BOOK 372.2.F92 c. 1 FROEBEL # EDUCATION OF MAN 3 il.53 ODl.l.flim D N> university of Connecticut libraries V INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES L6 THE EDUCATION OF MAN BY FRIEDRICH FROEBEL TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN AND ANNOTATED BY W. N. HAILMANN, A. M. SUPERINTENDENT OP PUBLIC SCHOOLS AT LA PORTE, INDIANA OT:W YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1901 T-^. Copyright, 1887 Et d. appleton and company 1 1^ 4 EDITOE^S PEEFACE. This work of Froebel admits us into his philosophy, and shows us the fundamental principles upon which he based the kindergarten system. His great word is in- ner connection. There must be an inner connection between the pupil's mind and the objects which he studies, and this shall determine what to study. There must be an inner connection in those objects among themselves which determines their succession and the order in which they are to be taken up in the course of instruction. Finally, there is an inner connection with- in the soul that unites the faculties of feeling, percep- tion, phantasy, thought, and volition, and determines the law of their unfolding. Inner connection is in fact the law of development, the principle of evolution, and Froebel is the Educational Eeformer who has done more than all the rest to make valid in education what the Germans call the " developing method." Unlike Pestalozzi, Froebel was a philosopher. The great word of the former is immediate perception {anschauen). Pestalozzi struggled to make all educa- tion begin with immediate perception and abide with it for a long period. Because, say his followers, sense- vi EDITOR'S PREFACE. perception is the source of all our knowledge. Froebel and his disciples would defend the great educational re- former by saying that by beginning with immediate perception education is sure of arousing the self -activity of the pupil. Froebel's aim is to educate the pupil through his self-activity. This, we see at once, goes much further than the cultivation of perception. The pupil unfolds his will-power quite as much as his sense- perception, and by this arrives in the surest way at think- ing reason, which is the culmination of self-activity. The child is to begin with what he can easily grasp. That is well. But he must also begin with that which is attractive to him. The best of all is to begin with that activity which, while easy and attractive, leads him forward, develops all his powers, and makes him master of himseK. Froebel goes down into the genesis of objects of study in order to discover the relation of such objects to the nourishment of mind. The chemists and physi- ologists have ascertained the relation of bread and meat to the sustenance of humaij life. Froebel has investi- gated the relation of the child's activities in play to the growth of his mind. The mind grows by self -revelation. In play the child ascertains what he can do, and dis- covers his possibilities of will and thought by exerting his power spontaneously. In work he follows a task prescribed for him by another, and does not reveal his own proclivities and inclinations, but another's. In play he reveals his own original power. But there are two selves in the child — one is peculiar, arbitrary, ca- pricious, different from all others, and hostile to them, and is founded on short-sighted egotism. The other EDITOR'S PREFACE. yfi self is reason, common to all humanity, unselfish and universal, feeding on truth and beauty and holiness. Both of these selves are manifested in play. There is revelation of bad as well as of good. Froebel, accord- ingly, attempts to organize a system of education that will unfold the rational self and chain down the irra- tional. He wishes to cultivate selfhood and repress selfishness. This must be done, if done effectively, by the pupil himself. If he does not chain the demon within him, external constraint will do it, but at the same time place its chains on the human being who has permitted his demon to go loose. Self-conquest is the only basis of true freedom. The insights of Froebel into the unfolding of rational selfhood have enabled him to organize the method of infant education to which he, in 1840, gave the name of " Kindergarten." In the work here presented to the public, which was published fourteen years before that date, we have a discussion of the essential ideas which moved him in his subsequent experiments to discover the methods and more especially the appliances to be employed in early education. Pestalozzi uttered the noble sentiment that all should be educated. All children of men are children of the same God, and all are born for an infinite career. This Christian doctrine he construed to mean that all should receive alike a school education, developing the intellect, and giving it possession of the power to master the treas- ures of science — the wisdom of the race. This intellect- ual education it should have, as well as rehgious and moral education and training in a special industrial call- ing (education in religion, morahty, and industry had •viii EDITOR'S PREFACE. long been conceded). Froebel shares Pestalozzi's en- lightened sentiments, but goes further in the matter of method. He invents an efficient means for securing the development of the child between the ages of three and six years — a period when the child is not yet ready for the conventional studies of the school — a period when lie is not mature enough for work, and when there is no temptation on the part of the parent to employ him at any labor. The child has, by the beginning of his fourth year, begun to outgrow the merely family life, and to look at the outside world with interest. He endeavors to symbolize life as it appears to him by plays and games. The parents are unable to give the child within the house all the education that he needs at this period. He needs association with other cliildren and with teachers from beyond the family circle. Froebel's invention is the happiest educational means for this symbolic epoch of infancy. Froebel sees better than other educators the true means of educating the feelings, and especially the re- ligious feelings. He reaches those feelings that are the germs of the intellect and will. It must be always borne in mind that clear ideas and useful deeds exist in the heart as undefined sentiments before they are bom in the intellect and will. Froebel is, in a peculiar sense, a religious teacher. All who read this book on the Education of Man will see that he is not only full of faith in God, but that his intellect is likewise illumined by theology. He sees the worlds of physical nature and human history as firmly established on a divine unity which to him is no ab- straction but a creative might and a living Providence. EDITOR'S PREFACE. IX God to him is infinite reason. Pestalozzi has the piety of the heart, while Froebel has also the piety of the in- tellect, which sees God as the principle of truth. The work before us is divided substantially into two parts : The first deals with general principles and con- siders the development of man during infancy and boy- hood. The second part (beginning with §60) discusses the chief subjects of instruction, grouping them under (1) religion, (2) natural science and mathematics, (3) language, (4) art. Especial attention is called to §§ 68-73, wherein the author deduces the forms of the crystal exhaustively from the nature of force and space, and makes some application of it to botany and human development. This deduction is worthy of the fertile and suggestive mind of Schelling or Oken. In subsequent sections he asserts (to our no small surprise) that even mathematics is the expression of life as such. But Parts I and II (§§ 1-44) contain the most im- portant doctrines of the work, and deserve a thorough annual study by every teacher's reading club in the land. A good plan for study is to form small classes of three to eight members, and meet weekly for two hours' discussion of the text, sentence by sentence. The slower one goes over the book, the faster grows his original power of thinking, and his ability to read profound and difiicult writings. Perhaps the greatest merit of Froebel's system is to be found in the fact that it furnishes a deep philosophy for the teachers. Most pedagogic works furnish only a code of management for the school-room. Froebel gives a view of the world in substantial agreement with X EDITOR'S PREFACE. the spiritual systems of philosophy that have prevailed in the world. A vievr of the world is a perpetual stimu- lant to thought — always prompting one to reflect on the immediate fact or event before him, and to discover its relation to the ultimate principle of the universe. It is the only antidote foi- the constant tendency of the teacher to sink into a dead formalism, the effect of too much iteration and of the practice of adjusting knowl- edge to the needs of the feeble-minded by perpetual ex- planation of what is already simple ad nauseam for the mature intelligence of the teacher. It produces a sort of pedagogical cramp in the soul for which there is no remedy like a philosophical view of the world, unless, perhaps, it be the study of the greatest poets, Shake- speare, Dante, or Homer. It is, I am persuaded, this fact — that Froebel refers his principles, to a philosophic view of the world — that explains the almost fanatical zeal of his followers, and, what is far more significant, the fact that those who persistently read his works are al- ways growing in insight and in power of higher achieve- ment. W. T. Harris. Concord, Mass., August^ 1887. TEAIfSLATOE^S PEEFAOE. " The Education of Man " appeared in 1826, under the title: Die Menschenerziehun^^ die Erziehungs- Unterrichts- und Lehrkunst^ angestreht in der allge- meinen deutschen Erziehungsanstalt zu Keilhau^ darge- stellt von dem Vorsteher derselhen, F. W, A, Froebel. 1. Band his zum hegonnenen Knahenalter. Keilhau^ 1826. Verlag der Anstalt. Leijyzig in Commission lei a F. DoerfUng. Ii97 ^.* The very title-page reveals the history of the growth and development of this remarkable book. Similarly we read in the expressive countenance of a mature man or woman the life history of its possessor. Froebel established the Fdiicational Institute at Keilhau, a small village of about one hundred inhabit- ants, in 1817. It was not a business enterprise in any sense of the word. Yielding to the entreaties of his widowed sister-in-law. he had given up excellent exter- * The Education of Man, the Art of Edncaiion, Instruction, and Training, Limed at in the Educational Institute at Keilhau, written by its Pnacipal, F. W. A. Froebel. Volume I ; to the begin- ning of Boyhood. Keilhau, 1826. Published by the Institute. Sold in Commission at Leipzig by C. F. Doerffling. 497 pp. xii TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. nal prospects in Berlin in order to undertake the educa- tion of her three boys. To these, two other nephews were added, and Middendorfl* had brought a younger brother of Langethal, who himself joined the little band a few months later. Thus the six boys and the three high-souled men — Froebel, Middendorff, and Lange- thal — constituted the nucleus of this remarkable enter- prise, established wholly in the interest of the new educational ideas of Froebel. In spite of many difficulties and vicissitudes that would have discouraged less faithful men, however, the institute grew even beyond the dimensions originally planned for it. Froebel had intended to limit it to twenty-four pupils and the three teachers mentioned, but circumstances seemed to render it desirable or neces- sary to admit a greater number of pupils. Possibly this very success aroused the hostility of low-minded men, which led to persecution by the Prussian Govern- ment on political and religious grounds, and the scattej- ing of the three friends ; and would have submerged the institute itself had it not been saved by the tact of Barop, who joined the enterprise in 1823, and assumed its control in 1833. Froebel himself had left it in 1831. The persecutions on the part of the Prussian Gov- ernment induced the local duke to send Superintendent Zech to inspect the institution. The report of this visit throws so much light upon the character of Froebel's work and aims that I translate its essential portions in this place. He says, among other things * " Both days which I passed in the i iistitute, almost as one of its members, as it were, we.re in every way TRA^^SLATOR'S PREFACE. xiii pleasant to me, highly interesting, and instructive. They increased and strengthened my respect for the institute as a whole, as well as for its director, who up- held and maintained it amid the storms of care and want with rare persistence and with the purest and most unselfish zeal. It is most pleasing to feel the in- fluence which goes out from the buoyant, vigorous, free, and yet orderly spirit that pervades this insti- tution, both in the lessons and at other times. " I found here what is never seen in actual practical life, a thoroughly and intimately united family of at least sixty members, living in quiet harmony, all show- ing that they gladly perform the duties of their very different positions ; a family held together by the strong ties of mutual confidence, and in which, consequently, every member seeks the interest of the whole, where all tilings thrive in joy and love, apparently without effort. " With great respect and real affection all turn to the principal ; the little five-year-old children hang about his knees, while his friends and assistants hear and honor his advice with the confidence due to his insight and experience, and to his indefatigable zeal in the in- terest of the instii.ution ; and he himself seems to love in brotherliness md friendship his fellow- workers, as the props and pillars of his life-work, which to him is truly a holy work. "• It is evident that a feeling of such perfect har- mony and unity among the teachers must in every way exerj-u,'^^^^most salutary influence on the discipline and instpec^ "^^ - -"d on the pupils themselves. The love an^ hich the latter hold all their teachers is /' / / xiv TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. shown in a degree of attention and obedience that ren- ders needless ahnost all disciplinary severity. During the two days I heard no reproving word from the lips of the teachers, neither in the joyous tumult of inter- mission nor during the time of instruction ; the merri- est confusion with which, after instruction, all sought the play-ground, was free from every indication of ill- breeding, of rude and unmannerly, and, most of all, of immoral conduct. Perfectly free and equal among themselves, reminded of their privileges of rank and birth neither by their attire nor by their names — for each pupil is called only by his Christian name — the pupils, great and small, live in joyousness and serenity, freely intermingling, as if each obeyed only his own law, like the sons of one father ; and while all seem un- restrained, and use their powers and carry on their plays in freedom, they are under the constant supervision of their teachers, who either observe them or take part in their plays, equally subject with them to the laws of the game. "Every latent power is aroused in so large and united a family, and finds a place where it can exert it- self ; every inclination finds an equal or similar inclina- tion, more clearly pronounced than itself, by which it can strengthen itself ; but no impropriety can thrive, for whoever would commit some excess punishes himself, the others no longer need him, he is simply left out of the circle. If he would return, he must learn to adapt himself, he must become a better boy. Thus the boys > guide, reprove, punish, educate, cultiv9:e one another unconsciously, by the most varied inc;,gp;ients to activ- ity and by mutual restriction. j.p TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. XV " The agreeable impression of the institution as a whole is increased by the domestic order which is everywhere manifest, and which alone can give co- herence to so large a family by a punctuality free from all pedantry, and by a cleanliness which is rarely met in so high a degree in educational institutions. " This vigorous and free, yet well-ordered, outer life, has its perfect counterpart in the inner life of heart and mind that is here aroused and established. Instruction leads the five-year- old child simply to find himself, to dilierentiate himself from external things, and to dis- tinguish these among themselves, to know clearly what he sees in his nearest surroundings, and, at the same time, to designate it with the right words, to enjoy his first knowledge as the first contribution toward his future intellectual treasure. Self -activity of the mind is the first law of instruction ; . . . slowly, continuous- ly, and in logical succession it proceeds . . . from the simple to the complex, from the concrete to the ab- stract, so well adapted to the child and his needs, that he learns as eagerly as he plays ; nay, I noticed how the little children, whose lesson had been somewhat delayed by ray arrival, came in tears to the principal of the in- stitution and asked ' should they to-day always play and never learn, and were only the big boys to be taught to-day ? ' " In the last winter semester the pupils of the high- est grade of the classical course read Horace, Plato, Phaedrus, and Demosthenes, and translated Cornelius Nepos into Greek. On the day of my first visit, when I looked more closely into the elementary instruction, I could not suppress the wish that the instruction might Xvi TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. be sucli in all elementary schools. Now, when I in- spected the classical instruction, which has been in operation fully only since 1820, I was compelled to ad- mire the progress and the intense thoroughness of the school in this short time ; . . . and I was as thoroughly gratified by the instruction as I was by the discipline. " My experience was the same as that of all impar- tial examiners of the institution. Of all strangers who had visited and inspected the institution, and whose opinion I heard, none left without being pleased, and many whom I deem specially competent came away full of enthusiasm, and fully appreciated the high aim of the institution, and the perfectly natural method it follows in order to attain its object as surely and com- pletely as possible. This object is by no means mere knowledge, but the free, self-active development of the mind from within. Nothing is added from without except to enlighten the mind, to strengthen the pupil's power, and to add to his joy by enhancing his con- sciousness of growing power. The principal of the in- stitution beholds with enthusiasm the nobility that adorns the mind and heart of the all-sidedly developed human being ; in the high destiny of such a man he has found the aim of his work, which is to develop the wliole man, whose inner being is established between true insight and true religiousness as its poles. Every pupil is to unfold this from his own inner life, and is to become in the serene consciousness of his own power what this power may enable him to become. " What the pupils know is not a shapeless mass, but has form and life, and is, if at all possible, immediately applied in life. Each one is, as it were, familiar with TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. xvii himself ; there is not a trace of thoughtless repetition of the words of others, nor of vague knowledge among any of the pupils. What they express they have in- wardly seen, and is enounced as from inner necessity with clearness and decision. Even the objections of the teachers can not change their opinion until they have clearly seen their error. Whatever they take up they must be able to think / what they can not think they do not take up. Even dull grammar, with its host of rules, begins to live with them, inasmuch as they are taught to study each language with reference to the history, habits, and character of the respective people. Thus seen, the institution is a gymnasium in the fullest sense, for all that is done becomes mental gymnastics. " Happy the children who can be taught here from earliest school-life (six years) ! If all schools could be transformed into such educational institutions, they would send out in a few generations a people intel- lectually stronger, and, in spite of original depravity, purer, nobler." I have reproduced this documentary evidence be- cause I desired to show that Froebel was not a dreamer nor an empty enthusiast, but that his " Education of Man," like all his other writings of this and subsequent periods, flowed from the fullness of an earnest, practical life, that struggled in every way to utter itself pro- ductively, creatively, in full, teeming deeds. Again, I desired to show once for all that his educa- tional principles and methods, like his practical educa- tional activity, were not confined to the earliest years of childhood, but embraced the entire impressionable period of human life. It is true, the succeeding vol- xviii TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. limes of the " Education of Man " were never written ; not, however, because they were not clear and complete in Froebel's mind when he gave us his first volume, but rather because he was too much taken up with efforts to live them out practically against untold hindrances. The report of Commissioner Zeh averted, indeed, the immediate and forcible dissolution of the Keilhau Institute, but it could not undo the indirect evil effects of the Prussian persecution. By this the little colony was reduced to straits that placed book-publishing and even book-writing beyond the power of its members. It is true, in the very next year after Commissioner Zeh's report (in 1826), the first volume appeared. Yet the institute had not enough popularity left to induce a ^)ublisher to assume the risk of the work, although there >vas still enough substance and faith in the little band to enable it to do this independently. Immediately after the publication, however, affairs rapidly grew worse. In 1829 the number of pupils had been reduced from sixty to five, and in 1831 Froebel was driven from his post, although the enterprise was still kept up in the hands of friends. The greatness of Froebel's soul appears at no time in a brighter light than it does in these days of trouble. On the first day of April, 1829, he wrote : " I look upon my work as unique in our time, as necessary for it, and as salutary for all time. In its action and reaction, it will give to mankind all that it needs and seeks in every direction of its tendencies and being. I have no complaint whatever that others should think differently ; I can endure them ; I even can — as I have proved — live with them ; but I can not have with them the same TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. xix aim, the same purpose in life. However, this is not my fault, but theirs ; I do not cut them off, they do it themselves." What high and perfect faith speaks from these words ! No wonder if his contemporaries, still groping in the darker depths of the valley, failed to see him on his height, and, still more, to appreciate his higher aspi- rations. Ko wonder if even now many, who have laboriously climbed half way up the eminence, sit down in weariness and despondency, turn their backs upon his light, and gaze longingly down upon the rank weeds that gave them sustenance below. Poor creatures ! the hght that holds blessedness they contemn because of their weakness, and the few imperishable rays that have entered their souls have irretrievably lifted them out of the darkness they cherish. It would be a most grateful task to present in this preface a succinct review of Froebel's great plan of education ; to show it in its- complete unity and perfect hannony ; to sketch how he receives the almost uncon- scious child from the hands of the Eternal and leads him surely and persistently to eager, conscious unity with the infinite source of life and being — how in earliest child- hood he kindles the religious sense — the sense of com- plete, all-sided, responsible kinship with all created things — and gently fans it into a mighty blaze of uni- versal good-will — ^how skillfully he enables the child to gather golden harvests of knowledge and skill from the burdened fields of experience and life, and again to sow these in an intensely creative life of unwearied, vigor- ous well-doing for the sustenance and uplifting of gen- erations to come — how completely he blends in the XX TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. bo8om of a holy family the interests of the individual, of fellowmen, of mankind, and leads all to an ever- creative worship of an ever-creative God — how he im- parts to his pupils a thorough knowledge of the inner connection and oneness of all things, and enables them to control and handle in life and for life all they know of life — how, thus, he tills them with an eager thirst for ever wider and higher knowledge and with a holy hunger for ever broader and deeper efficiency in whatever practical calling may be theirs — and how, by showing the intrinsic importance and indispensableness of every calling and occupation, he plants in every human being the feeling that on his efficiency depends the welfare of the whole, a sense of inner, responsible manhood which is the measure of true worth in every station of life, a practical, real Christianity that holds every human be- ing, as a beloved manifestation of The Man, equally in the bosom of the Father. To the reader, however, who will thoughtfully and reverentially peruse the book, such a review would bring little help, inasmuch as the book shows all these things more clearly and powerfully than such a review could do. In 1836, Froebel, in a remarkable essay on " The Re- newal of Life," pointed to the United States of America as the country best fitted, by virtue of its spirit of free- dom, true Christianity, and pure family life, to receive his educational message and to profit thereby. To a large extent, his prophecy has already been realized. May this translation help to hasten and strengthen its still further and fuller realization ! W. N. HAILMANN. La Poete, Ind., Augitst, 1887. ANALYTICAL INDEX. I. Groundwork of the Whole. — § 1. Universal law ; unity ; God. § 2. Destiny and life-work of man ; education defined. § 3. Science of education ; theory and practice. § 4. Value of wisdom ; need of education. § 5. Object of education. § 6. Method of educa- tion ; law of inverse inference ; misunderstandings. § 7. Originally passive character of education. § 8. Development needs freedom ; dangers of mandatory education ; proper time for mandatory educa- tion. § 9. Free self-activity, a requirement of the divine origin of man. § 10. Human perfection can serve as a model only in spirit. § 11. Jesus, as an exemplar, calls for free, self -active development. § 12. Faith and insight render the ideal mandatory ; law of opposites in good education ; education itself must obey law and banish des- potism. § 13. Teacher and pupil equally subject to the law of right. § 14. Law of spiritual development. § 15. Man as a child of God ; as a child of humanity. § 16. Humanity developed in successive indi- vidual human beings. § 17. Duty of parents ; destiny of child. § 18. Trinity of relations — unity, individuality, diversity. § 19. Need of early education ; self -activity. § 20. Force, the child's first utter- ance; joy and sorrow ; willfulness; value of small suffering ;. stage of infancy; need of adjustment of surroundings; the first smile. g 21. Sense of community, as first germ of religious spirit ; the mother's prayer ; value of religious spirit. § 22. Continuity of de- velopment in the child's life. § 23. Creativeness ; productive work ; singleness of purpose ; relentlessness of law ; need of industrial work in education ; temperance. y II. Man in the Period of Earliest Childhood. — § 24. The child finding his individuality ; agreement between the child's de- Xxii ANALYTICAL INDEX. velopment and all development ; dawn of reason ; agreement between the development of the individual and that of the race. § 25. De- velopment of the senses; law of connection of contrasts. ^ 26. Order of the senses. § 27. Muscular development ; standing ; play- ing with his limbs ; false habits ; need of watchfulness. § 28. Be- ginning of childhood ; language ; the family. § 29. Importance of childhood; play and speech. § 30. Play; nature of play; impor- tance of play; unity of child and surroundings. § 31. Food of the child ; simplicity necessary ; dangers of over-stimulation ; food only for nourishment. § 32. Clothing of the child. § 33. Object of pa- rental care; maternal instinct is not sufficient; sketch of the mother's work ; arousing self-consciousness ; study of surroundings ; arousing self-activity : nursery of the " worldly-wise " mother ; arous- ing the sense of community; value of rhythmic movements ; spon- taneous association of ideas. § 34. Learning to stand and walk ; collecting material. ^ 35. Studying the material ; seeking the inner nature; parental indifference crushes development; pernicious in- fluence of our short-sightedness. § 36. First attempts at drawing ; finding the chalk ; first sketches ; linear representation. § 37. Prog- ress of drawing-work; parents need not be artists; need of de- scriptive words ; word and drawing, g 38. Drawing leads to num- ber ; development of number-notions ; need of objects. § 39. Wealth of the child's world. § 40. Helping father and mother; leading the horse ; attending the goslings ; the little gardener ; the forest- er's son ; the blacksmith, etc. ; harshness ; fostering independence ; joy of child-guidance ; development of industry. § 41. Our own dullness. § 42. " Let us live with our children." § 43. Importance of speech; importance of inner unity, g 44. Misunderstandings from nearness of things ; difficulty of self-knowledge ; transition to boyhood. III. The Boyhood of Man. — g 45. Boyhood defined; instruc- tion ; school defined. § 46. Objects of the school. § 47. Will de- fined ; starting-point ; development of boyhood rests on childhood. g 48. Importance of the family ; the family a type of life. § 49. Transition from play to work ; formative instinct ; desire to help the parents ; danger of repulsion ; indolence results ; inquisitiveness ; love of difficulties ; climbing ; exploring caves ; the garden ; love of water ; love of plastic material ; building ; sense of proprietorship ; common endeavor; group-work in school; at the brook; garden- ing; trials of strength and skill; sense of power; play-grounds; ANALYTICAL INDEX. xxiii home-industry ; love of the past ; love of tales and stories ; love of song ; symbolism of play. § 50. Actual boy-life very different from this ; causes of difference. § 51. Man essentially good. § 52. Nature and origin of falsehood ; how to overcome evil with good. § 53. In- fluence of common sympathy; faults of ignorance; the boy and the wig ; the boy and the bowl; the broken window ; the boy and the pigeon ; how boys are made bad ; false conversion ; the boy and the beetle ; ravages of harsh words. § 54. Sins against childhood. g 55. Seeking unity. .-^IV. Man as a Scholar or Pupil.— § 56. Aim of the school ; aim of instruction ; the schoolmaster ; the faith of boyhood ; spirit of the school ; inner power of boyhood ; playing with this inner power; the spirit makes the school. § 57. Need of schools. § 58. What shall schools teach ? § 59. Mind ; nature ; language. V. Chief Groups of Subjects of Instruction. — A. Religion and Religions Instimction. — § 60, Religion defined ; religious instruc- tion ; assumption of some degree of religion ; difficulty of under- standing original unity ; the thinker and the thought ; father and son ; spiritual unity. § 61. Essence of Christianity ; parental and filial relations, the key ; Sonship of Jesus ; Christian religion ; three- fold manifestation of God — unity, individuality, diversity. B. Natural Science and Mathematics. — § 62. Nature and relig- ion, g 63. Nature and art ; immortality of the spirit ; nature as God's work ; nature a revelation of God. § 64. Importance of na- ture-study to boyhood ; excursions ; loss of sensitiveness. § 65. Nature in inner and outer contemplation. § 66. External view un- connected. § 67. The boy's desire to find unity ; character of force ; the source of all things. § 68. Definition of force ; force and mat- ter ; spherical tendency of force. § 69. The sphere ; origin of diver- sity in form and structure, i^ 70. Crystallization ; the crystal the first result of simply active force. § 71. Analogies between human and ciystalline development. § 72. Laws of crystallogenic force ; the cube; the octahedron; the tetrahedron; the "fall" of the oc- tahedron; forms derived from the cube, etc.; the rhombohedron. aud derivative forms ; compound and cumulative forms ; organized material. -^ 73. Living force ; vegetable and animal forms ; binary plants ; quinary relations ; relation of animals to plants ; law of op- position ; law of equipoise, g 74, Man, the first step of spiritual de- velopment; evil effects of studying nature fragraentarily. § 75. Nature, a living organism ; the sun ; technical terms not essential ; xxiv ANALYTICAL INDEX. technical knowledge not essential ; mission of colleges ; God every- where; natural objects, a Jacob's ladder; number, as guide; cor- rectness of the boy's instinct ; honest seeking. § 76. Mathematics, the fixed point for nature-study ; mathematics, a Christian science ; mathematics, the expression of life, as such ; all forms proceed from the sphere ; number, form, extent ; mathematics and mind. G. Language. — § 77. Relation to religion and nature ; their unity. § 78. Language defined. § 79. Language, a product of the human mind ; born in consciousness ; its mediatory character ; significance of word-elements ; roots not adventitious ; illustrations of the mean- ing of letters and sounds. § 80. Rhythmic law of language ; evil effects of its neglect ; elocutionary tricks. § 81. Historical develop- ment of writing; pictorial and symbolic writing; presupposes a rich life ; satisfies an inner want. § 83. Forms of letters not arbi- trary; O and S. § 83. Reading naturally follows; value of the alphabet ; the use of letters presupposes knowledge. D. Art a?id Objects of Art. — g 84. Art, the representation of inner life. ^ 85. Its relation to religion, nature, and language ; its materials ; art, a universal talent ; mediatory character of drawing and poetry ; Christian art. VI. Connection between School and Family, and the Sub- jects OF Instruction it implies. — A. General Considerations. — § 86. Union of family and school ; mere extraneous knowledge per- nicious ; value of the family ; need of soul-training. § 87. Subjects of study enumerated ; domestic duties and industrial work. B. Particular Considerations. — a. Cultivation of Religious Sense. — § 88. Religious instruction, based on sense of community ; spiritual union of father and son : religious intuition of boyhood ; need of religious experience; errors of dogmatism; contemplation of the tree ; renunciation ; pernicious effect of promising rewards ; consciousness of duty well done. § 89. Memorizing of religious maxims; prayer. b. Knowledge and Cultivation of the Body. — § 90. Respect for the body; physiology. c. Nature and Surroundings. — § 91. To be studied in natural connection ; from the near to the remote ; method and course illus- trated ; necessary ramifications ; additional illustrations ; natural history ; physics ; sociology ; objections met. d. Memorizing Poems. — ^ 92. Memory-gems; song; illustration of singing-lessons. ANALYTICAL INDEX. XXV e. Language- Exercises, based on the Observation of JVature. — § 93. Language-exercises and grammatical exercises compared ; illus- tration of language-exercises ; physics and chemistry ; mathematics ; additional illustrations. /. Outward Corporeal Representation. — § 94. Importance of outer representation ; superiority of manual over verbal expression ; our blindness due to false education ; service of Grod or man ; building ; tablets ; lines ; character of building-material ; modeling. g. Drawing in the JSetwork. — § 95. Formation of network ; square and triangle ; avoid difficulty in work ; size of square ; essentials of the course ; details of the course ; invention ; needs of the school. h. Study of Colors and Painting. — § 96. Color and light ; varie- gation ; its significance to boyhood ; color and form ; essentials of color-study; naming the colors; painting natural objects; illustra- tions of lessons. i. Plays. — § 97. Three kinds of plays ; they imply inner life and vigor. j. Stories and Tales. — § 98. Fondness of boys for stories ; legends and fairy-tales ; love of repetition ; praise of the genuine story-tell- er ; no need of practical applications and moralizing ; connection of stories with experience. k. Excursions and Walks. — § 99. In search of oneness of nature and life ; mountains and valleys ; living things ; observation. I. Arithmetic. — § 100. Formation, reduction, and comparison of numbers ; course of instruction indicated. m. Form-Lessons. — § 101. Outlines of work. n. Grammatical Exercises.