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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 W. N. HAILMANN 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 THE KINDERGARTEN SYSTEM 
 
 ITS ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT
 
 THE 
 
 KINDERGARTEN SYSTEM 
 
 Its Origin and Development 
 
 AS SEEN IN THE LIFE OF FRIEDRICH FROEBEL, 
 
 TRANSLATED AND ADAPTED FROM THE WORK OF ^, ^^ 
 
 ^o "^ 
 
 ALEXANDER BRUNO HANSCHMANN /> & 
 
 f *%- 
 
 % 
 
 jfor tbe use of jEnfllfsb ftinOergarten Students ^ 
 
 "(C 
 
 FANNY FRANKS 
 
 WITH AN APPENDIX ON "THE EDUCATION OF MAN" 
 
 LONDON 
 
 SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., LIM. 
 
 SYRACUSE, NEW YORK : C. W. BARDEEN 
 1897
 
 PLYMOUTH : 
 
 WILLIAM BKKNDON AND SON, 
 PRINTERS.
 
 Ed. - Psych. 
 Librtry 
 
 637 
 
 Defcfcatefc 
 
 TO 
 
 ENGLISH MOTHERS 
 
 241.842
 
 PREFACE 
 
 I HAVE often wished to hand on to other students 
 the benefit I myself derived from the reading of 
 Hanschmann's Life of Froebel, for I know no other 
 piece of Froebel literature that presents so complete 
 an account of the progress and development of 
 Froebel's educational thought. 
 
 I think it is a good thing for the student to see 
 how, in his search for a scientific basis for the 
 education of man, Froebel turns from the unpre- 
 paredness of the school -boy back to the earliest 
 period of infancy, thence to the mother, and finally 
 to the maiden, some day to become a mother. 
 
 It is also an excellent lesson for the young teacher 
 to watch the care and conscientiousness with which 
 this born educator prepares himself for his office. 
 
 It was my sense of its value that led me to obtain 
 Mr. Hanschmann's permission to translate the book. 
 The task has been a difficult one, however; for, in 
 order to make the book practically serviceable for 
 the Kindergarten student, I have had to recast, 
 transpose, or shorten some passages, and omit others, 
 which would either distract attention from the matter
 
 Vlll PREFACE 
 
 of main interest, or encroach on ground already 
 covered by translations. 
 
 The chief omissions are the chapter on "The 
 Education of Man," already published in English as 
 a complete work, and certain passages that seemed 
 to me to be too metaphysical or speculative for the 
 probable reader of the book. 
 
 The curtailments consist chiefly in making as short 
 as possible the account of certain periods of Froebel's 
 life already in the hands of the English reader, and 
 in giving here and there a summary, rather than the 
 actual contents of a passage. These alterations, it is 
 true, prevent my offering the book to the public as 
 a translation pure and simple; on the other hand, I 
 trust they do not obscure Mr. Hanschmann's view 
 of the great educator, nor, what is still more im- 
 portant, Froebel's inner history and scientific theory 
 of education. 
 
 Out of a large book I have made a small one, 
 which, though far from being all I could wish, will, I 
 think, fill up a little gap in the accounts we already 
 possess of Froebel's life and work. 
 
 I should like here to acknowledge my obligations 
 to Mr. Hanschmann for having allowed me to modify 
 the book in this way, and also to those of my friends 
 who have contributed notes and criticisms. 
 
 FANNY FKANKS. 
 18, YORK PLACE, W.
 
 CONTENTS 
 fffrst part. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ; 178 
 STADT-ILM NEUHAUS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH : 1782 TO 1799 OBERWEISSBACH 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 YOUTH : 1799 TO 1807 JENA FRANKFURT . 14 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 FROEBEL AND PESTALOZZI : 1807 TO 1811 FRANKFURT 
 
 YVEKDUN . . . ... 36 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE UNIVERSITY THE BATTLEFIELD THE MINERALOGICAL 
 
 MUSEUM : 1811 TO 1816 GOTTINGEN AND BERLIN . 56 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS: 1816 TO 1826 GRIESHEIM 
 
 AND KEILHAU . . . ... 72 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 TROUBLED TIMES: 1826 TO 1829 KEILHAU GOTTINGEN 104
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Second part. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1836 FBANKFU 
 WILLESAU BURGDOBF . . 117 
 
 FACE 
 
 SWITZEBLAXD : 1830 TO 1836 FBANKFFRT WABTENSEE 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE FIRST KIXDEBGARTEN : 1836 TO 1843 BLANKEXBURG 
 
 FRANKFURT DRESDEN LEIPZIG . . . 143 
 
 * 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 THE FKOEBEL PROPAGANDA ix GERMANY AND BELGIUM: 
 
 1843 TO 1849 DARMSTADT LEIPZIG DRESDEN* . . 170 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 FBOEBEL THE APOSTLE OF WOMEX: 1849 TO 1851 MAKI- 
 
 ENTHAL . . . . . 188 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 LAST DAYS: 1851 TO 1852 LIEBENSTEIN GOTHA . . 211 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 FEOEBEL'S IMMEDIATE SUCCESSOBS: 1852 TO 1874 . . 228 
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 FBOEBEL'S " EDUCATION OF MAN " . . . 239 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 DE POKTTTGALL . 245
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 IT would hardly be fair either to Mr. Hanschmann 
 or to myself to call this book an actual translation. 
 It is rather an account of the contents of the book, 
 with such omissions, curtailings, and transpositions as 
 seem to me necessary to render the material practi- 
 cally useful to Kindergarten students and others 
 interested in the newer and better ways of training 
 young children. 
 
 It shows what kind of man Froebel was, and 
 how he came to elaborate his system; indeed, his 
 biography is made the medium for tracing the growth 
 and development of the Froebel idea from its very 
 beginnings down to the establishment of the first 
 Kindergarten. Froebel's life naturally divides itself 
 into four main periods i.e., the first fifteen years, 
 during ten of which we have presented to us a 
 thoughtful, sensitive child, suffering a good deal from 
 mismanagement and want of management. But the 
 boy has an affectionate nature, and is apt to look on 
 the sunny side, and we find him settling down in 
 the happiest way in the new home provided for him
 
 Xll INTRODUCTION 
 
 between his tenth and fifteenth years. He profits 
 at once by the more congenial atmosphere and more 
 favourable circumstances. And in the youth of fifteen 
 we have a simple-minded, pious, aspiring, and nature- 
 loving creature. He conceives of God as the origin 
 of all that is good and beautiful, and of nature as 
 the teacher of humanity. The beauty of the physical 
 world not only propounds many problems for him, 
 but so wins his heart that he determines to choose 
 only such a career in life as shall permit of his 
 intimate association with nature and natural objects. 
 The second period of his life covers the ten or fifteen 
 years which may be called the "Sturm und Drang" 
 period. He spends the whole of this time striving to 
 find his natural vocation, and to prepare himself for 
 it. This is the most interesting period of his life. 
 From this to the full evolution of the Kindergarten 
 idea occupies upwards of a quarter of a century, and 
 furnishes us with a complete history of Froebel's 
 educational thought from the beginning of his ex- 
 perience in teaching to the time when he first makes 
 clear to the world his new system of education. He 
 at once sees himself to be fitted for the office of 
 teacher; but the more he studies the boys under his 
 care, the more he realises the need of a wider culture 
 and a deeper knowledge of human nature. Several 
 times he interrupts his teaching in order to study 
 such subjects as Natural Philosophy, Psychology, and
 
 INTRODUCTION xiil 
 
 Pedagogy, because he feels that a more complete 
 knowledge of man, and of his place in God's universe, 
 is absolutely necessary for his work. When he is 
 about thirty, circumstances make him the natural 
 guardian of some young relatives, and he starts as 
 an independent schoolmaster. He has discovered 
 before this that much might be done to render young 
 boys more fit than they generally are to profit by 
 school education. He has also pondered much on the 
 difference of energy and zeal they put into different 
 employments. He determines to find out the secret 
 of this good-will on the part of the child, and his 
 experiments teach him much about boy nature. 
 Careful observation leads to the discovery of a great 
 gap in the training of the young, lying somewhere 
 between the home and the school. He is impressed 
 with the importance of the home training as giving 
 the tone to the whole of the child's future ; and since 
 home training depends upon the mother, it is she 
 who must learn to understand the aim and end of 
 education. 
 
 The training of women is the crown of Froebel's 
 work, and entirely absorbs the last fifteen years of 
 his life. During this last period Froebel studies the 
 mother's instinctive methods as carefully as he had 
 previously studied the characteristic tendencies of 
 childhood ; and just as in the child he wishes to 
 develop the best and highest of his qualities, in the
 
 XIV INTRODUCTION 
 
 same way with the mother his object is to make her 
 consciously pursue her best methods for the training 
 of her child. His persistent and continuous effort 
 for the good of humanity presents to us a remarkable 
 example of unity of life. 
 
 Froebel is a fairly complete representative of the 
 pedagogic thought of his time. It is difficult to 
 analyse his intellectual debt either to his predecessors 
 or his contemporaries; but there is no doubt that he 
 came strongly under the influence of the philosopher 
 Krause, and still more strongly under that of the 
 great teacher of modern times, Pestalozzi. 
 
 Froebel's attitude towards Education is rather that 
 of the constructor than the critic. He is less con- 
 cerned in condemning the wrong than in pointing 
 out the right way. His object is to show how, by 
 an improved system of training, man may become a 
 more perfect being. In basing his system on spon- 
 taneous activity, he not only goes with the trend of 
 the child's mind, and gets the benefit of his energy 
 and will, but brings about a free and healthy physical, 
 moral, and intellectual growth. Moreover, he agrees 
 with his contemporary, Krause, that life and living 
 are what concern the educator, and that an education 
 which makes instruction its chief aim and end is 
 not worthy the name. 
 
 Froebel's object is not to infuse " new life into old 
 forms," but to give the child a completely fresh
 
 INTRODUCTION XV 
 
 start. His system is as opposed to the old ways as 
 possible. In making the nature of the child its 
 centre, Froebel embodies the spirit of his time 
 rides, as it were, on the crest of a wave that was 
 moving towards a new natural science and a new 
 psychology. 
 
 Comenius, in his Panegersia, had insisted that the 
 child should be educated from the cradle ; Bacon, 
 the real father of the Pestalozzi and Froebel schools, 
 had shown the need for a thorough training of the 
 senses as the gateway into the mind; Eousseau had 
 eloquently preached the doctrine of nature; but no 
 one had come so close to the little child as Froebel. 
 It is as if he said, "Where thou goest, I will go"; 
 hand in hand he goes with the child, fitting his 
 steps to those of his small guide. No one had 
 encroached so boldly on the woman's province as 
 Froebel, or shown her so clearly the special nature 
 of her work. 
 
 Just as Pestalozzi's great contribution to education 
 was "Anschauung," or observation, thought and deed 
 in their right order, Froebel's great and final contri- 
 bution to Pedagogy was the doctrine of "Darstellung," 
 or a varied expression of the inner self by spontaneous 
 activity. It goes hand in hand with the great 
 Pestalozzian principle, and at the same time starts a 
 new psychology of the child. It utilises and brings 
 into its service the child's sportiveness, imaginative-
 
 XVI INTRODUCTION 
 
 ness, and love of production. It does not, as Mr. 
 Herbert Spencer suggested, relegate the activities 
 that serve for recreation and pleasure to the leisure 
 moments of life, but embodies them as fundamental 
 factors of education. 
 
 The child, like the savage, thinks of decoration, 
 beauty, and brightness before it can possibly be 
 impressed with utility; and Froebel goes with the 
 stream of the child's inner life, and so advances more 
 rapidly than did his predecessors in their utilitarian 
 practices. 
 
 The great error of the old education was that it 
 implied a similarity of method in the child and the 
 adult. Froebel showed that the child sets about his 
 work in a totally different way, and with a totally 
 different object. He is not capable of the persist- 
 ence, concentration, and energy implied in a perfect 
 mastery within narrow limits, but he is well able to 
 follow a variety of pursuits in his simple and natural 
 way. This is the best way of promoting his general 
 capability. A modern novelist says it little matters 
 what we are taught to do after twelve. There is 
 something of the Froebelian idea in this. In any 
 case, Froebel thinks it an all-important matter that 
 the child should do the right things before he is 
 twelve.
 
 PART I. 
 LIFE OF FROEBEL 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 
 1782 TO 1799. OBERWEISSBACH, STADT ILM, NETJHATJS. 
 
 The Home Birth Father Loss of Mother The Stepmother 
 Influence Contact with Nature Village Girls' School Religious 
 Worship Idea of Sex Discussions of Doctrine Childish 
 Troubles Brothers' Intercession Altered Conditions Uncle 
 Hoffmann The New Home Boys' School Choice of Profession 
 Apprenticeship Studies Conception of Nature Plan of Study 
 Jena the Goal Father's Severity Personal Appearance The 
 Return Home. 
 
 SCATTERED over the wooded hills along the VaUey 
 of the Saal, in Thuringia, are some half-dozen 
 hamlets forming the village of Oberweissbach. Tower- 
 ing above one of the clusters of houses is the little 
 church, which, at the beginning of the century, was the 
 centre of the religious life of about five thousand souls. 
 It was under the care of Pastor Johann Jacob Froebel. 
 Opposite the church was the parsonage, surrounded by 
 kitchen garden, courtyard and grass plots,, but other- 
 wise much shut in by buildings, hedges, and stacks. 
 The country around is undulating and picturesque, and 
 of a kind to make its impression on a sensitive and 
 
 B
 
 2 OBERWEISSBACH, STADT ILM, NEUHAUS. 
 
 poetic nature ; and certainly Pastor Froebel's mother- 
 less little boy may be so described. Friedrich Wilhelm 
 August Froebel was born at the Parsonage of Ober- 
 weissbach on the 21st April, 1782. He lost his mother 
 when hardly a year old, and up to the age of four was 
 left to the intermittent care of the servants, with a 
 very scanty amount of attention from the much- 
 occupied pastor. His best friends at .this time were 
 his elder brothers; and it is from his letters to these, 
 to the Duke of Meiningen, and later, to the philosopher 
 Krause, that the following autobiographical sketch of 
 his childhood and youth has been gathered. Eeferring 
 to the early loss of his mother, he says, "When my 
 dying mother gave me her last kiss, my young life was 
 delivered over to the world with all its temptations 
 and evils, and from that moment there arose within 
 me a struggle with myself and the world, which cast a 
 gloom upon my early years." The atmosphere of the 
 home was extremely religious and serious, and the little 
 boy, having neither mother nor companions of his own 
 age to sympathise with his infant needs, hardly knew 
 the meaning of childish play; so that the great treasure 
 he has assured to generations of children was denied to 
 himself. The stern control and repression which were 
 considered necessary for his discipline threw him back 
 upon himself, and thus his natural reserve was in- 
 creased by a want of freedom in his home life. His 
 shy and timid manner repelled those who had been the 
 cause of it, and his faults were met by hard words and 
 severe punishments. 
 
 One of the worst consequences of all this was that 
 Friedtich became estranged from his father. Pastor 
 Froebel was a man of intelligence and culture. He
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 3 
 
 devoted himself with untiring energy to the affairs of 
 his straggling parish, but had little time for the details 
 of domestic government. The result was that the 
 lonely little boy was almost fatherless as well as 
 motherless. 
 
 When he was four years old his father married again, 
 and for a time he was happier, for his stepmother 
 treated him kindly. 
 
 After the birth of her own son, however, her manner to 
 Friedrich became reserved and stern, even to the extent 
 of addressing him in the third person,* and the little 
 boy was practically alone again. 
 
 His physical surroundings were less unfavourable, for 
 though he was not allowed to climb the neighbouring 
 hills, and his outlook was limited to the garden and 
 homestead, yet the bright sky and the pure air round 
 his home had their effect upon him. Pastor Froebel 
 was fond of his garden, and might be seen working at 
 it with his boys in the early morning. Both he and his 
 wife, too, were lovers of order and beauty, and the 
 children had plenty of opportunity for the exercise of 
 their intelligence and self-control in the constant 
 reforms and improvements made in the home. Of 
 Friedrich's brothers, two especially exercised an im- 
 portant influence on his future Christoph, who from 
 the first thoroughly believed in him, and Christian, who 
 so substantially supported his educational scheme. We 
 shall hear of these two again. The eldest brother, 
 August, became a merchant, and died early. The 
 youngest, Traugott,t took up the profession of medicine. 
 
 * To address someone in the third person is a mark of contempt, 
 e.g , & beggar is often addressed as follows: "Will he leave the 
 courtyard at once, or I will give him iu charge." 
 
 t His half-brother.
 
 4 OBERWEISSBACH, STADT ILM, NEUHAUS. 
 
 Friedrich's home was permeated by a somewhat 
 narrow Christianity, and though the pastor followed 
 the religious thought of his time, he was inclined to 
 set a higher value on obedience and faith than upon 
 intelligent enquiry. Morning and evening the members 
 of the family were carefully instructed in the 
 doctrines of Sturm, Stollikofer, and the like. On 
 such occasions Friedrich was much impressed, and full 
 of good resolutions, which, however, the carelessness of 
 childhood prevented him from carrying out. 
 
 The pastor taught his elder boys himself, but he had 
 not the patience to teach Friedrich, and not being on 
 very friendly terms with the master of the village boys' 
 school, he sent him to the girls' school. The teaching 
 was good, and there was a spirit of neatness, order, and 
 peacefulness in the school which was highly beneficial 
 to Friedrich. He was soon promoted to work with the 
 bigger girls. In this class he had to learn a whole 
 hymn, while the little ones only learned a verse from 
 the Bible. One or two of these hymns long remained 
 in his memory, and served to comfort him in 
 moments of perplexity and trouble. He attended 
 church twice on Sundays, sitting in the choir, and 
 taking much interest in his father's sermons, though 
 he could not always understand the highly figurative 
 language he used. He was often present during the 
 instruction given to those preparing for confirmation, 
 and would listen with no little awe to such expressions 
 as " going to hell," " coming to Christ," etc., which were 
 scattered through the exhortations addressed to the 
 candidates. Thus there grew up in his mind a religious 
 ideal, and a vague purpose of finding his way to the 
 goodness and purity of a Christ-like life.
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 5 
 
 As he listened to the severe reprimands given by his 
 father to the married couples who came to him with 
 their disagreements, it struck him as a sad and regret- 
 table thing that human beings alone in nature should 
 be troubled with difference of sex. But here his 
 brother Christoph came to his help. Seeing his delight 
 at the crimson threads of the hazel-catkin, he pointed 
 out to him the two kinds of blossom on the same plant. 
 This discovery of sex in the vegetable world interested 
 him extremely, and helped bim a good deal in his 
 childish attempts to bring some order and connection 
 into the mass of objects he was so fond of collecting in 
 and around the vicarage garden. 
 
 Another impression stood out in his memory. Many 
 believed in those days, as indeed they have done in our 
 own times, that the end of the world was approaching. 
 Friedrich had a way of reassuring himself on this 
 subject. " The human race," he said to himself, " will 
 surely never perish till it has become as perfect as 
 it is possible to become on earth; and surely the 
 beautiful world cannot be destroyed till we human 
 beings have learnt to understand it perfectly." 
 
 He would listen with great interest to the warm 
 discussions on religious questions between his father 
 and his eldest brother, then a student of theology, and 
 as each clung obstinately to his opinions, Friedrich 
 would come to the conclusion that there must be 
 truth on both sides. 
 
 Thus, whilst a good deal of conflict was going on in 
 the young child's mind, his conclusions were generally 
 of a hopeful, if not optimistic character. The outward 
 conditions of his life, however, were not such as to 
 encourage him. Little attention was paid to his educa-
 
 tion. His faults were made unpleasantly prominent ; 
 and whenever disputes arose between him and his half- 
 brothers he was condemned unheard. And there was 
 no appeal against this injustice; for his father, who 
 might have put matters right, was so overburdened 
 with the care of his immense parish, that he could not 
 investigate the representations made to him about his 
 little boy, and consequently often did him injustice. 
 This made Friedrich afraid of his busy father, and of the 
 stepmother, who might have been his best friend, and 
 the result was that he became constrained in their pre- 
 sence and appeared obstinate, and at times untruthful. 
 
 It was better for Friedrich when brother Christoph 
 was at home to plead his cause, for he saw plainly both 
 the good in the boy and the mismanagement from 
 which he was suffering. Happily for the permanent 
 development of the child's character, a change of con- 
 ditions came to him with his tenth year. 
 
 In the summer of 1792 there came on a visit to the 
 parsonage Friedrich's maternal uncle, Pastor Hoffmann, 
 from Stadt Ilm, who saw at once the awkward position 
 of his young nephew. He had been very fond of 
 Friedrich's mother, and, pitying the boy, asked to have 
 him at Stadt Ilm for a time. This offer was gladly 
 accepted by the busy pastor, and by the end of the 
 year Friedrich was installed in his new home, where, 
 under the influence of kindly treatment, gentleness, 
 and encouragement, he soon took heart again. And 
 not the least valuable of these good influences was the 
 trust and confidence shown him. At home he might 
 hardly go out of sight. Here, to his great delight, he 
 was allowed to ramble alone over hill and dale, and 
 thoroughly explore the neighbourhood.
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 7 
 
 Stadt Ilm lies in the broad part of the Galley of the 
 Ilm (the river which flows through Weimar, and which, 
 as Schiller says, " has heard many an immortal song "). 
 This beautiful region now lay open before him ; and he 
 enjoyed to the full the freedom to wander about as he 
 pleased. 
 
 Now, too, he was for the first time to have the 
 advantage of associating with boys of his own age, 
 being one of forty in the upper class of the grammar 
 school. In the playground, it is true, he found himself 
 both physically and mentally at a disadvantage. 
 
 The repressed life of his earlier years, together with 
 his sensitive and reflective nature, little fitted him for 
 the alertness, the presence of mind, and the physical 
 skill and readiness required by games in the play- 
 ground ; and though he did his best to compensate for 
 the intelligent skill and vigour of his companions by 
 audacity and daring, it was some time before the boys 
 permitted him to share their games as an equal. In 
 the schoolroom he was dreamy and odd. The teachers 
 failed to interest or stimulate him. Most of the 
 subjects in the school were but indifferently taught; 
 and there was no attempt at demonstrating in the con- 
 crete, nor at any connection in the studies, so that a 
 good deal of the teaching was over his head, and left 
 him indifferent and apparently lazy. 
 
 But he was always able to give a complete account 
 of his uncle's gentle and inspiring sermons, and though 
 the religious instruction he received at school was 
 rather advanced and philosophical for so young a boy, 
 his father's previous teaching enabled Friedrich to 
 follow it with a fair amount of success. 
 
 The stories about Jesus touched and. inspired him.
 
 8 OBERWEISSBACH, STADT ILM, NEUHAUS. 
 
 The only other subject in which he made any marked 
 progress was arithmetic. Here he soon learned all his 
 teachers had to teach. They acknowledged his talent 
 for mathematics. In reality this subject interested him, 
 because it helped to explain others that were more 
 attractive to his mind. Latin was miserably taught, 
 and the whole school was backward. In geography 
 there was no attempt to connect that which had to be 
 learned with what the boys already knew, nor to 
 demonstrate objectively. There was just as little 
 method in the teaching of the mother-tongue. 
 
 The boy's moral nature, however, expanded under 
 the combined influence of his youthful companions, the 
 peace and quiet of his uncle's home,* and the beautiful 
 country surrounding it. The coercion and opposition 
 from which he had suffered at home, had perhaps 
 stimulated his originality and independence, and rather 
 increased than diminished his reasoning power; and 
 now that his energy was no longer required to over- 
 come adverse conditions, it was set free to grapple with 
 subjects which a less thoughtful child might have found 
 repulsive. And though his school offered little stimulus 
 for his observing powers, he explained many things to 
 himself in his own way. In a letter to his brother 
 some years later he says : " Thanks to my youth, and 
 to the kindly influences that surrounded me, I enjoyed 
 a freedom which resulted in an extension of my out- 
 look, an increase of my strength, and in the natural 
 development of my inner life. I had inherited from 
 my mother a pure-minded simplicity and candour 
 which, though it may occasionally have exposed me to 
 
 * Uncle Hoffmann's family consisted of himself and an aged mother- 
 in-law.
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 9 
 
 temptation, yet had its effect in preserving me from 
 serious evils." 
 
 He was allowed to stay with Uncle Hoffmann till 
 after his confirmation. On his return home, at the age 
 of fifteen, he was treated with less severity than 
 formerly, and at once threw himself heart and soul into 
 the busy life going on at the parsonage. His leisure 
 moments were spent in his father's study, where he 
 found to his great delight a map of the alphabets of all 
 nations, on which he was able to trace the origin of the 
 German written characters to an Asiatic alphabet. He 
 found, too, in the library the story of Samuel Lawill, 
 whose magic ring warned him by pressure when he was 
 about to commit an unworthy act. Friedrich felt 
 highly indignant when Samuel threw it angrily away 
 because it hurt him, 
 
 Friedrich's confirmation being over, it was thought 
 time to consider his future. His brothers were at the 
 university preparing for professional careers. But, on 
 account of the expense, it was thought unadvisable for 
 Friedrich to go to college. His faculty for mathe- 
 matics seemed to point to commerce, for which a mere 
 smattering of Latin would suffice ; and this could be 
 acquired, it was thought, in the intervals of home 
 occupations. But it may well be believed that this 
 prospect was not one to satisfy the thoughtful, ener- 
 getic boy. Moreover he had learned to love field and 
 forest, and to value the opportunities for quiet 
 contemplation, and the health and freedom of an 
 outdoor life. He had, too, his own ideas about self- 
 development, and believed that a life in the open air 
 was conducive to nobility of character. The only 
 result of his father's enquiries as to openings for
 
 10 OBERWEISSBACH, STADT ILM, NEUHAUS. 
 
 Friedrich was the offer of a secretaryship with a 
 revenue officer, or, as an alternative, the position of 
 page to a minister of State; neither of which was 
 approved of. When at length the boy's own inclina- 
 tions were consulted, he declared his wish to become 
 an agriculturist. His ideas as to what this implied 
 were somewhat vague. But he pictured to himself a 
 combination of farmer, huntsman, overseer, accountant 
 and land surveyor; and naturally concluded that 
 the most direct way of becoming a first-rate agricul- 
 turist was to master each of these employments by 
 turn. A knowledge of geometry and mensuration 
 would be necessary; and he mentally added subjects 
 adapted to self-improvement. In any case this plan 
 offered the ambitious boy opportunity for contemplation 
 and uninterrupted study. The premium required for 
 his apprenticeship with a first-rate husbandman was 
 beyond his father's means, but a forester, distinguished 
 for his knowledge of geometry and valuation, expressed 
 himself willing to take the boy, and an agreement was 
 drawn up for two years. Friedrich was to live with 
 this gentleman at Neuhaus, high up in the Thuringian 
 Forest, and to receive instruction in forestry, mensura- 
 tion, geometry, and valuation. The arrangements were 
 completed by Midsummer, 1797, and the boy of fifteen 
 and a half was dismissed by his father with the some- 
 what severe injunction that he was to bring home no 
 complaints; they would not be heard, and he would 
 only be condemned beforehand. 
 
 Friedrich had been told that it required a thoroughly 
 efficient geometrician to be a successful agriculturist; 
 and though geometry proper was an unknown subject 
 to the young apprentice, he knew it was in some
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. II 
 
 way connected with his favourite study arithmetic; 
 and fired by the fascination of such magic terms as 
 efficient mastery, valuation, meadow, forest, with all 
 they implied, and unabashed by his father's parting 
 words, he joyfully and resolutely started on his pro- 
 fessional career. Alas! as far as his training was 
 concerned, he was to be cruelly undeceived; for his 
 master, though clever and accomplished himself, was 
 entirely lacking in the skill and patience required for 
 teaching others. The knowledge he had gained from 
 his books was unavailing when an explanation was 
 required. And in addition to this incapacity, he was 
 so engrossed by business (especially some timber- 
 floating he had undertaken) that he seldom had time 
 or inclination to instruct his apprentice. Mostly he 
 was away from home, and Friedrich had to depend on 
 his own exertions for any skill or knowledge he wished 
 to acquire. There were some excellent books on 
 geometry and forestry in his master's library, and with 
 these as companions, and Nature as his guide, our young 
 enthusiast spent the first year of his stay at Neuhaus 
 not so unprofitably as might have been expected. He 
 lived practically alone, and became timid and reserved; 
 but he looked upon Nature as his friend and comforter, 
 and would spend hours examining and comparing 
 plants, insects, or other objects found in field or forest. 
 It was with childish delight that he pressed and 
 arranged his botanical specimens, or classified his 
 insects. He was proud to think that he, alone and 
 unaided, had discovered their characteristics and their 
 place in nature. In each new-found treasure he sought 
 for some indication of the connectedness and unity 
 of plan in the natural world, which even at this time
 
 12 OBERWEISSBACH, STADT ILM, NEUHAUS. 
 
 he instinctively felt must be discoverable. He believed, 
 too, that some noble purpose lay beneath these various 
 forms, something higher than what was indicated by 
 mere classification. A worthy student of nature 
 should not merely collect facts, but should, he thought, 
 be able to refer them to some deeper truth underlying 
 them. Thus a certain conception of nature formed 
 itself in his mind, and covered all that the word 
 " agriculture " had previously conveyed to him. Hence- 
 forth his aim should be to study nature, which at 
 this time did everything for him, whilst it seemed to 
 him that man did nothing. Looking into his own 
 mind he sought to understand the inner life and 
 destiny of the human being, and realised more and 
 more his want of self-knowledge and his inadequacy 
 to solve the problems of nature. Fortunately for 
 Friedrich, a young doctor, living in the neighbourhood, 
 became interested in the boy's self -guided studies, and, 
 observing his tendencies, urged him to take up 
 seriously the study of Natural Science. This friend 
 put into his hands a treatise on Botany. 
 
 Friedrich spent the last six months of his stay at 
 Neuhaus in mastering the contents of this book, which 
 in its turn suggested the following plan of study: 
 1. Physical Geography, or the study of the earth. 2. Its 
 direct productions, i.e., such plants and animals as may 
 be observable. 3. Mathematics, which hitherto had 
 only covered the elements of arithmetic, geometry, and 
 mensuration. 
 
 Friedrich had soon discovered, in his master's 
 library, works on his favourite subject (mathematics) 
 by Gerstenberg and Voigt. The interest of these 
 works inspired our young agriculturist with an 
 intense desire to study Natural Science under these
 
 CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 13 
 
 eminent teachers, then at Jena. The course pursued 
 by German youths at the gymnasium had no attraction 
 for him. He had found school teaching very super- 
 ficial and unattractive ; moreover, the mere acquisition 
 of knowledge was not his object. But he felt that it 
 would be useless to endeavour to shorten his appren- 
 ticeship. He must complete his two years' course at 
 Neuhaus. 
 
 There came to Neuhaus about this time a troupe 
 of actors who gave a performance in the castle, and 
 Friedrich went with his friend He was much 
 impressed, and went again and again, reflecting as he 
 wandered home through the night on what he had 
 seen. One evening, after a representation of Iflfland's 
 " Huntsman," he told one of the young actors that he 
 regarded a profession capable of awakening such noble 
 feelings in the human breast as most enviable. The 
 young fellow, however, revealed to him the glamour 
 surrounding the career of these wandering actors, and 
 the misery that often lay behind it. And Friedrich 
 became conscious of his own extreme immaturity. 
 His father, to whom he innocently confided these 
 experiences, reproached him bitterly for having visited 
 the theatre, and it needed the intercession of brother 
 Christoph to make peace between them. 
 
 The forester, though conscious that he had not done 
 his duty by Friedrich, would have liked to keep bim 
 for another year after his apprenticeship was over 
 (Midsummer, 1799). But Friedrich had Jena in his 
 mind, and longed for more intellectual advantages. So 
 he left at the appointed time, and cheerfully tramped 
 homewards, trusting that some way of fulfilling his 
 noble ambition would be found. Thus terminated his 
 childhood and early youth.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 YOUTH. 
 
 1799 TO 1807. JENA, FRANKFURT. 
 
 New Troubles Jena at last Professor Batsch Father's Death 
 Employment as Bailiff Friends Journey to Frankfurt Brother 
 Christoph's Encouragement Recognition of Mission Frankfurt 
 Education versus Architecture Loss of Testimonials The Model 
 Pestalozzian School Pestalozzian Inspiration First Visit to 
 Yverdun Pestalozzi's Methods Tutorship Educational Ideals 
 Vain Hope of University Study. 
 
 AN ardent wish is seldom unmixed with fear; and 
 though Friedrich did not waver in his choice of 
 a career which should be worthy of his best efforts, 
 he anticipated a certain amount of opposition on the 
 part of his friends. In order to meet this he went 
 on his way home to consult with his brother Christoph, 
 who had always done his best to cheer and encourage 
 him. But he was shocked to find that Christoph had 
 already received an account of his doings, which would 
 certainly have prejudiced a less staunch friend against 
 him. Pastor Froebel had forwarded to his eldest son 
 a letter, in which the forester had accused Friedrich of 
 having wasted his time at Neuhaus, and of being (in 
 spite of the testimonial of efficiency he had given 
 him on leaving) ignorant and unfit for his work.* But 
 Friedrich gave his brother a full and candid account 
 of his studies and of the way in which he had spent 
 * He knew little of Friedrich's assiduous private studies. 
 '4
 
 YOUTH. 1 5 
 
 his time, and of the forester's neglect and indifference 
 towards him; and when reproached by his brother 
 for having kept silent about such treatment, he ex- 
 plained that when he left home his father had definitely 
 warned him against making complaints. 
 
 The brothers hereupon wrote to their father a clear 
 refutation of the forester's charges against Friedrich, 
 and succeeded in reassuring him. For the present, 
 however, he took no active measures for the boy's 
 encouragement, whilst the stepmother openly defended 
 the forester, and declared that Froebel would never 
 do any good. With all this against them, the brothers 
 realised that it would be useless to propose any plan 
 of study for Friedrich which involved expenditure, 
 and that for the present there was nothing to do but 
 to wait. 
 
 All his aspirations after a noble and consistent life 
 must be renounced. This was a dreary and dis- 
 couraging moment for the ambitious boy. 
 
 " Ach, aus dieses Thales Griinden, 
 Die der kalte Nebel driickt, 
 Konnt ich doch den Ausgang finden, 
 Ach wie f uhlt ich mich begluckt ! 
 Dort erblick ich schone Hiigel, 
 Ewig Jung und ewig griin ! 
 Hatt ich Schwingen hatt ich Fliigel, 
 Nach den Hligeln zog ich hin." 
 
 He had ventured to lift his eyes to Jena the seat 
 of learning the scene of such labours as those of 
 Voigt and Gerstenberg. But he hardly dare express 
 his secret wish even to himself. Curiously enough, 
 however, the chance of seeing the University came to 
 him by a mere accident. It seems that his brother
 
 l6 JENA, FRANKFURT. 
 
 Traugott, then a medical student at Jena, had urgent 
 need of his allowance, and Friedrich, being the only 
 unoccupied member of the family, was entrusted to 
 carry it to him. It may be imagined with what an 
 elastic step our youth set out on his travels along 
 the beautiful valley of the Saal, past Ortamund and 
 Kahla, towards the very centre of intellectual culture. 
 On his arrival the brothers visited several of the 
 colleges, and Friedrich was enchanted with the mental 
 activity of the place, and soon confided to his brother 
 his great desire for study. On re-entering Traugott's 
 rooms, the two youths put their best efforts into a 
 letter to Pastor Froebel, in which they begged his 
 permission for Friedrich to stay at Jena during the 
 eight remaining weeks of the term. They promised 
 that the time should be used entirely for the benefit 
 of his future career. To the boys' great delight, they 
 received a favourable answer, and Friedrich at once 
 began the study of topographical maps and charts 
 and other subjects conducive to a knowledge of 
 agriculture. He worked most assiduously till Whit- 
 suntide, when the two brothers tramped home together. 
 The stepmother at once congratulated Friedrich on 
 being able at length to say that he had been "to 
 college." But he was too happy to let this irony 
 disturb him, and kept his object steadily in view. 
 
 Pastor Froebel had no wish to hinder his boy's 
 studies as long as these could be carried on without 
 trenching upon his pecuniary resources, and decided 
 that a small legacy that was to come to him from 
 his mother should be spent upon young Friedrich's 
 studies at Jena. It was hoped this would suffice for 
 several college terms. So with his second guardian's
 
 YOUTH. 17 
 
 consent, our agriculturist, now seventeen and a 
 half years old, returned to the University in time 
 for the autumn term. A letter from his father, 
 testifying to his capacity for the study of finance, 
 exempted him from the matriculation examination, 
 and he was at once admitted as a student of Natural 
 Philosophy. The words "Philosophy" and "Science" 
 had a strange, mysterious sound for this impressionable 
 youth. Hitherto he had only thought of the practical 
 side of his studies, and Natural Philosophy seemed 
 like unattainable greatness to him. But the very 
 words served to give a deeper meaning to his work. 
 Jena was favoured at this time by the presence of 
 three distinguished men: Voigt, Professor of Mathe- 
 matics; Batsch, Professor of Natural Philosophy and 
 Medicine (whose botany class especially interested 
 Friedrich) ; and Gottling, Professor of Chemistry.* 
 
 For the idea of evolution and continuity of plan in 
 the animal world revealed to him by Professor Batsch, 
 Froebel could never be grateful enough; and he listened 
 to Batsch's demonstrations of the similarity in the 
 skeletons of human beings, birds and fishes, with the 
 most absorbing interest. Batsch's teaching sharpened 
 his power of observation, and strengthened his love of 
 nature. This professor introduced him to a scientific 
 association, which very soon drew his tendency for 
 research into its service by making him curator of its 
 scientific specimens. 
 
 * (Johann Friedrich Voigt, 1751 to 1823, Professor of Physics and 
 Mathematics at the University of Gotha, and subsequently at Jena 
 in 1789. In 1774 Voigt published his Applied Mathematics, to be 
 followed a year later by his Pure Mathematics. 
 
 Job.. Friedrich August Gottling, 1755 to 1809, came to Jena with 
 Voigt. 
 
 August Johann Georg Carl Batsch, 1761 to 1802.) K. M. CLABKB. 
 
 C
 
 1 8 JENA, FRANKFURT. 
 
 He found less connectedness and less interest in the 
 lectures of the other professors. He enjoyed Gb'ttling's 
 experiments on chemical affinity, and Voigt's practical 
 geometry, but he was little fitted to grapple with the 
 more abstract subjects. He was but a simple, unedu- 
 cated boy, with a self-taught smattering of this and 
 that. He had a vague idea of Kepler's Laws of the 
 Spheres, but had read none of the serious scientific 
 works of his time. Hence he was little prepared for 
 scientific study in the true sense of the word. 
 
 On his first arrival, like a starving man, he had 
 devoured whatever mental food he could find, suitable 
 or unsuitable; he had no one to advise him. Hence 
 much of his time was at first wasted on subjects that 
 might have waited, and his stay in Jena was not as 
 profitable as it might have been. And by the time he 
 was in the condition to profit by his studies a new 
 trouble came upon him, in the shape of want of funds: 
 not that he had in any way been careless or extrava- 
 gant. His utmost indulgence was an occasional visit 
 to the theatre, or a simple outing with his brother. 
 Indeed he associated very little with the other students, 
 being shy of their superior attainments. It was 
 through his brother Traugott that he was now in 
 trouble ; for shortly after his arrival in Jena, Traugott 
 had borrowed part of his small allowance, and had not 
 returned it, so that by the end of the second term he 
 found himself with an empty purse, and no prospect 
 of help out of the difficulty. 
 
 The idea of quitting the University just as he was 
 beginning to profit by his studies could only be a very 
 last resource. He begged his father to come to his aid, 
 but Pastor Froebel required much persuasion, and at
 
 YOUTH. 19 
 
 / 
 
 length only consented on such conditions as were 
 refused by his co-trustee. This delay increased 
 Friedrich's difficulties, and he was reduced almost to 
 despair. He had not yet paid his term's fees, and was 
 afraid to face his fellow-students and teachers. At last 
 the crisis was reached by a debt of 30 thalers due to a 
 restaurant for food. The Senate, after several notifica- 
 tions to Friedrich, at length applied to his father, 
 threatening the boy with imprisonment unless the 
 account was paid. Each of the trustees wanted the 
 other to pay it. The old pastor suggested that his 
 co-trustee should hand up the small remainder of 
 Friedrich's maternal legacy for the purpose, but this 
 was illegal. So Friedrich was thrown into the 
 debtors' prison, where he remained for nine long 
 weeks. At length his father consented to make the 
 necessary payments, but only on the condition that 
 Friedrich should not expect him to leave him anything 
 in his will. This renunciation having been signed by 
 Friedrich, in the presence of the Senate of the 
 University, he was released. The nine weeks spent 
 in confinement had not been wasted. He had worked 
 at Latin, which he hoped would help him with his 
 scientific studies ; had read Winckelmann's Letters on 
 Art, and a translation of the Zendavesta, wjiich did a 
 good deal to broaden his ideas of religion. He also 
 wrote a treatise on geometry, with a view to getting 
 employment. The summer term of 1801 was his last 
 at Jena. Eef erring to it some years after, in a letter 
 to his brother Christoph, he says, " There is no doubt 
 that I should have benefited more by my stay in Jena 
 had I been well advised ; yet I cannot say that it was 
 of no advantage to me. I certainly came away with a
 
 20 JENA, FRANKFURT. 
 
 better knowledge of my own resources and limitations ; 
 I had learned to know what I wanted; and was, in 
 short, more matured. My world, as I conceived it, 
 though not complete, was now something better than 
 a collection of isolated facts; I had gained in width 
 of view and definiteness of idea." The result was that 
 Friedrich's ideal of his profession had expanded more 
 and more, till it included the mastery of all the sciences 
 on which agriculture is based.* 
 
 Immediately on being liberated from confinement he 
 started for home. The beautiful Thuringian Forest, 
 which was then in all the glory of spring (1801), had 
 an exhilarating effect upon the youth of nineteen, so 
 that, in spite of the discouragement and disapproval 
 which probably awaited him at the parsonage, he was 
 full of hope and good resolutions. His first step was 
 to make a plan for further study. As a guide he took 
 a synoptic chart of the arts, and determined to work 
 up the different subjects by means of some scientific 
 periodicals which he found in his father's library. 
 Here, in his small bedroom, he would sit by the hour, 
 covering folios of paper with different plans and time- 
 tables, never being able to satisfy himself. His father 
 finding him one day thus occupied, reproached him 
 severely for wasting his tune, and could not be per- 
 suaded to see the good that underlay this apparently 
 useless occupation, till brother Christoph came home 
 and interceded for him. The bulk of the pastor's 
 library consisted of works on theology ; but Friedrich 
 found some gems of German literature. The two great 
 German poets he only knew as yet by name. Shortly 
 after his return home he obtained employment as 
 
 * For this appalling list sec Hanschmann, p. 21.
 
 YOUTH. 21 
 
 practical assistant to a farmer at Hildburghausen ; but 
 he had hardly had time to settle down to his work 
 when he was recalled by his father's sudden illness. 
 And perhaps the next few months (i.e., from November, 
 1801, to February, 1802, when his father died) was the 
 only period of mutual confidence and understanding 
 between the upright, well-intentioned old pastor and 
 the young son, who, in spite of all misunderstandings, 
 so thoroughly honoured and appreciated him. 
 
 Our youth of twenty had now only himself to depend 
 upon. At Easter he undertook the temporary manage- 
 ment of an estate near Bamberg, in Bavaria. His 
 duties were light and chiefly secretarial, and left him 
 plenty of leisure for study or for the exploration of the 
 beautiful neighbourhood. Here, again, he found a good 
 library, and he had a most congenial companion in the 
 family tutor. This gentleman introduced him to the 
 doctor, the clergyman, and some of the professors in 
 Bamberg. And in the spring of 1803 he moved into 
 the town with a view to getting an engagement of a 
 more practical nature. But his youth and want of 
 experience stood in his way, and he was glad to obtain 
 a little chart -drawing, and to survey a small estate 
 belonging to a gentleman he had met at Jena. This 
 gentleman was a disciple of Schelling, and Friedrich 
 and he had many discussions on matters of natural 
 philosophy and art. He also introduced him to Bruno's 
 Weltseele. 
 
 At length, in February, 1804, in answer to an adver- 
 tisement, Friedrich was offered an appointment as 
 private secretary to Herr von Dewitz, a magistrate at 
 Gross-Milchow (Mecklenburg-Strelitz), which he was 
 glad to accept. Before beginning his work he paid
 
 22 JENA, FRANKFURT. 
 
 a visit to his uncle at Stadt-Ilm. Uncle and nephew 
 much enjoyed their mutual reminiscences of his stay at 
 Ilm. His uncle told Friedrich that the five happy 
 years he had spent at Ilm were due to his great affec- 
 tion for his sister (Friedrich's mother), and it touched 
 him a good deal to think of the influence his dead 
 mother had thus exercised over his life. 
 
 Having, whilst at Bamberg, learned a new method of 
 book-keeping, he was able to use it at Mecklenburg for 
 the benefit of Frau von Dewitz, who, however, was her- 
 self a most accomplished accountant. The family tutor 
 introduced him to several good families in Meck- 
 lenburg; but the strongest influence on him at this 
 time was that of Professor Wollweide, a young doctor 
 from Gottingen, who had come to spend the holidays 
 with the two eldest sons of Herr von Dewitz, whom he 
 was coaching at Halle. 
 
 Doctor Wollweide, who later on distinguished himself 
 in physics and mathematics, was the means of drawing 
 Friedrich's attention once more to these formerly 
 beloved studies. He now learned to apply mathematics 
 to building, and under the doctor's direction procured 
 some excellent works on architecture. 
 
 This subject so charmed him that he determined to 
 take it up in good earnest, and soon learned to regard 
 architecture as a nobler profession even than agricul- 
 ture. Amongst the works that served further to 
 stimulate his self-culture and to extend his ideas were 
 Proeschke's Anthropological Fragments, and the writings 
 of Novalis and Arndt. Proeschke impressed him with 
 the importance for the human being of environment; 
 Arndt with the relationship which the individual bears 
 to the community, the nation and the world; and
 
 YOUTH. 23 
 
 Nbvalis taught him to know himself and the meaning 
 of his aspirations. He brought away from this reading 
 an altogether new conception of life. He says: 
 "Through the knowledge of myself I was learning 
 to know all men. Step by step my experience was 
 teaching me the macrocosm through the microcosm." 
 He now threw himself with the utmost vigour into 
 all that tended towards his own culture. His desire 
 was to obtain employment which would increase his 
 knowledge of architecture and the allied subjects, and 
 so fit him for what he now regarded as his future 
 calling. He wrote to his tutor friend in Bamberg 
 asking whether Frankfurt would not be a likely place 
 for the work he had in mind. His friend, who had 
 spent some years in Frankfurt, approved of the sugges- 
 tion, and proposed their meeting there in the summer, 
 and endeavouring on the spot to realise Friedrich's 
 plan. ^. 
 
 Friedrich had already obtained his release from his 
 engagement with Herrn Dewitz, and decided to 
 proceed to Frankfurt at once. He wrote with some 
 diffidence to his favourite brother, fearing his dis- 
 approval of the frequent change of plans, but telling 
 him of his " irresistible impulse towards self -improve- 
 ment." When the answer came he was afraid to open 
 it, and only did so after the suspense had become 
 intolerable. The letter both saddened and relieved 
 him. His brother wrote most sympathetically about 
 his future, but gave him the sorrowful news that his 
 beloved uncle at Urn had passed away. He had left to 
 his nephew Friedrich and to each of his brothers a 
 small legacy. Thus Friedrich was able to carry out his 
 plan.
 
 24 JENA, FRANKFURT. 
 
 Full of life and new courage he started for Frank- 
 furt. On his way he spent some delightful May days 
 in the country home of a friend at Ackermark. Gladly 
 and hopefully the young dreamer sped through the 
 beautiful grounds that led to the house. Field and 
 flower-bed glistened beneath the early dew, the beauty 
 of his native soil touched him. " The more closely we 
 unite ourselves to Nature," he thought, " the more does 
 she reveal to us." 
 
 A few words, written in his friend's scrap-book on 
 leaving, show that even at this time, though uncon- 
 sciously, he was at heart seeking a larger and wider 
 sphere even than architecture. " You," he wrote, " with 
 your fruitful land, give men the possession of their 
 daily bread ; let my object be to give them the posses- 
 sion of themselves." 
 
 From Ackermark he wandered in the lovely May 
 weather through the Thuringian Forest and mountains 
 to Griesheim, of which his brother Christoph was 
 pastor. Here his plans for self-education met with the 
 fullest encouragement, for brother Christoph had 
 himself experienced the disadvantages of repressed 
 youthful aspirations. He sympathised heartily with 
 Friedrich's life and vigour. " Be faithful," he said, " to 
 your own heart," and he wrote the following words in 
 Friedrich's scrap-book : " Struggle and strife is the lot 
 of aspiring men. Only be firm and strong, face your 
 difficulties manfully, dear brother, and you will reach 
 the goal." These were golden words for our eager 
 youth, and they served not a little to brace and 
 support him in this moment of anxiety and suspense, 
 and to send him on his way strengthened and 
 refreshed
 
 YOUTH. 25 
 
 / 
 
 As he tramped along the road towards the Wartburg, 
 the idea which had suggested itself to him at Acker- 
 mark recurred to him, that his mission was to restore 
 to man the peaceful possession of his own soul He 
 felt there must be some beautiful and simple way of 
 freeing human life from the strife and contradiction 
 with which it is weighted. Cheered and solaced by 
 the beautiful journey, and by the hope of a speedy 
 fulfilment of his desires, he reached Frankfurt on 
 Midsummer Day, 1805, and found his friend awaiting 
 him. Frankfurt, one of the six free cities of Germany, 
 the birthplace of the poet Goethe, was at this time one 
 of the most important centres of social, political, and 
 intellectual life. 
 
 Friedrich soon obtained employment with an architect. 
 But architecture was rather a means of culture than an 
 end in itself. Imperceptibly and unconsciously he was 
 turning from the building of houses towards the build- 
 ing of men. Through architecture an aesthetic feeling 
 might be awakened in man, but for his general culture 
 and for the ennobling and perfecting of humanity more 
 was necessary. 
 
 There had come to Frankfurt a little before this one 
 of the most enthusiastic disciples of Pestalozzi, Gottlieb 
 Anton Gruener (1778-1844). He was now principal 
 of a most successful Pestalozzian Institution, and 
 Friedrich was introduced to him and his teachers. 
 They met often, and had many lively discussions about 
 education. Friedrich candidly confessed his new ideas 
 and aspirations, and Gruener, who had sufficient know- 
 ledge of men to understand the earnest and enthusiastic 
 nature of his new friend, exclaimed, " Give up your 
 architecture ; that is not your work. You must become
 
 26 JENA, FRANKFURT. 
 
 an educator. We want a teacher in our school. If 
 you will come the post shall be yours." 
 
 Our young architect was much startled by so sudden 
 a proposition, for though his thoughts had been tending 
 more and more in the direction of education, it had not 
 occurred to him to regard himself as having any 
 practical connection with it. He was much impressed, 
 however, and reflection showed him that both his inner 
 life and his outer conditions pointed in this direction, 
 and helped to decide his fate. Gruener's offer was 
 genuine. His friend advised him to accept it. The 
 magic name " Pestalozzi " sounded like a distant echo. 
 
 He called to mind an occasion on which his father 
 had read an extract from the newspaper about a man, 
 living in a secluded village in Switzerland, who had 
 taught himself to read, write, and cipher at the age of 
 forty.* And this had comforted him at times when his 
 own education appeared to be so unsatisfactory. 
 
