely human, i.e. a living and free spirit during school hours as at all other times. He ought only to make the subject taught stand out in its strict limitations and exclusiveness, so that the child may clearly see the thing itself and no shadows, and may not give himself up to play. The recreation hour should free him from this restraint. In it the single isolated object should be relegated to the background, the child should move freely, his life should be re- flected in the life of all, and no fixed form, no restraint, hem the flow of his inner self. That is the true meaning of the difference necessary between the needs of school hours and those of play- times. But thousands who lay down this principle do not take the unity of nature as their starting-point, but consider these unequal needs of the position and circumstances of the child as needs of his unequal CRITICISM OF EXISTING METHODS 159 nature. They separate instruction from education, and even demand a spirit in the instruction of lan- guage different to that in the teaching of mathematics, to that which prevails in the teaching of natural his- tory, to that in the teaching of singing. But the spirit of education must always, at every instant, be the same ; and as the spirit of instruction must always be the same as the spirit of education, so the spirit of instruction must be the same in every subject taught. This applies equally to play hours and to school hours. If you give the child the food necessary for the ful- ness of his life as a whole in school hours and in play- time, your child will be as animated in your school hour as in your playtime. There is truly no need for laws and principles for the one different to those for the other. The child of the good mother lives every hour of the day in the same spirit ; he lives his full contented life in his lesson time as in his playtime. And educator ! human educator ! is he to live only half his life in your lesson time ? Eeject this erroneous theory, edu- cator ! It tends to kill the child whom you ought to make alive ; and you can make him alive, you can at every moment of your instruction. You can, you ought to give his heart and his mind at every moment of the lesson hour a truer, higher life than he lives during his play hour. If you can, if you do so, he is delighted to feel conscious, during school, of a power higher and nobler than that which he is conscious of during play. But, to be sure, it is true that if you are not capable of taking complete possession of the whole being of the child by your teaching in his lesson time, and of animating him to a higher life than he leads in 160 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY his playtime, then it is certainly natural enough that a spirit will animate the child in your lesson time very different to that which animates him in playtime. On this path you will certainly never attain to making the same spirit prevail among the children in school as in play. You must give this soul, hungering after development, the food and nourishment which his own nature craves, and not that which your whims and your erroneous ideas suggest. If you do not, do not be surprised if you do not attain your aim. If you see a senseless man loading his starving beast of burden instead of feeding it, you are not sur- prised to see it evince a very different spirit to what it does when, freed from its load, it finds its favourite food on the open heath. But out of ten schoolmasters who fall into this error, there are nine, perhaps, who are as heavily and as un- naturally laden with their school as their school chil- dren are with them. We bestow our compassion on them from our hearts, and pity them for living, as we do, at an epoch when men consider the needs of human nature as little for their schoolmasters as they do for their school children. CHAPTER II NATURE, AIM, AND DIVISION OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION First education of the child by its mother, — Aim and definition of elementary education. — Division of elementary educa- tion. — Moral and religious education. — Intellectual educa- tion. — Point of starting of intellectual education. — Study of languages. — Foreign languages. — The formation of judg- ment. — Language, number, form. — Artistic education. — The moral element of artistic education. — The intellectual element of artistic education. — The physical element of artis- tic education. — First sesthetic education. — Technical and artistic education. — Physical education. — General human character of elementary education. — Impossibility of the application of elementary education. — Educating influence of life. First Education of the Child by its ' Mother — From the moment when the mother takes the child on her lap, she instructs him by the fact that she ^y r^ f brings nearer to his senses the objects which ihre Kinder Nature presents to him scattered, at great ichrt, x, distances apart, and indistinct, and thus makes easy, pleasant, and attractive the operation of perception and the cognition which is dependent on it. In her ignorance and her innocence, the mother does not even know what she is doing. She has no inten- tion of instructing her child, she only wants to soothe 161 162 PESTALOZZl'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY him, to engage his attention ; and yet she follows the sublime course of Nature in its purest simplicity, with- out any idea of what Nature is doing through her; and yet Nature does a great deal through her : she opens the world in this manner to the child, she pre- pares him thus for the use of his senses, and for the early development of his faculties of attention and perception. It is our business, then, to continue artificially what the mother has begun instinctively. " But in this respect we are not as far advanced as the woman of Appenzell, who hangs over her child's cradle, in the first weeks of its life, a big kite made of many-coloured paper, thus indicating exactly the point at which art should begin to bring the child to a clear and distinct consciousness of the objects of Nature. . . . This Appenzell kite is to me what the bull was to the Egyptian, — a sacred thing, — and I have done all I could to begin my instruction at the point of depar- ture chosen by the woman of Appenzell." We shall, however, see that Pestalozzi never leaves to chance, either at the beginning or later on, the ob- jects which are to be presented to the child's senses, but does everything to make it possible to pass over the accidental and bring the essential in all percep- tive cognition before the child's senses even at this early age and to make the consciousness of this im- pression indelible. We shall see that this is the aim of elementary education. The mother does not recognise any freedom of will in the child. As she devotes herself to him in her NATURE, AIM, AND DIVISION 163 love, and satisfies his needs, she exacts from him obedience. But just as she raises him to truth by the love with which she devotes herself to j^gg him, so she raises him to freedom by the der Elem., obedience which she exacts from him. She ^^ ^2-54. teaches him to walk, so that he may no longer need her guidance ; she makes him capable, so that he may be able to help himself; to know, so that he may himself know what he needs. She is pleased when he can do more than she can, when he knows more than she does, when he becomes greater than she is. The obedience which she exacts is that which his own nature and his needs demand. Her will is no other than law, which his own reason would impose on the child, if he were a man, i.e. free, and to which he would submit of his own accord. She believes in the reasonableness which will later on unfold itself in him, as she believes in her own. At the moment when she is exacting obedience from him, yes, by the very fact that she does so, and by the manner she does so, she expects it from him as something exist- ing as a matter of course. She punishes her child, she calls him to account, and thereby all unconsciously declares him to be a free and reasonable being. His weakness is her strength, his needs are her love, and her inspiring hope is what he will one day be. She gives the child for his practice in moral feeling, speech, and action, by which she raises him to inde- pendence, a living model in her own moral feeling, speech, and action. Her presence, the whole im- pression of her being, creates in the child moral con- sciousness, the germs and the elements of the idea of good. 164 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY In the same way the idea of his mother creates con- scientiousness in the child. The image of his mother, which accompanies him everywhere, becomes in itself his conscience. She is likewise the first Providence he knows. As she judges him, so he learns to judge himself. As she by judging him teaches him to judge himself, so she shows him in God, when her presence is no longer sufficient and her judgment too weak, the most high, an omnipresent and omniscient, a holy and just judge. She sanctions the precepts and laws which she imposes on him, as representative of Nature and of the child's conscience, as divine commandments, and expands in this way, as the judgment, the faculties, and the needs of the child expand, his moral disposition to a complete moral conception of life and the world. But this conception, while it itself expresses, on the one hand, the unvary- ing and eternal nature of morality itself, connects itself at all poirts to the individuality of the child, his sentiments and relations to his brothers and sis- ters, his relatives, his fellows, etc. It is, then, in con- formity with the progress of the child's development in all directions, and is in its essence nothing else but the extension of the activity and of the sphere of his pristine moral nature. Aim of Elementary Education — Elementary educa- tion, then, ought to continue under the master, the mother's work, in the spirit of the mother, and in the spirit of Christianity. It should in no way put itself in opposition with the child's former relations of feel- ing and disposition, but should bring its whole activity into living connection with them. NATURE, AIM, AND DIVISION 165 Definition of Elementary Education — Elementary education is nothing else but conformity to schwanen- nature in the development and perfecting gesang, of the dispositions and faculties of men. ^^ ^~^^' But what is human nature ? Clearly the complex of dispositions and powers by which man distinguishes himself from animals. Whence naturally follows that elementary educa- tion is that development and perfecting of the powers and dispositions of the human heart, the human mind, and the human skill which is in accordance with nature. Whence again follows the necessity of subordinating the claims of our animal nature to the higher claims of our inner divine nature. Man has a desire to do everything for which he feels that he has an inherent power, and that this desire of his is involuntary is a consequence of his indwelling instinct. The sense of this power is the expression of the eternal, inextinguishable, and immutable laws which form the basis of the course of nature. These laws proceed, just as do the powers in which they dwell, from the unity of human nature. That alone which takes possession of man as a whole (heart and mind and hand) is educative in the true sense of the word and in accordance with nature ; everything which does not take possession of him as a whole does not take possession of him in accord- ance with nature, and is not, in the true sense of the word, humanly educative. Every one-sided development of one of our powers is no true education, no education in accordance with nature; it is only the outward semblance of education, 166 PESTALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY the resounding brass and the jangling bells of human education, and not education itself. The unity of the human faculties was given by God. What, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. The laws which are the groundwork of the natural development of every one of our faculties are essen- tially different, but every one of these single faculties is essentially only naturally developed by the simple means of its use. Man develops love and faith, which are the foun- dation of his moral life, naturally only by active love and faith. The same holds good of thought, the foundation of his intellectual life, of his senses, organs, and limbs, the outward foundations of the faculties appertaining to his skill and calling. Man has besides an instinctive tendency to use these faculties. But one can augment or diminish this tendency. Elementary education then, more precisely defined, is the result of the efforts of the human race to render such assistance to the course of nature in the develop- ment and perfection of our faculties as the enlight- ened love, the educated reason, and the enlightened artistic sense of our race may be capable of. Left to itself, the course of nature is only quickened by animal instincts. It is the business of our race, it IS the aim of elementary education, it is the aim of piety and wisdom to animate it humanly and divinely. Division of Elementary Education — Elementary Idee der education divides itself naturally into Elem., § 21. nioral education, intellectual education, NATURE, AIM, AND DIVISION 167 and physical education, which are based respectively on the will, the knowledge, and the physical capacity of the child, and in their turn form the basis of these Moral and Religious Education — Moral elementary education is nothing else than the pure development of the human will, by the higher sentiments of j^j^^ love, gratitude, and faith, in the perfection § 23. in which they are expressed in their first blossoming in the pure relations between mother and child. The aim of this education is the moral perfection of our nature ; its means are exercises in striving after perfection in moral thought, sentiment, and action. Applied to the visible, it reveals itself as morality in action (physical ) ; to the invisible, as religion in senti- ment or vision (sentimentally hyper-physical). As we can only conceive the perfection of morality in a higher being, only in God, the first moral aspira- tion connects itself with the belief in Grod, which so simply and so naturally results from the truth of the child's love, gratitude, and faith. Tlie Idea of God — The child loves and Schioanen- believes before he thinks and acts. gesang,^ How are love and faith, the foundation of our moral life, developed in the child? — By the constant gratifi- cation of his physical needs b}^ the mother, to which gratification father and brothers §§ 15-I8. and sisters also contribute. But the solicitude of the mother to gratify the child's needs must not be carried to excess. The enlightened mother lives for her child in the service of her love, but not in the service of his whims and the selfishness 168 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY which is excited and quickened in him by his animal nature. The naturalness of the care with which she conduces to the child's repose is not calculated to excite his senses, but only to satisfy his sensual needs. By this means the first sentiments of love and faith are naturally awakened in the infant by its mother, and the sentiments of love of and faith in father, brother, and sister naturally follow, from which finally results love of and faith in God. hitellectual Education — Intellectual education again is nothing else but the pure development of the fac- Idee der ulty of knowledge, i.e. of our faculty of Elem., § 24. reason, by the highly simple process of making a habit of its use. And as this faculty in its essence first connects itself with the perceptive impres- sions which the objects of the external world make on our senses, secondly rests on the acquired faculty of combining, separating, and comparing, as the elements of all human knowledge, these original impressions, or rather the simple results of their action on our mind, so intellectual elementary education demands : — 1. Psychological direction of the action of nature in order to excite and collect the impressions which reason, i.e. the living intellectual power in the child, necessarily creates by the contemplation and by its existence in the midst, of the life of nature. 2. Psychological utilisation of these impressions as the essential and unvarying means given by Nature herself, by which the whole power of the mind, or the faculty of reason, can be most easilv developed in us. NATURE, AIM, AND DIVISION 169 Point of Starting of Intellectual Education — The point of starting of intellectual education is the im^ pression produced on us by the perception schwanen- of all the objects, inward or outward, which gesang, in coming in contact with our senses §^ 19-26. quicken and excite the instinct, essentially inherent in our minds, to develop itself. This perception, quickened by the instinct of the faculty of thought, leads to the consciousness of the impression which the objects perceived have made on us, and thereby to the sense recognition of the same. It consequently necessarily creates the sensation of the need of expressing these impressions, at first by signs, and afterward by speech. Now man can speak naturally of nothing which he has not recognised, nor otherwise than he has recog- nised it. What he has wrongly recognised, he will discuss wrongly. Study of Languages — That is why the study of the mother-tongue, like that of every other, is inti- mately connected with the knowledge acquired by perception. Here again the natural progress of education ought to be in accordance with that of nature, which de- mands that the impressions of our perceptions be transformed into knowledge. The child's desire for and capacity of speech develop only in proportion to the knowledge which he gradually acquires by perception. It is the neces- sarily slow progress of nature. But the pleasure he feels at hearing his mother speak gives him the desire of imitating her. Thus she accelerates the child's progress, and the aim of elementary education 170 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY is precisely the search after the means of this acceler- ation, and the indication of them to mothers. Foreign Languages — The natural acquisition of any foreign language by no means progresses thus slowly, for the conditions given are quite different. In the first place, the child has already learned to use his organs of speech, and in every foreign tongue has only to practise a few new sounds. In the second place, he has already acquired by sense-perception millions of notions, which he can express in his mother-tongue with the greatest precision, so that the acquisition of a new language consists essentially in the learning how to transform sounds, the significa- tion of which in his mother-tongue he knows, into sounds which he does not yet know.^ The art of facilitating this transformation is then one of the most essential tasks of elementary edu- cation. The Formation of the Judgment — Another point of the greatest importance is the formation of the judg- ment. As the faculty of logically handling objects which have been clearly perceived by the senses, obviously finds its most natural incitement and quickening in the acquired power of counting and measuring, it is 1 This confession, tardy but sincere, of the direct method in teaching modern languages deserves to be noted. It is to be ex- plained perhaps by the failure of Pestalozzi's language teaching. " The teaching of languages is absolutely bad " (Der Sprachunter- richt ist durchganzig schlect), writes Ksionzek, one of the teachers sent by the Prussian government to study the new pedagogy at Yverdon in 1810. (Letter dated February 3, 1810, Bruno Gebhardt, Die Einfiihruug der Pestalozzischen Methode in Preussen. Berlin, 1896, p. 47.) NATURE, AIM, AND DIVISION 171 clear that the simplified treatment of arithmetic and geometry will furnish the best means toward this important aim of education. Language, Number, Form — The means by which the action of reason manifests itself to us laee der in nature are language, number, and form. Elem., § 24. Applied to the power of producing and understand- ing the truths and relations which they contain ; they constitute the education of the reason ; applied to the power of producing and feeling their inherent beauty, harmony, and perfection, they constitute the aesthetic education. Artistic Education — We must also examine ele- mentary education from the point of view iMd., §§ of its influence on the artistic education of 121-133. man. This education, too, must, if it is to be truly elementary, start from the recognition of the unity of our nature. If art is to be human, i.e. if it is really to lead man to the consciousness of the dignity of his nature and to the accomplishments of an existence and a life corresponding to it, it must necessarily start from the elevation of mind and heart, as its essential foun- dation, and then express itself outwardly by the educa- tion of our senses and our physical powers. The Moral Element of Artistic Education — The moral element of artistic education is the moral nature of our race, which through the might of its purely divine essence, subordinates to itself the physi- cal education of our race, just as it subordinates to itself the intellectual education and permits neither the one nor the other to have a separate existence independent of it. 172 PESTALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY The Intellectual Element of Artistic Education — In the same way the intellectual element of artistic edu- cation is the intellectual nature of man. Its especial external means is given to the child in the alphabet of sense-perception, in geometry, com- bined with the development of the faculty of thought, in the elementary exercises in language and number. With the help of these combined means the artistic faculty of the child develops intellectually. It makes figures out of combinations of lines, and does this in such a way that he exhausts the limits of the pos- sible in their combination. His sense of relation thus awakened forms a skeleton correctly, before he thinks of giving it flesh, colour, shape, and beauty. He be- comes a creator of the beautiful, not by the contem- plation and the copying of the single beautiful forms which he sees, but by the inner, general consciousness which he has of the pleasing, the decorous, the beau- tiful. And this consciousness is developed in him by exercises in the correct and the proportional, and ele- vates his mind imperceptibly to the sentiment of the simply sublime in externals, and thereby again has brought his mind into harmony with his inner self and made him capable of representing this harmony externally in art. The Physical Element of Artistic Education — The physical elements of art are primarily the senses themselves. Considered from this point of view, its means are mere exercises of the senses, especially of the eye and the ear. Secondly, the mechanical aptitudes of our hand and our mouth, in order to express the inwardly developed intuition of our art, also outwardly to the eye and to the ear. These aptitudes demand NATURE, AIM, AND DIVISION 173 a double elementary gymnastic exercise of tlie hand and finger, the mouth and the throat. The first em- brace all works of art, drawing, or modelling ; the second confine themselves to the art of singing. First Esthetic Education — It is Nature herself who awakens our inner sense of order and beauty, — the fundamental basis of art. Nature is beautiful. The child likes to look at it, the mother likes to draw his attention to it. His whole moral, intellectual, and physical existence quickens his natural observation of everything that is beautiful. In this respect, one has only to connect oneself with the action and the appearances of Nature itself. Heaven and earth unfold themselves in all their glory before the eyes of the child ; and the more the child is quickened and trained by his moral and intellectual education, the greater is his inner recep- tivity for all that is beautiful. The child of the pious mother stands adoring before the beauty of creation, the germ of the development of the sense of beauty in him is quickened by the holy awe of the sublime, of the most high. The outward mechanical education to art is then proportionate to the intellectual. The mechanical foundation of all beauty, the outline of the skeleton of all that is beautiful, takes as its point of starting the consciousness of the relation of all forms to one another. It demands an educated fac- ulty of seizing correctly the proportions of every object, equally by the ear as by the eye, and express- ing the same correctly by hand or mouth. It is then by elementary exercise in arithmetic, geometry, and perspective, combined with the sublime moral means of quickening the artistic sense^ that the 174 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY pupil of the method proceeds, now that he is prepared and rendered capable, to the exercise of the mechani- cal arts, which are essential to the outward presen- tation. The point of starting must necessarily be looked for in a natural development of the child's in- nate power and attained by the process of making of a habit of this power. What has been said of the artistic productions of eye and hand applies equally to what appertains to ear and throat. In most intimate connection with the intellectual exercises of artistic education, and necessarily depend- ent on the educated power of the eye and the hand, the mechanical means of artistic education are neces- sarily subject to the general laws of all elementary education. They all proceed from the physical exer- cises which teach the child to know the most impor- tant motions that his limbs are capable of making, and to practise the most suitable of these. But this gym- nastic exercise is only elementary so far as it is gen- eral, and ceases to be so as soon as it becomes the means of exercise in any special art. This point of view is important, because the special elements of art almost entirely coincide with the general elements. Therefore it is all the more necessary to keep both separately in view, and not to weaken the pure per- fect practice of the one by the one-sided limitation of the other. The absence of such elementary gymnastic exercise in art explains the disappearance of the artistic sense and the artistic faculty in the people and conse- quently of the inventive faculty. That is why the people stops at mere imitation. NATURE, AIM, AND DIVISION 175 Technical and Artistic Education — Technical and artistic education, of which the training for one's fu- Schioanen- ture calling is only a part, has at the same yesang, § 28. time a physical and an intellectual basis, and calls both orders of faculty into play at the same time. Physical Education — Finally elementary physical education, in conformity with the inner unity of our nature, is nothing else than a psychological laee der development of power, or of the child's Elem., § 25. inherent physical faculties, which similarly again is / attained by nothing else than their habitual use. y The point of starting of the development of these faculties is simply exercise. Exercise directed to the attaining of independent ease and security in the use of the limbs, and to the overcoming of physical obstar cles, produces strength; directed to attaining regular and harmonious expression, produces grace. General Human Character of Elementary Education — Elementary education, while following separately each one of these directions, nevertheless always takes possession, as the mother does, of the whole being of the child. While it is occupied in developing heart, mind, or body, it exercises and calls into action all the sentiments of the heart, all the faculties of the mind and the parts of the body. Impossibility of the Application of Elementary Edu- cation—!