— % 102. They consider the word as material of representation ; words, syllables, sounds ; suggestions. o. Writing. — § 103. Suggestions of method. p. Readiiig. — § 104. Suggestions of method. VII. Conclusion. — § 105. All-sided development the aim ; objec- tions met ; creative freedom. THE EDUCATION OP MAN. GROUNDWORK OF THE WHOLE. § 1. In all things there lives and reigns an eternal law. To him whose mind, through disposition and faith, is filled, penetrated, and quickened with the ne- cessity that this can not possibly be otherwise, as well as to him whose clear, calm mental vision beholds the inner in the outer and through the outer, and sees the outer proceeding with logical necessity from the essence of the inner, this law has been and is enounced with equal clearness and distinctness in nature (the external), in the spirit (the internal), and in life which unites the two. This all-controlling law is necessarily based on an all-pervading, energetic, living, self-conscious, and hence eternal Unity. This fact, as well as the Unity itself, is again vividly recognized, either through faith or through insight, with equal clearness and comprehen- siveness ; therefore, a quietly observant human mind, a thoughtful, clear human intellect, has never failed, and will never fail, to recognize this Unity. This Unity is God. All things have come from the Divine Unity, from God, and have their origin in the 2 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. Divine Unity, in God alone. God is the sole source of all thiDgs. In all things there lives and reigns the Divine Unity, God. All things live and have their being in and through the Divine Unity, in and through God. All things are only through the divine effluence that lives in them. The divine effluence that lives in each thing is the essence of each thing. § 2. It is the destiny and life-work of all things to unfold their essence, hence their divine being, and, therefore, the Divine Unity itself — to reveal God in their external and transient being. It is the special des- tiny and life-work of man, as an intelligent and rational being, to become fully, vividly, and clearly conscious of his essence, of the divine effluence in him, and, there- fore, of God ; to become fully, vividly, and clearly con- scious of his destiny and life-work ; and to accomplish this, to render it (his essence) active, to reveal it in his own life with self-determination and freedom. Education consists in leading man^ as a thinking, intelligent being, growing into self-consciousness, to a pure and unsullied, conscious and free representation of the inner law of Divine TJnit/y, and in teaching him ways and means thereto. [In his educational work this principle of life-unity was ever uppermost in Froebel's mind. The full, clear, consistent translation of this principle into life, and into the work of education, constitutes the chief characteristic, as well as the chief merit, of his work. Viewed in its light, education becomes a process of unification ; therefore, Froebel frequently called his educational method " devel- oping, or human culture for all-sided unification of life." In his let- ter to the Duke of Meiningen he characterizes his tendency in these words : " I would educate human beings who with their feet stand rooted in God's earth, in nature, whose heads reach even into heaven and there behold truth, in whose hearts are united both earth and LIFE-UNITY. 3 heaven, the varied life of earth and nature, and the glory and peace of heaven, God's earth and God's heaven." Still later he said, in the same vein : '' There is no other power but that of the idea ; the iden- tity of the cosmic laws with the laws of our mind must be recognized, all things must be seen as the embodiments of one idea." With ref- erence to the individual human being, this unification of life means to Froebel harmony in feeling, thinking, willing, and domg ; with reference to humanity, it means subordination of self to the common welfare and to the progressive development of mankind ; with refer- ence to nature, it means a thoughtful subordination to her laws of development ; with reference to God, it means perfect faith as Froe- bel finds it realized in Christianity. It may not be amiss to point out at the veiy start the essential agreement between Froebel and Herbert Spencer in this fundamental principle of unification. Of course, it will be necessary in this com- parison to keep in mind that Froebel applies the principle to educa- tion in its practical bearings as an interpretation of thought in life, whereas Spencer applies it to philosophy, as the interpretation of life in thought. To Spencer " knowledge of the lowest kind is ununified knowledge ; science is partially-unified knowledge ; philosophy is completely-unified knowledge." In the concluding paragraphs of '• First Principles " he sets forth the '• power of which no limit in time or space can be conceived " as the '' inexpugnable consciousness in which religion and philosophy are at one with common sense," and as " likewise that on which all exact science is based." He desig- nates " unification " as the " characteristic of developing thought," just as Froebel finds in it the characteristic of developing life ; and Spencer's faith in the " eventual arrival at unity " in thought is as firm as Froebel's faith in the eventual arrival at unity in life. — Translator.'] § 3. The knowledge of that eternal law, the insight into its origin, into its essence, into the totality, the con- nection, and intensity of its effects, the knowledge of life in its totality, constitute science^ the science of life ; and, referred by the self-conscious, thinking, intelligent being to representation and practice through and in himself, this becomes science of education. 4 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. The system of directions, derived from" the knowl« edge and study of that law, to guide thinking, intelli- gent beings in the apprehension of their life-work and in the accomplishment of their destiny, is the theory of education. The self-active application of this knowledge in the direct development and cultivation of rational beings toward the attainment of their destiny, is the practice of education. The object of education is the realization of a faith- ful, pure, inviolate, and hence holy life. Knowledge and apph cation, consciousness and reali- zation in life, united in the service of a faithful, pure, holy life, constitute the wisdom of life^ pure wisdom. § 4. To he wise is the highest aim of man,, is the most exalted achievement of human self-determina- tion. To educate one's self and others, with consciousness, freedom, and self-determination, is a twofold achieve- ment of wisdom : it hegan with the first appearance of man upon the earth ; it was manifest with the first ap- pearance of full self -consciousness in man ; it begins now to proclaim itself as a necessary, universal require- ment of humanity, and to be heard and heeded as sucli. With this achievement man enters upon the path wJiich alone leads to life ; which surely tends to the fulfillment of the inner, and thereby also to the fulfillment of the outer, requirement of humanity ; which, through a faith- ful, pure, holy life, attains beatitude. § 5. By education, then, the divine essence of man should be unfolded, brought out, lifted into conscious- ness, and man himself raised into free, conscious obedi- AIM OF EDUCATION. 5 ence to the divine principle that lives' in liim, and to a free representation of this principle in his life. Education, in instruction, should lead man to see and know the divine, spiritual, and eternal principle which animates surrounding nature, constitutes the essence of nature, and is permanently manifested in nature ; and, in living reciprocity and united with training, it should express and demonstrate the fact that the same law rules both (the divine principle and nature), as it does nature and man. Education as a whole, by means of instruction and training, should bring to man's consciousness, and render efficient in his life, the fact that man and nature pro- ceed from God and are conditioned by him — that both have their being in God. Education should lead and guide man to clearness concerning himself and in himself^ to jpeace with no- ture^ and to unity with God / hence, it should lift him to a knowledge of himself and of mankind, to a knowl- edge of God and of nature, and to the pure and holy life to which such knowledge leads. § 6. In all these requirements, however, education is based on considerations of the innermost. The inner essence of things is recognized by the in- nermost spirit (of man) in the outer and through out- ward manifestations. The inner being, the spirit, the divine essence of things and of man, is known by its outward manifestations. In accordance with this, all education, all instruction and training, all life as a free growth, start from the outer manifestations of man and things, and, proceeding from the outer, act upon the inner, and form its judgments concerning the inner. 3 6 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. ISTevertheless, education sliould not draw its inferences concerning the inner from the outer directly, for it lies in the nature of things that always in some relation in- ferences should be drawn inversely. Thus, the diversity and multiplicity in nature do not warrant the inference of multiplicity in the ultimate cause — a multiplicity of gods — nor does the unity of God warrant the inference of finality in nature ; but, in both cases, the inference lies conversely from the diversity in nature to the oneness of its ultimate cause, and from the unity of God to an eternally progressing diversity in natural developments. The failure to apply this truth, or rather the contin- ual sinning against it, the drawing of direct inferences concerning the inner life of childhood and youth from certain external manifestations of life, is the chief cause of antagonism and contention, of the frequent mistakes in life and education. This furnishes constant occasion for innumerable false judgments concerning the motives of the young, for numberless failures in the education of children, for endless misunderstanding between parent and child, for so much needless complaint and unseemly arraignment of children, for so many unreasonable de- mands made upon them. Therefore, this truth, in its application to parents, educators, and teachers, is of such great importance that they should strive to render themselves familiar with its application in its smallest details. This would bring into the relations between parents and children, pupils and educators, teacher and taught, a clearness, a constancy, a serenity which are now sought in vain : for the child that seems good outwardly often is not good inwardly, i. e., does not desire the good spontaneously, or from love, respect, and appreciation -, PASSIVE EDUCATION. 7 similarly, the outwardly rough, stubborn, self-willed child that seems outwardly not good, frequently is filled with the liveliest, most eager, strongest desire for spon- taneous goodness in his actions ; and the apparently in- attentive boy frequently follows a certain fixed line of thought that withholds his attention from all external things. § 7. Therefore, education in instruction and train- ing, originally and in its first principles, should neces- sarily be passive, following (only guarding and pro- tecting), not prescriptive, categorical, interfering. [This should in no way be interpreted as a pretext for letting the child alone, giving him up wholly to his own so-called self- direction, allowing him possibly to drift into vicious lawlessness in- stead of training him upward into free obedience to law. Froebel, indeed, sees in the child a fresh, tender bud of progressing hu- manity, and it is with reference to the divinity that to him lies in the child thus viewed that he calls for passive following and vigi- lant protection. He would have the educator study the child as a struggling expression of an inner divine law; and it is this he would have us obey and follow, guard and protect, in our educational work. It is evident that this involves constant activity in judicious adjustment of surroundings, so that the child may be free from temptation and from the growth of unhealthy whims and pernicious tendencies ; while, on the other hand, he may be supplied with ample incentives and opportunities to unfold aright. Spencer says, with the same thought : " A higher knowledge tends continually to limit our interference with the processes of life. As in medicine, etc., ... so in education, we are finding that success is to be achieved only by rendering our measures subservient to that spontaneous unfolding which all minds go through in their progress to maturity." — Tr.'\ § 8. Indeed, in its very essence, education should have these characteristics ; for the undisturbed opera- tion of the Divine Unity is necessarily good — can not be 8 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. otherwise than good. This necessity implies tliat the young human being — as it were, still in process of crea- tion — would seek, although still unconsciously, as a product of nature, yet decidedly and surely, that which is in itself best; and, moreover, in a form wholly adapted to his condition, as well as to his disposition, his powers, and means. Thus the duckling hastens to the pond and into the water, while the young chicken scratches the ground, and the young swallow catches its food upon the wing and scarcely ever touches the ground. Now, whatever may be said against the pre- viously enounced law of converse inference, and against this other law of close sequence, as well as against their application to and in education, they will be fully vin- dicated in their simplicity and truth among the genera- tions that trust in them fully and obey them. We grant space and time to young plants and ani- mals because we know that, in accordance with the laws that live in them, they will develop properly and grow well ; young animals and plants are given rest, and arbitrary interference with their growth is avoided, because it is known that the opposite practice would disturb their pure unfoldiug and sound development ; but the young human being is looked upon as a piece of wax, a lump of clay, w^iich man can mold into what he pleases. O man, who roamest through garden and held, through meadow and grove, why dost thou close thy mind to the silent teaching of nature ? Be- hold even the weed, which, grown up amid hindrances and constraint, scarcely yields an indication of inner law; behold it in nature, in field or garden, and see how perfectly it conforms to law — what a pure inner ACTIVE EDUCATION. 9 life it sliows, harmonious in all parts and features : a beautiful sun, a radiant star, it has burst from the earth ! Thus, O parents, could your children, on whom jou force in tender years forms and aims against their nature, and who, therefore, walk with you in morbid and un, natural deformity — thus could your children, too, un- fold in beauty and develop in all-sided harmony ! In accordance with the laws of divine influence, and in view of the original soundness and wholeness of man, all arbitrary (active), prescriptive and categorical, interfering education in instruction and training must, of necessity, annihilate, hinder, and destroy. Thus — to take another lesson from nature — the grape-vine must, indeed, be trimmed ; but this trimming as such does not insure wine. On the other hand, the trim- ming, although done with the best intention, may wholly destroy the vine, or at least impair its fertility and pro- ductiveness, if the gardener fail in his work passively and attentively to follow the nature of the plant. In the treatment of the things of nature we very often take the right road, whereas in the treatment of man we go astray ; and yet the forces that act in both pro- ceed from the same source and obey the same law. Hence, from this point of view, too, it is so important that man should consider and observe nature. Nature, it is true, rarely shows us that unmarred original state, especially in man ; but it is for this reason only the more necessary to assume its existence in every human being, until the opposite has been clearly shown ; otherwise that unmarred original state, where it might exist contrary to our expectation, might be easily im- paired. If, however, there is unmistakable proof from 10 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. liis entire inner and outer bearing that the original wholeness of the human being to be educated has been marred, then directly categorical, mandatory education in its full severity is demanded. On the other hand, however, it is not always possi- ble, and often difficult, to prove with certainty that the inner being is marred ; at least, this applies to the point, the source in which the marring originates and whence it derives its tendency. Again, the last essen- tially infallible criterion of this lies only in the human being himself. Hence, from this point of view, too, education in training and in all instruction should be by far more passive and following than categorical and prescriptive ; for, by the full application of the latter mode of education, we should wholly lose the pure, the sure and steady progressive development of mankind — i. e., the free and spontaneous representation of the divine in man, and through the life of man, which, as we have seen, is the ultimate aim and object of all edu- cation, as well as the ultimate destiny of man. Therefore, the purely categorical, mandatory, and prescriptive education of man is not in place before the advent of intelligent self-consciousness, of unity in life between God and man, of established harmony and community of life between father and son, disciple and master ; for then only can truth be deduced and known from insight into the essential being of the whole and into the nature of the individual. Before any disturbance and marring in the original wholeness of the pupil has been shown and fully de- termined in its origin and tendency, nothing, therefore, is left for us to do but to bring him into relations and SELF-ACTIVITY. H surroundings in all respects adapted to him, reflecting his conduct as in a mirror, easily and promptly reveal- ing to him its effects and consequences, readily disclosing to him and others his true condition, and affording a minimum of opportunities for injury from the out- breaks and consequences of his inner failings. § 9. The prescriptive, interfering education, indeed, can be justified only on two grounds : either because it teaches the clear, living thought, seK-e^ddent truth, or because it holds up a life whose ideal value has been established in experience. But, where self-evident, liv- ing, absolute truth rules, the eternal principle itself reigns, as it were, and will on this account maintain a passive, following character. For the living thought, the eternal divine principle as such demands and requires free self -activity and self-determination on the part of man, the being created for freedom in the image of God. [Self-activity, in Froebel's sense of the word, implies not merely that the learner shall do all himself, not merely that he will be bene- fitted only by what he himself does : it implies that at all times his whole self shall be active, that the activity should enlist his entire self in all the phases of being. The law of self -activity demands not activity alone, but all-sided activity of the whole being, the whole self. There is much difference between the self-activity of Pestalozzi and that of Proebel. The former has reference more to acquisitive or learning processes that fill the memory with little that bears di- rectly on mental expansion ; it is much concerned with long lists of names, verbal facts and formulas, recitation, and with imitation even in reading, writing, singing, and drawing. Froebel's self-activity ap- plies to the whole being ; it would have all that is in the child self- actively growing, simultaneously and continuously. He looks upon the child as an individuality distinctly separated from all other in- dividualities that make up the universe, but with an all-sided in- stinctive yearning for unification with these, with points eager for 12 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. contact in all directions of being, and his self-activity applies to these outward tendencies, to doing in its widest sense, as much as it does to the inward tendencies, or to seeing in its widest sense. Froebel, consequently, lays more stress than Pestalozzi on spon- taneity of action, on the adaptation of all activities to the child's power, and on the full, whole-hearted, sympathetic, active co-opera- tion of the teacher, whom he urges " to live (to learn and do) with the children." Froebel's self-activity is necessarily coupled with Joy on the part of the child. To him joy is the inward reaction of self-activity. Here, too, he is closely followed by Spencer, who asks that " through- out youth, as in early childhood and maturity, the process (of intel- lectual education) shall be one of self-instruction " ; and " that the mental action induced by this process shall be throughout intrin- sically grateful." It is a matter of great regret that Spencer, who seems to be quite familiar with Pestalozzi, was unacquainted with Froebel's work. What a weapon of strength Froebel's thoughts and suggestions would have proved in Spencer's hands ! — Tr.] § 10. Again, a life whose ideal value lias been per- fectly established in experience never aims to serve as model in its form, but only in its essence, in its spirit. It is the greatest mistake to suppose that spiritual, hu- man perfection can serve as a model in its form. This accounts for the common experience that the taking of such external manifestations of perfection as examples, instead of elevating mankind, checks, nay, represses, its development. § 11. Jesus himself, therefore, in his life and in his teachings, constantly opposed the imitation of external perfection. Only spiritual, striving, living perfection is to be held fast as an ideal ; its external manifestation — on the other hand — its form should not be limited. The highest and most perfect life which we, as Chris- tians, behold in Jesus — the highest known to mankind — MANDATORY IDEAL. 13 is a life which found the primordial and ultimate reason of its existence clearly and distinctly in its own being ; a life which, in accordance with the eternal law, came from the eternally creating All-Life, self-acting and self- poised. This highest eternally perfect life itself would have each human being again become a similar image of the eternal ideal, so that each again might become a similar ideal for himself and others ; it would have each human being develop from within, self-active and free, in accordance with the eternal law. This is, indeed, the problem and the aim of all education in instruction and training ; there can and should be no other. We see, then, that even the eternal ideal is following, passive, in its requirements concerning the form of being. § 12. Nevertheless, in its inner essence (and we see this in experience), the living thought, the eternal spirit- ual ideal, ought to be and is categorical and mandatory in its manifestations : and we see-itf indeed, sternly mandatory, inexorable, and inflexible, but only when the requirement appears as a pronounced necessity in the essence of the whole, as well as in the nature of the in- dividual, and can be recognized as such in him to whom it is addressed ; only where the ideal speaks as the or- gan of necessity, and, therefore, always relatively. The ideal becomes mandatory only where it supposes that the person addressed enters into the reason of the re- quirement with serene, child-like faith, or with clear, manly insight. It is true, in word or example, the ideal is mandatory in all these cases, but always only with reference to the spirit and inner life, never with refer- ence to outer form. In good education, then, in genuine instruction, in 14: THE EDUCATION OF MAN. true training, necessity should call forth freedom ; law, self-determination ; external compulsion, inner free- will ; external hate, inner love. Where hatred brings forth hatred ; law, dishonesty and crime ; compulsion, slavery ; necessity, servitude ; where oppression de- stroys and debases ; where severity and harshness give rise to stubbornness and deceit — all education is abort- ive. In order to avoid the latter and to secure the for- mer, all prescription should be adapted to the pupil's nature and needs, and secure his co-operation. This is the case when all education in instruction and training, in spite of its necessarily categorical character, bears in all details and ramifications the irrefutable and irresistible impress that the one who makes the demand is himself strictly and unavoidably subject to an eternally ruling law, to an unavoidable eternal necessity, and that, there- fore, all despotism is banished. § 13. All true education in training and instruction should, therefore, at every moment, in every demand and regulation, be simultaneously double-sided — giving and taking, uniting and dividing, prescribing and fol- lowing, active and passive, positive yet giving scope, firm and yielding; and the pupil should be similarly conditioned: but between the two, between educator and pupil, between request and obedience, there should invisibly rule a third something, to which educator and pupil are equally subject. This third something is the right, the hest, necessarily conditioned and ex- pressed without arbitrariness in the circumstances. The calm recognition, the clear knowledge, and the serene, cheerful obedience to the rule of this third something is the particular feature that should be constantly and CONTROLLING LAW. 15 clearly manifest in tlie bearing and conduct of the edu- cator and teacher, and often lirmly and sternly empha- sized by him. The child, the pupil, has a very keen feeling, a very clear apprehension, and rarely fails to distinguish, whether what the educator, the teacher, or the father says or requests is personal or arbitrary, or whether it is expressed by him as a general law and ne^ cessity. § 14. This obedience, this trustful yielding to an unchangeable third principle to which pupil and teacher are ^equally subject, should appear even in the smallest details of every demand of the educator and teacher. Hence, the general formula of instruction is : Do this and observe what follov:s in this jparticidar case from thy action^ and to what knowledge it leads thee. Simi- larly, the precept for life in general and for every one is : Exhibit only thy spiritual essence, thy life, in the external, and by means of the external in thy actions, and observe the requirements of thy inner being and its nature. Jesus himself charges man in and with this precept to acknowledge the divinity of his mission and of his inner life, as well as the truth of his teaching ; and this is, therefore, the precept that opens the way to the knowledge of all life in its origin and nature, as well as of all truth (see § 23). This explains and justifies, too, the next require- ment, and indicates, at the same time, the manner of its fulfillment : The educator, the teacher, should make the individual and particular general, the general par- ticular and, individual, and elucidate both in life / h^ should make the external internal, and the internal ex- 16 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. ternal, and indicate the necessary unity of hoth i he should consider the finite in the light of the infinite^ and the infinite in the light of the finite^ and harmonize hoth in life • he should see and perceive the divine es- sence in vjhatever is hwtnan^ trace the nature of man to God, and seek to exhibit both within one another in life (see § 25). This appears from the nature of man the more clearly and definitely, the more distinctly and unmis- takably, the more man studies himself in himself, in the growing human being, and in the history of human de- velopment. § 15. Now, the representation of the infinite in the finite, of the eternal in the temporal, of the celestial in the terrestrial, of the divine in and through man, in the life of man by the nursing of his originally divine nature, confronts us unmistakably on every side as the only object, the only aim of all education, in all instruc- tion and training. Therefore man should be viewed from this only true standpoint immediately with his ap- pearance on earth ; naj^, as in the case of Mary, imme- diately with his annimciation, and he should be thus heeded and nursed while yet invisible, unborn. With reference to liis eternal immortal soul, every human being should be viewed and treated as a mani- festation of the Divine Spirit in human form, as a pledge of the love, the nearness, the grace of God, as a gift of God. Indeed, the early Christians viewed their children in this light, as is shown by the names they gave them. Even as a child, every human being should be viewed and treated as a necessary essential member of MAN'S RELATIVITY. ' 17 humanity ; and therefore, as guardians, parents are re- sponsible to God, to the child, and to humanity. Similarly, parents should view their child in his ne- cessary connection, in his obvious and Hving relations to the present, past, and future development of human- ity, in order to bring the education of the child into harmony with the past, present, and future require- ments of the development of humanity and of the race (see § 24). For 7nan, as such, gifted with divine, earth- ly, and human attributes, should he viewed and treated as related to God, to nature, and to humanity', as com- prehending vnthin himself unity (God), diversity (na- ture), and individuality (humanity), as well as also the present, past, and future (see §§ 18, .61). § 16. Man, humanity in man, as an external mani- festation, should, therefore, be looked upon not as per- fectly developed, not as fixed and stationary, but as steadily and progressively growing, in a state of ever- living development, ever ascending from one stage of culture to another toward its aim which partakes of the infinite and eternal. It is unspeakably pernicious to look upon the de- velopment of humanity as stationary and completed, and to see in its present phases simply repetitions and greater generalizations of itself. For the child, as well as every successive generation, becomes thereby exclu- sively imitative, an external dead copy — as it were, a cast of the preceding one — and not a living ideal for its stage of development which it had attained in human development considered as a whole, to serve future generations in all time to come. Indeed, each succes- sive generation and each successive individual human 18 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. being, inasmuch as he would understand the past and present, must pass througli all preceding phases of hu- man development and culture, and this should not he done in the way of dead imitation or mere copying, but in the way of living, spontaneous self -activity (see § 24). Every human being should represent these phases spon- taneously and freely as a type for himself and others. For in every human being, as a member of Immanity and as a child of God, there lies and lives humanity as a whole ; but in each one it is realized and expressed in a wholly particular, peculiar, personal, unique manner ; and it should be exhibited in each individual human being in this wholly peculiar, unique manner, so that the spirit of humanity and of God may be recognized ever more clearly and felt ever more vividly and dis- tinctly in its infinity, eternity, and as comprehending all existing diversity. Only this exhaustive, adequate, and comprehensive knowledge of man and of the nature of man, from which diligent search derives spontaneously, as it were, all other knowledge needful in the care and education of man — only this view of man, from the moment of his conception, can enable true, genuine education to thrive, blossom, bear fruit, and ripen. [Herbert Spencer, in his " Education," states this less broadly in these words : *' The education of the child must accord both in mode and arrangement with the education of mankind as considered historically ; or, in other words, the genesis of knowledge m the in- dividual must follow the same course as the genesis of knowledge in the race." He attributes the enunciation of this doctrine to M. Comte. Inasmuch as M. Comte published the first volume of his " Positive Philosophy " in 1830, and Froebel issued his " Education of Man " in 182G, the question of priority is easily settled. How- ever, the thought was in the atmosphere of that period. It would MAN'S DESTINY. 19 Ih^ easy to show traces of it in Pestalozzi, in Richter and Goethe, in K:vnt and Hegel, and certainly in Herbart ; Froebel himself' clearly foreshadows it in writings from the years 1821 and 1822. (See, also, „ote, § 2^.)-Tr.] § 17. From tliis all that parents should do before aud after the animnciation follows readily, clearly, and unmistakably — to be pure and true in word and deed, to be filled and penetrated with the worth and dignity of man, to look upon themselves as the keepers and pruai'dians of a gift of God, to inform themselves con- ceiving the mission and destiny of man as v/ell as con- cerning the ways and means for their fulfillment. Now, the destiny of the child as such is to harmonize in his development and culture the nature of his parents, the fatherly and motherly character, their intellectual and emotional drift, which, indeed, may lie as yet dormant iu both of them, as mere tendencies and energies. Thus, too, the destiny of man as a child of God and of nature is to represent in harmony and unison the spirit of God and of nature, the natural and the divine, tlie terrestrial and the celestial, the finite and the in- finite. Again, the destiny of the child as a member of tJtc family is to unfold and represent the nature of the lainily, its spiritual tendencies and forces, in their har- mony, all-sidedness, and purity ; and, similarly, it is the (li'stiny and mission of man as a memher of humanity ti) unfold and represent the nature, the tendencies and lorces, of humanity as a whole. § 18. ISTow, although the nature of the parents and of the family as a whole may still lie concealed in tliera, unrecognized even in its dimmest foreshadowings, it will be developed and represented most purely and 20 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. perfectly by the children, if each unfolds and repre^ sents his own being, as perfectly, pui-ely, and univer- sally as possible ; and, on the other hand, as much as possible in accordance with his own individuality and personality. Thus, too, the spirit of God and of hu- manity — although as yet concealed and unrecognized— is revealed most purely and perfectly by mar as a child of God and of humanity as a whole, if he unfolds and represents his own being as much as possible in accord- ance with his individuality and personality. This is done if man develoj)s and perfects himself in that man- ner and according to that law by which all things are develoj)ed and perfected, have been develo23ed and per- fected, and which is supreme wherever Creator and creature, God and nature, are found ; if man in his hfe reveals his being in inner and outer unity ; in Individ, uality, pure and perfect, in all individual outward re- actions ; in diversity so far as all he does and all that proceeds from him has diverse relations. Only and alone in this threefold, yet in itself one and united, rej)- resentation, is the inner being j)erfectly shown, mani- fested, and revealed. Wherever one phase of this three- fold representation is really lacking, or, indeed, only imperfectly known or understood, we find imperfect, incomplete representation — impei'fect, hindering insiglit. Only in this way each thing is manifested and revealed in its unity, all-sidedly, and in accordance with its nature; only by the recognition and application of this triune representation of each thing whose nature is to be com- pletely manifested and revealed, can a true knowledge of each thing, a tnie understanding of its nature, Le reached (see §§ 15, 61). OPERATION OF FORCE. 