 The second teacher in Gruener's school, Naenni, had 
 been with Pestalozzi at Burgdorf, contemporaneously 
 with Niederer and other well-known teachers. Gruener 
 
 * This ' ' man " cannot have been Pestalozzi, for he was a distinguished 
 student at the University of Zurich when that University was one of 
 the first in Europe. One well-known fact will show his position there : 
 His Greek professor published a translation of some portion of the 
 orations of Demosthenes. Pestalozzi says he " had the boldness " to 
 compete with his professor, and with such success that the University 
 published his translation. He may have been a very poor Greek 
 scholar, but he had some literary ability. Later in life he gives 
 another illustration of it, when he revised the revision of " Leonard and 
 Gertrude." His translation served for preface to his earliest work, 
 " Agis," and is included in Seyffarth's edition. If " the man " referred 
 to is Pestalozzi it only shows that newspaper reports misrepresented 
 him then, as our writers and teachers do to-day. (Note by Mr. E. Cooke, 
 author of English version of Pestalozzi's How Gertrude Teaches her 
 Children. )
 
 YOUTH. 27 
 
 gave Froebel a pamphlet he had written entitled 
 Letters from Burgdorf about the Pestalozzian methods 
 and institution. He informed Froebel that he had 
 gone to Switzerland for a holiday and rest after his 
 training as tutor and class teacher, and had made his 
 visit to Burgdorf with the idea of refuting the new- 
 fangled, much -vaunted Pestalozzian methods, which 
 appeared to him to be a relapse into barbarism. But 
 lo ! he had found that this very method was the best 
 cure for existing evils in education; so that the in- 
 tended scoffer had become a most enthusiastic disciple. 
 He had come to curse, but remained to pray.* 
 
 All this had its influence on Froebel, but perhaps 
 the circumstance that finally determined him to 
 become a school teacher was the loss of his college 
 certificates and testimonials. This misfortune had, 
 as it were, cut him adrift from his past, and though 
 he had not at this time abandoned the idea of making 
 a special study of mathematics, he was glad to accept 
 the post of assistant in Gruener's model Pestalozzian 
 school. "It is as a mathematician and scientist that 
 I shall win my freedom," he writes in 1805, " for that 
 way lie all my tendencies and inclinations." Behind 
 
 * In his Main Principles underlying the Science and Art of 
 Education, Gruener expounds fully the Pestalozzian doctrine of 
 Anschauung. Since then he had been an earnest advocate of the 
 Pestalozzian system, as all his publications testify. But for a reform 
 in national education he always maintained that practice went further 
 than theory. "It wants something," he said, "besides literature 
 and books if we are to reform our national education. The poor 
 twenty-four written symbols of language and thought are insufficient 
 to represent the world and all it contains. What we want is not 
 words, but things, and their immediate effect upon us. We must 
 cultivate perception, sense-impression, individual judgment, in short 
 Anschauung."
 
 28 JENA, FRANKFURT. 
 
 this expression of his determination there lurked a 
 dim consciousness that there was for him something 
 higher and nobler than mathematics or science. 
 
 The very day after Gruener's offer Friedrich entered 
 the school-room as class teacher, and, strange to say, 
 he felt at once that here was the work for which he 
 was best fitted. His class consisted of thirty or 
 forty boys of nine to eleven years of age. The 
 description of his feeling from the first moment in 
 which he faced his boys is most refreshing. He writes 
 to his brother (end of August, 1805): "I felt like a 
 fish in water, a bird in the air, perfectly at home in 
 my work, and as if I had always been a teacher. 
 Indeed it was as if I had never wished for anything 
 else, and yet, before I entered that school-room I had 
 never dreamed of such a thing as possible for me. 
 Now I know I am in my element in the class-room; 
 I cannot tell you how quickly and pleasantly the time 
 flies; I love the children and they love me, and we 
 quite look forward to the lessons. This happiness is 
 no doubt partly due to my sense of the noble end 
 towards which I am striving, but the mutual affection 
 between myself and the children contributes its part." 
 Thus his long-cherished ideals took shape, and glad- 
 dened him with feelings hitherto unknown ; for though 
 as yet unconsciously to himself, he had entered upon 
 his mission. 
 
 In order to put him into the way of acquiring a 
 theoretical knowledge of education, Gruener gave him 
 Pestalozzi's Essays on the Progress of Education in 
 Switzerland, and a biography of the great Swiss re- 
 former. In this way Pestalozzi became the irispirer 
 of his work, his teacher, and his pattern. He felt
 
 YOUTH. 29 
 
 he must see this man with his own eyes ; and taking 
 advantage of the short holiday at the end of the term, 
 he went to Yverdun, where his letters of introduction 
 procured him a most hearty welcome. 
 
 The Bernese Government had decided to use the 
 Castle of Burgdorf as offices. Muenchenbuchsee was 
 offered to Pestalozzi instead, but here De Fellenberg 
 would have had the chief direction, and to this 
 Pestalozzi could not agree. Hence he had, in August, 
 1805, accepted the invitation to move his institution 
 to Yverdun, on the Lake of Neuchatel. He carried 
 with him one or two teachers and eight pupils. 
 Froebel had now the opportunity of seeing an 
 educational institution which was the embodiment of 
 a great idea. The classes were freely open to him, 
 and Pestalozzi and his teachers were always ready to 
 give him help or information. His first impression 
 was one of bewilderment. He was as yet hardly in 
 a position to judge of the time-table and methods of 
 such an institution as Pestalozzi's. He arrived at an 
 unquiet moment for the institution. The Prince of 
 Hardenberg had been commissioned by the Austrian 
 Government to report on it, and there seemed to be 
 a want of harmony and co-operation amongst the 
 teachers, which may have been due to the agitation 
 of the moment. 
 
 Some of the teaching fairly dazzled him by its 
 rapidity and apparent success (e.g. Kruesi's Arith- 
 metic). Geography was treated too mechanically, 
 though it was taken by a spirited young teacher 
 (Tobler). Of nature -teaching Froebel only heard 
 Botany, which was undertaken by another clever 
 teacher (Hopf), who had a method of his own. At
 
 30 JENA, FRANKFURT. 
 
 every discoverable point in the lesson, e.g. the position 
 of the leaves or of the flowers, he would let the 
 pupils discuss all the forms they knew, so as to 
 emphasize the point then before them. This principle 
 interested Froebel very much, but he thought there 
 was something almost disturbing in its application. 
 The language-teaching in the school was, at this time, 
 wanting in system. Music was taught from figures,* 
 and reading from Pestalozzi's A B C.t The simulta- 
 neous class-teaching he thought admirable, as it allowed 
 every pupil to take the grade for which he was best 
 fitted in each subject. The time-table did not seem 
 to him as all-round as he could have wished, many 
 important subjects being overlooked. 
 
 Froebel says that Pestalozzi himself seemed to be 
 almost bewildered by the mental machinery of the 
 place. He never could give any account of his 
 methods; he used to say, "Come and see, it goes 
 grandly." 
 
 Froebel's short visit came to an end about the 
 middle of October; he carried away the following 
 few words in the handwriting of Pestalozzi: "By 
 thought and speech is your road prepared, but silent 
 action alone will enable you to reach the goal." 
 
 Froebel returned to Frankfurt about the middle of 
 October, 1805, by which time Gruener's negotiations 
 with the Council at Frankfurt had brought about his 
 appointment as permanent teacher. There were at 
 this time two hundred children in the school, five 
 boys' and three girls' classes, together with four per- 
 
 * The Chevd system, invented by Rousseau. 
 
 t See an account of this in Dr. Wichard Lange's edition of Froebel'a 
 Pedagogic Works, vol. i.
 
 YOUTH. 31 
 
 manent and nine visiting teachers. Froebel was 
 entrusted with the re -organisation of the school. 
 He took up his work with the utmost spirit and 
 resolution, and though his management made great 
 demands on the devotion of the teachers, his influence 
 was declared by the authorities to be of the utmost 
 value to the school, and to work wonders amongst 
 the children. 
 
 Froebel was careful never to puzzle his pupils with 
 anything he had not first thoroughly worked out 
 himself; and in a school where method was regarded 
 as of the utmost importance, his originality and 
 resource met with the keenest appreciation. His class 
 soon became the show class of the school. His first 
 public examination was a brilliant success. He gave 
 a lesson on Physical Geography, under the head of 
 " Heiniathskunde " (i.e., study of environment), a 
 subject recently introduced into the school. Froebel 
 took this opportunity of showing how easily and well 
 the pupil may learn from direct contact with natural 
 objects and surroundings ; and how, by proceeding in a 
 gentle and orderly manner from the near to the more 
 remote, he may make his own what no books can 
 teach. His pupils demonstrated well the value of their 
 little voyages of discovery, and also the beneficial 
 influence exercised upon them by one who loved 
 Nature for herself, and made a thorough study of 
 whatever he put before his pupils. 
 
 That they had most carefully studied the plants, 
 animals, hills, dales, rivers, mountain streams, rocks, 
 and other features of the country round Frankfurt, 
 was evident ; and that the facts thus discovered by
 
 32 JENA, FRANKFURT. 
 
 themselves were utilised for their benefit in the school- 
 room was equally evident. 
 
 Froebel placed a blackboard flat upon the floor, and 
 with the help of the boys traced upon it the course 
 of the Eiver Maine. The position of Frankfurt being 
 determined, he traced round it a line limiting the area 
 to be taken in the lesson. From this starting-point 
 the boys proceeded to fill in the features of the locality 
 which had come under their direct observation (i.e., 
 roads, hills, streams, buildings, etc.). When the picture 
 was complete it was set up, and the boys were allowed 
 to copy what they themselves had put together. They 
 were then questioned by the teacher, and their ready 
 answers showed how thoroughly they had mastered 
 their own locality. "That is the way to learn 
 geography," said the listeners. Other lessons followed, 
 such as arithmetic, drawing, and language ; to all of 
 which he applied the Pestalozzian system in his own 
 way. In the writing lesson (given to the girls) correct 
 speaking was the basis of correct writing. The great 
 success of this demonstration only served to inspire 
 Froebel more than ever with the wish to perfect him- 
 self in educational methods. However pleasing his 
 teaching was to others, he himself knew well how far 
 short he fell of his own standard of efficiency, and he 
 now determined to take the first opportunity of making 
 a special study of Pedagogy. 
 
 In addition to his school work he was acting as 
 private tutor to the three young sons of Herr 
 Holzhausen, and this new work had further revealed 
 to him the great difference between the introspective 
 attitude of mind required for self-development, and 
 the pedagogic point of view necessary for the educa-
 
 YOUTH. 33 
 
 tion of others. Froebel was much interested in these 
 boys, but he did not consider himself fitted for private 
 teaching. 
 
 Their mother, however, had many serious and 
 anxious talks with him about her boys, especially 
 the two eldest, who had been under bad influence ; 
 and she pleaded so hard for his co-operation, and 
 showed such confidence in his judgment, that he ended 
 by undertaking to give them lessons in arithmetic and 
 their mother-tongue, and to share their walks. Frau 
 von Holzhausen's kindness, intelligence, and refine- 
 ment, her simplicity and dignity of character, won 
 Froebel's admiration, and a lasting friendship grew up 
 between them. The way in which this noble woman 
 overcame prejudice, opposition and hindrances of 
 every kind, in order worthily to fulfil her duties as 
 wife and mother, seemed to Froebel little short of 
 heroic. His intercourse with Frau von Holzhausen 
 served to impress him with his own want of 
 culture. In his practice as a teacher he had had 
 remarkable success ; but, far more than this, practical 
 ability was necessary if he was ever to become a true 
 educationist. 
 
 His recent experience had convinced him that 
 education was his life work, and worthy of his utmost 
 devotion, and now it only remained for him to take up 
 the study of pedagogy in all seriousness. For this 
 purpose he proposed, firstly, to attend one of the 
 universities for a year (either at Heidelberg or at 
 Goettingen); secondly, to study such methods as those 
 of Tillich, Plamann, and Arndt; thirdly, to go for 
 one year to Yverdun, and finally to start a boys' 
 school in accordance with his ideal somewhere in the 
 
 D
 
 34 JENA, FRANKFURT. 
 
 North of Germany. Gruener, seeing the eagerness 
 with which he pursued his plan of development, had 
 arranged to set him free at the end of two, instead of 
 the three years agreed upon. 
 
 A few extracts from a letter, dated March, 1807, 
 will show the unusual depth of thought and serious- 
 ness of this young man of five-and-twenty. "The 
 object of education," he says, " is the realisation of a 
 perfect humanity. Purity and simplicity of heart are 
 as important for the educator as knowledge and 
 culture; for it is the destiny of man that concerns 
 him far more than his learning. Experience must be 
 tested by scientific study and observation. Hence the 
 pedagogue must study his subject from a philosophical, 
 as well as from a practical point of view. He must 
 make a special study of the physical, mental, and 
 moral nature of man, and his place in the world. He 
 must take anthropology and physiology into his service. 
 The educator must himself be educated." 
 
 Froebel was conscious of his power to set before his 
 pupils an ideal of humanity, and he now wanted to fit 
 himself for helping them to reach this ideal. His love 
 of nature, and also of self-culture, seemed to be but 
 different forms of a deeper and larger love, i.e., the 
 love of humanity. His real aim from the beginning, 
 though unknown to himself, had been the under- 
 standing and perfecting of the human being. 
 
 " I would have men," he cried, " who stand rooted in 
 the world of nature, but who, with heads erect, can 
 read the secrets of heaven ; who cherish in their hearts 
 the manifold beauty of earth, and the peace and calm 
 of heaven God's earth and God's heaven,"
 
 YOUTH. 35 
 
 A gifted sage and thinker of our time, / 
 Believer in humanity sublime, 
 Has thus described the man he wished to see, 
 Divine, yet human ; bound, yet ever free. 
 
 Erect he stands with dignity of stature, 
 With foot implanted in the world of Nature, 
 With head uplift, and clear and steady gaze, 
 He dares his piercing eye to heaven to raise. 
 
 To him all Nature's wealth of hue and form, 
 Her cloud and sunshine, mountain, sea, and storm, 
 Her ever changing mood, her smile, her tear, 
 Are revelations intimate and clear. 
 
 To such a man there is divinely given 
 The secret of the peace and calm of heaven. 
 His human heart holds sacredly enshrined 
 Such gladness as the pure on earth may find. 
 
 A human gladness and a heavenly joy, 
 A peace which nothing earthly can destroy 
 The peace of heaven and joy of earth combined : 
 These would I in each human being find.* 
 
 * I have always been much impressed with this thought of 
 Froebel's ; but offer the above versification for what it is worth.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 FROEBEL AND PESTALOZZI. 
 
 1807 TO 1811. FRANKFURT, YVERDUN. 
 
 Froebel's Life with his Pupils Gardening Froebel an unconscious 
 Follower of Rousseau Value of the Joyousness of Childhood 
 Origin of the Kindergarten Occupations Yverdun Pestalozzi's 
 Influence Introduction of his System into Prussia Failure in 
 the midst of Success Situation of Yverdun Daily Routine 
 Pestalozzi and his Teachers Froebel's Conception of Pestalozzi- 
 anism The Mother's Book Sense Impressions Movement 
 Sound Number Geography Mathematics Music Drawing 
 Writing and Reading Froebel's Criticisms School Organisation 
 Home Education Education of the Parent History Germs 
 of the Froebel Idea Pestalozzi's Religious Teaching Dissensions 
 at Yverdun Public Examination of the Pestalozzian Institution 
 Froebel's Departure from Yverdun Nature Studies. 
 
 fTlHE third period of Froebel's history begins in a 
 -L lonely cottage on a heath outside Frankfurt. 
 Here he settled down, in July, 1807, as private tutor to 
 the three sons of Herr von Holzhausen. He had been 
 asked to try and find a tutor for them, but hitherto 
 had been unsuccessful, and both he and Frau von 
 Holzhausen at length gave it up in despair. Froebel, 
 who was much attached to the boys, and sympathised 
 with the mother's anxiety, after much conflict with 
 himself, determined to give up the University for the 
 present and undertake the boys himself. Gruener, 
 who had set him free so that he might have scope for 
 the self-culture he needed, disapproved of this reforging 
 
 36
 
 FROEBEL AND PESTALOZZI. 37 
 
 of the chains of bondage, and tried to dissuade him. 
 But Froebel could not resist the pleading of mother 
 and sons for his help. At the same time he was fully 
 conscious of his incompetence to reach the standard he 
 himself had fixed for the educator. 
 
 In a letter to his brother Christoph (probably on the 
 subject of the Holzhausen tutorship), he writes: "A 
 natural simplicity and purity of character is more 
 valuable for the educator than a vast amount of 
 worldly culture. Science points out the right road; 
 experience must be tested by science; science leads 
 through ideas back to idealised realities; pedagogy, 
 though independent of philosophy, is closely connected 
 with it. Philosophy indicates the principles of all 
 science, and proceeds from the destiny of man back to 
 the education he requires to fulfil it, and thus en- 
 lightens the views, and ennobles the work of the 
 educator. He must base his operations on physiology 
 and anthropology. General culture, i.e. a knowledge of 
 nature, is assumed in the educator. He must study 
 these subjects as well as ethics, languages, history, 
 geography, method, and pedagogy." 
 
 It was with a sense of great responsibility that he 
 took up his abode with the boys in their solitary little 
 cottage. Like Pestalozzi and Rousseau, he had great 
 faith in the influence of nature on the human mind, 
 and this belief had certainly been verified in his own 
 case. He felt also that the first thing to do was to 
 free these boys from the trammels of convention and 
 old associations, and to get complete control over them. 
 This accomplished, it would be time to consider the 
 means and methods of educating them. He determined 
 from the beginning to share their life, amusements, and
 
 38 FRANKFURT, YVERDUN. 
 
 occupations, and to make everything contribute to their 
 development. " The best education I can give them is 
 to live with them," he said to himself. It was not 
 always easy to harmonise and connect the subjects of 
 study, but he was stimulated and encouraged in his 
 search for unity of plan by the writings of such men as 
 Seiler and Jean Paul Kichter, in whose Levana he 
 found much inspiration. Froebel enjoyed the peaceful, 
 undisturbed life they led together, and gave himself up 
 to the boys with a devotion to which he looked back in 
 after years a little wistfully. This complete surrender 
 of himself satisfied his instincts as an educator, and 
 taught him many a valuable lesson. At first he trusted 
 almost entirely to the influence of rambles in the fresh 
 air, during which the boys were encouraged to take. an 
 interest in natural objects. Then their father gave the 
 boys a piece of land, which the new colonists set to 
 work with the most lively interest to turn into a 
 garden. There was great rejoicing over each new 
 plant, and many were the offerings of vegetable, fruit, 
 or flower, the children made to parents or teacher. 
 Froebel saw in their delight and interest in flowers 
 a pledge of goodness, and a proof of the benefit of their 
 contact with nature. But this wealth of happiness in 
 early life suggested to him the sad reflection that 
 "childhood and youth are ever unconscious of the 
 riches they possess, only understanding their real wealth 
 after they have lost it." " Will the time never come," 
 he asked, " when youth may profit by the experience 
 and wisdom of age ? Of what service is this wisdom 
 if it be only carried to the grave ? " 
 
 Without being fully acquainted with Eousseau's 
 works, Froebel carried out his main principle of
 
 FROEBEL AND PESTALOZZI. 39 
 
 leaving children time for self -education. ' "Perfect 
 growth," says this apostle of nature (Bousseau) "can 
 only be attained through an entirely free development. 
 That which a child cannot perceive by his senses, that 
 which he cannot see to be either useful or pleasurable, 
 vanishes away like chaff in the wind. Much of nature 
 and little of books, more reality and less instruction, 
 this is the education that in every period has brought 
 forth the best men. A child must first learn to know 
 the earth, the plants, the animals, and the human 
 beings on its native soil before it can understand the 
 more remote and distant places of the earth. Any 
 other way will only produce parrots. A good education 
 consists less in the dictation of what is good, true, and 
 beautiful, than in the practice of it. What we have to 
 do for early education is not so much to teach virtue 
 and truth, as to protect the heart from evil and the 
 mind from error." This was the task Froebel had set 
 himself, and when in any difficulty about the eldest 
 boy, he would simply follow the lead of the two 
 younger boys, and trust to a simple life in nature. 
 
 The more he recalled his own early experiences, the 
 more convinced he felt that the best basis for a good 
 Christian life is a thoroughly happy childhood. He 
 abstained from imposing on these children the religious 
 forms which had had so deep a meaning for himself, 
 trusting that nature would be his best helper. 
 
 The boys' gymnastics consisted chiefly of their daily 
 rambles with their teacher, skipping, walking on stilts, 
 and playing at ball. As the winter came on, Froebel 
 felt the need of some indoor exercises. Again he 
 recalled his own favourite employments as a child, 
 and set himself to invent all he could think of.
 
 40 FRANKFURT, YVERDUN. 
 
 Amongst these were drawing and designs on chequers, 
 perforating paper or cardboard, cutting and weaving 
 paper, geometrical cardboard-work, and wood-work. 
 Indeed there is little doubt that here, with these 
 three Frankfurt boys, he laid the foundation of what 
 we now know as Kindergarten occupations. These he 
 shared with the boys. "There seems," he writes, "to 
 be something peculiarly gratifying to the young mind 
 in production, and in the handling and transforming 
 of material." He had not as yet begun to consider 
 the cause of this satisfaction. At the same time he 
 realised that some regular plan of study must be 
 entered upon before the boys could attend a public 
 school ; and, doubting his own fitness to undertake the 
 whole responsibility of this more advanced teaching, 
 he once more turned his eyes in the direction of 
 Pestalozzi. 
 
 The school at Yverdun was at this time at the very 
 height of its renown ; pupils were flocking thither from 
 all parts of the world ; and Froebel conceived the plan 
 of placing the education of the boys in the hands of 
 the great teacher, and, whilst superintending their 
 studies, of perfecting himself in the Pestalozzian 
 methods. Having obtained the consent of their 
 parents, he carried the boys to Yverdun in the 
 summer of 1808. He was full of hope and expecta- 
 tion, believing that there was no educational problem 
 that could not be solved at Yverdun. His former 
 stay with this great man had been too short to gwrtfx ^ 
 him anything like a thorough insight into his scheme 
 of education, but now he hoped to find there all that 
 he was seeking. All that he had heard or read of 
 Pestalozzi since his previous visit had but tended to
 
 FROEBEL AND PESTALOZZI. 41 
 
 increase his admiration. He felt sure that his boys 
 would come under a strong spiritual influence at 
 Yverdun, and would have developed in them an all- 
 sided activity and skill which would satisfy the 
 utmost demands of their nature. 
 
 It was during the previous winter that the great 
 philosopher, Fichte, had pronounced his celebrated 
 "Appeal to the German Nation." In this speech, 
 which resounded throughout Germany, he pointed 
 specially to Pestalozzi. " This man," he declared, " in 
 his idea of sound national education, held the secret 
 of the 'new birth of the German nation'; he was the 
 link in the history of the world between the old 
 education and the new, and his was the only method 
 calculated to enable the nation to satisfy his (Fichte's) 
 demands. Our laws, our alliances, and the use to 
 which we are to put our fighting power, are taken out 
 of our hands," he cried, "but our education has not 
 been thought of; if we want something to do, let us 
 attend to that. Probably we shall be left undisturbed 
 in that matter. Our only hope lies in education." 
 
 Queen Luise was greatly interested in education, and 
 steadfastly supported Fichte's recommendations for its 
 amelioration. She had learned at the enlightened 
 court of her father in Mecklenburg-Strelitz to identify 
 herself with all that concerned the national good. She 
 had a thorough belief in Pestalozzi, and had been the 
 means of sending several young Prussians to Yverdun 
 to train. She rejoiced at the appointment of Pestalozzi's 
 friend, Nikolovius, as minister, and wrote : " Frederick 
 IL conquered provinces; Frederick William III. will 
 conquer intellectual territory for his country." An 
 entry in her diary in 1807 further illustrates her
 
 42 FRANKFURT, YVERDUN. 
 
 admiration of Pestalozzi: "I am reading Leonard 
 and Gertrude" she writes, " a book for the people, by 
 Pestalozzi. If I could follow my own inclination, I 
 would drive straight to Pestalozzi and thank him 
 with tears for his great love of humanity." 
 
 The Chancellor von Tuerk, author of the Letters 
 from Muenchen Buclisee, had himself studied with 
 Pestalozzi at Burgdorf. 
 
 The Prussian Minister of Education, Von Altenstein, 
 wrote to Pestalozzi in September, 1808 : " Being 
 thoroughly convinced of the value of the method of 
 teaching which you have originated, and which you 
 carry out so well, I have determined to introduce it 
 into the elementary schools of Prussia, and thus bring 
 about a thorough reform in school organisation, which 
 I feel persuaded will have the best possible influence 
 on the education of the people. The young men to 
 be sent to you are to learn the principles of your 
 education directly from yourself. And it is not 
 intended that they should get a mere smattering of 
 it, but they are to learn all the subjects, and to 
 understand their various connections. They are to 
 practise these different methods under the immediate 
 guidance of their author and his efficient assistants; 
 and I feel sure that the association with such workers 
 will not only advance them intellectually, but, by 
 persuading them of its sanctity, will prepare them 
 morally for their educational office. May you be able 
 to inspire these young teachers with the zeal which 
 impels you to devote your life to the cause of educa- 
 tion." The favour thus shown to Pestalozzi by those 
 in authority naturally increased his popularity, and 
 the result was that during the years 1808 and 1809
 
 FROEBEL AND PESTALOZZI. 43 
 
 the establishment at Yverdun was overcrowded. 
 People of all nationalities hastened to Switzerland to 
 learn from this apostle of threescore years. 
 
 All classes in Prussia were at this time impressed 
 with the importance of education. Statesmen and 
 legislators shared the general enthusiasm. Freiherr 
 von Stein* declared that the future of the nation 
 would depend upon the educational system now to be 
 decided upon, and urged the adoption throughout the 
 country of Pestalozzi's methods. Pestalozzi held the 
 secret of spiritual influence, and of the development 
 of faculty in accordance with the nature of man. It 
 was time for the Prussian nation to give up all narrow 
 and one-sided systems which overlooked and neglected 
 the very faculties and tendencies on which the dignity 
 and power of the nation depended. 
 
 Froebel's second visit to Yverdun took place at 
 the moment of its highest success. The institution 
 numbered at that time about two hundred of various 
 nationalities, and visitors came every day to see or to 
 learn of the famous master. This mark of the general 
 interest shown in his work filled Pestalozzi with glad- 
 ness and hope. He had as yet no suspicion of 
 approaching misfortune.t 
 
 * Minister of Public Instruction. 
 
 t This view is not generally accepted, as will be seen from the 
 following passage taken from Mr. John Russell's Translation of Guimps' 
 Life of Ptstalozzi (Sonnenschein) : "At the end of 1807, when the 
 establishment at Yverdun was at the zenith of its fame, and exciting 
 the admiration of scholars and sovereigns ; when it was attracting 
 crowds of pupils, disciples and visitors from every country, and filling 
 everybody connected with it with joy and hope, one man alone was 
 dissatisfied, one man alone saw that it could not endure, that it was 
 doomed, like a plant at whose root there gnaws an undying worm. 
 This man was Pestalozzi himself."
 
 44 FRANKFURT, YVERDUN. 
 
 But in spite of the apparent success of the school, 
 the seeds of dissolution were already ripe within it. It 
 was the very overcrowding into the institution of large 
 numbers that brought about its ruin. " Parents who 
 were entirely ignorant of Pestalozzi's aim, eagerly 
 demanded that their children should learn as much as 
 possible, and that they should do this in the same short 
 space of time as was required in other schools where 
 the learning was mechanical and superficial, and where 
 Pestalozzi's solid grounding in the elements of learning 
 was absent." 
 
 When Pestalozzi's institution was started on French 
 territory it was naturally filled to a great extent with 
 French boys, and both French and German parents 
 hoped that their children would mutually profit by the 
 daily intercourse, so as to acquire the use of a foreign 
 tongue. 
 
 They were far from understanding Pestalozzi's aims, 
 and much time was frequently lost in demonstrating to 
 them the results of the teaching. 
 
 Froebel and his pupils joined in the vigorous and 
 active life of the school ; they at once felt the charm of 
 the lovely country surrounding their new home. The 
 Castle of Yverdun is beautifully situated on the south 
 side of the Lake of Neuchatel, and at the mouth of the 
 River Orbe. From the four solid stately towers of the 
 old Burgundian castle, built in memory of Charles the 
 Bold, one looks across a lovely landscape. On the 
 north-west are the high peaks of the Jura chain; on 
 the east a vast panorama of distant mountains and 
 glaciers. On the north-east the beautiful lake is sur- 
 rounded by pine-clad hills. Before Pestalozzi and his 
 merry company of boys took up their abode in the
 
 FROEBEL AND PESTALOZZI. 45 
 
 Castle it was a dismal place, tenanted only by rooks 
 and crows, and the only pleasing thing about it was the 
 fresh green meadow-land which lay between it and the 
 lake. Now the formerly silent and deserted rooms 
 were filled with a powerful and stirring life. 
 
 It was Froebel's wish to live within the walls of the 
 institution with his boys, so as to come daily under 
 Pestalozzi's personal influence. But this was found to 
 be impossible, and he had to content himself with a 
 home near enough to allow them to share the lessons, 
 walks, meals, holidays, etc., with the other pupils. 
 
 The arrangements in the Castle of Yverdun were of 
 the simplest. The class-rooms, dormitories, and dining- 
 hall were spacious enough, but nowhere was there any 
 attempt at comfort or convenience. Blochmann, a well- 
 known teacher in the institution, has described some of 
 the shifts which the teachers had to make, such as 
 erecting their own desks in the midst of crowded class- 
 rooms, or partitioning off for themselves a little corner 
 in which to teach. 
 
 But the exquisite scenery made up for a good deal ; 
 they had the green meadows for the boys to romp and 
 play in, and the clear waters of the lake for their health 
 and refreshment. On Saturdays they would wander, 
 after school, into the Jura mountains, or visit the neigh- 
 bouring shepherds' huts. Here, at sunset, they enjoyed 
 the lovely panorama of the Mont Blanc range and the 
 lakes of Geneva and Neuchatel. Or perhaps they 
 would climb in the early morning to the highest 
 point of the Chasseral, to see the land which Caesar 
 once made the starting-point for the conquest of the 
 world. Or they would eagerly collect and discuss the 
 variety of plants growing on these heights ; and teachers
 
 46 FRANKFURT, YVERDUN. 
 
 and pupils would go back to the valley laden and 
 decked with their many-coloured treasures. On festive 
 occasions pilgrimages were made to some beautiful spot 
 on the Lake of Geneva ; sometimes they would venture 
 as far as the Canton of Valais, in Savoy, and in the 
 summer holidays they would even penetrate as far as 
 Mont St. Gothard, in the Bernese Oberland. What a 
 healthful, joyous, and exhilarating life it was ! Bloch- 
 mann tells us that the pupils rose at five and the 
 teachers at four, or even earlier. The teachers, indeed, 
 had to pledge themselves to take their turns in guard- 
 ing the Castle at night-time, one taking the watch till 
 midnight, another after midnight, each in turn waking 
 Pestalozzi at two o'clock, and the other teachers at 
 whatever hour they fixed upon. The pupils prepared 
 their lessons from six to seven ; then Pestalozzi con- 
 ducted morning prayers. These were attended by 
 everyone. After prayers the children washed in the 
 courtyard, the stronger of them standing, even in 
 winter, naked in the frozen stream. Both teachers 
 and pupils went about with bare heads and uncovered 
 necks. 
 
 The attendance was called immediately after break- 
 fast, and then followed lessons on scripture, language, 
 number and form. At noon teachers and pupils, young 
 and old, hastened to the lake to play, bathe or swim 
 till dinner-time. The dinner was frugal and short, and 
 lessons began again at two o'clock. Four to five was 
 devoted to gymnastics, recreation, and refreshment; 
 then there was work again for three hours, after which 
 came supper and prayers. The pupils went to bed at 
 nine o'clock, after which the teachers attended teachers' 
 meetings or lectures on pedagogy, or Pestalozzi would
 
 FROEBEL AND PESTALOZZI. 4? 
 
 have interviews with any boys the teacners brought 
 him as deserving of praise or remonstrance. 
 
 Froebel attended all the lessons with his pupils, and 
 had frequent and interesting discussions on method 
 with Pestalozzi. " Although," he says, " I was not blind 
 to the imperfections of the school, nor to the discord 
 and want of harmony already apparent among the 
 teachers, I thought I could trace Pestalozzi's meaning 
 beneath the errors in practice. I was carried away by 
 the stirring life by which I was surrounded. What 
 was missing in unity, clearness, and connectedness was 
 compensated for by the vigour, enthusiasm, and the 
 geniality that underlay the doings of the whole 
 community. Pestalozzi's discourses had a marvellous 
 effect, and though it was not easy for him to impart 
 his own ideals to his hearers, he always managed to 
 stimulate and inspire them with the love of what was 
 noble and good." 
 
 Blochmann says that the years spent at Yverdun 
 were filled with " valuable experiences for the teacher 
 never to be forgotten." "The daily association with 
 so grand a personality as Pestalozzi," says Friedrich 
 Mann, " could not fail to have the most beneficial and 
 lasting effect upon all those who came within his sphere 
 of activity. He was full of rich intellectual concep- 
 tions, and still fuller of pure self-sacrificing love. One 
 could not resist the wish to reach his lofty ideal." By 
 the beginning of the year 1809 Froebel had learned so 
 to identify himself with the vigorous life of the place 
 that the disagreement of Pestalozzi's two chief assistants 
 failed to impress him as fundamental Intercourse with 
 the many well-educated and even distinguished men 
 who visited Yverdun during his stay there was an
 
 48 FRANKFURT, YVERDUN. 
 
 important factor in Froebel's development. The various 
 views and convictions of such a heterogeneous company 
 led to many interesting discussions, and brought 
 out the strength and individuality of the different 
 opponents. In the short summary of the Pestalozzian 
 system sent to the Duchess of Rudolstadt, Froebel 
 says : 
 
 " The Pestalozzian education begins at the child's birth. 
 The child is to be harmoniously educated as a whole from 
 the beginning; neither his body, his mind, nor his spirit 
 must be overlooked; Pestalozzi's object is to develop all the 
 faculties of the human being, rather than to train certain 
 faculties to the injury of others. 
 
 " The senses and spirit of the child are the first to mature ; 
 the dawn of a child's soul is seen in its first smile ; that of 
 his intelligence in his first clear perception of an object. 
 This is explained in Pestalozzi's Mother's Book, in which 
 he shows how the child, starting with mere sense-impressions, 
 gradually arrives at conscious perceptions. And it is to this 
 end that the mother attracts his attention to the various 
 objects by which he is surrounded. Not that father, mother, 
 or teacher, are to copy Pestalozzi's plan pedantically; his 
 object in writing the book was merely to pattern forth a 
 method of getting the child to recognise and appreciate the 
 world of objects in which he finds himself.* Various 
 exercises are suggested with a view to testing the child's 
 understanding of language, t In this way the mother trains 
 at one and the same time the child's faculty of speech and 
 power of observation. He soon becomes conscious of the 
 objects about him, and learns to recall them when absent. 
 From the narrow circle of the home he extends his obser- 
 vations to the wider field of nature. 
 
 * Kruesi contributed to the 3fother's Book. 
 
 t Froebel notes here the educational value of contrasts, so character- 
 istic of his own work later.
 
 FROEBEL AND PESTALOZZI. 49 
 
 "The mother's duty is to emphasise and confirm these 
 sense-impressions by repetition, and to teach the child to dis- 
 criminate between them ; finally, by naming objects, to recall 
 their images to the child's mind. Next, by learning the 
 attributes or qualities of objects, he is enabled to compare 
 them and know them still better. And thus he learns to 
 converse, and becomes a social creature. The child's love of 
 imitating sounds and movements develops him in many ways. 
 He sees the world no longer as a chaotic mass, but as 
 divisible into objects, having various qualities. Some 
 qualities he finds in all objects, such as number, size, pro- 
 portion. Indeed, he gets his first lessons in number and 
 form long before there is any question of formal learning. 
 
 " When the child is seven years old the mother's teaching 
 is succeeded by that of the father or of the teacher, and the 
 lessons, instead of being casual and intermixed, are more 
 definitely divided off. The child is now a pupil. His 
 power of speech is fully developed, and he begins to under- 
 stand the importance of language, and his daily observations 
 lead him to understand it better and better. 
 
 " Suitable questions on the objects observed provide ample 
 exercise for his power of expression, which in its turn serves 
 to develop his thinking power. Next follow exercises in the 
 comparison of natural objects, with a view to their dis- 
 crimination, the noting of likeness and difference between 
 them. Then the surface and products of the earth are the 
 subjects of investigation. This gives the child a more com- 
 plete and thorough knowledge of the objects already observed, 
 of their qualities, parts, connection, and classification. The 
 study of the earth naturally interests the child in geo- 
 graphical facts; these are best learned at first hand, by 
 walks with teacher or parent, and by actual observation 
 of the country and products around his home (Heimaths- 
 kunde). 
 
 " Gradually his rambles extend, so as to cover more and 
 more ground, and he learns the meaning of plain, hill, valley, 
 
 E
 
 50 FRANKFURT, YVERDUN. 
 
 and country, whilst his interest in the various phenomena 
 presented to him encourages him to seek for their cause. 
 Following upon this general study he may select, say, a 
 river near his home, learn such facts connected with it as its 
 length and width, position, rapidity, the direction in which 
 it flows, its banks, bed, and tributaries. Thus mastered, this 
 river will serve him as a type for the study of all others. 
 
 " The study of rivers leads the pupil to that of the water- 
 system of a country, and its dependence on the mountain 
 system, and so on to its physical and political conditions, 
 and the course may be completed by pictures and descrip- 
 tions of natural scenery. Pestalozzi's course may be 
 indicated as follows : 
 
 " 1. Description of the earth's surface (Heimath-kunde). 
 (a) The mountain system. 
 (6) The water system. 
 
 (c) Connection of these. 
 
 (d) Topography. 
 " 2. Political geography. 
 
 Interaction of political and physical con- 
 ditions. 
 " 3. Description of the physical features of the earth. 
 
 " Eoger de Guimps says : ' Pestalozzi's method of teaching 
 geography has completely revolutionised the teaching of that 
 science. The child is first taught to observe the country 
 about his home, not on the map, but on the land itself ; it 
 is the child himself who draws the map, correcting the 
 mistakes in his first attempt after further visits to the spot. 
 Having thus learned to understand and read maps, he 
 continues his study by the help of large blank maps hung on 
 the wall. From the very first day geography is connected 
 with other sciences, such as natural history, agriculture, 
 local geology, etc., which make it very attractive even for 
 children. 
 
 " The study of number follows upon the mother's exercises 
 in counting. The pupil now deals with particular numbers, 
 
 AIUMNAE LIBRARY
 
 FROEBEL AND PESTALOZZI. 51 
 
 compares one number with another, manipulates first simple, 
 and then more complex numbers, and finally comes to the 
 study of arithmetic proper. In the same way a knowledge 
 of form is obtained. Froebel recommends for the study of 
 this subject a work by Schmidt, whom he calls "the most 
 genial of Pestalozzi's followers." The study of form and 
 number leads naturally to what Pestalozzi has called " the 
 theory of magnitudes." 
 
 " ' As a contrast to these mathematical studies, which 
 provide exercises for the intellect chiefly, there are the 
 nature studies, which serve in great part to train the 
 emotions and the aesthetic sense. Pre-eminent, however, 
 among the studies that affect feeling is music, the purest and 
 loftiest gift of expression which heaven has given to man. ' " 
 
 Naegeli and Pfeiffer were at this time occupied in 
 the compilation of a Pestalozzian singing-book for chil- 
 dren (published in 1810). 
 
 Pfeiffer, the author of a popular method of teaching 
 singing, was a thorough pedagogue. Naegeli, a clever 
 musician and a man of culture, was well known 
 throughout Germany and Switzerland as the author 
 of an excellent method of voice training. Froebel 
 learnt much from Naegeli's lectures on music. One 
 point especially impressed him, i.e., that singing is just 
 as valuable a means of expression for the little child as 
 movement or speech. Froebel made a careful study of 
 the Pfeiffer-Naegeli method of music teaching, the 
 influence of which may be traced in the prominence 
 given to music teaching in the Kindergarten. 
 
 Schmidt elaborated a Pestalozzian course of drawing, 
 reading, and writing, beginning with the child's eighth 
 year. In reading Pestalozzi followed Krug's* phonic 
 
 * Krug, 1771 to 1843.
 
 52 FRANKFURT, YVERDUN. 
 
 method, but insisted on the pupil's consciousness of the 
 physiological mechanism of speech; the system was 
 approved and adopted by Froebel and other teachers 
 from Yverdun. 
 
 For writing Pestalozzi at first used chequers, but 
 Tillich recommended the substitution of rhombs, whilst 
 Schmidt advocated the freer movement of the hand, 
 and indeed of the whole body, when writing. 
 
 On leaving Yverdun Froebel carried with him a deep 
 sense of the importance and value of Pestalozzi's work, 
 and he considered those schools fortunate in which the 
 Pestalozzian system was carried out. The system 
 seemed to him to satisfy the natural demands both of 
 pupil and teacher. It gave ample scope to the teacher's 
 power of thought and feeling, and provided a pleasing 
 variety for the pupil. He thought the practical nature 
 of the occupations not only developed the pupil on all 
 sides, but greatly increased his interest in his work. 
 Froebel indicates the following grades for Pestalozzian 
 schools : an infant class, for which the Mother's Book is 
 sufficient; a first school* class, in which lessons in 
 form, number, reading, writing, singing, scripture, and 
 nature are given ; and a second or higher (transition) 
 class, in which the same subjects are taught a little 
 more formally. 
 
 It is evident that Froebel's stay at Yverdun had a 
 most important influence on the work to which he 
 ultimately devoted himself. It was his genuine 
 sympathy with Pestalozzi and his views that finally 
 turned his thought away from the school proper and 
 set it in the direction of the earliest training of the 
 
 What we should call a first transition.
 
 FROEBEL AND PESTALOZZI. 53 
 
 child, and the preparation of the mother to undertake 
 it. Lecturing was not enough. Mothers should see, 
 he said, their children at work under the Pestalozzian 
 influence. Their happiness alone would convert the 
 mothers. And as for the children, from how much 
 evil would such a beneficent system of early training 
 save them. Think of the faults resulting from ennui 
 and idleness alone ! and contrast this with the happi- 
 ness and cheerful industry resulting from the healthy 
 and natural use of the faculties, and the scope for 
 childish impulses and instincts provided by Pestalozzi ! 
 How many good-for-nothing street arabs might, by 
 proper treatment, grow up good, trustworthy citizens, 
 and upright and intelligent fathers and mothers ! 
 
 Froebel spent a good part of his leisure time at 
 Yverdun in the open air, enjoying its beautiful situation, 
 the sunset glow upon the glaciers, and the impressive 
 solemnity of the forest trees. Pestalozzi's lectures to 
 the teachers were full of suggestions of nobility, 
 goodness, and love of humanity. But they were often 
 misunderstood or misinterpreted, and the sad dissen- 
 sions between the master and his so-called followers 
 was but too evident. Mederer issued a highly 
 philosophical circular on the intuitive method, which was 
 altogether beyond the conscious aims of Pestalozzi, 
 who felt himself unable to explain it. He says that 
 he allowed himself to be disturbed and confused by 
 a " crude and immature philosophy "; by a " too hasty 
 organisation of elementary education"; by an exag- 
 gerated pedantry that bears the stamp of "another 
 mind than his."* 
 
 * Pestalozzi often said naively, "I no longer understand myself, 
 Herr Niederer will tell you what I mean."
 
 54 FRANKFURT, YVERDUN. 
 
 Under these circumstances it was not unnatural 
 for Pestalozzi to cling more and more to the support 
 of a strong, realistic, and thoroughly practical nature 
 like that of Joseph Schmidt, who, for the moment, was 
 the most important figure on the scene. This bright, 
 energetic, and intelligent young teacher was for a 
 time the chief support of the institution, and it was 
 on his discretion and judgment that pupils, teachers, 
 and friends of the institution depended. He and 
 Niederer took opposite sides in the disputes and 
 dissensions from which the institution was suffering; 
 and the other teachers supported, some one, some 
 the other. Poor Pestalozzi was not strong enough 
 to stem the current of the strife, and his New Year's 
 speech of 1809, in spite of the "buzzing sound of 
 success around him, is filled with bitterness and 
 sadness." 
 
 These disturbances at length found vent in the Swiss 
 papers, and doubt and suspicion were expressed with 
 regard to the system employed at Yverdun. Niederer 
 now persuaded Pestalozzi to consent to a public 
 examination of the school, whilst Schmidt did all he 
 could to prevent it. The Commissioners arrived in 
 November, and whilst commending the work done by 
 Schmidt, they were not long in detecting the contra- 
 diction between the Pestalozzian theories as expressed 
 in Niederer's circular and what they now saw of the 
 practice in the institution itself. Schmidt advised a 
 diminution in the number of pupils, and a re-organisa- 
 tion of the household management, but again he was 
 opposed by the other teachers, and, unfortunately for 
 the institution, he left it in the summer of 1810. 
 Schmidt was Pestalozzi's favourite teacher and chief
 
 FROEBEL AND PESTALOZZI. 55 
 
 support, and his loss was a grief and a misfortune.* 
 Froebel (and several other distinguished students, such 
 as Yon Tuerk, Hofmann, and Muralt) left Yverdun 
 the same year (1810), explaining to Pestalozzi in his 
 usual straightforward, honest way, the views on educa- 
 tion he had by this time arrived at, and his plans 
 for studying Natural Science, and perhaps the Classics, 
 at one of the Universities. Niederer's philosophical 
 explanation of the Pestalozzian nature teaching was 
 unsatisfactory to him. He knew that Pestalozzi's 
 starting-point had been determined rather by the 
 needs of the people than by the dictates of psychology, 
 and that Mederer, though an enthusiastic theorist, was 
 incapable of demonstrating in practice the truth of 
 what he preached. Froebel's object was to carry out 
 Pestalozzi's idea on a thoroughly scientific method. 
 
 He returned to Frankfurt in the autumn of 1810, 
 by way of Berne, Schaffhausen, and Stuttgart. But 
 his engagement with the Holzhausens did not terminate 
 till July, 1811 ; hence he only reached Gottingen in 
 the middle of the summer term, the remainder of 
 which he utilised in elaborating his plans for the 
 autumn session. 
 
 * The breaking up of the school may be attributed to the disagree- 
 ments between Schmidt and Niederer (the representatives of the theory 
 and practice of Pestalozzianism).
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY, THE BATTLEFIELD, THE 
 MINERALOGIQAL MUSEUM. 
 
 1811 TO 1816. GOTTINGEN AND BERLIN. 
 
 Science Studies at Gottingen Study of Mankind Oriental Languages 
 Greek Astronomy Science in Germany Berlin Professor 
 Weiss Plamann and his School Political Agitations Froebel a 
 Volunteer Middendorff and Langethal On the March Soldier 
 and Educator Studies in Berlin Reunion of the Three Friends 
 Education the conscious aim. 
 
 C\ OTTINGEN was well chosen for Froebel's purpose. 
 VT It had shown its progressiveness by its richly- 
 endowed science schools, its excellent lectures on 
 Natural Philosophy, and its cosmopolitan spirit, which, 
 together with its beautiful situation, attracted many 
 foreign students. To the literary world Gottingen was 
 interesting on account of its associations with the 
 brotherhood of youthful poets, who, under Klopstock, 
 Boie, and Voss, had done homage to early Teutonic 
 poetry and song. It was in the oak avenue at the foot 
 of the Hainberg that, on a fine moonlight night of 
 1772, these young enthusiasts had met to swear 
 fealty to friendship, poetry, and virtue. Hither also 
 had come the genial brothers Humboldt.* 
 
 * Alexander von Humboldt (1769 to 1858) came to Gottingen to 
 study under Blumenbach, who was at Gottingen from 1778 till 1835. 
 His lectures were more numerously attended than those of any other 
 professor. Indeed he was so well known that a letter from America, 
 addressed " Blumenbach, Europe," found him. Humboldt afterwards 
 became a pupil of the eminent geologist Von Werner. 
 
 56
 
 UNIVERSITY, BATTLEFIELD, AND MUSEUM. 57 
 
 Froebel hoped here to satisfy his longing for know- 
 ledge. He too, like Alexander von Humboldt, had 
 started with the faculty of Finance and then gone 
 over to Natural Philosophy, which, however, in 
 Froebel's case was to serve as the basis for the study 
 of man. 
 
 Froebel's knowledge of himself and of life had made 
 great strides during the nine years which had elapsed 
 since his visit to Jena. He was now clearly conscious 
 that his ultimate object was to find a scientific way of 
 educating the human being. He felt deeply the want 
 of the self-development and culture necessary for a 
 right understanding of scientific method. His first 
 duty, therefore, was to select from the curriculum 
 pursued at Gottingen such subjects as would enable 
 him to lay a basis of education in harmony with the 
 nature of man. It happened, fortunately for Froebel, 
 that the scientific investigations of his time ran in 
 two directions which were both practical for his 
 purpose and congenial to his tastes, i.e., Natural 
 Science and the origin of language.* Hence, in 
 addition to several branches of science, he began to 
 study the development of language, from man's first 
 utterances to our own day. Froebel had a large 
 intellectual appetite, and he plunged undismayed into 
 the study of the Indian, Persian and Hebrew 
 languages, Latin, Greek, and Philology. It was from 
 the point of view of the natural science of mind that 
 language interested him ; and perceiving that language 
 had developed in the race slowly and gradually, he 
 determined to follow this course himself, feeling, like 
 
 * "Language," says Humboldt, "is the most delicate blossom of 
 the mind." Kosinos.
 
 58 G6TTINGEN, BERLIN. 
 
 Herbart, that the individual must go through the 
 experience of the race. He worked through the 
 summer term with the utmost energy, but the 
 immensity of the subject, and his desire for thorough- 
 ness, did but impress upon him his unpreparedness. 
 The text-books at hand seemed to him superficial and 
 artificial, and in no way calculated to develop a 
 scientific knowledge of language.* Sylvestre de Sacy's 
 Arabic Grammar was not published till 1810, and it 
 was not till somewhere about 1820 that German 
 scholars took up the study of Oriental languages 
 seriously. After a good deal of persistent but vain 
 effort to gain what he wanted from existing Hebrew 
 and Arabic text-books, Froebel at length yielded to 
 the opinion of those more experienced than himself, 
 who declared that from a pedagogic point of view he 
 was losing time. After this his language study was 
 limited for some time to Greek, the regularity of which 
 had a great fascination for him. 
 
 In the evenings he would seek rest and refreshment 
 in the beautiful woods around Gottingen, and often 
 stayed out on the Hainberg till midnight watching 
 the stars. This pursuit so keenly interested him that 
 he would frequently rise in the night to make notes 
 of his observations. It was at this time that Froebel 
 began to look upon the sphere as the typical curved 
 form (all others being but modifications of this). The 
 sphere symbolised to him both infinite development 
 and limitation variety in unity, unity in variety ; 
 connectedness in all things ; what Leibnitz called 
 
 * The best books on the subject had only recently been published, 
 e.g., Herder's Spirit of Hebrew Poetry (1783) ; Salomo's Smujs of Love 
 (1778) ; a German edition of Sakontala, by the Indian poet Kalidasa 
 (1803) ; and finally Schlegel's Wisdom of the Indians (1808).
 
 UNIVERSITY, BATTLEFIELD, AND MUSEUM. 59 
 
 "harmony of body and soul." It formed a bond 
 between the complete and the incomplete; the 
 macrocosm and microcosm. Further, it exemplified 
 as no other form did, the threefold principle under- 
 lying the education of man, i.e., unity, or completeness; 
 variety, or all-sidedness ; and individuality, or that 
 which marks the highest development in man. The 
 sphere seemed to him the embodiment of a principle 
 equally applicable to the development of man and 
 nature, and to indicate the starting-point for the 
 education of the child. At the same time he had 
 come to the conclusion that it was in natural science 
 that the keystone to the education of man would be 
 found, and that henceforth that was his main subject, 
 language and mathematics being but subservient to it. 
 To add to Froebel's interest in nature there appeared 
 this year (1811) the famous comet, one of the most 
 beautiful that had ever been seen. Like the Sicilian 
 comet of 1807, this one showed, in Herschel's large 
 telescope, a well-defined disk. The intensity of light 
 at the centre was greater than had ever been seen; 
 and the mist around it was separated from the 
 sweeping curve of the tail by a dark space. The 
 tail was calculated by astronomers to be one hundred 
 million miles long, and the diameter of the disk 
 eighty times that of the earth, and seven times 
 that of Jupiter, whilst the period it occupied to pass 
 through its entire orbit was 3065 years. It had been 
 predicted that this comet would bring misfortune.* 
 
 * Alexander von Humboldt says: "It lies in the somewhat sad 
 and serious nature of men to regard the unexpected rather with fear 
 than with hope or joy. The wonder of a great comet, suddenly 
 appearing in the heavens, with its cloudy mantle, is everywhere felt 
 as something hostile ; as an attack upon the established order of 
 things."
 