^ not elementary education a schwanen- dream ? where does it actually exist ? gesang, It exists everywhere and nowhere, every- ^^ 36-39. where in single proofs of the possibility of its realisa- 176 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY tion, nowhere in its completion. The imperfection of our being renders impossible perfection in elementary education, for the knowledge and power of our race is patchwork in all its parts, and what is highest and best in our culture only develops in patchwork form. It is then only an ideal after which we must strive. No institute, however royally endowed, could apply practically the idea of elementary education as a per- fect method of education and instruction, applicable to all sorts and conditions of men. Why? Because human nature opposes the perfected general introduction of this high idea with irresistible strength. All our knowledge and all our capacity is patchwork and will remain so to the end of our days. Consequently, a method which shall satisfy the idea of elementary education in its perfection is inconceiv- able. Illuminate its principles ever so clearly, simplify its means to the utmost, no outward equality of the means of execution is conceivable; every individual will put these means into execution in a manner in accordance with the idiosyncrasies of his own individ- uality, i.e. otherwise than others would. But if we consider the aim of elementary education as the very aim of all human culture, then it is no longer a dream, for it is the aim of the humanity to which we belong, and therefore it is our duty to strive after it, therefore it cannot be eternally impossible of realisation and attainment, and may not be considered in this light. And if it is certain that the idea of ele- mentary education, in the forms of its application as method, will never attain perfection in its realisation, NATURE, AIM, AND DIVISION 177 it is not less certain that the striving after this aim exists in human nature, and that to this striving we owe the degree of culture that humanity has attained. It is nowhere in its perfection, but it is to be seen everywhere in the patchwork of its single presenta- tions. Educating Injiuence of Life — Life educates. Life in the midst of great surroundings educates j^^g by force, life in domestic surroundings edu- der EUm., cates by love. ^ ^^** Life educates is the fundamental prin- schwanen- ciple of all education that is in conformity gesang, with Nature. ^ *^' HoiD does life educate ? To answer this lud., §§ question, we must examine the subject ^3, 44. from two points of view : — 1. In what way does the influence of life tend to develop naturally the powers of human nature f In all circumstances, according to fixed, eternal laws, which are the same for all men, in all ranks of the social scale. 2. How far does its influence tend to educate natu- rally the power of application of the developed faculties of the child ? Here again life acts on every individual which it educates in complete harmony with the different cir- cumstances in which the individual is placed, and also in harmony with the peculiar faculties which he pos- sesses. Its final influence in this respect is therefore inexpressibly variable. It follows, then, that the art of elementary education 178 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY consists solely in presenting objects for sense-percep- tion in domestic life to the child, from the cradle, in attractive, powerful, and pleasant form, so that they may have an influence on him which is, in the truest sense of the word, educating. CHAPTER III THE ELEMENTARY METHOD There is only one method of education. — Definition and state- ment of the elementary method. — Nature of the elementary method. — Aim and originality of the method. — The method is positive from the point of view of the individual. — The method does not destroy individuality. — The method is positive from the point of view of the instruction. — The method ought to be universal. — Relations of the method to realism, formalism, philanthropinism, and humanism. — The method imitates Nature. — The method imitates the mother. There is only One Method of Education — There can- not be two good methods, there is only one, and this is based on the eternal laws of Nature. ^^^^ Gertrud But there is an infinite number of bad ihre Kinder methods, and the inferiority of each in- ^6^^^X,§22. creases in the measure that it departs from the laws of nature. I know that the only good method is not in my hands, nor in that of any man, and that we can only approximately reach it. It is why I strive after it with all my might, and have with regard to the judg- ment on my work only this one rule, " By their fruits ye shall know them." I do not deny that other methods may turn out good tailors, boot-makers, tradesmen, and soldiers, but I do deny that they can turn out a tailor or a trades- 179 180 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY man who will be, in the highest sense of the word, a man. Now the aim of all instruction is, and can be, nothing else than the humanly developed and quick- ened harmonious cultivation of the powers and dis- positions of human nature. Pestalozzi has embodied every good quality which he ever found in previous methods of education in his idea of elementary education. " The der Elem., simple and straightforward method of edu- § ^^^' cation of our forefathers was much more allied to the principles of elementary education than the artificial refinement of the education of our time of weakness and corruption." He regrets the abuse of the word metliod, which has been used much too soon to designate the isolated pro- lUd., cesses and forms of the intellectual element- § 286. ary education. The only thing which may, nay must be truly so called, is the whole extent of the education according to Nature, and by no means the limited view of single objects and processes of instruc- tion. Definition and Statement of the Elemental^ Method — This method addresses itself essentially to human Ibid., nature as a unity, as a whole, in the whole §§ 92-111. range of its faculties and dispositions. It considers morality and spirituality not merely as sis- terly helpers of intellectual education, but acknowl- edges them to be the absolute and necessary foundation of it. It elevates our nature by noble sentiments before conducting it to the insight and knowledge of things, and extends the tender ties which unite the child and his parents, which express themselves in THE ELEMENTARY METHOD 181 gratitude, love, and confidence, during the childhood of its pupil, from the father and mother on earth to his Father in heaven; and believes the unity of human education, and the possibility of the harmo- nious union of the means of its moral, intellectual, and physical development only, to be attainable by the transference of his childlike feelings toward the mother to the faith in and adoration of God. From the first word it teaches, in every faculty it calls into play, in every truth it communicates, it only gives facts and not ideas, and it founds every idea which the child forms, on the observation of facts. One is wrong, then, to reproach the intellectual ele- mentary education with tearing the pupil too early out of the dim religious light in which he sees truth as it were in a glass darkly, and out of his pious antici- patory faith. On the contrary, it carefully preserves this dim religious light, and raises the child just as Nature herself does, through a slowly dissolving twi- light to the daylight of truth. The method never goes against Nature, but is always in harmony with her. A second reproach equally unjust, which has been levelled against the method, is that it does not connect its means of education closely enough with the truth of the circumstances of the individual and his domes- tic life, and of the actual existence of men. It is true that the forms of the intellectual education, as sepa- rate elementary means, seem in this separatedness one- sided and separated from connection of the whole existence of the child; but they are only so far as they are considered singly. They are not so in the 182 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY lesson, they are not so in the relation of the teacher to the child. Of a truth, those who levelled this reproach at the method forgot that the idea of elementary education is a general idea, which must certainly in its presenta- tion and application be divided into moral, intellectual, physical education, etc. ; but these three divisions in human life never occur singly : on the contrary, they constantly interpenetrate in the unity of the human nature. The child educated by the method is easily distin- guished from other children. He looks at a thing long, steadily, penetratingly, piercingly, before he decides. He strives to attain the power of judging many things far less than to attain the power of judging correctly, and develops his power far more by well-ordered activ- ity, by industry and work, than by idle grasping after an extension of his knowledge. By following this course, his judgment on all things ripens of itself, before he expresses it, even to himself. This judg- ment is therefore, too, as little voluntary in him as the essence of the method itself is voluntary in him ; but it is an expression of nature, of the ripened truth and necessity in him. It is absolute, because it does not go farther than sense-perception itself. The calm, free, and simple natural impression of the objects is not then lessened by the method, but on the contrary is made more many-sided and more distinct. This in- vading, all-embracing thoroughness of the method leads the pupil necessarily, by reason of its essence, to satisfy the demands of his inner self in his condition, and to that inward security and tranquillity which preserves him from all exaggeration ; also it leads THE ELEMENTARY METHOD 183 him to that reliability and accuracy with which the satisfied man always knows how to appreciate his con- dition and its advantages at their true value, and to make the most of them. The elementary method, then, is diametrically op- posed to the spirit of the education of the age, which has expressed itself in nothing more distinctly than in the general desire of change and drawing up of projects, and, in what is so essential and so inseparable from this spirit, the removing farther away from all purity of the inner human nature. In every case, the idea of elementary education is independent of its application, and therefore also of every attempt at execution. And again, the intellec- tual guidance of the child is in no case elementarily right if it is not in harmony with the whole course of the child's inner and outer life. The child must live in his surroundings, believing, loving, and acting, and must acquire his physical and intellectual strength by active love if it is to be educated according to the elementary method. The greater, the truer, the more active the love that pervades the child's surroundings and his own heart, the more certain is the attainment of the human development of the child's physical and intellectual strength. Faith and love are the basis of elementary educa- tion. The child of the method is no child of dreams, of faintness, of weakness ; his truth is certainly small in extent, but is in its essence strong and of good foundation ; it is born of his innocence and is a child of his strength. It is limited, but it loves its limits and is happy in them. I would say of it with the poet, 184 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY Klein und arm ist meine Hute, Dock ein Sitz der FrohlichkeitA The child of the method flees from and fears every unprepared and unfounded extension of his power. He goes in his education to the truth daily a sure gait, with measured and unwearying tread. He fears the opinions of the many-headed herd. Anything which does not simply and easily connect itself with what he already knows to be true, certain, and dear, does not remain in his mind; it goes past him like a vision, which has no place in his whole existence. His life in the truth is full of power, and if ever in this life its truth seems to him interwoven with an empty meaning, the vanity and emptiness of this meaning has by no means the same effect on him as it has on children whose education is, as a whole, vain and empty. Most certainly he will never become like the mere theorists who, without truth them- selves, greedily snap, as hungry swallows snap at little midges in the air, at the baseless opinions of others ! No ! the children of the method will never become such mere theorists. Their beliefs all spring from a moral foundation and live in minds exercised in truth; they grow up in the life of pious, holy sentiments, and as they find, by the development of true, living, spiritual strength, an inner counterpoise to their destruction, so the actual sting of folly perishes in them. These theories can only appear to them in the emptiness of their actual being, and this becomes harmless by the preponderance of truth, love, and strength, with which it seems interwoven in 1 My cottage is small and poor, But a happy home. THE ELEMENTARY METHOD 185 them. It recoils in every case from the delicacy of their pure, innocent feelings, and from the rock of immovable, impenetrable truth inherent in them. This union of delicacy and strength is peculiar to the method in all its parts. In the whole extent of elementary education every step of its exercises is like all steps of holy nature, infinitely delicate and light, but at the same time, nevertheless, immovably firm, and sure of its results by reason of the full consciousness of its strength, to which the delicacy which sanctifies it is never wanting. If we go to the pure source of elementary education, if we observe what the mother does, we find that her very hand, by the help of which the child learns to walk, although it is soft and acts without any press- ure, is nevertheless a firm hand. But what would her soft gentleness become without her inner power, without her consciousness of her power, and without the certainty of her results, which is founded on this consciousness ? Here again we see that the spirit of the method always aims in its first weak steps, no less than in its last results, at maturity, at completion, at perfec- tion. All the means of the method are calculated for this purpose ; their result must therefore be the high, pure, perfect strength of human nature. For here, too, the elementary method proves itself in harmony with Christianity, the chief precept of which is expressed in these words, " Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Nature of the Elementary Method — As its name indicates, it ought to be above all elementary, and as 186 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY such have an organic and not a historic development. Pestalozzi means by that, that it ought not to follow j^gg the path in all its byways, windings, and der Elem., wanderings which humanity, if we con- §§ 8-21. sider it only on its empirical course, has had to follow in order to arrive at truth and indepen- dence. Aim and Originality of the Method — The element- ary method aims at the discovery and retention of the essential elements, i.e. the unchangeable initial and progressive points of all instruction and all education. It aims at the discovery, and not the invention of the elements. It is not a question of new, hitherto non- existent, educational material, but of a right appreci- ation, apprehension, and elaboration of that which already existed at the creation of man. It aims at the retention, not at the determination, of the elements. What pure instinct has done unconsciously, but with certain success, the educator is to do with in- sight and intuitive knowledge ; what nature has pro- duced of necessity, education is to take over with reason, and be as comprehensive in its treatment and as sure of success. The elements of such a method are the points of starting of knowledge, capacity, and will. As the seed which is put into the ground produces stalk, blossom, and fruit, so they contain in germ every- thing human in the child. His recognition of the truth, the sentiment of the beautiful and the power of good, and the method must perfectly develop these in the child. The method is then to take possession at the same time of the will of THE ELEMENTARY METHOD 187 the child, his instinct toward the true, his pleasure in the beautiful, and his zeal for the good so com- pletely and actively that his recognition of the first, his sense of the second, and his power for the third may harmoniously develop, as far as the measure and limits of his nature may be capable of it. The method then should go back not only to the primordial in human nature, but also to the primordial in every single subject of instruction; in all know- ledge, capacity, and will, which the child is to acquire through education and instruction. Human nature, in the whole extent of its faculties, powers, necessities, and conditions, is not only the initial point and the centre, but also the end point, the exclusive object of its task. The elementary method is distinguished from other methods in that it is diametrically opposed to the general opinion that the child is not yet human, that his animal nature is first transformed by education to that of a human being. Its aim is therefore absolutely this, to seize, quicken, and strengthen the human, spiritual, and moral quali- ties which exist in the child from the beginning. In other words, it considers and treats the child from the very first moment as possessing a human, spiritual, and moral nature. He is indeed, and of a truth, the image of God. The child is as little in Pestalozzi's eyes a tabula rasa, on which external impressions are engraved, or an empty vase intended to be filled. He is a real, living, spontaneous force, which, from the first moment of his existence, acts organically on its own development ; which conceives, which receives, which shapes and moulds as it produces. Certainly 188 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY Nature, the mother's devotion, the domestic surround- ings, incite and impel, direct and guide, by their im- pressions the activity of this power ; but they have no power over the nature of the activity. Nature gives it food and quickening influences by means of sense- perceptions and the sensations called forth by those impressions; but while the nature of the child re- ceives them, it contains spontaneous in itself the foundation of its life and the laws of its activity. The sense-perceptions and the sensations produced by outer impressions belong to the inner strength of the child. Created by it, they are in their origin human, spiritual, and moral. Separated from the external objects in which man first perceived them, and thereby perceives himself and his soul, perceived and con- ceived, singly and independently, they become and they are the simple and unvarying elements of all purely human, purely spiritual, and purely moral cul- ture of childhood and humanity. The Method is Positive from the Point of View of the Individual — Through this conception of human nature Pestalozzi's method becomes then above all essentially positive, and that is a further peculiar characteristic of it. The humanity which it presupposes in the child is a bud ready to open, a quickened entity, a complex of striving or energetic dispositions and re- ceptive faculties, which in indivisible unity radiate in all directions of his existence and imbibe life from all sides — qualities which reveal themselves as im- pulses and powers, capacities which reveal themselves as senses, all of which receive an individual existence by the fact that their activity and receptivity is lim- ited and circumscribed in accordance with inner laws. THE ELEMENTARY METHOD 189 The method is to put into human activity the child's human instincts and call into action his human senses. But this calling into action is not restricting from without, but expanding from within. It does not aim at negative hindrance of what is bad, but at positive quickening of what is good. It acts against weakness by increasing the actually existing power against error, by the development of the inherent germ of truth; against sensuousness by the nourishing and strength- ening of the mind. Perfectly conscious and always mindful of its aim, which is nothing else than to serve something higher than itself, viz., the divine nature in the child, and to help this divine nature to full devel- opment, not to subdue it, the method, personified in the educator, takes the form of a servant, and gives itself up, with joyful obedience, as to the will of God Himself, not to the child's whims nor to the child as individual, but to the life and law in him. The true teacher of the method, feeling in all hu- mility his own weakness and limitations, does not dare to violently interfere with the course of the pupil, to arbitrarily determine the direction he is to take, to force on him his own ideas, his own aims, and his own opinions. He would consider it a crime, treason against humanity. With holy awe the teacher nourishes and nurses what is already existent, as if it were a plant which the Heavenly Father has planted. As he, in this spirit, in the true Christian spirit, full of unassuming modesty and self-devotion, absolutely respects human nature and works as a mere tool in the kingdom of God, so he stands there in priestly dignity as inter- mediary between the child and life. He is, in the 190 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY Socratic sense, the midwife of the child's human and spiritual independence, his individuality, i.e. the god- like idea in him, which is to become visible and active. The MetJiod does not destroy Individuality — The method, since it is positive, takes as its point of start- ing the individual child which it has before it. There is nowhere anything positive in education or in instruc- tion, except just the child as individual and the indi- vidual power inherent in him. Everywhere, indeed, where method exists it is necessarily individualised and individualising. It is therefore not possible to misconceive the nature of things and of man more completely than they do who maintain that a general system of education tends to destroy individuality. Its generality con- sists just simply in this, that it takes the individuality of each single child and cultivates it. The method does not desire to develop anything that does not already exist as capacity in the child, and again develops this capacity simply out of itself and from its own centre. The abundance and variety of these faculties and capacities, of this course and of these laws, may certainly confuse the weak and superficial observer to such an extent that, incapable of finding and holding fast their clue, he loses his way in the ocean of empiricism and arbitrary experiment. But Nature nevertheless claims her right, and the method will offer its faithful student the means of looking into the organism of her processes of education in order that he may at least have a glimmer of what he cannot clearly discern and let himself be guided by it. Just to recognise the capability, the individuality, in the child, to see his independence as individual, to THE ELEMENTARY METHOD 191 note how humanity shows itself in an infinite variety of forms, and is characteristic in countless ways in every single existence, and how yet again the same humanity appears in all, how each is a mirror of the whole, and how this whole reveals itself as the one, unvarying and eternal, more or less visible, in wider or narrower extent, with greater or less splendour : to see this is the rapture of the follower of the method, i.e. of the educator who recognises his task and his relation to mankind. It is his worth, his strength, his reward, the inexhaustible fountain of his love, and the inspiriting stimulus of his activity. How- ever low and humble the single individual may be, however limited and imperfect his capacity, the educator considers him as an image of humanity ; he reverently sees in him a revelation of the divine idea. With this aspect of man, the aspect of the whole of Nature is for him ennobled. He himself gains in nobility through the nobility of his profession, and in educating others he educates no one more than him- self. The degrading view of education, that the educator sacrifices himself to the child and thus .loses as it were his own existence, so that another may be gained, this view, I say, disappears, for in gaining the pupil the educator gains himself. Tlie Method is Positive from the Point of View of the Instruction — Just as the method is positive in re- spect of the child, i.e. takes as its point of starting the individual in him, it is also positive in respect of the instruction or of the knowledge imparted. It takes as point of starting the independent in every subject it teaches. Its every aim, without exception, 192 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY is to bring the pupil not to reflection on what things are not, but to apperception, to immediate conscious- ness of what they really are. It starts from the prin- ciple that all human knowledge and all human art have real points of starting, in' which every single science and every single art is contained as it were in germ. With the discovery of these originally indi- vidualised germs of knowledge and of art, true in- struction and educational training in its widest sense are inseparably connected. The method desires to help every one and to bring every one to the recognition of truth, i.e. as soon as he is capable of grasping it, and to give every one just that culture which he needs. The MetJiod ought to he Universal — From this point of view, then, it ought to be a universal method, and it must be so. Not according to the wrong idea that men, that the faculties, the characters, the opinions, and the conduct of the pupils are to be equalised, and the differences of rank and position to be obliterated. On the contrary, the method desires that every pupil should grow out of himself into his position and into his surroundings. Its universality lies in the prin- ciples stated above, that every human faculty in the child is based upon the same organic impulse, that all art, all knowledge, just because it is individual, has the same unvarying, eternally fixed elements for all and can never change its nature. For example, bodily development is eternally impossible without exercise and motion of the body. Mathematical talent can only develop in exercise on number and form, unity and plurality, dimension and figure, in their relations and combinations, and the gradual progress THE ELEMENTARY METHOD 193 of this exercise is in all ages determined by the intel- lectual organism of the human being, which itself again acts according to a determined order. ^ To discover the object corresponding to every single sense of the human nature, the action which shall put into activity every single faculty of the child, and to present it in the form which the increasing capacity of those senses, the widening extension of these powers demand, that is the general principle, the realisation of which is the starting-point of the method. Relations of the Method to Healism, Formalism, Fhilanthropinism, and Humanism — If, and so far as the method does that, it appears as actual intermedi- ary between all the opposed principles of education, realism, formalism, philanthropinism, and humanism, it ought to satisfy at the same time the demands of human education, professional education, individual, civic, domestic, and public education. While immedi- ately connecting instruction and teaching with the in- variable and eternal in the surroundings of human nature and with its being, it not only succeeds in com- pletely obliterating the opposition which has hitherto existed between elementary and applied instruction, but also that between formal and real education. It develops the faculty and the organ of knowledge by the communication of true knowledge, and, conversely, it creates true knowledge by the development of the organ of knowledge. Tlie Method imitates Nature — It imitates in the in- tellectual domain the sublime proceeding of Nature in the corporeal world. As Nature in every plant, at every stage of its growth, harmoniously develops mate- 1 Other examples as regards language, the senses, etc., follow. 