21 § 19. Therefore the child should, from the very time of his birth, be viewed in accordance with his na- ture, treated correctly, and given the free, all-sided use of his powers. By no means should the use of certain powers and members be enhanced at the expense of others, and these hindered in their development ; the child should neither be partly chained, fettered, nor swathed ; nor, later on, spoiled by too much assistance. The child should learn early how to lind in himself the center and fulcrum of all his powers and members, to seek his support in this, and, resting therein, to move freely and be active, to grasp and hold with his own hands, to stand and walk on his own feet, to find and observe with his own eyes, to use his members symmet- rically and equally. At an early period the child should learn, apply, and practice the most difficult of all arts — to hold fast the center and fulcrum of his life in spite of all digressions, disturbances, and hindrances. § 20. The chilcVs first cotter mice is that of force. The operation of force, of the forceful, calls forth coun- ter-force ; hence the first crying of the child, his push- ing with his feet against whatever resists them, the holding fast of whatever touches his little hands. Soon after, and together with this, there is developed in the child sympathy. Hence his smile, his enjoy- ment, his delight, his vivacity in comfortable warmth, in clear light, in pure, fresh air. This is the beginning of seK-consciousness in its very first germs. Thus the first utterances of the child — of human life — are rest and unrest, joy and sorrow, smiles and tears. Rest, joy, and smiles indicate whatever in the child's 4 22 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. feeling is adapted to the pure, undisturbed development of his nature, of his human natm-e, to tlie child's life, to human life in the child. To foster and guard these should be the lirst concern of all educating influences, of life-development, life-elevation, and life-representa- tion. Unrest, sorrow, tears, indicate in their first appear- ance whatever is opposed to the development of the child, of the human being. These, too, should be con- sidered in education ; it should strive and labor to find their cause or causes, and to remove them. In the very first — but generally only in the very first — manifestations of fretting, restlessness, and cry- ing, the child is unquestionably wholly free from stub- bornness and willfulness ; but, as soon as the little one feels — we know not how and in what degree — that he is left arbitrarily or from negligence or indolence to whatever may give him discomfort or pain, these faults begin to germinate. Whenever this unfortunate feeling has been, as it were, inoculated, willfulness, the first and most hideous of all faults, has been begotten — nay, is born — a fault that threatens to destroy the child and his surroundings, and which can scarcely be banished without injury to some trait of his better nature ; a fault that soon becomes the mother of deceit, of falsehood, defiance, obstinacy, and a host of subsequent sad and hideous faults. However, in choosing the right way, too, we may err in the manner and form of proceeding. In accordance with the spirit and destiny of hu- manity, man should be trained to learn, by the endurance of small, insignificant sufl'ering, how to bear heavy suf- EARLIEST INFANCY. 23 feriDg and burdens that threaten destruction. If, then, parents or attendants are firmly and surely convinced that all the fretting, restless child may need at the time has been supplied — that all that is or can be injurious has been removed — they should calmly and quietly leave the fretting, restless, or crying child to himself ; calmly give him time to find himself. For, if the little one has once or repeatedly compelled sympathy and help from others in illusory suffering or slight discom- fort, parents and attendants have lost much, almost all, and can scarcely retrieve their loss by force ; for the little ones have so keen a sense, so correct a feeling for the weaknesses of attendants, that they would rather put forth their native energy in the easier way of con- trol of others — for which the weakness of attendants gives them the opportunity — than to exercise and culti- vate it in themselves, in patience, endurance, and ac- tivity. At this stage of development the young and grow- ing human being is called Sdugling (suckling), and this he is in the fullest sense of the word ; for sucking in (al^sorbing) is as yet the almost exclusive activity of the child. Does he not, indeed, suck in (absorb) the con- dition of surrounding human beings ? Therefore, the above-named manifestations — his smiles and frettings — remain as yet wholly within himself, are as yet the di- rect, undifferentiated concomitants of that activity. At this stage the human being absorbs and takes in only diversity from without; he s — augt ; his whole being is, as it were, only an appropriating Auge!^ For * This is a play upon the words saugen (to suck) and Auge (eye), by ■wiiich Froebel desires to emphasize the statement that, at tkis stage, the 24 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. this reason even this first stage of development is of the utmost impoi-tance for the present and later life of the human being. It is highly important for man's present and later life that at this stage he absorb noth- ing morbid, low, mean ; nothing ambiguous, nothing bad. The looks, the countenances of attendants should, therefore, be pure ; indeed, every phase of the surround- ings should be hrm and sure, arousing and stimulating confidence, pure and clear : pure air, clear light, a clean room, however needy it may be in other respects. For, alas! often the whole life of man is not sufficient to efface what he has absorbed in childhood, the impres- sions of early youth, simply because his whole being, like a large eye, as it were, was opened to them and wholly given up to them. Often the hardest struggles of man vyith liiiriself^ and even the later most adverse and oppressive events in his life, have their origin in this stage of development ; for this reason the care of the infant is so important. Positive testimony to this can be borne by mothers who have nursed some of their childi'en themselves, have relegated the nursing of others to attendants, and have observed both in later life. Similarly, mothers also know that the first smile of the child marks a very definite epoch in the child's life and development; that it is the expression, at least, of the first physical finding- of-self {Sich-Selbst-finden8\ and may be much morCo For that first smile originates not only in the physical feeling of his individuality, but in a still higher physical feeling of community between mother and child ; then almost exclusive activity of the child is to take in hosts of impressions through the senses, of which the eye is the chief one. — Tr. ESSENCE OF RELIGION. 25 with father and brothers and sisters ; and, later, between these and humanity on the one hand and the child on the other. § 21. This feeling of community, first uniting the child with mother, father, brothers, and sisters, and rest- ing on a higher spiritual unity, to which, later on, is added the unmistakable discovery that father, mother, brothers, sisters, human beings in general, feel and know themselves to be in community and unity with a higher principle — with humanity, with God — this feeling of community is the very first germ, the very first begin- ning of all true religious spirit, of all genuine yearning for unhindered unification with the Eternal, with God. Genuine and true, living religion, reliable in danger and struggles, in times of oppression and need, in joy and pleasure, must come to man in his infancy; for the Divine Spirit that lives and is manifest in the finite, in man, has an early though dim feeling of its divine ori- gin ; and this vague sentiment, this exceedingly misty feeling, should be fostered, strengthened, nurtured, and, later on, raised into full consciousness, into clear appre- hension. It is, therefore, not only a touching sight for the quiet and unseen observer, but productive of eternal blessings for the child, when the mother lays the sleep- ing infant upon his couch with an intensely loving, soul- ful look to their heavenly Father, praying him for fatherly protection and loving care. It is not only touching and greatly pleasing, but highly important and full of blessings for the whole present and later hfe of the child, when the mother, with a look full of joy and gratitude toward the heav- 26 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. enly Father, and tbanking him for rest and new vigor, lifts from his couch the awakened child, radiant with joyous smiles ; nay, for the whole time of the related life between child and mother this exerts the happiest influence. Therefore, the true mother is loath to let another put the sleeping child to bed, or to take from it the awakened child. The child thus cared for by his mother is well-condi- tioned in a human, earthly, and heavenly point of view. Prayer gives peace ; * through God man rests in God, the beginning and end of all created things. If father and mother would give to their children, as the choicest portion for life, this never-failing hold, this ever-steady point of support, parent and child must ever be in intimate inner and outer unity, when in prayer — in the silent chamber or in open nature — they feel and acknowledge themselves to be in union with their God and Father. Let no one say, " The children will not understand it," for thereby he deprives them of their greatest good. If only they are not already degenerate, if only they are not already too much estranged from themselves and their parents, they un- derstand it, and will understand it : they understand it not through and in the thought, but through and in the heart. Eeligious spirit, a fervid life in God and with God, in all conditions and circumstances of life and of the human mind, will hardly, in later years, rise to full vigorous life, if it has not grown up with man from his infancy. On the other hand, a religious spirit thus fos- tered and nursed (from early infancy) will rise supreme * Gehet Z-c^^e^— literally, prayer gives a bed — another of Froebel's plays on words. — Tr. CONTINUITY OF GROWTH. 27 in all storms and dangers of life. This is the fruit of earlier and earliest religious example on the part of the parents, even when the child does not seem to notice it or to understand it. Indeed, this is the case with all living parental example (see § 60). § 22. Not only in regard to the cultivation of the divine and religious elements in man, but in his entire cultivation, it is highly important that his development should proceed continuously from ane point, and that this continuous progress be seen and ever guarded. Sharp limits and detinite subdivisions within the con- tinuous series of the years of development, withdrawing from attention the permanent continuity, the living con- nection, the inner living essence, are therefore highly pernicious, and even destructive in their influence. Thus, it is highly pernicious to consider the stages of human development — infant, child, boy or girl, youth or maiden, man or woman, old man or matron — as really distinct, and not, as life shows them, as continuous in themselves, in unbroken transitions ; highly pernicions to consider the child or boy as something wholly differ- ent from the youth or man, and as something so distinct that the common foundation {Jmman hemg) is seen but vaguely in the idea and word, and scarcely at all con- sidered in life and for life. And yet this is the actual condition of affairs ; for, if we consider common speech and life as it actually is, how wholly distinct do the child and the boy appear ! Especially do the later stages speak of the earlier ones as something quite foreign, wholly different from them ; the boy has ceased to see in himself the child, and fails to see in the child the boy ; the youth no longer sees in himself the boy and 28 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. the child, nor does he see m these the youth — with affected superiority he scorns them ; and, most perni- cious of all, the adult man no longer iinds in himself the infant, the child, the boy, the youth, the earlier stages of development, nor in these the coming adult man, but speaks of the child, the boy, and the youth as of wholly different beings, with wholly different natures and tendencies. These definite subdivisions and sharp limitations have their origin in the want of early and continuously growing attention to the development and self-observa- tion of his own life. 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 subdivisions and limitations. Suffice it to say that only rare inner force can break through the limits set up around the human being by those who influence him. Even this can be accomplished only by a violent effort that threatens to destroy, or, at least, to check and dis- turb, other phases of development. Therefore, there is throughout life somewhat of violence in the actions of a man who has done this at any stage of his develop- ment. How different could this be in every respect, if par- ents 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 ! Parents are espe- CONTINUITY OF GROWTH. 20 ciallj prone to overlook and disregard this. "WTien the human being has reached the age of bojhood, they look upon him as a boy; when he has reached the age of youth or manhood, they take him to be a youth or a man. Yet the boy has not become a boy, nor has the youth become a youth, by reaching a certain age, but only by having lived through childhood, and, further on, through boyhood, true to the requirements of his mind, his feelings, and his body ; similarly, adult man has not become an adult man by reaching a certain age, but only by faithfully satisfying the requirements of his childhood, boyhood, and youth. Parents and fathers, in other respects quite sensible and efficient, expect not only that tlie child should begin to show himself a boy or a youth, but, more particularly, that the boy, at least, should show himseK a man, that in all his conduct he should be a man, thus jumping the stages of boyhood and youth. To see and respect in the child and boy the germ and promise of the coming youth and man is very different from considering and treating him as if he were already a man ; very different from asking the child or boy to show himself a youth or man ; to feel, to think, and to conduct himself as a youth or a man. Parents who ask this overlook and forget that they themselves became mature and efficient only in so far as they lived through the various stages in natural suc- cession and in certain relationships which they would have their child to forego (see § 28). This disregard of the value of earlier, and particu- larly of the earliest, stages of development with, refer- ence to later ones, prepares for the future teacher and educator of the boy difficulties which it will be scarcely 80 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. possible to overcome. In the lirst place, the boy so con* ditioned has also a notion that it is possible for him to do wholly without the instruction and training of the preceding stage of development ; in the second place, he is much injured and weakened by having placed be- fore himself, at an early period, an extraneous aim for imitation and exertion, such as preparation for a certain calling or sphere of activity. The chlld^ the hoy, man, indeed, should know no other endeavor but to he at every stage of development wholly what this stage calls for. Then will each successive stage spring like a new shoot from a healthy bud ; and, at each successive stage, he will with the same endeavor again accomplish the re- quirements of this stage : for only the adequate develop^ ment of man at each preceding stage can effect and bring about adequate development at each succeeding later stage. § 23. It is especially needful to consider this in the development and cultivation of human activity for the pursuits of practical mdustry. At present the popular notions of work and the pur- suits of practical industry are wholly false, superficial, untenable, oppressive, debasing, devoid of all elements of life. God creates and works productively in uninter- rupted continuity. Each thought of God is a work, a deed, a product ; and each thought of God continues to work with creative power in endless productive activity to all eternity. Let him who has not seen this behold Jesus in his life and works ; let him behold genuine life and work in man ; let him, if he truly lives, behold his own life and work. CREATIVENESS. 31 The Spirit of God hovered over chaos, and moved it ; and stones and plants, beasts and man took form and separate being and life. God created man in his own image ; therefore^ man should create and hring forth like God. His spirit, the spirit of man, should hover over the shapeless, and move it that it may take shape and form, a distinct being and life of its own. This is the high meaning, the deep significance, the great purpose of work and industry, of productive and creative activity. We become truly godlike in dili- gence and industry, in working and doing, which are accompanied by the clear perception or even by the vaguest feeling that thereby we represent the inner in the outer; that we give body to spirit, and form to thought ; that we render visible the invisible ; that we impart an outward, finite, transient being to life in the spirit. Through this godlikeness we rise more and more to a true knowledge of God, to insight into his Spirit ; and thus, inwardly and outwardly, God comes ever nearer to us. Therefore, Jesus so truly says in this connection of the poor, " Theirs is the kingdom of heaven," if they could but see and know it and practice it in diligence and industry, in productive and creative work. Of children, too, is the kingdom of heaven ; for, unchecked by the presumption and conceit of adults, they yield themselves in childlike trust and cheerful- ness to their formative and creative instinct (see § 49). [How deeply Froebel valued the creative activity, and how con- stantly he studied to keep it from degenerating into destructive- ness, appears from the account of " a visit to Froebel,'' by Bormann. He writes, in speaking of the building-games: "Two things seemed to me particularly interesting and significant. Froebel never per- mitted the children to destroy an old form built by them for the 32 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. sake of building a new one with the same material, but insisted that the new formations should be made (by suitable changes) from the old ones. Thus he avoids haste, and awakens thoughtfulness and patience, and, on the other hand, inspires respect for existing things, and teaches at an early period not to build from the ruins of de- stroyed things, but to build up in an orderly manner from the things that are."— T^r.J The debasing illusion that man works, produces, creates only in order to preserve his body, in order to secure food, clothing, and shelter, may have to be en- dured, but should not be diffused and propagated. Pri- marily and in truth man works only that his spiritual, divine essence may assume outward form, and that thus he may be enabled to recognize his own spiritual, divine nature and the innermost being of God. What- ever food, clothing, and shelter he obtains thereby comes to him as an insignificant surplus. Therefore Jesus says, " Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven," i. e., the realization of the divine spirit in your life and through your life, and whatever else your finite life may require will be added unto you. Again, Jesus says, "My meat is to do the will of him who sent me," to work and accomplish whatever God has enjoined me to do and as he has enjoined me to do. Thus the lilies of the field — which, in the ordhiary human sense, do not toil — are clothed by God more splendidly than Solomon in all his glory. But does not the lily put forth leaves and blossoms ; does it not in its whole outward being reveal the inner being of God? The fowls of the air, in a human sense, neither sow nor toil, but do they not in their song, in tlie building "THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN." 33 of their nests, in all their manifold and varied actions, reveal the spirit and life which God has put into them ? And God feeds and keeps them. Thus should man learn from the lilies of the field and from the fowls of the air to reveal in his outward work and deeds — however small and trifling, or great and weighty they may be at the time — the spirit that God has breathed into him, as place and time, po- sition or calling in life may require. Then his suste- nance will take care of itself. God will show him a hundred ways ; his intelligence will surely always indi- cate to him within himself or in his surroundings one way or means — and what more does he need ? — to sat- isfy his earthly necessities. And if all about him should fail him, he has left within himself — not only undimin- ished, but, indeed, developed in a higher degree — the divine power of allaying want by patient endurance. Now, all spiritual effects as finite manifestations sup- pose a succession of time and events. If, therefore, at any time in his life man has neglected to respect in the use of his powers their divine nature and to exalt them to work, or, at least, to develop them for work, he will necessarily and unavoidably be overtaken by want in proportion to his neglect. At least, he will not, at some time, reap what he could have reaped, had he, in the use of his powers, in his calling, always respected their divine nature ; for, in accordance with the earthly and universal laws under which we live, the results of that neglected activity would have appeared at some time. Now, if the activity was neglected, how can its results appear ? If, then, at any time such want over- take hiia, man has no other alternative than to let the 34 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. Becond side of his spiritual power, renunciation and endurance, come into play in order to allay the want, and to labor most diligently in order to avoid all similar want for the future. The young, growing human being should, therefore, be trained early for outer work, for creative and pro- ductive activity. For this there exists a double reason, an inner and an outer requirement ; and the former, in- asmuch as it includes the latter, is of the greatest im- portance and eternal. The requirement is supported, too, by the nature of man as such (see § 87). The activity of the senses and limbs of the infant is the first germ, the first bodily activity, the bud, the first formative impulse; play, building, modeling are the first tender blossoms of youth (see § 30) ; and this is the period when man is to be prepared for future industry, diligence, and productive activity. Every child, boy, and youth, whatever his condition or position in life, should devote daily at least one or two hours to some serious activity in the production of some definite ex- ternal piece of work. Lessons through and by work, through and from life, are by far the most impressive and intelligible, and most continuously and intensely progressive both in themselves and in their effect on the learner. [N^otwithstanding this, children — mankind, in- deed — are at present too much and too variously con- cerned with aimless and purposeless pursuits, and too little with work. Children and parents consider the activity of actual work so much to their disadvantage, and so unimportant for their future conditions in life, that educational institutions should make it one of their most constant endeavors to dispel this delusion. The RELIGION, INDUSTRY, TEMPERANCE. 35 domestic and scholastic education of oiir time leads cliildren to indolence and laziness; a vast amount of human power thereby remains undeveloped and is lost. It would be a most wholesome arrangement in schools to establisli actual working hours similar to the existing study hours ; and it will surely come to this. By the current practice of using his powers so sparingly and in reference only to outer requirements, man has lost their inner and outer measure, and, therefore, fails adequately to know, appreciate, respect, and faithfully guard them. As for religion, so, too, for industry^ early cultivation is highly im2:)ortant. Early work, guided in accordance with its inner meaning, confirms and elevates religion. Religion without industry, without work, is liable to be lost in empty dreams, worthless visions, idle fancies. Similarly, work or industry without religion degrades man into a beast of burden, a machine. Work and re- ligion must be simultaneous ; for God, the Eternal, has been creating from all eternity. Were this fully recog- nized, were men thoroughly impressed with this truth, were they to act and work in conformity to it in life, what a height could mankind soon attain ! Yet human power should be developed, cultivated, and manifested, not only in inner repose, as reKgion and religious spirit ; not only in outward efficiency, as work and industry ; but also — withdrawing upon itself and its own resources — in abstinence, temperance, and frugality. Is it needful to do more than indicate this to a human being not wholly at variance with himself? Where religion^ industry^ and temperance, the truly undivided trinity, rule in harmony, in true pristine unity, there, 36 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. indeed, is heaven upon earth— peace, joy, salvation, grace, blessedness. Thus is seen in the child man as a whole ; thus the unity of humanity and of man appears in childhood; thus the whole future activity of man has its germs in the child. And it can not be otherwise. If we would develop man and in him humanity as a whole, we must view him even in the child as a unit and in all his earthly relations. Now, since unity in the finite mani- festations implies diversity, and since all all-sidedncss in the finite manifestations implies a succession in time, the world and life are unfolded for the child and in the child in diversity and succession. Similarly, powers and tendencies, the activities of the senses and limbs, should be developed in the order in which they appear in the child. [Froebel's demand for manual training in education has been adopted quite generally. However, the utterances of this need relate largely to industrial considerations. It is claimed that the chiefly literary character of school education does not meet the demands of the world's industrial interests ; that there is a dearth of talent and skill in industrial pursuits, and a consequent excess of applicants for the learned professions and for commercial and clerical work ; that labor is shunned as degrading, instead of being sought as ennobling ; and that consequently pauperism and crime, as the results of enforced idleness, are on the increase. There is much force in these claims, and, unquestionably, man- ual training will do much to meet the evils they disclose. Yet the need of manual training as an educational factor lies deeper — in the demand for full, all-sided development in all relations of life. In this sense manual training is as much a need of the professional and literary man, of the merchant and clerk, of the capitalist and land- owner, as it is of the artist and artisan, of the laborer and farmer; as much a need of woman as it is of man : its need rests on the im- m^anent being of man more than on a transient industrial need. MANUAL TRAIXIXG. 37 It has long been conceded that experience, and, primarily, direct personal experience, furnishes the material for human insight and conduct. Until quite lately, however, the school has recognized this fact only in the in-leading processes of intellectual growth, which are now largely based on direct personal contact with things and life. In the out-leading processes of intellectual growth, in the ex- pression of ideas, the school is still satisfied with words and ignores the value of things ; it recognizes, indeed, the debt of gratitude the intellect owes to the reflex influence which comes from efforts to formulate knowledge in words, but neglects the plastic expression of ideas by the hands which hold to their formulation in words the same relation that things hold to symbols in impression. Thus, in the study of the cube, the child will probably first see the cube, handle it, use it in his plays, and thus gain many notions concerning its shape. These may be expressed in words, and plas- tically in clay. Both modes of expression will react favorably upon the child's idea of the shape; but thejefforts at plastic representation will be found much more effectual in clearing the idea of inaccura- cies and imperfections. At every step the child has opportunities to compare the representation of his idea with the idea and with the original, to correct faults and to supply omissions. While, therefore, this manual training gives skill for industrial pursuits, and lifts work to a high place in the respect and gratitude of the child, it supplies imperative needs of permanent self-expansion as no other educational agency can do. Of course, this manual train- ing should adapt the material of work to the capacities and needs of the little workers, so that it may yield readily to their limited skill, adapt itself without worry to their aims, and thus secure for manual expression an automatism similar to that of speech. Again, the ex- ternal products of this manual training are more symbolical than practical — the real product lies in the child. In this it passes beyond mere industrial training, whose products are chiefly practical and external. Similarly, this manual training would lead beyond the mere artisanship of industrial training to true creative art. With proper guidance this systematic manual training becomes the most powerful agency in securing for the pupil the habit of suc- cess, a calm sense of power, a firm conviction of mastership, which are so essential to fullness of life, and almost indispensable to the success of the school. That Froebel, in his recommendations of the school workshop, 5 38 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. was guided by these larger views, appears from his announcement of the Volkserziehimgsanstalt at Helba, a project which he, unfortu- nately, never realized. This announcement was made in 1829, in the full flush of the hopes kindled in Froebel's breast by the recently won favor of the Duke of Meiningen. In the announcement he writes : " The institution will be fundamental, inasmuch as in training and instruction it will rest on the foundation from which proceed all genuine knowledge and all genuine practical attainments; it will rest on life itself and on creative effort, on the union and interde- pendence of doi7ig and thinking, representation and kno^rledge, art and sciefice. The institution will base its work on the pupil's per- sonal efforts in work and expression, making these, again, the foun- dation of all genuine knowledge and culture. Joined with thought- fulness, these efforts become a direct medium of culture ; joined with reasoning, they become a direct means of instruction, and thus make of work a true subject of instruction." Froebel proposed to devote the forenoon to instruction in the current subjects of school study, and the afternoon to work in the field, the garden, the forest, in and around the house. His list of occupations comprised the preparation of wood for the kitchen and the furnace ; the making of simple wooden kitchen utensils ; the weaving and binding of mats for the table and for the floor ; the binding of books and the ruling of slates and practice-paper ; the making of a variety of collections of objects of nature and art, and of suitable boxes for these objects ; the care of the garden, the orchard, the field ; the plaiting of straw mats for the hot-beds, and basket- making ; the care of pigeons, chickens, ducks, etc. ; the preparation of artistic and geometrical forms with paper in foldhig. cutting, and mounting, pricking, weaving, interlacing, etc. ; the use of paste- board in the making of stars, wheels, boxes, napkin-rings, card- baskets, lamp-shades, etc. ; play with splints, tablets, sticks and peas ; the whittling of boats, windmills, water-wheels, etc. ; the making of chains and baskets from flexible wire ; modeling with clay ; draw- ing and painting ; and many other things. Froebel's project failed ; yet much of the seed he had scattered broadcast had fallen on good soil. A stray grain had taken root in distant Finland, where, in 1866, Cygnaeus, an ardent admirer of Froebel, introduced slojd (wood-work) as an obligatory branch of in- struction in the schools of his country. The success of Finland aroused Sweden, and brought support to Clausen-Kaas in Denmark. SCHOOL WORKSHOPS. 