 6O G6TTINGEN, BERLIN. 
 
 The prophecy appeared to be justified by the political 
 events in Europe at the time. 
 
 Froebel spent the summer holiday very happily in 
 the united and industrious family of his brother 
 Christian, at Osterode, in the Harz Mountains. He 
 interested himself in the children's education, and in 
 his brother's business.* 
 
 On his return to Gottingen he worked hard at 
 natural history, biology, and mineralogy. He followed 
 with great interest the recent impetus given to 
 scientific research in Europe, f 
 
 Scientific discovery was a good deal hindered in 
 Germany by the prevalence of Kant's speculative and 
 critical method. It was only by dint of slow and 
 patient effort that Alexander von Humboldt succeeded 
 in introducing the inductive method of reasoning. 
 
 Froebel, to a certain extent, was safeguarded from 
 
 * Christian Froebel had a weaving factory. 
 
 t In France, Lavoisier (1728-1799) had already been guillotined, 
 but not before he had done much to introduce quantitative methods 
 into chemistry. In England, Black (1728-1799), Cavendish (1731- 
 1810), and Priestley (1735-1804) had made researches in chemistry 
 and physics, and had investigated gases. In Sweden, Bergmann 
 (1743-1786) had discovered and investigated many substances. The 
 above all believed in the phlogiston theory, or some modification of 
 it. According to this theory all combustible bodies contained a 
 certain principle "phlogiston," which they gave up when burnt. 
 This theory was now being replaced by the atomic theory, the prin- 
 cipal advocate of which was John Dalton (1766-1844), and the theory 
 of oxidation. Gay Lussac (1778-1850) and Davy (1778-1829) were 
 inquiring into electricity and chemistry and their mutual relationship. 
 These, with Vauquelin (1763-1829) and others, devised new methods 
 of chemical analysis, and continued the investigations of their pre- 
 decessors into the nature of various gaseous substances. Chemistry 
 was advancing to the position of an exact science, and was beginning 
 to be applied usefully to manufactures and agriculture. Note by 
 Mr. A. MARSHALL.
 
 UNIVERSITY, BATTLEFIELD, AND MUSEUM. 6l 
 
 the mystic philosophy of his time by his tendency to 
 practical investigation, but it was impossible for him 
 to remain altogether unaffected by it. The various 
 branches of study he entered upon at Gottingen, i.e., 
 chemistry, biology, natural history, political economy, 
 and the like, were all subservient to his one great aim, 
 i.e., to find one law applicable to the organic and 
 inorganic, to man and nature. From chemistry he 
 naturally proceeded to the study of mineralogy, and 
 his interest in crystals became so absorbing that he 
 determined to go to the University of Berlin to work 
 under the great Professor Weiss (1710 to 1856), von 
 Werner's most renowned pupil. This decision was 
 strengthened not only by the fact that he was dis- 
 satisfied with the teaching of this subject at Gottingen, 
 but also that in Berlin he would have more oppor- 
 tunity of earning the fees for further study. He left 
 Gottingen in the summer of 1812, and settled in 
 Berlin. 
 
 The Berlin University, though but three years 
 old, was already renowned. Its founders* hoped to 
 make it the centre of German scientific culture and 
 advanced thought. Thus, in the very heart of the 
 gay, pretentious, political and official Berlin, there 
 was a stirring and powerful intellectual life. Weiss 
 had developed the mathematical side of mineralogy to 
 a high degree, and had given mathematical names to 
 the facets of crystals, according to the position and 
 inter-relationship of their axes and zones, t 
 
 He was familiar with the most recent discoveries 
 
 * These were Wilhelm von Humboldt, Fichte, Schleiennacher, 
 Savigny, Niebuhr, Marheinecke, Weiss, and others. 
 + See WEISS' Natural Classification of Crystals, published in 1813.
 
 62 G6TTINGEN, BERLIN. 
 
 in chemistry, and his simple and natural system was 
 one after Froebel's own heart, and served further to 
 confirm his idea of cosmic evolution and unity in 
 nature. 
 
 It was not surprising that the new interest in 
 natural phenomena should lead to a revolt from 
 artificial and conventional modes of education. The 
 old routine had already sustained a serious shock by 
 the publication of Kousseau's Emile, which was but 
 the expression of principles that had been gradually 
 forming themselves in Europe for several centuries. 
 Amongst the most distinguished advocates of these 
 principles were Basedow, Campe,* Gedike and 
 Rochow.f The time had now come for tackling the 
 error that a mind can be educated by imposing upon 
 it ready-made ideas. The keynote of the new educa- 
 
 * Joachim Heinrich Campe (1746-1818) is known as one of 
 Basedow's associates for a time in the famous Philanthropinum at 
 Dessau ; as the founder of a similar educational institute near Ham- 
 burg ; as a writer of books for children, and publisher of German 
 translations of certain notable pedagogical works, such as Locke's 
 Thoughts on Education, and Rousseau's Emile. 
 
 t Friedrich Eberhard von Rochow (1734-1805), after some ex- 
 periences of military life, settled on his estate near Brandenburg, and 
 devoted himself to the benefit of his people. In the years 1771 to 
 1772, when famine and disease spread far and wide, he engaged a 
 regular physician for the peasants on his estate ; but the people, 
 ignorant and prejudiced, would not use the medicines provided for 
 them, and secretly applied to quacks and miracle doctors ; in conse- 
 quence many died a miserable death. The disastrous results of 
 ignorance impressed the philanthropist. He saw that the social 
 reforms he desired were impossible apart from the cultivation of the 
 people's intelligence by better education. To provide a better educa- 
 tion became the immediate object of his life. With this object in 
 view he wrote books which circulated far and wide (The Kinderfreund, 
 etc. ), and carrying out reforms in certain schools over which he had 
 power, imparted the first impulse to the reformation of the popular 
 schools in Saxony. Note by K. M. CLARKE.
 
 UNIVERSITY, BATTLEFIELD, AND MUSEUM. 63 
 
 tion was Bacon's saying that "Mhil est in intellectu 
 quod non fuerit in sensu " " A thinking being is the 
 sum of his senses." 
 
 Actual objects had come to be considered as a 
 necessary means of education. Comenius had, it is 
 true, long ago raised his voice in protest against 
 abstract teaching, but men's minds were at the time 
 too much occupied with the disturbances consequent 
 upon the Thirty Years War (1618 to 1648) for him 
 to gain a hearing; and Pestalozzi had probably not 
 heard the name of Comenius when he enunciated his 
 principle that "Observation is the beginning, and 
 understanding the end of education." Froebel adopted 
 the Pestalozzian principle of Anschauung as the basis 
 of his system, and thus continued the stream of 
 educational progress already started. At the same 
 time his practical application of the principle was a 
 new departure; and his insistence on continuity 
 introduced a harmony and order into education, similar 
 to that introduced by Alexander von Humboldt into 
 science by the discovery of the stone (which had 
 hitherto been regarded as an inert mass of material) 
 as a living link in the chain of evolution. 
 
 Soon after his arrival in Berlin, Froebel was for- 
 tunate enough to obtain a post as teacher in a higher 
 grade Pestalozzian school then under Johann Ernst 
 Plamann (1771 to 1834). This relieved him of any 
 anxiety about money matters. Plamann was the most 
 distinguished of Pestalozzi's immediate followers ; and 
 to judge from the criticisms of his contemporaries, he 
 carried out Pestalozzi's educational ideas better than 
 did those teachers who were under his own direction. 
 He himself possessed considerable scientific culture, and
 
 64 GdTTINGEN, BERLIN. 
 
 his psychological insight enabled him to gauge the 
 nobility and purity of Pestalozzi's character and aims. 
 And though he could see that these aims were but im- 
 perfectly carried out at Burgdorf, where, in 1803, he had 
 made the master's acquaintance, he felt that the Swiss 
 pedagogue had the true view of education. Plamann's 
 special work was the adaptation of the Pestalozzian 
 system to higher grade schools. To this end, in 1805, 
 amidst great difficulties, he succeeded in starting a 
 school on the new method, and published Pestalozzi's 
 Fundamental Principles of Instruction applied to the 
 Teaching of Natural History, Geography, and Language. 
 Pestalozzi, who had evolved his system from expe- 
 rience rather than from abstract reasoning, much 
 appreciated Plamann's philosophical conception of it, 
 and his skilful adaptation of the Pestalozzian principles 
 to instruction generally.* 
 
 To Froebel the school offered little that was new ; 
 its popularity and success, like that of the institution 
 at Yverdun, had its disadvantages; successful schools 
 are seldom free from interested aims. Here, too, 
 Froebel missed the unity of plan and the higher 
 motive power he looked for. What he wanted to see 
 was a better understanding of the nature of the human 
 being, and especially of the child. He undertook no 
 responsibility in the general management of the school, 
 and so came little under its general tone. The time 
 not occupied in preparing his own lessons was devoted 
 
 * The affection between Plamann and Pestalozzi was that of father 
 and son. " At his side," says Plamann, " I learned my own ignorance 
 and acknowledged it tearfully." Pestalozzi replied, ' You have a great 
 advantage over me, in having had the discipline of a scientific 
 training.' And ho was moved to tears at a little poem I had written 
 on him, and said, 'You understand me better than anyone.'"
 
 UNIVERSITY, BATTLEFIELD, AND MUSEUM. 65 
 
 to academical studies. He was much interested in 
 Professor Jahn,* Principal of a Drilling and Fencing 
 School This school formed the nucleus of a group 
 of enthusiastic young Prussian patriots, who banded 
 themselves together to promote manliness and virtue. 
 These young patriots responded warmly to the king's 
 appeal to "my people," and joined the German 
 Confederation, sharing in the general excitement 
 caused by Napoleon's campaigns, and the European 
 alliance formed against him. Hatred of the foreign 
 yoke, and a zeal for national freedom, was the cry of 
 people of all ages and of every class. Students and 
 teachers left their lectures and their schools, labourers 
 and artisans their workshops, and peasants their 
 ploughs, to fight for their country. 
 
 All Berlin was roused, and Froebel did not escape 
 the general stir and movement, though, as he says, 
 " being no Prussian, and living a very quiet, studious 
 life, Fichte's appeal did not mean so much to me as 
 to others. I determined," he says, "rather with firm- 
 ness than with enthusiasm, to join the volunteers; I 
 was an enthusiast for the development of a national 
 spirit; I was a German, and I wished to follow my 
 profession in a noble way. Moreover, I must teach 
 every boy to be willing to defend his country; and 
 how could I, a young fellow capable of taking arms, 
 undertake to train boys as patriots, unless I was 
 willing to set them the example ? Would they not 
 despise me if I refused to do what I urged upon 
 
 * Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778 to 1852) was an earnest advocate of 
 physical training as a means of national regeneration. The establish- 
 ment of the Turnvereins was to a great extent an outcome of the 
 wide-spread interest in physical exercise he aroused. A monument in 
 his honour was erected in Berlin in 1872. 
 
 F
 
 66 GOTTINGEN, BERLIN. 
 
 them ? And did not this appeal to the nation express 
 a crying need of the country, and the time in which 
 I lived ? and would it not be unworthy and unmanly 
 to refuse to share in the common danger ? Such were 
 the thoughts that overcame my natural disinclination 
 and my physical unfitness for a soldier's life." 
 
 Such was the spirit in which he, with Jahn and 
 seven other young patriots, marched to Breslau, in 
 1813. Here they enrolled themselves in Liitzow's 
 corps of black riflemen. The poet Koerner was one 
 of this company.* 
 
 They formed part of the infantry division, whose 
 chief duty consisted in raising recruits, and carrying 
 on predatory operations in the rear of the enemy. 
 With these they marched to Dresden. Neither in 
 Dresden nor elsewhere during the campaign did 
 Froebel make many acquaintances. But two most 
 remarkable friendships were the result of his short 
 military career. Jahn's little battalion had been 
 ordered to march to Leipzig. At their first halt 
 Froebel was introduced by Jahn to a young Thuringian, 
 named Heinrich Langethal Langethal introduced to 
 Froebel his great friend Wilhelm Middendorff, and 
 from this moment a trio of friendship was formed 
 which banded together three noble hearts in the most 
 
 Theodor Koerner (1791 to 1813) was a patriotic poet who served 
 and fell in the War of Liberation. The following verses refer to 
 Liitzow's "Wilde Jagd," the corps in which the author and Froebel 
 were fellow volunteers: 
 
 " See there in the valley they rush in the fight, 
 Where sabres and helmets are clashing ; 
 From their blades, as on helmets of steel they smite, 
 Through the smoke of the battle there glistens a light, 
 The sparks of our freedom are flashing. 
 What mean the black horsemen who ride such a race ? 
 That is Liitzow's fearless and desperate chase." 
 
 Note by K. M. CLAKKE.
 
 UNIVERSITY, BATTLEFIELD, AND MUSEUM. 67 
 
 self-sacrificing effort for the good of mankind. They 
 were all fired by enthusiasm, and as they sang 
 their patriotic songs, they pledged each other in 
 the wine of the country, amidst clinking of glasses, 
 as is the German custom. They found much to say 
 to each other. The mild evening air on the banks 
 of the Elbe, the restfulness and peace after the day's 
 march, the intense interest awakened in the minds 
 of the two younger men by Froebel's views on patriot- 
 ism and education, all combined to prolong their 
 discussions till late in the night. Henceforth the 
 two young men were Froebel's devoted friends and 
 disciples, one might almost say, leaving all to " cling 
 only unto him." Middendorff's ideas of friendship 
 were intensified by an exceedingly poetic temperament, 
 and Froebel's educational idea seemed from the first 
 moment to take entire possession of him. The friends 
 shared the same rooms, and many were the discussions 
 they had together on military service, human life, and 
 the new scheme of education. 
 
 Heinrich Langethal was born at Erfurt in 1792, 
 Middendorff near Dortmund in 1793, so they were 
 Froebel's juniors by ten years. "Father Jahn" had 
 described Froebel as a " queer creature, who made fairy 
 tales out of stones and cobwebs." They were both 
 what is called students of philosophy, and disciples of 
 Fichte, Schleiermacher,* and Neander.t 
 
 * Friedrich Ernst Schleiermacher (1768 to 1834) opposed in certain 
 important respects orthodox Lutheran doctrines, and attempted in 
 The Christian Faith to elaborate "a new evangelical theology." He 
 taught that religion is personal, subjective a consciousness in the 
 individual soul of dependence upon God, and communion with God. 
 De Wette was a disciple of Schleiermacher, who did work of some 
 importance in Biblical criticism. K. M. CLARKE. 
 
 t Neander, born 1789, of Jewish race, was the author of a great 
 work on ecclesiastical history ; a work characterized by its liberality 
 of thought. K. M. CLARKE.
 
 68 G6TTINGEN, BERLIN. 
 
 The three friends fought side by side at the battles 
 of G-ross-Goerschen,* Luetzen, and Goehrde. During an 
 armistice (proclaimed on June 7th) their battalion was 
 quartered at Havelberg, and drilled daily. Froebel did 
 not object to the coercion of the drill. On the con- 
 trary, he was much interested in the promptness, 
 decision, and general moral discipline it developed. 
 He enjoyed the marching through the bright spring 
 air, and his interest in nature never flagged. He 
 neglected no opportunity of observing the laws of 
 development in the plants and other objects that came 
 in his way. The beautiful surroundings of Havelberg 
 were a source of great enjoyment to him. He read 
 Forster's Rhine Land, a favourite book of Alexander 
 von Humboldt, during the campaign. 
 
 His short military service provided our philosopher 
 with much food for reflection, on the solidarity of the 
 human race ; the destiny of the human being ; and the 
 interaction of mind and body. The war itself was but 
 a dream to him, as he was generally far from the scene 
 of action, and, much to his regret, seldom understood 
 the orders he had to follow. But in spite of this dis- 
 couragement, he never lost the enthusiasm for the 
 welfare of his country which Fichte had awakened 
 within him, and "everywhere," he says, "my future 
 mission was present to my mind." The corps was 
 dismissed after the Peace of Paris (31st May, 1814), 
 and Froebel proceeded by way of Dlisseldorf, Mainz, 
 Frankfurt, and Rudolstadt, to Berlin, where he obtained 
 the post (promised him by Professor Weiss at the 
 beginning of the war) of Curator of the Mineralogical 
 Museum. By the month of August he found himself 
 
 * Scharnhorst was fatally wounded in this battle.
 
 UNIVERSITY, BATTLEFIELD, AND >1USEUM. 69 
 
 at work in the silent and secluded rooms devoted to 
 the mineralogical collection, and began to arrange and 
 classify the specimens before him, verifying at each 
 step the unity of plan in geology which the poet 
 Goethe was occupied in tracing throughout the vege- 
 table world. " I read here more clearly than ever," he 
 says, "the divine in small as well as in great things. 
 The smallest crystal form serves as a mirror of human 
 development." Thus a flood of light was shed upon 
 his nature studies; nature and man explained each 
 other ; and he realised more and more the value of an 
 early and an intimate acquaintance with nature's laws 
 and processes. Only so would science and education 
 mutually assist each other. His lectures at the Berlin 
 University helped him little. Much more to the pur- 
 pose were his investigations amongst his crystals and 
 other natural objects, and his observations in astro- 
 nomy, and even in human speech.* Froebel's object in 
 tracing the law of evolution in these various directions 
 was to find a scientific basis for the education of man. 
 
 Hig idea at this time was to prepare himself for 
 teaching either in a higher grade school or at the 
 University. But he felt that a scientific training was, 
 after all, of less real importance for him than a know- 
 ledge of the human being. The education and de- 
 velopment of the human being in a "natural and 
 harmonious " way ; the fitting him to respond to 
 nature's demands upon him at every stage of his 
 development : this was the task he was gradually 
 learning to set before himself. Nature was his type, 
 
 * Froebel had a theory which explained the vowel sounds in a 
 language to be its spirit and strength, each vowel having its special 
 function, and the consonants its clothing or flesh.
 
 70 G6TTINGEN, BERLIN. 
 
 and " if man," he says, " is ever to fulfil his destiny, 
 and to avoid the errors that prevent him reaching the 
 goal, he must, from the very first and throughout, be 
 trained in accordance with the laws of development." 
 
 Langethal and Middendorff, hoping for promotion, 
 had remained with the army till Napoleon's escape 
 from Elba (1815), when such a rush of German 
 youths presented themselves as volunteers, that a 
 Eoyal proclamation was issued, forbidding Government 
 officials and University students to serve. The two 
 young men thus returned to their studies, and soon 
 found work in Berlin as private tutors. They brought 
 their difficulties to Froebel, who gave them, twice a 
 week, instruction in mathematics. Middendorff, who 
 intended to stay but a short time in Berlin, shared 
 Froebel's lodging, and the two friends became deeply 
 attached to one another. 
 
 The association with these earnest young friends, 
 who showed such confidence in his more mature ex- 
 perience and riper judgment, further inspired our 
 mineralogist with thoughts about education, and he 
 soon became so absorbed with the subject that he 
 refused at this time a professorship of mineralogy in 
 Stockholm, determining to sacrifice everything for what 
 he regarded as his mission. His recent studies had 
 suggested to him a principle which he longed to apply 
 to education, and which he published many years later 
 (i.e., in 1840) as the law of the conciliation of contrasts, 
 or the law of the spherical, which symbolizes all de- 
 velopment.* 
 
 * i.e., activity in three directions, towards (1) unity, (2) variety, (3) 
 individuality. See A. B. HANSCHMANN'S pamphlet on the Kinder- 
 garten System (published 1874).
 
 UNIVERSITY, BATTLEFIELD, AND MUSEUM. /I 
 
 Here, at length, was the solution to the problem of 
 human development. Only by means of this three- 
 fold activity would man be enabled to express his true 
 being and essence. Only so would he practically prove 
 himself to be one of nature's products. Man's nature 
 required that he should express himself in these three 
 directions, i.e., as a complete whole ; as variously gifted ; 
 as true to himself. Only an education worthy the 
 name would assist him to this. Having arrived at this 
 conclusion Froebel longed to test the principle, and 
 determined, much to the regret of his employers, to 
 leave Berlin. This he did in October, 1816, and for 
 some time his two friends heard nothing of him. They 
 had to content themselves with his promise that as soon 
 as things were ripe for action he would let them know.
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 FROEBEL'S SGHOOL FOB BOYS. 
 
 1816 TO 1826. GRIESHEIM AND KEILHATJ. 
 
 Froebel's First School at Griesheim Learning by Doing Arrival of 
 Middendorff, the Life-long Friend and Ally His Sympathy with 
 the Boys Tone of the School Privations Training in Patriotism 
 School Building Froebel's Main Principles Plans and Hopes 
 Difficulties Middendorff s Love of Nature Natural Education 
 Arrival of Langethal His Influence on the Boys Correct 
 Speaking Training in Endurance Testimony of Pupils 
 Froebel's Pestalozzianism Logical Exercises Language Teaching 
 Christmas, 1817 Froebel's Marriage Changes in the School 
 Frau Froebel's Influence Christmas, 1819 Gymnastics The 
 Luthers Timely Aid of Brother Christian Growth of the School 
 Barop Height of Prosperity Betrothals Karl Froebel 
 Report on the School. 
 
 JUST as Froebel was about to recommence his scien- 
 tific labours in Berlin, he received the sad news of 
 his brother Christoph's death. Ever since the battle of 
 Leipzig (1813) typhus fever had raged more or less 
 throughout Central Germany, and it was whilst per- 
 forming his pastoral duty of ministering to the sick 
 that Christoph took the fever and died, leaving a young 
 widow and four children a little girl and three boys 
 Julius, Karl, and Theodor. It had been their father's 
 wish that the boys should take up science, and their 
 mother was now greatly perplexed, being well aware 
 that the two eldest at least required better teaching 
 than was provided by the village school. She had had 
 
 72
 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS. 73 
 
 / 
 
 many proofs of her husband's confidence in Friedrich's 
 educational views, and naturally turned to her brother- 
 in-law for counsel and advice. Friedrich, on his side, 
 feeling his nephews to be a sacred trust, looked upon 
 this as a call from heaven, and felt that his hour had 
 come. He immediately started for Griesheim, making 
 most of the journey on foot. He had had very little 
 money to start with, but felt quite cheerful when, on 
 reaching Erfurt, on the last day of his journey, he found 
 he could only indulge in a penny loaf before tramping 
 the last three miles. He lost all sense of fatigue as he 
 thought of the new educational epoch he was about to 
 inaugurate ; for he had quite determined to start a 
 school in which the training should be based on 
 psychology and scientific pedagogy. 
 
 Late in the evening the tired wanderer arrived at the 
 house of his sister-in-law. His nephews stared wonder- 
 ingly at the long-haired man with the big, flapping hat. 
 Froebel did all he could to comfort his sister-in-law, and 
 promised, as far as he was able, to supply the father's 
 place to the boys.* 
 
 During the few weeks spent at Griesheim he became 
 greatly attached to the children, who knew how to 
 appreciate the liberty he allowed them. They wished 
 their uncle would live with them always. The mother 
 and aunt of Frau Christoph, who formed part of the 
 family, were, on the other hand, somewhat scandalised 
 at what they looked upon as laxity of discipline and 
 licence. 
 
 Froebel next visited his brother Christian, at Osterode, 
 whose boys, Ferdinand and Wilhelm, he knew to be also 
 
 * It seems that Frau Christoph Froebel read a deeper meaning in 
 this promise than was intended.
 
 74 GRIESHEIM, KEILHAU. 
 
 in need of a good education. Brother Christian was 
 easily persuaded to entrust them to their uncle Fried- 
 rich, and it only remained for Froebel to find quarters 
 in which to house the boys. A house and garden at 
 Griesheim, not far from his sister-in-law's, was fixed 
 upon. Griesheim is a small village on the Ilm, looking 
 towards Ilmenau, having a view of church and castle 
 on a neighbouring height. The village, surrounded by 
 orchards and consisting chiefly of pasture land, lies in 
 an open valley. Here, on the 13th November, 1816, 
 within sight of the church of Stadt Ilm, in which his 
 uncle Hoffmann used to preach, without means, but 
 impelled by an inner necessity, he started on his educa- 
 tional scheme. Full of faith and hope, he wrote at 
 once to beg his friends Middendorff and Langethal to 
 join him. Nine years before, in a letter to brother 
 Christoph, he had said, " My plan is extremely simple ; 
 what I want is a happy family school, and a peaceful 
 life with nature around me." Here at length was the 
 longed-for opportunity of realising his ideal. These 
 boys should be trained in accordance with boy nature. 
 All his teaching should be based on the self-activity of 
 the children ; they should learn by living and know by 
 doing. Their observations, perceptions, and conclusions 
 should be their own. Everything should start in action, 
 movement, manipulation, and production. Life, action, 
 and knowledge should go hand in hand. In cheerful- 
 ness, simplicity, and freedom the boys should be taught 
 how to teach themselves. Only after having fully 
 stimulated them to self -activity would he come to their 
 help, and then only with a view to further stimulation. 
 In the winter he helped them make an immense snow- 
 ball, which was then rolled down an incline. This
 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS. 75 
 
 served as a starting-point for lessons on the Alps and 
 avalanches. In the spring-time the boys took their 
 nature lessons in field and forest, Uncle Friedrich 
 sharing their investigations of plant and insect. 
 
 At Easter (1817) Middendorff, having completed his 
 theological studies, was ready to join Froebel ; but he 
 had to go to Brechten, in Westphalia, in order to break 
 the news of his determination to his parents. He had 
 four sisters, but was the only boy, the youngest and the 
 favourite of the family ; and the one great wish of his 
 parents had been to see him pastor in his native place. 
 Had it not been for his utter belief in Froebel's genius, 
 he would never have been able to resist his parents' 
 entreaties, nor to listen unmoved to his father's parting 
 words of submission, "We have been richly blessed. 
 One must be offered up as a sacrifice." Middendorff 
 arrived at Griesheim on a beautiful spring day (the 
 14th April, 1817), a few days before Froebel's thirty- 
 fifth birthday, bringing with him as pupil Langethal's 
 young brother Christian, a boy of eleven. 
 
 From this time to the end of his life Middendorff 
 devoted himself to the service of Froebel and his idea. 
 
 His inner life was not unlike Froebel's. As a child 
 he had been reflective and introspective. He, too, had 
 had "glimpses of unity in life and harmony in the 
 natural world." His son-in-law, Wichard Lange, shows 
 how the later development of this highly gifted man 
 consisted greatly in his gradually awakening conscious- 
 ness and understanding of these early intuitions.* 
 Middendorff shared Froebel's intense love of nature. 
 " Whoever has rambled with Middendorff through field 
 and forest," says Lange, "will be able to recall the 
 
 * Jahrbuchfur Lehrer und Schulfreunde, 1855.
 
 76 GRIESHEIM, KEILHAU. 
 
 delight with which the unity and harmony of nature 
 inspired him, and how he infected others with his joy 
 in the throbbing life around, and with his eloquence 
 over the divine goodness, beauty, and wisdom mani- 
 fested in nature." Froebel's attitude towards nature 
 was perhaps rather that of a scientist and investigator, 
 whilst Middendorff' s approached nearer to that of the 
 poet or artist. Middendorff possessed the gift of 
 eloquence which was lacking to Froebel. They were 
 united in their aims and objects, and in their innocence 
 of anything like worldly ambition ; and their character- 
 istic differences only served to unite them the more 
 closely, by making each serve as the complement of the 
 other. 
 
 Middendorff was at first more like a companion and 
 friend to the boys than a teacher, his first object being 
 to study and understand Froebel's idea. He shared 
 the children's rambles, and entered into animated dis- 
 cussions with them about anything that interested 
 them. His gentleness and kindness won all hearts. 
 He was greatly interested in folk-lore, and delighted to 
 hear Julius Froebel relate the saga of the origin of 
 Griesheim and Hammersfeld; how there were two 
 giants fighting against each other, and how one hurled 
 a great rock from the top of the Singerberg, which 
 stopped, however, when it got to Gries in the Ilm, and 
 how that was the foundation of Griesheim. How the 
 other giant threw a hammer at his enemy from the top 
 of the Willinger-berg that stuck in a field, and gave 
 the name to the village of Hammersfeld. Middendorff 
 loved to stimulate the children's imagination, whilst 
 Froebel sought rather to develop their reason and 
 intelligence.
 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS. 77 
 
 f 
 The boys made themselves little gardens, in which 
 
 they planted such flowers as they found on the hills 
 purple martagon, orchids, lilies of the valley, and the 
 magnificent Centaures montana. Froebel's birthday 
 (21st April) was kept as a holiday. Teachers and chil- 
 dren made an excursion in the Thuringian Hills, 
 " which, in the glorious spring of that year," says Karl 
 Froebel, " were covered with flowers." On this occasion 
 Langethal's brother related his experiences in the 
 recent campaign. Froebel's delight in the grandeur of 
 the scenery, and his pleasure at the discovery of any 
 rare plant or other natural object, opened the boys' eyes 
 to beauties they had never seen before. Boys and 
 teachers returned home laden with cherry-blossom and 
 violet anemones, and made a happy party round the 
 prettily -decorated table. Uncle Friedrich and his 
 guests kept up an animated conversation, and when the 
 time came for the Griesheim boys to go home* they 
 were loth to leave so merry a company. 
 
 As Froebel's object was to develop the individuality 
 of his pupils, they enjoyed great freedom in small 
 matters, and the elder ladies of the family were not a 
 little shocked to meet the boys running about bare- 
 headed, playing in the road with mud and stones, or 
 wading barefoot in the water. But in spite of all this 
 the hours of the day were well and profitably filled 
 with work, and Karl Froebel says : " From all that we 
 did, even from our games, I seemed to be learning just 
 what I wanted to know. We had exercises and games 
 with the bow and arrow, spear, skipping-rope, and much 
 besides. Indoors we were occupied with cardboard 
 
 * They still lived with their mother.
 
 ?8 GRIESHEIM, KEILHAU. 
 
 work, paper-weaving, perforating, drawing, etc. The 
 lessons that most delighted me were those on form, 
 number, proportion, and language. We all loved, too, 
 the drawing on chequers. Froebel's teaching was a 
 revelation to us of a new world of order, regularity, and 
 beauty. He soon corrected our mispronunciation, and 
 taught us to be ashamed of the rough, incorrect, or pro- 
 fane expressions we had learned from the village boys. 
 He made us use real German words instead of the 
 Germanized-French ones which had been introduced 
 into Thuringia by the French wars, and which we only 
 half understood." 
 
 Froebel taught the boys to choose their words care- 
 fully, and to avoid expressions that meant nothing to 
 them, or that were likely to convey a wrong idea. The 
 mornings were devoted to study, the afternoons to 
 manual occupations. 
 
 On the death of her father, Frau Christoph Froebel 
 had to give up her home at Griesheim. She took a 
 small farm at Keilhau, about four miles away. This 
 little village, lying amongst the quiet woods and hills 
 of the Schaalbach Valley, was an ideal place for 
 Froebel's work. Some rare plants and animals were to 
 be found amongst its rocks and hills. Pine trees and 
 laurels grew at different heights. Foxes, owls, and deer 
 were to be met with in the neighbouring Schutzthal. 
 Wild pigeons, thrushes, and squirrels hopped about in 
 the pine woods, whilst the kingfisher hid on the banks 
 of the streams. The white-throat finch, titmouse, 
 wood-lark, and other singing birds abounded in the 
 hedges and gardens. On the Kirschberg grew the wild 
 lily, ascension flower (blue and white), orchid, and 
 iris. Here was indeed an educational field for the
 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS. 79 
 
 boys. Froebel and his sister-in-law decided upon a 
 combined household. 
 
 The village of Keilhau was quaint and curious; it 
 consisted of a score of small cottages and farms ; some 
 of the houses were two or three hundred years old. 
 The church, though it had a charming old tower, was 
 like a cellar. In the main street of the village was a 
 pool, and the roads were always moist and not un- 
 frequently overrun by lizards and salamanders. The 
 habits and customs of the peasants were those of the 
 middle ages. The magistrate counted on a notched 
 stick the fees which one or another of his neighbours 
 had to pay as tithe or ground-rent. He also com- 
 municated verbally to the peasants any new enactment 
 of the Government; and to complete the mediaeval 
 picture, the watchman marched daily through the 
 village armed with a battle-axe. On Sundays the 
 whole community assembled in the church in gala 
 dress, but the same blue cloth coat that had been worn 
 by the youth still adorned the old man, and the 
 heavy blue cloth mantles of the women, with their gold 
 tassels, were handed down from mother to daughter. 
 Their chief food was corn and fruit, and the clear water 
 that sparkled in the basin of the village fountain their 
 drink Only on occasions such as the market-day at 
 Rudolstadt would the peasant indulge in such a luxury 
 as a glass of beer, a herring, or maybe his favourite 
 dish of German sausage. 
 
 Amidst this primitive life Froebel now hoped to put 
 into practice his long-cherished scheme. 
 
 He had obtained permission to build a school-house 
 on the widow's farm land, and had made the plans 
 himself.
 
 80 GRIESHEIM, KEILHAU. 
 
 The building was started in November. Boys and 
 teachers all helped with a right good will to lay floors, 
 fix stoves, or level the roads round the farm, and had 
 some valuable training for hand and eye in the 
 process. 
 
 On the whole a gloriously happy childhood was 
 passed in the Keilhau institution. The recent emanci- 
 pation of Germany had an exhilarating effect on the 
 teachers, who, far from regarding themselves as mere 
 instructors of the boys, looked thoroughly after their 
 physical health and happiness, sharing their games, 
 swimming, fencing, and other outdoor exercises. The 
 children looked upon Middendorff as their legitimate 
 playmate, and the whole circle formed a happy family. 
 At the same time there was perfect submission to the 
 rules of the school, and Uncle Friedrich's word was 
 law. The boys loved to hear their teachers relate their 
 experiences in the recent campaign, or discuss ques- 
 tions of importance for the welfare of Germany. The 
 history lessons served as the basis of many a small 
 drama, in which the boys would personate the knights 
 and heroes of the middle ages. The rivers, rocks, 
 castles, valleys, clefts, mountain-peaks, and other 
 striking features of the neighbourhood served as back- 
 ground for these imaginative plays, and were re- 
 christened with names borrowed from feudal times. 
 The little troop, with their long hair hanging over their 
 gymnastic costumes or quaint little jackets, lived in a 
 land of poetry, chivalry, asceticism, and daring. 
 
 Froebel had gone through much during the ten years 
 that had elapsed since his first experience in teaching 
 at Frankfurt. The contradiction between his ideal 
 world and the reality had ceased to trouble him since
 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS. 81 
 
 he had become conscious of his mission as conciliator 
 of this contradiction.* His progress had been from 
 an instinctive, almost blind, effort at true development 
 towards a conscious and independent application of 
 the Pestalozzian principles. The feeling that Pesta- 
 lozzi had not said the last word on the science of 
 pedagogy had sent him first to Gottingen and then 
 to Berlin. Here he had made a careful study of the 
 works of Basedow, Comenius, Eousseau, Pestalozzi, etc. 
 Finally Fichte's National Education had given him 
 a fresh impetus, and widened his thought ; for whereas 
 before he had chiefly considered the human being as 
 an individual, Fichte opened his eyes to the importance 
 of training him to be part of a community. Pesta- 
 lozzi, who had to supply the place of parents to the 
 orphan children under his care, was more and more 
 impressed with the value of home education; Fichte, 
 on the other hand, in his enthusiasm for the education 
 of citizens, would have robbed them of this benefit. 
 "Do you desire a better future? "he said: "it may 
 come, but it will not come from without, neither can 
 the present generation bring it forth, but our children 
 can. Thus it behoves you fathers and mothers to tear 
 them from your hearts, and from the apathy and 
 indifference that reigns in your minds. Hand them 
 over to the State, or to special right-minded men, that 
 they may not be dullards or parrots, but may be 
 educated intelligently and have an understanding of 
 things. Let them be trained to be men." Froebel 
 saw the good in both views. He saw that the child 
 who at first appears to belong exclusively to the family, 
 
 See BENFEY'S Kindergarten und Elementar-Klasse. 1860. 
 G
 
 $2 GRIESHEIM, KEILHAU. 
 
 must of necessity widen his circle as he grows older, 
 and pass from the limited sphere by which his mother's 
 care surrounds him to the larger freedom and air of 
 the outer world of humanity and nature. He will 
 by-and-bye require the influence of other children, 
 other human beings, and other conditions, than those 
 of his home. 
 
 But Froebel's object was very different from Fichte's; 
 he wanted the child to become a good citizen, but 
 above all a complete and perfect human being, and he 
 did not think the way to bring this about was to hand 
 him over to the State. What he would have preferred 
 was to see families combine together to give children 
 the united influence of home and school. The object 
 of his work at Keilhau was to bring about an all- 
 round, harmonious development, in contradistinction 
 to the one-sided education so common in his day, and 
 for which he maintained the penalty must sooner or 
 later be paid. The doctrines he urged on his fellow- 
 workers, Langethal and Middendorf, were: 1st, a 
 careful study of each individual pupil ; 2nd, a skilful 
 stimulation of his self -activity ; 3rd, and above all, 
 sympathy with childhood. 
 
 It was Froebel's intention at this time to limit the 
 number of his pupils to twenty-four. For this number 
 the school building had been planned, and the three 
 teachers would have sufficed. Had Froebel kept 
 within these limits he would have escaped many 
 of the troubles and difficulties from which, for some 
 years, Keilhau had to suffer. Meanwhile he threw 
 himself heart and soul into the stream of young life 
 by which he was surrounded. He firmly believed his 
 mission to be the ennobling of mankind. His faith in
 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS. 83 
 
 his fellow-men led him to believe that his work would 
 in time be recognised and appreciated. In this 
 sanguine spirit he pursued his educational schemes, 
 and superintended the erection of the school building 
 and the repairing of the farm. A new building had 
 already been begun and relinquished by the former 
 owner of the property. There was a roof and one 
 completed room on the ground floor, but no windows, 
 doors, or floors, whilst the farm-house was in such a 
 dilapidated condition as to be unfit for habitation. 
 Froebel's plan was to turn the old house into a shed, 
 and build the school on the site of the former shed; 
 and, meanwhile, to rent for himself, Middendorff, and 
 the Osterode children, the upper part of a farm-house. 
 But even here he had to provide doors, windows, and 
 floors, and to repair the staircase. All this fully 
 occupied him throughout the summer months, so that 
 he could take no part in the teaching. 
 
 Middendorff took this opportunity of rambling 
 through the Keilhau valley with the boys. There 
 was a splendid view from the Steiger. The road 
 leads through a pine thicket, emerging from which 
 the traveller suddenly sees, spread out before him, 
 at the depth of one thousand feet, the valley of the 
 Kinne. Facing him is the valley of the Saal, with the 
 Castle of Weissenburg, and no less than four towns 
 can be seen from where he stands. Middendorff 
 interested the children in the neighbourhood by all 
 sorts of legends and stories connected with it, e.g., 
 how once upon a time a great oak forest covered the 
 whole district, from which the village of Eichfeld took 
 its name, then part of the forest was cleared away, and 
 this gave rise to the village of Lichtstaedt, which
 
 84 GRIESHEIM, KEILHAU. 
 
 means clearing. The name of the village Schaala 
 came from the cups or shells of the acorns which were 
 sold there for turf ; and Keilhau was so called because 
 the first inhabitants used Keilen (hatchets) to hew 
 down the strong trunks of the oak trees. Whether 
 these names are due to Middendorff s imagination or 
 not is uncertain. In any case he and the boys went 
 on many a voyage of discovery together. They 
 followed up every mountain stream to its source, and, 
 to the great astonishment of the inhabitants, re- 
 christened them all, e.g., the Eemader was now the 
 Silberbach ; the Schutzthalquelle, Mosbach ; and the 
 Steigerquelle, Schaalbach; the Scherbe, at Eichfeld, 
 was called Schirme. Only the Porz kept its original 
 name, being close to the Porz mill. 
 
 Next came the hills: they changed the Kolrn into 
 Kolben ; the Steinberg into Uhuberg ; and even the 
 names of the farmers and labourers underwent similar 
 alteration; (Ziener became Za'uner; Ha'nold became 
 Hainhold) and this in spite of the protestations of the 
 peasants themselves, who referred the innovators to the 
 authority of their fathers, grandfathers, and great- 
 grandfathers. But the new names having been traced 
 to their origin by Middendorff and Froebel, and found 
 to be correct, resistance was useless. The boys rejoiced 
 in the discovery of various delicious wild fruits 
 growing on the hills. They had no set lessons at 
 this time, but they learned much in an informal way. 
 They collected, pressed, and named all the flowers of 
 the neighbourhood, and every new flower was a source 
 of delight. The little animals and insects of the field, 
 too, were objects of careful investigation. When it 
 rained Middendorff would tell them stories of the
 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS. 85 
 
 Greek heroes, or show them the illustrated Bible of 
 Lossius. Campe's Works for the Young, too, were a 
 delightful change after the open-air exercises. Some- 
 times the boys were made to repeat a history in rhyme, 
 of which Ferdinand knew a great deal by heart. Then 
 they would, like the old Greeks, go to war with each 
 other, building Athens or Corinth by the side of the 
 streams, or constructing fortresses with boards and 
 stones from the house that was being pulled down. 
 
 The Griesheim boys often came over, and one day 
 they brought their sister Emilie, on which occasion the 
 boys gave a dramatic performance in the loft of the 
 new house. By the end of September the farm-house 
 was ready for the reception of Frau Froebel and her 
 family, consisting of her children, her mother, and 
 aunt. To the boys' great delight an immense waggon 
 of household goods arrived, including cows, pigs, 
 chickens, and other live stock. The new oval table 
 was used for the first time, and cups of cocoa were 
 set round to celebrate the occasion. Frau Froebel and 
 her children moved into the first floor, the ground floor 
 being reserved for the two old ladies. 
 
 The combination of households was a great help to 
 Froebel. During the so-called " years of famine " that 
 followed the battle of Leipzig, there was a general 
 scarcity throughout Germany, and Froebel and his 
 sister-in-law had many an anxious hour. Indeed, at 
 first, food was purchased at the price of her silver 
 spoons. The boys made many a meal off the wild 
 fruits growing in the fertile valley, but far from caring 
 about a little pinching, " they ate their dry bread and 
 rancid butter," says Karl Froebel, "with a very good 
 appetite."
 
 86 GRIESHEIM, KEILHAU. 
 
 A more regular life now began, and Froebel was able 
 to take his part in the lessons. He had had some 
 building bricks made of which the boys were very 
 fond. One afternoon as they lay on the floor playing 
 with them, a thoughtful-looking man of twenty-five 
 suddenly appeared amongst them, and was greeted by 
 all with loud huzzas, for it was Heinrich Langethal, 
 third of our Lutzow trio. He had succeeded in taking 
 orders, to the great satisfaction of his parents, and now 
 determined to spend some months on the study of 
 pedagogy before settling at Keilhau. Langethal was 
 very different from Middendorff and Froebel. He had 
 a stately yet benevolent appearance, and at the same 
 time a voice and manner that gave the impression of 
 firmness. Middendorff was more attractive to women, 
 Langethal to men; it was "a pleasure to see Midden- 
 dorff; to hear Langethal; and once to have heard him 
 was to trust him for ever." Langethal possessed 
 qualities which were wanting in the other two ; Froebel 
 had a productive mind, but little of the higher and 
 more classical culture; this culture was possessed by 
 Middendorff, but it was not of a kind to be useful to 
 young boys. Langethal's classical knowledge was 
 combined with great facility for teaching. He was 
 also a gifted musician. 
 
 Froebel was very sensible of the advantage to 
 himself and Middendorff in having such a fellow- 
 worker as Langethal ; and Langethal in his turn was 
 so charmed with Froebel's educational venture and 
 with the free, unconventional mode of carrying it out, 
 that he gave up his plans for further preparation, and 
 determined to join his two friends at once. Thus, in 
 the autumn of the year 1817, in the little village of
 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS. 87 
 
 Keilhau, the three earnest-minded friends, inspired by 
 one thought and aim, started an educational work to 
 which they henceforth devoted all they had of time, 
 strength, and capacity. 
 
 Langethal was the means of making the institution 
 more widely known. His position as a scientific man, 
 and his connection both with Berlin and with Erfurt 
 (his birthplace), brought several pupils to the school. 
 His sympathetic manner soon won all hearts, and 
 exercised an excellent influence over the boys. He 
 joined in their games and sang to them Schiller's 
 ballads, and other heroic songs learned on the battle- 
 field. At other times he would stimulate their feeling 
 for chivalry by reading them The Magic Ring, which 
 fired their imagination, and inspired them with the 
 determination to become true German knights, like 
 the knights and cavaliers of the middle ages, classical 
 heroes being for the time forgotten. 
 
 The utmost energy and zeal was put into the making 
 of cardboard helmets, shields and armour, or wooden 
 arrows, swords and javelins ; and they even built lime- 
 stone forts and castles. Laugethal shared their labours, 
 and by the description of the splendour of the German 
 Emperors, inspired them with the hope that one 
 day these glorious times for Germany would come 
 again. 
 
 His first effort, however, was to cure the boys of 
 their ugly Thuringian accent, and to teach them 
 correct German.* Corrections by the teacher were 
 found to be insufficient, so a compact was made that 
 
 * Mr. Hanschmann gives the following example of their horrible 
 pronunciation : ' ' Die Heiser sind iber der Prigge krehser und heher 
 als die Beime, "
 
 88 GRIESHEIM, KEILHAU. 
 
 every time a boy made a mistake (such as Beime for 
 Balime, Prigge for Briicke, krehser for grosser) he was 
 to keep silent till he had a chance of correcting 
 someone else, and if he forgot, and spoke, he had to 
 keep silent till he had made two corrections; if he 
 forgot twice, he was banished for ten minutes. Foreign 
 expressions, too, were forbidden, e.g., for the names 
 " Onkel, Tante, Sauce," were substituted " Oheini, Base, 
 Briihe,"* and it was not long before the boys spoke 
 with a fair amount of correctness, and this, together 
 with their little German coats and long hair, gave them 
 a sense of being true German patriots and pioneers in 
 Keilhau. 
 
 All foreign drinks, such as tea, coffee, chocolate, were 
 given up, milk or water only being allowed. Simplicity 
 and hardiness ruled in everything. The same clothes 
 served for summer and winter. Excursions were made 
 in all weathers, not excepting snow and storm. The 
 boys walked several miles to the river to skate or 
 bathe. Heat, cold, hunger and thirst, were borne 
 without a murmur. For the sake of a game at 
 hunting they would climb the Kolmwald whilst the 
 storm roared in the valley below. Langethal was the 
 leader in these wild games; Middendorff and Froebel 
 would occasionally go with them, Froebel's way being 
 to instruct the boys on the road, whilst Middendorff 
 would fill them with admiration for the beauty of the 
 country. Heinr. Langethal would carry the boys off 
 on some wild excursion during the day, and bring them 
 back to Middendorff s poetical influence in the evening, 
 whilst Froebel was the one to suggest improvements 
 and reforms. In the evenings they would sing, 
 
 * The dear old ladies, however, refused to be called " Gross-baseo. "
 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS. 89 
 
 Middendorff joining in with his sweet tenor voice, 
 and Froebel with his harsher bass. Sometimes they 
 would busy themselves with cardboard work, whilst 
 one of the teachers read aloud. Froebel was full of 
 fun at such times. It will be seen that the life at 
 Keilhau at this time was more like that of a noble 
 brotherhood than of a school. The very individuality 
 of these three excellent men had its distinct educa- 
 tional influence on the boys. Froebel's endeavour was 
 to apply the -principles of human development to all 
 the instruction given to his boys, to find indeed the 
 Philosopher's Stone in education. He was beset with 
 practical difficulties, and these were not easily solved. 
 But as far as his teaching and methods went, he 
 succeeded from the very first. No deadening and 
 stultifying methods were possible with him. He 
 always found a way of awakening the intelligence and 
 stimulating the self-activity of his boys, so that their 
 knowledge, as far as it went, was their own. "We 
 have two excellent accounts of this time, one by 
 Langethal's young brother Christian, who, whilst 
 extolling Froebel's principles, does not omit to point 
 out certain errors in his practice.* 
 
 At first the whole direction of the children's educa- 
 tion devolved upon FroebeLJ "Froebel's methods," 
 says Christian Langethal, "were very original, and 
 no doubt his errors are due to this originality." His 
 endeavour was to fix upon some central principle 
 round which all instruction and education should 
 
 * "Where there is much light, there will also be much shadow." 
 ' ' Err we must, but each effort of our aspirations brings us nearer to 
 the truth." GOETHE. 
 
 | Langethal was as yet too little acquainted with the Froebel 
 methods, and Middendorff was a very echo of FroebeL
 
 QO GRIESHEIM, KEILHAU. 
 
 revolve; which should, in short, harmonise and 
 bring into one organic whole the teacher's efforts. 
 Froebel's keystone is the self-activity of the learner. 
 The natural means for the stimulation of self-activity 
 are simple objects. The thorough knowledge of such 
 objects is the best and the most natural starting-point 
 for further advancement. In everything the familiar 
 should come first, and lead to the unfamiliar. The 
 knowledge of a thing should be emphasised and 
 completed by the careful study of its parts, even to 
 the utmost detail, and these parts should be arranged 
 in logical sequence.* Again Froebel maintained that 
 you only know a thing when you can teach it; so he 
 made his pupils teach again what they had learned, 
 hunting up all they could find on the subject. This 
 could hardly be called instruction, but it implied the 
 principle that the pupil should express his own con- 
 ception of what he learns. To Pestalozzi's grand 
 contribution towards education, i.e., Anschauung, 
 Froebel added expression. Expression in its utmost 
 variety, expression by words and by a great variety 
 of action, such as singing, moving, drawing, etc.; 
 expression in accordance with the character of the indi- 
 vidual; self-expression by self-activity. But Froebel 
 had no more reached the whole truth than Pestalozzi. 
 He was still struggling, and " to struggle means to 
 err." 
 
 Christian Langethal recalls a characteristic scene of 
 this time. Langethal and Middendorf were leaning 
 
 * Christian Langethal, whilst lauding Froebel's logic and thorough- 
 ness, says that in the subjects best known to him he dwelt too much 
 on details, and that in his endeavour after order he often erred on the 
 side of pedantry.
 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS. 91 
 
 against the stove* listening with all their eyes and 
 ears, whilst Froebel, marching up and down the room, 
 was giving them instruction in educational methods. 
 The children caught a word here and there, such as 
 self-activity, observation, intuition, going from the 
 known to the unknown; and one of them whispered, 
 "I suppose they are learning to march." The 
 endeavour to keep to a logical sequence in the 
 subjects of instruction, and to proceed only from the 
 known to the unknown, made the acquisition of 
 actual knowledge very slow, and often led to a 
 "terrible thoroughness" which gave the impression 
 that nothing was learned at Keilhau. "It took quite 
 two years" says Christian Langethal, "to lay the 
 foundation-stone of knowledge." Keilhau was cer- 
 tainly not the place in which to cultivate hot-house 
 plants. But in spite of this apparent want of result, 
 the public placed such confidence in the institution 
 as to bring to it, not unfrequently, pupils who were 
 doing no good elsewhere. For all such Keilhau found 
 a remedy, though it could not be expected to provide 
 faculties that nature had denied. Froebel's nephew, 
 Karl, has left some " recollections " of his uncle, 
 published in 1872. He praises in the highest degree 
 Froebel's extreme order and method. He says that 
 the two subjects he learned with his uncle f made a 
 lasting impression on him, and awakened to an unusual 
 degree the interest and activity of the class. He 
 gives the following example of a language lesson: 
 " Look round and tell me what you see." 
 " Table, chair, window, door, book, boy." 
 
 * The stove was nearly always cold or smoking. 
 
 t Form and Language, taught on the Pestalozzian method.
 
 92 GRIESHEIM, KEILHAU. 
 
 " Write all that down." 
 
 That is how Froebel began, standing before the 
 pupils with eager face and long black hair, whilst 
 they waited with curiosity to see what could be 
 learned from such common things. 
 
 "What do all these words mean?" Long silence, 
 then mumbling, the pupils at sea. 
 
 " All these words indicate objects or things ; repeat 
 what I say; write it." 
 
 "Objects" sounded rather mysterious to them. 
 