194 PESTALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY rial and form in their mutual commingling, and as every plant appears in the whole period of its growth, on the one hand complete in every point of its whole being, i.e. as a whole in harmonious correlation with itself, in no part and on no side of its growth, either too advanced or too retarded, on the other hand, in- complete, i.e. in perpetual growth ; so the elementary method strives to have in the child, at every point of its education, material and form in mutual harmoni- ous permeation, and the child of the method appears during the whole period of its education, on the one hand, complete in every point of this education, i.e. a whole, in harmonious correlation with himself, in no part and on no side of his growth, either too advanced or too retarded, on the other hand nevertheless incom- plete, not brought to the aim of his maturity, but always still in perpetual growth. Thus it makes its pupil capable of creating out of himself knowledge of life and art as an organic whole. If it is from the first point of view scientific, it is also from this point of view essentially, in the highest sense of the word, artistic. It is in its very essence Nature understood by man. As richly endowed as Nature, it has receptivity, flexibility, and breadth of mind sufficient to embrace every plant that springs from the ground of human- ity. A limited mind can limit it, and a fool can mis- use it as the vessel o'f his own folly, but it remains, nevertheless, what it is, rightly understood in its true extent, not the work of single individuals, but the task of history, the business of human culture as a whole, the work of Nature herself in the course of the development of the human race. It will expand THE ELEMENTARY METHOD 196 and develop, as man gradually approaches the destiny- appointed him by God, and as he step by step dis- covers the means which God has offered him in Him- self and in Nature for its attainment. Tlie Method imitates the Mother. — Nowhere does the existence and coherence of the whole of the method find so pure and so awe-inspiring a form as it does in the conduct of the mother, whether perfectly educated or perfectly simple and humanly natural, toward her infant. This conduct is purely primitive, i.e. ele- mental. It is purely positive. It takes as its point of starting, without byways, without hesitation or doubt, the immediate perception of the child's needs, and proceeds to the immediate satisfaction of those needs. It is purely organic. The quickened facul- ties of the child sprout out in all directions as germs of future progress. It embraces at the same time the knowledge, the capacity, and the will of the child, and acts, nevertheless, in the most individual and posi- tive fashion on each one of these. It is universal, because the needs of all children are essentially the same. The child is, as individual, absolutely independent of the mother. The mother thinks not of herself, but of the child. His life, as it is, is her joy, and the care of this life her holiest task. As child, however, the individual in him is in this liberty at the same time obedient and subjected to the educated reason of the mother. Such is the point of starting of the elementary method, which essentially consists in connecting in unbroken continuity all means of education to the essence of this purely maternal conduct toward the 196 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY child. Every other method is wrong, and can only serve as makeshift. Just as every predominance of certain external faculties, of whatever kind these may be, destroys in us the inner unity, so through every predomi- nance of one faculty, at the expense of another, we destroy in ourselves what is holiest in our nature. CHAPTER IV SENSE-PERCEPTION AS THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUN- DATION OF INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION Definition of sense-perception. — Origins of knowledge : chance, surroundings, personal will, calling and work, analogy and deduction. — Connection between the objects of sense- perception and social position. — Connection of the faculty of sense-perception with the faculty of thought. — Sense-per- ception is the foundation of judgment. — Transformation of sense-perception into conceptions and judgments. — Examples of perceptions. — Disadvantage of truths not recognised by perception. — General processes of sense-perception : pre- cepts to observe. — Acquisition of notions by sense-percep- tion. — Part which the senses play in perception. — Psycho- logical foundation of intellectual education. — Course of instruction. — Psychological course of teaching. — Man is the centre of all sense-perception. Definition of Sense-perception — Sense-perception con- sidered by itself is nothing else than the mere bein.^ there of external obiects before '^^^Gertrud the senses and the mere stirring of the lehrt, X, § i. consciousness of their impression. Thus the mere bringing of sounds to the ear and the mere stirring of the consciousness of the impres- sion made on the sense of hearing is as ibid., much sense-perception for the child as the § ^• mere putting of things before his eyes and the mere stirring of his consciousness of the impression they make on his sense of sight. 197 198 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY This is the beginning of all instruction given by Nature. It is the instruction received by the babe and given by the mother. Human art has done nothing in order to keep up with Nature in this respect. Sense-perception is the supreme principle of instruc- tion, the absolute foundation of all knowledge. It is ^. ^ , because the education of the time did not rVZ6 (jrBVtVltU/ Hire Kinder recognise this truth that it took a wrong lehrt, IX, road. It killed the very spirit of truth ' * and extinguished in the human race the faculty of independence which is based on truth. Origins of Knowledge — The origins of our know- ledge are : — 1. Chance, or rather the impression of everything which chance brings into contact with our five senses. Ibid., VII, But this kind of sense-perception is irregu- § ^1- lar, confused, and proceeds but slowly and only within certain limits. 2. Surroundings, i.e. everything which is presented to our senses by the intervention of the art and guid- ance of parents and teachers. This kind of sense-per- ception is naturally proportionate to the degree of insight and activity of the parents and teachers. 3. Personal will, i.e. the will of the subject to ac- quire knowledge and to arrive of himself at percep- tions. The perceptions thus acquired give insight intrinsic value, and bring us nearer spontaneous action on our education. 4. Calling and work in general, i.e. the exertion and work of our calling, and generally of all activity which has not mere sense-perception as its object. SENSE-PERCEPTION 199 This kind of cognition connects our perceptions with situations and circumstances, brings the results of the same into harmony with our efforts toward duty and virtue, and has essentially, both by the compulsory character of its course and by the entire absence of our will in the attainment of the results, the most important influence on the justice, the uninterrupted continuity and the harmony of our insight, until we have attained the realisation of its aim, viz., clearness of conception. 5. Analogy and Deduction — Finally, the acquisition of knowledge by perception proceeds by analogy, in that it teaches us the nature, too, of such things as have never been presented to our direct sense-perception, but the similarity of which we deduce from other objects which have really been directly presented to our senses. This method of perception makes our progress in knowledge, which as result of actual di- rect sense-perception is only the work of our senses, the work of our mind and all our faculties, and we live thereby in as many kinds of perceptions as we have mental faculties ; but the word has with regard to these last perceptions a more comprehensive mean- ing than it has in ordinary speech, and embraces also the whole series of sentiments which are inseparable from the nature of our minds. Connection between the Objectr of Sense-perception and /Social Position — The quantity and quality of the objects of sense-perception, g^g^^g §52. as well as the sum of the means of util- ising them for the cultivation of the mind, vary directly as the social conditions of the individuals 200 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY concerned. The quantity of these objects will natu- rally be more restricted for the man who cultivates the land than for the man who follows some profes- sion or calling in the town, and will again be more restricted among these than among those destined for a scientific or literary career. Connection of the Faculty of Sense-perception with the Faculty of TJiought — The faculty of sense-percep- Schwanen- tion, if it be not unnaturally led astray, gesang, § 69. leads man of itself, under all circumstances, to clear presentations on the objects of his surround- ings, i.e. to so many single foundations of the natural quickening of his faculty of thought. But so far as these clear presentations are only founded on sense-perception, and are only quickened by it, they can by no means satisfy human nature. For human nature wants to raise the presentations which have become clear to the senses to the rank of distinct conceptions ; it wants by its own independent power to group the objects of its perception, to sepa- rate them, and to compare them one with the other ; it wants to utilise them as a means of preparation for the development of its faculty of judgment ; it wants to handle them logically. And its desire to do this is involuntary, irresistible. The power of the faculty of thought and judgment, latent in man, impels it inevitably to this desire. Sense-perception is the Foundation of Judgment — If „,. ^ we admit that sense-perception is the TVl6 (jrCVtWu, ihre Kinder foundation of all knowledge, it follows in- lehrt, VII, evitably that accuracy of sense-perception ■ ' is the real foundation of accurate judgment. SENSE-PERCEPTION 201 No judgment may be considered ripe if it is not obviously a result of a sense-perception, ijjid., iv, perfect in all its parts, of tlie object on § !*• wbicli a judgment is to be pronounced. Transformation of Sense-perceptions into Conceptions and Judgments — The art of facilitating the transition from the clear consciousness of single Schivanen- objects of sense-perception to accurate gesang,^ 69. thought and judgment on them, by naturally organ- ised means of instruction, which have been arranged in psychological gradation, is in anything but a high degree of perfection and thoroughness in our hands. Since the creation of the world man has worked at the means of facilitating the transition from the ele- ments of the culture of the faculty of sense-perception to the elements of the culture of the faculty of thought in the human race by art, and at raising the common sense which is gained by the simple perception of the objects of Nature to the rank of the logically assured faculty of thought and judgment. But here again the path of Nature has been aban- doned. Instead of carefully striving to group, to separate, and to compare correctly the objects per- ceived by the senses, people want more and more to teach children to think, on the one hand by arbitrary and unnatural extension of the number of subjects for reflection, regarded from a superficial and one-sided point of view, on the other by the learning of logic, i.e. by the — I do not know if I ought to say clear or subtle — explanation of the external laws which are the basis of the faculty of thought. But just as the first proceeding, instead of truly furthering the develop- 202 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY ment of the faculty of thought, on the contrary lays the greatest obstacles in its path; so on the other hand the external laws, which form the basis of the natural development of the human faculty of thought, can certainly not be understood in their truth and profundity by pupils who are not yet sufficiently pre- pared, by the actual grouping, separating, and compar- ing with one another of the objects they perceive, for the progressive use of the faculty of thought ; they cannot, I say, be so understood that they themselves be regarded as the truly generally useful means of educating and strengthening this faculty. Under these conditions, logic remains for them a closed book. Examples of Perceptions — Every child which has learned to observe {anschauen) with an elementary ex- Schwanen- actness the different conditions of water in gesang, §§ repose or in motion, and its transmutations ' ■ into dew, rain, vapour, steam, hoar-frost, hail, etc., then its action and its influence, on all its conditions, on other objects of nature, and to express himself thereupon with precision, has in himself the elements of the technical aspect of physical geography on all these objects. In the same way, every child which has learned to observe in an elementary manner the solution of salt or sugar in the kitchen, their reduction from their liquid to their solid condition, their crystallisation, or the fermentation of wine in the cellar, its turning sour and its transmutation into vinegar, or the transformation of alabaster into plas- ter, or marble into lime, sand into glass, etc., and to express itself with precision on all these subjects, likewise carries in himself the elements of perceptions SENSE-PERCEPTION 203 in the sciences, to the closer investigation of which these objects incite ; just as a child which has learned to observe with an elementary exactness only a few farm-houses in all their parts, and to express himself thereupon with precision, carries in himself the ele- ments of the knowledge of architecture in its essential parts. It is incalculable how far the development of the faculty of perception, rightly treated from the cradle, may lead in cognition of scientific subjects, when it is founded on psychologically ordered exercises in sense- perception, and the way to intellectual abstract know- ledge has naturally and thoroughly been paved. When the faculty is vigorous, the artificial assistance which must be rendered is easy ; and when that is easy, good progress is made as a matter of course. A child which has been rightly directed to perception of num- ber and form has already half crossed the bridge that leads to exercises in deduction in arithmetic and ge- ometry before the actual exercises in deduction can naturally even have been begun with him. These last exercises, if they are to be given naturally, pre- suppose a faculty of perception which has been brought to a high degree of maturity. Disadvantage of Truths not recognised by Perception — Every merely superficially recognised truth, which is not based in its essential parts on percep- ^^ .^ ^^^ tion, and has not been submitted to the scrutiny of thought, remains in human nature in the air, so to speak. It has no means of connecting itself naturally with other truths, with which it is really in relation, and innumerable superficially recognised truths have less educative action on the development 204 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY of the faculty of thought than a single one, sufficiently- based on perception, and recognised in all its extent by the faculty of thought. Superficially recognised truths cannot by any means conduce to the harmony of our faculties, which is the supreme aim, both of the course of nature in the de- velopment of the same, and of the whole complex of all artificial means of education. General Processes of Sense-perception: Precepts to observe — First learn how to arrange your perceptions WieGertrud and attain a complete mastery over the /^r^/^v^^^ simple elements before you proceed to § 14. ' ' something more complicated. Try to form in every art a succession of steps, in which each new idea is only a slight, an almost imperceptible addition to knowledge already deeply imprinted on and made indelible in the memory. Secondly, bring in your mind all essentially related objects into exactly that connection with one another in which they really are in nature. Subordinate in your mind all non-essentials to essentials, and subor- dinate especially the impression made by the artificial aspect, to that made by nature and its real truth, and give nothing a greater importance in your mind than it has in nature relatively to the human race. Strengthen and give clearness to the impressions of important things by artificially bringing them nearer to you, and letting them act on various senses. Bear in mind to this end above all the law of physics, which lays down that the magnitude of the action of objects on our senses varies directly as the distance of those objects from our senses. Never forget that the SENSE-PERCEPTION 205 physical proximity or remoteness has invariably an infinitely great influence on the positive element of your opinions, and on your circumstances, your duties, and your very virtue. Consider all actions of physical nature as absolutely necessary, and recognise in this necessity the result of the power with which it unites the seemingly hetero- geneous elements of its material in order to effect the complete attainment of its aim, and see to it that you also raise to a physical necessity the art with which you act on the instruction of your fellow-creatures, and also the results at which it aims, so that in all you do, even the apparently most heterogeneous means may serve in the attainment of the same chief aim. But in consequence of the rich variety and diversity of attraction and the wide scope, the results of physical necessity generally assume the stamp of freedom and independence. Look to it, then, that you too, while striving to raise the results of art and of instruction to the level of a physical necessity, nevertheless give them, by means of rich variety and diversity of attrac- tion and latitude of scope, the stamp of freedom and independence. Acquisition of Notions hy Sense-perception — All the objects which impinge on my senses are for me only so far means of attaining correct notions, ^^^^ y %2 as their outward appearance causes their unvarying immutable essence rather than their varying, changing condition to impinge on my senses — they are on the contrary for me so far sources of error or illusion, if their appearance cause their accidental con- dition especially to impinge on my senses. To every perceptive notion which has been imprinted 206 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY and made indelible by the completeness of its impres- sion on the human mind, a whole succession of more or less related subordinate ideas associate themselves with great ease, practically without our volition. By the grouping of objects which have the same essential qualities, your insight into the inner truth of the same is made essentially and generally wider, acuter, and surer ; the one-sided preponderating im- pression of the nature of single objects is weakened to the gain of the impression which its essence ought to make on you. The entangling of your mind by the isolated force of single impressions is hindered, and you are preserved from the danger of thoughtlessly confounding the external appearances of objects with their essence, from an exaggerated preference for any one thing, which a better insight would have caused you to put into a subordinate position and from the fantastic filling of your head with such subordinate things. Thus the more man has acquired wide and general insight into things and into their essence, the less he will be misled by limited and exclusive insight, and conversely. Even the most complicated perception is composed of simple elements. If you have come to definite clearness on these, the most complicated will be simple to you. Part which the Senses play in Perception — The more we use our senses in recognising the essence or the varying aspects of an object, the more accurate will be our knowledge of this object. Psychological Foundation of Intellectual Education. Course of Instruction — Pestalozzi was soon convinced SENSE-PERCEPTION 207 by experience that elementary instruction did not merely consist of reading, writing, and arithmetic, and that these subiects, far from being the ele- _,^, ^ ^ ^ •* ; ® Wie Gertrud ments of instruction, ought, on the con- ikre Kinder trary, to be subordinated to much wider l^hrt, VI, §§ points of view. He gradually discovered that a child must be taught to speak before he is taught to read, to draw before he is taught to write, and to measure before he is taught to draw. Every line, every measure, every word, is the result of the intelligence that is created by ripened sense- perceptions, and ought to be considered as a means to realise the progressive clearness of our ideas. The principles of teaching must then be deducted from the unvarying original type of the development of the human mind. The world lies at our feet like a sea of confused perceptions ; it is the work of art, i.e. of instruction, to dissipate this confusion, by separating the objects the one from the other, by grouping together those which are similar, in order to make them more clear to our senses, and thus enable us to form clear con- ceptions of them. Teaching attains this end by pre- senting the confused perceptions singly to our eyes, then by showing us them in their varying conditions, and finally by bringing them into connection with the whole sphere of our knowledge. Thus our knowledge proceeds from confused per- ceptions (Verwirrung) to definite perceptions (Be- stimmlieit), from definite perceptions to clear percep- tions (Klarheit), and from clear perceptions to distinct ideas (Deutlichkeit). 208 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY Psycliological Course of Teaching — The natural transition from the impressions of sense-perceptions to Schivanen- the development and quickening of the gesang, § 73. faculty of thought has as its starting-point the fact of grouping, separating, and comparing the objects of perception. The child has a natural instinct to do this. It is for the human race to confine this instinct to its natural course, and not leave the educa- tion of it to chance. It is essentially important not to transform into ex- ercises of the intelligence what is only worth any- Ideeder thing as an exercise of the memory, and Elem.,^226. not to use what is only suitable to develop the mechanical skill of the hand, as if it were a means of development of the intellect and of the artistic faculty. Just so it is essential to keep exercises in the memo- rising of words apart from exercises in imprinting on the memory perceptions gained through the senses. For if we do not, we shall produce confusion in the children's minds, which must arise, if we mix impor- tant things and things of no consequence in our teach- ing, which is like people for a joke putting peel into a child's mouth, instead of the fruit itself. Man is the Centre of all Sense-perception — The clearness of our recognition of things varies ihre Kinder directly as their distance from our senses, lehrt, VI, for man is nothing else than his five §§ 6, 7. senses. Man is therefore himself the centre of all sense- perception and is an object of sense-perception to himself. Everything that you are yourself is easier SENSE-PERCEPTION 209 for you to make clear and distinct in your mind than everything outside you. Everything you feel your- self is in itself a definite perception. Only what is outside you can be a confused perception for you. Everything you are conscious of, you are definitely conscious of. Everything you know yourself is in you, and defined by you. Consequently the way to definite conceptions opens itself more easily and more surely on this road than on any other, and nothing can be more lucid than the lucidity of this principle, — the knowledge of truth by man has as its starting- point man's knowledge of himself. CHAPTER V THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION OR ELEMENT- ARY METHOD 1. First Instruction of the Child. — The ego as the centre of education : disadvantages of emulation. — First instruc- tion of the child. — The book for mothers. — Pestalozzi's experiment on a child of three. — The first books. — Principles of the first education. — Importance of vocabu- lary and nomenclature. 2. Description of the Method in Application. — Intensive and not extensive education. — Language as the basis of instruction. — Simplification of the mechanism of in- struction. — Popularisation of science. — The book is to replace the teacher. — Mutual instruction. 3. Educational Principles and Observations derived FROM Practical Experience. — The method supplements everything, even science. 4. Elements of the Method. — Number, Form, Language. 5. Methods of Application. — A. Sound. — a. Study of sounds used in speaking. — b. Study of sounds used in singing. — Study of language. — Number and form. — Dis- advantage of the catechetical method. — Examples of ap- plication. — Importance of language. — Novelty of the method. — Development of language. — The study of lan- guage : its point of starting and its aim. — Part played by grammar. — Relation of language to sense-perception and thought. — Study of foreign languages. — How the child learns his mother-tongue. B. Form and number. — Drawing. 210 THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 211 1. First Instruction of the Child The Ego considered as the Centre of Education — The ego of the child, as centre of the independent development of the mind, is divided, as j. elementary education is, from the very derElem., beginning and in its essence into three §§^^~*i- parts. As in elementary education we must consider the education of the heart, the education of the mind, and the education of the body, so the Book for Mothers must teach the child, starting from himself as a whole, from his ego, to consider himself as heart, as mind, and as body. As body, he is an object for self-perception and feel- ing; as mind, an object for activity and consciousness of self; as heart, an object for activity of will and sentiment. The existence of each of these three faculties is again divided from the point of view of space and of time, and from the point of view of activity and re- ceptivity. The child must then of necessity learn to study himself, i.e. he must become objective toliimself. The Book for Mothers is based on this principle. The child is brought into connection with everything that concerns him. As he is obliged to search for all the objects which he names, himself, he sets in activity his faculties of jDerception and observation. When he has considered extensive existence, i.e. his existence considered from the point of view of space, his limbs, their qualities, their external relations, he proceeds to the faculties and activities of his temporal existence, i.e. his existence considered from the point of view of 212 PESTALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY time, of his faculty of receptivity and of activity, his senses and powers, and thereby becomes more con- scious of himself, and awakes thus to a sensation, to a glimmer of consciousness of his relations to Nature and to his surroundings, which sensation becomes more and more clear and comprehensive. In con- nected consistent progress the sensible and the intel- lectual unite to form the unity of knowledge in him. The exterior and the interior, the subjective and objective, the power of knowledge and of speech, con- nect themselves the one to the other. As the out- ward uniting bond is language, so the inner uniting bond is the child's ego, i.e. his consciousness, his sense- perception, his feeling of himself. The pupil enters with full innocence and childlike ingenuousness in- deed, but at the same time with calm self-confidence, into the domain of the knowledge and experience of himself, of the world, and of men. He learns how to know himself, to be conscious of himself,, yet without presumption, and to move freely in the necessary limits and relations of his nature. It is true he does not attain the power of speaking on every subject; he cannot and he does not want to. But his speech is the speech of truth and the outcome of actual feeling, not of seeming and illusion. Disadvantages of Emulation — The child educated in the spirit of the elementary education is exercised Idee der in every moral, intellectual, and artistic Eiem., § Go. respect to seek the stimulus for the exer- tion of his powers in the use of these very powers. This power to depend on his own resources on all occa- sions has been made habitual to him by the method. He compares himself with no one, in no particular. THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 213 Just as with respect to morality, he only asks him- self, " Am I good because I fear God, because I exer- cise my moral faculties ? " and never, " Am I better than another ? " so with respect to intellect, he asks himself, " Can I solve the problem assigned me, or can I not ? " and never, " Can I solve it better than any one else?" He knows no measure of his power outside himself, and the present time knows none and seeks none in us. The intense joy which the child feels at the dis- covery of a truth renders superfluous the means which consists in exciting emulation by increasing the self-love of the ones and humiliating the others. The first hour of the instruction of the child is the hour of his birth. Nature instructs him „^. ^ ^ , from the moment at which his senses be- ihre Kinder come capable of receiving her impres- l^hrt, I, §§ sions. All teaching is then nothing else than the art of helping this striving of nature after its own develop- ment, and this art is essentially based on the propor- tion and harmony of the impressions "which are to be made on the child's senses with the degree of his developed power. There is, then, a certain sequence to observe in the impressions which must be made on the child by the teaching, and the beginning