39 In 1875 this man was invited by admirers of Froebel to visit Dresden to bring to them a gospel vi^hich Germany is gradually recognizing as the neglected gift of one of her own sons. In the mean while the thought had found an earnest advocate in Dr. Schwab, at Vienna, through whose vigorous agitation Austria-Hungary is dotted all over with school gardens and school workshops ; and in 1882 France decreed that in her common schools " boys and girls shall devote two or three hours per week to instruction in manual work {travaux manuels)." In the further special directions for carrying out this law in the schools of France, the following points are of interest : Boys from seven to nine years old are to be instructed in manual exercises to develop manual dexterity, in cutting geometrical figures from paste- board, in basket-making, in modeling geometrical figures and simple objects ; boys from nine to eleven years old are to be taught the manufacture of pasteboard articles to be covered with glazed paper, in bending and plaiting iron wire, in the manufacture of objects from wire and wood (e. g., bird-cages), in the modeling of architect- ural ornaments, in the use of the commonest tools ; boys from eleven to thirteen years old have practice in drawing and modeling, in the use of tools for working in wood (planes, saws, simple joints, turn- ing-lathes), and in the use of the file and other tools for smoothing metal casts and working in iron. In all these cases the educational influence of work as a crea- tive and expressional activity constitutes the chief consideration. They look to the establishment of true school workshops, i. e., work- shops that serve the purposes of the school, which center in the ade- quate development of the physical and psychical powers of a com- plete human being, destined to the mastership of inner and outer life. They differ in this respect from manual training-schools, technical schools, industrial schools of all names, whose specific aim is prepa- ration for efficiency in engineering or industrial pursuits. Of course, in the latter, too, the work will not be without educational influence, but this is a secondary consideration of little moment compared with the specific objects of the schools in question. Schools of this character existed in all the countries named above long before the introduction of the school workshop as an adjunct of the common school— TV.] II. MAN IN THE PERIOD OF EARLIEST CHILD- HOOD. § 24. Although in itself at all times made up of the same objects and of the same organization, the external world comes to the child at first out of its void — as it were, in misty, formless indistinctness, in chaotic confu- sion — even the child and the outer world merge into each other. At an early period there come, too, on the part of the parents, corresponding words which at first separate the child from the outer world, but afterward reunite them. With the help of these words, these objects present themselves, at first singly and rarely, but later in various combinations and more frequently, in their self-contained fixed individuality. At last man — the child — beholds himself as a definite individual ob- ject, wholly distinct from all others. Thus, in the mind of man, in the history of his mental development, in the growth of his consciousness, in the experience of every child from the time of his appearance on earth to the time when he consciously beholds himself in the garden of Eden, in beautiful na- ture spread out before him, there is repeated the history of the creation and development of all things, as the MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 41 holy books relate it. Similarly, in each child there is repeated at a later period the deed which marks the beginning of moral and human emancipation, of the dawn of reason — essentially the same deed that marked, and, inasmuch as the race was destined for freedom, must mark, the moral and human emancipation, the dawn of reason in the race as a whole. Every human being who is attentive to his own de- velopment may thus recognize and study in himself the history of the development of the race to the point it may have reached, or to any fixed point. For this pur- pose he should view his own life and that of others at all its stages as a continuous whole, developing in ac- cordance with divine laws. Only in this way can man reach an understanding of history, of the history of human development as well as of himself, the history and phenomena, the events of his own development, the history of his o\vn heart, of his own feelings and thoughts ; only in this way can he learn to understand others ; only in this way can parents hope to understand their child (see § IG). [Of course, this is to be taken in a general sense. Froebel's idea is not that each human being must imitate the various phases of human development from savagery to present civilization, and labori- ously wade through the grossness, ignorance, and wickedness of past generations to the refinement, culture, and good-will of our day. Froebel's thought is, ratlier, that the various instincts and tenden- cies of life are developed in each human being in the same general order in which we find them developed in humanity as a whole. This is amply illustrated in the pages of this work, and needs no ad- ditional elucidation. (See also note, § 16.) — Tr.] § 25. To make the internal external, and the extern nal internal, to find the unity for both, this is the gen- 42 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. eral external form in which man's destiny is expressed (see § 14). Therefore, every external object comes to man with the invitation to determine its nature and. re lationships. For this he has his senses, the organs that enable him to meet that invitation. This is exhaustively indicated in the word S-iiin (sense), or ^elf -active mter- nalization.* Every thing and every being, however, comes to be known only as it is connected with the opposite of its kind, and as its unity, its agreement with this opposite, its equation with reference to this is discovered ; and the completeness of this knowledge depends upon the completeness of this connection with the respective opposite, and upon the complete discovery of the con- necting thought or link. [The law of the connection of contrasts Froebel designates vari- ously as the law of development and as the law of unification. To Fichte and Hegel this is a law of mere thought ; to Froebel it is more a law of life. In a lettei to Krause, written in 1828, he states this quite clearly in these words : " I see the simple course of devel- opment progressing from analysis to synthesis, which appears in pure thought, also in the development of every living thing." When, in 1850, Poesche and Benfey in his presence compared this law with Fichte's law of the idealistic constitution of things, and with Hegei's dialectic method, he said : " It is both of these, and yet has nothing in common with either of them ; it is the law which the contemplation of nature has taught me, and which I offer to chil- dren to guide them in their development." The high place it occu- pied in his life he revealed to Diesterweg in 1849 : " The pantheistic view of life belongs to the past : we see no longer an inseparable One, but a Three. Trinity has become a corner-stone which people had rejected because they did not understand its meaning. To eyes that can see, the trinity of God is manifest in all his works. Do * A play on the word Sinn and ^elbsthatige Iss-erUchmachung (sense and self-active internalization). — Tr. LAW OF CONTRASTS. 43 we not everywhere see the Three in contrasts and their connectionf And where do we find absolute contrasts, contrasts (opposites) that have not somewhere or somehow a connection? In action and re- action the contrasts that we see everywhere give rise to the motions in the universe as they do in the smallest organism. This implies for all development a struggle^ which, however, sooner or later will find its adjustment : and this adjustment is the connection of con- trasts resulting in harmony among all the parts of the whole." A comparatively concise statement of the principal applications of this law in education will be found in the italicized words near the close of § 14. A favorite external illustration of this law Froebel finds in his Second Gift, consisting of the ball, cube, and cylinder. The ball and cube are clear contrasts ; they represent the one and the many (in the faces), rest and motion, straight and curved. They find their connection in the cylinder, which has one curved face on which it mores, and many (two) straight faces on which it rests. In his Ham- burg lectures of 1849 he furnishes the following systematic presenta- tion of all development, in which (— ) designates fixed or constant, and (+) fluid or variable elements, and (±) the connection of the two: Nature. Matter. I Spirit. I ± Development. Development of macrocosm. Development Development of the of the inorganic world, organic world. I 1 — + Absolute Air and earthy water matter (solid). (fluid). I ± Chemical com- bination. (Life of the inorganic world.) I De- veloped earthy matter. I + Light and heat. ± Growth. Development of microcosm. Development of the body. Development of the mind. Impres- Reaction Impression Reaction sion (action) from the outer world. of the organ- I ± Central life- Self- mobility. (action) of the of the mind organism (feeling— (experience know- — sensation). ing). i ± Will— Action- Conduct. u THE EDUCATION OF MAN. Development of experience. Mind. I Development of knowledge. I III — + — + Impression Fixing Per- Abstrac- from of the cept. tion. without, impression. I I I I I ± Percept. Concept-idea. Development of peace. Contem- plation. ± Faith. Development of feeling. Belief. Peace. I + Joy. ± Freedom, In a highly instructive paper on this subject, Dr. Hohlfeld gives the following account of contrasts and their mediation or connec- tion : In their qualify, the terms of a contrast are either both affirma- tive (contrary), such as man and woman, science and art, God and world, or only one of the terms is affirmative, the other negative (contradictory), such as yes and no, ego and non-ego, good and not- good. The latter exist only in abstraction ; the contradictory con- trast simply comprehends in a convenient fashion the sum of all the contrary contrasts of a given idea. Thus the non-ego comprehends all existence with the exception of the ego. In their direction, the terms of a contrast are either right or oblique. Of these the former are either co-ordinate or suh-ordinate. Nature and mind, man and woman, art and science are co-ordinate conti:asts. In the contrast of God and world, whole and part, body and member, the second term is subordinate to the first. Man and animal, animal and plant, science and a particular art, are oblique contrasts. In their modality, contrasts are temporal, eternal, or combine the two. The " mediation," or connection, of contrasts is either direct or indirect (true " mediation "), and the former is either more external or rnore internal. Examples of more external direct contrasts we have in the combination of a horizonta] and vertical line into a right angle or a right cross, and in the juxtaposition of blue and red. Examples of more internal contrasts we have in the slanting line which partakes of both the horizontal and vertical direction, in the mixture of blue and red into violet, in the combination of sulphur and mercury into cinnabar. These inner direct connections are ex- cellent "mediating" links between the simple terms of the con- ORDER OF SENSES. 4.5 trasts. Thus, slanting mediates between horizontal and vertical, violet between blue and red, etc. — Tr.] § 26. The objects of the external world present themselves to man in a more or less solid, liquid, or gaseous condition. Accordingly, man finds himself en- dowed with senses that apprehend more or less fully the soKd, liquid, or gaseous conditions. Again, every object comes to man in a state of pre- dominating rest or motion; and, accordingly, each of these senses is again distributed between two distinct organs, of which one is fitted more to give a knowledge of objects at rest, and the other to give a knowledge of objects in motion. Thus the sense for the gaseous (aeriform) is distributed between the eye and the ear, the sense for the liquid between the organs of taste and Binell, the sense for the solid between the organs of feeling and touch.* In accordance with the law of contrasts in the de- velopment of knowledge, the sense of hearing is the lirst to be developed in the child ; later on, there fol- lows, guided and incited by hearing, the sense of sight. The development of these two senses in the child, then, enables parents and attendants to establish a most inti- mate union between objects and their opposites, wo?rIs and symhols, connecting them into one, as it were, thus leading the child to see and, later on, to know tliem. [Concerning the order of development of the senses, Froeljel's position may require modification. Darwin's child "had his eyes fixed on a candle as early as the ninth day, and up to the forty-fifth * The sense of feeling determines the temperature and mere contact presence, that of touch the hardness and smoothness of a body.— 2>'. 4,Q THE EDUCATION OF MAN. day nothing else seemed thus to fix them"; "on the forty-ninth day his attention was attracted by a bright-colored tassel, as was shown by his eyes becoming fixed and the movements of his arms ceasing." It is true that " during the first fortnight he often started on hearing any sudden sound," and once, when he was sixty-six days old, he was f riglitened into nervous crying by his father's sneezing ; but these were probably reflex movements, and had little to do with true hearing, for, even when one hundred and twenty-four days old, he found it difiicult " to recognize whence a sound proceeded." AH this would indicate that, in time of development, sight had the pre- cedence. , Mr. Champneys reports that his child had his eyes fixed on a candle when a week old ; not until the fourteenth day did he turn to his mother when she spoke to liim, and " even then did "not start at sudden noises, however loud, unless accompanied by jerks or vibrations." M. Taine finds the first positive evidence of true hearing at two and a half months, when the child, "hearing her grandmother's voice, turns her head to the side from which it comes." It will be noticed that all these observers find the test for accomplished hearing in the turning of the head (or eyes) toward the point whence the sound proceeded. This seems to imply that the sense of sight is used as the criterion, and must, therefore, have been previously developed. Preyer found his child decidedly sensitive to light " long befoi'e the lapse of the first day " ; on the second day the eyes were rapidly closed on the approach of a candle ; on the ninth, the head is at the same time energetically averted ; on the tenth day the candle, held at the distance of one metre, is viewed without flinching ; on the eleventh, it is viewed with evidences of pleasure. Color seems to make an impression on the twenty-third day ; and after the firsl month brilliant objects are the signal for exclamations of joy. Con cerning the sense of hearing, Preyer mentions the difficulty of sepa- rating the convulsive movements of the eyelids, due to reflex action from other causes, from similar movements due to sound-impres- sions. Not until the first half of the fourth day can he convince himself that his boy has ceased to be deaf : at this time the clapping of hands close to the child causes him suddenly to open his half- closed eyes ; on the same day whistling near his ears stops his cry- ing ; on the eleventh and twelfth day the father's voice has a sooth- ing effect ; on the twenty-fifth day still less doubtful symptoms of sensitiveness to sound are noticed ; in the sixth week he shows for USE OF LIMBS. 47 the first time appreciation of inusical sound, being soothed by the mother's singing, which he receives with eyes ivide ope?i. Thus, along the entire line, sight seems to be in advance : the child is decidedly sensitive to light on the first day, but, to sound, not before the fourth day ; color impresses the child on the twenty- third day, and musical sound not before the thirty-sixth. Addi- tional proof might be furnished, but this must suffice here. It seems to indicate clearly enough that Froebel's position concerning these two senses is untenable. Later on, however, Preyer shows that to neither of these two senses belongs the first place in the order of development, but that this belongs to the sense of taste, which, even at birth, distinguishes sweet things from bitter, sour, and salt things. Similarly, certain parts of the body, such as the tongue and the lips, are sensitive to contact with external things at birth ; and many observations point to a similar, though less definite, sensitiveness to certain odors. This seems to be in full accord with the biological history of the senses, which shows that they are all differentiations from a general contact sense that pervades the entire mass of the lowest forms of individ- ualized protoplasm. When the senses, however, are once established, it seems natural that in their further development sight, hearing, and specialized touch should take the lead. More than the other senses — taste, smell, and the general contact sense — they enable the human being in his efforts to separate self from not-self for the sake of securing control of the latter. And in this further development, too, sight and touch, leading man further from self in insight, will excel hear- ing in relative importance and development. — Tr.] ^ § 27. Witli the advancing development of the senses, there is developed in the child, simultaneously and symmetrically, the use of the body, of the limbs ; and this, too, in a succession determined by their nature and the properties of corjDoreal objects. External objects are themselves near, at rest, and in^-ite rest; or they are in motion, moving away, and invite seizure, grasping, holding fast ; or they arc fixed in distant places or spaces, and thus invite 48 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. him who would brmg them nearer to move toward them. Thus is developed the use of the limbs in sitting and lying, in grasping and holding, in walking and running. Standing represents the use of the bodj and limbs in their most complete totality ; it is the finding of the center of gravity of the body. This bodily standing is as significant for this stage as the first smile, the physical finding of self, was for the preceding stage, and as moral and religious equi- poise is for the highest stage of human development. At this stage of development the young, growing human being cares for the use of his body, his senses, his limbs, merely for the sake of their use and j^ractice, but not for the sake of the results of this use. lie is wholly indifferent to this ; or, rather, he has as yet no idea whatever of this. For this reason the child at this stage begins to j)lay with his limbs — his hands, his fingers, his lips, his tongue, his feet, as well as with the expression of his eyes and face (see § 30). Now, as has been just indicated, these movements of the face and body are, at first, in no way representa- tions of the interna] in the external ; indeed, this is re- served for the next stage of development. Yet these plays, as the first utterances of the child, should be care- fully observed and watched, lest the child contract habitual bodily and, particularly, faded movements that have no inner meaning (e. g., distortions of the eyes and face), thus inducing at an early period a separation be- tween gestures and feelings, between body and mind, between the inner and the outer. This separation, in ORDER OF SEXSES. 45 trasts. Thus, slanting mediates between horizontal and vertical, violet between blue and red, etc. — Tr.^ § 26. The objects of the external world present themselves to man in a more or less solid, liquid, or gaseous condition. Accordingly, man finds himself en- dowed with senses that apprehend more or less fully the solid, liquid, or gaseous conditions. Again, every object comes to man in a state of pre- dominating rest or motion ; and, accordingly, each of these senses is again distributed between two distinct organs, of which one is fitted more to give a knowledge of objects at rest, and the other to give a knowledge of objects in motion. Thus the sense for the gaseous (aeriform) is distributed between the eye and the ear, the sense for the liquid between the organs of taste and smell, the sense for the soMd between the organs of feeling and touch.* In accordance with the law of contrasts in the de- velopment of knowledge, the sense of hearing is the first to be developed in the child ; later on, there fol- lows, guided and incited by hearing, the sense of sight. The development of these two senses in the child, then, enables parents and attendants to establish a most inti- mate union between objects and their opposites, words and symhols^ connecting" them into one, as it were, thus leading the child to sqb and, later on, to know them. [Concerning the order of development of the senses, Froebel's position may require modification. Darwin's child "had his eyes fixed on a candle as early as the ninth day, and up to the forty-fifth * The sense of feeling determines the temperature and mere contact presence, that of touch the hardness aud smoothness of a body. — Tr. 46 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. day nothing else seemed thus to fix them " ; " on the forty-ninth day his attention was attracted by a bright-colored tassel, as was shown by his eyes becoming fixed and the movements of his arms ceasing." It is true that " during the first fortnight he often started on hearing any sudden sound," and once, when he was sixty-six days old, he was frightened into nervous crying by his father's sneezing ; but these were probably reflex movements, and had little to do with true hearing, for, even when one hundred and twenty-four days old, he found it difficult " to recognize whence a sound proceeded." All this would indicate that, in time of development, sight had the pre- cedence. Mr. Champneys reports that his child had his eyes fixed on a candle when a week old ; not until the fourteenth day did he turn to his mother when she spoke to him, and " even then did not start at sudden noises, however loud, unless accompanied by jerks or vibrations." M. Taine finds the first positive evidence of true hearing at two and a half months, when the child, "hearing her grandmother's voice, turns her head to the side from which it comes." It will be noticed that all these observers find the test for accomplished hearing in the turning of the head (or eyes) toward the point whence the sound proceeded. This seems to imply that the sense of sight is used as the criterion, and must, therefore, have been previously developed. Preyer found his child decidedly sensitive to light " long befoi-e the lapse of the first day " ; on the second day the eyes were rapidly closed on the approach of a candle ; on the ninth, the head is at the same time energetically averted ; on the tenth day the candle, held at the distance of one metre, is viewed without flinching ; on the eleventh, it is viewed with evidences of pleasure. Color seems to make an impression on the twenty-third day ; and after the first month brilliant objects are the signal for exclamations of joy. Con cerning the sense of hearing, Preyer mentions the difficulty of separ rating the convulsive movements of the eyelids, due to refiex action from other causes, from similar movements due to sound-impres- sions. Not until the first half of the fourth day can he convince himself that his boy has ceased to be deaf : at this time the clapping of hands close to the child causes him suddenly to open his half- closed eyes ; on the same day whistling near his ears stops his cry- ing ; on the eleventh and twelfth day the father's voice has a sooth- ing effect ; on the twenty-fifth day still less doubtful symptoms ot sensitiveness to sound are noticed ; in the sixth week he shows for USE OF LIMBS. 4,7 the first time appreciation of musical sound, being soothed by the mother's singing, which he receives with eyes wide open. Thus, along the entire line, sight seems to be in advance : the child is decidedly sensitive to light on the first day, but, to sound, not before the fourth day ; color impresses the child on the twenty- third day, and musical sound not before the thirty-sixth. Addi- tional proof might be furnished, but this must sufiice here. It seems to indicate clearly enough that Froebel's position concerning these two senses is untenable. Later on, however, Preyer shows that to neither of these two senses belongs the first place in the order of development, but that this belongs to the sense of taste, which, even at birth, distinguishes sweet things from bitter, sour, and salt things. Similarly, certain parts of the body, such as the tongue and the lips, are sensitive to contact with external thmgs at birth ; and many observations point to a similar, though less definite, sensitiveness to certain odors. This seems to be in full accord with the biological history of the senses, which shows that they are all differentiations from a general contact sense that pervades the entire mass of the lowest forms of individ- ualized protoplasm. When the senses, however, are once established, it seems natural that in their further development sight, hearing, and specialized touch should take the lead. More than the other senses — taste, smell, and the general contact sense — they enable the human being in his efforts to separate self from not-self for the sake of securing control of the latter. And in this further development, too, sight and touch, leading man further from self in insight, will excel hear- ing in relative importance and development. — Tr.1 § 27. With the advancing development of the senses, there is developed in the child, simultaneously and symmetrically, the use of the body, of the limbs ; and this, too, in a succession determined by their nature and the properties of corporeal objects. External objects are themselves near, at rest, and invite rest; or they are in motion, moving away, and invite seizure, grasping, holding fast; or they are fixed in distant places or spaces, and thus invite 4S THE EDUCATION OF MAN. liim who would bring them nearer to move toward them. Thus is developed the use of the limbs in sitting and lying, in grasping and holding, in walkmg and running. Standing represents the use of the body and limbs in their most complete totality ; it is the finding of the center of gravity of the body. This bodily standing is as significant for this stage as the first smile, the physical finding of self, was for the preceding stage, and as moral and religious equi- poise is for the highest stage of human development. At this stage of development the young, growing human being cares for the use of his body, his senses, his limbs, merely for the sake of their use and practice, but not for the sake of the results of this use. He is wholly indifferent to this ; or, rather, he has as yet no idea whatever of this. For this reason the child at this stage begins to play with his limbs — his hands, his fingers, his lips, his tongue, his feet, as well as with the expression of his eyes and face (see § 30). Now, as has been just indicated, these movements of the face and body are, at first, in no way representa- tions of the internal in the external ; indeed, this is re- served for the next stage of development. Yet these j)lays, as the first utterances of the child, should be care- fully observed and watched, lest the child contract habitual bodily and, particularly, facial movements that have no inner meaning (e. g., distortions of the eyes and face), thus inducing at an early period a separation be- tween gestures and feelings, between body and mind, between the inner and the outer. This separation, in BEGINNING OF CHILDHOOD. 49 its turn, might lead either to hypocrisy or to the forma- tion of habitual movements and manners which refuse obedience to the will and accompany man like a mask through all his life. From a very early period, therefore, children should never be left too long to themselves on beds or in cradles without some external object to occupy them. This precaution is needful, too, in order to avoid bodily enervation, which necessarily gives rise to mental enerva- tion and weakness. In order to avoid this enervation, the bed of children should from the beginning, from the very first moment, not be too soft. It should consist of pillows of hay, sea-grass, fine straw, chaff, or, possibly, horse-hair, but never of feathers. So, too, the child should be but lightly covered while asleep, securing for it the influ- ence of fresh air. In order to avoid leaving the child on its bed men- tally unoccupied while going to sleep, and, still more, just after waking, it is advisable to suspend in a line with the child's natural vision, a swinging cage with a lively bird.* This secures occupation for the senses and the mind, profitable in many directions. § 28. As soon as the activity of the senses, of the body and the limbs is developed to such a degree that the child begins self -actively to represent the internal outwardly, the stage of infancy in human development ceases, and the stage of ehildhood begins. * The women of Appenzell, naturally great lovers of liberty, substi- tuted for this an artificial bird cut from bright-colored paper. Froebel himself, at a later period, proposed the substitution of the balls of the first gift.— 7>. 50 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. Up to this stage the inner being of man is still un- organized, undifferentiated. With language, the expression and representation of the internal begin ; with language, organization, or a differentiation with reference to ends and means, sets in. The inner being is organized, differentiated, and strives to make itself known {Kund thun), to announce itself (jQvhundigQn) externally. The human being strives by his own self -active power to represent his inner being outwardly, in permanent form and with solid material ; and this tendency is expressed fully in the word Kind (child), K-in-d^"^ which designates this stage of develop- ment. At this stage of childhood — when there become manifest the tendency and endeavor to represent the inner in and through the outer, and to unite the two, to find the unity that connects them — the actual education of man begins, and attention and watchful care are di- rected less to the body and more to the mind. But man and his education are, at this stage, wholly intrusted to the mother, the father, the family, who, to- gether with the child, constitute a complete, unbroken unity. For language — the medium of representation — audible speaking is at this stage in no way differentiated from the human being. He does not, as yet, know or view it as having a being of its own. Like his arm, his eye, his tongue, it is one with him, and he is uncon- scious of its existence. § 29. However, it is impossible to establish among the various stages of human development and cultiva- * A play on the word Kind^ probably referring back to the words KuND thun and 'verKtsmgen in the same paragraph. — Tr. ' IMPORTANCE OF CHILDHOOD. 51 tlon any definite order with reference to tlieir relative degrees of importance, except the necessary order of succession in their appearance in which the earlier is always the more important. In its place and time each stage is equally important. Nevertheless, inasmuch as it contains the development of the first points of con- nection and union with surrounding persons and things, the first approaches toward their interpretation and un- derstanding, toward the comprehension of their inner being, this stage (of childhood) is of paramount im- portance (see § 22). This stage is, indeed, important, for it matters much to the developing human being w^hether the outer world seem to him noble or ignoble ; low, dead, as a thing made only for the enjoyment of others — to be used, consumed, destroyed, or as having a destiny of its own — high, living, spiritual, animated, and divine ; whether it seem to him pure or impure, ennobling and uplifting, or debasing and oppressive ; whether he see and know things in their true or in false distorted relations. Therefore, the child at this stage should see all things rightly and accurately, and should designate them rightly and accurately, definitely and clearly ; and this applies to things and objects themselves, as well as to their nature and properties. He should properly designate the relations of ob- jects in space and time, as well as mth one another ; give each its proper name or word, and utter each word in itself clearly and distinctly according to its constitu- ent vocal elements. [Mothers and other attendants of children not unfrequently re- tard this unification of language and thought by excessive indul- 52 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. gence in so-called " baby-talk." The child struggles against many difficulties of speech — calls cows, tows; calves, talves ; bread, bed; brown, houm. Fond mothers and attendants find these imperfections of speech so very sweet that they imitate them, .and are loath to have the children lose these charming defects. In the pernicious indul- gence of their selfish delight they even intensify the faults and in- vent new ones, which they force upon the child. Such inventions are hannies, for hands ; hootsy-tootsies, for feet ; pets, mammas, dinks, and other unmeaning plural for corresponding singular forms. In all such cases it is the mother's clear duty to speak plainly and correctly, in order to aid her child in overcoming the troublesome difficulties of speech involved. She need not on this account address her child any less tenderly, fondly, and soothingly. There are, indeed, phases of " baby-talk " that are not open to these objections. These we find in thoughtful efforts to aid the child through judicious adaptation of our efforts to his difficulties. Thus, as soon as the child begins his meaningless monologues, practicing certain sounds, such as tattattatta . . ., appappappapp . . ., dadadada . . ., rrrrrr . . ., the attendants may sometimes carefully join in these exercises. This will probably teach the child to listen to others as well as to himself more attentively, and will hasten the time when he will find himself able to imitate sounds uttered by others. More or less onomatopoetic words may, for a time at least, be received into the legitimate vocabulary of the child. Such words are moo, for cow ; tm-tin, for bell ; tchoo-tchoo, for locomotive, etc. Yet even in these cases the ordinary name should soon be connected regularly with the onomatopoetic name, and at last the latter dropped entirely by the attendants. On the other hand, when the child, in his efforts to imitate the language of his surroundings, fails, saying wah-wah, for water ; shoo- mum, for sugar: Tcean, for clean — the only way to help the child is always to speak the correct words clearly and distinctly. Here there should be no yielding, inasmuch as the peculiarities of the child's speech are due wholly to imperfections of hearing or speaking ; and, so far as the child's attendants are concerned, only persistent purity in their model speech can remove these imperfections. Of course, this does not imply that the attendants should use " big words " or complex forms of expression. On the contrary, the forms should be simple and closely adapted to the child's understanding. Thus the words, "Baby — drink?" "See— dog," "Milk — sweet," accom- BABY-TALK. 53 panied by some deliberate, suitable gesture and a sympathetic coun- tenance, will be solidly helpful to the child without loss of endear- ment and mutual joy. On the other hand, " Does mamma's little darling pet want a drink ? Well, it shall have some. Mamma will give it just all it wants, and more, too," are largely unmeaning chat- ter to the child; only now and then he recognizes a word that arouses in him corresponding thought, as the sea-faring man now and then espies an island in an ocean of water. The observations of E. S. Holden and M. W. Humphreys, which are corroborated by the experience of all thoughtful mothers with whom I have conversed on the subject, indicate that children will learn most readily nouns, and then in their order verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, conjunctions, and prepositions. Professor Hol- den found that at the close of the second year two children had acquired the following vocabulary : Nouns. Verbs. Adjectives. Adverbs. Miscellaneous. Total. First Child: 285 107 34 29 28 483 Second Child: 230 90 37 17 25 399 He excluded from his lists some 500 words which the children could use only in connection with nursery-rhymes they had learned, and many names of pictures concerning which the children's under- standing was doubtful. Humphreys found that a two-year-old girl possessed a vocabulary of 592 nouns, 283 verbs, 114 adjectives, 56 adverbs, 35 pronouns, 28 prepositions, 5 conjunctions, and 8 inter- jections. He, too, excluded the words which the child knew only in nursery-rhymes, numerals, the names of the week-days, and many proper names. The observations of these men, as well as those of many others, seem to indicate that a normal child, after the lapse of his second year, need no longer be in the trammels of the imperfections of pro- nunciation, of needless suffixes, and of affected reduplications that characterize ordinary so-called "baby-talk." — Tr.] JSTow, since this stage of human development re- quires that the child should learn to designate all things rightly, clearly, and distinctly, it is essentially needful that all things should be brought before him rightly, clearly, and distinctly, so that he may see and know 6 5^ THE EDUCATION OF MAN. them rightly, clearly, and distinctly. These things are inseparable and reciprocally dependent (see § 33). However, inasmuch as at this stage language is still undifferentiated or one with the speaking human being, names are for the speaking child still one (united) with the things — i. e., he can not as yet separate the name and the thing, as he can not separate matter and spirit, soul and body. To him they are still one and the same. This is seen particularly in the play of children at this time ; how eagerly and (if he can do so) how much the child speaks during his play. " Play and speech constitute the element in which the child lives. Therefore, the child at this stage imparts to each thing the faculties of life, feeling, and speech. Of everything he imagines that it can hear. Because the child himself begins to represent his inner being outwardly, he imputes the same activity to all about him, to the pebble and chip of wood, to the plant, the flower, and the animal. And thus there is developed in the child at this stage his own life, his life with parents and family, his life with a higher invisible spirit, common to both, and particularly his life in and with nature, as if this held life like that which he feels within himself. Indeed, life in and with nature and with the fair, silent things of nature should be fostered at this time by parents and other members of the family as a chief fulcrum of child- life ; and this is accomplished chiefly in play, in the cul- tivation of the child's play, which at first is simply natural life. § 30. Play. — Play is the highest phase of child- development — of human development at this period; PLAYS OF CHILDUOOD. 