 "An object is a thing outside of yourself." 
 
 " Now tell me some objects you have seen but which 
 you cannot see at this moment. Write them down. 
 What are all these words ? " 
 
 A second time they could not say, so they had to 
 repeat, "These words are names of objects which can 
 be perceived." 
 
 Froebel continued, "A perceptible object, which, 
 however, we do not perceive but only remember, is 
 only in our minds, it is a representation. We may 
 have an image in our minds of things not seen by us 
 or others, not possible to be seen." Karl Froebel 
 does not tell us whether such examples as phoenix, 
 griffin, dragon, sphinx, good or bad spirits, were 
 mentioned. But they went on to discuss how certain 
 things come to be perceived, such as the air, the 
 odour of flowers, storm, cold, heat, living things, dead 
 things, stuffed things, the pulse, musical instruments, 
 etc., and many were led to reflect on their own con- 
 ception of life itself, which you can neither see, hear, 
 taste, feel, nor smell." 
 
 "After having made their lists during the first few 
 lessons, they were asked to classify the objects
 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS. 93 
 
 according to their similarities or differences, and they 
 soon learned to place them under such headings as 
 animals, plants, stones, human beings, utensils, tools, 
 buildings, materials, etc., and to write under them, 
 'all these objects are plants animals' and the 
 rest. This classification of objects suggested to them 
 the variety in the physical world, and the boys soon 
 arrived at the conclusion that all objects are either 
 natural, artificial, or a combination of these." 
 
 "From the objects the children learned to describe 
 verbally, and in writing, their qualities, and so to dis- 
 criminate and name colour, light, taste, smell, warmth, 
 movement, material condition, and alteration. Further 
 exercises consisted in making lists of qualities belonging 
 to the same object, or of those common to several 
 objects; of predicatory verbs applicable to a given 
 subject as the sun shines, warms, illumines. Or 
 they might be asked to compare the power of resistance 
 in different objects, such as sand, wood, stone,* or the 
 actions characteristic of living creatures, or words 
 relating to time or space. These logical exercises were 
 never long enough to weary the children. Indeed, 
 they took great pleasure in them, and would often 
 discuss them out of school." 
 
 After these preliminary exercises the pupils were 
 handed over to Langethal for more formal grammar 
 studies, and to begin Greek and later on Latin. Lange- 
 thal followed Herbart'sf order of teaching languages, 
 i.e., Greek before Latin. 
 
 * Verifying by experiment wherever it was possible. Everything 
 was made real ; indeed, there was at this time no school so thoroughly 
 Pestalozzian as Froebel's at Keilhau. 
 
 t Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776 to 1841) had left Gottingen in 
 1809, two years before Froebel's arrival there, and was now at Koenigs- 
 berg. According to Professor Reiss, Herbart's service to education was
 
 94 GRIESHEIM, KEILHAU. 
 
 At Christmas time some friends in the north sent 
 "a Christmas present for the little ones at Keilhau." 
 They had as yet only one large room completed. This 
 served as play-room, sitting-room, and class-room, and 
 the same table was used for work, play, lessons, and 
 food. In this room they held their Christmas festival, 
 the great and glad event being the setting of a stove, 
 which the teachers themselves had built to replace the 
 old one, which had always smoked. 
 
 Two important events for Froebel happened in the 
 summer of 1818. In June he came into possession of 
 the farm,* whilst his sister-in-law moved to Volkstaedt; 
 and on the 20th September he married a lady of about 
 the same age as himself, whom he had met in Berlin, 
 Friiulein Wilhelmine Hofmeister, an earnest student of 
 Schleiermacher and Fichte. She entered heartily into 
 Froebel's plans, and proved to be a most devoted and 
 suitable wife. 
 
 Her friends were at first unwilling for her to leave 
 her somewhat luxurious home, and enter upon a life 
 of struggle and privation; but to Froebel's great joy 
 she overcame their objections, and the marriage took 
 place on her birthday. Frau Froebel had an adopted 
 
 two-fold : From ethics he deduced the universal end of education. 
 From scientific psychology (which he opposed to the ' ' faculty psy- 
 chology " ) the practical directions for reaching the end. Herbart 
 maintains that the formation of a good will is the end of education ; 
 the means by which the end is to be attained are government, disci- 
 pline, and instruction. The special function of government is to 
 command and restrain, and so form good and prevent bad habits, before 
 self-government is possible. The special function of discipline is to 
 work upon the feelings in such a way that the child may be influenced 
 to voluntary good actions. The special function of instruction is so to 
 multiply and organise ideas that many-sided duly-balanced interest 
 may arise interest which makes most for character. 
 * At Keilliau.
 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS. 95 
 
 daughter, Ernestine Crispine, who accompanied her to 
 Keilhau, and ultimately became the wife of Langethal. 
 
 The arrival of these ladies was a great source of 
 happiness to Froebel ; but the boys soon saw that they 
 were no longer the chief centre of interest. The 
 teachers, instead of sitting at the oval table with them 
 as formerly, now took their places at a separate table 
 with Herr and Frau Froebel ; and still worse, a table 
 and five chairs for afternoon coffee* were placed on the 
 playground, which had been levelled and prepared 
 by the boys themselves. 
 
 In spite of all this, however, they soon discovered the 
 good qualities of the " Berlin lady." She was a woman 
 of taste and character, a beautiful reader, and an 
 enthusiastic student of German literature and natural 
 science. 
 
 Her accomplishments and personal character added 
 much to the culture and happiness of the Froebel 
 home. With all her learning she was modest and 
 unpretending, and entered with the utmost cheerfulness 
 and unselfishness into the frugal simplicity of school 
 life, abstaining from many little comforts to which she 
 had been accustomed, t 
 
 The evenings of this winter were spent by the boys 
 on cardboard work, whilst the teachers would read to 
 them the Mbelungen Lied in the old German dialect ; 
 and as Christmas approached the womanly influence 
 was found to be a great resource. The decorations were 
 
 * This luxury, however, was only indulged in occasionally, as it 
 was in direct opposition to the training to hardihood and simplicity to 
 which Froebel had accustomed the boys. 
 
 t It was a pity that Frau Froebel's domestic capabilities were not 
 equal to her general culture and goodwill. As the school grew larger 
 it was more and more in need of a good practical manager.
 
 96 GRIESHEIM, KEILHAU. 
 
 much more beautiful than they had been on the 
 previous Christmas; the distempered walls were hung 
 with branches and illuminated by Christmas candles, 
 and the presents (provided by a good friend at the 
 castle) were hidden amongst the foliage. This green 
 Christmas room served for some days as a shelter for 
 some poor little robins and sparrows who came in search 
 of food, and received their share of the Christmas 
 dainties. There were twelve boys by this time, and now 
 for the first time they had a room of their own. 
 
 Many joys were in store for the children this winter, 
 one especially, the new snow-slide behind the " long 
 garden"; the little sledges went down this run with 
 lightning speed. There was also a new exercise ground, 
 but this had less attraction for them. Langethal gave 
 some exercises for the limbs, hands, and even for every 
 finger, which Froebel had arranged progressively, and 
 which the boys were inclined to think were too thorough. 
 These exercises were published by Spiess. Those 
 Froebel considered suitable for infants are included in 
 the Mutter-und Kose-Lieder. 
 
 In the spring of 1819 (the tercentenary of the 
 Reformation) Froebel and Langethal joined a memorial 
 for the erection of a statue to Martin Luther. Froebel 
 further suggested that the best memorial to Luther's 
 memory would be to provide an education for his 
 descendants, if any could be found. Liberal contribu- 
 tions were sent from Berlin and Jena. In consequence 
 of this two boys Johann Georg, aged eighteen, and Joh. 
 Ernst, aged thirteen were placed in the Froebel 
 School : they were the descendants of Luther's brother.* 
 
 * Their father, Joh. Nik. Luther, a shepherd, bore a groat 
 resemblance to the Reformer.
 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS. 97 
 
 The elder boy was of a serious and aspiring nature, 
 and became a pastor ; the younger a stone-cutter. In 
 the following year (1820) Froebel's lease at Hainhold's 
 came to an end, and he was at a loss to know what to 
 do until he could find the means to complete the school 
 building. At this crisis his brother Christian, who had 
 confidence in his work, decided to give up his business 
 at Osterode, and move to Keilhau with his family and 
 belongings. This timely help on his brother's part 
 probably saved Froebel's school. Five members were 
 added to the little colony Brother Christian, his 
 wife, and three daughters, aged respectively nineteen, 
 eighteen, and six.* 
 
 The only sitting-room available for the Christian 
 Froebels was a large wash-house, and this had also 
 to serve as a place in which to assemble the whole 
 school 
 
 It was in this large room that they all spent their 
 Christmas of the year 1820, for they did not move 
 properly into the school-house till June, 1821, when, 
 through Christian Froebel's substantial and timely help, 
 the building was completed. 
 
 At this time the number of adults in the institution, 
 exclusive of the servants, was twenty-five, that of the 
 pupils sixteen ; four more were added by the end of the 
 year, their ages ranging from seven to eighteen. In 
 1822 six new pupils came, and dwelling-rooms for 
 Froebel and his teachers were completed, whilst the 
 house, hitherto occupied in a half-furnished state, was 
 put into thorough repair, and fitted up as a home for 
 
 * Albertina afterwards married Middendorff, Emilie became Barop's 
 second wife, and Elisa, the youngest, married Barop's Mend, Doctor 
 Schaffner. 
 
 H
 
 98 GRIESHEIM, KEILHAU. 
 
 the elder brother and his family ; and the school began 
 to flourish. 
 
 In 1823 Johann Arnold Barop (son of a lawyer in 
 Dortmund) and his wife joined the Keilhau community. 
 He had studied theology at Halle, but, like Langethal, 
 he was so attracted by the Froebel spirit that he also 
 determined to join in the work. With the exception of 
 a year's military service in Berlin, and the tune he 
 worked for Froebel in Switzerland, Barop hardly ever 
 left Keilhau again; and it was he who succeeded to 
 the school after Froebel's death. Sixteen new pupils 
 entered in 1824, and further building was required. 
 This building included a large dining-hall, in which 
 Froebel conducted his Christmas service at the end of 
 the year. 
 
 The most prosperous years for the school were from 
 1824-26, when the pupils numbered fifty-six. In addi- 
 tion to the teachers there were eight assistants in the 
 school, including George Luther and Ferdinand Froebel, 
 who were by this time pupil teachers.* Several 
 teachers of distinction were added to the staff. 
 Schoenbein, best known as a physicist, undertook the 
 direction of the science teaching in the school;! 
 Herzog, a well-known philologist, the language teach- 
 teaching; and Michaelis, the geography. He was 
 summoned to Wurtemberg in 1824 to make a topo- 
 graphical map of the Black Forest, on which occasion 
 Julius Froebel acted as his assistant. Karl Froebel 
 left Keilhau about the same time. Froebel regretted 
 
 Froebel often did too much in this way, and his liberality did not 
 always meet with the gratitude it deserved. 
 
 t Schoenbein was also the inventor of gun-cotton and the discoverer 
 of ozone.
 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS. 99 
 
 losing these nephews, the more that they had been 
 somewhat set against him by Herzog.* The separation 
 thus caused between uncle and nephews continued till 
 quite recently, when Karl has shown renewed interest 
 in his uncle's work by publishing his Recollections of 
 Keilhau. Karl Froebel was for some time the Principal 
 of a High School for Girls, established at Hamburg in 
 1848, and subsequently he settled at Edinburgh, where 
 he worked zealously for eduation. Julius, the eldest 
 son of Christoph Froebel, distinguished himself both 
 in science and literature. He was the author of a 
 Complete Guide to Physical Geography, and was, for a 
 time, Professor at the Mineralogical College at Zurich. 
 He published, in 1843, a book on Chrystallography, 
 which won him some renown. He studied at Jena and 
 Berlin, and was a great traveller. 
 
 The condition of Froebel's school in 1825 may be 
 gathered from the following report by Inspector Zeh : 
 "The two days I have spent in the institution and lived 
 its life have been to me interesting, instructive, and en- 
 joyable. They have served only to confirm and increase 
 my respect for the school and its principal, by whose 
 unselfishness, zeal, and fidelity it has been carried on. 
 The free yet disciplined tone that exists amongst the 
 boys in and out of school hours is most refreshing. 
 The institution presents a harmony of life., that is 
 rarely met with ; a family of sixty members, living in 
 intimate, peaceful association, all doing heartily what 
 they have to do, putting complete confidence in each 
 other, every member contributing his share to the 
 whole, so that the work goes on of itself. The master 
 
 * Herzog seems to have behaved very badly to Froebel, and to have 
 caused him much trouble.
 
 IOO GRIESHEIM, KEILHAU. 
 
 of the school is loved by all. The little ones clamour 
 round his knee, whilst he consults with his teachers, 
 as friends and equals, and shows a wisdom and a zeal 
 for the good cause, which never fails to command 
 their respect and reverence. This close bond of 
 union amongst their elders exercises the best possible 
 influence on the boys, which is shown by their un- 
 questioning submission and affection, and by the ex- 
 cellence of their discipline. I saw nothing during my 
 stay at Keilhau of the nature of reproach or punish- 
 ment. No sooner was school over than the children 
 rushed joyously into the fresh air. Yet there was no 
 roughness or rudeness. The boys were called by their 
 Christian names, and all seemed to be equals, free in 
 their brotherhood, obedient to a law within. They 
 conducted their own games, but there was always a 
 teacher amongst them, sometimes joining the game, 
 and submitting like the rest to its rules. This complex 
 family life promotes an all-round stimulation of the 
 faculties and an education of individuality which are 
 most striking. The strong assist the weak, so that 
 there is neither tyranny nor injustice. The boys 
 quickly check any insubordination on the part of a 
 playmate by leaving him out of the game till he 
 submits; and thus they control and educate each 
 other, and are free and active in mind and body. The 
 youngest pupils are only five years of age. These 
 learn to observe the things presented to them, and to 
 name them properly, and to collect, in a pleasant way, 
 such intellectual mites for future use as suits their 
 present powers. The main principle observed through- 
 out the school is the stimulation of individual activity. 
 How different is this from the treatment of the young
 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOtS. IOI 
 
 mind as if it were a money-box in which to hoard all 
 kinds of coin. Here instruction proceeds slowly, step 
 by step, according to the laws of mental association. 
 There is no trifling; none of the foolish philanthropy 
 which provides an alphabet made in sweets to be eaten. 
 The children pass from the simple to the complex, from 
 the concrete to the abstract, in such natural order that 
 they go to their learning as happily as to their play. 
 Indeed, I was a witness of the fact that the little ones, 
 whose lessons had been somewhat disturbed by my 
 arrival, went to ask Froebel whether they were not 
 going to have ' lessons like the big ones.' The most 
 advanced part of the classical instruction is about equal 
 to what the first class would take in a grammar school. 
 Last winter the boys read Plato, Horace, and Demos- 
 thenes, and translated Cornelius Nepos into Greek. 
 On my first visit I gave my chief attention to the 
 younger children, and could not help wishing that all 
 our elementary schools were taught in this way. And 
 no less was my admiration awakened by the classical 
 instruction given to the elder boys, which only began 
 in 1820, but which already shows an admirable 
 thoroughness. I saw everything possible in the time 
 allowed me, and was delighted both by the instruc- 
 tion and the education given in this establishment. 
 Froebel's object is not knowledge or science, but a 
 free, self-active development of the mind, which takes 
 intelligent account of everything presented to it. All 
 that is done conduces to the development of power in 
 the child. The object of these teachers is to stimulate 
 the thought of the pupil, and give, as it were, a kind of 
 mental gymnastics. The dead grammar is made to 
 live; for with the language the children receive in-
 
 IO2 GRIESHEIM, KEILHAU. 
 
 struction in the character and customs of the people 
 speaking it. It is well for those children who are 
 educated here from their sixth year. I would that all 
 schools could be turned into such educational homes as 
 this ! Were this the case, we should in a few genera- 
 tions become a stronger and nobler race."* 
 
 On the 16th September of this year (1825) there 
 was great rejoicing in the little colony, for a double 
 betrothal took place, i.e., that of Langethal with Frau 
 Froebel's foster-daughter, Ernestine, and of Middendorff 
 with Christian Froebel's eldest daughter, Albertina.f 
 
 The religious teaching in the school was excellent. 
 Froebel was not much wedded to forms and ceremonies, 
 but he came of a pious stock, and was inspired by a 
 truly Christian spirit. He and his pupils joined the 
 congregation at Keilhau, and contributed not a little to 
 the religious life of the place. His boys joined the 
 village boys in the preparation for confirmation, and 
 were addressed by the minister with the familiar 
 pronoun " du." They generally walked to Eichfeld to 
 church, but on wet days they attended the little church 
 at Keilhau. Brave young Luther J attended in the 
 morning at Eichfeld, and in the afternoon at Keilhau ; 
 Middendorff nodding his approval at the thoroughness 
 of the young fellow. 
 
 The learning by heart was limited to a few texts of 
 Scripture, but the boys never missed the prayer and 
 
 * This report, by an inspector sent for the purpose by the Prussian 
 Government, regarded as an unprejudiced expression of judgment, 
 ought to have gone far to militate against the unjust condemnation of 
 the Keilhau Institution which followed. 
 
 t The happy couples were married in the spring of the next year. 
 
 He went to the Tuebingen University in 1825.
 
 FROEBEL'S SCHOOL FOR BOY. 1 03 
 
 hymn morning and evening, and their walks were often 
 utilised by Froebel to awaken a spirit of reverence. 
 For an understanding of the careful religious instruc- 
 tion given in the school, we would refer the reader to 
 a pamphlet by Froebel, published at Erfurt in 1821, 
 entitled An education thoroughly adapted to the needs of 
 the German character. It seems extraordinary to those 
 who have studied Froebel's life, to find he should ever 
 have been accused of irreligion. But, alas ! this sorrow 
 came to him. 
 
 The main part of Froebel's literary effort lies 
 between the year 1820, when his brother Christian 
 joined him, and 1826, when he summed up and 
 amplified his previous writings in the Education of 
 Man. 
 
 We have, however, in addition to this, a series 
 of articles in a little weekly paper, called Das 
 Sonntagsblatt, published between 1837 and 1840, 
 and his Mother's Play Songs, published in 1843. 
 Also, in 1850, several articles in a paper called Die 
 Wochenschrift, edited by Dr. Wichard Lange.
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 TROUBLED TIMES. 
 
 1826 TO 1829. KEILHAU, GOTTINGEN. 
 
 The Coming Storm Devoted Band of Educationists Political Trouble 
 Money Troubles Froebel's Friendship with Krause Educa- 
 tional Friends in Gottingen Comparison of Krause's and Froebel's 
 Principles of Education Krause and Contemporary Philosophers 
 Scheme for an Industrial School Castle of Helba Froebel's 
 Kindergarten Occupations Failure of the Scheme. 
 
 INSPECTOE ZEH'S report to the Council of 
 Schwarzburg-Eudolstadt did no more than justice 
 to the excellence of the Keilhau institution. But the 
 demand for a report of the school was in itself a sign 
 of the coming storm. The school had by this time 
 become popular; its numbers had increased rapidly, 
 and it had need of a practical ability and organising 
 power, unfortunately not possessed by any of the band 
 of heroes who devoted their time, their strength, and 
 their money to the realisation of a noble idea. Had 
 Froebel or his wife possessed any business capacity 
 they might have foreseen the troubles that would arise 
 out of the growing needs of the little community, and 
 the constant additions to the school building. As it 
 was, although Middendorff had sacrificed his little 
 inheritance, it was only a drop in the ocean of that 
 which was necessary to complete the buildings and 
 pay the ground-rent; and even Christian Froebel's 
 
 104
 
 TROUBLED TIMES. < IO5 
 
 income, which he gave up entirely for the institution, 
 was insufficient to stave off increasing debts. Barop 
 would willingly have poured his small income into 
 the common purse, but his father refused to hand 
 it up. 
 
 And these troubles were increased by the political 
 agitations of the time. The democratic spirit, which 
 had caused so much disturbance in 1815, was still rife, 
 and the Government naturally looked with suspicion 
 on all movements that advocated freedom of thought. 
 Froebel's views on education, though they were 
 characterised by the utmost partriotism, were unfor- 
 tunately confounded with the ideas of liberty and 
 equality that underlay so many political agitations 
 at this time. Hence it was thought that Keilhau 
 was a refuge for demagogues; Barop innocently con- 
 tributed to this confusion. His political views had 
 got him into trouble at Halle, and his papers were 
 seized, and though nothing compromising was found in 
 them, the Prussian Government continued to maintain 
 a suspicious attitude towards him and his colleagues. 
 This gave a handle to those who differed from them 
 in their social or religious views, and some of their 
 enemies clamoured for a suspension of the school. 
 The Duke of Eudolstadt, however, bearing in mind 
 Inspector Zeh's excellent report, refused to add his 
 authority for this, and merely requested Froebel for 
 the present to do away with the old German costume, 
 which was similar to that worn by the social-democrats. 
 This he consented to do, much to the astonishment 
 of the boys, and the displeasure of many of the 
 parents, who made the foolish reports about the school 
 an excuse for withdrawing their children and their
 
 106 KEILHAU, G6TTINGEN. 
 
 patronage. Herzog, a teacher, unfortunately added 
 to Froebel's troubles by inducing his three nephews 
 to leave the school just at a time when they might 
 have comforted and supported their uncle in his 
 difficulties. But Froebel continued undismayed in 
 the prosecution of his ideas, and, in pure simplicity 
 and singleness of heart, expected no less than utter 
 self-annihilation on the part of his colleagues. But 
 their utmost devotion could not stave off money 
 troubles. At length came the moment when the 
 funds were inadequate to carry on the daily work; 
 the numbers in the school diminished so rapidly that 
 of sixty pupils there remained in 1829 only five. 
 Creditors were impatient, and it wanted all Midden- 
 dorff 's conciliatory powers to keep them from personal 
 attacks on Froebel. Sometimes, indeed, his teachers 
 would send him out of the house the back way, whilst 
 they used all possible persuasion to keep the creditors 
 quiet. All shared in this difficult task. Wichard 
 Lange tells a touching anecdote of a locksmith, who, 
 on being urged by his lawyer to "prosecute the 
 fellows," replied with horror, "that he would rather 
 lose his hardly earned money than doubt the honour 
 of such men, and that nothing would persuade him 
 to add to their trouble." 
 
 In spite of these troubles Froebel kept up his 
 courage, and never lost sight of his object. " Do not 
 be dismayed at the attitude of Berlin or the world 
 towards our movement," he wrote to Barop in 1827 ; 
 " only keep firm and steadfast. That which I had but 
 seen in a dream or vision, as it were, is now clear and 
 evident. The divine order in creation and throughout
 
 TROUBLED TIMES. , IO/ 
 
 the natural world is our pattern for the education of 
 man. It is for us to defend the rights of nature in 
 education." 
 
 Neither Middendorff nor the other teachers wavered 
 in their fidelity to Froebel and to the cause ; they only 
 clung the more to their mission and their hopes. At 
 a time when their funds were at the lowest, they 
 celebrated the betrothal of Barop and Emilie Froebel.* 
 It was feared that their union might take them away 
 from Keilhau, but, in spite of the unpromising outlook, 
 they assured their friends that it was their intention 
 to stay. The marriage took place in 1831. 
 
 Froebel's educational idea had attracted the atten- 
 tion of the philosopher Krause,f and he sent Froebel 
 a copy of his works. There was, he thought, a re- 
 markable agreement in principle between himself and 
 Froebel. The vigorous correspondence that followed 
 no doubt exercised a strong influence on Froebel, 
 and helped to clear his ideas. Krause's views of the 
 universe (arrived at rather from a scholarly than from 
 a practical point of view) only served to confirm 
 Froebel in the soundness of his educational idea. In 
 his correspondence Krause had objected to Froebel's 
 application of the term national or German to his 
 educational scheme, declaring it to be thoroughly 
 human rather than German ; and this question formed 
 the subject of their first interview. To Froebel it 
 
 * Christian Froebel's second daughter. It was Barop who, in 1829, 
 valiantly came to the rescue of a sinking ship, and by sheer energy 
 and devotion steered her through the storm and struggle, and got her 
 into still waters again. 
 
 t Karl Christian Friederich Krause, 1781 to 1832.
 
 108 KEILHAU, GOTTINGEN. 
 
 seemed that the apparent pretentiousness of the term 
 "purely human" would give even more offence than 
 the expression he had used. Froebel's great wish (and 
 this might almost be called Krausean) was to form, 
 with his friends, a social community, living a common 
 life. A life "in harmony with the will of God, the 
 beauty of nature, and the needs of man; a life that 
 would reconcile body and mind, sense and reason, will 
 and deed, and be in short the exemplification of one 
 divine law." 
 
 His desire to make the personal acquaintance of the 
 philosopher took him and Middendorff to Gottingen 
 in the summer holidays of 1828. By Krause they 
 were introduced to Dr. Hermann von Leonhardi, after- 
 wards Professor at the University of Prague, but 
 at this time a student at Gottingen. Also to the 
 Frankenbergs of Eddigehausen, the younger members 
 of the family being ardent disciples of Krause. Thus 
 Froebel had the most favourable opportunity of 
 making Krause's acquaintance and hearing his views. 
 It was Krause who induced Froebel to study 
 Comenius.* Krause and Herder had endeavoured 
 in 1811 to draw attention to Comenius in The 
 Journal of Human Life. Krause maintained that 
 the Panegersia proposed an entirely new basis of 
 education, made it, in short, an art. "It is an 
 attempt," he said, "to find a method of education, 
 consciously based upon science, whereby teachers will 
 teach less and learners learn more; whereby there 
 will be less noise in the schools, less distaste, fewer 
 idle pupils, more happiness and progress; whereby 
 
 * Johaim Amos Comenius, 1592 to 1671.
 
 TROUBLED TIMES. IOQ 
 
 confusion, division, and darkness will give place to 
 order, intelligence, and peace. Coinenius," he said, 
 " was the first advocate of Pestalozzi's doctrine of 
 Anschauung." Krause looked upon Froebel as the 
 educational successor of Pestalozzi and Comenius. 
 Froebel, he thought, might show, as it had never 
 been shown before, how the Pestalozzian doctrine of 
 Anschauung was to be applied to the education of 
 every child. 
 
 Leonhardi describes the appearance of our two 
 friends on their arrival at Gottingen. " There was," 
 he says, "a total absence of any attempt at elegance, 
 and their simple straightforward manner sometimes 
 repelled strangers. Froebel had an almost Eastern type 
 of countenance, with his large, protruding ears, long 
 nose, low forehead, and small eyes. He was very serious; 
 had a curious and fantastic way of looking at things 
 and of expressing himself, so that he was not always 
 understood. Middendorff and Langethal, on the other 
 hand, in spite of their old German costume and long 
 hair parted in the middle, always made a pleasing 
 impression. To the superficial, Froebel's simplicity of 
 nature appeared childish; others, better able to read 
 beneath the surface, were impressed with his love 
 of human nature and indefatigable zeal and energy." 
 Amongst his admirers we may count the naturalist, 
 Karl Schimpfer, Professor Ahrens of Heidelberg, and 
 Krause himself. 
 
 Froebel found in Krause's philosophy much that 
 was entirely in harmony with his own views on educa- 
 tion. Indeed, it seemed to him but a more scientific 
 expression of his main principle ; for Krause required 
 a complete and harmonious development of the human
 
 IIO KEILHAU, GdTTINGEN. 
 
 being, based on a scientific study of his nature and 
 place in the universe in short, the art of life based 
 upon science. The unity of life, too, which Froebel 
 had always insisted on, was here clearly expressed. 
 " Education," says Krause, " consists in such a scientific 
 training of man's powers and inner life as will enable 
 him to express his spirituality." The art of education, 
 according to Krause, consists in bringing the subjec- 
 tive and objective conditions of life into one organic, 
 harmonious whole. The human being has need of 
 education from the moment he enters life, and con- 
 tinues to need it as long as any of his faculties remain 
 undeveloped. Individuals, families, races, and even 
 the whole humanity, so long as they are but partially 
 developed, have need of it. Krause gives, as an in- 
 stance of the grotesque in education, the common 
 practice of training an otherwise uneducated man for 
 some speciality. " The need of objective education ends 
 when the learner has learned to educate himself. As 
 every being has that within him which is common to 
 all humanity, as well as that which is peculiar to him 
 as an individual, it is evident that his development 
 concerns itself both with that which he has in 
 common with all men, and with that which is peculiar 
 to him as an individual. Not only must we abstain 
 from hindering free development, but this freedom of 
 development must be fostered and strengthened to the 
 utmost, for on it will depend the chief factor in the 
 child's education, i.e., his self-activity and instinct for 
 productiveness." Krause regards the stimulation of 
 self-activity and individuality as the very essence of 
 a true education, the object of which is to produce 
 a "perfectly harmonised life."
 
 TROUBLED TIMES. Ill 
 
 'A human being may have certain of his faculties 
 more or less fully developed, but whilst any remain 
 immature, he is, as regards these, a child in need of 
 education; and the same may be said of families, 
 nations, and of humanity generally. The child must 
 be trained through his self-activity to control himself 
 and his surroundings, and thus to make the world his 
 own, himself being a harmonious part of it. The 
 harmoniously -developed man is the most lovable 
 creature in the world, and at the same time the 
 most striking image of the divine. The educator must 
 be free from egotism ; he must respect both his pupil 
 and himself: maybe he has before him one greater 
 than himself. Let him not seek for more than spon- 
 taneous submission to his authority. For him it is to 
 exercise unlimited love and patience. Let the sacred- 
 ness of his office help him to overcome its difficulties. 
 Let the means and methods he employs be in accord 
 with all that is good and true and beautiful, so that his 
 pupil see in him an ideal of affection and nobility."* 
 
 Dr. Hermann von Leonhardi, the editor of Krause's 
 works, says : " Some suppose that Krause was a mere 
 follower of Schelling, but this is an error. It is true 
 that he endeavoured to reconcile the philosophy of 
 Schelling, which makes thought an attribute of nature, 
 with that of Fichte, which makes nature an attribute of 
 thought. His own view was that both nature and 
 intellect originate in God. But Krause's system was 
 original It combines the best points of Plato and 
 Aristotle ; of idealism and realism. Krause has indeed 
 contributed much to the science, ethics, art, and 
 religion of our time." 
 
 * KRAUSE'S Urbild dtr Menschheit.
 
 112 KEILHAU, GoTTINGEN. 
 
 Krause and Froebel were at one in their demand for 
 an education such as would strengthen and bring out 
 the spiritual nature of man. They also agreed in 
 placing the Pestalozzian principle of self -activity at the 
 very basis of their educational systems. Froebel's 
 social scheme was simpler and more practical than 
 Krause's, being based solely upon Pestalozzi's three- 
 fold relationship of man, i.e., his relationship to God, to 
 nature, and to his fellow-man.* Froebel has done 
 great service to education in his clear demonstration of 
 these three relationships from the very beginning of 
 human life, and in the graduated series of objects 
 he has devised for the training of the child in these 
 three directions. He has, however, no special object 
 teaching; with him all training is of a kind to 
 develop sense, reason, imagination, and originality. 
 His main point was not arrived at from the study 
 of speculative philosophy, but from his observation of 
 nature. It was based upon his experience of the real 
 rather than upon his conception of the ideal. His 
 object was the continuous, unremitting development of 
 man as an organic whole. 
 
 There are no leaps in nature, and neither must there 
 be in education. The educator must adapt his methods 
 to the natural development of the child, and be ready 
 to revise them whenever desirable. 
 
 Krause's system was slow in making its way in 
 Germany. Had he had a professorship at one of the 
 universities he would probably, like Hegel, f have 
 established an influential school. As it was, he was 
 
 * Comeuius had taken as his three-fold basis of education the 
 world, God, and reason. 
 
 t His rival for the Fichte professorship in Berlin.
 
 TROUBLED TIMES. 113 
 
 ignored, because, according to Heinrich Ahrens, "his 
 system was not in harmony with the theories of Kant 
 and Hegel, nor with the rationalism and materialism 
 into which these philosophies merged. The contrasting 
 views urged by the followers of one or other of these 
 philosophers found many hearers, being more readily 
 understood than the doctrines which treat philosophy 
 on a broader basis. Krause's system is an adaptation 
 of philosophy to human life. It is in harmony with 
 Christian principles and social progress, its object 
 being to develop all that is good and noble in human 
 nature." 
 
 Froebel sent Krause the first copy of his scheme for 
 a national school. Such a school he felt would express 
 his views more fully than was possible, even in his own 
 school at Keilhau. He had written to Herr Inspector 
 Zeh, in 1827, hoping that through his influence a locale 
 for such an experiment might be obtained ; and though 
 he failed in this, his friends succeeded in interesting the 
 Duke of Meiningen (one of the most enterprising 
 princes of his time) in his work. It happened that the 
 Duke's physician, Dr. Hohebaum, a most enlightened 
 educationist, had been at Keilhau, and he now proposed 
 that the Duke should establish a people's school at 
 Helba, and that Froebel should be asked to present 
 a scheme for it. To this end an interview was brought 
 about between the Prince and Froebel, in consequence 
 of which he worked out, with his friends at Keilhau, a 
 model scheme of education. 
 
 Various kinds of hand-work, e.g. weaving, carpenter- 
 ing, gardening, were to form a substantial part of the 
 scheme. This practical work was intended to stimulate 
 the children's interest and intelligence, and at the 
 
 I
 
 114 KEILHAU, GOTTINGEN. 
 
 same time to train them to habits of industry and 
 dexterity. They were to learn by doing, and to become 
 productive members of society. The materials used 
 were frequently to form the subject of lessons, which 
 were to be so graded as to form an educational whole, 
 and lay the foundation for a happy, industrious, and 
 thrifty life. 
 
 In addition to the boys' school there was to be : 
 
 1. A nursery- room for orphans under seven years 
 of age. 
 
 2. An elementary school. 
 
 3. A technical school for the development of German 
 art and industry. 
 
 4. A school for mothers. 
 
 The institution at Keilhau was to form part of the 
 scheme by preparing pupils for more special studies. 
 
 Pestalozzi's Intuitive Method was to be adopted in 
 its entirety. 
 
 The scheme was presented to the Duke, and he 
 decided to hand over to Froebel his estate of Helba, 
 with thirty acres of ground, and a subsidy of about 
 80 a year.* Needless to say this quasi-public recog- 
 nition of his work was a source of great rejoicing to 
 Froebel and his friends at Keilhau. They had for 
 many years been content to work hand in hand in 
 comparative obscurity. Here was a chance of proving 
 the value of the Froebel idea. The Castle of Helba 
 stands in beautiful grounds, in a sunny valley of the 
 Thuringian Forest, not far from Meiningen. The 
 region is rich in animals and plants suitable for nature 
 lessons, and has many points of historical interest. 
 
 * 1000 gulden.
 
 TROUBLED TIMES. 115 
 
 In a letter to Barop, dated March, 1828, Froebel 
 says: "For some time my thoughts have been 
 occupied with the problem of the right education 
 for children between three and seven years of age. 
 Various influences have now determined me to make 
 the training of motherless children of this age part 
 of the work done at Helba. We shall begin with 
 those of the middle classes. I shall not call this an 
 infant school, because I do not intend the children to 
 be schooled, but to be allowed under the gentlest 
 treatment to develop freely." 
 
 This scheme is valuable because it expresses fully 
 Froebel's educational idea. His object is to connect 
 observation and expression, thought and deed, sense- 
 impression, knowledge and faculty. He bases all 
 learning upon self-activity and self-expression, and holds 
 that there is much valuable training for children in 
 home and school duties, in the collection of objects 
 for illustrating natural history lessons, in gardening, 
 in decorating, and in cleaning. Training and instruc- 
 tion were to go hand in hand. Many of the 
 occupations devised for the people's school at Helba 
 have, through the Kindergarten, become familiar to us. 
 They are such as produce skill of eye and hand, and 
 develop in the children a sense of symmetry, harmony, 
 and beauty. Nearly a hundred Kindergarten games 
 were added to the occupations. 
 
 Froebel was consulted by the Duke of Meiningen 
 with regard to the education of his only son and 
 heir, and he strongly urged that the young prince 
 should be educated with other boys. This gave umbrage 
 to the former directors of the boy's education; and, 
 prompted by jealousy, they did what they could to throw
 
 Il6 KEILHAU, G6TTINGEN. 
 
 discredit on the new scheme, and on the Keilhau 
 institution itself. The good Duke was disturbed by 
 this conflict, and began to waver and to retreat, in 
 so far as to limit the number of pupils to be educated 
 with his son ; and as under these conditions it was not 
 possible for Froebel to carry out his idea in its 
 entirety, he decided with the utmost regret to give 
 up the plan, and to content himself for the present 
 with the mere conception of it. It was not fruitless, 
 however, for the germs of much of his future work 
 are to be found in the Helba scheme.
 
 PART II. 
 THE KINDERGARTEN 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 SWITZERLAND. 
 1830 TO 1836. FRANKFUBT, WARTENSEE, "WiLLisAu, BURGDOEF. 
 
 Barop The Holzhausens Wartensee The New Institution Froebel 
 in Switzerland Enemies Chequer Drawing Johann Gottlieb 
 Fichte Womanly Influence Schnyder Barop in Switzerland 
 The Frankenberg Family Willisau Religious Persecution 
 Sudden Attack Public Examination Seasonable Help 
 Froebel's Authority Burgdorf Picturesque Situation Success 
 of the New Education Its Influence on Home Life Training 
 of the Mother Langethal's View Frau Froebel's Illness New 
 Arrangements Leonhardi and Krause Spread of Froebelism. 
 
 TjIKOEBEL'S Education of Man, published in 1826, 
 JL at a time when he was suffering so much from 
 difficulties within and without, gives the fullest ex- 
 pression we possess of his idea of education. It was 
 entirely based upon Pestalozzi's principle of 
 " Anschauung," with the addition of his own special 
 doctrine of " Darstellung," or living out that which 
 has been taken in. As Mr. Hanschmann remarks, 
 "America was not named after Columbus," and it is 
 possible that Froebel has not yet received the credit 
 due to him as the originator of this doctrine. Surely 
 it is of equal importance with that of Auschauung 
 itself. For until we have expressed that which we 
 have observed and understood, it is hardly our own. 
 By " Darstellung " Froebel does not mean mere verbal 
 
 117
 
 Il8 FRANKFURT, WARTENSEE, BURGDORF. 
 
 expression, but rather what might be called exhaustive 
 expression, i.e., expression in every variety of way, and 
 by every kind of activity. This is best seen in a good 
 Kindergarten, where the child's doings throughout are 
 made to focus on the subject before him so as to give 
 him as real and complete an idea as possible. 
 
 In the spring of 1831, Froebel sent his friends in 
 Frankfurt his Outlines of Education, and the Helba 
 scheme which contained the germs of the future Kinder- 
 garten. Hereupon followed a correspondence, which he 
 hoped would not only clear his system of all that was 
 vague or unpractical, but would gain friends for the cause. 
 
 " All may join in this noble work," he wrote, " rich 
 and poor, old and young, great and small. For its 
 object is to educate the human being in harmony 
 with his nature and the conditions of his time." The 
 little community at Keilhau led an ideal life of 
 devotion to the cause and to each other; and the 
 difficulties they had to encounter in consequence of 
 their money troubles, and Herzog's disloyalty, only 
 served to strengthen the bond between them. 
 
 In May, 1831, Froebel went to Frankfurt-am-Main, 
 to see his many friends. There was Gruener, who had 
 started him in his educational career; Frau von 
 Holzhausen, who had from the first so thoroughly 
 understood and sympathised with his aspirations. 
 With men of thought and intelligence Froebel's genius 
 always made itself felt, and indeed few remained 
 altogether indifferent to him. Some, it is true, were 
 repelled by his peculiar manner and self-assertion ; 
 but by far the larger number were attracted by his 
 utter belief in his idea. 
 
 At the Holzhausens 1 he met the accomplished
 
 SWITZERLAND. 1 19 
 
 musician and composer Xavier Schnyder, of Wartensee 
 (1786 to 1868), who, as a man of culture, as well as an 
 experienced teacher and educationist, was in a position 
 to appreciate Froebel's scheme of education. He 
 himself had worked with Pestalozzi, was a friend of 
 the musician Naegeli, and of Jean Paul Eichter. 
 
 Schnyder went carefully through the scheme drawn 
 up by Froebel and his Keilhau friends, and was so much 
 impressed with the value and importance of the work 
 and the originality of its founder, that, to Froebel's 
 great delight, he offered to put at his disposal the Castle 
 of Wartensee (Lake of Sempach), in Switzerland. 
 Thither Froebel and Middendorff proceeded in July, 
 and by the 12th August they had received from the 
 Minister of Education authorisation to start a Froebel 
 school in the Canton of Lucerne. This authorisation 
 took the form of the following letter, addressed 
 
 " To Herrn Schnyder, of "Wartensee. 
 
 " Honoured Sir, "We have the pleasure of sending you 
 and Herrn Friedrich Froebel the decision of the Council 
 which met on the 10th inst., and which authorises you to 
 establish in the Canton a private model school such as you 
 have described. We congratulate the Canton on the 
 prospect of having a school under such excellent manage- 
 ment, and one which is likely to have so good an influence 
 on the other schools of the Canton. We shall have the 
 honour to interest ourselves especially in this institution, 
 and at all times be ready to do anything in our power to 
 further so beneficent an undertaking. 
 
 " We are, dear sir, respectfully yours, 
 
 " E. PFYFFER and N. RUETTIMANN, 
 " In the name of the President 
 
 and Council of Education, 
 "LUCERNE, Aiigust 12*A, 1831."
 
 I2O FRANKFURT, WARTENSEE, BURGDORF. 
 
 A circular dated August 3rd, 1831, announced the 
 opening of " The Wartensee Institution," which was in- 
 tended for the German, French, and Italian children of 
 the surrounding cantons. German, however, was to 
 be the language in use. The pupils were to be prepared 
 for trade, commerce, or the university. The castle, 
 with its furniture, its silver, its magnificent library, 
 etc., which Schnyder had so magnanimously put at 
 Froebel's disposal, appeared at first to be all that could 
 be wished. It was most beautifully situated in view 
 of the magnificent chain of the Bernese Oberland, 
 opposite the little town of Sufsee, and looking, from 
 different points of view, towards Germany, France, 
 and Italy, as if to indicate its cosmopolitan spirit. 
 It seemed now as if Froebel were about to realise 
 his desire of continuing Pestalozzi's work in the 
 country of the great reformer. 
 
 He was gladdened and inspired too by the land in 
 which he was about to sow the seed the land of beauty, 
 of historic memories, and of freedom ; the hills covered 
 with perpetual snow, the mysterious valleys, the blue 
 lakes, the waterfalls, avalanches, precipices, the forests, 
 and the clear bracing air of the hills. Hope and 
 courage once more filled his heart. " Switzerland," 
 says Seyffarth, "is the land of freedom. In lonely 
 valleys or steep mountains, in sunshine or shade, in 
 storm or in calm, everywhere you breathe the breath 
 of freedom. Can we wonder that such a land gave 
 birth to a Wilhelm Tell and a Winkelried ? " Such was 
 the spirit in which Froebel began his new work. On 
 the 21st August he and Schnyder signed a contract
 
 SWITZERLAND. 121 
 
 which in itself is a testimony to the philanthropy and 
 disinterestedness of these two excellent men.* 
 
 Schnyder returned to Frankfurt in the beginning of 
 September, leaving a young relative in charge of the 
 Wartensee household, and all promised well. But 
 shortly after the issue of the above-mentioned circular 
 an anonymous article appeared in the Appenzel paper, 
 which made all kinds of unfounded accusations against 
 both Froebel and Schnyder. f 
 
 It was headed, "A Word about Friedrich Froebel, 
 of Keilhau, Founder of the Wartensee Institution." 
 Froebel's first impulse was to send to the editor a 
 refutation of the attacks made upon him, but he ended 
 by asking that the article should be signed by the 
 writer, and appealed to the authorities in Eudolstadt, 
 and to the public, to whom he had devoted his life and 
 work, for a thorough investigation. Schnyder, who was 
 much offended by the allusions to him in the offensive 
 publication, urged Froebel from the first to publish an 
 answer which should completely vindicate him and 
 his system, but it was some time before he could 
 win the Keilhau teachers over to this view. At 
 length, however, they consented to draw up a refuta- 
 tion, and one of the Keilhau parents, a man of good 
 position, got the magistrates of Eudolstadt to endorse 
 it. The document was then sent (October, 1832) to the 
 Council of Education at Lucerne. Meanwhile Froebel 
 continued his work in the new institution, and was 
 much appreciated in the neighbourhood. " Many 
 blessed the day that saw his arrival in the canton, 
 
 * See Hansehmann, pp. 222-225. 
 
 t This vindictive publication was eventually traced to Froebel's old 
 enemy, Herzog.
 
 122 FRANKFURT, WARTENSEE, BURGDORF. 
 
 and only hoped that the spirit of the institution would 
 spread to other schools." 
 
 In January, 1833, a second attack appeared, signed 
 by Dr. Karl Herzog, of Jena. But by this time Froebel 
 had gained friends in Switzerland who were able to 
 testify to the excellence of the school and the integrity 
 and capability of its founders, and several articles in 
 their favour appeared in the Argau News. That the 
 school was appreciated is evident from the fact that 
 Froebel was entreated to start others in the neighbour- 
 hood. The number of his pupils increased, and he was 
 glad to have the help of his nephew Ferdinand.'* 
 
 We have a school day at Wartensee described in 
 Froebel's own words : " I am so busy up to three 
 o'clock," he says, " that there is hardly time for break- 
 fast or lunch, and I often work on till late in the night. 
 Lessons begin punctually at eight, although many of 
 the pupils have to come long distances and sometimes 
 through the fiercest weather. After prayers the first 
 lesson is arithmetic, Ferdinand taking one division, I the 
 other ; we also share the language teaching that follows. 
 From ten to eleven my nephew gives the upper division 
 a lesson on the history of Switzerland, and the little 
 ones read with me or draw in chequers. This occupa- 
 tion, providing, as it does, exercise in language and 
 training of hand and eye, is both pleasing and good for 
 these Lucerne children. They enjoy their lessons, 
 which not only instruct them but teach them how 
 to live. It was my intention to end the morning 
 school at eleven o'clock, but when the parents saw 
 how the little ones enjoyed their drawing, and how 
 
 * Son of Christian Froebel,
 
 SWITZERLAND. 123 
 
 much they learned from it, they wished the bigger 
 children to learn too; and the only way of getting 
 time for this was to let them stay an hour later. 
 The success of the few who joined at first soon 
 attracted others, and some of them, touched by my 
 'little magic wand' (the stroke), invent the most 
 beautiful designs.* 
 
 " The feeling for art is like a magnet. It soothes the 
 children and keeps them at the table till I break up the 
 class by main force. But mid-day has its duties too, 
 and it is absolutely necessary to dismiss the class a few 
 minutes before noon. One of the boys, who intends to 
 be an artist, will not give up a second of the time, and 
 indeed does all he can to hold on eight or ten minutes 
 longer. After this there is a bare hour before afternoon 
 school (1 jxrn.), during which we take our lunch, 
 wash our hands, and do any preparation that may be 
 necessary. The beautiful fruit has often to go away 
 untasted from the table, because there is no time to eat 
 it. The children meanwhile have a good game at catch 
 in the garden until they hear the call to school. By a 
 few minutes past one everything is in order, and we are 
 all quietly at work again. The bigger children do their 
 French exercises, whilst the little ones draw. At two 
 o'clock the little ones write German with me, and the 
 big ones have an oral French lesson. School is over at 
 three. On fine days we have games and gymnastics in 
 the grounds, after which the children disperse. I have 
 
 * How different is this description of the Froebel drawing from much 
 of what we know by that name, in which some of the very designs 
 arrived at by Froebel and his pupils whilst applying the principle 
 of harmonising contrasting forms, are worked through by mere 
 imitation.
 
 124 FRANKFURT, WARTENSEE, BURGDORF. 
 
 been much impressed by the refining influence of games 
 for the children. It seems to me that they transform 
 the human being, making many a hard, rough, strong 
 nature gentle and yielding as a plant. Had it been 
 necessary for me to prove the value of the methods 
 adopted at Keilhau, and of their general applicability 
 to human nature, my few weeks' experience with these 
 Swiss children would have been sufficient to convince 
 me. I have watched the effect of our methods every 
 day with increasing satisfaction." 
 
 The "Wartensee school won, through Schnyder, a 
 friend in the person of Johann Gottlieb Fichte, son of 
 the philosopher who had done so much to befriend 
 Pestalozzi. Young Fichte looked to the Froebel 
 education to work in the direction of his father's 
 doctrines, and determined to do all in his power to 
 spread it. This inspired the Keilhau teachers with the 
 hope that now at length the system would make its 
 way. They had often met Johanu Fichte in the merry 
 company of his father's pupils; they knew him to be in 
 earnest, and built much on his support. " Such a test," 
 they write, " of the Froebel idea will show, once for all, 
 whether or not the system forms part of the general 
 scheme of human development. A clear and impartial 
 exposition is most desirable, and it will come better 
 from one who is simply in search of a social and 
 educational reform than from an educational en- 
 thusiast, who, however clearly he may see the goal he 
 has in view, is always more or less involved in the 
 struggle to reach it. As for us, let our main concern 
 be to thoroughly test the truth of the fundamental 
 idea rather than to discuss believers and unbelievers in 
 the system, heroes who devote themselves to it, or even
 
 SWITZERLAND. 125 
 
 the founder of it. What concerns us at present is to 
 encourage all disinterested examination of the question 
 likely to bring out the truth. Let us but seek to know 
 and accept the truth, and act accordingly. Surely it is 
 high time that educated people should be willing to 
 examine a cause that has been publicly advocated as a 
 new development of mankind, and that claims to be a 
 fundamental need of our nation." Young Fichte was 
 much occupied at this time with his own works ; but 
 he remained a faithful advocate of Froebel's system of 
 education, and a generation later (i.e., in 1870), in an 
 essay on national education, he justified it from a 
 philosophical point of view. 
 
 The Keilhau teachers kept up a good heart even 
 amidst Herzog's persecution of them. "We think," 
 they say, " Herzog's attack may, by drawing attention 
 to the Froebel cause, do good rather than harm. Our 
 little community has grown up like a healthy plant, 
 with a strong root. It is full of life, and grows from 
 stage to stage and from ripeness to ripeness. What we 
 have to do is to stick to our belief, trusting to the 
 truth as our best friend and winner of friends." 
 
 Froebel worked most energetically at the new school, 
 but he was greatly in need of more help, and especially 
 of womanly influence. He wrote to Keilhau to see if 
 it were possible for them to spare Ferdinand Froebel's 
 sister Elise to come and mother the Wartensee boys.* 
 After some delay he received their consent, and im- 
 mediately wrote to Schnyder as follows : " The 
 difficulties in organising the work of this institution 
 are greater than I expected, and we are greatly in need 
 
 * Fraulein Salesie, Schnyder's relative, had returned to Lucerne.
 
 126 FRANKFURT, WARTENSEE, BURGDORF. 
 
 of a woman's help. The masculine mind may govern, 
 but it requires the woman's feeling to order and 
 arrange the daily life. For a truly human life in the 
 highest sense both influences are necessary. There are 
 six women workers in Keilhau, each doing her share 
 with dignity, simplicity, and thrift. When the new 
 school was proposed to me, I had these women workers 
 in my mind, but I did not see my way to disturbing 
 the old school for the sake of the new. I know also, 
 from experience, that time alone can bring about a 
 perfect life in any community. I am glad to tell you 
 that I received yesterday the consent of my Keilhau 
 friends to send my niece over here. She has been 
 trained at Keilhau, and can undertake all household 
 matters and help in the school generally. I am sure 
 you feel with me that the sacrifice of so valuable a help 
 shows the great interest the Keilhau teachers take in 
 this new venture, and their harmony of feeling and 
 devotion to the common good. And to judge from 
 your own life, I should say that this is the spirit you 
 would like to encourage at Wartensee." Schnyder 
 fully appreciated the devotion that prompted the 
 Keilhau teachers to deny themselves the services of 
 Barop and Elise Froebel. He, too, felt the need of the 
 woman's influence in the new school, but he thought 
 that so serious a step should only be taken after careful 
 consideration. A good deal of earnest correspondence 
 between Froebel, Schnyder, and Middendorff followed, 
 and in the end Barop was sent over to Wartensee to 
 work with Froebel for a time. With ten dollars (about 
 thirty shillings) in his pocket, he tramped on foot from 
 the heart of Germany to the Sempach Lake, which is 
 not far from Lucerne. Near the end of his journey he
 
 SWITZERLAND. I2/ 
 
 made inquiries about the institution, and was informed 
 that the teachers were a company of heretics. This 
 was not encouraging, and Barop began to doubt 
 whether even here, in the land of freedom, Froebel 
 had succeeded in finding the right field for his efforts. 
 A few months later, however, an incident happened 
 which was to give the school a fresh start. Froebel, 
 Middeiidorff, and Barop were one evening taking rest 
 and refreshment after a walk, at a restaurant in the 
 neighbourhood of Wartensee, and began to discuss the 
 school and the work they had so much at heart. Some 
 merchants from Willisau came in, and, after listening 
 for some time to the eager discussions of the trio, 
 joined in the conversation. 
 