and con- tinuation of these impressions must keep step with the child's developing powers. It is on the observa- tion of this principle that the composition of element- ary books which shall be really appropriate to our nature and our needs rests. The child must not begin to learn to read, nor even 214 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY to learn his letters, until lie has been brought to an advanced stage of knowledge of language and know- ledge of things to be gained by sense-perception. It is wrong to teach children to read and write before the child really knows how to talk, and to think that he really knows how to talk before he is capable of feeling and thinking. The child must then first be taught to feel and to think, then to talk, and lastly to read and write. The child should have attained a high degree of perceptive knowledge, and also knowledge of his own language, before it is reasonable to teach him to read or even to teach him his letters. Children need from their earliest years psychologi- cal direction toward the reasonable sense-perception of all things. PestalozzVs Experiment on a Child of Three — Pesta- iozzi describes to us his application of his method on a child of three years of age, to whom he devoted an hour a day. "I experimented with letters, figures, and everything that came into my hands in teaching him, i.e. in attaining by all these means definite per- ceptions and expressions. I made him name precisely what he recognised in every object, — colour, parts, position, form, and number. I soon had to leave aside the first torment of youth, viz., those wretched letters of the alphabet. He would have nothing but pictures and objects, and soon he expressed himself precisely on objects which lay in the sphere of his cognition. He found in street, garden, and room general illustra- tions of his knowledge, and soon came to be capable of pronouncing correctly the most difficult names of plants and animals, and of comparing objects which THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 215 he had never seen before with others with which he was already familiar, and also was soon capable of creating a definite perception of them in his mind; and although this experiment generally led us astray, and worked for the benefit of what was strange and remote to the disadvantages of the impressions created by what was present and near, nevertheless in many cases it shed light on the means of quickening the child in his dispositions, and of inciting him to self- activity in the preservation of his power. On the other hand, the experiment was not satisfactory as regards what I actually sought, because the boy had already three utterly unused years behind him, and I am convinced that Nature brings children before this age to the most definite consciousness of innumerable objects. It is only necessary for us to form the con- nection between psychological, artificial speech and this consciousness to bring it in them to a high degree of clearness, and thereby render them capable of con- necting both, the foundations of many-sided art and many-sided truth, to what Nature has already taught them ; and again to use what Nature has already taught them as means of explaining all the foundations of the art and the truth we desire to teach them. The capacity and the experience of children at this age are already great; but our unpsychological schools are essentially nothing but artificial machines which strangle those results of capacity and experience which Nature herself has called in the child into life. The First Books — To bring the child to perception of things by the senses, we must have, before we have ABC books, object-lesson books to make clear and luminous to him by perception (by the help of well- 216 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY chosen real objects, which are either presented to his senses in their actuality, or in well-executed pictures or models) the notions which we wish to give him by speech. The first books must start from the most simple elements of human knowledge; they must deeply impress on the child's mind the most essential forms of all things ; they must develop clearly at an early age in him the first consciousness of the relations of number and space; they must furnish him with words and language for the whole extent of his consciousness and his experiences, and form easy, shallow steps out of the first rungs on the ladder of knowledge, by which Nature herself leads us to all art and all power. The lack of books of this kind leaves a great gap. Principles of the First Education — One should never reason with very young children, but should confine Txr. r. . 1 oneself in the development of their minds : Wie Gertrud ^ Hire Kinder Ij to extend more and more the circle of lehrt, I, §§ their sense-perception ; 2, to impress the perceptions of which they are conscious surely and distinctly on their minds ; 3, to give them comprehensive knowledge of language for everything which Nature or art has presented or will present to their consciousness. As these three points of view became daily clearer to Pestalozzi, a firm conviction gradually developed in his mind: 1, of the need of object-lesson books for the earliest years ; 2, of the necessity of a clear and definite method of explaining these books ; 3, of the need of a direction, based on these books and their THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 217 method of explanation, to names and knowledge of words, which must be made familiar to the child, even before the time has arrived of teaching him his letters. Importance of Vocabulary and Nomenclature — The advantage to children of an early consciousness of and fluent use of a rich vocabulary is inestimable. The firm impression of the names impresses, too, the things themselves indelibly on their memory as soon as they are brought to their consciousness, and the stringing of names, if based on truth and accuracy, develops and maintains in them the consciousness of the actual relations of the things. The advantages of all this are progressive. One must only never think that because the child does not understand everything about a thing, that it is therefore of no use at all to him. 2. Description of the Method ix Application This is how Fischer, who closely followed Pesta- lozzi's efforts, described the method which he saw applied at ... .^ " Pestalozzi's method is based on the following psy- chological principles : — ^^ Intensive and not Extensive Education — 1. He de- sires to raise the intensity of the powers of the mind, and not only to enrich it extensively with ideas. He hopes to attain this by many ways. By repeating aloud to the children again and again words, explana- tions, sentences, and lengthy periods, and making the children repeat them after him, he hopes not only to 1 Letter to Steinmiiller, published in the Bibliotheque des maitres cVecole helvetiques, St. Gall, 180X. 218 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY attain the immediate separate object which e very- single exercise has, but also to form the voice, exer- cise the attention, and strengthen the memory. Por the same reason he makes them while repeating aloud after him draw lines, curves, or letters on their slates." Pestalozzi remarks here that he has found by expe- rience that children have a sense of proportion, and can wield a slate pencil several years sooner than they can wield a pen, or make small letters, and therefore he made them at an early age draw lines, angles, and arcs, and commit the definitions of these to memory. ''With this object in view, Pestalozzi distributes thin films of transparent horn among his pupils ; on these films strokes and letters are engraved, and the pupils use them the more easily as models that they can lay them on the figures they have drawn, and as the horn is transparent, they can make the necessary com^3arisons. A twofold occupation at the same time is a preparation for the thousand cases and the occu- pations in life in which the attention must be divided without being distracted. Industrial schools, for in- stance, are founded on the basis of this possibility." Language as the Basis of Instruction — " 2. He connects his instruction entirely with language." Pestalozzi corrects this as follows : He considers speech, after the true observation of Nature, as the first means of attaining knowledge which man pos- sesses. He takes here a point of starting the prin- ciple that the child must learn to speak before it reasonably can be taught to read. But Pestalozzi adds that he connected the art of teaching children to speak with the perceptions which Nature gives THE METHOD OF SENSE-PETICEPTION 219 them and with those which are to be given them by art. " As a matter of fact, the results of all human pro- gress are deposited in language ; all that remains for us to do is to follow them psychologically on their path." (Pestalozzi here remarks that the clue to this psy- chological pursuit must be sought in the very nature of the development of language. The savage first names an object, then determines it, finally combines it, but in a very simple fashion, and only later attains the power of more precisely determining the varying presentations of it, with regard to time and circum- stances, by endings and combinations of words.) " Pestalozzi will not reason with the children until he has given them a supply of words and expressions, which they learn to apply in their sphere, to combine and to dissect. Therefore he enriches their memory with simple explanations of sensible objects, and teaches the child thereby to describe what_he sees around him, and consequently, to give an account of his presentations, and attain a mastery over them, in now first attaining a clear consciousness of those which were already latent in him." (Pestalozzi thinks that to bring children to reason, and to put them on the path of an independent mental power; one must, as far as possible, prevent them from thoughtlessly using their tongues, and not let them utter an opinion^ on things of which they have only a superficial knowledge. "I believe," says he, "that the time of learning is not the time of judging; the time of judging begins when we have finished learn- ing, when the causes which one judges, and may rightly 220 PESTALOZZrs EDUCATIONAL THEORY judge, are mature ; and I believe that every judgment which is to have inner truth for the individual who utters it, must fall as ripe and perfect from a compre- hensive knowledge of their causes as the ripened ker- nel falls of itself, freely and without rough handling, perfect out of the shell.") " He imparts mechanical ease, and a certain rhythm in speaking, by making them repeat easy exercises in declension aloud all together." (Pestalozzi remarks that this was restricted to the names of sensible objects with which they were already familiar.) " They hereby gain an exceptional ease, and when they have learned by many examples to recognise and employ certain forms of definition, they bring, later on, the names of a thousand other objects, which sug- gest themselves, into the same forms, and give their explanations and definitions the stamp of a precision that is acquired through the senses." (Pestalozzi. " At the present time T am seeking in number, measure, and language the general and pri- mary fundaments for this purpose.") " 3. He strives to furnish data, or rubrics, or lead- ing ideas for all operations of the mind." (Pestalozzi explains that he seeks in all the extent of art and nature the fundamental points, the methods of perception, the facts which, by their definiteness and generality, may be used as fruitful means of facilitating the recognition and judgment of many subordinate or related objects, and thus he furnishes the children with data, which call their attention to similar objects ; he endorses for them series of analo- gous conceptions, by the definition of which the whole THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 221 succession of series of objects may be classified and precised according to their essential differences.) " These data, however widely they may be scattered in their presentation, are connected the one with the other. They are prescDtations of which the one refers to the other, and therefore inspire the desire of dis- covery in the mind, through the human longing for the completion and for the facilitated combination of separate elements. " The rubrics guide to the classification of the ideas which are to be received ; they bring order into their chaotic mass ; and the framework thus erected causes the child all the more busily to fill up the separate di- visions. This is true of the chief rubrics of geography, natural history, etc. Moreover, the analogy which exists in the choice of the objects comes to the aid of the memory. '' The guiding ideas lie in certain problems, which are, or could be made, the subject-matter of whole sciences. If these questions, resolved into their component parts, are presented in an intelligible form to the child, based on data, which it already has or easily finds, and are used as exercises in observation, they tend to make the child's mind work incessantly on their solution. The simple question, 'What objects in the three natural kingdoms can man use for his clothing?' gives an example of this course. The child will consider and examine many things from this point of view, of which he has an idea that they may furnish him with a con- tribution to the solution of this technological problem. In this manner he himself constructs the knowledge which he is to acquire. To be sure, the necessary material must be offered him in every possible manner. 222 PESTALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY '' To the guiding ideas also belong sentences, which are at first only committed to memory as practical maxims, but by slow degrees acquire force, applica- tion, and meaning, and thereby impress themselves more deeply, and take a more lasting hold on the mind." Simplification of the Mechanism of Instruction — 4. '^He desires to simplify the mechanism of teaching and learning.^ What he includes in his text-books and will have the children taught, ought to be so simple that every mother, and later on every teacher, with a minimum of capacity, could comprehend it, expound, explain, and combine it. Above all he desires by means of easy lessons in speaking and reading to make the first education of their children pleasant and inter- esting to mothers, and thus, as he expresses it, to do away with the necessity of elementary schools, or at least supplement them by an improved home educa- tion. " Just for this very reason he wants to make experi- ments with mothers as soon as his text-books are printed, and it is to be hoped that government will cooperate by offering small prizes to be competed for." (Pestalozzi recognises the difficulties on this head. It is the general cry that the mothers will not allow themselves to be persuaded to add new work to their 1 '' It is incontestable that the human mind is not equally recep- tive of the impressions which are to be made by the instruction in every form in which they are presented. The art of discovering those forms which must excite its receptivity is the mechanism of the art of instruction which every teacher should investigate in Nature, and should learn from her to the profit of his art." (Pesta- lozzi's note to the above.) THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 223 cleaniDg and washing, to their knitting and sewing, to all the toils of their domestic avocations, and to all the distractions of their life. "But," he says, "it is not work, it is play." It robs them of no time, on the contrary it tills the emptiness of a thousand weary moments. People have no understanding for this, and keep on saying, " But they w^on't do it." Father Boni- face said the same thing, when he declared to Zwingli, in 1519, that mothers would never consent to read the Bible with their children, and in 1522, when he found he was mistaken, he cried, " I would not have believed it ! " Pestalozzi is sure of his means and hopes that a new Father Boniface will utter the same cry as the original one did in 1522.) Popularisation of Science — "5. He w^ants to popu- larise science." This is connected with the preceding. (Pestalozzi explains that he only wants to attain for all men the faculties of perception and thought which are necessary for all who would lead wise and independent lives.) " This is to be attained by the composition of text- books, which shall contain the chief elements of science, expressed in well-chosen words and sentences, and at the same time furnish the mighty blocks out of which later on the building can easily be constructed." (Pestalozzi remarks here, the text-books themselves should be nothing else than an artificial connection of the instruction in all its branches, with that which Nature herself does for the development of men in all conditions and in all circumstances ; the artificial preparation of the faculties which man needs, for the easy use of what Nature herself does in all branches of his development.) 224 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY '^ Further, tlie text-books are to be distributed gratis, or sold at a low price. They must form a series and a whole. For the same end he would have maps, geometrical figures, etc., printed and sold at a very low price, the profits to be devoted to the foundation of an institute, school, or orphanage." (Pestalozzi says this is going too far. He cannot give all the profits to an orphanage, but he promises to give the greater part and to continue to his death to devote himself and all his energies to the orphanage, if government or private individuals render possible the foundation of an orphanage carried on according to his principles.) The Book is to replace the Teacher — " It will be a great gain to school instruction if the teacher, given a minimum of energy, cannot only not harm, but may even make right progress possible." (Pestalozzi considers this an essential point. He believes that it is not conceivable that popular educa- tion can advance a single step, until forms of instruc- tion shall have been found, which will make the teacher, at any rate for all elementary knowledge, the mere mechanical tool of a method, the results of which must spring forth by reason of their own nature, and not by the art of the man directing. I assume as absolutely true, that a text-book is only so far good as an uninstructed schoolmaster can use it, at any rate as far as his absolute needs are concerned, almost as well as one who is educated and gifted. It must es- sentially be so constructed, that the unlearned man, and even the mother, may find sufficient direction in its guiding clue, to be always a step farther than the child itself in the artificial, progressive development THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 225 to which it is to lead the child. More is not necessary, and more you will not be able to give the mass of schoolmasters, at any rate for centuries to come.) Mutual Instruction — "A further gain in this direc- tion will be that many children can be taught at the same time, emulation can be awakened, and the mu- tual communication among the pupils themselves of the matter acquired facilitated ; and the existing cum- brous methods of enriching the memory by other arti- ficial means, by analogy of matter taught, order, increased attention, repeating aloud, etc., may be avoided or at least abbreviated." 3. Educational Principles and Observations derived from practical experience Pestalozzi prefaces that these are mere observations founded on practical experience, and must not be con- sidered in the light of matured educational ^ truths, but only as initial views which de- ihre Kinder velop gradually into the fuller and more ^^'^''^' ^^> §§ definite form of educational principles. General Rules — By a well-ordered nomenclature indelibly printed on the memory a general foundation in all branches of knowledge may be laid, on which teachers and taught may build spontaneously, and slowly but surely, clear conceptions on all subjects of knowledge. Pestalozzi obtained a sureness in clear conception of all things in his pupils' minds and a manual dexterity, by exercising them in free-hand drawing of lines, an- gles, and curves, the results of which must decidedly have tended to make everything in the sphere of 226 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY their perceptive experience gradually assume a clear and definite form. The exercising of children in the rudiments of arith- metic with real objects, or at any rate with dots to represent these, must give a solid foundation to arith- metic in its whole extent, and must secure the further progress from error and confusion. The definitions of walking, standing, lying, sitting, etc., committed by the pupils to memory, showed the connection of the rudimentary principles with the aim which, according to Pestalozzi, should be kept in view, viz., the rendering of all conceptions clear and distinct. By making children define objects which are so clear to them that experience can contribute nothing to their greater precision, one deters them, on the one hand, from the presumption of trying to define any- thing they do not know ; while on the other, one gives them a power of defining what they really do know, that enables them to define consistently, precisely, briefly, and comprehensively everything in the whole sphere of their perceptive knowledge. Truth which springs from perception renders sujDer- fluous wearisome discourse and the manifold strata- gems now in use, which have approximately as much effect against error and prejudice as the ringing of church bells against the dangers of a thunderstorm ; for such a truth creates in man a power which of itself excludes the possibility of the penetration of prejudice or error into his mind, and where, in consequence of the eternal chatter of our species, these do reach his ears, they remain so isolated that they cannot have the same injurious effect as they have on the average individual of our time, who have THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 227 truth and error, both without sense-perception, accom- panied by mere cabalistic incantations, flashed on their minds, as it were, by a magic lantern. The collecting of plants, and the discussions to which this has given rise, have shown that the whole extent of knowledge which is gained by the use of our senses springs from observation of Nature, and from the industrious collecting and retaining of every- thing she offers to our knowledge. Tlie Method supplements Everythi7ig, even Science — All that the schoolmaster has to do is to learn how to use the method, in order to bring himself and his pupils to all the ends which should be attained by instruction. Consequently what is needed is not eru- dition, but sound common-sense and practice in the method. The principle of beginning with what is easiest and j)erfecting the pupil in that before proceeding further, then of adding in gradual progress always only a very little to what is already perfectly learned, will, not cer- tainly actually produce, but at any rate keep alive in the pupils a confidence and a consciousness of power which is a high testimonial to their unweakened, innate strength. It is only necessary, then, to lead the children, never to drive them. Formerly the teacher was obliged, in every subject of instruction, to keep on saying: "Think. Do you not remember ? " It cannot be otherwise. If, for in- stance, in the arithmetic lesson he asks, " How many times is seven contained in sixty-three ? " the child has no sensualised background for its answer, and has to discover it with difiiculty by reflection ; now, accord- 228 PESTALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY ing to the method, nine times seven objects appear before his eyes, and he has learned to count them as nine rows of sevens ; consequently, he no longer needs to think about this question, he knows perfectly from what he has already learned the answer to the question he now hears for the first time, viz., that seven is con- tained nine times in sixty-three. And similarly in all subjects of the method. Consequently appealing to reflection is not included in Pestalozzi's method. Every exercise must flow spontaneously and easily from what the child already knows. It was noted that the words and pictures which Pestalozzi laid separately before the child in teaching them to read, made an impression on their minds very different to that made by the compound phrases which ordinary school instruction generally presents them with. For these phrases are of such a nature that the child could have no sense-perception of the nature of the separate words, and they see in these combina- tions no simple component parts which they already know, but a tangle of incomprehensible combinations of unknown objects, by which they are led, contrary to their nature, contrary to their faculties, and with manifold delusion, to work themselves into series of thoughts, which are not only absolutely strange to them in their essence^ but are also couched in an artificial language, of which they have not even tried to learn the rudiments. Pestalozzi condemns the hotch-potch (Mischmasch) of the school knowledge of his time. He always gives his children, as Nature gives savages, only one image at a time, and then seeks to find a word for this THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 229 image. This simplicity of presentation creates in them no judgments and no conclusions, as nothing is presented to them as doctrine, or taught them in any kind of connection with truth or error, but everything is presented to them as mere material for sense-per- ception, and as a background for future judgments and conclusions. 4. Elements of the Method Number, Form, Language- — The fundamental ele- ments of the method appeared suddenly to Pestalozzi like a Deus ex machina. .T*^ Gertrud Number, form, and language are the lehrt, vi, means of rendering all our perceptions clear §§ ^~^^' and distinct. When a confused conglomeration of objects is brought before our eyes, and we wish to dissect it and gradually make it clear to ourselves, we have to consider three things : 1, how many things and how many kinds of things there are before our eyes, i.e. their number; 2, what they are like, i.e. their form; 3, what they are called, i.e. their names. Number, form, and language, then, together form the elementary means of all instruction, for the sum of the exterior qualities of an object is to be found in the limits of its surface, i.e. are limited by its form, in the relation of its number, and are made to belong to our consciousness by language. The art of education must therefore make it a fixed law to take this threefold foundation as its point of starting, and strive : 1, to teach children to regard every object which is brought to their consciousness 230 PESTALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY as a unity, i.e. separated from those objects with which it seems connected; 2, to teach them to realise the form of every object, i.e. its size and proportions ; 3, to make them acquainted, at as early an age as is possible, with the whole extent of the vocabulary appertaining to and the names of all the objects they know. The first efforts of art must then be directed to form with the highest psychological skill, to strengthen and to give power to the fundamental faculties of counting, measuring, and speaking, and consequently to bring the means of the development and education of these three faculties to its utmost simplicity, its highest consistency, and to the greatest harmony with itself. The only difficulty which occurred to Pestalozzi was the question, Why are not all the qualities of the things which are made known to us by our senses just such elements of our knowledge as number, form, and name The answer is very simple : All possible objects must have number, form, and name, but no other quality is common to all. All the other qualities, therefore, cannot be con- sidered as elements of knowledge. Pestalozzi also remarked that all the other qualities of the things which are made known to us by the medium of our five senses are capable of being directly connected with these elements of human knowledge; whence he concludes, that in the instruction of children the knowledge of all the other qualities of the objects must be immediately connected to the previously THE IVIETHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 231 acquired knowledge of form, number, and name. Through the consciousness of the unity, form, and name of an object our perception of it becomes a definite conception; by gradual cognition of all its other qualities, it becomes a clear conception ; by the cognition of the connection of all its other character- istics it becomes a distinct conception. Sound, form, and number, then, are the points of starting taken by Nature herself for all instruction. In the same way all progress in instruction should be guided up to its perfection, in the limits of an unin- terrupted course, which occupies all the elementary powers at the same time, and maintains equilibrium among them, by which alone it is made possible to conduct in all these three divisions uniformly from confused sense-perception to definite perception, from definite perception to clear conception, and from clear conception to distinct conception. Thus art is essentially and most ultimately con- nected with nature, and the problem, to find a com- mon origin of all artificial means of instruction, and the form in which the education of the human race may be determined, by the very essence of our nature, solved. Pestalozzi comes back in another of his works to these three elements of our knowledge, ^^^^ ^^^ which, he says, " are latent in the organ- Elem., §§ ism of man's intellectual nature, and are the '^'^"^ product of its activity. They are of a positive nature, they cannot be brought to the child's perception without exercising his hand and his eye, without exciting pleasure and feeling, without setting in activity heart and will. 232 PESTALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY The method which is based on these elements differs especially from methods hitherto employed, in that these latter gave conceptions without ele- ments, and ideas without sense-perception. The exercises on number are especially calculated to develop the faculty of pure intellectual deduction, from its first germ to its perfection. The exercises on form likewise develop this faculty, both by the inevitable and necessary impression which they make, and by the results of the uninterrupted continuity and exhaustive nature of the combinations of straight and curved lines, and the relations and proportions actually existing, which are deduced from these. All truth, and all the deductions which are made by the help of number, develop spontaneously from the pure essence of the human faculty of thought, i.e. the faculty of thought develops by the use of these means as it were of itself. On the other hand, all truth, and all the deductions which are made by the help of form, are contained as pure and perfect products of the mind in the essence of straight and curved lines, and in the combinations which it is possible to make of them. Both kinds of exercises lead not only to the recog- nition of truth, but also decidedly to its discovery. They not only exercise the faculty of thought in their examination, but also quicken the faculty of imagina- tion and incite it to free play in the search for and creative combination of them.