55 for it is self -active representation of the inner — repre- sentation of the inner from inner necessity and im- pulse (see § 27). Play is the purest, most spiritual activity of man at this stage, and, at the same time, typical of human life as a whole — of the inner hidden natural life in man and all things. It gives, therefore, joy, freedom, content- ment, inner and outer rest, peace with the world. It holds the sources of all that is good. A child that plays thoroughly, with self -active determination, perse- veringly until physical fatigue forbids, will snrely be a thorough, determined man, capable of self-sacrifice for the promotion of the welfare of himself and others. Is not the most beautiful expression of child-life at this time a playing child ? — a child wholly absorbed in his play ? — a child that has fallen asleep while so absorbed ? As already indicated, play at this time is not trivial, it is highly serious and of deep significance. Cultivate and foster it, O mother ; protect and guard it, O father ! To the calm, keen vision of one who truly knows human nature, the spontaneous play of the child discloses the future inner life of the man. The plays of childliood are the germinal leaves of aU later life ; for the whole man is developed and shown in these, in his tenderest dispositions, in his innermost tendencies. The whole later life of man, even to the moment when he shall leave it again, has its source in the period of childhood — be this later life pure or im- pure, gentle or violent, quiet or impulsive, industrious or indolent, rich or poor in deeds, passed in dull stnpor or in keen creativeness, in stupid wonder or intelligent insight, producing or destroying, the bringer of har- 56 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. mony or discord, of war or peace. His future relations to father and mother, to the members of the family, to society and mankind, to nature and God — in accordance with the natural and individual disposition and tenden- cies of the child — depend chiefly upon his mode of life at this period ; for the child's life in and with himself, his family, nature, and God, is as yet a unit. Thus, at this age, the child can scarcely tell whicli is to him dearer — the flowers, or his joy about them, or the joy he gives to the mother when he brings or shows them to her, or the vague presentiment of the dear Giver of them. Who can analyze these joys in which this period is so rich ? If the child is injured at this period, if the germinal leaves of the future tree of his Hfe are marred at this time, he will only with the greatest difiiculty and the utmost effort grow into strong manhood ; he will only with the greatest difficulty escape in his further devel- opment the stunting effects of the injury or the one- sidedness it entails. [Much lias been said concerning the value and importance of play by educators at all times. Plato thinks that " the plays of children have the mightiest influence on the maintenance or non- maintenance of laws" ; that during the first three years the "soul of the nursling" should be made "cheerful and kind" by keeping away from him " sorrow and fears and pain," and by soothing him with song, the sound of the pipe, and rhythmic movement ; that at the next period of life, when tlie children " almost invent " their games, they ought to come together at the temples and play under the supervision of nurses, who are to " take cognizance of their be- havior." He foreshadows Froebel even in the demand for the regu- lation of play by music. " From the first years," he says, " the plays of children ought to be subject to laws ; for, if these plays and those PLAYS OF CHILDHOOD. 57 who take part in them are arbitrary and lawless, how can children ever become virtuous men, abiding by and obedient to law ? If, on the contrary, children are trained to submit to laws in their plays, the love for law enters their souls with the music accompanying the games, never leaves them, and helps in their development." Aris- totle, too, believes that children (until they are five years old) " should be taught nothing, not even necessary labor, lest it hinder growth ; but should be accustomed to use so much motion as to avoid an in- dolent habit of body ; and this can be acquired by various means, among others by play, which ought to be neither illiberal nor too laborious nor lazy." Elsewhere he insists on the need of " enter- taining employment " for children, and praises the " rattle of Archy- tas " as a useful contrivance, " keeping children from breaking things about the house." Even Quintilian, while he covets instruc- tion at an early period, and, inasmuch as "they must do some- thing," would have them learn to read "after they are able to speak," yet would labor to render the instruction " an amusement to the child," and does not object to the use of " ivory figures of letters to play with." He looks upon playing as " in itself a mark of ac- tivity of mind," and thinks that " children who play in a slow and spiritless manner will not show any remarkable aptitude for any branch of science." Luther severely censures those who " despise the plays of chil- dren," and informs us that " Solomon, who was a judicious school- master, did not prohibit scholars from play at the proper time, as the monks do their pupils, who thus become mere logs and sticks." ..." A young man shut up in this way, and kept apart from men," he says, " is like a young tree which ought to bear fruit, but is planted in a pot." Rabelais has his Pantagruel redeemed from the stultify- ing effects of over-training by placing him in the hands of a wise tutor, who knew how to make his studies amusing, interesting, and profitable, by making them " active " and connecting them with life. Fenelon believes in the efficacy of play. Locke thinks that " all their innocent folly, playing, and child-like actions are to be left perfectly free and unrestrained " ; that " to restrain the natural gayety of that age serves only to spoil the temper both of body and mind " ; that " this gamesome humor which is wisely adapted by Nature to their age and temper should be encouraged to keep up their spirits and improve their health and strength " ; and that " the chief art is to make all that they have to do sport and play." Further on he finds 58 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. that " free liberty permitted them in their recreation will discover their natural tempers, show their inclinations and aptitudes." In his " Letters on Esthetic Education," Schiller says : " The plays of children often have very deep meaning, for, to speak plainly and concisely, man plays only where he is a human being in the fullest sense of the word, and he has reached full humanity only where he plays. This proposition, which at present may appear paradoxical, will acquire great and deep significance when we shall learn to refer it to the doubly serious ideas of duty and destiny ; it will then, I am sure, sustain the entire superstructure of aesthetic art and of the yet more difficult art of life.'" With still keener insight into child-nature, Richter says in his incomparable '" Levana " : " Ac- tivity alone can bring and hold serenity and happiness. Unlike our games, the plays of children are the expressions of serious activity, although in light, airy dress. . . . Play is the first poetical (creative) utterance of man." To Froebel, however, belongs the credit of having found the true nature and function of play, and of regulating it in such a way as to lead it gradually and naturally into work, securing for work the same spontaneity and joy, the same freedom and serenity, that characterize the plays of childhood, realizing in all directions of hu- man activity what Prof. Pillans (quoted by Herbert Spencer) asserts concerning school-work, that "where young people are taught as they ought to be, they are quite as happy in school as at play, seldom less delighted, nay, often more, with the well-directed exercise of their mental energies than with that of their muscular powers." In his gifts and occupations he found for the two contrasts of play and work the living connection, making them both utterances of the same one creative activity. In play, it is the exercise of this activity that forms the purpose of the exertion and rewards it with joy un- speakable ; in work, the external product, the outcome of the activity, becomes the purpose and additional reward of the exertion. Froc! bel has shown how both may be combined, how the human being- - the child, the boy or girl, the youth or maiden, man or woman — may learn to secure both enjoyments through the same effort, delighting in the activity which leads to a coveted result, however distant and difficult of attainment. Preyer, in his work on " The Soul of the Child," after speaking of the pleasurable sensations aroused in his boy on being carried out into the open air, etc., says : " A new kind of pleasurable sensations, PLAYS OF INFANCY. 59 with some admixture of intellectual elements, is noticed when the child begins to effect some change of form by his own activity, gradually gaining some knowledge of his own power. Not only the effects of the voice, especially crying and the first consciously made sounds, are concerned in this, but a number of ' plays.' At first it was, in the fifth month, the crumpling of a sheet of paper, which the boy repeated with evident pleasure. From this time on to his third year he found great pleasure in the tearing and rolling up of newspapers. With similar pleasure he engaged in pulling a glove from side to side (until his fourth year), in pulling the hairs of my beard, in ringing a small bell for an insufferably long time. Later he found enjoyment in the movement of his ov,m body, in marching and in purely intellectual plays, packing and unpacking of things, cutting with scissors, turning the leaves of a book, looking at pictures. At last there came imagination, which animates clumsy pieces of wood, changes the leaves of trees into delicious articles of food, etc. " On the whole, however, during the first period of their life, children owe many more pleasurable feelings to the removal of con- ditions of discomfort than to the creation of conditions of positive pleasure. The removal of hunger, thirst, wet, cold, tight clothing, gives rise to pleasurable sensations that are stronger than those generated by soft light, moving tassels, tepid baths, singing, and the kindliness of parents, or as strong as these. Not before the fourth month new pleasurable sensations are added by the first successful attempts to take hold." He is inclined to look upon the cries, the laughter, and the various movements attending these pleasurable sensations as in- stinctive or reflex in their character for quite a long time. Even the stamping with the foot in the eleventh month, the stiffening of the body as a measure of resistance in the tenth month, he does not consider intentional. About this time, however, a number of plays and experiments seem to mdicate the awakening of will, " Thus, in the eleventh month," he writes, " my child would fre- quently beat with a spoon against a paper or some other object held in the other hand, then suddenly exchange the two objects, and move the spoon with the other hand, as if he desired to determine whence the noise proceeded." At a still later period, between the fifteenth and twentieth months, the pleasure of the child's plays seems to be due to the " re- 60 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. production of familiar thought-images attended with pleasurable feelings which have been crystallized out, as it were, into relative clearness from the great mass of vague perceptions. Most of the plays which the children invent themselves may be reduced to this, even the game of hide-and-seek (in the seventeenth and eighteenth months), and, related to this, the game of ' hunting for ' scraps of paper, pieces of biscuits, buttons, and other favorite things (in the fifteenth month)." Much that goes by the name of play, Preyer considers as true experimenting, more particularly with reference to the study of changes produced by the child's own activity. In this connection he mentions the tearing of paper into small bits, continued with re- markable patience even between the forty-fifth and fifty-fifth weeks. For this he finds the explanation in the " gratification on the part of the child to find himself the cause of so remarkable a change." The same he holds to be true with reference to "the shaking of a bunch of keys ; the opening and closing of a box or purse (thir- teenth month) ; the pulling out, emptying, refilling, and replacing of a table-drawer ; the piling up and scattering of gravel ; turning the leaves of a book (thirteenth to nineteenth month) ; burrowing and working in sand; the arranging of shells, pebbles, buttons (twenty-first month) ; the filling and emptying of bottles, cups, watering-pots (thirty-first to thirty-third month) ; the throwing of stones into the water. The zeal with which these seemingly aimless movements are executed is remarkable. The sense of gratification must be very great, and is probably due to the feeling of his own power, and of being the cause of the various changes." — Tr.] § 31. In these years of childliood the child's food is a matter of very great importance, not only at the time — for the child may by its food be made indolent or active, sluggish or mobile, dull or bright, inert or vigor- ous — but, indeed, for his entire future life. For im- pressions, inclinations, appetites which the child may have derived from his food, the turn it may have given to his senses, and even to his life, as a whole, can only with difficulty be set aside even when the age of self- dependence has been reached. They are one with his FOOD OF CHILDHOOD. 01 whole physical life, and therefore intimately connected with his spiritual life ; at any rate, with his sensations and feelings. Therefore, after the mother's milk, the first food of the child should be plain and simple, not more artificial and refined than is absolutely needful, in no way stim- ulating and exciting through an excess of spices, nor rich, lest it hinder the inner organs in their activity. Parents and nurses should ever remember, as under- lying every precept in this direction, the following general principle : that simplicity and frugality in food and in other physical needs during the years of child- hood enhance man's power of attaining happiness and vigor — true creativeness in every respect. Who has not noticed in children, over-stimulated by spices and excess in food, appetites of a very low order, from which they can never again be freed — appetites which, even when they seem to have been suppressed, only slumber, and in times of opportunity return with greater power, threatening to rob man of all his dignity, and to force him away from his duty ? If parents would consider that not only much indi- vidual and personal happiness, but even much domestic happiness and general prosperity, depend on this, how very differently they would act ! But here the foolish mother, there the childish fa- ther, is to blame. We see them give their children all kinds of poison, and in every form, coarse and fine. Here it comes in the oppressing quantity which does not allow the body to digest it, which is often given only to drive away the ennui that torments the unoc- cupied child ; again, it comes in over-refinement in 62 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. the preparation of food, by which the physical side of the child's life is stimulated without true spiritual cause, consuming and weakening the body. Here indo- lence and Sluggishness are considered as needful rest ; there the child's physical mobility, a symptom of over- stimulation, and independent of true spiritual causes, is greeted as true increase and development of life. It is by far easier than we think to promote and establish the happiness and welfare of mankind. All the means are simple and at hand ; yet we see them not. "We see them, perhaps, but do not notice them. In their simplicity, naturalness, availability, and nearness, they seem too insignificant, and we despise them. We seek help from afar, although help is only in and through ourselves. Hence, at a later period, half or all our ac- cumulated wealth can not procure for our children what greater insight and a clearer vision discern as their greatest good. This they now must miss, or can enjoy but partially and scantily. It might have been theirs without effort, as it were, had we in their childhood attended to it but a little more ; indeed, it would have been theirs in full measure had we expended very much less for their physical comfort. Would that to each young, newly married couple there could be shown, in all its vividness, only one of the sad experiences and observations in its small and seemingly insignificant beginnings, and in its incalcu- lable consequences, that tend utterly to destroy all the good of later education ! — only one of these sad experi- ences, of which the educator is compelled to make hun- dreds, and whose knowledge can help him but little to counteract the injurious consequences of the respective CLOTHIXG OP CHILDHOOD. 63 faults in the later life of those in whom he observes them ; for who does not know the mighty influence of early impressions ? And here it is easy to avoid the wrong and to find the right. Always let the food be simply for nourish- ment — never more, never less. J^ever should food be taken for its own sake, but only for the sake of promot- ing bodily and mental activity. Still less should the peculiarities of the food, its taste or delicacy, ever be- come an object in themselves, but only a means to make it good, pure, wholesome nourishment ; else, in both cases, the food destroys health. Let the food of the child, then, be as simple as the circumstances in which the child lives can alford ; and let it be given in quantities proportioned to his bodily and mental activity. § 32. In order to enable the child at this period to move and play, to develop and grow freely, and without hindrance, his clothing should be free from lacing and pressure of all kinds ; for such clothing would oppress and fetter also the spirit of the child. The clothing of the child, in this as well as in the next period, should not bind the body ; * for it will have on the mind, on the soul, of the child, the same effect it has on the body. Clothes, in form and color and cut, should never become an object in themselves, else they will soon direct the child's attention to his appearance instead of his real being, make him vain and frivolous — dollish — a puppet instead of a human being. Clothing, therefore, is by no means an unimportant concern, either for the child or * By tijzht lacing, close-fitting seams, and multiplicity of articles of clothing. — Tr, 64: THE EDUCATION OF MAN. the adult man, as it is desirable for him, even as a Chris- tian, to be able to say, " Without piece and without seam, only a continuous whole, like the garment of Jesus, was also his life and work, and his doctrine." § 33. The aim and object of the parental care of the child, in the domestic and family circle, then, is to awaken and develop, to quicken all the powers and natural gifts of the child, to enable all the members and organs of man to fuliill the requirements of the child's powers and gifts. [Herbert Spencer, who, although ignorant of Froebel's work, has so many points of contact with him, finds the proper function of education in " preparation for complete living," which is the free exercise of all our faculties. There seems to be little fundamental difference, too, between the physiological, psychological, sociological, and ethical limitations of complete living on the part of Spencer, and the life-unity with self, mankind, nature, the universe, and God demanded by Froebel. (Compare § 19.) — Tr.] The natural mother does all this instinctively, with- out instruction and direction ; but this is not enough : it is needful that she should do it consciously, as a con- scious being acting upon another being which is growing into consciousness (see § 56), and consciously tending toward the continuous development of the human being, in a certain inner living connection (see § 2). [That instinct alone is not sufficient to enable the mother to guide the child aright is amply shown by the many cruel practices to which children are subjected among barbarous tribes, and by the survival of many senseless and even pernicious customs in the imr- series of even the most cultured communities of our day. Consci- entious mothers everywhere point with expressions of deepest regret to the many oversights and neglects of which they were unwittingly guilty, the many misunderstandings and misapplications that blurred their efficiency, the many blunders whose pernicious effects years of EARLIEST LESSONS. 65 subsequent toil could not efface. Insight will add a conscious pur- pose to the instinct ; it will arouse the sense of duty in the soul, it will enable the head to help the heart, add wisdom to love, avoid waste, and insure suc<3ess. — Tr.] By sketcliing her work, therefore, I hope to show it to her in its nature, significance, and connection. It is true, the plainest thoughtful mother could do this more fully, more perfectly, and more deeply; but through imperfection man rises to perfection. I trust, therefore, that this sketch may awaken faithful and calm, thought- ful and rational parental love, and show us the course of development in childhood in unbroken succession. *•' Give me your arm." " Where is your hand ? " In such words the mother strives to teach the child to feel the complexity of his body and the difference be- tween his limbs. " Bite your finger." This is an especially well-con- ceived action, which a deep natural feeling has suggested to the thoughtful mother playing with her child. It induces reflection in its earliest phases, by tending to bring to the child's knowledge an object which, although it has an individuality of its own, is yet united with the child. Not less important is the mother's pleasantly playful manner of leading the child to a knowledge of the mem- bers which he can not see^ the nose, the ears, the tongue, and teeth. The mother gently pulls the nose or ear, as if she meant to separate them from head or face, and, showing to the child the half-concealed end of her finger or thumb, says, " Here I have the ear, the nose," and the child quickly puts his hand to his ear or nose, and smiles with intense joy to find them in their right places. 68 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. In this action the mother first arouses and directs in the child a desire to know even what he can not see exter- nally. All this tends to lead the child to self-consciousness, to reflection about himself in the approaching period of boyhood. Thus, a boy ten years old, similarly guided by instinct, believing himself unobserved, soliloquized : " I am not my arm, nor my ear ; all my limbs and organs I can separate from myself, and I still remain myself ; I wonder what I am ; who and what this is which I call myself ? " In the same spirit, maternal love continues with the child, in order to lead him to use these things. " Show me your tongue." " Show me your tooth." " Bite it with your tooth." " Slip the foot into the stocking — into the shoe." " There is the foot in the stocking — in the shoe." Thus maternal instinct and love gradually introduce the child to his little outside world, proceeding from the whole to the part, from the near to the remote. Similarly, as she at first sought to bring to the child's notice objects as such, and in their relative positions, she soon directs attention to their attributes and qualities. In this, of course, she first shows them in their actions, and only later in their passive conditions. She says, " The candle burns," as she cautiously holds the child's finger toward the flame, enabling him to feel the heat without being really burned, and guard- ing him against an unknown danger. Or, she says, " The knife pricks," as she carefully and gently presses the point of the knife against the child's finger. Or, " The soup burns your mouth." MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 67 At a later period, as if she would direct the child to the permanence of the active quality, or to its cause, the mother says, " The soup is hot, it hums you." '' The knife is sharp, it pricks, it cuts ; let it alone." From a knowledge of the effect, the mother leads to the imma- nent lasting cause, sharp '^ and, later, from a knowledge of the immanent quality to a loiowledge of the effect, pricking, cutting, as such, without the direct personal experience of these effects. Further on, the mother leads the child first to feel his own action, and then to contemplate the action it- self. Thus, the mother delightfully teaching him in all she does and says, requests the child who is to take food, " Open your mouth " ; or, when he is to be washed, " Close your eyes " ; or she teaches the child to find the object of his action. Thus, when she lays the child in his little bed, she says, " Go to sleep " ; or, as she hfts a spoonful of food to his lips, ^' Eat, my pet." And, in order to direct his attention to the effect of the food upon the nerves of taste and upon the re- lation between the food and the body, she says, " How good that tastes ! " In order to direct his attention to the smell of fiowers, the mother imitates the noise of snuffing, and says, "How good that smells! Would you like to smell it ? " Or, on the other hand, she turns with the expression of displeasure her face away from the flower, which she removes from the child. Thus, the plainest mother, who with her beloved child withdraws almost bashfully into privacy — lest un- consecrated eyes profane the sanctuary — seeks in the most natural manner to arouse to full activity all his Hmbs and senses. 68 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. Unfortunately, onr conceit induces us to lose sight of this natural and divine starting-point of all human development ; we stand perplexed, having lost begin- ning and end, and therefore the right direction. Hav- ing denied God and nature, we seek counsel from hu- man knowledge and wit. "We build houses of cards ; but there is no room in them for the ways of the nat- ural mother, for divine influence ; and the slightest ut- terance of the child, impelled by the joy and iustinct of life, throws them down. If they should stand, the child must be, if not bodily, yet intellectually fettered. Where has this discussion taken us ? Into the nur- sery of the worldly-wise, of the so-called refined people, who scarcely believe that there are in the child germs which, if they are to thrive, must be developed early ; who know still less that all the child is ever to be and become, lies — however slightly indicated — in the cliild, and can be attained only through development from within outward. How dead, therefore, does everything seem here; how cold, or, at best, how loud and noisy ! But, is not the mother here ? Alas ! it is not the mother's room, it is only the nursery. Away! and let us again go where not only the room of child and mother is one, but where even mother and child are still one; where the mother is loath to give the care of her child to strangers. Let us see and hear how the mother, there, shows to the child objects in their motions : " Hark ! the bird sings ! The dog says, ' bow-wow ! '" And then, directly from the word to the name, from hearing to sight, "Where is Peep-peep ? Where is Bow-wow ? " The mother even MAX IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 69 ventures to lead from the contemplation of tlie tiling and its quality in their connection to the contemplation of the quality as distinct from the thing. " The bird flies," she says at first about the actual bird that flies. " See the little bird," she says later, on beholding the flitting, unsteady light-reflection that comes from the moWng sm-face of water or of a mirror. Then, in order to teach the child that this is an incorporeal phe- nomenon which shares with the bird only its mobility, she says, '' Catch the little bird," and asks the child to cover the reflection with his hands. Again, in order to lead the child to the contempla- tion of the motion alone, the mother says, when she be- holds the pendulum oscillations of some object, " swing- swong," or " To-fro." Similarly, she seeks to attract the child's attention to the mutability of things — e. g., showing the lighted candle, *^ Here is the light " ; taking it away, " All gone, light"; or, "Papa comes," and, "By-by, papa." Again, showing the self -mobility of things, " Come, kitty, to my pet," and, " Run, kitty, run." She incites the child to bodily activity — " Hold the flower," " Catch the kitty," or, slowly rolling the ball, "Catch the ball." All-embracing mother-love seeks to awaken and to interpret the feeling of community between the child and the father, brother, and sister, which is so impor- tant, when she says, " Love dear papa " ; or as she caress- ingly passes the child's hand over the father's cheek, " Dear, dear papa " ; or, " Love little sister," etc. In addition to the sense of community as such, the germ of so much glorious development, the mother's love 70 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. seeks also througli movements to lead the child to feel his own inner life. By regular, rhythmic movements-^ and this is of special importance — she brings this life within the child's conscious control when she dandles him up and down on her hand or arm in rhythmic movements and to rhythmic sounds. Thus the genuine, natural mother cautiously follows in all directions the slowly developing, all-sided life in the child. She strengthens it, and thus arouses to ever- greater activity the still more all-sided life within, and develops this. Others suppose the child to be empty, wish to inocu- late him with life, make him as empty as they think him to be, and deprive him of life, as it were. Thus, too, there are lost again in word and tone tliose means of cultivation that lead so simply and naturally to the development of rhythm and obedience to law in all human life-utterances, for their significance is recog- nized by few persons, and by still fewer persons con- sidered and further unfolded in connection with the further development of life in the human being. Nevertheless, an early, pure development of rhyth- mic movement would prove most wholesome in the succeeding life-periods of the human being. We rob ourselves as educators, and we still more rob the child as pupil by discontinuing so soon the development of rhythmic movements in early education. It would be easier for him to compass the legitimate, proper measure of his life. Much willfulness, impropriety, and coarse- ness would be taken out of his life, his movements, and actions. He would secure more firmness and modera- tion, more harmony ; and, later on, there would be de- MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 71 veloped in him a liiglier appreciation of nature and art, of music and poetry (see § 80). Even very small children, in moments of quiet, and particularly when going to sleep, will hum little strains of songs they have heard ; this, too, has not escaped the attention of the observant, thoughtful mother, and should be heeded and developed even more in the edu- cation of little children as the lirst germ of future growth in melody and song. Undoubtedly this would soon lead in children to a self-activity similai' to that attained in speech, and children whose faculty of speech has been thus developed and trained, find, seemingly without effort, the words for new ideas, peculiar associa- tions and relations among newly discovered qualities. Thus, a very little girl, brought up in child-like purity by maternal thoughtfulness, after long and thoughtful examination of the soft and downy leaves of a plant, exclaimed joyfully, " Oh, how woolly ! " The mother could not recollect that she had ever directed the child's attention to such a quality. Similarly, the same child, on beholding the two most brilliant planets quite near each other in the clear, starry sky, exclaimed joyfully, " Father and mother stars!" Yet the mother had not the least idea how this association with the stars had been called up in the child's mind. § 34. In teaching the child to stand and walk, we should use neither perambulators nor leading-strings. He should stand when he is strong enough to keep his balance freely and independently ; and he should walk when, freely moving forward, he can independently keep his balance. He should not stand before he can 72 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. sit erect, draw himself up by some tall object near by, and thus keep his balance without support. He should not walk before he can creep, rise freely, maintain his balance, and proceed by his own effort. At first, when at some distance from his mother, he has raised himself by his own effort, the return to the mother's lap will invite him to go forward. Soon, however, the child feels strength in his own feet, rejoices intensely over it, and, for his own pleasure, repeats the new art for its own sake, as formerly he repeated the art of standing. In a short time he begins the practice of the art with- out strain or effort ; he is attracted by the bright, round, smooth pebble, by the gayly-colored, fluttering bit of paper, by the smooth, symmetrical, three- or four-cor- nered piece of board, by the rectangular blocks of wood for building, by the brilliant, quaint leaf, and he tries to get hold of these with the help of the newly acquired use of his limbs, to bring like things together, and to separate things that are unlike. Look at the child that can scarcely keep himself erect, and that can walk only with greatest care — he sees a twig, a bit of straw ; painfully he secures it, and, like the young bird in spring, carries it to his nest, as it were. Behold, again, the child laboriously stooping and slowly going forward on the ground, under the eaves of the roof. The force of the rain has washed out of the sand small, smooth, bright pebbles, and the ever-observ- ing child gathers them as building-stones, as it were, as material for future building. And is he wrong ? Does not the child, in truth, collect material for his future life-building? Like things must here be ranged to- gether, things unlike must be separated. Not crude MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 73 tilings, but things wrouglit out of their crudeness, are to be joined together. § 35. If the building is to be sound, all the material must be known not only bj its name, but also by its qualities and uses ; and, that the child desires this, is shown in his child-like, quiet, busy activity. We call it childish because we do not understand it, because we have not eyes to see, nor ears to hear, and, still less, feeling to feel with the child ; we are dull, therefore the child's life seems dull to us. We do not know its meaning; how, then, can we interpret it for the child? And yet it is the longing for this interpretation that urges the child to appeal to us. How can we impart a language to the things of child-life when they are dumb in us ? And yet it is the intense desire for this that urges the child to bring his treasures to us and to lay them in our laps. The child loves all things that enter his small horizon and extend his little world. To him the least thing is a new discovery ; but it must not come dead into the little world, nor lie dead therein, lest it obscure the small horizon and crush the little world. Therefore, the child would know himself why he loves this thing ; he would know all its properties, its innermost nature, that he may learn to understand him- self in his attachment. For this reason the child ex- amines the object on all sides ; for this reason he tears and breaks it ; for this reason he puts it in his mouth and bites it. We reprove the child for his naughtiness and foolishness ; and yet he is wiser than we who re- prove him. The child would know the inner nature of the thing. 