 They showed a keen interest in all our friends had 
 to tell them of the aims and objects of the new school, 
 and on their return to Willisau they sent Froebel an 
 invitation to go over there and start a school similar 
 to the one at Wartensee. A small union, consisting 
 of about twenty well-to-do families, guaranteed the 
 necessary funds, and promised to put at their dis- 
 posal some old Government offices to serve as school- 
 rooms. Pending the somewhat lengthy negotiations to 
 be gone through before the school could be opened, 
 Froebel went to Keilhau to see his wife and the little 
 community once more. His visit lasted from November 
 till the February of the following year (1833). But, 
 alas ! it was much saddened by the loss of Ms nephew, 
 William,* a most energetic and useful teacher at 
 Keilhau. 
 
 On leaving Keilhau, Froebel went to Berlin to see 
 
 * Ferdinand and William were Christian Froebel's sons.
 
 128 FRANKFURT, WARTENSEE, BURGDORF. 
 
 his mother-in-law. During his stay in the Prussian 
 capital he received a letter from Adolf Frankenberg 
 (the friend and disciple of Krause), which gave him 
 great pleasure. Frankenberg had decided to join the 
 Froebel workers. The Frankenberg family, it will be 
 remembered, were warm disciples of Krause, who had 
 always been their most honoured guest. Frankenberg's 
 father was a man of culture and distinction. He had 
 studied with success both law and finance, but had 
 finally retired to his estate at Eddigehausen, near 
 Gottingen, and his home became the centre of an ideal 
 family and social life. He had five sons, four of whom 
 were gentlemen farmers, and lived in accordance with 
 Krause's principles of sociology. His three daughters* 
 undertook the education of the peasant girls on their 
 estate, whilst their brothers taught the boys. Adolf, 
 the youngest, had finished his studies of philosophy 
 and theology in Gottingen. He was, however, un- 
 fortunately prevented from taking his final examina- 
 tion there by the dissolution of the University (1832), 
 and he took for a tune a private tutorship. He wanted 
 to perfect himself in method, and to associate with 
 educationists and thinkers ; and having a lively recol- 
 lection of Froebel's visit to Gottingen, and of the 
 interest in his views and principles, he turned to him 
 for guidance. Froebel could not but be gratified at the 
 thought of having a man of such culture and such 
 antecedents to work under him, and on his return to 
 Keilhau gladly carried the good news to his friends, 
 and wrote to assure Frankenberg of a warm welcome 
 amongst the Froebel workers. 
 
 * The youngest afterwards went to study under Froebel.
 
 SWITZERLAND. 1 29 
 
 The necessary authorisation for the opening of the 
 new school arrived early in April, and by May 1st 
 Froebel and his wife met Barop, Ferdinand Froebel, 
 and Frankenberg, at Willisau. The school was opened 
 on the following day with thirty-six pupils. 
 
 The denser population at Willisau made it more 
 suitable for Froebel's scheme, but, being on the borders 
 of the ultramontane district, it was exposed to the 
 persecution of the Catholic clergy, who from the first 
 had opposed its establishment, and knew well how to 
 stir up opposition against it. Personally there was 
 nothing to say against the " three prophets " (Froebel, 
 his nephew, and Barop), but they were Protestants, 
 and that was enough to awaken alarm in the Catholic 
 mind. The better classes approved of the school and 
 patronised it ; but the clergy worked upon the minds 
 of the poor to such an extent that at length there 
 was quite a religious panic, and petitions, appeals, and 
 remonstrances, many with crosses for signatures, began 
 to pour in from all parts of the canton. Barop was 
 especially the object of suspicion, his black coat giving 
 him the appearance of one of the heretic clergy ;* and 
 many a battle for principle and right had these noble 
 men to fight, for they were never free from attacks, 
 at meetings, at restaurants, even in the streets. Barop 
 was not actually one of the Willisau staff, but he 
 stuck to his friends, and generally was the one who 
 undertook the defence. 
 
 Stopping one day at an inn, on his way to Lucerne, 
 he was pointed at by a priest, who calle4 him " one of 
 the new heretic interlopers." Glances of hatred and 
 
 * The Protestant pastor was a very pariah iu this district 
 K
 
 130 FRANKFURT, WARTENSEE, BURGDORF. 
 
 suspicion were directed towards him. The priest 
 became more and more violent in his denunciations 
 against the "God-forgotten heretic." At last Barop 
 rose slowly, and walking steadily towards his enemy, 
 asked, " Do you know, sir, who Jesus Christ was, and 
 have you any respect for Him?" Confused by the 
 quiet firmness of his manner, the priest answered, 
 " Yes, certainly ; he is God's Son, and we must believe 
 in Him and honour Him, unless we wish to be damned 
 eternally." Barop continued, "Perhaps you can tell 
 me whether Christ was a Catholic or a Protestant." 
 The priest remained silent. This question won over 
 the audience, who applauded Barop, and the priest 
 fled. 
 
 But the religious persecution thus indicated increased 
 in vindictiveness. The clamour reached the Senate, 
 and though no steps were taken in consequence, the 
 Froebel teachers were warned against the insecurity 
 of their position, and even to avoid lonely rambles 
 over the hills. 
 
 Barop relates the following incident : At the 
 annual church festival in Willisau, it is the custom 
 for the priest to hold up the host covered with spots 
 of blood* as a memorial and warning against evil. 
 All the neighbouring villages assemble and form a 
 procession. Our friends naturally joined, and offered, 
 as their share of the ceremony, to undertake the 
 music. They were not unconscious of the danger of 
 their position, and were prepared to meet any possible 
 attack with firmness and patience. But no sooner had 
 
 * According to popular belief two gamblers threw javelins at Jesus, 
 whose wounds began to bleed as they exclaimed, "God be with us." 
 The end of the story is that the devil fetched them away.
 
 SWITZERLAND. 131 
 
 the music ceased, when a Capuchin monk suddenly 
 appeared upon the scene, and began to rage and 
 gesticulate against the Willisauers for associating with 
 " heretics." The eternal punishment they would suffer 
 for this was described in the most glowing colours, 
 and the people were exhorted to proceed at once 
 against them, " to banish them like wolves from their 
 midst," and so "please God, spite the devil, and win 
 for themselves the blessing of heaven and the approval 
 of God's elect." With the last words the priest 
 vanished through a side door of the church, but not 
 before he had awakened bad feeling amongst the 
 people. Froebel and the teachers stood petrified by 
 the suddenness and violence of the attack, and whilst 
 some of the parents went in pursuit of the priest 
 others closed round the teachers, who were obliged to 
 retire from this dreadful scene amidst the jeers and 
 threats of the crowd. Thenceforth their lives were 
 not safe ; indeed, on the following day, as Froebel was 
 starting for a walk, a faithful old Swiss met him with 
 the words, "Don't do it! don't do it! they want to 
 kill you!" "Why?" asked Froebel. The peasant 
 answered, " Custom here custom here." 
 
 At this crisis they thought it wise to apply to the 
 municipality for protection. Barop acted as ambassador, 
 and thus came into contact with the magistrate, Edward 
 Pfyffer, a man of intelligence and education, who gave 
 the following advice : " There is only one way : that is 
 to win over the people ; stick to your work for a little 
 while, and then invite the people from far and near 
 to a public demonstration. If this succeeds you are 
 protected, not otherwise." They followed this plan, 
 and the demonstration took place on a fine autumn
 
 132 FRANKFURT, WARTENSEE, BURGDORF. 
 
 day (1833) ; and as an account of the molestation of 
 the Froebel teachers had been published in several 
 Swiss papers, crowds flocked to Willisau from all the 
 neighbouring cantons, and amongst them even Govern- 
 ment delegates from Berne, Zurich, and other towns 
 of more importance. The examination lasted the 
 whole day, ending with games and gymnastics ; and, to 
 the delight of the teachers, a complete victory was 
 obtained ; the eagerness and simplicity of the children 
 charmed all hearts. They knew that their work was 
 now safe. A public conference was arranged in which 
 Pfyffer, Amrhyn, and other friends and educational 
 authorities took part, and a valiant defence of the 
 Willisauers ensued. A resolution was passed that the 
 building used for the school should be handed over 
 to Froebel at a moderate rent, and the priests who 
 caused the disturbance should be banished the canton. 
 Having steered the school safely through this diffi- 
 cult crisis, Barop returned to his work at Keilhau. 
 He had been absent over a year, and had not yet seen 
 his little son, now a year old. Middendorff came to 
 Willisau to take his place, bringing Elise Froebel with 
 him, and in his turn leaving wife and children for the 
 work in Switzerland. His support was greatly needed, 
 for in spite of the favourable attitude of the Swiss 
 authorities towards the school and the friendliness of 
 the inhabitants of Willisau, the battle was not yet 
 over. The Catholic clergy did all they could to 
 prevent the school increasing, by prejudicing against 
 it those who were about to send new pupils from a 
 distance. Middendorff stayed on at Willisau for years 
 without visiting his family once. "I did not dare 
 to stir at this time," he said. " I was guarding, as it
 
 SWITZERLAND. 133 
 
 were, an outpost of our stronghold. As long as the 
 Catholic clergy persisted in their hostilities it was 
 impossible to leave, even for the sake of my dear 
 ones. And yet," he added, smiling, "I can hardly 
 understand now how I did it." It was a peculiarity 
 of Froebel's influence to inspire this unquestioning 
 devotion in his followers. Fellenberg would have 
 liked to win Middendorff for his school at Hofwyl; 
 but Middendorff, who was love and fidelity personified, 
 stuck valiantly to his post. There were other obstacles 
 to be overcome besides the opposition of the Catholic 
 clergy. " It seems to me," writes Froebel, " that edu- 
 cation in the canton is more hindered by selfishness 
 and egotism even than by bigotry. The public approve 
 of the education proposed for them, the means are 
 ready to hand, but no one will take the first step. 
 Our public demonstrations have awakened in the 
 minds of the public a desire for the new education; 
 but they act like people who, though they want their 
 cow to give good milk, are unwilling to provide it with 
 good food and shelter." 
 
 The Bernese government had, in 1833, shown its 
 confidence in Froebel by sending some young teachers 
 to Willisau to be trained.* In 1835 he was appointed 
 director of a new school which he had been invited to 
 organise in the Orphanage at Burgdorf. Hence, in 
 the summer of that year, he and Langethal settled 
 there with their wives. Middendorff meanwhile took 
 
 * One of these writes : " A teacher such as Froebel is seldom seen. 
 He knew how to stimulate and develop ; he would utilise anything 
 that came to hand number, language, play ; all was grist that came 
 to his mill. With little children he was in his element, and they 
 seemed to be quite captivated by his rapid manner and clear demon- 
 stration."
 
 134 FRANKFURT, WARTENSEE, BURGDORF. 
 
 Froebel's place at Willisau. There was a training 
 class of sixty students, and the Bernese Government 
 arranged that every teacher in the canton should have 
 three months' leave of absence in the year, so as to 
 be able to attend the Froebel classes and conferences. 
 There was a day school for the children of the town, 
 and a scheme was started for a boarding school for 
 pupils living at a distance. Thus Froebel found him- 
 self plunged into manifold difficulties and problems of 
 elementary education, and for a time his scheme for 
 " the education of mankind " had to wait. 
 
 In spite of this, he and his wife spent a very happy 
 time at Burgdorf. The lovely valley of the Emme, 
 with its innumerable tributaries, chalets, and water- 
 mills, was a constant source of enjoyment to them. 
 The view on every side of this fruitful valley is grand 
 and imposing. Within a few miles on the north-east 
 is a long row of the Jura chain ; opposite this, a little 
 further off, are magnificent ice-fields. Just towering 
 with solemn dignity above the little town, you see the 
 majestic peaks of the Bernese Oberland, Schreckhorn 
 and Jungfrau, Eiger and Moench. The view on a clear 
 day, or by a fine sunset, is the grandest and most 
 beautiful that can be imagined; and, to add to its 
 impressiveness, a solitary rock rises from the River 
 Emme, and on its summit stands the Castle of Burgdorf.* 
 It would almost appear that Froebel had reached his 
 goal. Besides being at the head of two thriving 
 institutions, Keilhau (now under Barop) and Willisau 
 (under Middendorff), he held an influential position 
 
 * Here, on this rock, had the philanthropist, Pestalozzi, laboured in 
 the cause of elementary education, and it was probably within the 
 walla of this old castle that he spent some of his happiest days.
 
 SWITZERLAND. 135 
 
 in the most advanced canton of Switzerland. Teachers 
 and pupils alike were devoted to him, and he had the 
 satisfaction of working in a place closely associated 
 with Pestalozzi's labours. The simple, honest, and 
 thrifty life of the Burgdorfers was a source of pure 
 happiness to Froebel ; and he began to feel that here, 
 away from persecution and strife, he should be able to 
 carry out the principles which had so long occupied his 
 thoughts. 
 
 He had not as yet been able to put into practice 
 the idea which at this time occupied him so much, 
 i.e., the "complete development of the child from 
 within outwards." And the more he studied the 
 question, the more he felt the need of beginning with 
 the earliest years of the child's life, and the more he 
 realised the stupendous difficulties that surround the 
 educator in the school proper. In accordance with his 
 scheme for Helba, he now organised a department for 
 children from three years, who would pass somewhere 
 between four and six into the lowest class of the 
 elementary school Froebel noted the young child's 
 early observation of his surroundings, and his eagerness 
 to express his understanding of them. He saw that 
 the simple actions, involved in this expression, furnish 
 the young child with the very opportunity he needs, 
 of living out the life that is in him. Expression is life 
 to him. 
 
 With this principle in his mind, he would have the 
 young child provided with rhymes, songs and games, 
 objects and materials for manipulation, gymnastic 
 exercises, and simple stories and poems. 
 
 Froebel made a study of what is called play. 
 "What is the play of these little ones?" he asks.
 
 136 FRANKFURT, WARTENSEE, BURGDORF. 
 
 " It is the great game of life itself in its beginnings. 
 Hence the intense seriousness often observed in the 
 attitude of children at play." All this naturally led 
 to a reform of family life, to the training of the 
 mother. The home, like the school, must be adapted 
 to the child's development. School training and home 
 training must go hand in hand. Mother and teacher 
 must work towards the same end. These reflections 
 gradually engrossed more and more of Froebel's atten- 
 tion, till at length the idea of the earliest training left 
 him no rest. He studied the French creche system, but 
 this did not, in his opinion, adequately develop the 
 child's powers. What Froebel wanted was a steadily 
 progressive education from first to last. This will 
 only be possible when the mother has learnt how to 
 stimulate the child's powers in such a way that he may 
 grow and flourish "as a plant does under favourable 
 conditions." 
 
 Here was the problem, the solution of which led 
 Froebel directly to his Kindergarten ; to apply the 
 Pestalozzian principle of Anschauung in such a way 
 as to induce in the child clear and strong impressions, 
 and provide suitable exercises for his moral and 
 spiritual nature. The Anschauung to be followed by 
 a Darstellung, which should bring about a harmonious 
 development of the child. But where begin ? Which 
 among his many playthings should be his first object, 
 his first gift ? Where is the starting-point ? Some 
 children playing at ball in a field gave him the answer. 
 The first gift shall be the ball It typifies the self- 
 activity of the child, his individuality, and his con- 
 nectedness with the human race and the universe. 
 Its variety of resource and almost life-like mobility
 
 SWITZERLAND. 137 
 
 make it a welcome object to the little child. With 
 the ball as outward, and his self-activity as inward 
 means for his development, we have a point of 
 departure which is as perfect as it is simple. That 
 children self-active and at play with the ball should 
 provide the key to his new education, seemed to 
 Froebel an inspiration, almost a revelation. 
 
 Froebel believed that a more perfect organisation 
 of family life would inaugurate " a glorious revival ; 
 a very renewal of life; a spring-time of humanity; 
 a new era ; a millennium." " The family alone," he 
 says, "offers the highest expression of human life, 
 the divine in the human. Life is only complete in the 
 family father, mother, child. Light, love, and life, 
 are a complete cycle. Only in the sacred soil of 
 the family can the seeds of the new life be sown."* 
 Froebel had some idea at this time of emigrating to 
 America, there to found a Krausean community, and 
 establish his system on the basis of the " new family 
 life." 
 
 In a letter to his friend, Adolf Frankenberg, 
 dated Burgdorf, December 31, 1835, he gives a short 
 retrospect of his efforts, which at this point is inter- 
 esting as part of his history. "After fifteen years' 
 work at Keilhau," he says, " I left it in the care of my 
 three friends. Then I worked at Willisau for three 
 years, one of the same trio taking up my work. Here 
 (at Burgdorf) I have hardly been one year, when I 
 must leave it to another of this faithful trio to continue. 
 Everywhere unity, everywhere trinity meeting and 
 parting parting and meeting." Froebel expected in 
 
 * See an article in the Smntagsblatt, 1838.
 
 138 FRANKFURT, WARTENSEE, BURGDORF. 
 
 this year, 1836, to see the fruition of all his work. 
 The very date was a symbol of good omen to him.* 
 
 From a letter of Langethal's, dated February, 1836, 
 we see that from the beginning of his stay in Burgdorf 
 Froebel had been working more and more in the 
 direction of infant education. "I see," he says, "in 
 this new home education of Froebel's both the 
 beginning of all art and science, and the last link in 
 the educational reform that has been going on from 
 Comenius to Pestalozzi and our own .times. It is 
 the first rung in the ladder that will lead to truly 
 human family life, and be the best aid to parents. 
 I will do anything to bring it about. I am interested 
 in Switzerland and its industrious and thrifty people, 
 but am willing to work at Keilhau, or anywhere where 
 I am most wanted. I am busy working out some good 
 methods for nature teaching, language and music, and 
 shall want them tested by our little circle at Keilhau." 
 
 It was in 1836 that the cube became prominent 
 amongst the gifts. Froebel had language cubes and 
 mathematical cubes. The size was that of the whole 
 third gift. The cube was taken as the typical geome- 
 trical form, equally and harmoniously developed on 
 every side. The child was to begin its geometry with 
 a solid, not with the more abstract line as heretofore. 
 The qualities of the cube were to be learned by seeing, 
 handling, observing, verifying, and thus provide a solid 
 basis for the child's geometry. The mathematical 
 
 * In a fantastic and fanciful way he reads the date as follows : 
 Tot up the digits 1, 8, 3, 6, and you get 18 eighteen, achtzehn, 
 achtsen, achtsam, i.e., to be on the watch ; or the last two, 3 and 6, 
 and you get 9 nine, neun, neuen, new, renewal. Nine is throe times 
 three, i.e., drei mal drei, treu der treu, fidelity ; true to God, to 
 II"'HI-'\ and to self.
 
 SWITZERLAND. 139 
 
 ideas suggested by the cube were to be verified in the 
 child's life. 
 
 The sharp Swiss air does not seem to have agreed 
 with Frau Froebel, who became more and more ailing. 
 With her usual heroism she had, as long as possible, 
 kept this to herself. At length, however, she was 
 overcome by an irresistible longing to visit Keilhau 
 once more, and to see her mother in Berlin. A serious 
 consultation was held, and it was decided that she and 
 Froebel should first go to Berlin, and then to Keilhau 
 to start the new work. Adolf Frankenberg was to 
 join them at Easter. Langethal was to take Froebel's 
 place at Burgdorf, with Sidonie Krause* as mother 
 and manager of the household. Meanwhile, in the 
 middle of March, Frau Froebel received the sad news 
 of her mother's death. This grief added much to her 
 suffering, and the doctor prescribed a return to 
 Germany at the first possible moment. 
 
 On his way to Keilhau, Frankenberg visited his 
 friend Leonhardi, and discussed with him Froebel's 
 new plan. Ever since Krause's death (at Munich, in 
 1832) his friend and disciple, Leonhardi, had been 
 agitating for the publication of his works. He now 
 saw in Froebel's new scheme of education the realisa- 
 tion of the very principles advocated by Krause, and 
 determined to join the Froebelians at once. He wrote 
 to Froebel on the 5th May, saying : " I have thought, 
 heard, and read much of you since we met, and a 
 recent visit from my old friend Adolf Fraukenberg 
 has revived in me the long-cherished wish to come into 
 closer relationship with you and your work. Your 
 constant efforts to bring about a more humanising 
 
 * Daughter of the philosopher, and the fiancee of Dr. Leonhardi,
 
 140 FRANKFURT, WARTENSEE, BURGDORF. 
 
 education have my heartiest sympathy. I can trace 
 in your practice and Krause's theories the same object, 
 i.e., to lay a new and scientific basis for man's education 
 and social life. I see in the scheme shown me by 
 Frankenberg, as well as in the work of your teachers 
 generally, an expression of Krause's fundamental 
 principles of human society. Indeed I am so much 
 impressed with the harmony between you and Krause, 
 that in offering my services I feel I am helping to 
 spread Krause's doctrines. For myself I feel that I 
 shall gain with you that which nothing in my student's 
 life can give me ; whilst, on the other hand, my know- 
 ledge of science, and the valuable notes in my 
 possession, will enable me to give instruction in many 
 subjects which demand a teacher's whole attention, and 
 can hardly be expected from those who are otherwise 
 occupied. The natural method of investigating 
 scientific facts, advocated by Krause, is not easy for 
 the uninitiated. I rejoice at the chance of seeing the 
 valuable principles, which it cost my dear friend and 
 master so much to discover, expressed in living words 
 and living actions. The proposed publication of his 
 works may do something to make him better known. 
 But you and your friends will do more; and I know 
 of no employment in which my scientific work could 
 be better utilised, nor any which would so pleasurably 
 stimulate my own activity. If you approve, I am 
 ready to throw in my lot with yours ; let each of us 
 contribute his particular strength to the common 
 object. Let us unite our efforts in establishing a more 
 natural education for the human being. Let us found 
 a scientific training school for teachers and educators ; 
 a university for the new life."
 
 SWITZERLAND. 141 
 
 Froebel was, for the moment, too much pre-occupied 
 with his scheme for infant training to be able to 
 consider adequately any plan for a scientific training 
 school for the more advanced stage, to which Leonhardi 
 alluded, but he was entirely in sympathy with 
 Krause's object, and gladly accepted Leonhardi's 
 offer. 
 
 Frankenberg sums up as follows the main Krause- 
 Froebelian principle : " The whole is greater than the 
 part ; life is more than thought, and the art of living 
 precedes the art of thinking. And just as the human 
 being is more than mere intellect and reason, so is the 
 study of his development higher than the study of 
 logic and philosophy. Science pure and simple, without 
 form or life, is unsatisfactory, and in the same way 
 knowledge apart from action is unsatisfying. Activity 
 lies at the basis of observation; this is seen in the 
 young child, and indeed throughout human life. It is 
 certain that the first human being ate and drank before 
 he philosophised upon it; and the individual goes 
 through the same experience as the race. Family life 
 precedes theories about it. If life in general is to be 
 reformed, to be rendered throughout continuously 
 harmonious, these reforms must begin in the family, 
 from which every social good proceeds." Krause's clear 
 and connected reasoning is published in a form which 
 prevents it being widely known ; his philosophy, how- 
 ever, is so exemplified in Froebel's gifts, games, and 
 occupations, as to make it intelligible to all who wish 
 to understand it. 
 
 Froebel's work at Willisau was continued by Midden- 
 dorff and Ferdinand Froebel until 1839, when their 
 places were taken by young Swiss teachers, thoroughly
 
 142 FRANKFURT, WARTENSEE, BURGDORF. 
 
 imbued with the Froebel principles. Middendorff 
 returned to Keilhau, Ferdinand Froebel continuing 
 the work till 1841, when he succeeded Langethal at 
 Burgdorf. His excellent work was terminated a few 
 years later by his sudden death. He was deeply 
 regretted. A crowd of sorrowing friends followed him 
 to the grave.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE FIRST KINDERGARTEN. 
 
 1836 TO 1843. BLANKENBTJRG, FRANKFURT, DRESDEN, LEIPZIG. 
 
 Origin of the Gifts First Play School Publications Experiments 
 Blankenburg the Starting -Place Educational Tour Froebel's 
 Propaganda Training of Infant Teachers Froebel's Personal 
 Influence Leipzig Frankenberg's Work in Dresden Death of 
 Frau Froebel Froebel's renewed Interest in his Work Students 
 attracted to the System Woman's Influence on Early Education 
 Name for the New Institution Four-fold Festival Objects of the 
 New School Mutter und Kose Lieder. 
 
 T7IROEBEL left Switzerland in the spring of 1836. 
 -L He had succeeded in establishing his system, in 
 spite of difficulties and persecution, in the cantons 
 of Berne and Lucerne, and even when he left, the com- 
 munity of spirit that existed between the teachers in 
 Switzerland and those in Thuringia remained unbroken. 
 Froebel's first duty on his return to Germany was to 
 settle the affairs of his late mother-in-law. This kept 
 him in Berlin till Michaelmas, and he spent most of his 
 time visiting the crtches and infant schools of the city. 
 Though these institutions had been in existence in 
 Germany for a quarter of a century, they had made 
 very little progress in the way of adapting their methods 
 to the nature of little children. Von Tuerck had 
 started a certain number of weches in Berlin in 1833, 
 under the patronage of the widowed Queen Elisabeth 
 of Prussia.
 
 144 BLANKENBURG, FRANKFURT, DRESDEN. 
 
 The practice of getting circles of small children 
 together for educational purposes, though new in 
 Germany, had been a custom among the ancients. 
 Children's circles were known to the Greeks in the 
 times of Plato and Aristotle ; and the Jews had their 
 Temple schools for them. The best known and the 
 most important of the modern infant schools was that 
 of Pastor Oberlin, at Walbach, Alsace. This school 
 was placed in 1779 under the direction of Oberlin's 
 faithful servant, Luise Scheppler, who, it was said, had 
 a " man's brain and a woman's heart." The weavers' 
 infant school established at New Lanark, Scotland, by 
 James Buchanan, for " songs, games, and discipline," was 
 an immediate outcome of this. It was built and 
 supported by the Scotch philanthropist, Robert Owen. 
 Though there was little attempt at method in it, it pro- 
 vided a certain amount of sense training, and in so far 
 prepared the children for school life. 
 
 Lord Brougham's infant schools, scattered through- 
 out England, were supported by the Marquis of 
 Lausdowne, the Duke of Devonshire, the celebrated 
 Wilberforce Macaulay (father of the historian), and 
 others. There was also, as early as 1820, a model 
 school and a training school for teachers in connec- 
 tion. Creches had been established in various places: 
 at Detmold in 1802 ; at Berlin in 1819, under the 
 protection of the Princess Alexandrine of Prussia; at 
 Wadzeck in 1825; at Stuttgart in 1829; at Sachsen- 
 hausen, near Frankfurt-am-Main, in 1832 ; at Darm- 
 stadt in 1834 ; and at Mannheim and Heidelberg in 
 1835. These institutions were more or less imperfect, 
 but they had succeeded in drawing the attention of 
 the public to the need of educating infanta.
 
 THE FIRST KINDERGARTEN. 145 
 
 Froebel is the discoverer of a rational and psycho- 
 logical system of training little children, and of 
 promoting their all-round development. The means 
 he uses are such as have been in use from time im- 
 memorial. Balls, bricks, sticks, paper, songs, games, 
 and simple gymnastics have always occupied little 
 children ; but in an unsystematic, casual, and aimless 
 way. 
 
 Froebel has managed to put those objects and occupa- 
 tions at the service of little children in a way both to 
 satisfy their instinctive longing for expression and to 
 give them the discipline they require at this age. And 
 in doing this he has given a new impetus to modern 
 education. Since his time the education of the earliest 
 years has become conscious and intelligent instead of 
 haphazard and accidental. It had often been affirmed 
 that education begins at birth, and Pestalozzi had done 
 good work in this direction. But no one before 
 Froebel had organised a continuous and connected 
 system of training equally applicable to young children 
 of all classes and all nations. 
 
 Infant schools and crtches were a device for the 
 benefit of the very poor, and aimed rather at relieving 
 the mother than at developing the child. Crbches, too, 
 were generally put under the care of those who could 
 earn their living in no other way, and who were utterly 
 ignorant of any method adapted to the educational 
 needs of the child, whilst the object of these new infant 
 schools was the development of the child according to 
 his nature. 
 
 Froebel drew up, as the basis of his first actual 
 experiment, a complete course of games and occupa- 
 tions, and these were tried at Blankenburg, in some 
 
 L
 
 146 BLANKENBURG, FRANKFURT, DRESDEN. 
 
 rooms which the mother institution had, not without 
 difficulty, fitted up for the purpose. 
 
 Blankenburg, in the Schwarzthal, is one of the most 
 romantic spots in the Thuringian Forest. It lies, half 
 hidden, above Eudolstadt, at some distance from the 
 high road, and within view of the picturesque castle of 
 Greifenstein. Here Froebel opened, in 1837,* what he 
 called " a school for the psychological training of little 
 children by means of play and occupations." 
 
 Froebel's little weekly paper, the Sonntagsblatt, 1837 
 to 1840, written mainly by himself, Langethal, Fran- 
 kenberg, and other friends, became the medium of 
 communication between the different Froebel centres, 
 and helped to spread Froebel's latest ideas with regard 
 to gifts and occupations for the little ones. Froebel 
 writes : " In the very beginnings of life lie the germs of 
 development, and the future of the child depends on 
 the earliest treatment of these germs. It is for us to 
 see that the child develops, from the first, freely and 
 independently, as complete in himself, and yet as a 
 harmonious part of a larger whole. The family is the 
 child's first school. In the atmosphere of family love 
 he follows his self-active instincts. The occupation 
 school is an extended family, in which the child learns 
 consciously to use senses and limbs, and to develop in 
 harmony with his nature, whilst it supplies knowledge 
 and a means often beyond the reach of home training." 
 
 In this paper Froebel advocates the complete and 
 harmonious training of the child by the exercise of his 
 self -active, observative, and productive instincts; in 
 short, by means of a perfect " Darstellung " or revela- 
 tion of his inner self. 
 
 * The year of Pestalozzi's death.
 
 THE FIRST KINDERGARTEN. 147 
 
 The drift of the articles in this paper may be 
 inferred from the following titles: "The Child's 
 Self -active Instincts"; "Training in the Family"; 
 "Educational Family Circles"; "Psychology and 
 School Systems " ; " The meaning of the Froebel Gifts 
 and Occupations." Froebel adopted for this paper 
 Goethe's motto, "Come let us live for our children," 
 and, in point of fact, devoted the paper to the solution 
 of the problem of carrying out the principle implied 
 in it. In it he proposes to establish institutions for 
 the complete self-education of the human being by 
 means of spontaneous play and productive activity, 
 for the reorganisation of family life, and the co- 
 operative training of infants. 
 
 In September, 1838, Barop and Frankenberg took 
 a few of the Keilhau pupils for a holiday to Dresden, 
 and took with them such of the gifts as were ready 
 (probably Gifts i.-iv.). They called on Prof. Peters 
 at Vitzthum, to whom they had letters of introduction. 
 Frankenberg at once pulled out of his wallet the little 
 boxes he had with him, and began to play with the 
 doctor's two little daughters. After watching the 
 proceedings for some little time the doctor exclaimed, 
 " You must stay here and play with the children ; such 
 a gift as you have for teaching is seldom seen ; there 
 is meaning in these little games." 
 
 From Dresden the friends went to Leipzig and other 
 towns ; and Frankenberg gives the following account 
 of the tour to his friend Leonhardi: "All lovers of 
 children," he says, "are delighted with Froebel's little 
 boxes (the gifts). Dr. Peters, of Dresden, kept all I 
 had. I played with his two little girls. I am told 
 ' they are usually very shy with strangers, especially
 
 148 BLANKENBURG, FRANKFURT, DRESDEN. 
 
 the elder, who is but five years old.' But they soon 
 got over this on seeing the fourth gift, and cried out, 
 every time I built anything, 'Now let me do it.' 
 Indeed both parents and children were so intensely 
 interested in the gift, that we were occupied with it 
 over two hours, and the children missed their walk.* 
 Dr. Peters wants the complete set. I explained 
 Froebel's theory of the gifts. He and his wife 
 entreated me to stay with them or come back soon, 
 and they said that if Froebel or I would settle here, 
 they would introduce us to many nice people, and 
 we should have plenty to do. They are deeply sensible 
 of the need for training before the school age, and 
 would rejoice to see an institution for this purpose 
 in Dresden. I believe with them that the introduction 
 of the gifts into a city of such educational standing 
 would be a great success. Dr. Peters introduced me 
 to Herrn Director Blochmann, who clearly sees the 
 value of the earliest education, and of a thorough 
 training for those who undertake it. He, too, wants 
 Froebel to come to Dresden and give a course of 
 lectures on the gifts, and is sure they would be well 
 attended. I told him that this was quite possible, 
 and that it had been done at Gottingen with great 
 success. Professor Lowe, Teacher of Mathematics 
 and Ancient Languages, who took such a lively interest 
 in what he saw at Keilhau, laid great stress upon 
 instilling into women the spirit of this education, 
 and wants the mistress of an infant school, whom he 
 knows, to go and study at Blankenburg. I left him 
 a copy of the Sonntagsblatt. Gefell, too, a great 
 
 * Simple demonstrations of this kind do much for the Froebel 
 cause, and should always accompany lectures on the system.
 
 THE FIRST KINDERGARTEN. 149 
 
 educationist, is so much impressed with the need of 
 occupying little children, that, in addition to his 
 school work, he has established a self-supporting 
 occupation school for the poor. He asked me to 
 leave him the" Sonntagsblatt so that he might show 
 it to the Pedagogic Union (an association of the chief 
 professors in Dresden). He said the paper admirably 
 represented modern thought, and he proposed issuing 
 a circular to get subscribers. In short, those who 
 have experience in Dresden are convinced that the 
 cause would succeed here, and entreat the leaders, 
 especially Froebel, to come and start a school. I 
 have promised that one of us will come as soon as 
 possible." 
 
 Frankenberg continues: "We next went to Leipzig, 
 where the idea had already been introduced by 
 Langethal. Kaiser, the rector of the school for the 
 deaf and dumb, showed us his system of teaching. 
 He has an excellent school with sixty pupils; he 
 was delighted with our little boxes, and decided to 
 have them. We have his heartiest sympathy. 
 Lindner was much pre-occupied with his own 
 views on religious teaching, but consented after a 
 time to look into the thing, and finally gave his 
 approval. Vogel (a Thuringian), the director of the 
 two middle-class schools in Leipzig, showed us great 
 attention. He sees the value of this training for the 
 little ones; but he says Froebel's apparatus is so 
 simple that it wants demonstrating, and that this 
 was excellently done by Langethal. He went with 
 us to call on Doerffling, the publisher, and ordered 
 a complete set of apparatus for his school, and said 
 he would write a notice of it for the papers.
 
 I5O BLANKENBURG, FRANKFURT, DRESDEN. 
 
 "I had a long conversation with Doerffling, who 
 highly approves of the boxes, and praises the con- 
 nectedness of the series. He says that if their use 
 could be clearly demonstrated, Leipzig is the very 
 place in which such an idea would spread. One of us, 
 he says, must come at once. He wants to republish 
 the articles I brought with me upon the second gift. 
 He has sent the gifts to all the chief publishers in 
 Germany. The last thing he said was, that so good 
 a cause, in the hands of such excellent men, is sure 
 to make its way. At Eisenberg, Krause's birthplace, 
 we were welcomed heartily by Herr Klein, who has 
 been a teacher for seventeen years. He thought it 
 admirable that men of our standing should be willing 
 to band themselves together as pioneers of education 
 for the earliest years. He himself is persuaded of 
 the importance of this early training. And I must 
 not forget to mention something I heard in Dresden, 
 which shows that the idea that fills our own minds 
 is working in other regions, where we might perhaps 
 least expect it. A philanthropic Hungarian lady, who 
 has travelled much in Germany in the interests of 
 early education, has finally established in Hungary 
 a training school for young people willing to devote 
 themselves to little children, and this school is well 
 attended.* The conclusions I have come to at the 
 end of my travels are firstly, that there is a pretty 
 general demand for a more natural, practical, and 
 rational treatment of young children; and secondly, 
 that this treatment demands the services of men 
 
 * Frankenberg probably means the Countess of Brunswick, who 
 started a training school for teachers at Pesth, where a marble statue 
 has been erected to her memory.
 
 THE FIRST KINDERGARTEN. 151 
 
 and women of culture, willing to devote their best 
 thought to it, and able to inspire others." 
 
 A short extract from a Swiss paper, the Eidgenosse, 
 for August, 1838, may be a suitable addition to 
 Frankenberg's account of the Froebel propaganda at 
 this time. It runs as follows : 
 
 "We have already had occasion in these pages to speak 
 of Froebel's work in connection with early education. I 
 would like to draw attention to a new service which he is 
 rendering to the public, i.e., the organisation of the training 
 for little children, which shall harmonise the home and the 
 school. A task implying so many difficulties could only be 
 undertaken by one who, like Froebel, is a genuine lover 
 of children. He has the faith which removes mountains, 
 and which refuses to see anything but the good and the 
 true. In an earlier number of this paper we published an 
 article on 'The First Gift: by Friedrich Froebel.' We now 
 have his second gift (consisting of cube and cylinder), with 
 a very clear and practical guide for its use. Froebel shows 
 by this series of boxes* how well he understands children, 
 and how well he knows how to stimulate their intelligence 
 and interest without overtaxing their powers. We can 
 highly recommend these gifts, as well as the magazine, 
 the S&nntagsblatt, to every parent and teacher, and, indeed, 
 to all who are interested in early education, being persuaded 
 that anyone who gives the little boxes a fair trial will see 
 how well suited they are to the nature and requirements of 
 young children." 
 
 Meanwhile the friends continued their propaganda 
 zealously. Froebel gave some demonstrations at 
 Gb'ttingen and Frankfurt, whilst Langethal went to 
 Leipzig, whence he wrote: "I am more than ever 
 interested in our work; I had a natural love for it 
 
 * First four gifts.
 
 152 -BLANKENBURG, FRANKFURT, DRESDEN. 
 
 before, but now I think I have a spiritual love for 
 it." Dr. Leonhardi, who had a prominent position 
 in the educational world, and who was well known 
 both at Frankfurt and Darmstadt, won many friends 
 for the new movement. He founded a little society 
 which sent several teachers to Blankenburg to be trained. 
 Froebel wrote to Leonhardi in September, 1838 : 
 " I agree with you that there is a great need both 
 for infant training and for mother training in the upper 
 grades of society. A couple of hours a day devoted 
 to the children in this way would have an excellent 
 effect upon family life. In the current number of 
 the Sonntagsbatt I have suggested small private 
 family circles or unions.* Schaefer has great hopes 
 of the Frankfurt Women's Union. He looks to 
 women to bring about a true regeneration of family 
 life and of society. The fear expressed by some that 
 these institutions will loosen the bond between mother 
 and child, is due to misconception. On the contrary, 
 mothers will have opportunities of seeing their little 
 children at work, and will learn to share their play 
 and occupations, and thus gain much that will help 
 them at home. The intercourse brought about 
 between different families will promote the discussion 
 of educational questions, and this will tend to raise 
 the whole standard of life. Thus you see, dear 
 Leonhardi, that your mrk for us has for its object 
 the realisation of Krause's ideal. I am ready to 
 comply with your wish as regards the training courses 
 for teachers at Blankenburg; we want a short course 
 for young men with a good education, and a longer 
 
 How much might be done by small unions of mothers co-operating 
 thus for the benefit of their children.
 
 THE FIRST KINDERGARTEN. 1 53 
 
 one for those of less experience and less maturity.* 
 I should like to begin with men of culture, say with 
 half-a-dozen Langethals. With such men as teachers, 
 we might hope, in five or ten years' time, to do much 
 for early childhood. I rejoice in what you tell me of 
 yourself ; you have penetrated into many of the secrets 
 of childhood, and of those who should have to do 
 with them. I approve of your proposition to establish 
 classes for demonstrating the right treatment of young 
 children, both to teachers and to the elder daughters 
 in families; but this would be easier far in a large 
 town like Frankfurt than either at Keilhau or 
 Blankenburg; and I will do my best, at all events 
 in the beginning, to give the classes myself. In 
 short, I am open to any proposition to awaken interest 
 among women, and to lay a solid foundation for the 
 education of infants. Only make it possible for me; 
 give me the soil, and I will thankfully till it; give 
 me material, and I will shape it. I am glad that you 
 have renounced the. idea of a training school for 
 teachers in connection with those already in existence, 
 as I am persuaded this would involve us in so much 
 conflict and strife that we should be in danger of 
 losing sight of our object. My ideas could be per- 
 fectly well carried out with moderate numbers and 
 moderate expenditure. It is the simplest possible 
 plan for training youths and maidens for the right 
 treatment of infancy. "What I want especially to teach 
 them, is how to develop the love of activity that children 
 show between their first and sixth or seventh years." ^ 
 
 * It is evident that the first Kindergarten students consisted of 
 men as well as women. 
 
 t It is this instinct which runs to seed and causes " naughtiness," 
 if unutilised,
 
 154 BLANKENBURG, FRANKFURT, DRESDEN. 
 
 Froebel had set up, in what he called his "work- 
 shop," a small printing press, by means of which he 
 prepared the articles on the gifts which appeared in 
 the Sonntagsblatt. One of his former pupils, a painter, 
 named linger, undertook to lithograph the illustrations 
 for him,* and many a busy hour did they spend 
 together in " the office." 
 
 The children's institution at Blankenburgf attracted 
 many visitors, amongst the most frequent of whom 
 were Caroline Louise, Dowager Duchess of Schwarz- 
 burg-Eudolstadt, and her sister, the Princess of 
 Schaumberg-Lippe. The Princess Ida was known in 
 the neighbourhood as " the children's friend." Many 
 other visitors came. Anyone passing through Thuringia 
 with any pretension to a knowledge of education, 
 made a point of seeing the wonderful friend of little 
 children. 
 
 In the autumn of 1838, a Dr. Stoy,J principal of a 
 boys' school at Jena, spent a few days at Blankenburg, 
 and appeared to be much interested in Froebel's occu- 
 pations for children. Another of the visitors, Professor 
 Schmidt (Principal of the Agricultural and Technical 
 School at Straubingen), succeeded in bringing the new 
 institution to the notice of some distinguished men 
 in Munich. Deinhard, another of the visitors, says: 
 " I had hardly settled in Blankenburg when a tall, lean, 
 active-looking man called upon me, bringing with him 
 a quantity of apparatus, which he placed . upon our 
 tables and bureaus, coming as often as possible to 
 
 Unger later on illustrated the Mutter-und Kose-Lieder. 
 
 t The name Kindergarten had not yet been found. 
 
 J Dr. Stoy, author of a handbook of occupations for young boys, 
 was at this time studying in Gottingen under Herbart (reappointed 
 since 1833).
 
 THE FIRST KINDERGARTEN. 155 
 
 demonstrate with them. The least show of interest 
 would fill him with delight and enthusiasm. In every 
 fresh visitor he saw the promise of fruitful soil in 
 which to sow his seed. He was full of ideals and plans 
 for human happiness, and his enthusiasm and energy 
 were extraordinary. I did not at first understand his 
 ideas ; but I appreciated then, as now, the dignity of 
 his aim, and I could clearly trace his devotion to his 
 work, and his love of humanity in every word he 
 uttered ; and his rapidity of thought and eloquence 
 were both fascinating and inspiring." 
 
 In January, 1839, Froebel, with Middendorff and 
 Adolf Frankenberg, went to Dresden, where one of 
 his " Play Schools " was opened. There was a large 
 gathering, and he gave an excellent lecture, explaining 
 the principles and methods to be adopted, and showing 
 that in supporting a system which treated young 
 children properly, Dresden would be working for the 
 good of all humanity. He dwelt upon the necessity of 
 following the laws of nature in education. He showed 
 and explained his series of playthings, starting with 
 the ball. The lecture was largely attended by all 
 grades of society, including the Queen of Saxony. 
 
 The Queen showed much interest both in the lecture 
 and in the little lesson which Froebel gave to some 
 young girls, and he was asked to repeat his demon- 
 stration before a society of savants. The whole series 
 of gifts and occupations were shown, including drawing, 
 painting, and maps; and they declared the system to 
 be pre-eminently logical and practical. It provided 
 training for hand and eye, for the imagination and 
 taste, and was altogether stimulative and bracing. 
 Principal Otto expressed his keen appreciation of the
 
 I $6 BLANKENBURG, FRANKFURT, DRESDEN. 
 
 teaching, and his amazement at Froebel's energy and 
 enthusiasm.* He said he was like an inexhaustible 
 mine of precious metals. He took Froebel and Fran- 
 kenberg to see a cr&che in which he was interested, 
 and to his and the children's great delight Frankenberg 
 attended daily for some weeks, in order to give illus- 
 trations of games and occupations. Many visitors went 
 to see this and to talk with Froebel. 
 
 A committee was formed, consisting of professors and 
 others distinguished for their social or educational 
 position. They discussed the establishment of a 
 Froebel Institution for Dresden, with Frankenberg as 
 director; also the modification of school organisation, 
 with a view to introducing Froebel's gifts and occupa- 
 tions. 
 
 A young Pole, Theophil Nowosielsky, who had come 
 to Dresden at this time to enquire into infant-school 
 systems, was much attracted by Froebel's ideas. This 
 young man hoped to bring about an association between 
 the Thuringian teachers and the society he represented 
 at Warsaw, and to be the means of introducing the 
 system into Poland. "I cannot understand," he said 
 to Froebel, "how anyone can fail to see the extreme 
 value of your system, with its delightful sequence and 
 order." 
 
 Froebel and Middendorff next went to Leipzig to see 
 the editor of the Sonntagsblatt, leaving Frankenberg in 
 Dresden. Here they lectured to mixed audiences, with 
 the result that Froebel was invited to send in plans for 
 the establishment of an infant school in the town. 
 Doctor Vogel, the Director of the High School in which 
 
 "The ideas possess Froebel rather than he them, "said Luise 
 Frankenberg.
 
 THE FIRST KINDERGARTEN. 157 
 
 the lectures were held, expressed the highest approval 
 of Froebel's efforts. " This development of education 
 downwards, towards the beginnings," he said, "is 
 exactly what we want." Vogel's zealous advocacy of 
 the system not only made many converts in Leipzig, 
 but reacted favourably upon the more conservative 
 Dresdeners. Whilst the preliminaries were going on 
 for the establishment of a play school in Dresden, 
 Frankenberg occupied himself in a private room with 
 a few children of the well-to-do classes. After a time 
 Professor Loewe gave him the use of a house at the 
 seaside with a large garden attached, and here he taught 
 as many as forty children at a tune. Froebel rather 
 hoped Dresden would become a propaganding centre 
 for the system. In this he was disappointed, but the 
 spark kindled there by Frankenberg has not died out.* 
 On his return to Blankenburg in April, Froebel found 
 his wife very seriously ill. Frau Froebel was the 
 author of many a little song and rhyme for Kinder- 
 garten children, and though childless herself, proved a 
 very spiritual mother to the little crowd for whom her 
 husband so zealously worked. She had from the first 
 given herself whole-heartedly to the Froebel cause, and 
 thoroughly understood it. She expresses her sense of 
 its value in the following simple little verse : 
 
 " Ein leichter Sinn der fasst es nicht, 
 Eiu leiser Sinn der hasst es nicht ; 
 Ein lauter Sinn verspottet's nur, 
 Ein tiefer folgt allein der Spur."t 
 
 * For an account of the origin of the Kindergarten in Dresden, see 
 the Erziehung der Gegenwart for 1874. 
 
 f "The superficial grasp it not, 
 
 The rough and coarse can only sneer ; 
 It wants the thought of gentle minds 
 To grasp its meaning true and clear. "
 
 158 BLANKENBURG, FRANKFURT, DRESDEN. 
 
 She lost her foster-daughter in the beginning of May, 
 and did not survive her many days. Possibly grief 
 may have hastened her death. She died on the 13th 
 May, aged fifty-nine. Although she had been ailing so 
 long, her death was a terrible blow to Froebel. She had 
 prevented Middendorff from sending Froebel the bad 
 news of her failing health to Dresden, although she 
 felt that no one nursed her so well as her husband. 
 She was buried at Blankenburg on the 17th May, 
 1839. 
 
 Middendorff wrote to Leonhardi a few days after her 
 death : " Frau Froebel passed gently away on Monday, 
 13th May. I came over in the afternoon, and she 
 recognised me, and asked after the teachers and 
 children at Keilhau. To the last she interested herself 
 in the education of the little ones. I have known 
 many noble women, but none nobler. She lived for 
 the happiness, the enfranchisement, and the good of 
 mankind." Middendorff carried Froebel off to Keilhau 
 for a time, hoping that the new infant education going 
 on there would divert his thoughts from his sorrow. 
 
 The grief caused by the illness and death of Frau 
 Froebel interrupted the publication of the Sonntags- 
 blatt, and it was only in 1840 that Froebel picked 
 it up again. He writes : " Since my great sorrow, it 
 has been very hard for me to recommence my work. 
 In my wife I have lost the most sympathetic com- 
 panion, and the cause the most faithful friend. Her 
 devotion to the welfare of little children was untiring, 
 and it is only amongst the children she loved so well 
 that I have been able to find my life again. The 
 happiness of the little ones at Keilhau, the fidelity 
 of my friends, the approval of the authorities, and the
 
 THE FIRST KINDERGARTEN. 159 
 
 interest of the students in my work, have all helped 
 to rekindle within me the life which she so heartily 
 shared." 
 
 Froebel returned to Blankenburg in June ; a distant 
 relative undertook the housekeeping for him. He 
 began at once teaching his occupations and games to 
 large classes of thirty and forty children, whose ages 
 varied from one to seven years. Elder brothers and 
 sisters, and even mothers, often asked to share these 
 lessons. 
 
 That he was utterly absorbed in his new work 
 is evident from his words to Dr. Euete : " The 
 children," he writes, in October, " are treated according 
 to their individuality, and develop freely and naturally 
 in body and mind. The system stimulates their reason 
 and their sense of order and beauty. They enter 
 zealously and heartily into the spirit of the work. 
 Nothing is done for show ; everything for the develop- 
 ment of the 'highest in life.'" In the late autumn 
 Froebel undertook several courses of training, which 
 were attended by teachers of good educational 
 standing. Amongst these were Dr. Weil, who joined 
 with the intention of introducing the system into his 
 father's school ; and Herr Hochstaedter, whose object 
 was to start a Froebel infant school for the Jews in 
 Frankfurt. Early in 1840 Karl Schneider came from 
 Frankfurt, and Dr. Kern from Eisenach. The latter 
 applied Froebel's methods to the teaching of the deaf 
 and dumb. Froebel's great wish at this time was 
 to form a union of women teachers throughout 
 Germany, and to make the institution at Blankenburg 
 serve both as a pattern to teachers and a centre for 
 their training. He hoped that all Germany would
 
 160 BLANKENKURG, FRANKFURT, DRESDEN. 
 
 come to sympathise with his object. He wrote to the 
 Duchess of Schwarzburg-Eudolstadt, proposing to 
 make the following Christmas the occasion for starting 
 a National Women's Union for child culture. He 
 says: "The more I study childhood, the more I am 
 persuaded of the importance of this period of life for 
 the future of the human being, and the more clearly 
 do I see the need for the co-operation of intelligent 
 women in the education of the young. It is during 
 these earliest years that the seeds of virtue and good- 
 ness are sown, and the basis of a happy human life is 
 laid. 
 