^ 1 However, it is not advisable to make this study obligatory on all the pupils, but only on the more gifted ones. {Schwanengesang, §72.) THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 283 Language is no less an absolute condition of the development of the humanity of our nature. It is the means given to man by which above all he can express whsit he knows, feels, desires, and hopes. Language, regarded in its most general pedagogic sense, is the sum of man's intellectual consciousness of himself and Nature. Without language the child cannot become dis- tinctly conscious of his sense-perceptions and his impressions of Nature, and cannot be conducted to the recognition of even the first elements of number and form. Perception in the intellectual world connects itself with lariguage, just as sense-perception in the material world attaches itself to outward Nature, and just as outward Nature sums up the material world, so language is the sensible manifestation of the intellec- tual world enclosed in our mind. Considered as a pedagogic element, language, like form and number, is independent of the objects on which it exercises its power, but is confined in the means of its development to the means of development of the human faculties which have gone before. The course to follow must therefore be the same as for form and number. The child must learn to speah exactly in the same way as it has learned to think. This is the secret of the wonderful harmony of the method. 234 Pi:STALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY 5. Methods of Application A, Sound The first elementary means of instruction is soun From sound we derive the followinar speci*»? Wie Gertrud o • . .■ & i- ihre Kinder nieans of instruction : — lehrt, VII, 1. The study of sounds, or the means of ^^ ' forming the organs of speech. 2. The study of imrds, or the means of teaching the pupil to know single objects. 3. The study of language, or the means of teaching the pupil to express himself on all the objects he knows, and on all their qualities. 1. Study of Sounds The study of sounds is divided into two parts: — (a) The study of sounds used in speaking. (b) The study of sounds used in singing. (a) The Study of Sounds used in Speaking — We must on no account leave to chance the manner in which spoken sounds are brought to the child's ears. It is important that the consciousness of these sounds should be developed in his mind, before the first let- ters are put before his eyes, and the first exercises in reading begun with him. The first reading book must therefore contain all the sounds of which the language consists, and these should be brought in every household to the ears of the baby in the cradle, by another child that is learn- ing to read, and indelibly imprinted on the baby's memory, long before he is capable of pronouncing a single one of them. THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 235 For this purpose Pestalozzi wrote his Book for Mothers, to which he intended adding a Book of the Method, which was to be such that the most inexperi- enced mother could realise Pestalozzi's plan without adding a word of her own. Pestalozzi himself recognised later on that these attempts had been rendered superfluous by ihid., Vii, the progress made in psychology, and dis- § 56. continued their use. He confesses besides, elsewhere, that " all this must be considered as an investigation into mysterious processes of education, on the nature of which he was far from being clear," and that " all these attempts, results of not perfectly matured con- ceptions, have remained in the condition of unexecuted projects." (5) Study of JSounds used in Singing — As the study of these sounds could not contribute to ibid., YII, produce clearness of conception, it does not § i^- enter into the means of instruction which Pestalozzi is here considering ; he consequently postpones giving us his theory on the subject, merely recommending that no new exercise should be begun until the previous one has been thoroughly mastered. 2. Study of Words The study of words, or rather of nouns, will be pur- sued again at the beginning with the help of the Book for Mothers, in which are mentioned in series of kinds and sorts the most essential objects in the world, — those which are connected with natural history, history, and geography with human callings and relations. These series are .s^iven to the 236 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY cMld at first as simple reading exercises as soon as he has finished the first reading-book in which he has learnt to read, and gradually he comes to learn them by heart. The profit derived from this study is im- mense for the future, and singularly facilitates the instruction that follows. 3. Study of Language Aim — What is the supreme aim of language ? .„,. ^ , Evidently to lead man from obscure per- Wie Gertrud *' -^ ihre Kinder ceptions to distinct conceptions. lehrt, VII, What are the means to be employed RK 20-44 in attaining this aim ? The means are threefold : — 1. We recognise an object generally, and name it as unity, as object. 2. We become gradually conscious of its characteris- tics, and learn to name these. 3. We acquire by language the power of more pre- cisely determining these characteristics of the objects, and making ourselves clear as to their variable condi- tions, by modifications in the words themselves, and by combinations of them. In order to teach the child to know and to designate the distinctive characteristics of objects, we must teach him : — 1. To express himself clearly on number and form, which are the most comprehensive general abstractions of physical nature. 2. To express himself clearly on all other qualities of objects, both by those which can be perceived by the five senses, and by those which cannot, but which THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 237 are recognised by our faculties of imagination and judgment. Number and form must not be presented to the child's mind as inherent qualities of single objects, but as a physical generality. He must not only be able at an early age to call a round thing round, and a square thing square, but he must, if it is possible, almost beforehand have the idea of round, of square, of unity, impressed on his mind as a pure abstract concep- tion, so that he may connect everything which he finds in Nature to be round, or square, to be single, fourfold, etc., to the word which expresses the generality of this conception. And here we see, besides, why language, as means of expressing number and form, must be con- sidered by itself, separated from the way in which it must be regarded as means of expressing all other qualities, which our five senses enable us to perceive in the objects of Nature. The Book for Mothers is drawn up in such a manner that all the kinds of physical generalities which are made known to us by our five senses are there put into language, and mothers are thereby enabled to make the most exact expressions for them familiar to the child, without any exertion of their own. As to qualities not directly perceived by the five senses, which are made known to us by the help of our faculty of com^mrison, of imagination, and of deduc- tion, Pestalozzi remains true to his principle of making no kind of human judgment seem ripe before it really is, but utilises the inevitable knowledge of such abstract terms in children of this age, as mere memory work, and perhaps, too, as light food for their imagina- tion and their power of guessing. With regard to 238 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY objects directly perceived by our five senses, concern- ing which it is desirable to bring the child as quickly as possible to the power of expressing itself precisely, Pestalozzi proceeds as follows : he takes the substan- tives which are distinguished by striking characteris- tics, perceived by us by the help of our five senses, from the dictionary, and j)^ts the adjectives which express these characteristics after them ; e.g. : — Aal {eel) — slippery, worm-shaped, leather-skinned; Abend {evening) — peaceful, cheerful, cool, rainy; Achse {axle) — strong, weak, greasy; Acker {field) — sandy, clayey, sowed, manured, fertile, unproductive. Then he reverses the proceeding, and looks up in the dictionary adjectives which express striking charac- teristics of objects which have been perceived by the senses, puts after them substantives which have the peculiar characteristics expressed by the adjectives ; e.g.: — round — bullet, hat, moon, sun; light — feather, down, air; heavy — gold, lead, oak; warm — stove, summer days, glow; high — towers, mountains, giants, trees; deep — seas, lakes, cellars, trenches; soft — meat, wax, butter; elastic — steel springs, whalebone; etc. Far from preventing the children from thinking for themselves, Pestalozzi asks them to give him other examples, and they sometimes find excellent ones, which would not have occurred to the master. Thus the sphere of their knowledge is extended, and their knowledge itself made more precise in a THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 239 way that would be impossible, or only to be realised with difficulty, by mere catechising, or at any rate would only be attainable with the use of far greater art, and with far greater trouble. Disadvantage of the Catechetical Method. — The child is bound down, partly by the limits of the fixed idea on which it is being catechised, partly by the form in which he is catechised, and finally by the limits of the teacher's sphere of knowledge, and moreover by his anxiety not to be thrown off the rails of his arti- ficiality. All these limits fall away in Pestalozzi's method. Examples of Application — Then he tries to make the objects already partially known to the child still more clear by the help of the dictionary. He makes four chief divisions : (1) geography, (2) history, (3) physical geography, (4) natural history. After that comes the ego, and all that concerns man himself : — 1. As a purely physical being in his connection with the animal kingdom. 2. As a social being. 3. As a moral being. And these are divided again into forty subdivisions. After having thus worked through the dictionary, Pestalozzi considers how best to classify the objects, the names of which the child has learnt in alphabeti- cal order. After alphabetical order he takes scientific order, using numbers for reference. Thus, in geography, he divides Germany into ten sections, numbers these 1, 2, 3, etc., and adds to the name of each town in his alphabetical list the number 240 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY corresponding to the section to which it belongs ; e.g. Aachen 8, Abenberg 4, Acken 10, etc. The child after some practice will be able to read off : — Aachen is in the Westphalian section. Abenberg is in the Prankish section. Acken is in the Low Saxon section, etc. i'inally, children must be taught to designate pre- cisely by language the relation of the objects one to the other, and their modifications as regards number, time, proportion ; or rather, to make still more distinct the nature, qualities, and powers of all objects which they have had brought to their consciousness by the teaching of the names, and which have been made clear to a certain extent by the adding the names of the qualities to the names of the objects. Such should be the basis of a real grammar, and such the progressive course by which we are con- ducted to the final aim of instruction, viz, clearness of ideas. The first teaching of language must therefore be through speech alone, without a word of any rule. The two things, exercise of pronunciation and the learning of words, must be kept perfectly distinct, and the pupil exercised sufficiently in the first, quite independently of the second. Later on the mother combines the two, and makes the child repeat after her sentences in the following form : — Who is ? What are ? The father is good. Birds of prey are carnivorous. Stags are light-footed. THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 241 Who lias ? What has ? The lion has strength. Man has reason. The dog has a good nose. The elephant has a proboscis. Who wants ? What wants ? The hungry man wants to eat. The creditor wants to be paid. The prisoner wants to be set free. And so on with wlio can f who ought ? who must f etc., finally with other verbs and their derivatives, achteri, ' verachten, erachten, heobachten, etc. Pestalozzi afterwards makes phrases which become more and more lengthy on the same verb ; e.g, : — I shall. I shall retain. I shall not retain my health otherwise. I shall not retain my health after all I have suffered in my illness otherwise. I shall not retain my health, after all I have suffered in my illness, otherwise than by practising the greatest temperance. These exercises are accompanied by descriptions and definitions of objects or simple actions; e.g. : — A hell is a broad, thick, round cup open at the bottom, etc. Walking is moving oneself forward step by step, etc.i And the same series of phrases is conjugated in all tenses and in all persons. 1 Pestalozzi during his stay at Burgdorf drew up a grammar according to his principles, of which Seyffarth has published some fragments under the title, The Natural Schoolmaster, Der natiir- liche Schulmeister, Vol. XVI of the Complete Works. 242 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY The examples sliould be of an instructive character, appropriate to the circumstances of the children, and calculated to inspire edifying sentiments. Importance of Language. Novelty of the MetJiod — Pestalozzi dwells on the importance of lan- ihre Kinder guage, which he says he has utilised more lehrt, VII, than has hitherto been the case, as a means §§46-49. „ . . , . . ' 01 gaming clearness of conception. The child must learn to talk before one can talk with him. The mistake made by older methods was ' that of assuming a knowledge of language in the child, before it has been imparted to him. Language is an incommensurable art, or rather the sum of all the arts which our race has attained. It gives the child, in a few moments, what Nature has needed thousands of years to give to men. The ig- norance of the lower classes, who cannot be made to understand anything, is due to the fact that they are not taught to speak. Language is considered in the abstract, in its most Idee general pedagogic sense, the sum of man's der Elem., intellectual consciousness of himself and §§34,35. j^j,t„,e As every human activity is inseparable from con- sciousness, and necessarily reveals itself as human consciousness, so speech is inseparable from all human study. Just as the child cannot become distinctly conscious of its perceptions and impressions of Nature without language, so he cannot be led, without it, to the recog- nition of the first elements oi form and mimher. It is clear that the course by which language can THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 243 humanly develop the child's mind must be the same as that by which number and form do so. The child must then learn to sjjeak as it has learned to think. Development of Language in the Child — The word of the mother is no mere animal sound to the child even in the very beginning. Even if he cannot yet distinguish the word he hears from her mouth from other sounds, nevertheless it appeals to him in human fashion. The word of his loving mother is a loving, laughing babble, like his own. He sees in it already love, tender solicitude, guidance, and seriousness. The utterance of his sensual needs soon no longer contents him. He cries less, and babbles more. Now he wants to imitate the mother's babble, her loving tone and her serious tone. The consciousness of the mother's words is no longer the consciousness of an empty sound ; the first consciousness of both language and the power of speech has developed in him. His desire of being able to speak becomes more lively. It is still difficult, but he exerts himself, he will speak, he succeeds in getting out a word. The mother is delighted, she hugs her baby, who can talk. He seems to her a new apparition, a newly created child. He seems to her a more human being. The child's sense of power is quickened, both by the consciousness of his success and by his mother's love. He talks more and more, and the mother exerts herself more and more, in her blissful consciousness of joy and love, to satisfy and quicken the child's eagerness to talk. The intellectual ego of the child is organised. His inner consciousness of himself awakes, with the word /, which he speaks for the first time, and with the sub- lime expression / am, he has gained himself, and with 244 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY himself an eternally fixed centre of all perception and experience of the world. This /, a mirror of the world, which connects him at once, eternally and infinitely, to the world, and to the objects in it, becomes in its turn the general point of starting of the elementary study of language, the centre of which has been fixed in the idea of the Book for Mothers. The Study of Language. Its Point of Starting and its Aim — The development of the facidty of language Schwanen- ^^ connected with the natural development gesang, of the faculty of sense-perception. Both §§ 47-52. i-g^^g YdQ as their point of starting. From the moment that one begins to put empty words in the child's mouth, and imprint them on his memory, as if they were knowledge of things, or the means of learning the knowledge of things, one departs from the principle, ^^ Life educates.^'' One thereby only conducts the child to error, presumption, and superfici- ality. On the other hand, if we follow this principle exactly, the teaching of language becomes a means of application of the knowledge gained by sense-percep- tion, and its task consists in gaining for this a higher degree of usefulness. The study of language, therefore, with every single child, depends on the extent and precision of the knowledge, gained by sense-perception, which he pos- sesses, and the teacher must above all seek to fill up the gaps which may exist in this respect. The art of naturally extending and quickening the impressions made by sense-perception is the only true foundation of all means of the naturally furthering the learning of the mother tongue. The outward THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 245 forms of speech, the sounds themselves, are without living connection with the impressions which form the basis of their signification, are mere empty sounds. It is only by the consciousness of their connection with the impressions of the objects of sense-percep- tion that they become true human words. The initial preparation for this, what the child hears spoken by those around him, is for a long time purely mechanical; but this mechanical preparation for learning to speak demands the whole attention of the persons who have influence on it. The words which the infant hears from those around him only gradually become intellectually educative. For a long time they only make a sensual impression on his hearing, like the ringing of bells, the blow of a ham- mer, the sounds made by animals, and other sounds of Nature. But this impression is important in the learning to speak. The impression on the sense of hearing gradually becomes full and complete. As soon as it becomes complete in the sense of hearing, it passes gradually into the power of the mouth to imitate it in speaking. The child learns at this tender age to pronounce a number of word-sounds, the sense of which it does not know; but it is thereby prepared to comprehend this sense with infinitely greater facility and more lastingly, than it would if mouth and ear were not already familiar with the words. Elementary education does not, however, content itself with utilising the impressions which Nature brings accidentally and in confused conglomeration to the child's senses, in the development of his faculty of speech, merely just as they come and present them- 246 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY selves ; it extends its influence to arranging them in the true order, according to the extent of the real needs of human nature, and to bringing its utilisation into harmony with those needs. And it must do so. For as it is necessary and good for the development of the child's faculty of sense-perception, that the circle of the objects of his sense-perception in his surround- ings be comprehensive, and satisfy the needs of the development of all knowledge that is essential to and necessary for him, without, however, going beyond the needs of his state of life and his capabilities ; just so it is necessary, that the circle of the knowledge of language, in the limits of which the child is to learn to speak, must be comprehensive, and satisfy the needs of his state of life and his capabilities : but not beyond ; otherwise, in both cases, the acquisition of the necessary and essential conceptions becomes retarded, weakened, scattered, and confused. This point of view is equally true, and equally important, in the means of development and education of all the human faculties. Even with the poorest child, the child whose position and circumstances are most limited, one can never carry too far the real and solid develop- ment of the essential faculties, by natural and ele- mentary means ; he can never become by these means too willing, too reasonable, too active, or too indus- trious. The study of language in the abstract, and at the commencement, is not the task of the education of the mind, but consists in tcdking and hearing people talk. Part played by Grammar. Criticism of Methods em- ployed in the Study of Language — The knowledge of rules of grammar is nothing else but a touchstone, used THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 247 to see whether the natural means of talking and> of hearing others talk have attained their aim. These rules ought to come at the end of a rightly ordered study of language, and not at the beginning. But in teaching languages other than the mother tongue, people have long set up an unnatural division between knowing how to talk in a language, and know- ing the language itself, the intellectual part of which must be prepared for and facilitated to the child, by the mechanical means of ordinary speech, and in a manner so as to make him have a dawning conscious- ness of it before he is brought by the study of rules to have a clear consciousness of it. People sometimes admit the truth of this assertion as regards modern languages; they admit it because they cannot help themselves; but they contest it most emphatically with regard to dead languages, alleging that the teach- ing of the classics, in spite of its lack of continuity, and the very faulty character of the routine methods of the rudiments, has had excellent results, and in the more advanced stage is really built on a firm and psy- chological foundation. But although this last is a fact, it nevertheless is true, that, as a rule, the earlier stages of classical teaching cannot be considered either natu- ral or satisfactory, either from a psychological or from a mnemonic point of view. In. other words, the pres- ent routine treatment of the teaching of the rudiments of the classics is unnatural, both from a psychological and from a mnemonic point of view. The study of language constitutes the connecting link between the faculty of sense-perception and that of the faculty of thought. Without it the teaching of number and form is helpless. 