74 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. An innate instinct which, properly appreciated and guided, would seek to find God in all his works, urges him to this. God gave him understanding, reason, lan- gua^re. Those who lead his life do not, can not gratify this instinct. Where, then, shall the child seek gratifi- cation for this instinct of research, if not from the ob- ject itself ? It is true the broken object, too, is dumb ; jet it reveals in its fragments at least either like or unlike parts, as is instanced in the broken stone, the torn flower, and this means an extension of knowledge. Do adults extend their knowledge in a different way ? Is not the inside of the plant pithy, hollow, or woody 'i Is not its cross-section circular, triangular, square, polyg- onal ? Is not the fracture even or uneven, smooth or rough, impervious or porous, splintery or conchoidal, or hackly or fibrous ? Are not the fragments sharp or blunt-edged ? Is it not brittle, or does it not rather yield to the blows without breaking ? All this the child does in order that from the diver- sity of outer manifestations of the object its inner na- ture and its relation to him may become revealed to him, that he may know the cause of his liking, his fond- ness of the object ? And do we adults who seek knowl- edge proceed differently ? We overlook this in the child's activity, and we do not recognize its value and significance until the teacher does it, and requests our sons to do it. Therefore, even the lucid word of the most lucid teacher frequently has no influence upon our sons ; for they are asked to learn now with the teacher what they should have learned in childhood with the help of our MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 75 quickening explanations ; what, indeed, childhood meant they should learn almost without effort. And yet how little is needed from attendants to aid childhood in this tendency ! It is only needful to desig- nate, to name, to put into words what the child does, sees, and linds. Rich, indeed, is the life of the child ripening into boyhood ; but we see it not. Real is his life, but we feel it not. His life accords with the destiny and mis- sion of humanity, but we know it not. We not only fail to guard, nurse, and develop the inner germ of his life, but we allow it to be stifled and crushed by the weight of his own instincts, or to find vent on some weaker side in unnaturalness. We then see the same phenomenon which, in the plant, we call wild-shoot, or water-shoot, a misdirection of the energies, of the de- sires and instincts in the child (the human plant). ]^ow, at last, we would fain give another direction to the energies, desires, and instincts of the child grow- ing into boyhood; but it is too late. For the deep meaning of child-life passing into boyhood we not only failed to appreciate, but we misjudged it ; we not only failed to nurse it, but we misdirected and crushed it. § 36. A child has found a pebble. In order to de- termine by experiment its properties, he has rubbed it on a board near by, and has discovered its property of imparting color. It is a fragment of lime, clay, red- stone, or chalk. See how he delights in the newly discovered prop- erty, and how busily he makes use of it! Soon the whole surface of the board is changed. At first the boy took delight in the new property. 76 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. then in the changed surface — now red, now white, now black, now brown — but soon he began to find pleasure in the winding, straight, curved, and other forms that appear. These linear phenomena direct his attention to the linear properties of surrounding objects. Now the head becomes a circle, and now the circular line represents the head, the elliptical curve connected with it represents the body ; arms and legs appear as straight or broken lines, and these again represent arms and legs ; the fingers he sees as straight lines meeting in a common point, and lines so connected are, for the busy child, again hands and fingers ; the eyes he sees as dots, and these again represent eyes ; and thus a new world opens within and without. For what man tries to represent or do he begins to understand. The perception and representation of linear relations open to the child on the threshold of boyhood a new world in various directions. Not only can he represent the outer world in reduced measure, and thus comj)re- hend it more easily with his eyes ; not only can he re- produce outwardly what lives in his mind as a remi- niscence or new association, but the knowledge of a wholly new invisible world, the world of forces, has its tenderest rootlets right here. The ball that is rolling or has been rolled, the stone that has been thrown and falls, the water that was dammed and conducted into many branching ditches — - all these have taught the child that the effect of a force, in its individual manifestations, is always in the direc- tion of a line. Thus the representation of objects by lines soon leads the child to the perception and representation of MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 77 tlie direction in which a force acts. " Here flows a brook," and, saying this, the child makes a mark indi- cating the course of a brook. The child has drawn lines signifying to him a tree. " Here grows another branch, and here still another," and as he speaks he draws forth from the tree, as it were, the lines indicating the branches. Yery significantly the child says, " Here comes a bird flying," and draws in the direction of the supposed flight a winding line. Give the child a bit of chalk or the like, and soon a new creation will stand before him and you. Let the father, too, in a few lines, sketch a man, a horse. This man of lines, this horse of lines, will give the child more joy than an actual man, an actual horse would do. § 37. Mothers and attendants, would you know how to lead the child in this matter ? See and observe the child ; he will teach you what to do. Here a child traces a table by passing its fingers along its edges and outlines, as far as he can reach them. Thus the child sketches the object on the object itself, as it were. This is the first, and, for the child, the safest step by which he first becomes aware of the out- lines and forms of objects. In like manner he sketches and studies the chair, the bench, the window. Soon, however, the child advances. He draws lines across four-sided boards — the table, the seat of the chair or bench — vaguely anticipating that this is the method for retaining the forms and relations of sur- faces. A little later he draws the form in reduced measure. 78 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. Behold ! here he has sketched the table, the chair, the bench, and many other things, on the table-top.* Do you not see how he developed and grew spontane- ously to this attainment ? Objects which he could move, which he could take in at one glance, he laid on a board or bench or table, and sketched their outline by passing his hand around them. Later on, scissors and boxes, and still later, leaves and twigs, nay, the child's own hand and the shadows, of objects, are sketched in this way. Many things are gained by these proceedings of the child — more than I can enumerate — a clear conception of forms, the power to represent the forms independ- ently, the iixing of the forms as such, strengthening and practice of the arm and hand in free representation of these. The attentive mother, the thoughtful father, the sympathetic family (without any of them having ever drawn, without an artist among them), may lead the child growing into boyhood to draw with tolerable ac- curacy a straight line, a diagonal or diameter, even rect- angular objects in vertical position (e. g., mirrors, win- dows, and many other things), with some degree of resemblance. * It was formerly not uncommon to find table- tops made of large slabs of slate-stone. There was such a table in my father's house when I was a boy. I still connect with it many a fruitful memory of earnest studies of form and outline, of delightful trains of fancy, and of vigorous struggles of invention that made the ugliest weather a boon. A small portable black- board is an excellent substitute for such a table. It will accomplish more for the child's understanding of things, and for the vigorous development of a healthy imagination, than the most earnest talks, and the most ideal story-books could do. — Tr. MAN m EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 79 It is not only conducive but necessary to the devel- opment and strengthening of the child's power and skill that parents should, without being pedantic or too exact- ing, connect the child's actions with suitable language, e, g., "iS[ow I draw a table, a mirror; now I draw the diagonal of the slate, of the board." This enhances the inner and the outer power, in- creases knowledge, awakens the judgment and reflection, which avoids so many blunders, and which, in a natnral way^ can not be aroused too soon. For the word and the drawing * are always mutually explanatory and com- plementary ; for neither one is, by itself, exhaustive and sufficient with reference to the object represented. The drawing properly stands between the word and the thing, shares certain qualities with each of them, and is, therefore, so valuable in the development of the child. The true drawing has this in common with the thing, that it seeks to represent it in form and outline ; hke the word, however, it never is the thing itself, but only an image of the thing. The word and the drawing are again clearly opposed in their nature : for the drawing is dead, while the word lives ; the drawing is visible, as the word is audible. The word and the drawing, there- fore, belong together inseparably, as light and shadow, night and day, soul and body do. The faculty of draw- ing is, therefore, as much innate in the child, in man, as is the faculty of speech, and demands its development and cultivation as imperatively as the latter ; experience shows this clearly in the child's love for drawing, in the child's instinctive desire for drawing. * I translate Zeichen here by drawing^ not symbol, inasmuch as Froe- bel has reference to the drawings j ust described. — Tr. 80 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. [Drawing offers the child the full connection between the inner and the outer, so far as the eye is concerned. Here outer objects are freed of all the attributes of corporeality ; and yet their images have a visible reality, and vividly recall the absent attributes. Here the child gives visible expression to his ideas. Here he feels the full delight of creating, as it were, whatever his fancy dictates. This accounts for the evident eagerness with which he returns, again and again, to slate and pencil, and for the satisfaction with which he lingers with them. — Tr.] § 38. The representation of objects by and in draw- ing induces and implies clear perception, and this soon leads the child to the ready recognition of the constantly repeated association of certain numbers of similar ob- jects — e. g., two eyes and two arms, five fingers and Hve toes, the six legs of the beetle and of the fly. Thus the drawing of the object leads to the discovery of num- ber (see §§ 75, 99). The repeated return of one and the same object leads to counting. The fixed distinctive sum of objects similar in certain respects constitutes the number of these objects. Thus, by a new discovery, by the development and cultivation of the number-fac- ulty in the child, his sphere of knowledge, his world, is again extended ; and an essential need of his inner be- ing, a certain yearning of his spirit, is satisfied by this development. For the child has heretofore viewed his greater or smaller quantities of similar and dissimilar objects with a certain longing, a vague feeling that he still lacks a certain means of knowledge. He was still unable to recognize and to determine the relative quan- tities of these different heaps of things ; but now he knows he has two large and three small pebbles, four white and five yellow fiowers, etc. The knowledge of number relations adds very much to the child's life. MAX IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 81 The mind of the child requires, however, that the mother and other attendants should, from the very be- ginning and early, develop in the child the number- faculty in accordance with the nature of number, and with the specific laws of human thought. If the child is quietly observed, it will be easy to see how he follows spontaneously the road implied by the laws of human thought, proceeding from the visi- ble to the invisible and more abstract. He does this unconsciously, it is true, but surely. At first the child places together similar objects, and obtains thus, e. g., apples, pears, nuts, beans. Let, now, the mother or some other attendant add the explanatory word ; in other words, let them join the visible with the audible, thus bringing it nearer the child's insight and knowledge, nearer his inner percep- tion, by naming these objects. Who has not observed and had frequent opportuni- ties to see how the child arranges the objects of each kind singly in a row ? Let the mother here again add the explanatory, quickening ^ord, saying, e. g. : Apple, apple, apple, apple, etc. ; all apples. Pear, pear, pear, pear, etc. ; all pears ; or whatever else the child may have placed in the rows — nuts, beans, pebbles, or leaves — of each kind of objects there are always several. Kow, in order to enable the child particularly to see this, let the mother speak the words in common with the child, as just in- dicated. Later, when the mother has the child to arrange the objects one after the other, let her describe this proceed- ing with the child definitely and clearly, thus : 82 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. One apple, another apple, still another apple ; many apples. One pear, another pear, still another pear; many pears. And so on with other objects. The quantity of each kind of objects is continually increased by the regular addition of a new object of the same kind. Instead of the indefinite words *' another," " still an- other,*' the mother subsequently uses the numerals defi- nitely indicating the increase, counting together with the child, thus : One apple, two apples, three apples, etc. One pear, two pears, three pears, four pears, etc. Again, let the mother place several objects of each kind in naturally increasing quantities, in successive sets, and indicate in words w^hat she does, thus : * apple, * pear, * * apples, * * pears, * * * apples, etc. * * * pears, etc. Subsequently, again, let mother and child pronounce to- gether. At last let the child do the arranging as well as the speaking, counting alone. "While here with each number the kind of object was still named, let, subsequently, the numbers only be named and reserve the name of the kind of object for the last number, thus : * (one), * * (two), * * * (three), * * * * (four apples) ; * (one), * * (two), * * * (three), * * * * (four pears), etc. Here the successive groups of objects are considered chiefiy with reference to their numbers, the considera- tion of the kind of object lying in the background. Lastly, the mother names only the numbers in the MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 83 series, leaving the kind of objects wholly out of consid- eration, tlms ; * (one), * * (two), * * * (three), * * * * (four), ***** (five), etc. This is the abstract consideration and perception of groups in their natural succession, the perception of numbers as such. In this way a clear and sure knowledge of numbers (at least up to ten) should be developed in the period of childhood. But at no time should the numerals be given to the child as empty, unmeaning sounds and be thus repeated by him; by such a method the child might be led to count two, four, seven, eight, one, five, two, if it were not rescued at last by the native power of the human mind, throwing off all things un- natural. For a long time the child should never say the nu- merals, which, in themselves, are empty and meaning- less to him, without the aid of objects which he actually counts. In this presentation of the development of number ideas there has been given, at the same time, an illus- tration in w^hat manner and according to what laws the child ascends from the perception of individual things to the more general and the most general conceptions. It is true, in experience, this transition is often quite sudden. § 39. What wealth, what abundance and vigor of inner and outer life, do we now find in the rightly guided and guarded child toward the close of childhood and entrance into the period of boyhood ! Where wiU the coming man find an object of thought and feeling, of knowledfi^e and skill, that does not have its tenderest 84: THE EDUCATION OF MAN. rootlets in the years of cliildliood ? What subject of future instruction and discipline does not germinate in childhood ? Language and nature lie open before the child. He begins to apprehend the properties of number, form, magnitude, the knowledge of space, the nature of forces, the effects of substances. Color, rhythm, melodious sound, and shapeliness have impressed him in their ul- timate germs and in their peculiar significance. He has begun to distinguish, with some degree of definiteness, nature and the world of art, and has commenced, with some degree of certainty, to contrast himself with the outer world ; already there has been aroused in him the consciousness of an inner world of his own. Neverthe- less, we have as yet not touched nor even considered an important side of child-life, the side of association with father and mother, brother and sister, in their domestic cares, in their professional duties. § 40. I look about me : I see the scarcely two-year- old child of a day-laborer leading his horse ; the father has placed the halter in the child's hands. Calmly and deliberately the little fellow walks before the horse, and looks back with steady eye to see if the horse is follow- ing. It is true, the father holds the check-reins in his hand, still the child firmly believes that he leads the horse, that the horse must obey him. For, see, the father stops to speak to an acquaintance, and, of course, the horse stops too ; but the child, thinking the horse willful, pulls the halter with all his might to make it go on. My neighbor's son, scarcely three years old, tends his mother's goslings near my garden-hedge. The MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 85 space to which he is to confine the lively little creatures in their search for food is small. They escape from the little swain, who may have been busy in other ways, seeking food for his mind. The goslings get into the road, where they are exposed to injur}^ The mother sees this, and calls out to the child to be careful. The little boy who, by the ever-renewed efforts for freedom on the part of the goslings, probably had been often disturbed in his own pursuits, retorts in his vexation, " Mother, you seem to think it is not hard to tend the goslings." Who can indicate the present and future develop- ments which the child reaps from this part of the parent's work, and which he might reap even more abundantly, if parents and attendants heeded the mat- ter and made use of it later on in the instruction and training of their children ? Behold here the little child of the gardener. He is weeding ; the child wishes to help, and he teaches the little fellow to distinguish hemlock from parsley, to observe the differences in the brilliancy and odor of the leaves. There the forester's son accompanies his father to the clearing that, at some previous time, they together had sown. Everything looks green. The child sees only young pine-plants ; but the father teaches him to recognize the cypress-spurge and to distinguish it from the pine-plant by its different properties. Again, the father takes aim and fires ; he hits the mark, and teaches the attentive child that three points that lie in the same direction always lie in one and the 8ame straight line ; that in order to direct a line — the 8 86 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. barrel of the rifle — toward a certain point, three points must be laid in this direction, and that, when this has been done, all other points of the gun-barrel lie in the same line and direction. In another place the child sees his father striking the hot iron, and is taught by the father that the heat makes the iron softer ; and, again, as the father tries in vain to push the heated iron rod through an opening through which before it passed so easily, that heat ex- pands the iron. [Froebel here continues through three pages to fur- nish similar illustrations from a variety of professions and trades, showing the exhaustless wealth of informa- tion and discipline that may come to the child from this loving intercourse with a kind and thoughtful father in his daily work. — Tr.] The child — your child, ye fathers — feels this so in- tensely, so vividly, that he follows you wherever yon are, wherever you go, in whatever you do. Do not harshly repel him ; show no impatience about his ever- recurring questions. Every harshly repelling word crushes a bud or shoot of his tree of life. Do not, how- ever, tell him in words much more than he could find himself without your words. For it is, of course, easier to hear the answer from another, perhaps to only half hear and understand it, than it is to seek and dis- cover it himself. To have found one fourth of the answer by his own effort is of more value and impor- tance to the child than it is to half hear and half under- stand it in the words of another ; for this causes mental indolence. Do not, therefore, always answer your children's questions at once and directly ; but, as soon MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 87 as they have gathered sufficient strength and experience^ furnish them with the means to find the answers in the sphere of their own knowledge. Let parents — more particularly fathers (for to their special care and guidance the child ripening into boy- hood is confided) — let fathers contemplate what the fulfillment of their paternal duties in child-guidance yields to them ; let them feel the joys it brings. It is not possible to gain from anything higher joy, higher enjoyment, than we do from the guidance of our chil- dren, from living with and for our children. It is in- conceivable how we can seek and expect to find any- where higher joy, higher enjoyment, fuller gratification of our best desires than we can find in intercourse with our children ; more recreation than we can find in the family circle, where we can create joy for ourselves in so many respects. We should be deeply impressed with the truth of these statements could we but see in his plain home- surroundings, in his happy, joyous family, the father who, from his own resources, has created what here has been but partially described. In a few words he sums up his rule of conduct : " To lead children early to think, this I consider the first and foremost object of child-training.'' To give them early habits of work and industry seemed to him so natural and obvious a course as to need no statement in words. Besides, the child that has been led to think will thereby, at the same time, be led to industry, diligence — to all domestic and civic virtues. Those words are a seed from which springs a shady. 88 THE EPUCATION OF MAN, evergreen tree of life, full of fragrant blossoms and sound, ripe fruit. Maj those of us who allow our chil- dren to grow up thoughtless and idle, and therefore dull and dead, hear and heed this ! § 41. But — it is hard to say it, yet its truth will ap- pear if, in our intercourse and life with our children, we cast a searching glance upon the condition of our minds and hearts — we are dull, our surroundings are dull to us. With all our knowledge, we are empty for our children. Almost all we say is hollow and empty, without meaning and without life. Only in the few rare cases, when our discourse rests on intercourse with life and nature, we enjoy its life. Let us hasten, then ! Let us impart life to ourselves, to our children ; let us through them give meaning to our speech and life to the things about us ! Let us live with them, and let them live with us ; thus shall we obtain through them what we all need. Our words, our discourses in social life, are dull, are empty husks, lifeless puppets, worthless chips ; they are devoid of inner life and meaning ; they are evil spirits, for they have neither body nor substance. Our surroundings are dead and dull. Objects are matter. They cnish, instead of lifting us, for they lack the quickening word that gives them significance and meaning. We do not feel the meaning of what we say, for our speech is made up of memorized ideas, based neither on perception nor on productive effort. Therefore, it does not lead to perception, production, life ; it has not proceeded, it does not proceed, from life. Our speech is like the book out of which we have MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 89 learned it, at third or fourth hand. We do not our- selves see what we say, we can not give outer form to what we say. Therefore, our speech is so empty and meaningless. For this reason, and only for this, our inward and outward life, as well as the life of our chil- dren, is so poor, because our speech is not born from a life, rich inwardly and outwardly, in seeing and doing ; because our speech, our word, is not based on the per- ception of the thing it designates. Therefore, we hear the sound, it is true, but we fail to get the image ; we hear the noise, but see no movement. § 42. Fathers, parents, let us see that our children may not suffer from similar deficiencies. What we no longer possess — the all- quickening, creative power of child-life — let it again be translated from their life into ours. Let us learn from our children, let us give heed to the gentle admonitions of their life, to the silent de- mands of their minds. Let us live with our children : then will the life of our children bring us peace and joy, then shall we begin to grow wise, to be wise. [This celebrated saying, " Kommt, lasst U7is unsern Kindern le- hen ! " is frequently translated, " Come, let us live for our children ! " Unsern Kindern is the dative case, and implies here devotion to, ab- sorption in, harmony ivith, the life of our children. It seems to me that this is more fully expressed by the preposition with. With im- plies that both, we and the children, are equally active ; for seems to place the burden on us, and renders the children passive recipients of our bounty. Living with our children means entering fully into their simple ways of seeing and saying, of feeling and thinking, of willing and doing; it means placing at their service our wider knowledge, our greater strength, patiently helping them, guarding and guiding 90 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. them in their life, in their spontaneous search for light and love ; it means joining them in their simple truthfulness, their childish faith in man, and leading them on the basis of this to a higher and mightier faith in the immutable laws of nature and of God; it means being true with them so that they may reach higher truth ; it means loving with them what they love, so that with our help they may learn to love the highest good. Living with our children implies on our part sympathy with childhood, adaptability to children, and knowledge and appreciation of child-nature; it implies genuine interest in all that interests them, to rejoice and grieve with them in the measure of their joy and grief, not merely in the measure of our appreciation of loss or gain, of substance or shadow ; it implies seeing ourselves with the eyes of a child, hearing ourselves with the ears of a child, judging ourselves with the keen intuition of a child. Froebel even sees in it the expression of a universal law in its application to the lite of humanity ; it means to him the realization in consciousness of the organic connection of human life in succes- sive generations. " The loving heart," he says elsewhere, " feels it in ail things, the eager mmd sees it in all things as a cosmic thought ; the heart and the mind find it in the universe of which man himself is only an organic part. Does not the sun proclaim it to the earth and all her creatures, all her children ? Do not the elements — earth, water, air, light, and heat — proclaim it to each other with reference to all earthly things ? Do not, again, in each plant all the various parts proclaim this to each other with reference to the seed growing in quiet seclusion? In all nature, wherever there are life and activity, we find this thought : ' Come, let us live with our children ' — revealed as a law comprehending all Hfe.