 "Womanly love, as well as manly strength, are 
 necessary for the child's perfect development. Women 
 of the middle classes do little for the all-sided and 
 highest life of their children ; and women of the lower 
 classes do a great deal less. What we want is a 
 band of earnest, noble-minded women who will form 
 a national association for the benefit of infancy. 
 Their object should be to surround children with the 
 conditions favourable for a perfect education, and to 
 avert from them everything that threatens to hinder 
 and spoil it. This will develop the best qualities in 
 the heart of man, and purify and ennoble human life. 
 Whatever has to be done for the human being should 
 be done in his earliest years, and that persistently. 
 Intermittent and casual training is of little service. 
 Under present conditions there is a great deal to undo 
 before we can train a child as it should be trained, and 
 make it amenable to good influences. We want the 
 practical help of motherly women, and this we shall 
 only get when our girls are trained to understand 
 childhood."
 
 THE FIRST KINDERGARTEN. l6l 
 
 " Dir vertraue ich mein Heil'ges an, die Keime der Schopfung, 
 
 Deiner Pflege die kommende gliickliche Nachwelt. 
 
 Ehret die Frauen, ihr Nam' 1st Befreiung. Anfang und Ende 
 
 Stehet in einem Blick ihnen da ! Auch Wege zum Ausgang 
 Schaut Ariadnens Krone, ihr Retterinnen, und reichet, 
 Reichet den Faden der Labyrinth verirreten Menschheit. 
 
 Sinn't und erziehet (Ihr konnt es allein) die gliickliche 
 Nachwelt." HERDER. 
 
 Froebel had for some time been in search of a name 
 for his new movement. "Ah!" he would exclaim, 
 "how I wish I could find a name for my youngest 
 born !" And one fine summer day (1840), walking 
 over the hills towards Blankenburg with Middendorff 
 and Barop, suddenly he stopped and shouted joyfully, 
 " Eureka, I have found it ! ' Kindergarten ' is the word." 
 He had at length found a name he liked for his new 
 institution. The next thing was to arrange for a 
 christening, which should introduce the new name 
 to the public. It had been customary at Keilhau 
 to celebrate each pupil's birthday. But as the number 
 of pupils increased, and this became difficult, it was 
 agreed that some particular date should be chosen to 
 serve as a general birthday. Now the teachers 
 thought of having the christening of the institution 
 on the same date ; and to add to the solemnity and 
 festivity of it, they selected the 28th June (1840), 
 which was the four-hundredth anniversary of Guten- 
 berg's invention of printing. Thus a four-fold cele- 
 bration was decided upon; for the 28th June was 
 the midsummer holiday as well. It happened to be 
 a most beautiful day. Keilhau and Blankenburg, 
 the mother and daughter institutions, vied with each 
 other in adding to its happiness and success, and 
 showed more clearly than ever how closely and 
 
 M
 
 l62 BLANKENBURG, FRANKFURT, DRESDEN. 
 
 harmoniously they worked together. Indeed, they 
 made the impression of a single institution for the 
 training of childhood and youth. At break of day 
 pupils and teachers met on the Dessau,* and formed 
 a procession, which wound its way, amidst singing and 
 rejoicing, towards Keilhau, where the first part of the 
 proceedings was to take place. They stopped to see 
 the sun rise. Froebel said it was like Gutenberg 
 holding the torch of enlightenment over the world; 
 and as the sun broke through the clouds he said, 
 " That is how our new work will have to break through 
 darkness and difficulty ; just as the mind itself has to 
 win its way to light and truth." 
 
 They reached the school about six o'clock. The 
 first thing they did was to celebrate the general 
 birthday. Middendorff delivered the birthday address, 
 which led in a natural way to the birth of the Kinder- 
 garten, and the new life for mankind it was to 
 inaugurate. 
 
 Hymns were sung, and greetings exchanged; then 
 came breakfast, after which they climbed the Spizberg, 
 to reach the friendly little church of Eichfeld. Here 
 a sermon was preached by one of the Keilhau teachers, 
 the text being, " There are many gifts, but one spirit." 
 To this peaceful morning succeeded a merry afternoon, 
 when all started for Blankenburg, where the second 
 part of the proceedings was to take place. Wagonettes, 
 decorated with green branches and flowers, filled with 
 pupils, teachers, girls and women, all singing songs 
 applicable to the occasion, went down through the 
 ))eautiful valley of the Saal. As they passed through 
 
 * A mountain to the south of Keilhau.
 
 THE FIRST KINDERGARTEN. 163 
 
 Volkstaedt and Schwarza, they were greeted with 
 cheers and hurrahs. Undismayed by occasional 
 showers of rain, they reached Blankenburg, and in the 
 market-place struck up a song in honour of the town. 
 
 " Schaut hier die Stadt, gelegen schon, 
 Von griinen Bergen schon umspannt, 
 
 Die hoch die alte Burg lassl, sehn, 
 Wo Kaiser Gunthers Wiege stand. 
 
 Gegriisset sei uns diese Stadt, 
 Die schiitzend Kinderpflege hat. 
 
 Schaut hier die Stadt im Flurengriin 
 Von Fleiss und Fruchtbarkeit erfiillt, 
 
 Die Rinn und Schwarza schon umziehn, 
 Wo Wasser der Genesung quillt, 
 
 Gegriisset sei uns diese Stadt, 
 Die schiitzend Kinderpflege hat. 
 
 Schaut hier die Stadt, wo keimt und bluht, 
 
 Was Viele lange schon ersehn, 
 Das unsre Schaar auch hierher zieht, 
 
 Ein Kindergarten im Entstehn. 
 Gegriisset sei uns diese Stadt, 
 
 Die schiitzend Kinderpflege hat. 
 
 Heil dir, du Stadt, ob klein, doch gross, 
 
 Bist stark und edel du gesinnt, 
 Und nahrest treu in deinein Schoss 
 
 Das dir vertraute deutsche Kind. 
 Wir Wollen all' dir Liebe weihn, 
 
 Und stimmen gern zum Preise ein." 
 
 The Gutenberg festival was celebrated in the new 
 Town Hall. The Keilhau Choir, assisted by some 
 singers from Rudolstadt, sang Doering's "Bergman's 
 Grass," a most suitable performance for the occasion. 
 It seemed to speak Froebel's message. "Rejoice, 
 rejoice," he cried, as he described the difficulties that 
 had preceded the triumph of the wonderful but simple
 
 164 BLANKENBURG, FRANKFURT, DRESDEN. 
 
 invention; and he showed how valuable was the 
 printing-press, and what a debt humanity owed to 
 it; how it was the means of uniting all nations and 
 all times, past, present, and future. He next went 
 on to speak of the new education under women, and 
 of the proposed association for the training of infancy, 
 to be called the " German Kindergarten Association." 
 He then addressed himself more especially to the women 
 in his audience: "Do not be afraid to start on this work," 
 he said; "make a beginning, however small. Every 
 good thing has had its origin in the imperceptible. 
 How often what appears to be dead and hidden is 
 brought back to life by the warmth of the spring 
 sun. Only have faith, and you will win for your 
 nation and for humanity a regeneration of child-life. 
 This can only be brought about when the truth 
 about childhood has sunk deep into the heart of the 
 nation. 
 
 " Do not deceive yourselves ; let no one persuade you 
 that women are not concerned in the well-being of 
 mankind. Women's unions are always successful : look 
 at the Criche Union. Open your hearts; the spirit 
 of the undertaking I advocate is far more clearly 
 written there than in my explanation. Childhood, 
 like spring-time, is very fleeting; but surely the beauti- 
 ful is no less beautiful because it is transitory, nor the 
 good less good because you can only feel it in your 
 heart. It is the right, the true, the good, and the 
 beautiful that ennoble our life. Melody and song are 
 no less a gift than metal which we can feel with our 
 hands. A real joy for the child, as well as for the 
 educator, lies in the simple, natural stimulation of 
 his instinct for self-activity."
 
 THE FIRST KINDERGARTEN. 165 
 
 Immediately after Froebel's address the Blanken- 
 burg Kindergarten children appeared as if by magic, 
 and began to play some of their games, thus giving a 
 living demonstration of happy natural development. 
 Meanwhile, in a side room, the signatures of those 
 who wished to join the new Kindergarten Union 
 were taken. Parents, teachers, nurses, and friends of 
 little children were all invited to join, and form one 
 educational body. The union was to have a training 
 and practising school for male and female teachers; 
 a perfectly -fitted model school for children; and a 
 journal of its own. The training was to include all 
 kinds of needlework and house duties. It was cal- 
 culated that a capital of fifteen thousand pounds (to 
 be raised by shares of thirty shillings each) would be 
 needed for a suitable building in Blankenburg. Froebel 
 hoped for a sufficient response to his appeal to German 
 women to be able to start at once. But the time was 
 not yet ripe. Wichard Lange says : " Froebel had no 
 worldly wisdom ; but the world wants such men as he 
 to scatter seeds and keep up its ideals." The institu- 
 tion, though for a time it existed but in thought, was 
 not forgotten. The following passage appeared the 
 next year in the National Advertiser, under the head- 
 ing, "The Blankenburg Kindergarten and Institution 
 for the Training of Infant Teachers." 
 
 "We have," it said, "urgent need of an institution for 
 the training of nurses and teachers of young children. This 
 is of more importance than schools, academies, universities, 
 or any other educational institutions, because it would enable 
 us to send forth the young from their nurseries healthy in 
 mind and body, with pure and sensitive hearts, prepared for 
 educational influences."
 
 1 66 BLANKENBURG, FRANKFURT, DRESDEN. 
 
 "It is surprising," it went on, "to see the order and 
 harmony that reigns amongst these little citizens under six 
 years of age. The very smallest of them evidently feels 
 himself to be a responsible member of the little community; 
 and far from wishing by frivolity, or perversity, to disturb 
 the order of the class, he responds readily to the gentle disci- 
 pline that rules and directs the proceedings, and is delighted 
 to lend his small powers to the completion of the common 
 task. It is interesting to watch the children's pleasure as 
 they feel the ball quickening under their hands, or build 
 some simple object with their bricks, or in some other way 
 represent the familiar scenes and doings of ordinary life, 
 such as feeding chickens, raking, mowing, digging, or 
 hammering. The Kindergarten games lend themselves 
 charmingly to these little dramas." 
 
 Children from Eudolstadt often took part in these 
 doings, and soon there was a flourishing Kindergarten 
 for the higher classes. Many women and young men 
 interested in infant education, or destined to be 
 directors of middle -class Kindergartens, came to 
 Blankenburg to be trained. On Sunday afternoons 
 the children came from the neighbouring villages, 
 and Froebel and Middendorff invented songs, rhymes, 
 and occupations for them. 
 
 The well-known Mutter-und Kosc-Lieder, bearing the 
 somewhat bulky title, " A Family Book for Developing 
 the Self-activity of Childhood," was printed by Froebel 
 at Blankenburg in 1843. 
 
 It had taken many years to prepare for publication. 
 It contains fifty little songs or games, with illustrations 
 and explanatory mottoes. The rhymes are here and 
 there somewhat stiff and stilted,' and the illustrations 
 not always perfect as works of art, especially as regards 
 the figures and faces. But the book is unique as
 
 THE FIRST KINDERGARTEN. 167 
 
 the expression of motherly feeling and spiritual truth. 
 There is hardly a superfluous line in the drawings or an 
 accidental word in the songs. Everything follows an 
 educational sequence, which is explained in the mottoes 
 at the top of each page. It is both a book for mothers 
 and a mothers' book, i.e., it serves as a guide for the 
 mother, and is in harmony with her instincts. It 
 shows how the mother, by her love, develops tender- 
 ness in the child; and it gives her things to do of 
 which she best knows the value. 
 
 " Was sinning die Mutter wecket und pfleget 
 Mit heiterernstem Spiele und Lied ; 
 Was ihre Liebe schiitzend uniheget 
 Wirkt segnend fort bis ins tausendste Glied."* 
 Innig sich verschiedenes verbindet 
 Und Getrenntes sich in Ein'gung findet ; 
 Bins dem Andern zur Entwicklung niitzt, 
 Eins das Andre helf end unterstiitzt ; 
 Drum in Allen wirkt und schafft Ein Leben, 
 Weil das Leben all'ein ein'ger Gott gegeben.f 
 
 The united family life at Keilhau gave Froebel plenty 
 of opportunity for observing the characteristics of 
 childhood, and Frau Froebel, in her loving, cosy way, 
 had tried most of the gifts, games, and occupations 
 upon Middendorffs bright and healthy children. Two 
 of these were general favourites little Alwina and the 
 
 * The love evoked in the infant mind 
 
 By the mother's gentle voice and song 
 Remains and grows, and leaves behind 
 That which endures the whole life long. Tr. 
 
 t In the varied world of nature, 
 'Midst contrasting forms of life, 
 Underlies a bond of union, 
 Peace amidst apparent strife. 
 All things ever intertwine, 
 Bounded by the law divine. Tr,
 
 l68 BLANKENBURG, FRANKFURT, DRESDEN. 
 
 eldest boy. Froebel had put much of his experience of 
 childhood into his Education of Man. In his Mothers' 
 Book he endeavoured to perpetuate and further develop 
 the playful ways of little children on the one hand 
 and the mothers' methods on the other. He dedicated 
 the book to the memory of his wife.* Many more 
 elaborate games have been published since the mother 
 songs, but none more closely exemplify the inter- 
 relation of mother and child. It was one of the 
 mothers at Keilhau who gave Froebel the first idea 
 for these infant games and songs. Carrying her 
 baby round the farmyard, she taught it to beckon 
 to the animals and call to them in an encouraging 
 tone of voice. " Chuck, chuck, chuck," she said, " call 
 the chickens." " Eoocoo, roocoo, roocoo, little pigeon." 
 
 Froebel took note of this, and he and his wife made 
 their first little infant game with it. The book shows 
 how the child proceeds from the outward form of 
 things to their inner meaning. The little child begins 
 by perceiving and realising his surroundings. Next he 
 learns to look for and observe them, and at last he is 
 able to form a conception of them, and to show this by 
 Darstellung, or giving out that which he has taken in. 
 If the first step be missing the succeeding ones are 
 impossible. 
 
 Froebel calls the book a starting-point for a healthy 
 and natural education. Frau von Marenholtz says: 
 " Only those who have forgotten their own child- 
 hood, and are ignorant of child-nature, can disdain 
 this attempt to foster and stimulate the first signs of 
 mental and spiritual life. There is an unbroken con- 
 tinuity from the first lisping of infancy to the wise 
 
 * It was published in 1843, four years after her death.
 
 THE FIRST KINDERGARTEN. 169 
 
 words of the sage ; and if we want perfectly developed 
 human beings, capable of realising the ideals of youth, we 
 must learn to regard education as a continuous whole, 
 as a unity too sacred to be broken or interfered with."* 
 
 "Sharp limits and definite subdivisions within the 
 continuous series of the years of development, withdrawing 
 from attention the permanent continuity, the living connec- 
 tion, the inner living essence, are highly pernicious, and 
 even destructive in their influence. Thus it is highly 
 pernicious to consider the child or boy as something wholly 
 different from the youth or man, and as something so 
 distinct that the common foundation (human being) is seen 
 but vaguely in the idea and word, and scarcely at all 
 considered in life and for life. 
 
 "And yet this is the actual condition of affairs. The 
 youth no longer sees in himself the boy and the child 
 with affected superiority he scorns them. It is possible 
 only to indicate, but not to point out in their full extent, 
 the unspeakable mischief, disturbance, and hindrance in the 
 development and advancement of the human race arising 
 from these divisions and limitations. This disregard of the 
 value of earlier and particularly of the earliest stages of 
 development with reference to later ones prepares for the 
 future teacher and educator of the boy difficulties which it 
 will be scarcely possible to overcome. How different would 
 this be in every respect if parents were to view and treat 
 the child with reference to all stages of development and 
 age, without breaks and omissions; if, particularly, they 
 were to consider the fact that the vigorous and complete 
 development and cultivation of each successive stage depends 
 on the vigorous, complete, and characteristic development 
 of each and all preceding stages of life. The child, the 
 boy, man, indeed, should know no other endeavour but to 
 be at every stage of development wholly what this stage 
 calls for." From HAILMANN'S Translation of The Education 
 
 of Man, 22. 
 
 * Child and Child-nature.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE FROEBEL PROPAGANDA IN GERMANY 
 AND BELGIUM. 
 
 1843 TO 1849. DARMSTADT, LEIPZIG, DRESDEN. 
 
 The Froebel Community Letter to Leonhardi Professor Ahren's 
 Development of Kindergarten Apparatus Foelsing Kindergarten 
 Games New Societies Difficulties at Blankenburg Franken- 
 berg Froebel in Saxony Kindergarten Conference Midden- 
 dorff 's Address Froebel in Dresden Marquart The Baroness of 
 Marenholz Biilow. 
 
 T71ROEBEL was pretty well known in the North 
 -L of Germany by the end of the year 1842. The 
 Blankenburg teachers had started Froebel schools at 
 Gerau, Hildburghausen, Coburg, and Sondershausen ; 
 whilst at Rudolstadt a Kindergarten for the upper 
 classes was opened under the patronage of the Dowager 
 Duchess. 
 
 A beautiful building with covered playground had 
 been obtained for it, and six ladies took it in turns to 
 assist the Kindergarten teacher, the Princess Caroline 
 of Schaumburg-Lippe being one of the most active.* 
 Frau Kern, too, who had studied Froebel's system at 
 Blankenburg, now used it in the institution for the 
 deaf and dumb at Eisenach, of which her husband was 
 the principal. Teachers came from various parts of 
 Germany to learn the system. In Hungary the Kinder- 
 
 * How good it would be if well-to-do families in England would unite 
 into Kindergarten circles, the mothers assisting to teach by turns. 
 
 170
 
 THE FROEBEL PROPAGANDA IN GERMANY. 17 1 
 
 garten was by this time acknowledged to be a necessary 
 part of national education, and several young Hun- 
 garian teachers came to Blankenburg to study the 
 system. 
 
 The following extract from a letter Froebel wrote to 
 his friend Leonhardi will show that progress was also 
 being made in Belgium: "I am much interested in 
 Ahren's report of children's doings in Brussels. You 
 seem to have developed in Belgium in a natural way 
 what we are striving to establish in Germany scienti- 
 fically. I wish every nation would learn to care for its 
 children. This would do more than anything else to 
 rid our own children of what you call 'German 
 intellectual clumsiness.' I agree with you that it is 
 good for the little ones to have the sympathy and 
 supervision of elder brothers and sisters in their play. 
 As for my part in the movement, I am but the mouth- 
 piece of an idea, which sooner or later is sure to make 
 itself felt. These games and occupations find accept- 
 ance with all grades of children, and are welcome in 
 sickness and in health. And often children who are 
 weary of their more elaborate playthings, will turn to 
 my simple gifts with renewed pleasure. I am per- 
 suaded that a clear perception of their meaning will be 
 a blessing for present and future generations. Modern 
 education does not tend to fit the human being for the 
 highest life he can lead. In the hurry of school 
 business he gets no opportunity for the training of his 
 powers, nor for the consideration of ideas from different 
 points of view, which is the only way to make them 
 his own. He has too little chance of fulfilling the 
 divine exhortation to be perfect, ' as your Father in 
 heaven is perfect.'
 
 1/2 DARMSTADT, LEIPZIG, DRESDEN. 
 
 "There is a certain course and sequence in the 
 development of all things, which the Creator has 
 followed in building up the race, and which the human 
 being must be allowed to follow if he is ever to 
 approach perfection. This course is open to every 
 creature, no matter what the stage of his development 
 may be. We must start right. It is hopeless to try 
 and win for a creature already developed the fresh- 
 ness, freedom, happy spontaneity, and energy which 
 characterise a natural development." 
 
 In 1843 Froebel published a short account of " The 
 Kindergarten in Germany," and Myer, the publisher at 
 Hildburghausen, wrote an introduction, in which he 
 says : " In the Kindergarten we have the spring-time 
 of the nation, the blossom of eternity. In caring for 
 children we are doing our best for our country. 
 Children are the bond between the past and the future. 
 It must be the interest of all of us to cultivate the 
 child garden, and to make it good and beautiful. The 
 Kindergarten appeals to the heart of every parent. 
 May its founder find many followers, and may he live 
 to see his efforts crowned by the establishment of 
 thousands of Kindergartens." Karl Schneider, too, had 
 published the year before a favourable view of the 
 system in his Creation, the Creator, and the Natural 
 Law. But in spite of the approval of educated men, 
 the movement advanced but slowly, and only some 
 forty shares had as yet been taken for the proposed 
 model Kindergarten and training school. 
 
 In June, 1844, Froebel went, by the invitation of 
 Karl Schneider, to Sachsenhausen, near Frankfurt-am- 
 Main ; where, with Middendorff 's assistance, he gave a 
 lecture and demonstration in the infant school. They
 
 THE FROEBEL PROPAGANDA IN GERMANY. 1 73 
 
 next went to Ingelheim to open a new Kindergarten, 
 and then to Heidelberg, to see Leonhardi, who, on his 
 marriage with Sidonie Krause, in 1839, had settled 
 there as professor at the University. Middendorff sent 
 Leonhardi the following poem in commemoration of 
 this visit : 
 
 " Heidelberg, ich denke dein ! 
 Du ziehst den Blick aus welter Feme 
 Dir nach, gleich einem goldnen Sterne, 
 Zu deinen Bergen, Hugeln, Au'n. 
 
 Wie ruhest du, Stadt so schon ! 
 So gross geschmiickt vom alten Schlosse, 
 Das auf dein f esten Felsenschoosse 
 Die Kaiser bau'ten sich zum Thron. 
 
 Wie ruhest du so wohlbewahrt ! 
 Die Bergeshaupter sich umkronen 
 Mit Zeichen vor den Heldensohnen ! 
 Und Buchenschatten hiillt dich ein. 
 
 Wie ruhest du so wohlgenahrt ! 
 Es tranken dich des Neckars Fluten, 
 Es starken dich der Eeben Gluten, 
 Das Leben stromt dir Fiille zu. 
 
 Heidelberg, ich denke dein ! 
 Den Freund ich wieder hier gefunden 
 Und mit der Gattin treu verbunden ; 
 Uns ein't der schonern Menschheit Ziel. 
 
 Stadt wie hast du inich begliickt ! 
 Ich sah ein stilles Mutterleben 
 So lauter innig hingegeben 
 Dem hohen Ruf, dem Kinderheil. 
 
 O kleine Stadt wie gross bist du ! 
 Du lasst den Weisen niedersteigen 
 Und Forscher sich den Kindlein neigeu, 
 Zu sichern ihrer Menschheit Schritt 
 
 segne, Gott, die schone Stadt ! 
 Erfreu' den Greis in Silberhaaren, 
 Beschirm die f rohen Kinderschaaren ; 
 Lass sie die bessre Zukunft schau'n."
 
 1/4 DARMSTADT, LEIPZIG, DRESDEN. 
 
 In July Froebel went to Darmstadt, where he made 
 a most important convert in the person of Dr. Julius 
 Foelsing,* Principal of the Cadet School at Darmstadt. 
 In a letter to Leonardi he says : " Here, as elsewhere, 
 dear Leonhardi, I see many a sign of your good work 
 for the cause. Thanks to your preparation, Darmstadt is 
 now ready for the appointment of a Kindergartnerin." t 
 
 Foelsing's methods interested Froebel and Mid- 
 dendorff exceedingly. Middendorff was especially 
 pleased with the children's musical training, and 
 begged Foelsing to allow them to help him illustrate 
 a lecture he was about to give on the Mothers 
 Songs. This was arranged, and to Middendorffs 
 great delight, Foelsing made the children sing his 
 own song, "Here stands a little house." Foelsing 
 did not always agree with our two educationists, and 
 he was inclined to scoff at the new name, and at what 
 he, with a little sly malice, called Froebel's constant 
 "berhyming and besinging." But he was charmed 
 with Middendorff, and would dearly like to have kept 
 him. Ida Seele's intelligence, gentleness, and devotion, 
 too, he regarded as priceless. By the time Froebel left 
 Darmstadt, he not only promised to be faithful to the 
 Froebel principles, but even to adopt the name "Kinder- 
 garten." Froebel left Darmstadt in November, and 
 
 * Dr. Julius Foelsing, born in 1816, was not yet thirty years of 
 age. He was a pupil of Diesterweg ; had been an educationist from 
 the age of nineteen ; had invented a system of his own, which had 
 been tried with great success for over ten years. Diesterweg says he 
 was the most prolific and best-known writer on infant education in 
 Germany. With Froebel's help he now started a Frobelian infant 
 school for the well-to-do, under Fraulein Ida Seele, a Blankenburg 
 teacher. He was also the founder of a Pedagogic Society, which was 
 the means of training four hundred infant mistresses. 
 
 t This is the first time we find the word in Froebel's handwriting.
 
 THE FROEBEL PROPAGANDA IN GERMANY. 1/5 
 
 went, by way of Mainz and Ingelheim, to Frankfurt, 
 where two of his disciples were occupying themselves 
 with some little action songs for young children. 
 Froebel contributed many which he had worked out 
 during his stay in Darmstadt. These are very simple, 
 being mostly the result of actual observation of children 
 whilst playing spontaneously. One of these games 
 originated in the following manner: There happened 
 to be a slender support in the middle of the children's 
 play -room at Blankenburg, and children always delight 
 in turning round a pole. This column seemed to have 
 a magnetic effect upon them ; the moment they were 
 free to do as they liked, everyone wanted to get hold 
 of it, and there was a regular skirmish as to who 
 could join the little crowd twirling round. Seeing 
 this, Froebel devised a way of bringing order into the 
 game without too much interference, and his sug- 
 gestions were heartily welcomed. Four or eight 
 children were allowed to grasp the column with one 
 hand, whilst stretching out the other to a little com- 
 panion, who, in his turn, did the same to another, 
 making radiating lines round the column. The smallest 
 were placed nearest the column, so as to leave the 
 greater effort to the bigger children. They turned at 
 first very gently, and got gradually quicker and quicker ; 
 the little mill song was added in order to regulate the 
 movement : 
 
 " Blow, wind, blow, and go, mill, go, 
 
 That the miller may grind his corn, 
 That the baker may take it, and into rolls make it, 
 And bring us some hot in the morn." 
 
 To Froebel's great delight he found the children 
 playing this game again and again, and eagerly adopting
 
 176 DARMSTADT, LEIPZIG, DRESDEN. 
 
 any suggestions he was able to make, such as every 
 now and again turning the other way, changing miller 
 or baker. When they had to play in the open air, or 
 in a room without a column, the teacher would stand 
 in the middle with a thick cord round his waist for 
 the children to slip their little fingers into, or a tree 
 trunk might serve the same purpose. Other games 
 were modifications of this, such as the star, the crown, 
 the wind-mill. 
 
 On his way to Frankfurt Froebel met Dr. Schlie- 
 phacke,* tutor to the Prince of Nassau. " We travelled 
 together," he says, " and found our interest in educa- 
 tion a great bond of union between us. He thoroughly 
 grasped our idea. Whether this acquaintance will 
 bring us more than social advantages I do not know. 
 In any case, however, we have in this gentleman a 
 true friend of children, who will co-operate with us 
 from his own point of view. He will help us to prove 
 that there is a great gap in education ; that the proper 
 treatment of children is little understood, and that in 
 our system lies the secret of supplying what is wanting. 
 We discussed the attitude of the State toward the 
 cause, and agreed that the conversion of Darmstadt 
 and Heidelberg would be a great step." 
 
 Froebel thought that Kindergarten songs should 
 represent the simple language and simple ideas of 
 children, just- as national songs do those of a nation ; 
 and that wherever they are true to childhood they 
 become classical as these are. He and his friends 
 worked out over one hundred ball games in connection 
 
 In his contribution to the report of the Philosophical Congress 
 at Frankfurt, in 1869, Dr. Schliephacke testified warmly to the excel- 
 lence of Froebel's work. He died in 1873.
 
 THE FROEBEL PROPAGANDA IN GERMANY. 1 7? 
 
 with the first gift, the melodies being composed by 
 Kohl, and the movements suggested by those natural 
 to little children marching, running, jumping, sliding, 
 rolling, twirling, flying, wandering movements, in 
 short, indicated by such games as " The Brooklet," 
 " Snail," and " Mill Wheel." Also a large number 
 of games for the special exercise of the limbs and fingers 
 were added. Froebel put these little games at the 
 disposal of his teachers, not with the idea that they 
 should be played everywhere and with all children just 
 in the same way. " On the contrary," he says, " these 
 are just samples of what may be done with the little 
 ones; but the true Kindergartnerin will listen to the 
 suggestions of the children, and will be guided by 
 circumstances in her treatment of the game.* The 
 best Kindergarten games are the result of following 
 the children's lead. And the best rhymes and songs 
 for little children are those which suggest themselves 
 to those actually working with them. The games are 
 the central feature of the Kindergarten system. Hence, 
 they should express the child's mind, and satisfy his 
 instincts more fully than anything else. They are 
 little dramas in which the child is able to express his 
 own thought in his own way; and this expression 
 or " Darstellung " enables him to understand his own 
 doings and those of others, and to realise the world 
 around him, which, without his own activity, would 
 be but a vision or a dream. The child is always 
 
 * KOEHLER'S Action Songs, published in 1862, were the first 
 collection suitable for general use in the Kindergarten. In his intro- 
 duction he shows how the children welcome the co-operation of 
 teacher, mother, aunt, or friend in their games, and how pleased they 
 are to be shown how to carry out their ideas without the disorder and 
 confusion which often results from their own want of judgment. 
 
 N
 
 t/8 DARMSTADT, LEIPZIG, DRESDEN. 
 
 ready to join in the little performance, and carry out 
 the ideas produced in his mind by the little songs, 
 recitations, and discussions that form part of the game. 
 His frequent ' let me do it ' shows his consciousness of 
 power, and his natural desire to exercise it. We should 
 respect this instinct for self-activity, and beware of 
 doing everything for the child. As long as the ideas 
 dealt with are such as appeal to the child's mind, there 
 is no need for the teacher to do anything for him. 
 Only provide suitable objects, encourage suitable 
 actions, and use suitable words, i.e., such as he can 
 understand, and you will find him full of zeal and 
 energy. It is only unsuitable tasks that stultify and 
 deaden him." 
 
 A Parents' Union was formed in December, 1844, 
 for the purpose of making the home life of young 
 children more regularly educational. " What we 
 want," Froebel wrote to Leonhardi, "is the formation 
 everywhere of associations (without class distinction) 
 of parents and others who will endeavour to start a 
 reform in family, social, and national life. Such associ- 
 ations would make it their business (1) To enquire into 
 existing conditions of education, whether for private 
 and domestic, or for social and public life ; (2) To find 
 the means of education in these different directions; 
 (3) The means being found, to see them actually 
 utilised. The Froebel schools need not of necessity be 
 the main point of discussion. The time for considering 
 the Kindergarten system should follow, not precede, an 
 enquiry into the nature of man and the needs of child- 
 hood. The subject should be made to attract general 
 attention. One of the Baden papers might serve to 
 bring it to the notice of citizens, farmers, and labourers.
 
 THE FROEBEL PROPAGANDA IN GERMANY. 179 
 
 Those whose vocations imply the study of plants and 
 the organic world generally, might be led to extend 
 their observations to the development of man. I look 
 to you to rouse the Heidelbergers to take an interest 
 in this all-important subject. It lies at the root of all 
 we wish to bring about, and Heidelberg and Baden 
 generally would be excellent soil for such seed." As 
 a first result of Froebel's effort a union of parents 
 was formed at Eichfeld (February, 1845), and Froebel 
 sought, by a vigorous correspondence, to make it known 
 in the educational world. 
 
 Keilhau was now in a very flourishing condition, 
 and boasted of some promising students; and as the 
 Blankenburg training school hardly paid its way, it 
 was thought best to carry over the students to the 
 mother institution, and so save the double training 
 staff. Froebel felt, however, that if anything serious 
 was to be done, leaders in education must be induced 
 to take an interest in the movement. Hence he 
 was glad to be summoned to Dresden to Adolf 
 Frankenberg's marriage. It seems that some time 
 in 1844 Frankenberg had made the acquaintance of 
 Louise Hermann, niece of Professor Hermann, of 
 Dorpat, in whom he found a ready convert to the 
 doctrines of Krause and Froebel. The friendship of 
 the two young people ended in their marriage on the 
 21st April, 1845. On the day of the wedding a 
 procession of children brought flowers and wedding 
 presents to the bride, who, after treating them to 
 chocolate and cakes, joined Frankenberg and Froebel 
 in leading the games. She was evidently quite in her 
 element amongst the children. Indeed, her father had 
 said of her when she was only six years old, that he
 
 ISO DARMSTADT, LEIPZIG, DRESDEN. 
 
 was sure she had the teacher in her. Froebel spent a 
 fortnight in Dresden, teaching his games to her and 
 the children. The enthusiasm of " the new Tante," 
 and her influence with her friends and acquaintances, 
 soon raised the number of pupils from forty to eighty. 
 Froebel's work with her for this short time, however, 
 only served to make her realise her own shortcomings, 
 and at Christmas (1847) she went to study at Keilhau. 
 It was only by dint of great self-sacrifice that 
 Frankenbeig had been able to obtain the necessary 
 authorisation for the establishment of a State Kinder- 
 garten in Dresden, and in spite of the support of such 
 men as the Minister, Von Lindenau, and Dr. Vogel, of 
 Leipzig, progress was but slow. 
 
 Froebel was meantime using his utmost endeavours 
 to establish a union of teachers in Dresden. From 
 Dresden he went to Halle to make the acquaintance 
 of Pastor Wislicenus ; thence to visit Pastor Uhlich, 
 in Magdeburg. Carefully avoiding all share in 
 political and religious agitations, he devoted himself 
 to his mission of educational reform. There were as yet 
 few genuine Froebel schools, and he could see at first 
 but little result of his travels. " But I am fully 
 convinced," he said, " that those who come after me, 
 though they may know less of this matter, will have 
 a far higher reward ; the myth of the Sybilline books 
 is true even in our day." 
 
 Further educational journeys were undertaken by 
 Froebel during the year 1846. He passed through the 
 valleys of the Saal, the Elster, the Malde, and the 
 Elbe. He visited Halle, Wittenberg, Sorgau, and 
 Glauchau, sowing everywhere the seeds of hope and 
 inspiration, and always affirming his belief in the
 
 THE FROEBEL PROPAGANDA IN GERMANY l8l 
 
 ultimate spread of the system. Froebel's irrepressible 
 hopefulness and unquenchable zeal were destined to 
 have their reward, for he lived to see many a gifted 
 woman and future pioneer of the Froebel cause devote 
 herself heart and soul to the mastery of the system. 
 Some of these attended his course on the "Active 
 Instincts of the Child," given on his return to Keilhau 
 in the autumn. 
 
 From this time forward Froebel devoted himself 
 chiefly to the education of women.* He felt with 
 Schiller that the salvation of any country must depend 
 upon its women.f Froebel's principles of evolution 
 naturally led him to the woman as the starting-point 
 for the child's education. It was amongst women that 
 he found sympathy and understanding, which men as 
 yet were unable to give him. The mother with her 
 babe was the one who could best realise his aims and 
 ideals. In the earlier days he had been inclined to 
 set her a pattern of educational devices. Now that 
 he knew her better he expected her to lead, and he 
 was not disappointed. In 1847 a successful Kinder- 
 garten festival was organised at Quetz, near Halle. 
 Froebel delivered an address on the principle of the 
 Kindergarten games and occupations. Earnestness 
 and unanimity of purpose characterised this meeting, 
 and all were charmed with Froebel's exposition of the 
 subject. 
 
 The training course given at Keilhau in the winter 
 of 1847 was attended by Alwina Middendorff, Frau 
 Frankenberg, and Luise Levin, who had for two years 
 
 * With a view to a more perfect family life, Froebel proposed that 
 girls should have this training as a preparation for marriage, 
 t "Nature intended woman for her masterpiece." LKSSINO.
 
 1 82 DARMSTADT, LEIPZIG, DRESDEN. 
 
 filled the post of house-mother at Keilhau. These 
 three ladies, as well as Emma Habich and Fraulein 
 Stieler, did much to spread the system. Fraulein 
 Levin writes: "Keilhau opened up a new world to 
 me. When not in Froebel's class, I used to take my 
 work and sit in his room. I looked upon him as one 
 of the greatest benefactors of mankind, and my only 
 longing was to show my gratitude by faithful work." * 
 Another of the Keilhau pupils was Augusta Traberth, 
 a very gifted Kindergartnerin, who lately celebrated 
 the twenty-fifth anniversary of her work at Eisenach ; 
 but the most distinguished of the Keilhau students at 
 this time was Henrietta Breymann, who founded an 
 excellent institution at Watzum. She lectured with 
 great success at Brussels, and was appointed to assist 
 in the reorganisation of the Belgian schools.! The 
 success of these ladies was partly due to their innate 
 genius, but also in a great measure to Froebel's 
 wonderful power of rousing the intelligence and 
 enthusiasm of women. It was, perhaps, through the 
 woman's influence that the artistic treatment of the 
 gifts and occupations was made so prominent.^ The 
 young girls easily mastered the occupations, and soon 
 learned to use them as a means of training the 
 children's intelligence and skill. 
 
 Froebel had learned in his educational tours the 
 value of demonstration and explanation, and he now 
 
 * Luisc Levin had her wish, for in 1851 she became Froebcl's second 
 wife. 
 
 t This lady married Dr. Schrader, a railway director, and became 
 the Principal of the Pestalozzi Institute at Berlin. On p. 332 of 
 Hanschmann, probably through a misprint, she is confounded with 
 Fraulein Ida Seele. 
 
 Froebel's own tendency was rather to treat them from a mathe- 
 matical point of view.
 
 THE FROEBEL PROPAGANDA IN GERMANY. 183 
 
 proposed to call a Conference of German teachers and 
 educators, to discuss and test the Kindergarten system 
 as an integral part of national education. In June, 1848, 
 a circular was sent out to teachers and friends of educa- 
 tion. A few quotations will show the drift of it : 
 
 " All Germany is looking for a reform in education ; this 
 must be brought about by a perfecting of our national 
 system, not merely of elementary, secondary, advanced or 
 higher schools, but of the whole educational system, and 
 more especially of that part which precedes the school 
 proper. If the building is to be solid, we must look to the 
 foundations. The home education of rich and poor alike 
 must be improved and supplemented. Parents often lack 
 the time, means, and skill necessary for the development of 
 their children's powers. And even if they knew how to 
 train them on any system in harmony with nature, they are 
 too little acquainted with the schools to which they send 
 them to prepare them adequately for their work. It 
 therefore behoves the State to establish institutions for the 
 education of children, of parents, and of those who are to 
 become parents. If through ignorance and indifference 
 little children are treated improperly, it is the business of all 
 who love their nation to alter this state of things." 
 
 In June, 1848, a circular was issued inviting 
 "teachers and lovers of children to an educational 
 Congress at Keilhau, near Eudolstadt," where Friedrich 
 Froebel had been at work for the "past thirty years." 
 This circular was signed by Froebel and a number of 
 teachers and professors. It was finally decided to hold 
 the meeting in the town of Eudolstadt itself ; and the 
 following invitation appeared in the Citizen: "The 
 Eudolstadters hope to have the pleasure of receiving 
 the teachers and others attending the Conference, and
 
 184 DARMSTADT, LEIPZIG, DRESDEN. 
 
 they trust that the modest hospitality they are able to 
 offer will be accepted." Special invitations, signed by 
 Froebel and the other members of the Conference Com- 
 mittee, were sent to some of the more distinguished 
 friends of the cause. 
 
 Many came to the meeting armed with ready-made 
 objections to the system ; some being founded on 
 ignorance, some on a conservative feeling which made 
 them fear any innovation. Many, of course, were 
 unable to see the need of any organised system for 
 children under the school age, and far less able to 
 compare the needs of these little ones with those of 
 the school child. It was argued that the daily habit 
 of play would produce loiterers and triflers, and 
 altogether unfit the children for school work.* 
 
 One of the fiercest opponents to the system was 
 Julius Kell, of Leipzig. Indeed, some of the questions 
 he put to Froebel were so "inquisitorial," says an 
 eye-witness, that even Kell's own allies protested, 
 and stood up in Froebel's defence. Froebel's answers 
 to all objections were very patient and clear-headed; 
 and he and his colleagues so ably defended the system 
 that the Congress ended by a unanimous acknow- 
 ledgment of its soundness and truth. 
 
 Pastor Habig, in summing up the various speeches, 
 concluded with the following appeal to the assembly : 
 "We have probably," he said, "not yet reached per- 
 fection in the application of this system. There may 
 be details to which it would be wise for us to apply 
 our best judgment and experience, but surely the 
 
 This objection was most ably answered by August Koehler, in the 
 introduction to hU collection of games and songs, which is well 
 worth reading.
 
 THE FROEBEL PROPAGANDA IN GERMANY. 1 8$ 
 
 teachers and educators present cannot withhold their 
 sympathy and approval from so excellent a system 
 of training the young." But in spite of the favour- 
 able resolution passed by the Conference, the Froebel 
 teachers felt that the objections to the system 
 which had been expressed by several present de- 
 manded more serious attention than it had been 
 possible to give them at the time. Hence Middendorff 
 sent to the German Parliament, in 1848, a carefully- 
 written essay in defence of the Kindergarten as a 
 necessary part of modern education. Dr. Wichard 
 Lange wrote a preface to the second edition (1861), 
 in which he says : " The Kindergarten system has as 
 yet had no fair trial, but in this little book Middendorff 
 gives very clearly its raison d'etre, and its methods 
 and practices." 
 
 In the winter of 1848 Froebel was invited to give 
 a training course in Dresden, where Luise Frankenberg 
 had worked up a class of students. His power of 
 work was enormous. He gave three lectures daily; 
 one in the morning to some foreign students who lived 
 with Frankenberg, another in the afternoon, and a 
 third in the evening. These classes were a brilliant 
 success, and made Dresden an important centre for 
 the system. Amongst the more distinguished students 
 who came under Froebel's influence this winter was 
 the gifted and amiable Marquart, who, like Froebel, 
 had begun his educational career by teaching some 
 young relatives. He and his wife and daughters 
 became enthusiastic Froebelians, and sent out many 
 a first-rate Kindergarten teacher. "It shall not be 
 said," wrote Bruno Marquart, " that Friedrich Froebel 
 worked in vain in Dresden ; if no one else will found
 
 1 86 DARMSTADT, LEIPZIG, DRESDEN. 
 
 a Kindergarten I will do it myself." And this he 
 did (in spite of a good deal of opposition). In 
 Marquart's school the Kindergarten and the lower 
 forms of the school proper formed a continuous and 
 well-graded whole. 
 
 Amongst the Dresden pupils was Frl. Dahlenkamp, 
 niece of Gustav Kuhne, who established a Kinder- 
 garten at Leipzig. Dr. Herz, too, attended with his 
 gifted wife, who did so much for children of weak 
 intellect. Her writings were the means of introducing 
 the system into several institutions, and she herself 
 applied it in her husband's asylum at Meissen. 
 Other names mentioned in this connection are Amelia 
 Marschner, Bertha Gloeckner, and Herr Eitz, who, with 
 Adolf Frankenberg, was amongst the first advocates 
 for gymnastics for women ; Frankenberg himself, with 
 his wife and his assistant, Frl. Busch, attended the 
 Dresden course.* 
 
 A good deal had been done by the end of the year 
 1849 for the elaboration of the gifts and occupations. 
 Sticks and tablets were added as a means for pro- 
 ceeding from solids to planes and lines, t Also an 
 intermediate form (the cylinder) had been added to 
 
 * After Frankenberg's death, in 1858, his wife went to Jena, and 
 devoted her originality and skill to Dr. Keferstein's institution. She 
 did not consider herself, when over fifty years of age, too old to play 
 Kindergarten games with the children. She had seen Froebel conduct 
 many a game when ho was seventy. Kohl, too, the composer of the 
 Kose-Lieder, was in Frocbel's class in Dresden, and undertook to drill 
 the ladies in the singing of his little songs. "It is no wonder," said 
 Luise Frankenberg, "that we thoroughly understood how to sing 
 them." He used to make us hum them very gently, almost like 
 speaking ; as if they had just been improvised." 
 
 t Perforation was introduced as a further geometrical abstraction, 
 dealing with points only ; but it is a somewhat dangerous occupation 
 on account of the nature of the tool used.
 
 THE FROEBEL PROPAGANDA IN GERMANY. 1 87 
 
 the second gift. All the exercises were based on 
 the discovery of contrasts or conciliation of contrasts. 
 This principle was probably derived by Froebel from 
 what Schelling calls "Laws of Polarity," and Hegel 
 " Dialectic Development." 
 
 As an explanation of the name Kindergarten the 
 word " garden " has been traced philologically to limit, 
 circle, uniting, boundary. Froebel's garden is a place 
 in which the children are surrounded by such con- 
 ditions as allow them freedom of growth for body, 
 mind, and spirit, and in which their powers develop 
 in harmony and beauty. The name "garden" thus 
 indicates the treatment Froebel desires for the 
 children. They are to be like plants under the 
 care of a "skilful gardener."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 FROEBEL THE APOSTLE OF WOMEN. 
 
 1849 TO 1851. MARIENTHAL. 
 
 Liebenstein Diesterweg and Froebel The Hamburg Women's Union 
 Karl Froebel Women Pioneers Middendorff and Froebel in 
 Hamburg The School for Mothers Higher Education for Girls 
 Froebel's Main Principles Festival at Altenstein Froebel's 
 Second Marriage Frau Luise Froebel The Life at Marieuthal 
 Personal Recollections of Froebel Hostility of the Prussian 
 Government. 
 
 HOPING once more to interest the Duke of Mein- 
 ingen in his work, Froebel went in the spring 
 of 1849 to Bad-Liebenstein. He and his friends had 
 decided that Marienthal, near Liebenstein, would be a 
 perfect spot for a training school for women. Lieben- 
 stein is a health resort, much frequented by Germans 
 on account of its salubrious springs and the beauty of 
 its situation. The country is undulating and rich in 
 vegetation. The air is sweet and fresh, and filled with 
 the scent of the pine woods and the song of birds. 
 
 Amongst the visitors at Bad-Liebenstein in the 
 summer of 1848 was Adolph Diesterweg,* the editor of 
 the Wegweiser, whose wife was staying there for her 
 health. On the day of his arrival, some time in July, 
 sitting under the trees in front of the Kurhaus, he 
 asked what there was to see at Liebenstein, whereupon 
 
 Foelsing's trainer and teacher. 
 1 88
 
 FROEBEL THE APOSTLE OF WOMEN. 189 
 
 one of the guests told him there was one sight he must 
 on no account miss, "an old fool who plays about with 
 the village children." Nothing more was said at the 
 time, but the next day his friend, Frau von Marenholtz, 
 invited him to go with her to see a school under the 
 direction of Herr Froebel. He had heard of Froebel 
 as an eccentric man, whose notion was that children 
 should learn everything in play ; and putting two and 
 two together, he surmised that Froebel must be the 
 " old fool " his friends had alluded to the day before. 
 
 The following somewhat disdainful words had 
 appeared in an early number of the Wegweiser : * 
 " I ought, perhaps, to mention Froebel, of Eudolstadt, 
 in this connection (infant education), but as I have had 
 no opportunity of seeing his work I can form no judg- 
 ment. The somewhat exaggerated accounts I have met 
 with are rather calculated to make one mistrust the 
 system." 
 
 It is evident that Diesterweg knew Froebel only from 
 hearsay, or from unsatisfactory explanations of his 
 object. He only understood him after making his 
 personal acquaintance. One visit to Marienthal, how- 
 ever, sufficed to convince him that he was in the 
 presence of a great educator ; and, in his dedication of 
 the fourth number of his journal to the wonderful 
 man ("this magician amongst the maidens and little 
 children "), there is something like a tone of regret that 
 he had not known him sooner. Frau von Marenholtz 
 had had some difficulty in persuading him to accompany 
 her to the farm-house where Froebel was at work with 
 his forty peasant children. But once there, he came 
 
 * Only three numbers were out at the time.
 
 190 MARIENTHAL. 
 
 under the spell of the old man's gentleness and tact. 
 He repeated his visit, and saw Froebel conduct some 
 games in the open air ; a large circle was formed, and 
 eight or ten young girls took their places in it. The 
 children, whose ages varied from two to eight or ten 
 years, were evidently very poor. Some were bare- 
 footed, some bareheaded, and some in rags. 
 
 They were playing with the utmost vigour and 
 delight, however, and Froebel was a very child 
 amongst them. Many of the games are now familiar 
 to us, e.g., the Fishes, the Pigeons, the Cuckoo. When 
 the games were over the children were led off in 
 procession singing their closing song. After this, 
 Diesterweg accompanied Frau von Marenholtz in her 
 daily visits to Froebel. He would knock at her door 
 with the Mutter-und Kose-Lieder under his arm, and 
 say, " Are you ready to go to school ? " * They joined 
 the Froebel students in their lessons and in their 
 rambles over the hills with the master, and it was not 
 long before a hearty friendship was formed between 
 the two great Pestalozzian teachers. Diesterweg, who 
 certainly was one of the most distinguished pedagogues 
 of his time, once convinced, gave himself heart and 
 soul to Froebel and his cause, and henceforth did all he 
 could to advance the movement. He counted the 
 hours spent with Froebel amongst his most treasured 
 recollections. 
 
 " The visitors at Liebenstcin seem to have had some fun over these 
 big school children. They were called " Eisel und Beisel," and some 
 witty guest, on meeting them on one of their rambles with Froebel, in 
 earnest conversation, exclaimed, " There go the way, the truth, and 
 the life." Reminiscences of Froebel, ch. i.
 
 FROEBEL THE APOSTLE OF WOMEN. IQI 
 
 " Mere words can give no idea," says Diesterweg, " of 
 the natural grace and happiness of the Kindergarten 
 children, nor of the devotion with which Froebel works 
 at his cause. Year by year, day by day, hour by hour 
 he is occupied with it. Come who will, and when he 
 will, nothing can check his ardour. I have seen 
 nothing like it in all my life. His mind is entirely 
 possessed by his idea." 
 
 Froebel met Diesterweg again in the autumn, when 
 he went to Hamburg at the instigation of his old 
 pupils, Alwina Middendorff and Doris Llitkens.* 
 
 These enthusiastic Froebelians rather hoped the 
 Hamburg Women's Union would take up Froebel's 
 work, especially as two of its delegates had visited 
 Froebel at Liebenstein, and had been much impressed 
 by what they saw. But the Union aimed rather at the 
 social and political advancement of women than at 
 their culture in Froebel's sense ; and had already 
 started a correspondence with Professor Karl Froebel, 
 Froebel's nephew, in Zurich, with reference to the estab- 
 lishment of an advanced girls' school in Hamburg, f 
 
 Middendorff accompanied his friend to Hamburg. 
 He was glad of the opportunity of seeing his daughter, 
 who was her father's pupil, and a true educationist. 
 
 * Doris Liitkens had been persuaded by her friend Alwina to go 
 to Rudolstadt and study with Froobel. It was she who drew the 
 attention of the Hamburg Women's Union to Froebel's work. 
 
 t This school was intended to give girls the opportunity of studies 
 such as their brothers enjoyed at the university ; to be, in short, a 
 kind of Girton or Newnham. Certain members of the Union, 
 especially the delegates Frau Wilstenfeld and Bertha Traun, were 
 warm advocates of the girls' high school, and the matter ended by an 
 invitation being sent to the younger Froebel to come to Hamburg and 
 start the girls' school.
 
 192 MARIENTHAL. 
 
 She had started several Kindergartens, and had con- 
 verted many to the cause, not the least important 
 of her converts being her fiancte, Dr. Wichard Lange. 
 Lange studied the subject carefully, and his writings 
 have done much to make the system known. Midden- 
 dorff, immediately on his arrival in Hamburg, invited 
 friends and opponents of the system to a discussion, 
 and opened the meeting with an address, which was 
 so convincing that it almost disarmed opposition. 
 
 Dr. Wichard Lange was amongst the audience, and 
 says : " His simple manner, white locks, and beaming 
 countenance, charmed everyone. He began his speech 
 gently, almost tenderly, with closed eyes, as if in 
 reverence of his subject. But as he proceeded his 
 voice grew louder and louder, and his eloquence and 
 animation increased. Then, as his countenance seemed 
 to express, a pitying regret that he could find no words 
 to convey the depth of his conviction." 
 