248 PESTALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY The three faculties, perception, language, and thought^ are the sum of the means of intellectual education. It is of the greatest importance that the child be not led to thoughtless chattering or even to a desire of Schivanen- it, by the way he is taught to talk. He gesang, § 54. must learn never to speak without due re- flection and consideration; in this way exercise in speaking is made inseparable from exercise in think- ing and reflecting. Now it is an undeniable fact, that the child brought up according to the method of the elementary educa- Ibid., t^on does not indulge in thoughtless chatter; § 59. he does not talk until he knows what he has to say, and then he only talks of what he has in some manner or another perceived by his senses. It is wrong to make children read before they know how to talk. People want to make them talk by the help of books ; they tear them away by force, they use artifice to get them away from sense-perception, this natural basis of language, and make, in the most un- natural manner possible, dead letters the beginning of knowledge of things. . . . The child must be able to speak correctly and precisely about many things, long before he is ripe to reasonably read any book whatsoever. Relations of Language to Sense-jyerception and Thought — The faculty of sense-perception can be only Ibid f^^l^y developed by the practice of sense- §§ 61, 62, 91, perception, and has only attained the per- '^^^' fection of development when the individual can utilise, freely and surely, with full and clear con- sciousness, the j)erceptive impressions of his surround- THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 249 ings as the sure foundations of his thought smd judgment on these surroundings. But this perfection can only be attained on condition that there be no gap in the continuity between the faculty of sense-perception and the faculty of judgment ; i.e. when the pupil has been made capable of expressing in language his perceptive impressions of surrounding objects with as much clearness and precision as he has realised them by his senses. Until the pupil has reached this stage in the mastery of language, there is a gap of continuity be- tween the development of his faculty of sense-perception and that of his faculty of thought, which cannot be otherwise filled than by a sufficiently developed /acz^% of language. Such is the essence of the task of the teaching of language, if it is conceived in a psychological manner, and based on true psychological principles. Study of Foreign Languages — The natural course of the study of foreign languages must be in perfect harmony with that of the study '' of the mother tongue. Hoiv the Child learns his Mother Tongue — The ab- solute point of starting for a child in learning its mother tongue is the impression of objects on his senses, the names of which have been made familiar to his ear and mouth. To this perception of the objects, and pronouncing of their names, is slowly but surely added the recognition and utterance of the names of the inherent qualities of the objects, and also of the impressions they make ; in other words, of the adjectives and verbs which are appropriate to the names of the objects. The progress of this learning 250 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY to speak from the names of the objects (nouns), to the words which express their qualities (adjectives), and from those which express the impressions made by them (verbs), is by no means a sequence in time. The average child at home does not hear the objects named, adjectives to correspond added, and finally verbs, all in sequence of time, or even in any order whatsoever. He learns them all in intimate connec- tion in phrases, which give him first a glimmer of understanding, and then a comprehension which be- comes clearer and clearer, of the meaning of single words, and the nature of their connection, in all he hears and speaks. The advantage of this in the development of the power of language is obvious. Every single word in a sentence helps to explain the others, by reason of the connection of the conceptions expressed. That is why a sentence is generally more easily retained by the memory than a single, isolated word, which has no natural connection with any others. The sense of a word in every sentence ac- quires by its connection with the other words in the sentence, a definite, although a one-sided and limited, foundation to its general meaning. By the elementary method, the child not only acquires a solid, even if yet not quite clear, conscious- ness of every part of speech, but also practises, and makes himself perfectly familiar with, every form of the declensions of nouns, adjectives, and pronouns, and of the conjugations of verbs, i.e. of the modifi- cations of the declinable parts of speech. As to the invariable parts of speech, adverbs, prepositions, con- junctions, and exclamations, their use may also be taught by psychologically arranged series of examples. THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 251 and facilitated to a degree which ^N^ature unaided could not attain. All the time that the child is being put through these exercises, he does not hear a word about grammar or syntax. By this means the child comes to possess, as an imperishable treasure, the whole ex- tent of all the expressions it needs to clothe its sense- perceptions in language, and is able to express himself in his mother tongue on a great many perceptions, with the greatest precision and fluency, without there being any necessity, all the time that he is learning to speak, of his learning any of the principles or rules of language, or of committing a single word to memory. However, the principle that every process in teach- ing a new language must be perfectly similar, and es- sentially the same, as those employed in teaching a child his mother tongue, — this xDrinciple, I say, has been lost sight of at the present time, chiefly owing to the refinement of the artificial means by which the first steps in learning a new language are made confused and difficult. And yet it is deeply engraved in ^he hon sens of human nature. Experience has proved, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that the more natu- ral persons, persons not spoilt by artificial training, devote themselves to teaching children a new language, the greater is the success which crowns their efforts. And Pestalozzi quotes in support of this assertion the foreign maids engaged to teach their language to chil- dren, who succeed just because they follow the natural method. He also mentions the case of foreigners who come to a country without knowing the language, and are obliged to learn the language by the natural method ; and reminds us of the proverb. Necessity is the best master. 252 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY B. Form and Number Pestalozzi's somewhat confused treatment of form Txr. ^ , ^iid number has no other interest than that Hire Kinder o^ the means of application which resulted lehrt, VIII, from it. These are summed up in what he calls The ABC of Sense-perception. Number is, in Pestalozzi's eyes, the greatest of the elements of our knowledge; for the following rea- sons : — Unlike sound and form, arithmetic is the only means of instruction which has no subordinate means con- nected with it, because it is the direct result of the elementary faculty by which we bring clearly to our consciousness the relation of more and less in all sense- perceptions. Sound and form often contain the germ of error, number never ; number alone leads to infallible results ; and if geometry makes the same claim, it has only infallible results through the aid of and by its combi- nation w^ith arithmetic. It is the means of elementary instruction which most surely attains its end, and for this reason it is the most important. That is why Pestalozzi devoted most attention to it. Before expounding his theory on the use he makes of sense-perception in the study of the relations of number, he demonstrates the futility of knowledge gained by the mere use of the memory {e.g. 3 + 4 = 7. If we only commit to memory the fact that three and four make seven, the inner truth of this seven is not in us). Similarly for all other categories of know- ledge. THE METHOD Of SENSE-PERCEPTION 253 Pestalozzi begins his teaching of arithmetic by giv- ing the children the conception of the numbers from one to ten, by the help of actual objects, or lines and dots on tables. Not until they have been well exer- cised in the counting of these objects (fingers, peas, pebbles, etc.), does he proceed to figures, the signs of the abbreviations of numbers, and these figures the children now find quite easy. He sees in this method of proceeding two advantages, (1) arithmetic becomes the basis of distinct conceptions, (2) it is extremely facilitated to the child, because it is based on sense- perception. If arithmetic seems difficult to them at the beginning, it is only because this psychologically necessary treatment of arithmetic is not applied in its full extent. In order now to give the child clear ideas based on sense-perception with regard to measure, it was neces- sary to find a figure capable of being divided into an infinite number of parts, similar to the whole and to one another, a figure by which fractions gained by di- vision may be brought to the child's perception in such a manner that every relation of a fraction to the whole may stand as clear and distinct before the child's eyes, as the number one is in the child's eyes distinctly con- tained three times in the number three. The only figure which fulfils these conditions is the square, the fractions of which are as easy to under- stand as the whole. Thus Pestalozzi came to set up the A B C of sense- perception, of which the basis is the square, and which thus becomes the A B C of arithmetic ; and realises thereby the harmony of the elementary means of form and number, for the figures of geometry become the 254 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY first fundamental elements in the relations of numbers, and conversely, the fundamental elements of the rela- tions of numbers become the first elements of the figures of geometry. The AB C of sense-perception will then comprise two parts : — 1. The AB C of sense-perceptio7i of the relations of measure. 2. The AB C of smise-perception of the relations of number.^ The first of these A B C's has as its fundamental principle the square, first as the whole, then divided into 2, 3 ••• 10 parts. All these squares are arranged on a table similar to the table of Pythagoras. (Cf. the table at the end of the volume.) The AB C of the relatioyis of member has likewise a table as basis. On it lines are drawn to represent series of unities by 1, 2, 3 ••• 10, and repeated ten times. (Cf. the table at the end of the volume.) The mere looking at the table suffices to give the child the immediate perception of the most varied measures, and enables him to solve complicated prob- lems on fractions. Drawing — The teaching of drawing, not being pos- Wie Gertrud sible without the perception of proportion, f^!'^/^^]^^^^ must necessarily be preceded by prelimi- § 80. nary exercises. Important Result of this Method — The first result of this method is that children learn to express them- ^ AB C der Anschauung oder Anschauungslehre der Massver- hdltnisse — Anschauungslehre der Zahlverhaltnisse, 2 Bde., Ziirich und Tubingen, 1803. THE METHOD OF SENSE-PERCEPTION 255 selves with precision, both orally and in writing, on all possible objects with which they are acquainted, on condition, of course, that the exercise of Schwanen- writing be added to the others. Finally, 9esang, § 70. Pestalozzi declares that by using the method three or four years are saved. And yet, at the end of his life, he confessed his mistake in wanting to use the square as a Deus ex machind, and in taking inanimate objects as the basis of these exercises.^ Pestalozzi has such a firm belief in the efficacy of these processes that he repeats what he had already said in the preface to the Book for Mothers. Friends and enemies of the method, try it with this model, and adopt or reject it according as it gives results or not. 1 It will be remembered that Herbart applied Pestalozzi's idea, only substituting the triangle for the square. CHAPTER VI MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION Definition of Religion. — The divine nature of man. — Chris- tianity and elementary education. — The first moral and re- ligious education of the child. — First period. — Second period. — Third period. — Birth of the child to moral life. — On the idea of God : The foundation of morality is faith and not ideas. — Religious instructions. — Part played by the mother. — Part played by the father. — Conformity of ele- mentary education to Christianity. Definition of Religion — Religion is nothing else L'p Jardu ^^^^ ^^^^ endeavour of the spirit to keep Gertrud, flesh, and blood in order by attachment to III, § 85. ^YiQ Creator of our being.^ The Divine Nature of Man — The nature of man is of God, it is a godlike nature. That is why the inter- j^QQ vention of the world and its passions does der Elem., not educate man's innocence harmoniously ^^^' with the high and holy essence of his na- ture. It does not educate him elementarily, it does 1 For Pestalozzi's religious and social opinions, see his curious book entitled Meine Nachforschungen iiber den Gang der NaUir in der Entwickelungen des Menschengeschlectes, 1797, re-edited in 1886 by Mr. O. Hunziker, who has added to it a very interesting essay. We have not considered it necessary to give extracts from it in a purely pedagogical work. 256 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 257 not even educate him humanly. The human element in our nature is only truly developed by the godlike element in it. Christianity and Elementary Education — The most important event in the course of the moral development of the human race is Chris- 47-^0'. tianity. If we examine Christianity from the point of view of the idea of elementary education, we find in it, as the divine means of educating the human race to morality, all that was claimed to be the contents and the task of that idea, expounded with the most trans- parent lucidity and apparelled in celestial light, for it is the divine means of educating the human race 'to morality. And we can regard the demands and prin- ciples of elementary education as just so many de- mands and principles of Christianity, only in the latter they appear much more sublime than we can represent them. The Founder of Christianity invari- ably compares the foundation of his kingdom to the course of organic development followed by Nature. In assuming freedom of will in every individual, he also assumed in him the very essence of morality. He has besides actually put freedom of will, from the point of view of the intellect, in the truth which emanates from God, and of which God is the arche- type ; from the point of view of sentiment, in the love which also emanates from God, and of which God is the archetype; from the physical point of view, in the putting truth and love into action, which action also is of God, and Gcd is the archetype thereof. He presents the harmony and unity of this truth, this love, and this action in human morality as the highest 258 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY aim of man, as his true essence, as perfection. We ought to be perfect, as our Father which is in heaven. The road to this perfection is through obedience in absolute submission to the will of Grod, the practice of virtue, self-denial, annihilation of the personality. But this self-denial, this annihilation of the personal- ity, is nothing else than the life of the godlike idea in us, the moral, the eternal life. Thus Jesus founded the work of morality on the divine dignity of the human nature in the child. Are the means we have already pointed out for in- Idee der tellectual elementary education in harmony Elem., §§56, with the recognised general basis of all ele- mentary education, i.e. with Christianity ? Certainly ; for elementary education^ like Christianity itself, is not the privilege of a few fortunate persons and cannot be taken away from the poor and those of low degree. Nothing can hinder them from attaining the highest degree of development of those faculties and talents which their Heavenly Father has given them. Whatever may be the gifts of the Creator, the good man feels that they are always worthy of his atten- tion and of his cultivation. Wherever he may find them he recognises them as a kind of higher divine property. Yes ! says the low and selfish man, pro- perty must be esteemed, protected, and cultivated, in whosesoever hands it may be, otherwise the land would go to rack and ruin. Poor man, you are cer- tainly right; but God's higher gifts are the higher property of man, and man must esteem, protect, and cultivate them, in whosesoever hands they may be, otherwise humanity will go to rack and ruin. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 259 Human nature is of God, it is a godlike nature. The human element in our nature can there- fore only be truly developed by the godlike element which is contained in it. The world and its lusts cannot develop it humanly. As the elementary method recognises Christianity in its Founder as the absolute and perfect revelation of the moral nature of man, just so it recog- nises this same Christianity in its Founder '' as the absolute and perfect revelation of the religious nature of man, and therein the redemption and the Redeemer of the world. The part which religion plays as universal means of educating humanity is seen through him in the greatest clearness and might. Thereby Christianity is not only raised to the position of the unchanging and eternal touchstone of every religious appearance, but also in it are given the ele- ments and the course of all religious development and education. If we investigate these elements and this course of the religious development of Christianity, we find in it, with regard to religion in the abstract, i.e. from the objective point of view, as the absolute alpha and omega, God, i.e. the idea of the Godhead; with regard to religion in man, i.e. from the subjective point of view, the godlike, i.e. the spirit of God, the divine idea indwelling in man, through which alone he becomes an image of God and accessible to all religion. Finally, with regard to the point of view which is at the same time subjective and objective, Jesus Christ, as the Divinity appearing in the flesh and as the perfect divine man. TJie First Moral and Religious Education of the b\ 260 PESTALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY Child — The moral education of the child begins at Idee der ^^^ birth with his first needs. It may be Elem.,^ divided into three periods. 248-270. ^.^,^^ Period — The child feels a want; the mother has what he wants ; she gives him what he wants ; she is his world, he recognises it only through her, and it satisfies him only through her. He is hun- gry, she satisfies his hunger; he is now happy. The place where he is lying is not comfortable, she takes him on her arm ; he is now happy. The two things, to be happy and to be with his mother, are woven into one and the same idea with him. The expressions of happiness, the expressions of content, gradually develop in him ; he is not only content, he smiles ; he is pleased because he has been satisfied. He recognises the fountain of his content, he loves her, the signs of his joy and his love develop ; he throws his arms round his mother's neck and caresses her. These signs multiply, they become more definite; their essence is now transformed in his soul into last- ing consciousness, into lasting recognition. He now trusts his mother, is quiet even when she is not there, he knows she will come back ; he trusts in her order, he accustoms himself to her. His love expands in this cahn, in this satisfaction. The character of his love is altered, he wants now to make his love active ; he wants his mother to see it ; he wants her to see that he is happy, that she has made him happy ; he wants her to be happy because of his love, and this love of his gradually develops in him the noble sen- timent of gratitude. But the child^s moral nature at this period develops, not through insight, hut through enjoyment ; he is by no MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 261 means in search of truth, but of satisfaction. The first result of his experience, of his development, as it is expressed in the liveliness of his whole being, is therefore by no means the clearness of an idea of something that he recognises, not even mere simple foundation that leads to it ; it is only developed love, developed trust ; it is only traces of gratitude for what he has received. Second Period — The child thus gradually ap- proaches his second period, the extension of his love and trust beyond his mother. But this extension again is only developed, at this period, through the mother herself. She leads him to all sorts of objects which she sees have attractions for him ; and when she leads him to a gaily coloured dress, or to a beautiful flower, to the bell that is ringing, or to a dog that is barking, etc. ; when she makes him smell a rose, or a violet, or lets him feel the warmth of the stove ; when she lets him taste the sweet pear and honey ; in short, whatever she may do to him and with him, she gives him words for all; she names to him the objects of his needs and of his surroundings, as they come in contact with his senses, as they attract, quicken,' and satisfy his mind. And she does not give him mere empty words, she gives him them according to the measure that the things she names to him are needful for him, make him happy, cause him pleasure, or prevent disagree- able sensations. Her teaching of language is ahuays connected with lively action, which again is in connection with the objects, the names of which she pronounces to the child; she holds his hand away from the flame, when she says, ^' Fire burns"; she pulls him energetically away from the river bank, when she says, " You could V 262 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY fall in and he drowned.''^ Everything she says to the child is, in her mouth, teaching of truth for the child. She develops and strengthens the consciousness of the words by her loving action. From her the child learns to talk for the sake of the objects, and not to get to know things, in order to be able to talk about them. Speech is for him only ex- pression upon things he knows, and the thing never the mere appendix of the words which it has taught him. Therefore it follows, as a matter of course, the more perfectly a child thus brought up understands a thing, the more he talks about it ; and the less he understands, the less he talks. Therefore the develop- ment of his faculties and powers generally takes place in consequence of the truth of actual life. He does not strengthen his hand just to strengthen his hand, but exerts his strength in every case to satisfy the necessity of the special circumstance. He develops the skill and strength of his hand, because he uses it, and does not use it in order thereby to gain skill and strength. He does not walk in order to strengthen the muscles of his foot, but strengthens these muscles be- cause he walks, and he walks because he wants to and because he cannot help himself. If in the first period of the mother's influence, the development of the child's faculties has been furthered \;- merely by the simple satisfaction of his powers, her injluence awakens, in the second period, the consciousness of the truth of himself in the child, and the truth of his immediate surroundings, as well as the relation of the one to the other. He now becomes conscious of his senses, which grow more and more acute, of his power, which becomes stronger and stronger. He knows what he MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 263 can do, and is dimly conscious of the next step, which is easy to be attained. He wants to be able to take that step, to do a little more than he now can ; he tries to do it. His appreciation of his own capability and of his surroundings grows daily; he feels daily less fear, and trusts his surroundings more and more ; but this progress is still only made at the mother's side, and in the security of her brooding protection. He has not the smallest confidence in himself, if he is not at her side ; he never feels so happy as in her room ; he is still completely satisfied with playing in her room, although this play in its limitedness only moderately delights his mind and body. He ventures, yet still very cautiously, outside the door, and creeps slowly away from her, often looking back as he goes, into the garden near, sits down on the grass, draws a deep breath in the wide expanse of Nature, picks flowers, or collects pebbles, snails, and flowers. But if he hears a loud noise, if he sees anybody strange in his neigh- bourhood, he creeps quietly and timidly back to the safe haven of his protecting mother. She and she alone is the point of starting of his confidence at this period. However, as soon as he becomes better acquainted with his surroundings, he begins to feel safer away from his mother. He gradually starts less at rustling leaves, or a passing stranger; he entices the dog or sheep he is familiar with to his side with a bit of his bread, even when his mother is not by ; soon he ven- tures to the end of the garden, looks through the hedge into the street, has now confidence in the hedge, as he had confidence in the' house door, and enjoys the sight of the passers-by, even if he never saw them before. 264 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY The less he has seen of them, the more fixedly he looks at them ; he is now glad, if they stand still in front of him ; if he is safe behind the hedge, he looks calmly at the big horse, when it crops the grass close to him ; and if people close to him, but outside the hedge, talk in a loud tone of voice, he no longer runs away ; he looks at them more fixedly. His desire to see more people, more things, grows stronger and stronger; impelled by it, he ventures to creep under the garden gate into the street, to see and hear better what is happening outside. Third Period — Thus he passes gradually into the third stage of his childish development. He now feels the iyicreasiiig security which his growing knowledge and his growing powers give him, even away from his mother, and from the protection of her love. He has daily more confidence in himself, and he knows better every day what objects he can trust and what he cannot. He knows better every day how to help himself and pro- tect himself. And he must know ; the powers which develop in him contain, inherent, an incitement to try to put them into action. His power is unsatisfied if he has no occasion, no inducement, to use it. He feels that ; he must and will exert it, whenever he can. He wants to be able to do more. The living room becomes too narrow for him to gratify this want. Even his mother is no longer everything to him, she is no longer all his world. He now recognises a world beyond her. He is no longer happy to be always at her side. The idea " to be happy " and " to be by his mother " is no longer one and the same. He is happy away from her. He springs away from her to boys at play ; he does not notice if there are any among them he has not seen MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 265 before ; he plays with them as if he knew them, he is happy among them ; he goes back to them on the mor- row, and the day after that to play with them; he enters into friendship with them, he brings them home, saying, Father a^id Mother ! look, I have got some friends. And they take him to their fathers, and their mothers, and say to them. He is our friend. The horizon of his life, the horizon of his experiences, is extended. Now his faculties develop by the side of his mates in the life of the ivorld, as they developed at his mother's side in the life of the house.' His mother taught him to walk, the boys teach him to run and jump and climb. His mother taught him to speak, the boys teach him to sing and whistle and shout. His mother made him take hold, fetch and carry what she or he needed ; the boys make him take hold, and carry, and catch, and throw things that he likes to carry and throw, also heavy things which make him put out his strength. He now becomes stronger and stronger, stronger in mind, as well as in body. He looks more boldly at the world around him ; his heart expands ; the world he loves, the world he has confidence in, now acts on the extension of his mental ability and of his physical powers. This becomes a greater and more general need in every respect. He feels this need, is impelled by it ; he gradually begins to long for all the knoivledge, poiver, and posses- sion of the world. It is now as if the spirit of his childish guidance, as if . all feeling of his childish feebleness, and the insecurity, fear, and doubt result- ing from it, had come to a standstill ; it is as if the bond which connected him and his mother, as a holy 266 PESTALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY commencement of his whole development, were ready- to fall away ; as if he were now ready to enter the world, without protection and without guide. But can he? Can the shy, cautious walk of infancy, of his first development, cease so suddenly ? May the protecting and developing bond between him and his mother be torn asunder, before a new protecting and developing bond be tied between him and Nature ? Is the child to come to a standstill now in the centre of his pure, elevating essence and being? Ought his mother, may his mother, let him leave her without anxiety? Does he no longer need her, does he no longer need a guide to lead him in her spirit ? Must she now give free play to his awakening desire to snatch unhindered at all knowledge, power, and desire of the world, without any regard to the former spirit of her action ? Here Pestalozzi describes in touching terms the anguish of the mother, who naturally asks what is to become of her child. He, too, recognises that the child is in serious danger of losing the innocence and the purity which the protection of his mother pre- served in him ; for he is obviously only incited to the demands for knowledge, power, and will, which he makes, by his mere animal nature, and not humanly elevated to desire them. Finally he loses his innocence, and falls of his own free will into sin ; his animal instinct, stronger than his good feeling, leads him into evil. He has learnt to know what is wrong, and yet he does wrong. As he formerly had an instinctive fear of what was unknown and strange, and this fear was his salvation against the dangers which unknown things might cause him, MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 267 SO he ought now to be afraid of what is wrong, and be saved by this fear from the evils which wrong-doing could cause him. And as in the dangers of his physical infancy he needed the belief in his mother's protection and love to save him, so now lie needs, in the dangers of his moral and intellectual infancy, a