*' — Tr.] § 43. During the period of human development heretofore considered, the objects of the external world were intimately connected with the word, and through the word with the human being. This period, therefore, is pre-eminently the period of development of the faculty of speech. Therefore, in all the child did, it was so indispensable that what- ever he did should be clearly and definitely designated MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 91 hj the word, connected with the w^ord. Every object, every thing became such, as it were, only through the word ; before it had been named, although the child might have seemed to see it wdth the outer eyes, it had no existence for the child. The name, as it were, created the thing for the child ; hence the name and the thing seemed to be one, like the stem and the marrow, tlie branch and the twig. Yet, in spite of this intimate connection of the object w^ith its name, and, through this, with man— and this can not be too clearty noticed and too carefully followed by the educator — every object at this stage of human development is again so entirely distinct from all others, each object and each wiiole, too, shows in its parts no organic connection. The des- tiny of man and of things, however, tends in a very different direction. Kot only should man consider each thing as an undivided whole, but he should also look upon it as organized in its parts for a common pur- pose. He is to view it not only as an independent whole, an individual unit, but he should also view it as a member of a relatively greater and higher whole, fulfilling a higher common purpose. Of each thing he is to know not only its external conditions and associations, but its inner relationships, its in- ner unity with what seems to be outwardly distinct from it. § 44. Yet the totality of what surrounds man as his outer w^orld can not be known by him in its oneness ; he can find it only in the knowledge of the peculiar nature of each thing, the individuahty and personality of each object. Now, man finds it difficult to recognize a thing — 92 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. the inner nature of a thing — if it is brought too close to him inwardly and outwardly ; and the difficulty is increased in the measure in which it approaches him too closely, inwardly and outwardly. The misunder- standings between parent and child in the family circle furnish frequent and speaking proofs for this. For this reason man finds it so difficult to know himself. On the other hand, external separation often brings about inner unity, inner recognition and appreciation. Thus, alas! man knows many foreign things — foreign objects, other times, other men — better than his home surroundings, his own time, better than himself. If man would know himseK truly, he must represent him- self externally, must place himself over against him- self, as it were. JN^ow, if man ^in obedience to his des- tiny is truly and thoroughly to know each thing of the surrounding world ; if, with the aid of each thing, he is truly and thoroughly to know himself, the period of childhood which unites man and object must be fol- lowed by a new period opposed to its predecessor in its nature ; a period which separates man and object, which outwardly opposes them to one another, but unites them inwardly ; a period which brings the ob- jects inwardly nearer to man by separating the object from its name, considers the object and the word as separate, distinct, yet uniting things. This period, when language assumes an independent existence, is the one that now follows. When he learns to separate the name from the thing, and the thing from its name, the speech from the speaker, and vice versa ; when, later on, language itself is externalized and materialized in signs and MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 93 writing, and begins to be considered as something actually corporeal, man leaves the period of childhood and enters the period of hoy hood, [In an additional paragraph, Froebel indulges in a play on the word Knabe^ boy^ seeking to fix the idea that this is the period when man, by his own strength, consciously appropriates the external. — 2r,] III. THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. § 45. As tlie preceding period of huraaii develop- ment, the period of childhood^ was predominantly that of life for the sake merely of living, for making the in- ternal external, so the period of hoyhood is predomi- nantly the period for learning^ for making the external internal. On the part of parents and educators the period of infancy demanded chiefly fostering care. During the succeeding period of childhood, which looks upon man predominantly as a unit, and would lead him to unity, training prevails. The period of boyhood leads man chiefly to the consideration of particular relationships and individual things, in order to enable him later on to discover their inner unity. The inner tendencies and relationships of individual things and conditions are sought and established (see § 56). Now, the consideration and treatment of individual and particular things, as such, and. in their inner bear- ings and relationships, constitute the essential character and work of instruction ; therefore, hoyhood is the pe- riod in which instruction predominates. This instruction is conducted not so much in accord- ance with the nature of man as in accordance with the THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 9^ fixed, definite, clear laws that lie in the nature of things, and more particularly the laws to which man and things are equally subject. It is conducted not so much in the method in which the universal, eternal law finds pecul- iar expression in man as rather in the method in which this law finds peculiar expression in each external thing, or simultaneous expression in both man and thing. It is conducted, then, in accordance with fixed and definite conditions lying outside the human being ; and this im- plies knowledge, insight, a conscious and comprehensive survey of the field. Such a process constitutes the school in the widest sense of the word. The school, then, leads man to a knowledge of external things, and of their nature in accordance vsdth the particular and general laws that lie in them ; by the presentation of the external, the indi- vidual, the particular, it leads man to a knowledge of the internal, of unity, of the universal. Therefore, on entering the period of boyhood, man becomes at the same time a school-boy. With this period school begins for him, be it in the home or out of it, and taught by the father, the members of the family, or a teacher. School, then, means here by no means the school-room, nor school-keeping, but the conscious communication of hiovjledge^ for a definite purjpose and in definite inner connection (see § 56). § 46. On the other hand, as it has appeared and con- tinues to appear in every aspect, the development and cultivation of man, for the attainment of his destiny and fulfillment of his mission, constitute an unbroken whole, steadily and continuously progressing, gradually ascending. The feeling of community, awakened in the 96 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. infant, becomes in tlie child impulse, inclination ; these lead to the 'formation of the disposition and of the heart, and arouse in the boy his intellect and will. To give firmness to the will, to qtiicken it, and to make it pure, strong, and enduring, in a life of pure humanity, is the chief concern, the main object in the guidance of the hoy, in instruction and the school. § 47. Will is the mental activity, ever consciously proceeding from a definite point in a definite direction toward a definite object, in harmony with the man's nature as a whole. This statement contains everything, and indicates all that parent and educator, teacher and school, should be or should give to the boy in example and precept during these years. The starting-point of all mental activity in the boy should be energetic and sound ; the source whence it flows, pure, clear, and ever flowing ; the direction, sim- ple, definite ; the object, fixed, clear, living and life- giving, elevating, worthy of the effort, worthy of the destiny and mission of man, worthy of his essential na- ture, and tending to develop it and to give it full ex- pression. In order, therefore, to impart true, genuine firmness to the natural will-acti\4ty of the boy, all the activities of the boy, his entire will, should proceed from and have reference to the development, cultivation, and represen- tation of the internal. Instruction in example and in words, which later on become precept and example, fur- nishes the means for this. Neither example alone nor words alone will do : not example alone, for it is par- ticular and special, and the word is needed to give to THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 97 particular individual examples universal applicability ; not words alone, for example is needed to interpret and explain the word which is general, spiritual, and of many meanings. But instruction and example alone and in themselves are not sufficient : they must meet a good, pure heart, and this is an outcome of proper educational influences in childhood. Therefore, the cultivation of boyhood rests wholly on that of childhood; therefore, activity and firmness of the will rest upon activity and firmness of the feel- ings and of the heart. Where the latter are lacking, the former will scarcely be attainable. § 48. The pure and good heart and the thoughtful and gentle sympathies of the child constitute in them- selves a unity. Hence their utterance is an intense longing to find for the many externally separate things that surround the child an inner necessary unity, such as he feels in himself, a quickening spiritual bond and law —a bond and law by which these things may gain at least the significance of life and significance for life. Kow, it is true, for the period of childhood this long- ing is gratified in the complete enjoyment of living play. By this, in the period of childhood, man is placed in the center of all things, and all things are seen only in relation to himself, to his life. Yet above all it is family-life that gratifies this longing fully. Family-life alone secures the development and cultivation of a good heart and of a thoughtful, gentle disposition in their full intensity and vigor, so incomparably important for every period of growth, nay, for the whole life of man (see § 86). 98 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. ^Now, inasmiicli as that desire for unity is the basis of all genuinely human development and cul- tivation, and inasmuch as every separating tendency hinders pure human development, man, even in child- hood, refers everything to family-life, beholds every- thing through family-life, as is shown so clearly in childhood. For the child, therefore, the Hfe of his own family becomes itself an external thing and a type of life. Parents should consider this fact : that the child in his own life would fain represent this type in the purity, harmony, and efficiency in which he sees it. [On the great value of family-life, see also § 86. The family is to Froebel the type of unified human life. In it the triune essence of humanity — light, love, and life — is individualized in father, mother, and child ; light predominating in the father, love in the mother, life in the child. Of these, love is the center and fulcrum, as the mother, too, is at the center and fulcrum of the family. Light may secure individual existence and furnish insight, but love alone can make life worth living, love alone can lead to the subordination of the whole being to a heart turned upward, taught lovingly and patieritly — as mothers teach — to yearn for the Infinite. This is in full agreement with his primary principle of life-unity ; for the emotional element of our being, the heart, is nearest the divinity within us. Head and hand are but the instruments of the heart from which they receive their direction. — TV.] § 49. Now, in the family, the child sees the parents and other members of the family at work, producing, doing something ; the same he notices with adults gen- erally in life and in those active interests with which his family is concerned. Consequently the child, at this stage, would like himself to represent what he sees. H^ would like to represent — and tries to do so — all he sees his parents and other adults do and represent in work, THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 99 all which he thus sees represented bj human power and human skill. What formerly the child did ot\\.j for the sake of the activity, the boy now does for the sake of the result or product of his activity ; the child's instinct of activity has in the boy become a formative instinct^ and this occupies the whole outward life, the outward manifes- tation of boy-life at this period (see § 23). How cheerfully and eagerly the boy and the girl at this age begin to share the work of father and mother — not the easy work, indeed, but the difficult work, calling for strength and labor ! Be cautious, be careful and thoughtful, at this point, O parents ! You can here at one blow destroy, at least for a long time, the instinct of formative activity in your children, if you repel their help as childish, use- less, of little avail, or even as a hindrance. Do not let the urgency of your business tempt you to say, *' Go away, you only hinder me," or, " I am in a hurry, leave me alone." Boys and girls are thus disturbed in their inner ac- tivity ; they see themselves shut out from the whole with which they felt themselves so intimately united ; their inner power is aroused, but they see themselves alone, and do not know what to do with the aroused power; nay, it becomes a burden to them, and they become fretful and indolent. After a third rebuff of this character, scarcely any child will again propose to help and share the work. He becomes fretful and dull, even when he sees his parents engaged in work which he might share. Who has not later on heard the parents of such children com- 100 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. plain : " When tliis boy (or girl) was small and could not help, he busied himself about everything; now that he knows something and is strong enough, he does not want to do anything " ? Just so! In accordance with the nature of the spiritual principle working in man, as yet unconscious- ly and unrecognized, the first utterances of the instinct of activity, of the formative instinct, come without any effort on his part, and even against his will, as indeed happens to him even in later life. IS"ow, if this inner impulse to formative activity in man, particularly in early youth, is met by an external obstacle, especially by one like the will of parents, which can not be set aside, the inner power itself is weakened, and a fre- quent repetition of this forces it back into complete inactivity. When the child has been thus disturbed, he does not consider why his help was permissible at one time and not at another time ; he chooses that which is more agreeable to his physical nature. He abstains from the activity the more readily and willingly, because the will of his parents seems to make it his duty to do so. The child becomes indolent — i. e., spirit and life cease to animate his physical being ; the latter becomes a mere body to him, which now he must carry as a bur- den ; whereas, formerly, the sense of power led him to feel his body, not as such, but as the mighty source of the power that filled him. Therefore, O parents, if you wish your children eventually to help you, foster in them at an early pe- riod the instinct of activity, and especially the forma- tive instinct of boyhood, even though it should involve THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 101 some effort, some sacrifice on your part. It will re- pay a liundred-fold, as does good wheat planted in good soil. [Here, as elsewhere, Froebel places himself broadly on the thought that in the order of development, the lower is the neces- sary condition of the higher, and owes its value to the higher. Later on, this will be shown in his presentation of the development of conscious spontaneity from the mere energy as seen in the crys- tal. For the same reason he asks us here to foster this, as yet com- paratively simple instinct, of more or less purposeless activity, which appears almost like a reflex effect of the impressions that crowd in upon the child. He sees in this activity the germ and promise of higher developments, of the highest differentiations of conscious purpose. Similarly, he would lead the child from apparently pur- poseless and frivolous play to the teeming fields of earnest labor t not by contemning play but by fostering it, and by directing it in its legitimate channels. — Tr.] Strengthen and develop this instinct ; give to yonr child the highest he now needs ; permit him to add his power to your work — specially dear to him because it is yours — so that he may not only gain the consciousness of his power, but learn to appreciate its limitations. If in his former activity (in childhood) he imitated phases of domestic life, in his present activity (in boy- hood) he shares the work of the house — lifting, pulhng, carrying, digging, splitting. The boy wants to try his strength in everything, so that his body may grow strong, that his strength may increase, and that he may know its measure. The son accompanies his father everywhere — to the field and to the garden, to the shop and to the counting-house, to the forest and to the meadow ; in the care of domestic animals and in the making of small articles of household furniture ; in the splitting, sawing, and the piling up of wood ; in all the 102 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. work his father's trade or calling involves. Question upon question comes from the lips of the boy thirsting for knowledge— How? Why? When? What for? Of what? —and every somewhat satisfactory answer opens a new world to the boy. Language comes to him every- where, in its independence, as a mediator.* At this age the healthy boy, brought up simply and naturally, never evades an obstacle, a difficulty ; nay, he seeks it, and overcomes it. " Let it lie," the vigorous youngster exclaims to his father, who is about to roll a piece of wood out of the boy's way — " let it lie, I can get over it." With diffi- culty, indeed, the boy gets over it the first time ; but he has accomplished the feat by his own strength. Strength and courage have grown in him. He returns, gets over the obstacle a second time, and soon he learns to clear it easily. If activity brought joy to the child, work now gives delight to the boy. Hence, the daring and vent- uresome feats of boyhood ; the explorations of caves and ravines ; the climbing of trees and mountains ; the searching of the heights and depths ; the roaming through fields and forests. The most difficult thing seems easy, the most daring thing seems without danger to him, for his promptings come from his innermost heart and will. However, it is not alone the desire to try and use his power that prompts the boy at this age to seek ad- venture high and low, far and wide ; it is particularly the peculiarity and need of his unfolding innermost life, the desire to control the diversity of things, to see ^ * As a mediator between him and the outer world, bringing him the knowledge for which he thirsts, — Tr. THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 103 individual things in their connection with a whole, es- pecially to bring near that which is remote, to compre- hend (the outer world) in its extent, its diversity, its integrity; it is the desire to extend his scope step by step. To climb a new tree means to the boy the discovery of a new world. The outlook from above shows every- thing so different from the ordinary cramped and dis- torted side-view. How clear and distinct everything lies beneath him ! Could we but recall the feelings that filled our hearts and souls in boyhood, when the narrow limits of our surroundings sank before our extended view, we should not cry out to him : " Come down ; you might fall!" Not by walking and standing alone, do we learn to walk and stand. Not by walking and standing, sitting and crawling, do we learn to keep from falling ; the survey of our surroundings, too, is needed. And how different does the commonest thing look when viewed from above ! pMore clearly than in any other passage, Froebel here indicates his position with reference to the much-abused maxim, " Learn to do by doing," which has sometimes been attributed to him by well-mean- ing but ill-informed persons. Froebel, it is true, would have skill in action imparted by practice ; but he never makes skill as such an object of educational activity, deeming it of value only when it serves insight, which can come only from seeing. He would, indeed, have doing, but always as the expression of thought and feeling, which, again, are based on previous seeing. In this respect Froebel is a more faithful follower of Comenius than those over-zealous per- sons who seem to have caught nothing from the great Moravian teacher than this maxim, " Learn to do by doing." Comenius him- self applies the saying only to the arts of the school — such as writ- ing, speaking (or reading), singing, and ciphering — and treats of it 104 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. in a chapter subordinate to the " Method of the Sciences " which, as he says, need " the eye, the object, and light." This is not vitiated by the fact that " every science is evolved out of its corresponding art." An art is a complex empirical organism, involving the co-operation of more or less extended systems of vari- ously inter-related seeing and doing. The corresponding science grows in the measure in which we learn to see it as a living, ration- ally constituted whole. — Tr.] Should it not be our duty and our work to secure for our boy at an early period tliis elevation of mind and heart ? Shall he not from a lofty standpoint clear his understanding, and expand heart and mind bv ex- tending his view into the distance ? " But," you object, " the boy will become reckless ; I am never free from anxiety about him." The boy, who from early youth has been led quietly and with reference to the steady development of his power, will never task his strengtli much more than his previous trials justify. Thus he passes through all these dangers like one led by a good genius ; while another boy, who knows neither his strength nor the difficulty of his task, attempts to do what his little skill and strength do not warrant him to undertake, and thus incurs danger where even the most timid would deem himself safe. Indeed, the most really venturesome boys are always those who, without steadily practiced strength, are taken with a sudden ht of power, and, at the same time, are offered an opportunity for its use. They will then, particularly if others observe them, easily get into danger. Not less significant and developing is the boy's in- clination to descend into caves and ravines, to ramble in the shady grove and in the dark forest. It is the de- THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 105 sire to seek and find the new, to see and discover the hidden ; the desire to bring to hght and to appropriate that which lies concealed in darkness and shadow. From these rambles the boy returns with rich treas- ures of unknown stones and plants, of animals — worms, beetles, spiders, and lizards — that dwell in darkness and concealment. " What is this ? what is its name 'i " etc., are the questions to be answered ; and every new word enriches his world, and throws light upon his sur- roundings. Beware of greeting the boy with the excla- mation, " Fie, throw that down ; that is horrid ! " or *' Drop that, it will bite you ! " If the child obeys, he drops and throws away also a considerable portion of his power ; and, when later on you say to him, or when common sense and reason tell him, " See, this is a harm- less creature," he will avert his eyes, and a great amount of knowledge will be lost at the same time. On the other hand, the little boy, scarcely six years old, may tell you about the structure of the beetle and about the peculiar uses it makes of its limbs ; things that hereto- fore had remained unnoticed by you. It may be well to caution him about taking hold of unknown creatures, but not in such a way as to make him timid. However, the genuine, vigorous boy at this age is by no means always on the heights or in the depths. The same desire that urges him to seek knowledge and in- sight on the mountains and in the valleys, attracts and holds him also to the plain. Here he makes a little garden under the hedge near the fence of his father's garden ; there he represents the course of the river in his furrow and in his ditch ; there he studies the effects of the fall or pressure of water upon his little water- 106 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. wheel ; here he observes a small piece of wood or a bit of light bark floating on a little pond he has dammed up. He is particularly fond of occupying himself with the clear, lining, mobile water in which the boy who seeks self-knowledge beholds the image of his soul as in a mirror. For the same reason he is fond of busying himself with plastic substances (sand, clay), which to him are, as it were, a life-element. For he seeks now, impelled by the previously acquired sense of his power, to master the material, to control it. Everything must submit to his formative instinct ; there in the heap of earth he builds a cellar, a cavern, and on it a garden, a bench. Boards, branches of trees, laths, and poles are made into a hut, a house ; the deep, fresh snow is fashioned into the walls and ramparts of a fortress ; and the rough stones on the hill are heaped together to make a castle : all this is done in the spirit and tendency of boyhood, in the spirit and tendency of unification and assimila- tion (see § 94). There two boys, scarcely seven years old, with their arms around each other, walk across the yard in friendly, intimate consultation ; they are on the way to get tools in order to build in a dark grove, on the hill behind the house, a hut with a table and bench, an out- look from which their eyes can take in the whole valley at one glance, as a beautifully organized whole. This unifying and, at the same time, self-reliant spirit unites all things that come near and seem adapt- ed to its nature, its wants, and inner status — unites stones and human beings in a common purpose, a com- mon endeavor. And thus each one soon forms for him- THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 107 self liis o\^Ti world ; for the feeling of his own power implies and soon demands also the possession of his own space and his own material belonging exclusive- ly to him. Be his realm, his province, his land, as it were, a corner of the court-yard, of the house, or of the room ; be it the space of a box, of a chest, or of a closet ; be it a grotto, a hut, or a garden — the human being, the boy at this age, needs an external point, if possible, chosen and prepared by himself, to which he refers all his ac- tivity. When the room to be filled is extensive, when the realm to be controlled is large, when the whole to be represented or produced is complex, then brotherly union of similar-minded persons is in place. And when similar-minded persons meet in similar endeavor, and their hearts find each other, then either the work already begun is extended, or the work begun by one becomes a common w^ork. [In this and the following passages Froebel foreshadows the kindergarten, which he meant to be par excellence the social nursery of the child — a place where the children's faculties might be directed without violence into social channels. In the educational practice of home and school this phase of child-nature is almost wholly ig- nored, and not unfrequently suppressed as detrimental to the child's individual welfare. To the mother the child is her child, to the school it is a child. Perhaps this is well, so far as the mother is concerned, inasmuch as it is her special province to nurse the earliest germ of individual development which underlies the future social worth of the child, and inasmuch as the home rarely offers suitable conditions to train the child for life in a society of equals. With the school, however, this is different; here all the elements of a society of equals are given, opportunities for common enterprise are so abundant that isolation becomes a matter of great difficulty. Here, then, it would 108 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. be easy to establish an atmosphere of universal good-will; to de- velop and foster habits of sympathy, gratitude, and helpfulness ; to have the pupil grow surely and steadily into ever fuller appre- ciation of the value of social effort to himself, and of his own value to society ; to fill the soul of each one brimful of a generous self- assertion and a rational self-sacrifice that shrink from no duty and yield no right. In the kindergarten Froebel has provided an ideal society of equals which the child may enter at the very moment when his social instincts enter consciousness. The school would gain in every phase of its work, could it connect itself organically with the kindergarten and become an institution where the future men and women might learn the arts of co-ordination and subordination, of creative and directive leadership, of intelligent and cheerful helpfulness in tlie attainment of common purposes. Thus the school would strengthen the pupil's individuality, invigorate it through exercise, lead it to ever greater self-consciousness in practice, elevate his drift and char- acter by giving him a tendency to seek worthy objects for a generous activity, enable him to become a leader in matters in which he has the stuff for leadership, and a contented follower in all affairs in which his powers assign him a humbler station. — Tr.] Would you, O parents and educators, see in minia- ture, in a picture, as it were, what I liave here indicated, look into this education-room * of eight bojs, seven to eight years old. On the large table of the much-used room there stands a chest of building-blocks, in the form of bricks, each side about one sixth of the size of actual bricks, the finest and most variable material that can be offered a boy for purposes of representation. Sand or sawdust, too, have found their way into the room, and fine, green moss has been brought in abundantly from the last walk in the beautiful pine-forest. * A word formed in imitation of the word school-room, to indicate the wider scope of the place. — TV. THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 109 [This is the first foreshadowing of what has since in the kinder- garten been developed into group-work. In group-work several chil- dren, or the whole little society, unite their skill and energy in the use of the gifts and occupations for a common purpose. This purpose may lie within the limits of a single gift or occupation, or it may require a variety of these. A few instances will illustrate this : The group- work remains within the limits of a single gift or occupation when the children use the folding papers as paving-stones in building a sidewalk, when they use their third gifts in representing a farm-yard with its buildings and implements, when they combine to build a street railroad with the help of the fourth gift, when two children fold a dwelling-house from a large sheet of cardboard, while the others are busy folding from smaller sheets of paper all kinds of fur- niture — tables, chairs, sofas, beds, writing-desk, picture-frames, look- ing-glasses, etc. Here the individuality of each child has full play, and yet is ex- ercised in the service of a common purpose, subordinating itself to tlie claims and needs of the little society with no loss and much gain. This becomes still more evident when a variety of gifts and occupations are brought into play. Here is an instance : In one corner of a suitably prepared " sand-table " a few handfuls of sand are spread to receive yellow folding-papers, cut and rolled so as to represent a wheat-field; behind this a few children build a small village, from the fifth and sixth gifts ; others erect near the center of the table a large mill, with the necessary out-houses ; still others build a road, a brook, a bridge, with suitable material ; a few boys are busy making bags of flour out of clay ; two girls are constructing a wagon out of sticks, peas, and interlacing material. Thus all unite to express what they know about the history of wheat. In the primary school it becomes desirable to develop these social tendencies methodically and in harmony with individual develop- ment. This is accomplished with the help of my group-table, first systematically used at La Porte (Indiana). The table is similar to the ordinary kindergarten-table, but in the shape of a square or hexagon, and of a size to accommodate four or six children, one at each side of the table. When the children work at this table with any given material, at respectively equal distances from the center or margin, the work will be strictly symmetrical and definitely related to the sides and angles, diagonals and diameters of the table- top. This symmetrical arrangement serves as a powerful connecting 110 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. link among the individual workers. They soon learn to contribute their material and energy to the execution of social purposes with little or no thought of individual gain, and still less of individual supremacy. — Tr.] It is intermission, and each one lias begun his own work. There in a corner stands a chapel quite concealed, a cross and an altar indicate the meaning of the struct- ure : it is the creation of a small, quiet boj. There on a chair two boys have united to undertake a considerably greater piece of work : it is a building of several stories, and probably represents a castle, which looks down from the chair as from a mountain into a valley. But what has quietly grown under the hands of that boy at the table? It is a green hill crowned by an old, ruined castle. The others, in the mean while, have erected a village in the plain below. 'Now, each one has finished his work ; each one ex- amines it and that of the others. In each one rises the thought and the wish to unite all in a connected whole ; and scarcely has this wish been recognized as a com- mon one, when they establish common roads from the village to the ruin, from this to the castle, and from the castle to the chapel, and between them lie brooks and meadows. At another time some had fashioned a landscape from clay, another had constructed from pasteboard a house with doors and windows, and a third had made miniature ships from nut-shells. Each one examines his work : it is good, but it stands alone. He sees his neigh- bor's work : it would gain so much by being united. And immediately the house, as a castle, crowns the hill, and the tiny ship floats on the smaU artificial lake, and, THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. HI to the delight of all, the youngest brings his shepherd and sheep to graze between the nionntain and the lake. Now, they all stand and behold with pleasure and satis- faction the work of their own hands. Again, what busy tumult among those older boys at the brook down yonder ! They have built canals and sluices, bridges and sea-ports, dams and mills, each one intent only on his own work. Now the water is to be used to carry vessels from the higher to the lower level ; but at each step of progress one trespasses on the limits of another realm, and each one equally claims his right as lord and maker, while he recognizes the claims of the others. What can serve here to mediate ? Only treaties, and, like states, they bind themselves by strict treaties. Who can point out the varied significance, the varied results of these plays of boys ? Two things, in- deed, are clearly established. They proceed from one and the same spiiit of boyhood ; and the playing boys made good pupils, intelligent, and quick to learn, quick to see and to do, diligent and full of zeal, reliable in thought and feeling, efficient and vigorous. Those who played thus are efficient men, or will become so. Particularly helpful at this period of life is the cul- tivation of gardens owned by the boys, and their culti- vation for the sake of the produce. For here man for the first time sees his work bearing fruit in an organic way, determined by logical necessity and law — fruit which, although subject to the inner laws of natural de- velopment, depends in many ways upon his work and upon the character of his work ! This work fully completes, in many ways, the boy's life with nature, and satisfies his curiosity concerning 112 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. her workings, his desire to know her — a desire that urges him again and again to give thoughtful and continuous attention and observation to plants and flowers. [Nature, too, seems to favor these promptings and occupations, and to reward them with abundant success ; for a glance upon these gardens of children reveals at once the fact that, if a boj has given his plants only moderate care and attention, they thrive remarkably well ; and that the plants and flowers of the boys who attend to them with special care live in sympathy with these boys, as it were, and are particularly healthy and luxuriant. If the boy can not have the care of a little garden of his own, he should have at least a few plants in boxes or pots, filled not with rare and delicate or double plants, but with common plants that have an abundance of leaves and blossoms, and thrive easily. The child, or boy, who has guarded and cared for another living thing, although it be of a lower order, will be led more easily to guard and foster his own life. At the same time the care of plants will gratify his desire to observe other living things, such as beetles, butterflies, and birds, for these seek the vicinity of plants. By no means, however, do all the plays and occupa- tions of boys at this age aim at the representation of things ; on the contrary, many are predominantly mere practice and trials of strength, and many aim simply at display of strength. Nevertheless, the play of this period always bears a peculiar character, corresponding with its inner life. For, while during the previous pe- riod of childhood the aim of play consisted simply in activity as such, its aim lies now in a definite^ conscious THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 113 purpose; it seeks representation as such, or the thing to be represented in tlie activity. This character is developed more and more in the free boyish games as the boys advance in age. This is observable even with all games of physical movement, with games of running, boxing, wrestling, with ball-games, racing, games of hunting, of war, etc. (see § 30). It is the sense of sure and reliable power, the sense of its increase, both as an individual and as a member of the group, that tills the boy with all-pervading, ju- bilant joy during these games. It is by no means, how- ever, only the physical power that is fed and strength- ened in these games ; intellectual and moral power, too, is definitely and steadily gained and brought under control. Indeed, a comj^arison of the relative gains of the mental and of the physical phases would scarce- ly yield the palm to the l)ody. Justice, moderation, self-control, truthfulness, loyalty, brotherly love, and, again, strict impartiality — who, when he approaches a group of boys engaged in such games, could fail to catch the fragrance of these delicious blossomings of the heart and mind, and of a firm will ; not to mention the beautiful, though perhaps less fragrant, blossoms of cour- age, perseverance, resolution, prudence, together with the severe elimination of indolent indulgence ? Who- ever would inhale a fresh, quickening breath of life should visit the play-grounds of such boys. Flowers of still more delicate fragrance bloom, and the spirited, free boy spares them as the spirited horse spares the child that lies in the path of his dashing career. These delicate blossoms, resembling the violet and anemone, are forbearance, consideration, sympathy, and encourage- 114 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. ment for the weaker, younger, and more delicate ; fair- ness to those who are as yet