 Froebel gave an address at Frl. Liitkens', in which he 
 described the kind of instruction he wished to give to 
 the women students in Hamburg. He also delivered 
 a course of lectures in the hall of the new girls' school. 
 He explained clearly and emphatically that his desire 
 for woman was not to make her learned, nor to provide 
 her with increased social advantages, but to win for 
 her the development of her best and noblest qualities. 
 Only so would the world be made happier, and would 
 man himself be enabled with dignity to fulfil his 
 duties to his fellow -man, to God, and to nature. 
 Froebel's object was different from Fichte's, and even 
 from that of his master, Pestalozzi. His aim was to 
 rouse to the utmost, and win over to the service of 
 early education the whole strength of womanhood.
 
 FROEBEL THE APOSTLE OF WOMEN. 193 
 
 Young girls were to be inspired to care for early 
 childhood. This would ennoble family relations and 
 family life, and add vastly to the sum of human 
 happiness. 
 
 "Women," says Schleiermacher, "are destined to 
 develop the first germs in the child's mind in all their 
 simplicity and purity, before they have been exposed 
 to any perverting influence ; and those who take upon 
 themselves this solemn duty should guard the sacred 
 fire like vestal virgins." And Ziegenbein says : " It is 
 to mothers we must look for the safe-guarding of 
 moral and social purity; it is they who have most 
 power to secure to their daughters a feeling for virtue 
 and piety. It is they who hand over to the world the 
 unacknowledged gift of leader, hero, law-giver, dis- 
 coverer, artist, scientist, orator, or poet. It is, in short, 
 the mother who exerts upon humanity the strongest 
 influence for good or evil. Thus women render a more 
 important service to society and the State than do 
 men." F. Bernhardt says: "There is no better 
 foundation for the well-being of a nation than the 
 heart of a true mother. In the hands of parents 
 lie heaven and hell." Froebel says : " All agree that, 
 compared with the true mother, the formal educator 
 is but a bungler. But she must become conscious of 
 her own aim, and must learn intelligently to use the 
 means to reach it. She can no longer afford to 
 squander or neglect the earliest years of her child. 
 As the world grows older we become richer in know- 
 ledge and in art. But childhood (the receptive period) 
 remains short as before; and we must learn to adapt 
 ourselves to constantly varying conditions, and to 
 understand that what suited a previous age is no 
 
 o
 
 IQ4 MARIENTHAL. 
 
 longer fitting for our own. The task of modern times 
 is to introduce order and proportion into life, and the 
 initiative lies with mothers" 
 
 The latest development of the Froebel idea was 
 fully expressed in a periodical republished at Lieben- 
 stein in January, 1850, under the editorship of Dr. 
 Wichard Lange, and called the Wochenschrift. This 
 paper was an important contribution to modern 
 pedagogy. It treated the Kindergarten system from 
 a philosophical and a psychological point of view, and 
 contained some excellent articles on early education, 
 notes of songs and games, and a story after the manner 
 of Pestalozzi's " How Lena learns to read." In one of 
 his articles Froebel demands that the "noble destiny 
 of one half the human race be acknowledged by the 
 other, and that the sex as a whole take up its true 
 moral and intellectual position." " Woman," he says, 
 "will win this position for herself when she becomes 
 conscious of her true mission. Fit or not fit, she must 
 of necessity be the first educator of the child. It is 
 she who strikes the keynote for his future and gives 
 the bent to his life. After-life can only develop the 
 germs she has implanted. Woman's love and child 
 love are one, and we shall never do justice to either 
 until we learn to recognise the indissoluble bond that 
 unites them. God has planted in the mother's heart 
 the very existence of the race. If a complicated 
 civilization has come between mother and child, it is 
 for us to reunite them.* Train the mother, and you 
 train the child. Make the mother conscious of a goal 
 
 * Froebel's object was to unite and join what man and his conven- 
 tions had so often parted, boy and girl, old and young, rich and 
 poor, learned and simple.
 
 FROEBEL THE APOSTLE OF WOMEN. 195 
 
 to be reached, and give her the means to reach it, and 
 you set childhood free from all the evils of convention 
 and routine. A mother will soon outstrip the peda- 
 gogue in her understanding of the methods to be 
 employed for the good of her child.* But neither 
 Pestalozzi's nor any other book can suffice for the 
 training of the mother. The poorer mothers have 
 neither the time nor the capacity to master the lessons 
 in books. If all mothers are to share in the education 
 of the young generation, there must be national 
 Kindergartens, which, in the first instance, may serve 
 as training schools for mothers." 
 
 What Froebel longed to see in Germany was a 
 system of national Kindergartens which would receive 
 the children of the poor, and train the maidens of the 
 rich at the same time. He thought that the culture 
 required for the proper treatment of children would be 
 more profitable to young girls than much of the 
 customary book learning. And he also thought that if 
 this kind of culture were once introduced, it would 
 ultimately have its effect on the girls' school education, 
 and tend to make it more practical and less artificial. 
 Conventional school education offers, according to 
 Froebel, too little scope for the girl's sense of art and 
 poetry, and makes too great a separation between her 
 and her natural duties and sympathies. It is natural, 
 he says, for a young girl to love little children. 
 
 " Wo wie eiii unergriiiidlich Meer 
 Ein Kinderauge blaut, 
 Du hast dem Herrn, O, schaue her, 
 Ins Auge selbst geschaut. 
 
 * Though Froebel's teaching is pre-eminently the teaching for 
 mothers, he recommends again and again the training of both sexes 
 as Kindergarten teachers.
 
 196 MARIENTHAL. 
 
 Ein Kindesblick, ein Blick des Herrn, 
 Vor dem das Herz erschrickt ; 
 Ein Blick des Herrn, ein Friedenstern, 
 Der Trost und Ruhe blickt. 
 
 Und warst Du je so rein und f romm ; 
 Ach, warst Du je ein Kind? 
 Verzage nicht, komm wieder komm ! 
 Und sei wie Kinder sind." 
 
 Karl Froebel shared his uncle's views on the import- 
 ance of woman's influence as first educator, and in his 
 school at Hamburg he not only provided the girls with 
 opportunity for academic study, but also made an 
 attempt to train them for motherhood and for social 
 duties. The graces of life were promoted by such 
 subjects as literature, foreign languages, mythology, and 
 art. Froebel held with Wiese that " woman's education 
 should take its tone from the family and the home." * 
 But he acknowledged that neither the home nor 
 the school offer a complete education ; learning and 
 love are both necessary. He recommended the group- 
 ing of families into small educational associations, so 
 that the education of their children might be placed 
 under the direction of philosophers and educationists. 
 In short, an enlarged family with enlarged means 
 of obtaining the best conditions for the children." t 
 
 Karl Froebel's scheme of education included a 
 Kindergarten department, a day school, boarding schools 
 for boys and girls, a normal school for men teachers, 
 and an advanced school for women, who were to be 
 trained in family and social duties, and to learn art and 
 
 * All women have a motherly mission, even though they be not 
 mothers, and usefulness in family and social life is their best pro- 
 fession. 
 
 t See KARL SCHMIDT'S History of Pedagogy.
 
 FROEBEL THE APOSTLE OF WOMEN. 197 
 
 science with a view to the beautifying and ennobling of 
 life. Science for them was not to be treated as an 
 abstract subject, but studied only as far as it is appli- 
 cable to human life. Karl Froebel maintained that 
 every woman should be so educated as to win for 
 herself an independent economic position. 
 
 His special education for girls began somewhere 
 about the thirteenth year, at the period when difference 
 of sex makes itself felt. The boys at this age were put 
 through a strictly scientific course of mathematics, 
 language, and logic, to which, however, were added 
 nature studies and art as far as it was applicable to 
 these ; also a certain amount of musical culture. The 
 curriculum for the girls included the elements of mathe- 
 matics, astronomy, and perspective; physiology, hygiene, 
 and nursing ; history, literature, and enough philosophy 
 to understand the development of the reasoning 
 powers. 
 
 Unfortunately for Froebel his ideas and his objects 
 were confused with his nephew's in the minds of the 
 public, and this led to great trouble for Froebel later 
 on. Froebel left his mark in Hamburg, however, 
 where, before leaving, he founded two Kindergartens, 
 each with upwards of sixty children. On his return to 
 Liebenstein, in the spring of 1850, he took up his 
 abode in a shooting lodge at Marienthal which his 
 friend the Baroness of Marenholtz-Bulow had induced 
 the Duke of Meiningen to put at his disposal 
 
 A few personal recollections will best give an 
 idea of his work there. "I would have missed any- 
 thing," wrote one student, "rather than the happy 
 time at Marienthal, and I regret every minute not 
 passed with Froebel. I remember how, on one occasion,
 
 198 MARIENTHAL. 
 
 as we stood watching the sunset, the dear master 
 had kind words for us all. At another time how 
 he drew our attention to the beautiful colours in 
 the dewdrops; then how delighted he was with the 
 decoration of the rooms on his return from Gotha: 
 what a sweet remembrance it is ! " 
 
 And this testimony to the affection and enthusiasm 
 he inspired is confirmed by the letters received from 
 many a grateful pupil on his birthday in 1851. "I 
 only wish that every human being," wrote one, " could 
 have the benefit of your education. I know how much 
 happiness it gives." And another, "I wish everyone 
 knew you and your teaching. I congratulate myself 
 on having learned to work with little children. It has 
 taught me to reflect before acting, and to order my 
 thoughts and my life. Life has become more sacred to 
 me, and "I hope that these experiences will be a support 
 in whatever dark days there may be in store for me." 
 
 There was a constant stream of visitors to the 
 institution at Marienthal, and as Froebel became more 
 and more popular, he formed the subject of much 
 interest and discussion in the neighbourhood. Some 
 looked upon him as "the prophet of a new develop- 
 ment for humanity," "the lawgiver of a new educa- 
 tion," "the apostle of woman's freedom"; whilst 
 others described him as " a fool," " a fanatic," or " an 
 impostor." 
 
 " One evening in the week was reserved at Marien- 
 thal for demonstrations and discussions, and visitors 
 were invited to join both. The guests generally found 
 Froebel playing with a crowd of peasant children and 
 young teachers of both sexes." 
 
 " It was touching to see the children's affection for
 
 FROEBEt THE APOSTLE OF WOMEN. 199 
 
 Froebel. They would run towards the tall figure the 
 moment it came into sight, and would hang about 
 him and climb on his knee, and when he spoke, 
 even the most turbulent would listen impressed and 
 reverent. 
 
 " One day, in the midst of the singing, a little five- 
 year-old boy, who had been brought into the ring by 
 his mother, began to cry, said he would not play, and 
 insisted also that his mother should come out of the 
 ring. The mother remained, however, and the child 
 continued to disturb the game ; Froebel took the little 
 one upon his knee, and showed him the cube spinning 
 on a thread, whereupon he began to smile, and was 
 soon seen joining the ring with Froebel. He never 
 troubled them any more. When the games were over, 
 the little ones would clamour round him and entreat 
 him to play with them again and again. Lines of 
 thought were visible on his high forehead ; but as he 
 bent over the children, the long white hair falling over 
 his eyes, his face would beam with affection, and he 
 would take a little hand in his, or pat a little curly 
 pate in a kindly, encouraging way. They called him 
 'Father,' and in his response he would put a world 
 of tenderness into the words, 'My child.' When all 
 was over the children would file off in pairs, singing 
 a parting song as they went." * 
 
 " Singing is the best accompaniment to everything 
 for children," he said, in his hearty, convincing way. 
 "It was by singing that the Greeks learned their 
 Homer, and it is thus we can best learn our mother- 
 
 * Surely this makes as beautiful a picture of " child-love " as one 
 could imagine, and reminds one of Pestalozzi amongst his children at 
 Stan?.
 
 2OO MARIENTHAL. 
 
 tongue."* This was not mere sentimentality with 
 Froebel,t but may rather be attributed to a certain 
 poetic simplicity with which he did everything. " He 
 was full of enthusiasm and belief in his mission, and 
 gave one the idea of being a priest of nature," says 
 Kuehne ; " and this it was that so much impressed and 
 influenced women." 
 
 After the departure of the children the guests at 
 Keilhau would proceed to the large hall of the house, 
 where the long table was covered with gifts and 
 occupations, not in the form of a grand exhibition, 
 but just simple specimens of the work done by 
 Kindergarten children. Froebel would dwell upon 
 the industry, the perseverance, and the ingenuity 
 required to produce these specimens. Sometimes a 
 visitor would try his hand at one or other of the 
 occupations, or the whole company would set to work 
 upon the gifts and materials before them, Froebel 
 himself being one of the first to be carried away by 
 the fascination of inventing combinations and designs. 
 Indeed, he was often so intent upon his work that he 
 forgot there were any visitors present." 
 
 Froebel regarded his work at Marienthal as the 
 culminating point of his educational effort. It ex- 
 pressed his highest conception of education. Women 
 were to him the "harmonisers of human life." Frau 
 von Marenholtz succeeded in interesting the Duchess of 
 Meiningen in the work, and a festival was organised 
 at Altenstein to mark the birth of the Marienthal 
 institution. This celebration took place on August 4, 
 
 * " In the childhood of the world common speech was song." JEAN 
 PAUL RICHTER. 
 tit was not the mere berhyming and besinging Foelsing suggested.
 
 FROEBEL THE APOSTLE OF WOMEN. 2OI 
 
 1850, the meeting-place being the park surrounding 
 the Castle of Altenstein. Here, on a grassy plateau, 
 about three hundred children from the neighbouring 
 villages and towns assembled, and went through their 
 exercises and evolutions. They marched in order until 
 eight concentric rings were formed, whereupon all 
 joined in the opening song: 
 
 " Seht uns hier in Vereine, 
 Dass die Eintracht erscheine 
 In dem heiteren Spiel ; 
 Ordnung schon uns verbinde, 
 Liebe in allem sich finde, 
 Bringe der lieblichen Friichte so viel." 
 
 The circles then changed into a long, undulating 
 line, and the children sang "Like a little ball of 
 twine," as they marched along, winding in and out 
 amongst the trees, twisting themselves into a close 
 spiral or ball, and untwisting again. Then they formed 
 different circles, so that each Kindergarten might play 
 the games specially prepared for the occasion.* After 
 the Marienthal children had played some Kindergarten 
 games, the Salzungen children were placed in two 
 groups, the boys doing some gymnastics, whilst the 
 girls played at "La Grace." Then again all formed 
 rings for "Cat and Mouse," played to music. After 
 this the whole company marched in procession towards 
 the castle for rest and refreshment. Games then fol- 
 lowed which were more or less familiar to all, such 
 as "Little children when they're good," "Hand in 
 hand here we stand," "In a row marching so," 
 
 * What an excellent plan it would be for Kindergartens to co- 
 operate in this way to make the system known to the public. How 
 much they would teach and how much they would learn by co-operation.
 
 202 MARIENTHAL. 
 
 "With game and song we march along," "The Oak- 
 wreath," "Eoses and Lilies," "The Dove-cote," "The 
 Snail." At sunset the happy meeting dispersed; and 
 the effect was imposing and touching as the long 
 procession moved in its rhythmic way to the tune of 
 the parting song, their voices growing fainter and 
 fainter, gradually disappearing in the distance. Froebel 
 received many an assurance of the success of this 
 festival. 
 
 " I am thankful," said one, " that my business led me 
 hither to-day. I could not help weeping tears of regret 
 as I looked at the happy groups, and thought of my 
 own children at home missing it all. How often have 
 I wished them here to-day." 
 
 "The gentleness and affection with which the 
 children are treated by your teachers is a touching 
 sight," said another. 
 
 " I am no Meininger, I am a Hessian, and come from 
 Cassel," said a third ; " but I should like to shake hands 
 with you and express my gratitude. I only wish our 
 teachers would introduce this, for it shows what 
 children may be made to do if they are treated with 
 kindness. Surely the blessing of heaven rests upon 
 such a day." 
 
 "The festival at Altenstein," says Benfey, "has 
 shown us what the child is capable of when provided 
 with cheerful and bright surroundings, and when his 
 instinct for development is respected. On this happy 
 occasion there was a marvellous manifestation both of 
 individuality and independence in the separate children 
 and groups of children, and of unity and harmony of 
 action amongst the whole company. Froebel's ideas 
 evidently dominated the whole performance. Every
 
 FROEBEL THE APOSTLE OF WOMEN. 203 
 
 detail was a proof of his intelligence, care, and fore- 
 thought." 
 
 No history of Froebel would be complete without an 
 account of this Altenstein festival. It was only the 
 parent of many similar co-operative demonstrations, 
 but it marks a new departure in the development of 
 the Froebel system. 
 
 It was difficult for Froebel to demonstrate practically 
 his view of " harmony of life " at Marienthal, as, for 
 the first time for many years, he had no family life. 
 Indeed, he realised acutely the need of a home, and of 
 some faithful companion in whose hands he might 
 safely leave his work when he should no longer be able 
 to continue it. Such a friend and companion Froebel 
 found in Luise Levin.* She was now about thirty 
 years of age, was inspired by Froebel and his idea, 
 and had been the Principal of his Liebenstein Training 
 School for two years. She was a great friend of his 
 brother Christian's family. Indeed, she had come on a 
 visit to the Christian Froebels about five years before, 
 and the life and spirit of Keilhau had so charmed her 
 that she was easily persuaded to remain and help Frau 
 Froebel in her household duties. In 1847, however, 
 she had joined the circle of Kindergarten students 
 then working under Froebel, and henceforth became 
 his devoted admirer and friend, and finally the com- 
 forter of his declining years. 
 
 The Keilhau circle were not unanimous in approving 
 of Froebel's marriage with this lady ; but Middendorff, 
 who had his friend's real interest at heart, and who 
 believed that this marriage might bring a larger 
 
 * I believe some reminiscences of her married life were contributed 
 by Frau Froebel to Child Life some time in 1889. See Appendix II. A.
 
 204 MARIENTHAL. 
 
 number of educated women into the field, gave his 
 hearty approval, and the ceremony took place in July, 
 1851. The marriage was in every way a great success, 
 for Frau Froebel filled her somewhat difficult position 
 with dignity, and to the satisfaction of all concerned, 
 even of those who at first were inclined to disapprove ; 
 and Froebel was comforted and soothed by the thought 
 of leaving his name and work in such good hands. 
 She was a splendid house-mother, and knew how to 
 endear herself to the students. Many letters show the 
 delightful relationship existing between her and her 
 pupils. 
 
 Froebel's personality always impressed his pupils in 
 the most astonishing way ; he knew how to move their 
 innermost hearts, to cure them of all artificiality and 
 self-consciousness, and to bring them back to simplicity 
 and youth. His work amongst women is unique. Though 
 childless, he has understood childhood as few parents 
 do. " There are plenty," he would say, " who provide a 
 physical existence for their children. Let us become 
 spiritual parents. My children," he said, "are my 
 ideas," and turning to his wife, he added, " I look to 
 you to cherish them." 
 
 The happiest days of Froebel's life were now spent at 
 Marienthal; his marriage had brought him a peace and 
 restfulness he had never known before. But, alas! this 
 was not to last. For whilst an unusual number of 
 talented young women were quietly enjoying their 
 training with Froebel in his beautiful country home, 
 a blow fell upon him from the outer world from 
 which he was not to recover. Before dealing with 
 this sad episode in Froebel's history, it may be well 
 to describe shortly the life of the master and his pupils
 
 FROEBEL THE APOSTLE OF WOMEN. 205 
 
 at Marienthal, whilst still undisturbed by it. The 
 Duke's stately shooting lodge was surrounded by park 
 and wood. In the early summer mornings of the year 
 1851 a group of bright young girls might be found seated 
 at a table under the shadow of the trees, listening with 
 reverence to the inspired words of the old man as he 
 marched backwards and forwards with energetic speech 
 and sparkling eye. " I had heard of Froebel through 
 a relative," says one of the pupils who attended this 
 course. "At first I was somewhat repelled by his 
 peculiar appearance, but I soon got over this, and now 
 I can never thank him enough for the happy hours 
 which I have spent in his company. Amongst the 
 students was a young widow with a baby nine months 
 old, who were Froebel's delight. On their arrival they 
 were welcomed by a procession with wreaths and 
 flowers, and a poem from Middendorff."* 
 
 From another student we have the following descrip- 
 tion of a day at Marienthal: "We assembled at 
 eight o'clock. After breakfast Froebel gave us a short 
 address, taking as text a verse or poem which had 
 struck him, often one of Leopold Schaefer's. At nine 
 o'clock we had a lesson in Physiology, especially the 
 physiology of the senses. This would lead to the 
 subject before us. f He often made long digressions, 
 which were somewhat difficult for us beginners to 
 follow, but he never lost the thread of his discourse. 
 We took notes, but we did not reproduce the lectures. 
 Being strenuously opposed to the use of foreign words, 
 and anxious to prove to us the riches of our own 
 
 * For a list of the students who took Froebel's last course at 
 Marienthal see Hanschmann, pp. 414, 415. 
 t Probably the Kindergarten Gifts.
 
 206 MARIENTHAL. 
 
 language, he would frequently give an object several 
 names. At eleven o'clock we had a singing lesson 
 from Stangenberger, who had come to Marienthal to 
 study under Froebel. He was organist at Meiningen, 
 and composed many Kindergarten songs.* We spent 
 the afternoons drawing in chequers with Frau Froebel ; 
 and our leisure time was spent on occupations such as 
 building, paper-folding, twisting, plaiting, and weaving, 
 which we worked out under Froebel's direction. We 
 saw little of the master except during our lessons and 
 at meal times, or perhaps on occasions when we were 
 able to persuade him to walk with us. At such times 
 he was as happy and merry as a child, and he was 
 indefatigable in his search for beetles, stones, and plants, 
 for our instruction. Nothing escaped his notice. On 
 the Altenstein or other neighbouring heights he would 
 discourse to us on the beauty of the scene; and 
 whilst the ladies prepared refreshments, Froebel would 
 philosophise or poetise, as the spirit moved him." 
 
 " His theme," says Rudolf Benfey (another eye-wit- 
 ness), " was generally the unity in nature, or maybe 
 all-sided development. He would take in with his 
 rapid glance the whole of a landscape as he sat there, 
 a crowd of friends around him and the young ones at 
 his feet, following his inspired words with the utmost 
 reverence. ' What strength and* support there is in 
 the conception of nature as one grand whole ! ' he 
 would say. ' Unity in nature is the very pivot of 
 creation. Look at the scene before us the rocks with 
 their pine-clad slopes, and, down below, the green 
 meadows, the little villages, the winding streams, and 
 
 Most of these may be found in Au. KOEHLEU'S L'cwegungspiele.
 
 FROEBEL THE APOSTLE OF WOMEN. 2O? 
 
 the deep blue river. All stand there separately, 
 individually, and are only made into one picture for 
 us by means of a delicate membrane in the eye, and a 
 certain amount of knowledge and reflection. A little 
 child would have no power of collecting trees, flowers, 
 fields, houses, etc., into one picture. For him they still 
 remain separate detached objects. A labourer at work 
 no doubt sees the hills, the rivers, the fields, and the 
 villages, but the landscape as a whole escapes him.' 
 Froebel's thoughts and reflections would pour forth 
 in a mighty stream, and we often had to make out the 
 connection for ourselves. 'All education,' he said, 
 'must be based upon, and must tend towards, unity 
 of life. This has been overlooked in the past. The 
 child's mind has too often been regarded as a box into 
 which we may throw all kinds of disconnected matter, 
 quite unassociated with his activity : here a little bit 
 of history, there a language or a bit of arithmetic. 
 That is all wrong. The child is a wonderful creature ; 
 he persistently refuses the indigestible and the super- 
 fluous. That which does not unite itself with his life, 
 and grow with his growth, is but a burden to him. 
 The child wants to know, but he wants still more to 
 live, to be busy, to do. And he is quite right, for 
 whilst learning makes him conscious of things, doing 
 makes him conscious of himself; therefore let him 
 work.' He often compared a child's mind to a plant, 
 reminding us that leaf, bud, stem, root, all require 
 suitable nutriment. 
 
 " ' That which earth, air, and water are to the plant, 
 stimulus and opportunity are to the mind. Just as 
 the plant makes its own selection, in the same way 
 the child knows best what it can assimilate. It is
 
 2O8 MARIENTHAL. 
 
 for the teacher to offer him nutriment, but patiently 
 to wait for him to take it himself.' Froebel had 
 great respect for the child's individuality, and a horror 
 of reckless interference with it. ' Let him develop 
 freely,' he would say, ' and in accordance with his 
 nature. There is a vast difference in people ; let each 
 be complete in himself, and live up to his highest.' 
 And he was equally strong in his advocacy of an 
 all-round development. Not that he expected the 
 child to attain mastery on every side, but rather that 
 no side of him should be neglected. He demanded 
 freedom and scope for the child's powers, and the 
 utmost encouragement for his happy instinct for self- 
 development. 'Let the child live and thrive as plants 
 do. Let him put forth his shoots and buds, and have 
 scope for his inner impulse. Life will soon show him 
 where his strength lies. Only let him have a chance. 
 The child's impulse is the educator's best guide. It 
 is because the child wants to be educated that we find 
 it possible to educate him. A bright, cheerful, and 
 stimulating atmosphere is what he wants, and is 
 indeed the main condition for his education.' " 
 
 Froebel's appearance is thus described by one of 
 his pupils: "A tall, stooping figure with blue-grey 
 eyes and a long nose, and long hair parted in the 
 middle and stroked behind his ears. When teaching 
 he would, if not marching up and down, sit in a 
 basket chair, resting his hands upon the arms, and 
 speaking with closed eyes, and he had a habit of 
 stroking his hair first on one side, then on the other. 
 He was at times hasty with the students, and impatient 
 
 * Pestalozzi says that every human being born into the world has a 
 right to the development of his powers and faculties.
 
 FROEBEL THE APOSTLE OF WOMEN. 209 
 
 when not understood. Nothing would make him more 
 angry than to see one of his games played in a tame 
 and meaningless way. Julie Traberth, of Eisenach, 
 once incurred the weight of his great displeasure by 
 simplifying, as she thought, the game of the Spring-time. 
 But here, as always, Middendorff was the conciliating 
 spirit ; his presence was a comfort to us, for we knew 
 we could rely upon him for words of affection, 
 encouragement, and appreciation. We were more 
 intimate with him than with Froebel, who was often 
 too overstrained to have much to say to us, for he 
 worked incessantly. There was, however, one way of 
 approaching him, and that was to offer him flowers, 
 of which he was passionately fond. He could not 
 bear to destroy even a weed. It was at the opening 
 of the Liebenstein Kindergarten that I first saw him 
 with children, and I shall never forget it. His serious 
 countenance relaxed into the brightest smiles as he 
 approached one of the smallest of the children, who 
 seemed to recognise the child's benefactor in him. 
 Young children soon know their friends. We were 
 touched almost to tears as we watched the tall, 
 stooping figure moving about in the midst of the 
 children, gently guiding and encouraging them in 
 their games. I was there at a most fortunate moment. 
 Frau von Marenholtz and Diesterweg were spending 
 the summer at Liebenstein, and we made a memor- 
 able excursion to Friedrichsroda and the Inselberg. 
 Bormann, too, Principal of the Normal School in 
 Berlin, joined us, and after he had seen the games 
 and listened to Diesterweg's fascinating explanations, 
 he made a speech full of eulogy and encouragement, 
 which greatly delighted Froebel. Bormann, on his 
 
 P
 
 210 MARIENTHAL. 
 
 return to Berlin, wrote a report of his visit to Froebel, 
 which might have quieted the fears of the Prussian 
 Government. " One thing," he says, " struck me as 
 being both interesting and important. In the building 
 lesson the children were taught to develop each form 
 from the preceding one without destroying it, so 
 that they learned care and patience, and a respect for 
 the existing state of things. Surely this is a good 
 moral lesson for children, rather to build up the new 
 from the old in an orderly way, than to hope for new 
 things out of the ruins of the old." And further on 
 he says, " Froebel's idea is, impress such lessons on the 
 mind of the young child at a time when he is most 
 sensitive. This is our best chance if we want to 
 remodel human nature ; training at this age forestalls 
 and prevents the necessity for severity later." This 
 friendly and appreciative attitude towards him and 
 his work by so great an authority, little prepared him 
 for the shock so soon to follow Bormann's return to 
 Berlin, i.e., the prohibition throughout Prussia of all 
 Kindergarten and Froebel schools. 
 
 This fatal decree brings us to the last epoch of 
 Froebel's life. "Those were bitter days for us all," 
 says our authority, "when we saw our revered friend 
 so misjudged and oppressed. But his energy never 
 forsook him, and he continued, by writing and speech, 
 to defend his idea to the last."
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 LAST DAYS. 
 
 1851 TO 1852. LlEBENSTEIN, GOTHA. 
 
 A Fatal Blow Last Effort Liebenstein Conference Froebel's Last 
 Birthday Visit to the Salzung Kindergarten Last Excursion on 
 the Altenstein Conference at Gotha Illness Death Froebel's 
 Characteristics Pestalozzi and Froebel Harmony of Life. 
 
 IT was a sad misfortune that came upon Froebel 
 in his old age. That the practice of his system 
 should be prohibited in a country which certainly, 
 at that time, took the lead in educational matters, 
 caused him acute pain and probably shortened his life. 
 It is hardly credible that Von Raumer, the Prussian 
 Minister of Education, should not have been able to 
 discriminate between Karl Froebel's views on social 
 and political emancipation and Friedrich Froebel's free 
 natural development ; but so it was, as the following 
 extract from his report to the Prussian Government 
 will show: " High schools for girls and Kindergartens, 
 as explained by Karl Froebel, form part of the Froebel 
 social system, which tends to bring up children 
 atheistically. Hence schools founded on this and 
 similar principles must be forbidden." And the follow- 
 ing was added : " The principles of Friedrich Froebel's 
 system, though they are expressed with more reserve 
 than his nephew's, are no less dangerous ; both agree 
 in banishing Christianity from the education of children, 
 
 211
 
 212 LIEBENSTEIN, GOTHA. 
 
 so that the prohibition must include both kinds of 
 schools." 
 
 The prohibition of Kindergartens was issued on 
 August 7th, 1851, and came like a bomb into the 
 peaceful circle at Marienthal. Froebel at once wrote 
 to Von Eaumer explaining the error, and showing that 
 his Kindergarten system had nothing whatever to do 
 with his nephew Karl's high -school system; and he 
 further explained that it was based on religion and 
 a love of order, and that one of his main objects was to 
 instil in the children's minds a respect for law, whether 
 human or divine ; and that anyone who would take 
 the trouble to enquire into his methods might trace 
 this principle in all that was done ; that his work and 
 his writings were open to the inspection of anyone 
 whom the Government might choose for this duty; 
 and he trusted that in simple justice the Prussian 
 Government would see fit to release him and his 
 educational system from the prohibition they had just 
 issued. But Von Raumer, with blind fanaticism, 
 either did not, or would not, see the truth, and Froebel 
 received the following harsh answer: "Dear Sir, In 
 answer to yours of the 27th, I beg to say that neither 
 your explanations nor the printed matter you enclose 
 impel me to reconsider the decision I had deliberately 
 arrived at." 
 
 The fact is that Froebel's doctrine of free develop- 
 ment was very little understood, and led many to 
 regard him as belonging to the revolutionary party in 
 Germany, against which there was at this time a 
 violent reaction. And Karl Froebel's introduction of 
 the Kindergarten system into his girls' school added to 
 the confusion.
 
 LAST DAYS. 213 
 
 "Whether the judgment pronounced was true of Karl 
 Froebel's school or not, it was certainly most unjust 
 to one whose persistent aim was union with God, and 
 who affirmed again and again that "All education, to be 
 effectual, must be based upon religion, otherwise it is 
 one-sided and imperfect"; and that "Education consists 
 in promoting the expression of the divine in man." * 
 
 All who witnessed the Keilhau festivals or the daily 
 life at Marienthal must have been impressed with the 
 religious tone that characterised all Froebel's under- 
 takings, so that this embittering of his last days by 
 persecution from a religious point of view was certainly 
 as unmerited as it was deplorable. Hitherto Froebel 
 had worked with almost youthful energy and strength. 
 But the suddenness of the blow dealt him by the most 
 powerful of the German States utterly crushed him. 
 He was wounded to the quick to think that, through a 
 mere error, the fruit of his life-long effort should be 
 thus destroyed. Though more than ever convinced of 
 the value of his idea, and of his innocence of the 
 charges made against him by the Prussian Govern- 
 ment, he could not help feeling that they should be 
 met and refuted. 
 
 Night and day did the old man labour, and many 
 were the friends who came forward to help him. 
 Several articles on the Christian teaching in the 
 
 It is only in freedom that the best and highest in human nature 
 can be developed, i.e., man can only express his highest self in his own 
 peculiar way. It is this noble individuality which marks him off from 
 others. Froebel calls this individuality "the divine in man," in 
 contradistinction to that which he shares with other human beings. 
 He says in The Education of Man (Part 2, par. 18) : "The Spirit of 
 God is revealed most perfectly when the being of the child is allowed 
 to unfold in accordance with his individuality."
 
 214 LIEBENSTEIN, GOTHA. 
 
 Kindergarten appeared in the periodicals of the 
 time ; but Von Raumer remained obdurate. And the 
 strength which had been equal to any amount of 
 propaganda, was no longer sufficient to resist 
 the obstinacy and prejudice that were now opposed 
 to it.* 
 
 A few happy days were still in store for him, 
 however, for a Conference had been arranged at Lieben- 
 stein for the last days of September, and Froebel was 
 in hope that this would help to keep the true view 
 of his work before the public, and to spread it amongst 
 the women of Germany, f 
 
 Diesterweg presided on the first day, 27th September, 
 and gave an account of the several Kindergartens 
 represented by teachers present at the Conference, and 
 of the establishment by the Women's Education Union 
 of the first Kindergarten in Berlin, in connection with 
 the Pestalozzi-house. Herr Georgens next spoke of 
 the Kindergarten he had attached to his normal school 
 for girls at Baden-Baden, and which he declared to be 
 the very root and foundation of his establishment. 
 
 The Froebel system had also taken a strong hold in 
 Alsatia, and the Strasburg professors were in hopes 
 that the French Government would send some students 
 
 * This terrible decree against the Kindergarten, issued on the 
 7th August, 1851, was not repealed till 1860, too late, alas ! to give 
 any consolation to its founder. 
 
 t Already, in July, Froebel, Middendorff, Diesterweg, and Rector 
 Kohler, had met en petite comM in the drawing-room of one of the 
 Liebenstein guests to discuss the possibility of spreading a more 
 thorough pedagogic insight amongst women, and it had then been 
 decided to discuss the matter in a wider circle. It was thought that 
 the most encouraging thing for Froebel would be to get together 
 as much testimony as possible of the progress and life of the Kinder- 
 garten movement up to this point
 
 LAST DAYS. 215 
 
 to be trained at Marienthal. The Princess of Baden 
 had promised to start a Kindergarten at Neuwied. 
 Next, Marquart, of Dresden, described his adaptation 
 of Kindergarten principles to the teaching of transi- 
 tion and higher classes, and showed what an excellent 
 preparation for the higher grades the Kindergarten 
 was, if carried out as Froebel intended it. Heinrich 
 Hoffmann told the meeting about the three Hamburg 
 Kindergartens ; the first started by Alwina Middendorff 
 (now Frau Wichard Lange), the second by Veit, and 
 the third by himself. Middendorff reported on the 
 Keilhau institution, and Froebel on the Liebenstein 
 and Eudolstadt Kindergartens. 
 
 Further information as to the spread of the system 
 was contributed by Frauleins Henrietta Breymann, 
 Marie Crsemer, and others, and the following testimony 
 to the excellence of the system was quoted by Froebel 
 as coming from the lips of an old Catholic priest: 
 "The Kindergarten is the result of the purest 
 humanity, and of the most deeply religious Pro- 
 testantism, and yet those who ought to protect 
 Protestantism want to deprive children of it." With 
 this the morning ended. In the afternoon Froebel 
 gave a lecture on the principles underlying his system ; 
 and the proceedings of the first day terminated with 
 an exhibition of gifts and occupations. 
 
 A spirited meeting was held on the following day. 
 Amongst the speakers were Eector Koehler, Marquart, 
 Diesterweg, Middendorff, and Frau Froebel. Froebelian 
 methods were discussed from a scientific, a psycho- 
 logical, and pedagogic point of view. Certain 
 objections to the system were refuted by men who 
 were in no way connected with Froebel, but who had
 
 2l6 LIEBENSTEIN, GOTHA. 
 
 formed their judgment on actual experience. In the 
 afternoon Froebel gave demonstrations of gifts and 
 occupations, and directed some games. The pupils 
 of the Liebenstein Kindergarten attended for the 
 purpose, and the merry faces of the children showed 
 their enjoyment. In the evening some carefully- 
 prepared games were gone through with great success 
 by a number of young teachers of both sexes. * 
 
 Froebel was the soul of the games, and the happy 
 day was long remembered by those present. One of 
 the visitors compared the scene with the Olympian 
 games, and all saw in this Kindergarten festival a 
 promise of the refining influences of the new edu- 
 cation. 
 
 A meeting was held on the third day to consider the 
 best means of advancing the Froebel cause. Professor 
 Mueller insisted on the importance of nature studies 
 for women. Finally Froebel was urged to publish an 
 account of his system. Diesterweg proposed that a 
 guide should be issued, and also that well-known 
 educationists in the chief cities of Germany should 
 be induced to take up the subject. 
 
 Poesche proposed the starting of a magazine. 
 Middendorff, in advocating the training of women 
 teachers, reminded the audience of the dignified 
 position of woman in ancient times, giving as examples 
 the Vestal Virgins, the Sybils, and the Lowly Maid 
 Divine. At the conclusion of the Conference the 
 following resolutions were put and carried: 1st, "That 
 Friedrich Froebel's contribution to pedagogy is of the 
 utmost importance for the understanding of childhood. 
 
 What a pity it is that wo have lost sight of Frocbel's idea of 
 initiating men as well as women into this excellent work.
 
 LAST DAYS. 2 17 
 
 His principles are adapted to help mothers and to 
 benefit family life. Hence the Kindergarten move- 
 ment is worthy of our utmost support, and those 
 who work for it deserve the gratitude of the nation." 
 The objects of the system were drawn up as 
 follows : 
 
 1. An all-sided development of innate faculty in 
 accordance with the nature of every child. 
 
 2. A thorough training of the child's physique; 
 special senses. 
 
 3. The promotion of skill in various directions. 
 
 4. The training of the moral and religious instincts. 
 
 5. A general culture of child nature. 
 
 The Conference further expressed its approval of 
 the means adopted by Froebel for attaining his object, 
 i.e., games, singing, gymnastic exercises, nature 
 teaching, drawing, colouring, special Kindergarten 
 gifts and occupations, stories, poems and songs, inter- 
 course with equals and superiors. 
 
 This report of the meeting was signed by nineteen 
 of the most prominent educational authorities present. 
 
 It was resolved to start a Froebel periodical for the 
 spread of the system, under the editorship of Dr. 
 Bruno Marquart, of Dresden. (The earlier articles 
 were written by Froebel and his immediate disciples.) 
 
 The eloquence and power with which Froebel, now 
 in his sixty-ninth year, addressed this vast assembly of 
 educationists, gave little evidence of his approaching 
 end. Certain signs of exhaustion, however, showed 
 themselves to his more intimate friends ; and it was a 
 matter of grief to Middendorff that he could not at 
 this time leave Keilhau in order to help his friend work
 
 2l8 LIEBENSTEIN, GOTIIA. 
 
 out a complete account of the system. Such a docu- 
 ment would no doubt have proved most valuable. As 
 it was, the Froebelians had to content themselves with 
 the recognition they had won from those present at the 
 Conference. Froebel carried away from the meeting a 
 feeling of peace and comfort, and appeared more and 
 more to realise his unity with nature. He said to 
 Middendorff, " I feel our life to have been exceptionally 
 harmonious, and yours and mine will continue to make 
 a complete whole even when we are separated, for if I 
 am the head, you are the heart of this great work." 
 
 His health grew more delicate and fragile during the 
 winter and early spring, but he enjoyed the restfulness 
 and harmony of spirit that reigned in his Marienthal 
 home. His young wife was devotion itself, and the 
 students who formed part of the family circle vied 
 with each other in anticipating the wishes of the dear 
 " Master." " It is a great consolation to me," Froebel's 
 wife wrote later, " that during his last autumn and 
 winter Froebel saw exemplified in his little circle his 
 idea of unity of life." 
 
 It is an old saying that to each comes his happiest 
 day and his end. Froebel's happiest day, perhaps, 
 was his seventieth birthday (21st April, 1852). His 
 students had planned a suitable celebration in his 
 honour, and fortunately Middendorff was able to 
 come and direct them. He best knew how to infuse 
 into the songs, games, and other proceedings the spirit 
 of his friend. 
 
 Froebel was awakened at sunrise by the fresh voices 
 of students singing a carol, and on rising he was led 
 into a room charmingly decorated with flowers, where 
 the birthday offerings had been tastefully arranged in
 
 LAST DAYS. 219 
 
 various parts of the room. Amongst these were two 
 pictures : one of Pestalozzi and his orphan children, 
 at Stanz, the other of the Madonna, with a poem by 
 Middendorff. Frau Froebel had contributed a piece of 
 fine work, and the students an orange tree, to symbolise 
 the development of the human being. The servants 
 brought flowers and birthday wishes. The students 
 were dressed in white, with green wreaths, red roses, 
 and rainbow-coloured streamers. As Froebel entered 
 they greeted him with a part song composed for the 
 occasion : 
 
 " Sieh uns hier in Vereine, 
 
 Dass die Liebe erscheine 
 
 Zu dem herrlichen Fest, 
 
 Dankbar wir dich umringen, 
 
 Kindlich wir all Dich umschlingen ; 
 
 Denn ja dein vaterlich Herz uns nicht lasst. 
 
 Du hast reich uns begliicket, 
 
 Wie der Lenzeshauch schinticket 
 
 Neubelebend die Flur ; 
 
 Segen traufelst Du nieder, 
 
 Freude auf Schwestern und Briider 
 
 Wie auf die Saaten der himmliche Thau. 
 
 Doch wie bist Du vor alien 
 
 Unsrer Kinder Gefallen 
 
 Ihre Sonne und Luft ; 
 
 Liebend zu Dir sie Sehen 
 
 Betend sie mit uns erflehen ; 
 Vater ! Besel'ge und stark ihm die Brust ! " 
 
 The meaning of the students' costumes was explained 
 as follows: The white dresses symbolised the innocence 
 of his Kindergarten children ; the rainbow ribbons his 
 first gift ; the green wreaths the Kindergarten circle ; 
 the roses the bright thoughts and love of children with 
 which he filled their maiden hearts. This celebration 
 gave Froebel a great deal of pleasure, and his friends 
 noticed with thankfulness his quiet confidence and
 
 22O LIEBENSTEIN, GOTHA. 
 
 peace of mind. " It was a most impressive occasion," 
 says Middendorff, "and Froebel put a meaning into 
 our efforts and offerings of which we ourselves were 
 only half conscious." He pointed to a baby in its 
 mother's arms as an exemplification of completeness 
 and unity, and he himself was beaming with the peace 
 of age and the joy of youth. A publisher in Weimar 
 had sent him a splendidly illustrated Bible, the Countess 
 of Hessen-Philipsthal a bouquet and congratulations, 
 and in the afternoon the Salzung and Liebenstein 
 Kindergartens played a number of Kindergarten 
 games together. 
 
 The postman came laden with letters and presents 
 from Kindergarten teachers working in different places. 
 All expressed grateful affection for the master. 
 Children and teachers joined in songs and tableaux. 
 Finally, at sunset, the students crowned Froebel with 
 a myrtle wreath. And so ended this happy day. 
 Alas, that such rest and contentment should have 
 been disturbed ! 
 
 Letters and papers from Hamburg brought news of 
 further misunderstandings and strife, that deeply hurt 
 him, and at length he could no longer hide from his 
 wife and Middendorff the pain and suffering they 
 caused him. 
 
 "Alas!" he said one morning, "we must not give 
 ourselves up to our innocent joy. We must be up and 
 doing. These accusations must be refuted at once." 
 
 Middendorff wished to divert his friend's attention 
 from these troubles, and planned a visit to the Salzung 
 Kindergarten. This device was partially successful, 
 but it was noticed for the first time that instead of 
 participating in the games, Froebel would sit down
 
 LAST DAYS. 221 
 
 and look on ; also that on his return home he was 
 more quiet than usual. The distress caused by the 
 prohibition of Kindergartens in Prussia, and the 
 opposition from which his work had suffered, at length 
 told upon his wonderful health. His doctor urgently 
 advised him to rest, but could not prevent his starting 
 a long refutation of the recent attacks made upon him, 
 nor could he prevent him from sitting up in bed for 
 days together to make notes of a new training course for 
 the students. At length, however, he was unable longer 
 to withstand the illness that was coming upon him, and 
 after one last climb up the Altenstein, on May-day, 
 and the enjoyment with his friends of " a last sunset," 
 his magnificent energy and health gave way. He 
 revived a little as the days grew warmer, and some of 
 his old brightness and energy seemed to come back. 
 He even accepted Dr. Hoffmann's invitation to the 
 Teachers' Congress to be held at Gotha at Whitsuntide. 
 He was quiet and thoughtful throughout the journey, 
 and went straight to the Conference HalL He entered 
 during Diesterweg's address, and on his arrival the 
 assembly rose as one man. At the end of the speech 
 he was further welcomed by three cheers proposed by 
 the President. Froebel's contribution to the Conference 
 concerned nature teaching for the young, and he gave 
 many interesting examples of his method and its results. 
 Demonstrations of Kindergarten lessons followed. 
 
 Froebel was entertained during the Conference by one 
 who had great sympathy with teachers and with the 
 Kindergarten movement. At the converzazione in the 
 evening he dwelt on the great influence this movement 
 must have on the position of women; also on the 
 necessity for giving every teacher of young children
 
 222 LIEBENSTEIN, GOTHA. 
 
 a knowledge of the system. On the whole the Con- 
 ference was cheering and encouraging, and Froebel was 
 merry and talkative on the way home. At Marienthal 
 he was met by his students, who had decorated the 
 house in honour of his return. He showed his pleasure 
 at this reception, and spent some happy hours with 
 them. But neither the encouragement he had met 
 with at the Conference, nor this welcome home, could 
 make him forget his great sorrow. And though he did 
 his best to disguise it, his sensitive nature had received 
 a wound from which he was not to recover. 
 
 On the 6th June he was attacked by the illness 
 which proved fatal. In health he had often been stern 
 and exacting. Now he was remarkably gentle and 
 submissive, and gave a welcome to all. He would talk 
 cheerfully with his wife or his doctor, and would smile 
 and thank the children or students who brought him 
 flowers. Sometimes he would direct the arrangement 
 of them, or he would express his enjoyment of the 
 fresh air coming in through the open window, and 
 then speak of his union with God and nature. 
 Middendorff arrived on the 17th, but was only allowed 
 to see him in the morning. Barop came from Keilhau, 
 and Dr. Clemens from Eudolstadt. He discussed with 
 him the details of his will. Then he asked to have 
 read over to him an old letter from one of his god- 
 parents, which he called his " credentials." This was 
 repeated several times. 
 
 Middendorff realised how precious to Froebel was his 
 Christian faith. Little as he was accustomed to talk 
 about it, there it evidently lay at the root of his life. 
 He exhorted his friends in Keilhau to live a life of 
 unity and harmony, and entrusted his wife to their
 
 LAST DAYS. 223 
 
 care. He begged his doctor to endeavour to interest 
 the local government in his work, and especially the 
 Duchess of Eudolstadt. "It is Christian work," he 
 said; "my endeavour has been to make Christianity 
 a reality." 
 
 " No one can doubt that," answered the doctor. 
 
 He then asked his students to sing him a lullaby ; 
 and the next day (Saturday evening) he bid adieu to 
 a lady friend, who had zealously worked for him in 
 Liebenstein (Frau Pietzsch). He also bade farewell 
 to his faithful friend Middendorff, thanking him again 
 and again for his sympathy. On Sunday he was 
 weaker, and tried in vain to press to his lips the 
 hand of a little child who had brought him a dove. 
 In the night he asked for wine, and Middendorff 
 administered the Communion. 
 
 At about seven o'clock in the evening of the 
 Monday he desired to be propped up in a sitting 
 position, and his eyes opened once more on the face 
 of his friend Middendorff; then closed for ever. All 
 present sank on their knees (his wife, Middendorff, 
 Frau Marquart, and a nurse were present), with the 
 feeling almost as if they had seen a beloved child go 
 to sleep. " Nature," said Middendorff, " made her last 
 effort and then was still. The mind went peacefully, 
 lovingly, thankfully back to its source. A life 
 harmonious, pure, and true in all directions was closed. 
 He was himself a representation of his beloved sunset ; 
 the light of his being set upon us like the sun; and 
 I felt as if, like the sun, he must return to us. Even 
 in my sorrow I realised the eternity of life, and that 
 one day death and weeping will be no more. His 
 thoughts had often led him to the light, and now had
 
 224 LIEBENSTEIN, GOTHA. 
 
 come the time when he should penetrate into a new 
 day. He who had stood so near to Nature, who had 
 listened for her words, and followed her law in simple 
 trust, now lay on her breast like a loving child. 
 Surely she would reward his love. He was her faithful 
 son, and she his true mother. And thus she took him 
 to herself." 
 
 With flowers about him he lay as if soothed 
 to rest by the tones of the men's voices singing the 
 funeral hymn. He was buried on the 24th June, in 
 the picturesque little churchyard of Schweina, about 
 a mile from Marienthal. An immense procession of 
 friends, adults and children followed him to the 
 grave. The funeral oration was pronounced by Pastor 
 Rueckert, who, after alluding to Froebel's work for 
 women, for children, and for humanity, concluded 
 with the following words : " Here lies a noble heart, 
 resting from its labours. Froebel's work was for the 
 good of earliest childhood and latest posterity. He 
 hoped, and his hope was not in vain." Middendorff 
 wound up with a short address in praise of his friend, 
 and all dispersed. * 
 
 Middendorff arranged his monument in the form of 
 a column, made with cube, cylinder, and ball. Goethe's 
 words, "Come let us live for our children," were 
 inscribed upon it. 
 
 "Froebel's last word," wrote Dr. Wichard Lange, 
 " has gone with him to the grave ; it will be difficult 
 for his disciples to complete his work; they will 
 require well-sustained and patient effort. How many 
 questions had we on our lips for the dear master, and 
 
 * See MADAME DK MAUENHOLZ' Die Arbeit und die ncue Erziehung, 
 p. 659, and Froebel's Ausgang aus dcm Leben, by MIDDKNDOKFF.
 
 LAST DAYS. 22$ 
 
 how I looked forward to a quiet week in the autumn, 
 alone with him, away from all disturbance. Now, alas ! 
 all I have is remembrance, unless I can come to see 
 you (Middendorff) at Marienthal. You are right in 
 saying that work is the best consolation ; it will now 
 be a matter of honour for his disciples to show them- 
 selves brave in his work." 
 
 Diesterweg says that Froebel's treatment of educa- 
 tion from a scientist's point of view, i.e., as a natural 
 process, an evolution, places him amongst originators 
 and pioneers in the educational world ; and no less 
 original does he find it for old age practically to 
 concern itself with the activities characteristic of 
 infants. Old people are, as a rule, he says, apt to 
 shun the unrest of childhood, and to content them- 
 selves with theories about it. Froebel, however, in his 
 zeal for the right treatment of the little ones, joined 
 in their games with a happy unconcern, that, like his 
 great contemporary Pestalozzi, he was often called 
 "crazy" and "old fool." He shared, too, Pestalozzi's 
 profound educational instincts and his simplicity and 
 honesty of nature. Both these great men were 
 impelled by a love of humanity to devote themselves 
 to the common good. Both had a rare insight into 
 human nature, and, at the same time, a peculiar 
 liability to be deceived by the individual. 
 
 Blochmann says of Pestalozzi: "This wise philosopher, 
 who knew childhood so well, little understood men, 
 nor the cultivated barbarism of his time." 
 
 Mr.Hanschmann compares Froebel's chief intellectual 
 and practical support to Pestalozzi's (i.e. Middendorff 
 and Barop to Niederer and Schmidt.) 
 