neio belief to save him from the evil, which he now has learnt to know, and to educate him in well-doing. He now needs more than ever the secured continuance of the loving, trusting, and elevating frame of mind in which the first germs of his education developed in such holy and awe-inspiring fashion. And the lack of the continuance of this frame of mind in the awaken- ing of his energies is incontestably the rock on which the child must strike, if there be no hand to protect and guide him in these first steps of his intellectual and moral development, just as he would have come to grief, in the first stage of his physical development, but for the guidance and protection of his mother. Birth of the Child to Moral Life. First Religious Education — The moral nature of the child is now at its birth. The moment is decisive for his whole life, and the danger great. How are the moral habits which his moral develop- ment demand to be given to the child in conformity with Nature? Nature demands at this stage from human care the continuance of what she has hitherto done by instinct ; she demands the humanly reasonable continuation of the loving, believing frame of mind, the truth and blessing of which the child has until now unconsciously enjoyed in innocence. The foun- dation of this condition, the belief in his mother, weakens and totters. Nature demands new means of 268 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY belief. Now the child may not step forth from the stage of his sensual and instinctive, inherent belief in his mother, if he is not to run the risk of completely breaking the natural thread of his moral development, unless the first foundation of the belief in God has al- ready been deeply laid in his soul. This must be laid, however, at this stage by sensible means. But it is necessary that it should be laid. Nature demands that before the sensual incitement to belief in his mother is weakened in the child, the sensual incitement of belief in God must already be developed in him. In this sensible fusion of the ele- ments of the belief in God in the truth and power of the ripened belief in his mother, lies the only pos- sibility of the pure, continuous, natural continuation of the pure, childish frame of mind, from which human morality, holy and awe-inspiring, springs. In it lies the only possibility of the elevation of the material attachment to a moral and spiritual one; otherwise the holy bond which Nature has made be- tween the infancy and the growth of our humanity is broken, and the great work of Nature which, mighty in love, paved the child's road to the highest elevation of his soul by faith, is in vain. Tlie preservation of this great work of Nature in its purity and its might is the essential foundation of the idea of elementary education, and of its claims to being in conformity with Nature. It attains to this con- formity by confining art to the path of Nature. It will proceed then at this first stage of education by sensible means. That is why it is essential to the child's moral edu- cation that the sensible impression of his parents^ belief MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 269 in God be interwoven with the first perceptions of all the actions of his x^arents. It is good for him to see them, daily pray at the appointed time, just as he sees them bring him his dinner and supper every day at the same time. It is good for him to recognise early their fear of God, their anxiety to do nothing against His will, just as he recognises their respect for strangers or superiors, and their anxiety to do nothing to displease them. It is good for him to hear them speak as much of Jesus Christ, his good life and his sublime death, as they do of the good life and pious death of their father. It is good for him often to see the picture of gentle Jesus, for his mother to show it him, as often as she shows him her father's picture, and thereby awaken his love ; it is good that the Lord's Day should seem to him even in his infancy a solemn day, conse- crated to God ; for church bells, the singing of hymns, Sunday quiet, to make a deep impression on the child's mind in his infancy, and thus sensibly create a deep reverence for God ; it is good for him not to take a spoon in his hand, not to begin to eat, until he has clasped his hands and asked a blessing ; not to go to bed without repeating his " Gentle Jesus, meek and mild" and not to get up in the morning without pray- ing God to bless father and mother. It is good for him to believe in eternity, before he knows what time means, and to fear at an early age eternal punishment, as he fears his mother's rod. Oh yes ! when her child is on the bank of a stream, and there is a dangerous plank from which he could fall and be drowned, she says, "Do not cross I" And if he, nevertheless, does cross it, and she sees him, she runs up to the plank, pale and trembling, pulls him off it, and says again, " Oh dear ! 270 PESTALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY oh dear I do not go on that lolank, you might drown your- self! " and when lie comes in, she shows him the rod, saying, ^^ If you go hack, I shall whip youJ' If, in spite of that, he does go back to the plank, she whips him, and then he never goes there again, but he loves her as much as before. 0^ the Idea of God — The Foundation of Morality is Faith and not Ideas — Pestalozzi refutes Eousseau's statement, that God ought not to be mentioned to chil- dren, until they can comjyrehend that there is a God, and that He exists. Are we then to say nothing to the child of his deceased grandfather, in whose house he lives, whose heir his father is, and whose footprints he sees wherever he looks ? Will his father and mother wait, before speaking to him of his grandfather, until he knows how human generations succeed one another, and until he understands how his father could not be there, if his grandfather had not existed before him ? How absurd ! And is the absurdity less in wanting not to speak of God to a child, until he is able to un- derstand by his intellect that there is a God, and that he would not exist if there were no God ? The elements of morality do not start from ideas, but from faith, and faith in its turn starts from facts as ideas ; thus moral elementary education has in this respect the same foundation as intellectual elementary education. It is through the mother that the child learns to know God, she shows Him to the child in ihre Kinder everything she teaches him. Gradually his lehrt, XIV, love of and gratitude to her raise him to 5'- God. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 271 Religious Instruction Eeligious teaching, to be truly human, must be given in deeds, not words. Lienhard u. Pestalozzi regrets the mere verbal reli- Gertrud, gious teaching, which he ironically calls ^^^' ^ ^^' " lip-religion " ; he would have nothing learnt by heart, except, perhaps, a few chosen texts, but no theology. Religious teaching ought to be entirely restricted to such as is connected with the acts and circumstances of daily life, of professional duties, so that, when, speaking of God or of eternity to the children, the minister will seem to be speaking of their father, of their house, of their country, in a word, of things which have an interest for them in this world. The Bible does not demand a knowledge of reli- gion, but the practice of religion from men. Every attempt to explain religion only brings ma.^ iv, people farther away from their simplic- § 71. ity of spirit. It is not a question of exciting reli- gious enthusiasm by words, nor by any images whatsoever which claim to explain to them what is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth, but to awake a state of mind in harmony with the practice of religious duties. Temporal and earthly things have been since the creation of the world the truest, surest, and least deceptive foundation of true religion for the people. The briars and thorns which the Lord made to grow on earth are to-day, as they were six thousand years ago, what best taught men to know God ; that is why he must be especially educated for earthly things. But it is impossible to alter the routine of the 272 PESTALOZZrS EDlTCATlOlTAL THEORY clergy, and give them firm, clear, and practical ideas on this point. Their position and their culture lead them too much to turn away their attention from the force which they ought to develop in the soul of the people for earthly things, if they are not to be neg- lected in the first needs of life, on the satisfaction of which everything else is based. Part played by the Mother — Just as the first pro- ceeding of the simple, intelligent mother is the type j^gg of the intellectual education, and that of der Elem., the pure, innocent, moral mother the type §§ 6-90. q£ ^Yyq moral education, so the first proceed- ing of the religious mother is the type of the religious education of the child. Her child is a holy gift, a gift of God. She starts from no conception, no proof, and no explanation when she leads him to God. She rather transfuses her sense, her feeling of God, her holy belief in Him, as her highest, her absolutely cer- tain, possession, directly into the child's soul as by a divine breath. The mother breathes religion into everything around her, she sees God in all. The glory and majesty of Nature, her beauty and order, her wondrous appear- ances, fill her soul with thoughts of God, and she speaks of Him to her child. Thus the child has a visionary gleam of Hiin, a dawning of a recognition of Him as the almighty and invisible Creator, as the kind, gentle Giver of all, as the inscrutable and unfathomable God. But the mother always remains the mediator between God and child, and in her and through her the invisible Father appears to the child in His most delectable and consoling form. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 273 Part played by the Father. Idea of God in the Child • — The father acts in the same spirit. And as the child loves his father and his mother, is grateful to them and trusts them, so he embraces and honours his Heav- enly Father and yields himself to His guidance. The mother does not anxiously trouble herself as to what a conception or what an image the child may make to himself of God, and she has no need to do so, for her child, led by her, advances continuously in the unity of his nature. Her guidance preserves him from inner contradiction, and thereby from the only rock which could make irreligious feeling surge up in him. Just because she shows him God in everything, he feels that he is one with everything, and therefore reassured about everything. God is present to him in everything. He walks before him and is good. He personifies God instinctively, inevitably, of necessity. And in the measure that his soul raises itself above visible Nature, his personified idea of God raises itself above all that is visible and transitory, to the concep- tion of an invisible and eternal Creator and Lord of Nature, of a Leader dwelling in inaccessible regions of light, of a Father of humanity from whose eyes nothing is hid, who may only be approached by what is holy. Elementary education bases religious instruction on the holy foundation of Christianity, and it bases it also on the immovable foundation of the proceedings of the mother. As it takes over the moral and intel- lectual development of the child, according to the views expounded in the Book for Mothers, as soon as he is stimulated and awakened by the mother to a consciousness of himself in all directions of his being, 274 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY I and can say of himself I am, so it takes over his reli- ! gious development, according to the views laid down in | the same book, as soon as he is independently conscious ■ of the conception of God, and can frame the sublime I thought, God is. With this thought it leads him to j Nature and shows him God first in the wonders of i Nature, then in himself, and finally in history. ' But what do I say ? Elementary education does this ? , Oh, no ! it does not. It only desires, strives to do this, , demands that this should be done. It enunciates its ' principles and invites all those who feel they have ; power to put them into application to do so, and then : gratefully accepts this application at their hands. Conformity of Eleinentary Education to Christianity \ — As the method of the development of the human i Schwanen- faculties by elementary education is based ^ i gesang, on love and faith, it must necessarily lead | ^ ^'^^' to Christian thought, sentiment, and action. | Of course religion of itself does not turn out a mer- | chant, a tradesman, a scholar, or an artist. But it per- h f ects what it cannot give ; it sanctifies what it does not i create; it blesses what it does not teach. It grounds, develops, and fortifies the frame of mind which elevates, sanctifies, purifies, and makes truly human in his in- ; ward nature the calling of the merchant, the trades- ! man, and every other calling. Eeligion makes us ; deeply conscious of the sensual, the animal part of ' our flesh and of our blood, which, corrupting and ex- : tinguishing, surrounds the divine spark which is the essence of religion, and elevates us to the serious, ' never ending battle against our fleshly nature. The quickening and development of man's intellec- : MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 275 tual faculties alone is not sufficient for true moral edu- cation, for that is inseparable from the influence of the animal selfishness of our nature ; without the quickening of faculties which oppose with higher power the animal influence of our selfishness, it can- not lead to the development of the pure divine essence of our inner nature, without which no true, no real, morality is conceivable. This striving after perfection, which alone succeeds in weakening the seeds of discord in us in their growth, and finally in destroying them, can only be the result of an earnest search after divine help and divine grace. The sincerity of this search leads inevitably to devo- tion and to prayer ; but the sincerity of the devotion and the sincerity of the prayer is inconceivable with- out the sincerity of divine faith and of divine love. So intimately is the essence of the idea of elementary education connected with the spirit of Christianity, its divine belief and its divine love. All means of quickening the power common to all men which do not start from the spirit and the life of our inner divine being, but from the sfensual impulses of the flesh and blood of our animal selfishness, are not elementary. It is the complete harmony of elementary education with Christianity which also distinguishes it from the education of the age. n~^- BOOK III OTHER DOCTEINES CHAPTER I OTHER DOCTRINES Love in education. — Social polish in education. — On corporal punishment. — On the premature teaching of the sciences. — Educative value of mathematics compared to that of gram- mar and dead languages. — On the teaching of history. Love in Education — Love is only efficacious in the education of men if it is associated with fear, for men Lienhard u ^^^^ learn to root out briars and thorns, and Gertrud, they never do this of themselves, but only III. § 70. when they are compelled and accustomed to do so. Any one who wishes to do anything with men, or make anything of them, must subdue their wickedness, follow up their depravity, and cause the beads of perspiration of terror to start from their brow when they are doing wrong. Social Polish in Education — Pestalozzi's establish- j^gg ment does not give this external polish, der Elem., to gain which contact with the world is §§212,213. necessary. Every establishment which gives social polish at 270 OTHER DOCTRINES 27? the expense of the thoroughness of knoivledge and of the individuality of the character is essentially bad. Besides, Pestalozzi does not believe that good social manners are so essential to success. On Corporal Punishment — We are certainly wrong in wanting to combat the allurement to sensual de- sires by, or to expect everything from, mere words, and to believe it possible to guide the child's .„ , f . „ . , 76id.,§267. Will at our pleasure, m all circumstances, by mere verbal remonstrances, without corporal pun- ishment. We imagine that our humanity is raised to such a delicacy that it no longer permits us in' any case to think of the coarse and repugnant means of blows ; but it is not the delicacy of our humane senti- ments, it is our weakness, which guides us. We have no confidence in ourselves, we have no confidence in our love. That is why we fear that the child will not have confidence in it either, and we believe that he will not see into our hearts, when we strike him. We do not know either the results of strength which chastises in love, nor those of weakness which shrinks from chastisement. On the Premature Teaching of the Sciences — In all subjects of instruction (history, geography, and others), which are not purely elementary, it is im- portant to distinguish between a real, and „. 2'>7-'>3i a merely verbal, knowledge of them. It is, therefore, important to distinguish between the real study of the subject and a preparatory instruction, given through seyise-perception and exercises of memory. There is, then, great danger in leading children, at 1 i 278 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY \ too early an age, into the domain of the sciences, or even into their outer courtyards, for the master may ! easily lose consciousness of his deviation from the | simple course of jSTature, and then all is lost. Now \ it is important that he should always be conscious of it, in order energetically to counteract its disastrous \ effects. I He need not, however, be afraid to deviate from the \ road on a special occasion, if he is sure of the strength ; of his general direction, which prevents any disastrous consequences. Educative Value of Mathematics Compared to that of Idee Grammar and Dead Languages — The road der Elem., to intellectual education through grammar I §§ 199, 200. ^^^ dead languages is really a roundabout j road, which may certainly lead the lucky man who I does not lose his way to the goal, but the road through \ the development of the mathematical faculty is the real highway, on which every one who is a good walker, and uses his legs, must reach the goal. j The elementary exercises in mathematics quicken \ the mind and awake active interest, which is the basis ■ of all true development of our powers, in teii children, ; where exercises in grammar and dead languages would only awake it in one. That is why Pestalozzi chose this road, and made : mathematical exercises the foundation of the teaching in his school. On the Teaching of History — It is not wise to teach 1 Idee der yo^^^g children the facts of history with | ii7em.,§ 228. their causes and effects, and with apprecia- | OTHER DOCTRINES 279 tion of their value or non-vahie. One accustoms them in this way to judge historical events and men's acts at an age when they are still incapable of forming an accurate opinion on them, and, what is Avorse, one gives them knowledge, at this age of innocence, of the wicked- ness and violence of the world. It is unquestionable that the natural course of the moral and intellectual education is thereby retarded. CHAPTER II PESTALOZZI ON HIS OWN WORK Pestalozzi's application of the method. — Character and advan- tages of the elementary method. — Reply to some criticisms. — Pestalozzi's belief in his work. Pestalozzi^s Application of the Method — Pestalozzi's account of his experiments in teaching his little boy, TageUdtter, preserved in the diary he kept at the 1774. beginning of 1774, is as follows : — Feb. 1st. I taught him by the help of figures and objects the meaning of the words without, within, above, below, between, beside. I showed him snow turning to water in the room. . . . Feb. 2nd. I tried to make him understand by the knowledge of the true significance of the first numbers, the exact meaning of the words which he could say by heart without knowing their true meaning. With this example, the most incapable of men would have been struck at seeing what an obstacle it is to the know- ledge of truth, to know words with which one does not associate exact notions of things. The habit of not conceiving any difference in the mind between the names of numbers had already been acquired, and prevented all attention. 7, 8, 9, 5, 17 were for him exactly the same thing. . . . Why did I commit the folly of precipitately teaching him words so impor- tant for the knowledge of truth, without taking care 280 PESTALOZZI ON HIS OWN WORK 281 to make the notions which they represent precise and distinct from the first number I taught him ? How- natural it would have been not to make him say three until he had learnt to know two exactly in all objects ! and how far I have strayed from the path of Nature ! ^ Character and Advantages of the Elementary Method — The elementary method does not tire the children, for part of the instruction flows naturally ^, , from the one before, and each result is the Elem., § 196. natural result of the one before.^ It does not exclude any other method of education. It would fiot be what it is, if it did not absorb into itself all that is true, and all that is good in all the others, in whatever form it may appear. The child educated by Pestalozzi's method Schwanen- is capable of teaching others. Elementary education interests children in handi- craft, which the education of the time ^-^^^ r ^21. does not. Elementary education may be compared to an oak, the roots of which not only guarantee it a flourishing growth, but preserve it from outward causes jdee der of destruction. ^/em.,§209. Elementary education must, and will, keep percep- tion and thought, action and speech, of the /^^^.^ § 221. child in harmony. 1 Morf , I, p. 127. 2 Pestalozzi recoornises that this ideal has not yet been realised in his school, and takes pains to point out that the idea in general must not be confounded with the necessarily imperfect application he has made of it. 282 PESTALOZZI'S EDUCATIONAL THEORY Wie Gertrud ... — Pestalozzi himself relates that Glayre, a member of the Executive Directory, one day made the following remark : Vous voulez mecaniser Veducation. And he adds : " He hit the nail on the head, and decidedly put the words in my mouth which described the essence of my aim and all my means." Reply to Some Criticisms — " The elementary educa- tion," people say, " is not adapted to the needs of the people ; it is too obscure and too mechanical." Pestalozzi's answer to this objection is as follows: If it seems to the ones too bright a light for the lower Idee der classes, on the other hand, it seems to Elem.,^vio. others not bright enough; accustomed to artificial illumination and dark lanterns, they find mere daylight insufficient. It is extraordinary that men who make no objection when the bulk of the children in their country are subjected from morning to night to the most miserable school mechanism, find the elementary method too mechanical, too wearisome, and too lengthy for country children to devote a few years to it. On the other hand, they find no objection to these same country children being compelled to spend all the years of their youth at schools in which they learn neither to think, nor to speak, nor to ob- serve, nor to work, but where they are on the contrary unnaturally kept back. Pestalozzi^ s Belief in his Work — We have had pride cast in our teeth, says Pestalozzi, and have Ibid., §§ been accused of attaching a greater value 162-171. to the idea of elementary education than it actually possesses. It is true that we attach a very great value to this idea, and many others base, as we PESTALOZZI ON HIS OWN WORK 283 do, great hopes for the welfare of the human race on it. Many of these have actually maintained that the idea of elementary education gave promise of elevating its pupils, both morally and intellectually, and con- sequently would result in elevating a great number of men, and even in a regeneration of the human race. Pestalozzi thinks that this idea is calculated to cause education to be raised to the rank of a science, which must undoubtedly tend to develop the innate moral, intellectual, and artistic faculties of the pupil in a manner which would bring them into harmony with one another and at the same time satisfy the needs of his nature; and thereby generally promote and secure the moral, intellectual, and artistic eleva- tion of the human race. This, however, does not imply that the creative work of elemeyitary education is really established, either practically or theoretically. Pestalozzi does not even maintain that he will be able to establish it in his life, in a condition even approaching to perfec- tion. He is only glad to have succeeded in shedding some light on this aim, and at having persuaded many noble minds to strive to realise it. Otherwise he is not of a visionary nature, and has no desire to make others so. And if it were true that some of his hopes were exaggerated, and that here or there an error had crept in, could it be otherwise ? Pestalozzi thinks not, and, in his consciousness of the earnest nature of his efforts after something better, would have nothing to say on this topic but, " Let others do better what we do badly ! let others shame us by higher views, by nobler deeds, by a more energetic intervention in the 284 PESTALOZZrS EDUCATIONAL THEORY actual life of the world ; let every one of our pre- sumptuous claims be rejected ; let others divert the attention of governments and of nations from us to themselves, by more evident presentation of the truth, by attempts which succeed -better, and by results happier than ours. Let a better man divert it to something better, a nobler man to something more noble. . . . We ask for nothing more ; it is bliss to disappear ; to live at peace and to die unnoticed, is bliss indeed. I have not had the one, may I have the other ? " And yet had his work merited that ? Has it been worth nothing at all, had no result ? He appeals to his country to decide. And even if he have exaggerated its extent and conceived too exuberant a joy and too high-flown hopes, is that a reason to mock at him ? No one has had more need to be patient and humble than he, for without patience and without humility his work would have long ceased to exist and would not last another hour. Mut mid Demut (Courage and Humility) was his motto from the very beginning of his work. " What should I be proud of ? I did not choose my work ; it dropped into my hands before I knew what my appointed task was ; and when I knew, when I had recognised this work, as my task in life, I could not withdraw my hand; it was and is my duty. And what I do, I must do, even if much be done in the prospect of future oblivion." The perfect is formed in men's hands only through the imperfect. As regards our aim we are still at the mere rude commencement, and it is not wise to indulge PESTALOZZI ON HIS OWN WORK 285 in many day-dreams of what it will be at the height of its perfection. Consider the plant how it grows, you cannot tell how it expands ; but you see its blossoming forth and you have a firm belief that it will come to maturity, although you are not sure of the warmth of the sun, the dew, the rain which you consider essential for the growth of the plant, even for the following day. Just so I see my work prosper in the blessing of its sur- roundings, near and remote, and these are just as little in my might ; but I nevertheless have a firm belief that it will come to maturity. This belief, as well as the con- fidence which I have in my happiness which depends on it, is at the same time combined with the deeply rooted consciousness of the lack of sufficient power for all that the really perfect application of this idea demands. May this belief remain -vVith me ! May it, under all circumstances, soothe and strengthen all who share my work. But let us not be dazzled by it, let us not con- sider the accidental element of our passing happiness as the glorious noontide of our work ! May we not be carried away at the sight of single successful parts of our attempt, to deceive ourselves an instant as to the backwardness of this work as a whole ! Truly that would be the greatest misfortune, the greatest obstacle which we could lay in the path of our aims and our hopes. While we rejoice at present good fortune, may we by no means deceive ourselves as to the extent of what remains to be done for the com- plete attainment of our aim ! But in spite of his sense of the imperfection of his work, he embodies his faith in its ultimate jcIqq der success in the words, " Seek and ye shall Elem,, § X87, find." Part III PESTALOZZI'S INFLUENCE CHAPTER I PESTALOZZI'S INFLUENCE IN GERMANY, ESPE- CIALLY IN PRUSSIA Interest taken by German governments in Pestalozzi's method. — Organisation of primary education prepared by Frederick II. — Popular education and tlie raising of Prussia. — Fichte's Discourses to the German Nation. — Action taken by Nicolo- vius and Silvern. — Prussian pupils sent to Pestalozzi's insti- tute. — Pestalozzi's influence on Herbart. It was in Germany that Pestalozzi's ideas had the most rapid and most wide influence, and the best application; one may even say that it was through Germany that it penetrated into other countries. It is therefore indispensable to know exactly what this influence was, and to it alone it seems to us necessary to devote a more particular attention. The numerous visitors who came from Germany to see Pestalozzi's institute were naturally the first to contribute to the spread of his ideas and the applica- tion of his method in their country. One among them, Gruner, whom we have mentioned in the fore- going pages, undertook in 1805 the management of a Pestalozzian school in Frankfort, where Froebel first taught,^ and retained it until 1810. From this time 1 Vide H. Courthorpe Bowen, Froebel and Education through Self -activity. New York, 1897. 