 But here Froebel certainly had the advantage, for
 
 226 LIEBENSTEIN, GOTHA. 
 
 the loyalty of his friends was as unique as it was 
 admirable. Indeed, Froebel was very happy in all his 
 domestic relations. His family and intimate friends 
 were devoted to him, and the circle at Keilhau was 
 like an extended family. Froebel's eldest brother 
 was, until death parted them, his best friend, whilst 
 Christian Froebel devoted his hardly -earned means 
 to the carrying out of his brother's idea. Amongst 
 the practical good deeds of Froebel we may note the 
 excellent education he gave his own nephews and that 
 which he provided for the two descendants of the 
 Luther family, whose parents could not afford to 
 educate them. 
 
 There is a fundamental difference, however, in the 
 starting-point of these two educationists. Pestalozzi's 
 experience had produced in him a keen sense of the 
 perversity of the human heart and a deep compassion 
 for the suffering it entailed. His one desire was to 
 lead men to believe in goodness. Froebel, on the other 
 hand, sees in every infant a possible "perfection of 
 humanity," and in every maiden " a future Madonna." 
 He assumes the inherent goodness of human nature,* 
 and in the possibility of bringing about a natural 
 development of the human being entirely in the 
 direction of goodness, f Having no children of his 
 own, all children claimed his affectionate care. Love 
 of humanity, and especially of childhood, was his most 
 prominent feature. He would go out of his way to 
 
 * The primary impulses of nature are always right ; there is no 
 native perversity in the human heart. J. J. ROUSSEAU. 
 
 t This sunny aspect of human nature gives to the Froebel system 
 a brightness and a cheerfulness which are pre-eminently in harmony 
 with the joyousness and elasticity of childhood.
 
 LAST DAYS. 227 
 
 meet a child, and look into its wide-open eyes, in 
 which, he said, he read " a promise of heaven." 
 
 We have in Froebel's own words* a comparison 
 between his own attitude towards education and that 
 of Pestalozzi. " Just as Pestalozzi," he says, " makes 
 ' Home-education ' ( Wohnstulenkraff) his central point, 
 I adopt as my main principle the harmonising of life 
 (allseitige Lebeneinigung], i.e., the adaptation of the 
 child's education to his various relationships. I would 
 follow nature by giving scope to all the powers of the 
 human being, so that there might be a harmonious 
 growth of the whole being similar to that of the seed- 
 corn or tiny plant." 
 
 Froebel liked to regard the Kindergarten in Ger- 
 many as a memorial to Gutenberg, the inventor of the 
 art which has done so much for the spread of educa- 
 tion. His work in Switzerland may be taken as a 
 tribute to the greatest educator of modern times; 
 whilst his happy circle at Marienthal is an exempli- 
 fication of his love of humanity. 
 
 * In the WochenscJirift.
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 FROEBEL'S IMMEDIATE SUCCESSORS. 
 
 1852 TO 1874. 
 
 Middendorff's Death His Successors in the Froebel Propaganda 
 The Kindergarten Movement in Germany, France, Belgium, 
 Austria, Italy, and England. 
 
 "II TIDDENDOBFF'S one wish and endeavour after 
 JjJL the death of his friend was to see his work 
 established on a solid basis; and to be, as far as 
 lay in his power, a second Froebel. "Now conies 
 my turn to be born," he said, and straight away 
 set himself to pick up as many as possible of the 
 threads of his friend's work. With the work, alas, 
 for which he never thought he could do enough, 
 he inherited his friend's anxieties, responsibilities, 
 and troubles, and these, with the incessant effort 
 they entailed, told upon his health, which had 
 hitherto been good. His first care was to complete 
 the training course which Froebel left unfinished 
 at Marienthal. But his own work at Keilhau 
 prevented his taking up his abode there, and it 
 was eventually decided to make certain additions 
 to the building of the mother institution, and carry 
 the Marienthal students thither. The students have 
 much to say on the charm and thoroughness of 
 Middendorff's teaching. The Keilhau community 
 were keenly alive to the necessity of sending out as 
 
 228
 
 FROEBEL'S IMMEDIATE SUCCESSORS. 229 
 
 many well -trained and competent Kindergarten 
 teachers as possible. 
 
 On Sunday afternoons Middendorff played Kinder- 
 garten games with children of all ages from the 
 neighbouring village of Schweina. Many a mother 
 would stand watching with delight the happy faces 
 of the children, as they moved hither and thither 
 under the direction of this kindly, lovable philan- 
 thropist, whose countenance " beamed with the noble 
 thoughts that filled his heart." 
 
 Middendorff was invited to represent the Kinder- 
 garten cause at the Fifth National Conference of 
 Teachers, to be held in May of this year (1852), 
 at Salzung, close to the scene of Froebel's latest 
 labours. The opening address on the " Nature, Object, 
 and Effect on Education generally of the Kindergarten 
 Movement," was delivered by Dr. Schulze, who 
 reminded the audience of Froebel's presence at the 
 previous Conference at Gotha, and dealt with certain 
 prejudices against the system on the part of parents 
 and teachers who had not taken the trouble to inform 
 themselves of its true nature. He appealed to those 
 present, who had had any opportunity of judging of 
 the matter, to testify to the effect of the system on 
 their children's conduct, character, and general 
 intelligence. As to their religious training, he would 
 only refer enquirers to those who knew Froebel in 
 private life, and who had seen his teaching in the 
 Kindergarten. Such friends could not doubt of his 
 truly Christian and religious spirit. Middendorff 
 spoke next, and Diesterweg, who was present, reports 
 upon his evident grasp of the subject, and his remark- 
 ably clear exposition. Many, indeed, held that as a
 
 230 GERMANY, FRANCE, BELGIUM, ENGLAND. 
 
 teacher and expounder of the system Middendorff 
 surpassed its founder. As the fellow -worker and 
 fellow -sufferer of Froebel, he regarded himself as 
 the natural representative of his system, and the 
 Kindergarten as a sacred trust, to which it was 
 impossible to do too much honour. Froebel had done 
 good service to teachers in handing to them this 
 natural system of training of the young child, and 
 this service had been publicly acknowledged in his 
 presence at the last Conference at Gotha, where the 
 Froebel cause had been declared to be the cause of 
 all teachers. It only remained for him to dwell upon 
 one or two of the central principles on which the 
 Kindergarten was based. In Pestalozzi's country, 
 where the doctrine of educating the child from the 
 cradle had taken root, Froebel's early education of 
 the child had found a ready welcome, and it was in 
 this land of freedom that many of the details of his 
 system had been worked out. Froebel's discovery of 
 spontaneity as the starting-point in the child's 
 education was the keystone of the system. Froebel 
 himself had felt that his task was completed : " Now," 
 he had said, "I can die, for the idea is born!" 
 
 But this principle of spontaneity, self-activity, and 
 self-reliance on the part of the little child, implied 
 in the educator not only a knowledge of childhood, 
 with its varying phases, but a careful study of the 
 individual child ; in short, a study of the human being 
 at every stage of his existence. Froebel's system 
 aimed at training the whole child* with due regard 
 to childhood in general. It provided occupations for 
 
 * Pestalozzi claimed as the right of every human being, the training 
 of his faculties.
 
 FROEBEL'S IMMEDIATE SUCCESSORS. 231 
 
 him in harmony with his tendencies and capabilities ; 
 occupations which could be pursued peacefully, undis- 
 turbedly, and in the child's own way; occupations 
 which were adapted to inspire the little child with a 
 love of work, and to prepare him for his later duties. * 
 The heart and soul of Kindergarten education is a 
 productive self-activity for the good of others, an 
 all-round expression of child-mind, and a fair chance 
 for the individual. 
 
 He further insisted that the child should be 
 allowed to work in his own way. Froebel's gifts and 
 occupations were so adapted to child-nature that they 
 induced in the children a love of work for work's 
 sake. They formed a bond between home and school 
 duties. The child has within him every condition 
 for his development as a complete, self-dependent 
 creature, able to fulfil perfectly his obligations to his 
 fellow -man, to nature, and to God. Some of the 
 audience saw no necessity for an institution whose 
 purpose it was to mediate between the home and 
 the school, but the Conference ended by passing the 
 following resolution: " That this system is true to child- 
 nature is evident from the happiness of the children 
 under its influence; that it is practical is seen by 
 the use it makes of the child's innate tendencies, and 
 the love of work which it engenders. Finally this 
 love of work, and the training which the Kindergarten 
 provides in observation, skilfulness, and general intelli- 
 gence, renders it a 'valuable and excellent preparation 
 for school life"\ 
 
 * This was an excellent answer to those who were accustomed to 
 look upon school children as so many brains to be crammed, 
 t " Be strong that you may be serviceable."
 
 232 GERMANY, FRANCE, BELGIUM, ENGLAND. 
 
 After the Conference Middendorff gave himself up 
 to the enjoyment of his beloved Thuringian forest, 
 which was always a refreshment and delight to him. 
 Many an inspiration came to him amidst the beauty of 
 his native hills. In October he attended a National 
 Festival at Darmstadt, in commemoration of the 
 throwing off of the French yoke. He returned to 
 his work with renewed strength. He loved the winter 
 time, and watched with delight the first falling snow- 
 flakes on the 26th November. Looking at the vast 
 white expanse before him, he said to his wife, " How I 
 love the snow. Does it not look as if nature were 
 dead ? And yet what teeming life is covered by that 
 white pall! So it is with life." It was with difficulty 
 that he tore himself from the beautiful sight. But 
 the children wanted him, and after playing with them 
 and holding a short discourse on "immortality," he 
 retired to rest. This was Middendorff 's last day on 
 earth, for during the night following upon it he was 
 seized with paralysis, due to the incessant labour and 
 struggle he had gone through in his endeavour to 
 compass the noble objects he shared with his friend. 
 Diesterweg says: "Middendorff was truth, candour, 
 and fidelity personified, and had a well-balanced mind. 
 His gifts, his nature, and personality leave many a 
 loving memory in the hearts of his friends." 
 
 Middendorffs sudden death left Froebel's widow 
 once more alone. The teachers at Keilhau were too 
 busy to help her. Had Dresden been favourable to 
 the Kindergarten system she would have liked to 
 settle there. In the autumn of 1854, however, the 
 principal of the higher grade Kindergarten in Ham- 
 burg applied to her for a teacher, and she offered
 
 FROEBEL'S IMMEDIATE SUCCESSORS. 233 
 
 to take one of her students thither and start her 
 in the work. Her offer was accepted, and she found 
 in Hamburg such an ample outlet for her educational 
 efforts that she soon had a Kindergarten and training 
 school of her own, together with transition and 
 preparatory classes. 
 
 She also organised the first Kindergarten in 
 Berlin, under the management of two of Froebel's 
 best pupils, and, with Diesterweg, founded a Kinder- 
 garten Union, of which she became the president. 
 
 Whilst Froebel's work was being thus successfully 
 carried out in Hamburg by his widow, another woman, 
 perhaps the most able and influential exponent of his 
 work, was busy elsewhere. This was the Baroness 
 of Marenholtz-Bulow. It was she who now stepped 
 forth, and, in her turn, picked up the threads of 
 the Froebel work. 
 
 It was as if she, too, like Middendorff, had said 
 to herself, "Now it is your turn to be born." Frau 
 von Marenholtz thoroughly understood Froebel's peda- 
 gogic idea. She was a woman of influence, able to 
 express herself in several languages, and gifted with 
 a pleasing manner. Hence she was able to win over 
 to the cause many whom perhaps even Middendorff 
 would have been unable to reach. She worked 
 zealously in Berlin during the winter of 1851-52, and 
 succeeded in starting a Kindergarten,* and with 
 Diesterweg's support a Kindergarten Union. After 
 the death of her son, in 1853, this accomplished lady 
 devoted herself entirely to the Froebel propaganda. 
 She proceeded to London in 1854, and started several 
 
 * This Kindergarten, under Frl. Erdmann, like the one at Erfurt, 
 survived in spite of the State prohibition.
 
 234 GERMANY, FRANCE, BELGIUM, ENGLAND. 
 
 Kindergartens, which attracted a certain amount of 
 public attention. Amongst those who were favourable 
 to the system in England was Charles Dickens. 
 
 In January, 1855, Frau von Marenholtz went to 
 Paris, where she delivered over one hundred lectures, 
 and succeeded in bringing about a reform in the infant 
 schools or Salles d'asyle. The followers of Fourier 
 were especially interested in her efforts. The Empress 
 Eugenie was induced to become President of the 
 Central Committee of the Salles d'asyle; and Frau 
 von Marenholtz was invited, by the Minister of Educa- 
 tion, to give some demonstrations. This she did in the 
 normal school of Madame Pape Carpentier. In 1856 
 Madame A. Kochlin started a Froebel infant school in 
 the Hue de la Pepiniere, on which occasion M. A. 
 Coquerel, the well-known Protestant minister, gave the 
 opening address. This Kindergarten was to admit 
 children of Catholic and Jewish parents as well as 
 Protestants. 
 
 Amongst people of influence in Paris who supported 
 Frau von Marenholtz in her propaganda were M. 
 Richard Gardon (editor of a paper entitled La Science 
 des Meres); the philanthropist, Jules Mallet; M. 
 Auguste Comte, and the Archbishop of Paris. The 
 Abbe* Le Noir, too, helped to translate the Koselieder 
 into French. 
 
 Frau von Marenholtz put Froebel's Education of 
 Man into the hands of all who were likely to spread 
 the idea. M. Jacobs' Manuel Pratique du Jardin 
 d'Enfants was compiled under her direction, Frls. 
 Breymann and Chevallier, and Madame Euelens, con- 
 tributing different parts. Frl. Henrietta Breymann 
 gave the Brussels students a course of instruction in
 
 FROEBEL'S IMMEDIATE SUCCESSORS. 235 
 
 Kindergarten occupations, whilst Frl. Chevallier took 
 a class of nuns for the same purpose. Mile. Masson 
 assisted Frau von Marenholtz in starting the Kinder- 
 garten system in Belgium. 
 
 Frau von Marenholtz's lectures were a great success 
 everywhere, and by her tact and intelligence she always 
 won the support of the authorities. M. J. Coune, of 
 Antwerp; Ch. Hofmann, of Ghent; and M. Tiberghien, 
 a disciple of Krause, did everything to support her, 
 and the little town of St. Josse-ten-Noode sent her 
 a memorial in recognition of her work. In 1859 she 
 and Madame Kochlin established a Kindergarten 
 Association at Mulouse, in Alsatia. In 1860, she went 
 to Switzerland, delivering lectures at Lausanne, Geneva, 
 Neuchatel, Berne, and Zurich. Here she won the 
 friendship and adherence of Professor Eaoux. Many 
 Swiss friends were won over to the cause at the Confer- 
 ence which took place at Berne in the following year.* 
 
 In 1861 Frau von Marenholtz took up her abode in 
 Berlin, and directed all her efforts towards removing 
 the restrictions from which the Kindergarten move- 
 ment suffered in Prussia. She induced the Women's 
 Union, of which she was president, to start two good 
 Kindergartens under the direction of Frls. Krueger 
 and Ida Seele. And it was by dint of her perseverance 
 and energy that the People's Kindergarten was 
 founded. She also persuaded Professor Carl Schmidt t 
 to start a paper called the Erziehung der Qegenwart, 
 for the elucidation of the principles. The first article, 
 
 * The highest success was won for the Kindergarten system in 
 Switzerland, in 1864, by the combined efforts of Henrietta Breymann 
 and Madame de Portugall. See Appendix II. 
 
 t Unfortunately this able man died in 1864.
 
 236 GERMANY, FRANCE, BELGIUM, ENGLAND. 
 
 " The Educational Eequirements of Modern Times," was 
 written by Frau von Marenholtz. In it she proposed 
 the application of the system to the lower forms of the 
 school. In 1863 she founded an "Association for 
 Home Education in Berlin." The main objects of this 
 are explained in her book, entitled Work and the New 
 Education according to Froebel. This association gave 
 rise to seven Kindergartens, a training school for 
 teachers, and a school for girls. During Frau von 
 Marenholtz's stay in Berlin, no less than three hundred 
 students passed through her hands. In 1867 the 
 beautiful grounds of the Thier-Garten were opened 
 for games. This movement was supported by Pro- 
 fessor Virchow and other influential persons. 
 
 She spent the summer of 1867 travelling about for 
 her health, and doing what she could for the spread of 
 the system. Her demonstrations in Munich, Cassel, 
 and Dresden made many converts, and it was her 
 influence that gave rise to the publication of the Italian 
 journal, L'JSducazione Moderna, and to the normal 
 school for Kindergarten teachers established at Venice 
 under Mile. Levi. 
 
 The Austrian Government was the first to acknow- 
 ledge the Kindergarten as an essential part of the 
 national educational scheme. Inspired first by Fichte 
 and afterwards by Frau von Marenholtz, during her stay 
 at Liebenstein, Dr. Hoerfarter rendered excellent 
 service to the cause, and was the means of establish- 
 ing in the year 1872 a Kindergarten normal school at 
 Kuffstein. 
 
 In the winter 1871-1872 Frau von Marenholtz de- 
 livered a course of lectures in Venice and in Florence, 
 where the municipality started a most successful
 
 FROEBEL'S IMMEDIATE SUCCESSORS. 237 
 
 Kindergarten. The system was applied in Eome in a 
 school for the poor ; whilst at Naples a people's Kinder- 
 garten was established by the energy of Frau Salis 
 Schwabe. The funds for this were provided partly by 
 the Italian Government and partly by English liber- 
 ality.* 
 
 The Kindergarten system lost in 1871 two excellent 
 exponents: Thekla Naveau (1822-1871), a pupil of 
 Middendorff, and the author of Stories for the Home 
 and the Kindergarten ; and Wilhelmine Marquart, who 
 studied with Froebel, and conducted a Kindergarten in 
 connection with her husband's school in Dresden. 
 Fran Marquart possessed qualities which enabled her 
 to assimilate in a peculiar way Froebel's and Midden- 
 dorff's teaching, and to enter thoroughly into the spirit 
 of her husband's work. She trained many excellent 
 Kindergarten teachers. Amongst the most vigorous 
 workers for Froebel we must not forget to mention 
 Rudolf Benfey, of Berlin, who contributed much to the 
 spread of clear ideas about the Kindergarten; and 
 Heinrich August Koehler, of Gotha, who became a 
 convert to the Froebel teaching at the Gotha Conference 
 in 1852, and who is the best-known representative of the 
 Froebel cause in Europe. 
 
 He began with a private class for the education 
 of his own children, and was soon at the head of an 
 excellent training school for Kindergarten teachers. It 
 was he who was invited by the Eussian Government to 
 represent the Kindergarten cause, both on the occasion 
 of their two-hundredth anniversary of Peter the Great's 
 birthday, and also at the Polytechnic Exhibition at 
 
 * It is to the energy and enthusiasm of this lady that we owe the 
 existence of the Froebel Institute in London.
 
 238 GERMANY, FRANCE, BELGIUM, ENGLAND. 
 
 Moscow in 1873. He was part editor of a paper called 
 Kindergarten and Elementary Classes, which, as the 
 mouthpiece of the German Froebel Association, has 
 done so much to spread an intelligent understanding of 
 the system. In this paper Koehler treats of the 
 earliest stages of education; whilst Frau von Maren- 
 holtz in her article deals with education generally. 
 
 The new education, with the necessary modification 
 of school life, is now looked forward to by many with 
 hope and confidence. Eichard Waldeck, who had 
 made Froebel's acquaintance in 1851, says: "As the 
 gentle breath of spring passes over the earth, leaving 
 riches in its train, so the Kindergarten system carries 
 with it, as it spreads through the world, innocence and 
 
 jy- 
 
 "Surely we may look forward to a day when Froebel's 
 unity and harmony of life shall take the place of the 
 one-sided intellectual development of the school, and 
 the inefficient education of the solitary child,* when 
 the human being will be trained to work in peace and 
 freedom with others, i.e., to form part of a community 
 of light and love. The beneficent movement started at 
 Keilhau and Blankenburg, in the Thuringian Forest, 
 will in time, no doubt, spread to all civilized countries; 
 will bring about the social, educational, and religious 
 reforms that are needed for man's happiness and develop- 
 ment. The day is surely coming when a brighter sun 
 will shine over a happier earth, banishing the old habits 
 of passion and vice, and reviving the simplicity of the 
 golden age; when the strength of manhood and the 
 innocence of childhood shall be united, when the world 
 shall be a Kindergarten, and the happy children playing 
 therein humanity." 
 
 * In home education the learner is, of necessity, practically alone.
 
 APPENDIX I. 
 
 FROEBEL'S "EDUCATION OF MAN." 
 
 "TIROEBEL'S Education of Man, published in 1826, gives 
 JL not so much a complete system of education as a 
 resume of the contents of his smaller publications from the 
 year 1820, including his scheme for the school at Helba. 
 This putting into shape of his thought and experience was 
 probably the immediate result of Froebel's acquaintance 
 with the works of Krause, which greatly interested him. 
 
 The first Kindergarten was not started till ten years later, 
 but the germs of the Kindergarten system are seen both 
 in the Helba scheme and in the principles enunciated in 
 the Education of Man. 
 
 Froebel's education is entirely based upon the idea of unity 
 with God, or the conscious development of the " Divine in 
 man." He explains this as something which is inherent in 
 the individual and peculiar to him, Fichte calls it man's 
 " genius " or individuality. 
 
 Froebel says : "The destiny of the human being is to 
 become conscious of his spiritual nature and to reveal it in 
 his life," i.e., to manifest the eternal in the temporal, the 
 infinite in the finite, the heavenly in the earthly, the divine 
 in the human, and " the purpose of education is to assist him 
 to do this consciously, resolutely, and freely." The home is 
 the cradle of spiritual life, and should awaken in man the 
 consciousness of his three-fold nature, and of the relation- 
 ships this implies (i.e., to nature, man, and God). School 
 and home should co-operate in the development of the 
 
 239
 
 240 APPENDIX I. 
 
 religious sense more or less inherent in every child. He 
 should be assisted to express his aspirations and his feeling 
 for union with God, who is first revealed to him through 
 humanity. 
 
 Froebel was not alone in the view that every human 
 being must be complete in himself. He can only attain to 
 this completion and perfection through the development of 
 all his powers. It is the whole child that has to be 
 educated. Neither brain nor heart, nor body, nor spirit, 
 makes the child, but all combined. And it is the neglect to 
 provide for his diverse tendencies and powers (or maybe an 
 arbitrary interference with their natural development) which 
 produces such childish faults as idleness, heedlessness, and 
 untruthfulness. Ohaque qualite a ses defauts. We must be 
 true to nature, whose processes are slow and gradual. * 
 
 The view of the universe and of man's place in it which 
 had dominated all philosophy since Schelling's time, 
 naturally underlay Froebel's views on education. Man and 
 nature have the same origin, and are subject to the same laws. 
 
 Goethe has said, " Let us live for our children." Froebel 
 adds, "Let us learn our children, learn to know their 
 nature." 
 
 The educator should be one who makes a special study of 
 man and of the characteristics and possibilities of childhood. 
 He must take as his guide the natural tendencies and 
 instincts of childhood, which, in Froebel's opinion, are right 
 and good. The child must develop freely and naturally, 
 and must have full scope for these tendencies. Education 
 must follow, not lead ; must give and take ; must be mobile, 
 yet firm ; must act and suffer : for somewhere between these 
 two attitudes lies the good and the true, to which both 
 educator and learner submit. On the patient watchfulness 
 
 " The young mind," says Sailer, "has to pass step by step from 
 clearness to distinctness, and from distinctness to comprehension," and 
 he bids us take pattern by the trees, which, he says, " present in turn 
 soft foliage, bud, blossom, seed-vessel, and finally ripe fruit."
 
 FROEBEL'S "EDUCATION OF MAN." 241 
 
 of the educator will depend the manifestation of the child's 
 true nature, and the development of the highest and best 
 within him. 
 
 It is the child's nature to be restless, active, sportive, 
 imaginative, and productive. He has an aptitude for taking 
 in simple ideas of form, number, colour, size, symmetry, and 
 order. He is remarkably open to the influence of music, 
 poetry, story, and legend ; and welcomes almost any occupa- 
 tion for hand and eye that enables him to feel he is sharing 
 in the activities of others. * Here, then, are distinct indica- 
 tions for the guidance of the educator. True education 
 promotes intelligent activity from the first, and this in 
 its turn leads to knowledge. Knowledge and expression 
 amplify and complete each other. We only truly know 
 that which we can clearly express. It is only through 
 sense that we are enabled to learn to understand our 
 surroundings in the world and in nature. Objects are the 
 child's first education, but it is only very gradually that they 
 stand out clearly, one by one, to his hitherto blurred vision. 
 His consciousness of these objects is at first expressed 
 by action. In action thought takes shape, the invisible 
 becomes visible. It is the purpose of education to make 
 the knowledge thus gained more thorough and comprehensive 
 than it would otherwise be, and to enable us to apply it to 
 the needs of life. 
 
 The child's spontaneous self-activify is at first without 
 object and aimless, but it soon takes the form of sport 
 or play. This tendency is due to an urgent need for self- 
 expression. Speech and play soon become the elements 
 in which he spontaneously manifests his nature, and at the 
 same time the stage of development he has reached. The 
 young child's love of activity must not be confounded with 
 the same quality in the adult, who labours to earn his 
 living or to satisfy his ambition. The grown man works of 
 
 * Too often, alas ! children are trained to physical and mental sloth, 
 whereby an untold wealth of capacity and skill is lost to humanity. 
 
 R
 
 242 APPENDIX I. 
 
 a set purpose to effect an object; the child is impelled 
 to exercise his powers, on the other hand, by an unconscious 
 need to uncloak himself. He does not live "by bread 
 alone," he must move, produce, verify, construct, invent 
 and create. The mind of man, like the mind of God, loves 
 to shape the chaotic and unformed, and this is the meaning 
 of work. In work we resemble our Maker. By labour we 
 inherit the kingdom of heaven. Just as early religious 
 training is important for the child, so is the training to 
 industry. Each helps the other. Religion without work 
 becomes a dream, and work without religion is evil. 
 Froebel says that part of every school day should be devoted 
 to productive work. 
 
 The child's surroundings stimulate his will and energy, 
 which are brought to bear upon them with a view to 
 knowledge. Learning and doing with him go hand in 
 hand. It is only by doing that he knows whether he 
 knows. 
 
 Fichte also maintained that the learner can only call his 
 own that which he has acquired by his own activity. 
 
 " Wouldst thou possess thy heritage, 
 
 By active use e'en render it thine own ; 
 What we employ not but impedes the way, 
 What it brings forth the hour can use alone." 
 
 Miss SWANWICK'S translation of Faust. 
 
 "It is by action," says Froebel, "that the child makes 
 the inner outer and the outer inner," i.e., action transforms 
 impression into expression, and in its turn expression 
 emphasises impression. By observation and " Anschauung " 
 he receives ideas, by action he expresses them. Self- 
 expression, or what Froebel calls " Darstellung," is the 
 Alpha and Omega of his system. 
 
 The child's earnest and vigorous effort to express himself, 
 which we call play, is no more like the play or pastime of 
 the adult than is his ceaseless and irrepressible activity like 
 the labour of the adult Parents must beware of treating
 
 FROEBEL'S "EDUCATION OF MAN." 243 
 
 it as "trifling" and "idling." It is, on the contrary, a 
 manifestation to be valued and encouraged to the utmost. 
 Check the expression of this inner life in the child, and 
 you may do him untold injury ; utilise it, and you will find 
 ready to your hand the germs of industry, thrift and order, 
 and of every virtue. 
 
 "The sportiveness and joyousness of childhood," says 
 Froebel, "are not to be disdained. The child who plays 
 in a hearty and persevering way until he is exhausted, 
 promises to become a thorough, conscientious man, willing 
 to take his share of the responsibilities of life." Nothing 
 gives the child so full an opportunity of self-expression as 
 his games. In no other occupation is there so much scope 
 for the exercise of limb, sense, voice, and ear; in no other 
 exercise can he so easily manifest his imagination, sense of 
 beauty, social instinct, and spiritual nature. Here, and here 
 alone, he is a complete and all-sided creature. 
 
 A good mother has an instinctive appreciation of her 
 child's desire to express himself in a variety of ways ; and 
 her ingenuity and inventive power are ever at his service. 
 FrcebeFs Mutter -und Kose-Lieder are based upon the 
 mother's instinctive training. She alone understands his 
 intense earnestness ; she alone has the patience and insight 
 necessary to help him. 
 
 Froebel wishes to see this instinctive perception of truth 
 on the mother's part transformed into a conscious power of 
 training her child in a systematic and organised way. The 
 motto heading his game of the " Weathercock " gives us a 
 clue as to his meaning: 
 
 " If your child 's to understand 
 
 Action in the world without, 
 You must let his tiny hand 
 Imitate and move about." 
 
 The child's development with Froebel forms a continuous 
 whole. There is no line of demarcation between infancy, 
 childhood, youth, and manhood ; and when education
 
 244 APPENDIX I. 
 
 interferes with this gradual development for the sake of 
 some special training, for which as yet the being is unready, 
 the general growth is impeded. What the developing 
 creature wants is time to become as complete at each stage 
 of growth as possible, so that each succeeding stage may be 
 like a perfect shoot from a perfect bud. 
 
 " Tiny buds their secrets holding 
 Soon reveal them silently ; 
 Growth is ever an unfolding, 
 In the germ the whole doth lie. 
 Little blossoms upward tending, 
 Spreading out towards the sun, 
 Show the road that we must follow ; 
 Nature's processes are one." * 
 
 * " Alles 1st im Keim enthalten, 
 Alles Wachsthum ein Entfalten, 
 Leises Auseinanderriicken, 
 Dass sich einzeln kbnne schmiicken, 
 Was zusammen war gewoben ; 
 Wie am Stengel stets nach oben 
 Bliit' urn Bllite riicket weiter, 
 Sieh es an und lern so heiter, 
 Zu entwickeln, zu entfalten, 
 Was im Herzen 1st enthalten." RUECKERT.
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 MADAME DE POBTUGALL. 
 
 WE are glad to be able to quote a short account of 
 Madame de PortugalTs life and work, which appeared 
 in the Queen of August 26th : 
 
 "The Baroness Adele de Portugall, who is for a few 
 weeks in England, is well known, both among educational 
 circles in this country and on the Continent, as the prin- 
 cipal of the training college and Kindergarten established 
 by Mrs. Salis Schwabe at Xaples an institution which it 
 is hoped may, by the generosity of its foundress, shortly 
 have its counterpart in England. Madame de Portugall, 
 nee Homburg, was born in Koenigsberg, in East Prussia, 
 April 30th, 1828. Her father was an officer in the 
 Prussian army, and Madame de Portugall was educated at 
 home, being early trained by her mother in all domestic 
 duties. When twenty-three she married Baron de Portugal!, 
 a retired officer, and they resided on his estate, actively 
 engaged in its management, until the death of the Baron 
 in 1858. Madame de Portugall then threw herself into 
 useful work, in order to relieve the deep sorrow of her 
 bereavement. 
 
 "In 1859 she made the acquaintance of the Baroness 
 de Marenholtz Billow, a lady in whom still centres the 
 deep admiration and reverence of all those who have from 
 her lips learned the wisdom taught by Friedrich FroebeL 
 She was at once his friend and the apostle of his system, 
 and in 1854 introduced the Kindergarten into England. 
 
 245
 
 246 APPENDIX II. 
 
 "Under this lady Madame de Portugall studied the 
 philosophical as well as the practical side of the system, 
 and she also became acquainted with Mile. Breymann, 
 Froebel's great-niece, now the well-known Frau Schrader, 
 of the Froebel-Pestalozzi House of Berlin. In the spring 
 of 1860 Madame de Portugall came to Manchester and 
 took the direction of Miss Fretwell's Kindergarten. Ke- 
 turning to the Continent in 1862, she again helped Madame 
 de Marenholtz in her work. In the next winter she made 
 the acquaintance of Madame Marenholtz's pupil, Madame 
 Michaelis. A Kindergarten having been started at Geneva, 
 through the interest awakened there by Madame de 
 Marenholtz, Madame de Portugall, when on a holiday trip 
 to that town in search of rest, threw herself at once into 
 the philanthropic work connected with the organisation of 
 this Kindergarten. The holiday trip extended from 1864 
 to 1873, when she and her energetic friend, Mile. Progler, 
 were forced to resign in order to have the rest ordered 
 nine years previously. 
 
 "In 1876 Madame de Portugall was recalled by the 
 Education Department of Geneva from Miihlhausen (where 
 she had been asked to take up work) to organise the system 
 of Kindergarten teaching in infant schools throughout the 
 canton. Her organisation was triumphantly successful, and 
 overcame the natural resistance of old-fashioned teachers 
 and of the whole bureaucracy of education. When, in 
 1884, the declining health of Mile. Progler determined 
 Madame de Portugall to seek for her friend and colla- 
 borateur a more genial climate, Madame Schwabe rejoiced 
 in the opportunity which gave to her institution at Naples 
 the principal who carried with her success wherever she 
 went. The result has ratified the choice, and Madame de 
 Portugall labours, as she has ever laboured, not merely to 
 make a Kindergarten, but in the Kindergarten to raise 
 true and noble lives; to gather round her children and
 
 MME. DE PORTUGALL. 247 
 
 teachers who shall hand down to future generations not 
 mere knowledge, but the torch of progress, moral, spiritual, 
 and intellectual. To make good citizens is a higher aim 
 than to make prize-taking scholars, and it is an aim which 
 is much neglected in English pedagogy of to-day." From 
 Child Life, September, 1892 (by kind permission of 
 Messrs. Newman & Co.). 
 
 This little notice is far from doing justice to the original 
 -genius of Madame de Portugal!. Nevertheless, it is valuable 
 as a small contribution towards the history of the Froebel 
 movement. It has long been my wish to give some account 
 of the chief women workers in the Froebel cause. Their 
 excellent work is not known as it should be, and I am sure 
 that the study of such efforts as those of Frau Froebel, 
 Madame de Marenholtz, Frl. Doreck, Frl. Heerwart, Miss 
 Emily Shirreff, Miss Manning, Frau Salis Schwabe, Frau 
 Schrader, Frau Johanna Goldschmid, Madame Michaelis, 
 and many more, would be most profitable reading for those 
 whose way is made easier by their efforts.
 
 INDEX OF NAMES 
 
 Ackermark : 24 
 Ahrens : 109, 113, 171 
 Alexandrine of Prussia, Princess : 
 
 144 
 Altenstein : 200 sqq. t 221 
 
 ,, Freiherr Von : 42 
 Amrhyn : 132 
 " Anschauung" : 27 (n.), 63, 109, 
 
 "7, 136 
 Aristotle : 144 
 Arndt : 22, 33 
 
 Bacon, Francis : 63 
 Baden-Baden : 214 
 
 Princess of: 215 
 Bamberg : 21-2 
 Barop: 97 (n.), 100, 104, 107, 
 
 114, 126-7, "9 iff., 134, 147, 
 
 lOl, 222 
 
 Basedow : 62, 8 1 
 
 Benfey, Rudolf: 202, 206-7 
 
 Bergmann : 60 (n.) 
 
 Berlin : 61, 68-71, 127-8, 143, 
 
 144, 182 (n.), 209-10, 235 
 Berne : 55, 132, 133, 235 
 Bernhardt, F.: 193 
 Black : 60 (n.) 
 
 ,, Forest : 99 
 Blankenburg : 146, 157 sqq. 
 Blochmann : 47, 148, 225 
 Blumenhach : 56 (n.) 
 Boie: 56 
 
 Bonnann, K. : 209-10 
 Brechten : 75 
 Breslau : 66 
 
 Breymann, Henrietta : 182, 234 
 Brougham, Lord : 144 
 Bruno, Giordano : 21 
 Brunswick, Countess of : 150(11.) 
 Brussels : 182 
 Buchanan, James : 144 
 
 Billow, Marenholtz vide Maren- 
 
 holtz. 
 Burgdorf : 26, 27, 133 sqq. t 137, 
 
 138, 139, 142 
 Busch, Frl.: 186 
 
 Campe : 62, 85 
 
 Carpentier, Mme.: 234 
 
 Cavendish : 60 (n. ) 
 
 Chasseral : 45 
 
 Chevallier, Frl.: 234 
 
 Cheve System : 30 (n.) 
 
 Clemens, Dr.: 222 
 
 Coburg : 170 
 
 Comenius: 63, 8l, 108-9, H2(n.), 
 
 138 
 
 Comte, Auguste : 234 
 Coune, J. : 235 
 Coquerel, A, : 234-5 
 Craemer, Marie : 215 
 "Creches": 143-5 
 Crispine, Ernestine : 95 
 
 Dahlenkampf, Frl.: 186 
 Dalton, John : 60 (n. ) 
 Darmstadt: 144, 152, 174, 232 
 "Darstellung" : 117-8, 136, 146, 
 
 1 68, 177, 242 
 Davy : 60 (n.) 
 De Portugall, Mme.: 245-7 
 Detnold : 144 
 Devonshire, Duke of: 144 
 Dewitz, Herr Von : 21-3. 
 Dickens, Charles : 234 
 Diesterweg, Adolph : 188 sqq. t 
 
 209, 214 (and n.), 215, 221, 
 
 225, 229, 232 
 
 Doerffling (publisher) : 149-51. 
 Doreck, Frl.: 247 
 Dresden: 66, 147, 155-6, 179, 
 
 185-6, 237 
 
 249
 
 250 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Duesseldorf: 68 
 
 Eddigehausen : 108, 128 
 
 Edinburgh : 99 
 
 Eichfeld : 83, 102, 179 
 
 Eisenach, 159, 170 
 
 Eisenberg : 150 
 
 Elba, Napoleon's Escape from : 70 
 
 Elbe, River : 67 
 
 ,, Valley: 180 
 Elizabeth of Prussia : 143 
 Emme Valley : 134 
 Erdmann, Frau : 233 (n. ) 
 Erfurt : 233 (n. ) 
 Eugenie, Empress : 234 
 
 Fellenberg : 29, 133 
 
 Fichte, J. G.: 41,61 (n.), 65, 67, 
 
 81-2, 124-5, 192, 236, 239 
 Florence, 236 
 Foelsing, Dr. J.: 174 
 Fourier : 234 
 Frankenberg, Adolp : 128, 129, 
 
 137, 139 sqq., 147 sqq. t I55 
 
 156, 179, 1 86 
 Frankenberg Family : 108, 128 
 
 Luise: 185, 186 (n.) 
 
 Frankfort-on-Maine : 23^^., 36, 
 
 55, 68, 118, 121, 151, 152, 159, 
 
 175 
 Frederick II. : 41 
 
 ,, William III.: 41 
 Friedrichsroda : 209 
 Froebel, August : 3, 5, 14-5 
 Christian : 60, 73-4, 97, 
 
 104, 226 
 ,, ,, his children : 97, 
 
 1 02, 107 
 
 ,, Christoph: 3, 5, 6, 19, 
 20, 24, 37, 72 
 
 >, Mrs. : 73 (n. ), 78 
 
 Elise : 125-6, 132 
 ,, Ferdinand : 73,98, 122, 
 
 129, 141-2 
 ,, Frau Friedrich: 157-8, 
 
 167, 215, 247 
 
 Friedrich Wilh. Aug. : 2 
 ,, Joh. Jac.: I sqq., 14-6, 
 
 1 8-9 
 
 ,, Julius: 72, 76, 99 
 Karl: 72, 7 7-8, 1 9 1,1 96- 
 7,211 
 
 Froebel, Theodor : 72 
 ,, Traugott: 3, 1 6 
 ,, Wilhelm : 72 
 
 Garden, Richard : 234 
 
 Gedike : 62 
 
 Geneva : 45-6 
 
 Georgens : 214 
 
 Gerau : 170 
 
 Gerstenberg: 12, 15 
 
 Girton College : 191 (n.) 
 
 Glauchau : 180 
 
 Goehrde, Battle of: 68 
 
 Goethe : 25, 68, 240 
 
 Gloeckner, Bertha: 186 
 
 Goldschmid, Frau: 247 
 
 Gotha : 221 
 
 Gottingen: 22, 33, 55 sqq., 108, 
 
 128, 151 
 
 Gottling, J. F. A.: 17-8 
 Griesheim : 24, 72 sqq. 
 Gross-Goerschen, Battle of: 
 Gross- Milchow : 21 
 Gruener, G. A. : 25 sqq., 34, 36-7 
 Gutenberg : 162 
 
 ,, Festival : 163 
 
 Habig, Pastor : 184-5 
 Habisch, Emma : 182 
 Hainberg : 56, 58 
 Halle : 22, 98, 104, 180 
 Hamburg : 99, 191 sqq., 197, 232-3 
 Hammersfeld : 76 
 Hardenberg, Prince of : 29 
 Harz Mountains : 60 
 Havelberg : 68 
 Heerwart, Frl. : 247 
 Hegel; 112, 186 (n.) 
 Heidelberg: 33, 144, 173 
 " Heimathskunde " : 31, 49 (n.) 
 Helba: 113-5, 118, 239 
 Herbart, J. F.: 93 (and n.), 154 
 
 (n.) 
 
 Herder: 58 
 Hermann, Luise : 1 79 
 Herz, Dr.: 186 
 Herzog, Dr. Karl : 98, 99, 106, 
 
 121 (n.), 122, 125 
 Hessenstein, Countess : 220 
 Hildburghausen : 21, 170 
 Hochstaedter, Herr : 1 59 
 Hoerfarter, Dr.: 236 
 
 KINDERrVRTEN ALUMNAE LIBRAE 
 
 I no A i
 
 INDEX. 
 
 251 
 
 Hoffmann, Pastor : 6-9, 55, 74 
 i, Ch.: 235 
 Dr. H.: 215, 221 
 
 Hofmeister, Wilhelmine : 94 
 
 Hofwyl: 133 
 
 Hohnbaum, Dr.: 133 [55, 118 
 
 Holzhausen, H. von : 32-3, 36, 
 
 Hopf: 29 
 
 Humboldt, Alex, von : 56-7, 59 
 
 (n.), 60, 63, 68 
 Wilh. von: 56,61 (n.) 
 
 Hungary : 170-1 
 
 Ilm vide Stadt-Ilm 
 Ingelheim : 173 
 Inselberg : 209 
 
 Jacobs : 234 
 
 Jahn, Prof. F. L. : 65 sqq. 
 
 Jena : 13, 14 sqq., 154, 186 (n.) 
 
 Kahla: 16 
 
 Kaiser, Herr : 149 
 
 Kalidasa: 58 (n.) 
 
 Kant: 60 
 
 Keferstein, Dr.: 186 (n.) 
 
 Keilhau : 72, 78, 79 sqq., 125-7, 
 
 128, 134, 139, 142, 179, 228 
 Kell, Julius : 184 
 Kepler: 18 
 Kern, Dr.: 159 
 
 ,, Frau : 170 
 Klein : 150 
 Klopstock : 56 
 Kochler, A.: 214 (n.), 215 
 
 ,, Rector : 237 
 Koechlin, Mme. : 234, 235 
 Koerner, Theodor : 66 
 Kohl: 177, i86(n.) 
 Krause, K. C. F. : 2, 107 sqq., 128, 
 
 139 sqq. 
 
 Sidonie : 139, 173 
 Krueger, Frl.: 235 
 Kruesi : 29, 48 (n.) 
 Krug, J. F. Ad.: 51 
 Kuehne, Gust.: 186, 200 
 Kufstein : 236 
 
 Lange, Dr. Wichard : 30, 75-6, 
 
 165, 185, 192, 194, 224-5 
 Lansdowne, Marquis of: 144 
 Langethal, Christ. : 75, 77, 89 sqq. 
 
 Langethal, Heinr. : 66 sqq., 70, 74, 
 
 86 sqq., 102, 133, 138, 139, 
 
 142, 151 
 
 Lavoisier : 60 (n. ) 
 La will, Samuel : 9 [186 
 
 Leipzig: 147, 149-5. I 5 l > I56 
 
 Battle of: 72, 85 
 Le Noir, Abbe : 234 
 Leonhardi, H. von: 108-9, IJI r 
 
 139 sqq., 147-8, 152, 171, 173 
 Lichtstadt : 83 
 Liebenstein : 188 sqq., 197, 21 1 
 
 sqq., 2 1 6, 236 
 Lindenare, Von.: 180 
 Lindner : 149 
 Loewe, Prof.: 148, 157 
 Lossius' Illustrated Bible : 85 
 Lucerne: 119, 121, 125 (n.), 126, 
 
 129 
 
 Luise, Queen : 41 
 Lussac, Gay : 60 (n.) 
 Liitkens, Doris: 191, 192 
 Luther, J. E. : 96-7 
 
 J. Georg.: 96-7, 98 
 
 J.Nik.: 96 (n.) 
 
 Martin : 96 
 Liitzow : 66 
 Lutzen, Battle of : 68 
 
 Macaulay, Mr.: 144 
 Magdeburg : 180 
 Maine, River : 32 
 Mainz: 175 
 Mallet, Jules : 234 
 Mann, Friedrich : 47 
 Mannheim : 144 
 Manning, Miss: 247 
 Marenholtz- Billow, Bertha von : 
 
 189, 197, 200, 209, 233 sqq. 
 Marheinecke : 61 (n.) 
 Marienthal, 188 sqq., 222, 228 
 Marquart, Bruno : 185-6, 215, 
 
 216-7 
 
 ,, Wilhelmine : 223, 237 
 
 Marschner, Aurelia : 186 
 Masson, Mile.: 235 
 Mecklenberg-Strelitz : 21, 22, 41 
 Meiningen, Duke of: 2, 113-6, 
 
 188, 197 
 Meissen : 186 
 Michaelis : 98 
 
 ,, Mme.: 247
 
 252 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Middendorff, Wilhelm : 66 sqq., 
 
 70, 74, 75 sqq-> SOj 86 S W> 102 > 
 104, 119, 126, 132-3, 134, 141, 
 
 155, 156, 158-9, 161, 172-4, 
 185, 191-2, 203-4, 214 (n.), 
 216-20, 222, 223-4, 228 sqq. 
 Middendorff, Alwina : 181, 191, 
 
 215 
 
 Mont Blanc : 45 
 Moscow : 238 
 Mueller, Professor : 216 
 Muenchenbuchsee : 29 
 Mulouse : 235 
 Muralt, Von : 55 
 Myer (publisher) : 172 
 
 Naegeli, G. H.: 51, 119 
 
 Naenni: 26 
 
 Naples : 237 
 
 Napoleon I.: 70 
 
 Naveau, Thekla : 237 
 
 Neander : 67 
 
 Neuchatel : 29, 44, 45 
 
 Neuwied : 215 
 
 Neuhaus : 10-3 
 
 New Lanark : 144 
 
 Newnham College : 191 (n.) 
 
 "Nibelungenlied": 95 
 
 Niebuhr : 61 (n.) 
 
 Niederer: 26, 53-4, 55 (n.), 56 
 
 sqq. 
 
 Nikolovius : 41 
 Novalis : 22-3 
 Nowosielsky, Theophil : 1 56 
 
 Oberlin, Pastor : 144 
 Oberweissbach : I 
 Orbe, River : 44 
 Ortamund : 16 
 Otto, Prince : 156 
 Owen, Robert : 144 
 
 Parents' Union : 178-9 
 
 Paris : 234 
 Peace of [1814]: 68 
 
 Pestalozzi : 25, 26, 29, 30, 37, 41 
 sqq., 64, 81, 114, 134 (n.), 135 
 sqq., 192, 193-4, 225-6 
 
 Peters, Dr.: 147-8 
 
 Pfeiffer, M. T.: 51 
 
 Pfyffer, E.: 119, 131-2 
 
 Pietzsch, Frau : 223 
 
 Plamann : 33, 63-4 
 Plato : 144 
 Poesche : 216 
 Priestley : 60 (n. ) 
 Proeschke : 22 
 
 Raoux, Professor : 235 
 Raumer, Von: 211-2, 214 
 Richter, Jean Paul : 38, 119, 
 
 220 (n.) 
 
 Ritz, Herr: 186 
 Rochow, F. E. von : 62 
 Rome : 237 
 
 Rousseau : 30 (n. ), 37, 38-9, 62, 8 1 
 Rudolstadt, Duke of : 104 
 
 68, 79 
 
 ,, Duchess of: 48,223 
 
 Ruelens, Mme.: 234 
 Ruete, Dr.: 159 
 Ruettimann : 119 
 
 Saal, Valley of the : i, 16, 162, 
 
 1 80 
 
 Sachsenhausen : 144, 172 
 Sailer : 38, 240 
 "Sakontala": 58 
 Salesie, Frl. : 125 (n.) 
 Salis-Schwabe, Mme. : 237, 247 
 " Salles d'Asyle" in Paris : 234 
 Salomo : 58 (n.) 
 Salzung : 220, 229 
 Savigny : 61 (n.) 
 Savoy : 46 
 
 Saxony, Queen of : 155 
 Schaala : 84 
 Schaefer: 152 
 Schaffhausen : 55 
 Schaffner, Dr.: 97 (n.) 
 Schaumburg-Lippe, Carol. I. von : 
 
 154, 170 
 
 Schelling: 21, 186 (n.) 
 Scheppler, Luise : 144 
 Schiller: 7 
 Schimpfer, Karl : 109 
 Schlegel, Fr.: 58 (n.) 
 Schleiermacher, F. E., 61 (n.), 67 
 
 and(n.), 193 
 Schliephacke, Dr. : 176 
 Schmid, Joseph : 54, 55 (n.) 
 Schmidt, Dr. Carl : 235 
 ,, Professor: 154 
 Schneider, Karl: 159, 172
 
 INDEX. 
 
 253 
 
 Schnyder, Xavier : ug'sgy. 
 
 Schoenbein, Dr. : 98 
 
 Schrader, Dr.: 182(0.) 
 
 Schulze, Dr.: 229 
 
 Schwarza : 163 
 
 Schwarzburg - Rudolstadt, Carol. 
 
 L. von : 154, 160 
 Seele, Ida: 174, 182 (n.), 235 
 Sempach, Lake of: 119, 126 
 Seyffarth : 120 
 Shirreff, Miss: 247 
 Sondershausen : 170 
 Sorgau : 180 
 St. Gothard : 46 
 St. Josse-ten-Node : 235 
 Stadt Ilm : 6, 7, 22, 74 
 Stangenberger : 206 
 Stein, Freiherr von : 43 
 Stieler, Frl. : 182 
 Stollikofer: 4 
 Stoy, Dr.: 154 
 Strasburg : 214 
 Sturm : 4 
 Stuttgart : 55, 144 
 Sylvestre de Sacy : 58 
 
 Thirty Years' War : 63 
 Tiberghien : 235 
 Tillich : 33, 52 
 Tobler : 29 
 Traberth, Augusta : 182 
 
 ,, Julie : 209 
 Traun, Bertha : 191 (n.) 
 Tubingen University : 102 (n.) 
 Tuerk, Chancellor von : 42, 55, 
 145 
 
 Uhlich, Pastor : 180 
 
 Unger: 154 (n.) 
 
 Valais, Canton : 46 
 Vauquelin : 60 (n. ) 
 Veit : 215 
 Venice : 236 
 
 Voigt,J. H.: 13, 15, 17-8 
 Vogel, Dr.: 149, 156-7, 180 
 Volkstaedt : 94, 163 
 Voss, J. H. : 56 
 
 Wadzeck : 144 
 
 Walbach (Alsace) : 144 
 
 Waldeck, Richard : 238 
 
 Warsaw: 156 
 
 Wartburg : 25 
 
 Wartensee : 119, 120 sqq. 
 
 Watzum : 182 
 
 Weil, Dr.: 159 
 
 Weimar : J 
 
 Weiss, Chr. S.: 61 and (n.), 68 
 
 Weissenburg, Castle of : 83 
 
 Werner, Von : 56 (a), 6 1 
 
 Westphalia : 75 
 
 Willisau : 127, 129 sqq., 133, 134 
 
 Winckelmann's " Letters ": 19 
 
 Wislicenus, Pastor : 1 80 
 
 Wittenberg: 180 
 
 Wollweide, Professor : 22 
 
 Wuestenfeld, Frau : 191 (n.) 
 
 Yverdun : 29, 33, 40-1, 43 sqq. 
 
 Zeh, Inspector : 99-102, 104, 105, 
 
 "3- 
 
 "Zend-avesta": 19 
 Ziegenbein : 193
 
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