289 290 PESTALOZZI'S INFLUENCE Frankfort became one of the most important centres of the Pestalozzi movement. Nor were the German governments slow in taking an interest in the new method ; among others the Bavarian government sent a young master, named Mtiller, to Burgdorf in 1803, and he opened a Pestalozzian school at Mainz. But of all German states, it was Prussia that followed Pestalozzi's work with most interest, and Prussia was to derive the greatest profit from it, as it had derived the greatest profit from the philanthropinist move- ment. We shall therefore dwell at more length on the influence of Pestalozzi's doctrines in Prussia, which was enormous, and give the historical reasons for it. As in secondary education, the honour of having paved the way for the organisation of primary in- struction in Prussia is due to Frederick II and his minister Zedlitz. We have called attention to the services rendered by Rochow, the philanthropinist, to the cause of popular education, in the introduction to this volume. It is interesting to see with what inter- est, with what enthusiasm even, Zedlitz, struck by the justice of Rochow's ideas, followed and encouraged their application, in order to meet with the views of his master, who aimed at nothing less than to take away the direction of schools from the church. In a letter in which the minister congratulated Rochow on having written instructive books for country children, the following passage must be mentioned. "Permit me to consider you henceforth as a man who, in order to further the great views of the best of kings, is ca- pable of effectively helping me in the reform of the instruction of country children, a man who has suffi- cient patriotism to be willing to lend me his help." IN GERMANY, ESPECIALLY IN PRUSSIA 291 He even went so far as to recognise the principle of free and of compulsory education in the following terms: "I think it is a very bad thing that the vil- lage inhabitant should be obliged to pay for the in- struction of his children, for the school fee, however low it may be fixed, is very often in bad times a rea- son to prevent the peasant from sending his children to school. Now, I should like every child over five years, of age to be compelled to go to school, and no child to be admitted to confirmation until he had ac- quired a certain specified amount of instruction."^ Zedlitz was as desirous as Rochow of giving the peas- ants an education more in conformity to their state of life, and condemned the methods of popular instruc- tion then in use. " As all instruction should tend, as you so justly remark, to educate the children of the peasants with a view to their future calling, and give their intelligence a culture in conformity with their state of life, it is very evident that instruction thus given must be infinitely more laborious than that given when the schoolmaster contents himself with making the children learn a page of Luther's cate- chism by heart." ^ Finally, two years later, on the subject of an inspection, he wrote again to Rochow, and speaking of the clergy, he says, " It is difficult to plough the land with such a team." ^ Unfortunately Frederick II had not time to finish 1 Vide Pinloche, La Reforme de V4ducaiion en Allemagne, au 18^ Steele, p. 424. 2 Letter from Zedlitz to Rochow, of the 7th of January, 1773 (Ibid.). 8 Letter from Zedlitz to Rochow, of the 11th of April, 1775 (Ibid., i>.51S). 292 PESTALOZZI'S INFLUENCE his reform, and under the reactionary government of his successor, Frederick William II, there was naturally no question of it. It was not until 1798 that Frederick William III, returning to the liberal traditions of the great king, devoted himself to the study of the important question of the organisation of popular instruction. "It is time," he wrote to his minister, von Massow, "to at last consider the ques- tion of giving a suitable education and instruction to the children of the middle and lower classes." We see that the ground was well prepared to receive the fruitful germ of Pestalozzi's ideas ; it was actually at this time that they penetrated into Prussia. As early as 1792, Eochow himself wrote to the author of Leonard and Gertrude in the following enthusiastic terms : " Pestalozzi ! Faust ! Wise friends of man ! Accept herewith the public expression of my gratitude for your last works. I also believe as you do, that humanity suffers from ills which one can cure. . . . " ^ We know that the public subscription for Pestalozzi's work had been opened in Germany in 1801 ; Gru- ner among others had warmly recommended it, basing his recommendation on the report of Ith, in the Neue Berlinische Mouatschrift in 1803.^ Finally, Her- bart had published, in 1802, his Pestalozzi's Idea of an ABC of Sense-perception.^ All this praise natu- rally attracted the king's attention. "Pestalozzi's method, "he wrote to Gedike on the 2od of April, 1803, "whose praises are in every one's mouth just 1 Vide Bruno Gebhardt, Die Einfahruny der Pestalozzischen Methode in Preussen. Berlin, 1896. 2 Bd. 10, p. 273. 8 Pestalozzi's Idee eines ABC der Anschauung, 1802, IN GERMANY, ESPECIALLY IN PRUSSIA 293 now, has also attracted, my attention." And the king commissioned Gedike to go to Burgdorf to study the famous method on the spot, and draw up a report. No one could better acquit himself of this mission than the reorganiser of secondary education in Prussia.^ Unfortunately he died on the 2d of May, 1803, before he had been able to fulfil the king's desire. Another Prussian envoy, chosen by Voss, the minister Jeziorowski, an inspector of training colleges for teachers, came to Burgdorf, where he remained from the end of July until the beginning of October, 1803. In spite of his favourable report, the king was of opinion that the introduction of the new method in primary schools would be pre- mature, for he feared " that the instruction thus given was too wide in extent," and in his eyes it sufficed that the children of the lower orders, who were above all destined to manual labour, should merely learn "besides the necessary moral and religious instruc- tion, reading, writing, and arithmetic, and to sing some well-chosen ancient hymns." ^ Consequently he only authorised the application of PeStalozzi's method, concurrently with that of the philanthropinist Olivier,^ for the best pupils of the training colleges. As the 1 See the important work accomplished by this pedagogue in our book, La R^forme de V education en AUemagne au 18« siecle, pp. 521 et seq. 2 Cabinet order of the 31st of December, 1803. (Bruno Gebhardt, Die Einfiihrung, etc., p. 11.) 3 Olivier, who was born in 1759 at La Sarra (French Switzer- land) and died in 1815, was the author of the method of reading which bears his name, and then made a great sensation. He had taught Frederick William IV, king of Prussia, to read, and had been Basedow's colleague at the Dessau Philanthropinum. (Pinloche, La Reforme, etc., p. 156.) 294 PESTALOZZI'S INFLUENCE minister returned to the charge in a new report, drawn up on the 13th of June, 1804, the king finally granted the authorisation to apply the method in the primary schools, but not to make it obligatory, on the 19th of January following. This time opposition was forthcoming from the Higher Council of Public Education {OberschidkoUe- gium, created in 1787). Some members of this body relied chiefly on Soyaux's report to throw discredit on the ideas of the Swiss pedagogue. In order to put an end to these discussions, it was decided that it would be better to await the result of the experiment authorised for the schools of southern Prussia, which the state had taken over. During this time, Klewitz, who was later on Chancellor of the Exchequer, pub- lished in the Neue BerUnisclie Monatsclirift^ a very judicious article, which summed up the best-known criticisms on Pestalozzi's method, and was especially based on the reports or writings of Jeziorowski, Ith, Herbart, and Soyaux. In this article he tried to give an impartial account of this method, the weak yjoints of which had not escaped him. Finally, one of the visitors of the Burgdorf institute, Plamann, had ob- tained the authorisation to open a Pestalozzian school in Berlin in 1805, which flourished greatly until 1830. The events of 1806, which abruptly ended the reor- ganisation thus begun, were to show better than all discussions how urgent the necessity was, and hasten the fulfilment of the project. " Tlie state must regain by intellectual forces ichat it has lost in 'physicrd power, ^^ said the vanquished king at Jena. It was Fichte, the philosopher, the ardent apostle of independence, who 1 Vol. II, p. IGl. IN GERMANY, ESPECIALLY IN PRUSSIA 295 undertook to give effect to these memorable words in his Discourses to the German j^ation,^ in which he demonstrated that the safety of Germany henceforth lay in national education. Now the reform of second- ary education, thanks to the philanthropinist move- ment, was accomplished,- the religious neutrality of the school also demanded by Basedow was legally recog- nised, and the schools for all classes were declared state institutions by the Prussian code of 1803.^ The work of Frederick the Great, who had dreamed of establishing a national education, was then already largely realised; but it was not yet complete, for primary instruction still remained to be organised. It is on this point that Fichte dwelt with all his elo- quence. " They are going to give us a Constitution," he says, " to indicate to us our alliances and the use of our forces,'' etc. " They have thought of everything but education." And, asking on what foundations " the new education," i.e. national education, ought to be based, he answers : " On the method of instruction invented and proposed by Heinrich Pestalozzi, the application of which we have seen to be so success- ful." ^ Why ? Perhaps on account of the novelty of the processes of this method? Not at all. Be- cause " Pestalozzi- s essential aim has been to elevate the lower classes, and efface all differences between them and the educated class; because it is not only popular education that is thus realised, but national 1 Reden an die deutsche Nation, 1808. 2 See for the details of this reform : Pinloche, La Reforme, etc., pp. 50&-531. 3 Das aUgemeine Landrecht fiir die p7'ei(ssische7i Staaten, 2 par Theil, lit. XII, §§ 1-11. This constitution is still in force at the present time. ^ Rede IX. 296 PESTALOZZI'S INFLUENCE education; and because Pestalozzi's doctrine has enough power to help nations and the whole human race to rise out of the miserable state in which they were wallowing." ^ And he does not hesitate to put Pestalozzi beside Luther. These words should not be lost. From this time, the name of Pestalozzi was identified with the idea of the national regeneration, and his works were read more eagerly than ever. It is related that Queen Luise was so touched by the story of Leonard and Gertrude, that she wanted to go herself to Pestalozzi and thank him in the name of humanity.^ It was at this eminently favourable time that two of the most fervent of Pestalozzi's disciples, Nicolovius and Silvern, entered the ministry for home affairs to direct the department of public instruction, which was at- tached to it.^ From that time the Pestalozzi method met with no more opposition, and reigned supreme in Prussian schools. Nay more, the government sent, as we have seen, pupil-teachers to Pestalozzi, and deter- mined to found two training colleges. By a cabinet order of the 6th of January, 1809, Stein, the minister, thus enunciated the fundamental principles of the reorganisation of primary instruc- tion : — 1. School education and instruction are the affair of the state. 2. The aim of primary schools is not to impart knowledge, but to form the judgment, common sense, the moral and religious spirits. 1 Rede IX. 2 Adami, Konigln Luise, p. 263. 4 It was not until 1817 that a special ministry for public instruc- tion, health, and religion was founded. IN GERMANY, ESPECIALLY IN PRUSSIA 297 3. As regards the teaching of religion peculiar to each confession, it will be reserved, if possible, for the ecclesiastic of the place. 4. Schoolmasters must prepare themselves for their profession. 5. Special attention must be paid to the exterior as well as the interior, to the cleanliness and sanitary- conditions of the schoolrooms, and to the regular at- tendance of the pupils. (Some regulations as to the inspection of schools follow.) It is important to remark that it was not the exter- nal aspect of the method which most attracted the reorganisers of the Prussian primary schools. In this respect the instructions given by Siivern to the young masters sent to Yverdon are most worthy of note. " It is not exactly the mechanical side of the method," said he, " that you are to learn there ; you can do that elsewhere, and it would not be worth while to go to such expense for that. Your chief aim will not be either to break the outer shell in order to taste the almond, i.e. to penetrate the spirit, with a mere view to cleverness in teaching. No ; but what I want you to do is to warm yourselves at the sacred fire which burns in the heart of this man so full of strength and love, whose work has remained far below what he originally desired, below the essential idea of his life, of which the method is only a feeble product. You must give yourselves completely up, without any preconceived ideas of your own, to the life and peda- gogical activity which are nowhere so busy as there, which daily produce new and interesting phenomena, and attract most important visitors ; you must let this 298 PESTALOZZrS INFLUENCE splendid, vigorous Nature influence you during the happy time when you are still most sensible to its impressions. And under the common influence of this action of Nature and of the persons, teachers and taught, assembled in the hallowed circle of the insti- tute, every spark of the heart and of the mind still quiet within you ought to burst into flame, and this influence ought to surround you until it has pene- trated your inmost soul, and has brought you to find yourselves, and to recognise this truth, that man is nothing else but a simple nature which develops itself in every individual in the most varied fashion. . . . Once you have received this pedagogic consecration, teaching as mere teaching will disappear for you ; you will see it in the most intimate connection of its nec- essary components, of their reciprocal influence, and of the action of each particular object on the whole, which is man, and is only a ray of the primitive force of the world, which is the divinity. You will have reached perfection, when you have clearly seen that education is an art, and the most sublime and the most holy art of all, and in what connection it is with the great art of the education of nations, which is one and indivisible with it. . . . Do not forget that the elements in all sciences are far from being the easiest part of them, that profound knowledge of a subject is necessary to a thorough treatment of the same in the school. . . . The characteristic point of Pestalozzi's method is that it is as fruitful for a scientific and a technical education, as it is profitable for human cul- ture." 1 The young masters sent to Yverdon were naturally 1 Bruno Gebhardt, Die Einfuhrung, etc., pp. 33 et seq. IN GERMANY, ESPECIALLY IN PRUSSIA 299 on their return the most active propagators of the Pestalozzian method in Prussia. Moreover, a central training college for teachers was founded by govern- ment at the orphanage in Konigsberg, and placed under the management of Zeller. But as Stivern desired, it was less the mechanical application than the spirit of the method which prevailed. A long experience was not necessary to cause the rejection of certain exercises, to which Pestalozzi evidently attached too much importance, e.g. those in geometry and arithmetic based on his diagrams. On the other hand, great pains were taken to retain the valuable part of Pestalozzi's idea, i.e., according to Zeller's own words, " to instruct the pupil in such a manner that he may learn to gradually develop, educate, and per- fect every object of knowledge and poiver, from the first elements, in conscious and independent activity, in accordance with its own nature.'' Finally, it was long not sufficiently recognised ' that one of the most active propagators of Pestalozzi's doctrines in Germany was Herbart himself. If we remember that this philosopher, attracted from the beginning by Pestalozzi's ideas on sense-perception, on which he immediately commented,- and on the natural method of teaching, which he later on scien- tifically expounded, was to create on this basis what has been called in Germany scientific pedagogy, what 1 To Dr. Theodor Wiget is due the merit of having called atten- tion to this important fact in his valuable work, Pestalozzi und Herbart, Dresden, 1891-1892, which we regret to see does not ex- haust the subject, 2 See his work, Pestalozzi's Idee eines ABC der Anschauung, Gottingen, 1802. 300 PESTALOZZI'S INFLUENCE ] i we more correctly called the science of education, the | existence of which no one nowadays contests, we can- j not but recognise that that alone is a title to fame ! which should of itself suffice to immortalise the work ] and the name of Pestalozzi. CHAPTER II PESTALOZZI'S INFLUENCE IN OTHER COUNTRIES In other countries, the direct influence of Pestalozzi was limited to isolated instances. In France, the philosopher Maine de Biran, after Pestalozzi's fruit- less attempt to make his method known during his stay in Paris, founded, in 1808, a Pestalozzian school at Bergerac, his native town, where he was then deputy mayor (sous-prefet) , and placed it under the management of Barraud, who had been sent him by Pestalozzi. Although the school continued to exist until 1881, it may be said to have been nothing but an ordinary boarding school, and had no pedagogic influence.^ From 1809, Stapfer remarked on the fail- ure of Maine de Biran, in a letter to Pestalozzi, which concluded with these words, "So that I do not for the present see any possibility, not even the shadow of a probability, of acclimatising the method in France." 2 In Spain, Voitel of Soleure succeeded in founding, in 1805, a Pestalozzian school at Madrid, and a training college for teachers at Santander. In 1806 a school called El Real Instituto Pestalozziano Militar was founded by a state decree at Madrid, with Voitel as head master and two teachers sent by Pestalozzi. 1 See the history of this school in the Revue Pedagogique of the 15th of April, 1893, in an article by W. Pauliet. 2 Festalozzi Blatter, 1889, p. 31. 301 302 PESTALOZZI'S INFLUENCE Political events brought about the sux^pression of the Real Instituto in 1808, and under Napoleon's sway- there was naturally no longer any question of Pesta- lozzi's method. In Copenhagen a school was likewise opened on the return of the two teachers, Strom and Torlitz, who had been sent to Burgdorf by their government in 1803. The experiment was considered unsatisfactory, and the teaching of too mechanical a nature, and the establishment was closed in 1806. Such, with one or two other isolated instances, were the chief attempts made in Europe to put Pestalozzi's ideas into application. All were unsuccessful, and we may therefore say that Germany was the first, and for long the only, nation which succeeded in extract- ing the good part of it and seizing its true spirit. It was only much later, and certainly owing to German example, that other countries, especially Prance, Eng- land, and the United States, were gradually able to profit by the good which the great pedagogue had desired to attain, without, however, succeeding in at- taining it himself. INDEX A B C of Sense-perception, 60, 252. Esthetic education, 173. Appeal to philanthropists, 20. Arithmetic, A B C of, 253. Artistic education, lTl-172. B Babeli, the faithful servant, 4. Basedow, xi. Battier, Felix, 29. Beyme, Von, 99. Bibliography, xv. Birrfeld, farm at, 13 ; a failure, 14, 16. Birthday celebration, 81. Bluntschli, 8 ; death of, 10, 12. Bodmer, 6, 10, 11 ; founder of Hel- vetian Society, 9. Book for Mothers, 60, 211, 235, 237. Books, the first, 215. Breitinger, 6. Burgdorf, schools at, 38-60. Buss, teacher of music, 49. Child, first education of, by its mother, 161 ; birth of, to moral life, 267. {See also Moral Education.) Child of three, experiment on, 214. Children's mental powers, 47. Christianity and elementary educa- tion, 257. Christopher and Elsa, 26. Comenius, xi. Common sense, 86-87. ConsuUa at Paris, 59-60. Contrat Social, Eousseau's, 8. Corporal punishment, 45, 56, 277. Cotta, publisher, 103, 109. Discipline, 55. Doctrines, xiv. Dysli, Samuel, teacher, 38. E Education, elementary, 32, 34, 83, 90, 109, 126, 134, 152-153 ; aim of, 164 ; definition of, 165; perfection in im- possible, 176; faith and love the basis of, 183 ; principles of, 216, 245, 274, 281. Education necessary for society, 121 ; aim of, 125, 136 ; no general rules of, 127, 135 ; definition and principle of, 129 ; practical, 138 ; private and pub- lic, 146 ; defects of, 149 ; catechetical method, 154 ; Socratic method, 155. Education of the poor, xi, 18, 27, 144. Ego, the, as the centre of education, 211, 239. ^mile, Rousseau's, xii, 8, Erinnerer, Der, 9. Esterhazy, Prince, 100. Faith, 183, 270. Fellenberg, 62, 65, 108-109, 116. Fichte, visit from, 28; Discourses to the German Nation, 29, 66, 295. Form, 229, 232, 237, 252. Francke, x. Frederick II, x, 290. Frederick William III, 292. Fussli, 18, 19. 303 304 INDEX Games as methods, 131. Girard, Father, report of, on Yverdon, 86-90. God, the idea of, 167, 270, 273. Grammar, 246. Grandfather, teacher at Hongg, 5. Greeks, culture and education of the, 151-152. Gruner on "the moral reviews," 57- 59 ; his school in Frankfort, 289, 292. GuUlaume, 90 n. Guimps, M. de, 76. H Helvetian Diet, aid from the, 52 ; grants withdrawn, 61 ; inspects Yverdon, 85 ; vote of gratitude, 90. Helvetian Society, the, 9, 10. Hel'vetisehes Folkshlatt, 31. Herbart on Pestalozzi, 46-49, 292 ; an active Pestalozzian, 299. Hermit'' s Evening, A, 25. Hirzel's Peasant Philosopher, 11. History, teaching of, 278. Hofwyl, 62, 108. Home for poor children, 18-24. Home influence, 137. How Gertrude teaches her Children, 51, 83, 125. Ignorance, causes of, 140. Illuminated, Order of the, 27. Illustrations to my ABC Book, 26. Intellectual education, 168 ; psycho- logical foundation of, 206. IseUu, 20, 24 ; death of, 29. Ith, Dean, 52, 292. Jeziorowski's reports, 293. Judgment, the, 170 ; founded on sense-perception, 200. JuUien's reports, 96, 104, 108-109. K Klewitz, 294. Knowledge, origins of, 198. Kriisi, 40, 41, 65, 91, 94, 103, 111, 113. Labour, industrial, 18-21, 82, 80, 123, 131, 138-139, 145. Language as the basis of instruction, 218, 229, 233 ; study of, 236-241 ; importance of, 242 ; development of, in child, 243, 249 ; starting-point and aim, 244; relations of, 248. Languages, study of, 169, 249. Lavater, 11, 13, 19. Legrand, support from, 31. Leonard and Gertrude, 25-27, 121, 256, 296. Leopold, Emperor, 27. Life educates, 177. Louise, Queen, 66, 296. Love in education, 276. M Maine de Biran's school at Bergerac, 301. Man, divine nature of, 256. Masters and pupils, 56. Mathematics, 278. Memorising, 46, 48. Method of sense-perception, 210 ; in application, 217, 234-251 ; general I'ules, 225; supplements even sci- ence, 227 ; elements of the, 229 ; re- sult, 254. Method, Pestalozzi's, an enigma, 73, 87. Method, the elementary, 179, 250 ; aim and originality of, 186 ; positive, 188, 191 ; universal, 192 ; relations of, 193 ; imitates nature, 193 ; imitates the mother, 195 ; Pestalozzi's appH- cation of the, 280 ; character and advantages of the, 281. Mieg, 97. Military exercises, 80. INDEX 305 Models to follow, 128, 130. Moral education, 56-59, 68, 167, 260- 270. Mother tongue, 249. Miillngen, 13. Muller, 10. Munchenbuchsee, institute at, 61-63. Muralt, Johann von, a colleague, 60, 63. N Naf, Elizabeth, the model for Gertrude, 29 ; Mme. Kriisi, 77-78, 97, 115. Nageli's book of songs, 81. Neuhof, 15, 18-24, 29, 97. New Year's Day, 81. Nicolorius, 28, 66, 296. Niederer, Johann, joins institute, 60, 64, 74; rivalry with Schmid, 83-85, 93 ; reply to attack, 94, 96-98 ; leaves Yverdon, 103, 107. Number, 229, 237, 252. Perceptions, 202. {See Sense-percep- tion.) Pestalozzi, Heinrich, born, 3 ; child- hood, 4-6 ; at Ziirich schools and Carolinum, 6-7 ; Influenced by Emile and the Contrat Social, 8 ; joins the Helvetian Society, 9-10 ; studies agriculture, 11-13 ; marriage, 13 ; birth of a son, 14 ; his want of fore- sight, 16-17, 66, 97 ; home for poor children, 18-24 ; appeal to philan- thropists, 20-21; reports on Institute, 23, 92 ; first writings, 25 ; joins the Illuminated, 27 ; made a citizen of France, 28 ; wish to be a school- master. 30 ; at Stanz, 32 ; his teach- ing, 33-^5, 38-41, 54, 69 ; Institute at Burgdorf, 51 ; aided by Helvetian government, 52; "moral reviews," 55-59 ; member of Consulta, 59 ; stops teaching, 63 ; quarrels with Fellenberg, 62, 65, 109 ; literary work, 68 ; home life, 79 ; influenced by Niederer, 83 ; sides with Schmid, 92-93 ; disaster, 97 ; decorated by Emperor Alexander, 99 ; works pub- lished, 102 ; death of wife, 103 ; poem, 106 ; subscriptions for, 109 ; death, 116 ; epitaph, 117 ; his educational theory, 119 et seq. ; works, 120 ; essential aim, 142 ; reply to criticisms, 282 ; belief in his work, 282 ; influence in Germany, 289 ; in other countries, 301-302. Pestalozzi, Johann Baptist, 3. Physical education, 175. Progression, regularity of, 47. Prussia, educational movements in, 290 ; reorganises primary instruc- tion, 296. PupU-teachers, 67, 88, 297. K Ramsauer, Johann, on Pestalozzi's methods, 42-45, 68, 94, 100, 103. Eaumer, Karl von, at Yverdon, 90-94. Religion, 256. Religious education, 259, 267, 271 ; by mother, 272 ; by father, 273. Rochow, X, 290, 292. Rousseau, xli, 8. Rudiments, perfection in, 33-34. Rulers, responsibility of, 133. S Schinz, 16, 19. Schmid, Joseph, 74, 84, 91-93 ; at Bre- genz, 95 ; return of, 98 ; influence of, 102-105 ; Pestalozzi's tribute to, 116. Schools, evil influence of, 129. School, the, 147 ; and play, 157. Schroter to Pestalozzi, 66. Schulthess, Anna, 12 ; marriage, 13. Schulthess, Heinrich, 17. Schulthess, the banker, 12, 13, 14, 16. Sciences, premature teaching of the, 277. Segesser, Luise, 95. Sense-perception, xi-xii, 18, 83 ; ABC of, 39, 72 ; definition of, 197 ; and 306 INDEX thought, 200 ; transformation of, 201 ; general processes, 204 ; man the centre of, 208 ; method of, 210. {See also Method of Sense-perception.) Singing, 49, 81. Social manners, 276. Society of the Friends of Education, 50. Sound, 231, 234. Soyaux on Pestalozzi, 52-57, 294. Square, the, 253. Stanz, orphanage at, 31-36. Stapfer reforms the schools, 30, 37. Subscription, 109. Silvern, instructions of, 297. Swan's Dirge, 114, 281. Swiss Directory employed Pestalozzi at Stanz, 31-36 ; at Burgdorf, 38. Teaching of Arithmetic by Sense- perception, 60. Teaching, psychological course of, Text-books, 223-224. Tobler, 49, 63, 85. Toerlitz, on Pestalozzi, 82. Truttmann and Businger, reports of, 35. Tschiffeli, 11, 13. V Verbal instruction, 155. Vocabulary, importance of, 217, 225, 230. Vogel, 97. Vulliemin on Pestalozzi, 70-74. Yes or No, Opinions by a Free Man, 28. Yverdon, institute at, 61, 65-113; school Ufe at, 68-69, 71-72, 75-78; management, 88-90 ; deficit at, 97. Z Zedlitz, 290. Zinzendorf, Count von, 26. Ziirich Carolinum, idealism at, 7. H 311 84 r. ^^-/ "*^' ^--/ -'^^ V^^ • :0^ & *1^».'. *.. .■«. /. >^" -^ "% »* ♦.o> ^>t. .-^^ o\ -dy .^^ -^ ,' >' -^ . '.^as^,* <,«^ -^ii. ^' 4ECKMAN IINOERV INC. m. DEC 84 ^^ N.MANCHESTER / oVo^\gS> ^^* ^^:' ^„<-{.- o »° y'^^.. V 'MOMMA 46962 flr" . « • «»