unfamiliar with the game. Would that all who, in the education of boys, bare- ly tolerate play-grounds, might consider these things ! There are, indeed, many harsh words and many rude deeds, but the sense of powder must needs precede its cultivation. Keen, clear, and penetrating are the boy's eye and sense in the recognition of inner meaning ; keen and decided, therefore, even harsh and severe, is his judgment of those who are his equals, or who claim equality with him in judgment and power. Every town should have its ow^n common play- ground for the boys. Glorious results would come from this for the entire community. For at this period games, whenever it is feasible, are common, and thus develop the feeling and desire for community, and the laws and requirements of community. The boy tries to see himself in his companions, to feel himself in them, to weigh and measure himself by them, to know and find himself with their help. Thus, the games directly influence and educate the boy for life, awaken and cultivate many civil and moral virtues. Yet the seasons and surroundings do not always permit the boy, free from the duties of home and school, to exercise and develop his powers in the open air, and at no time should boys be unoccupied. There- fore other kinds of external occupations and representa- tions of in-door life constitute at this age an essential part of the activity and guidance of boys, and are very important to him. This is particularly the case with so-called mechanical pursuits, such as paper and paste- board work, modeling, etc. (see § 22). THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 115 However, there is in man still another wish — a long- ing, a desire of the soul that can not be gratified by ex- ternal ocenpations, by external activity. All that exter- nal occupation and activity can give man at this period does not by any means sufiice him, does not meet the demands and needs of an education adequate to his nature : the present, however full and rich, can not suffice him. The existence of the present teaches him the exist- ence of the past. This, too, which was before he was, he would know. He would know the reason, the past cause of what now is. Indeed, he would that what has remained over from past time should reveal to him the reason of its existence, should tell him of that old time. Who fails to remember the keen desire that filled his heart, more particularly in the period of his later years of boyhood, when he beheld old walls and towers, ruins, old buildings, monuments, and columns on the hills and on the road-side — to hear others give accounts of these things, of their time and their causes ? Nay, who has not at such times noticed in himself a vague, undefinable feeling that at some time these things them- selves could and would give an account of themselves and their time ? And who, judging by his experience and knowl- edge, can furnish him these accounts, if not those who lived before he did — his elders ? That these might tell him, is his earnest wish ; and thus there is developed in the boy at this age the desire and craving for tales, for legends, for all kinds of stories, and later on for histori- cal accounts. This craving, especially in its first appear- ance, is very intense ; so much so, that, when others fail 116 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. to gratify it, tlie boys seek to gratify it themselves, particularly on days of leisure, and in times when the regular employments of the day are ended. Who has not been filled with respect when noticing a group of boys of this age gathered around one whom a good memory and a lively imagination have designated as their story-teller ? How attentively they all listen when his story gratifies their favorite wish and confirms their judgment by its plot and incidents — in short, when it brings before them words and deeds in harmony with their own inner thoughts and feelings ! However, even the present in which the boy lives still contains much that at this period of development he can not interpret, and yet would like to interpret ; much that seems to him dumb, and w^hich he would fain have speak ; much that appears to him dead, and which he longs to see alive and active. He wishes that others might furnish him this inter- pretation, and impart a language to the silent objects ; that they might put into clear words the inner living connection of all things which his mind vaguely ap- prehends. Yet these others frequently are quite unable to grat- ify the boy's wish, and thus there is developed in him the intense desire for fables and fairy-tales which impart language and reason to speechless things — the one with- in, and the other beyond the limits of human relations and human, earthly phenomena of life. Surely all must have noticed this, if they have given more than superficial attention to the life of boys at this age. Similarly, they must have noticed that — if here, too, the boy's desire is not or can not be gratified THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 117 by his attendants — lie will spontaneously hit upon the invention and presentation of fairy-tales and fables, and either work them out in his own mind alone or enter- tain his companions with them. [One of the most diflficult arts of the kindergartner is the telling of stories ; and it is, perhaps, equally difficult to give detailed direc- tions concerning the practice of this art. Yet there are a few plain requirements which it may be well to mention here. In the first place, the story should be simple in plot and form ; the events and words should be few and marked, and within the child's comprehen- sion. Involved constructions, long words, unmeaning sentimentali- ties, and confusing moralizings should be omitted. Again, the plot should be true — i. e., the events should be possible, and should have some logical connection. All that is hideous or vicious should be kept out. Cruel or wanton punishments or acci- dents and ludicrous situations should be avoided: they blunt or pervert the moral sense of the child. The story should take the child into an ideal world of truth and beauty and goodness, where he may always rest from the unpleasant experiences and gather strength from the struggle with their opposites in life. Here he should learn to love truth and beauty and goodness, so that when their opposites do come these may find no points of attraction in the child's soul. The stories, too, should be such that the child may easily imitate them by drawing on his slender stock of experiences, and by enliven- ing these with his ideals of whatever is lovely and good. — Tr.] These fairy-tales and stories will then very clearly reveal to the observer what is going on in the innermost mind of the boy, though doubtless the latter may not be himself conscious of it (see § 97). Whatever he feels in his heart, whatever lives in his soul, whatever he can not express in his own words, he would fain have others express. Whatever his mind vaguely apprehends, what- ever fills his heart with joy and pleasure, as the sense of power and the feeling of spring, he would fain express in words; but he feels himself unable to do so. He 10 118 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. seeks for words, and, as lie can not yet find them in himself, he rejoices intensely to hear them from others, especially in song. How the serene, happy boy of this age rejoices in song ! He feels, as it were, a new, true life in song. It is the sense of growing power that in his wander- ings from the valley to the hill, and from hill to hill, pours forth the joyous song from his throat. The intense desire to understand himself holds the boy ; therefore he seeks the clear, pure, living water in lake or brook. In his play he ever returns to this, be- cause in it he sees himself, the image of his soul, and because in and through it he hopes to get a knowledge of his spiritual nature. What the water in brook and lake, what the pure air and wide expanse on the mountain-top are to the boy's soul, that, too, play is to him — a mirror of the life-strug- gles that await him ; therefore, in order to gain strength for these, boys and youth seek obstacles, difficulties, and strife in their play. The desire to gain a knowledge of the past and of nature attracts the boy again and again to flowers and to old walls and ruined vaults. The desire to express what fills his innermost heart and mind urges him to sing. Thus it is certain that very many of the external phe- nomena, very many things in the boy's conduct and ac- tions, have an inner, spiritual significance ; that they indicate his inner, spiritual life and tendency, and are, therefore, symbolic. How salutary would it be for parents and child, for their present and future, if parents believed in this symbolism of childhood and boyhood, if they heeded THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 119 the child's life in reference to this ! It would unite parents and children by a new living tie ; it would es- tablish a new living connection between their present and their future life. § 50. Such is pure boy-life at this period. From this description of inner and outer pure boy-life and child- life, which fortunately for man we still meet occasion- ally — where natural views of education prevail in actual life possibly in greater beauty, richness, and intensity than has been represented — from this description let us cast a glance upon boy-life and child-life as we generally meet it more or less pronounced in actual life. Let us look particularly upon the life of the child and boy in his filial, brotherly, domestic relations, in his activity and work as a pupil and companion. We shall be com- pelled to confess frankly that many things are very dif- ferent : that we meet stubbornness, obstinacy, supine- ness, mental and physical indolence, sensuality, vanity and self-conceit, dogmatism and despotism, an unbroth- erly and unfilial spirit, emptiness and superficiality, aver- sion to work and even to play, disobedience and ungod- liness, etc. When we look for the sources of these and many other undeniable shortcomings in the life of children and boys, we are confronted ultimately by a double reason : in the first place, the complete neglect of the development of certain sides of full human life ; sec- ondly, the early faulty tendency — the early faulty and unnatural steps of development and distortion of the originally good human powers and tendencies by arbi- trary and willful interference with the original orderly and logical course of human development. 120 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. § 51. For, surely, the nature of man is in itself good, and surely there are in man quaHties and tendencies in themselves good. Man is by no means naturally bad, nor has he originally bad or evil qualities and tenden-^ cies ; unless, indeed, we consider as naturally evil, bad, and faulty the finite, the material, the transitory, the jphysical as such, and the logical consequences of the existence of these phenomena, namely, that man must have the possibility of failure in order to be good and virtuous, that he must be able to make himself a slave in order to be truly free. Yet these things are the neces- sary concomitants of the manifestation of the eternal in the temporal, of unity in diversity, and follow neces- sarily from man's destiny to become a conscious, reason- able, and free being. Whoever is to do with self-determination and free- dom that which is divine and eternal, must be at liberty to do that which is earthly and finite. Since God wished to reveal himself in the finite, this could be done only with finite and transitory material. Whoever, then, considers that which is finite, mate- rial, physical, as in itself bad, thereby expresses con- tempt for creation, nature, as such — nay, he actually blasphemes God. Similarly, it is treason to human nature and to man to consider him in his essence as neither good nor bad or evil ; how much more, then, is it treason to consider him in his nature as essentially bad or evil ! Man thereby denies God in humanity, for he denies His work, and hence the ways and means of truly knowing God, and thus puts into the world falsehood, the only source of all evil. THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 121 § 52. If there is anything absolutely evil, it is this, for it is the origin of all evil. But falsehood has no real existence ; it is already annihilated ; and, as in its very nature it is annihilated, it must also be annihilated m its outward manifestations. For man has been created neither with nor for falsehood, but with and for truth. Again, man does not create falsehood out of himself, out of his own nature ; he can and does create it only because God has created him for truth. Man creates falsehood by failing to recognize this fact for himself, or to lead others to recognize it. Man creates false- hood by hindering the recognition of this fact as pro- ceeding from the pure fount of his being in and through himself. Man, as an earthly phenomenon, is destined to have body and soul developed consciously and rationally, with a certain degree of symmetry and harmony. If man could only reach a clear and distinct knowledge of his nature — if, after having attained such knowledge wholly or in part, he were not so paralyzed in strength and will by evil habit and infirmity — he would immediately throw off all shortcomings, and even the manifestation of all evil that is in him and done by him — that clings to him, as it were, and hides him like a disguise. All these shortcomings and wrong-doings have their origin merely in the disturbed relations of these two sides of man : his nature, that which he has grown to be ; and his essence, his innermost being. Therefore, a suppressed or perverted good quality — a good tendency, only re- pressed, misunderstood, or misguided — lies originally at the bottom of every shortcoming in man. Hence the only and infallible remedy for counteracting any 122 THE EDUCATION OF MAK shortcoming and even wickedness is to find the origi- nally good source, the originally good side of the human being that has been repressed, disturbed, or misled into the shortcoming, and then to foster, build up, and prop- erly guide this good side. Thus the shortcoming will at last disappear, although it may involve a hard strug- gle against habit, hut not against original depraA)ity in man ; and this is accomplished so much the more rapidly and surely because man himseK tends to abandon his shortcomings, for man prefers right to wrong. § 53. Thus, selecting one point for illustration, we can not deny that there is at present among children and boys little simplicity, little true gentleness, little mutual forbearance, brotherly patience, little true re- ligious feeling ; but, on the other hand, much egotism, unfriendliness, particularly rudeness, etc. This is clearly due not merely to the failure of arousing at an early period, and of subsequently cultivating in the child and boy a feeling of common sympathy, but also to the early annihilation of this feeling between parents and children. If, then, true brotherly love, true simplicity, trust- ful and truly loving gentleness, friendliness, forbear- ance, and respect for the companion and fellow-man is to prevail again, this can be accomplished only by ad- dressing ourselves to the feeling of common sympathy lingering — however much or little of it there may still be left — in the heart of every human being, and culti- vating it with the greatest care. This would surely soon give back to us what we now miss so painfully in domestic, social, and religious life. Another source of many boyish faults lies in precipi- THE BOYHOOD OP MAN. 123 tation, carelessness, frivolity, and thoughtlessness. The boy is apt to act in obedience to a possibly praiseworthy impulse that holds captive his mind and body ; but he has not as yet experienced in his life the consequences of gratifying this particular impulse, and it has, indeed, not even occurred to him to consider the consequences of the action (see § 6). Thus a boy of by no means evil disposition took real delight in powdering his dear uncle's wig with plaster- of-Paris without any thought of wrong, and still more without considering that the hard grains of stone would necessarily injure the hair of the wig. Another boy found in a large tub of water some deep, round bowls of porcelain. He observed accident- ally that these bowls, when dropped upside down on the smooth surface of water, sprang back with an ex- plosive noise. This gave him pleasure ; he frequently tried the experiment, perfectly sure, without doubt, that the bowl could not be broken in the deep, yielding water. He was frequently successful, and, in order to improve the result of the experiment, the bowl was dropped from greater and greater heights. At one time the bowl fell so horizontally upon the level water- surface, and from so great a height, that the imprisoned air could not escape in any direction, but was com- pressed so forcibly that it broke the bowl into two al- most equal parts. Perplexed and distressed, the httle self -teaching physicist stood before the unexpected re- sult of his play that had delighted him so much. Yet boys show a still greater — indeed, almost an in- credible — degree of short-sightedness in obeying their impulses. 124 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. A boy throws stones for a long time at tlie small win- dow of a house near by, tr^dng very hard to hit it. lie has no idea, nor does he realize that, if a stone strikes the window, the latter must necessarily break. At last a stone hits the window, the window breaks, and the amazed boy stands rooted to the spot. Again, another boy — by no means malicious, but, on the contrary, very good-natured and fond of pigeons ■ — aimed at his neighbor's beautiful pigeon on the roof, with perfect delight and an intense desire to hit his mark. He did not consider that, if the bullet should hit the mark, the pigeon would be killed, and still less that this pigeon might be the mother of young ones needing her care. He fired, the bullet struck, the pigeon fell, a beautiful pair of pigeons were separated, and a number of unfledged young ones lost the mother who had fed and warmed them. It is certainly a very great truth — and failure to appreciate it does daily great harm — that it generally is some other human being, not unfrequently the edu- cator himself, that first makes the child or the boy bad. This is accomplished by attributing evil — or, at least, wrong — motives to all that the child or boy does from ignorance, precipitation, or even from a keen and praise- worthy sense of right or wrong. Unfortunately, there still are such men of mischief among educators. To them children and boys are always little malicious, spiteful, lurking sprites, where others see at most a jest carried too far, or the effect of too free an exercise of spirit. Such birds of ill omen, especially when they are educators, are the first to bring guilt upon such a child. THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 125 who, tliougli not wholly innocent, is yet withont guilt ; for they give him motives and incentives which were as yet unknown to him ; they make his actions bad, though not, at hrst, his will ; they kill him spiritually, take away his (spiritual) life, and lead him to think that this life does not come to him out of himself and through himself, and that he can not secure it by his own effort. When true (spiritual) life has thus left him, and he can not secure it by his efforts, what does mere knowledge avail him ? what does a powerless wish, devoid of energy, avail him'^ What they have thus made evil and bad in the belief that not even the child can attain heaven, can carry a heaven in his heart, \\athout first going, to speak mildly, through guilt — this they would have made good again by God, and this they call converting the child. They act like the good-natured little boy who says of his fly or beetle that is weak from maltreatment, or has even lost its feet, *' See, how tame ! " There still are children and boys who, in spite of great external shortcomings from neglect or ignorance of external relations of life, and in spite of total aban- donment to momentary impulses, nevertheless have an intense inner desire to become good and virtuous. It is true, such boys ultimately also may become intrinsically bad, but only because in their innermost desires they have frequently been not only not understood, but mis- understood. Could they yet be appreciated in good time, they would certainly still become good men. Children and boys, indeed, are often punished by parents and adults for faults and misdemeanors which they had perhaps previously learned from these very 126 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. persons. Punislimeiit, especially punishment bj words, very often teaches children, or at least brings to their notice, faults of which they were wholly free. § 54. Man, therefore, sins much more against man, against the children, than he does against God. For what can the unworthy action of the naughty child effect against the dignity of the father whose virtue has been proved and is acknowledged ? On the other hand, how much injury in body and soul may come to a younger child through the words and deeds of a naughty boy ! This, too, indicates the relation of man to man, and of man to God. § 55. As already indicated, a deep and significant feeling of anticipation and longing aspiration occupies the boy's mind in all he does during this period. All he does bears a common character, for he seeks the unity that unites all things and beings, he seeks to find him- self in and among all things. An indefinable longing urges him to seek the things of nature, the hidden objects, plants and fiowers, etc., in nature ; for a constant presentiment assures him that the things which satisfy the longing of the heart can not be found on the surface ; out of the depth and darkness they must be brought forth. Educators not only neglect at an early period to nurture this longing, but, unfortunately, they disturb at too early a period even the boy's effort to nourish it from his own resources. For the boy of this age, who has been led naturally, however feebly and unconsciously, seeks, in fact, only the unity that unites all things, the absolute living Unity, the source of all things — God ; not a god made and fashioned by human wit, but Him THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 127 who is ever near the heart and mind, near the living spirit, and who, therefore, may be known in spirit and in truth, and who alone can be thus approached. In his maturity, the boy is satisfied only when he has found Him to whom he has been drawn by indefinable yearning, because only then will he have found himself. We have thus reviewed the inner and outer life of the boy in free activity at school age. What, now, makes the school ? lY. MAN AS A SCHOLAR OR PUPIL. § 56. The saJiool endeavors to render the scholar fully conscious of the nature and inner life of things and of himself, to teach him to know *the inner rela- tions of things to one another, to the human being, to the scholar, and to the living source and conscious unity of all things — to God (see § 45). The aim of instruction is to bring the scholar to in- sight into the unity of all things, into tlie fact that all things have their being and life in God, so that in due time he may be able to act and live in accordance with this insight. Instruction itself offers the ways and means for attaining this aim (see § 45). Therefore, the school and instruction place the ex- ternal world and his own self, inasmuch as this forms a part of the external world, before the scholar as some- thing separate, something different from him, something foreign to him. Furthermore, the school points out the inner tenden- cies and relations among individual things and objects, and thus rises to ever higher generality and spirituality. Therefore, the boy, when he enters school, leaves the external view of things and enters upon a higher spirit- ual view of them. MAN AS A SCHOLAR OR PUPIL. 129 It is this leaving of the outer and superficial view of things on the part of the child, and his entrance upon an inner view leading to knowledge, insight, and con- sciousness, it is this transition of the child from do- mestic order to the higher cosmic order of things that makes the boy a scholar and constitutes the essence of the school. It is by no means the acquisition of a certain num- ber of miscellaneous external facts that constitutes the essential characteristic of the school, but only the living spirit that animates all things and in which all things move. Would that all whose business it is to direct and manage schools might carefully consider this ! Therefore, the school, as such, implies the presence of an intelligent consciousness which, as it were, hovers over and between the outer world and the scholar, which unites in itself the essence of both, holds the in- ner being of both, mediating between the two, impart- ing to them language and mutual understanding. This consciousness is the master in this art, who is called master also because for most things he is to point out the unity of things.* He is ^cAt^cZmaster because it is his business to point out and render clear to himself and others the inner, spiritual nature of things. Every school-child anticipates, expects, and requires this of the schoolmaster ; and this anticipation and hope, this faith, is the invisible and efficacious tie between the two. * Another of Froebel's strange plays on words that have no connec- tion with each other — this time the words Meister and meist {master and most), — Tr. 130 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. It is probable, too, that this anticipation and hope, this childlike faith of children, enabled former school- masters to be much more efficient in the production of genuine inner life in their children than many school- teachers of our day, who acquaint the children with many things without showing them their necessary inner spiritual unity and connection. Do not reply that, even if this higher view of the school is the true one, and if there exists an inner spiritual ideal of it, it could scarcely be shown to have an actual existence — at least, not where a tailor, as schoolmaster, sits enthroned on his working-table, and the children below him recite their a-b, ab, and their " sum total of all instruction," nor where an old wood- cutter in winter, in a dai'k, sooty room, drives into the heads of children the explanation of the small Lutheran catechism as he would his wedges for wood-splitting — that here certainly spirit, spiritual nature, and life have no place. [Froebel's early life fell in the period when country schools were still, in many cases, intrusted to persons who earned their live- lihood chiefly in some other occupation, such as tailoring, shoemak- ing, weaving, etc. Not unfrequently in poorer communities the same man " kept school " in winter, and during the summer worked on farms, or acted as a communal shepherd. One and the same scanty school-book contained " the sum total of all instruction " — the bulk of which was made up of the Lutheran catechism. — Tr.] But just here they have a place ; how else could the bhnd show the way to the lame, and the cripple support the weak on his feet ? It is only the child's anticipa- tion, his faith, his child-hke simphcity, which hopes and trusts that the schoolmaster — simply because he is and is called schoolmaster — can give an inner spiritual MAN AS A SCHOLAR OR PUPIL. 13X unity to that which is externally separated, giving life to that which is dead, and meaning to that which lives. This expectation alone, be it ever so misty and ob- scure, renders the schoolmaster's work efficient. This anticipation and faith are like the all-quickening air by which the stones, which he may offer his children to eat, are turned into food for them — if not for their head, yet for the heart. It is this anticipation, hope, and yearning, this all-quickening spirit and breath, that even in the dark, sooty room, make the school so dear to the school-boy. The spirit, the genuine spirit of the school, like the spirit of Jesus and of God, does not come by external doings. Thus, too, spacious school-rooms, as such^ are not sufficient if the good ventilation has taken the place of higher spiritual life. Airy, bright school-rooms are a great, precious boon, worthy the daily gratitude of teacher and pupil ; but alone they are not sufficient. Luther's words, " To fast and to deck out the body furnish, indeed, line external discipline ; but only he is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith and trust," find their application here, too. The faith and trust, the hope and anticipation with which the child enters school, accomplish everything; they bring about stupendous results in such schools. For the child enters school with the child-like faith, the silent hope : " Here you will be taught something that yoii can not learn elsewhere ; here you gain food for mind and spirit, elsewhere you can obtain food only for the body ; here (this is literally the child's living hope and anticipation) you receive food and drink that still the hunger and thirst, elsewhere you are offered food 132 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. and drink that only give occasion for new hunger and thirst." With this faith he listens, too, to the ordinary words, the ordinary speech from the lips of the man who is the schoolmaster. Even if there is no high spiritual meaning in his words, the child's faith discovers it there ; and the child's high power of spiritual digestion gets food from chips and straw. Now, if even the tailor, wood-cutter, or weaver, when he teaches, ceases to be to the child tailor, wood- cutter, or weaver, and becomes schoolmaster, how much more will this be the case where the school-teacher in village or city — be he called organist, chorister, or rector — is truly a schoolmaster ! Ask every true school-child, let every one who in village or city has been a true school-child ask himself, with what feeling he approached the school-house, and still more with what feeling he entered it ; how he felt more or less keenly each day as if he had entered into a higher spiritual world. How else could it be possible for children to repeat daily, not only for more than a quarter of an hour during a whole week, without tiring but with a feeling of height- ened life, some text from Sunday's sermon — e. g., " Seek ye hrst the kingdom of God " ? How else could the chil- dren sing and memorize hymns abounding in strange figures, such as " How much it costs to follow Christ," or, " Let heart and spirit soar on high," daily, in sec- tions, during a whole week, with true inner edification and a living influence on the life of every scholar ? How else could this be done at an early period of boy-fife in MAN AS A SCHOLAR OR PUPIL. 133 eucli a way tliat in the storms of life the youth and the man rest on these things as on a rock ? The occasional excessive vivacity of the boys in school does not contradict this. The boy feels less re- straint and moves more freely just because of the in- fluence of the school, because of the heightened inner spiritual power which has been fed by the school. The genuine school-boy should never be dispirited and indo- lent, but full of life and spirit, strong in body and mind. Therefore the truly high-spirited boy who follows hia natural vivacity full of joy surely never thinks of any injurious effect on outer life. It is a great mistake to think that the energetic, animating, uniting (intensive) power of man increases with years and cultivation. The energetic, animating, uniting power decreases ; and the expansive, productive, creative, modifying (extensive) power increases. The feeling and consciousness of this extending, creative power in man unfortunately have a tendency to destroy the recognition and appreciation of the for- mer energetic, animating, uniting power. This, with the confounding of the two in their nature and mani- festation, leads us in life, in the management of schools and of the education of children, to great and frequent errors, and robs the life of each one of its true basis. We now trust too little to the energetic and uniting power in the child and boy — we respect it too little as a spiritually quickening power. Therefore, too, it has too little influence in the later years of boyhood. For the neglect of this inner power causes the inner power itself to vanish. 11 134 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. Or we play with this power when it manifests itself in children. Hence we fare with them as with a mag- net which we leave hanging or even lying inactive and without a burden, or with whose magnetic power we play irregularly and regardless of magnetic laws. In both cases the power is diminished or lost ; when, later on, the magnet is to show its power, it is found weak and inefficient. So it is with those children ; when, later on, they are expected to bear some physical or moral burden, they are found wanting. Would that, in judging and estimating the inner power of children and boys, we might never forget the words of one of our greatest German writers: that there is a greater advance from the infant to the speaking child than there is from the school-boy to a ]^ewton ! ISTow, if the advance is greater, the power, too, must be greater ; this we should consider. The later extent, diversity, directness, and concentration of man's knowl- edge and insight (their extensiveness) dim and weaken our apprehension of the former unity and mobility (in- tensiveness) of human power. It is the spirit alone, then, that makes the school and the sch6ol-room ; not the increasing analysis and isolation of what is already isolated — a process that has no limits, and supplies ever-new data for further analysis and reduction — but the unification of that which is isolated and separate by attention to the uniting spirit that lives in all isolation and diversity. This it is that makes the school. J^ever forget that the essential husiness of the school u not so much to .teach and to communicate a variety MAN AS A SCHOLAR OR PUPIL. 135 and multiplicity of things as it is to give jproniinence to the ever-living unity that is in all things, [This is not to be construed as meaning that schooling should be chiefly for " power '' or '* mental discipline," as is claimed by the ad- vocates of chiefly formal studies. No one could be more opposed than Froebel to the various school practices of " threshing empty straw " for the sake of gaining " threshing power." What he de- mands in the above sentence is the teaching of principles as opposed to the teaching of isolated facts and rules. He is filled with the same thought which Herbert Spencer subsequently expressed as fol- lows: " Between a mind of rules and a mind of principles, there ex- ists a difference, such as that between a confused heap of materials, and the same materials organized into a complete whole, with all its parts bound together." In both cases, it will be seen, material con- tents are implied, and mere formalism is excluded. — Tr.'] Because this is so frequently forgotten and placed in the background disregarded, there are at present so many ^ohool-teachers and so few school-masters, so many institutions of learning and so few schools. Possibly they do not know, or, at least, they may not have recognized with sufficient clearness and dis- tinctness, what spirit it is that pervaded and even now sometimes pervades genuine schools, what spirit it is that ought to animate schools. Even the genuine, faith- ful schoolmaster, in the simplicity of his vocation, may not have recognized it nor formulated it ; in the faith- ful performance of his work, thoroughly absorbed in his calling, he may not recognize it nor be able to for- mulate it. For this reason, no doubt, it has glided away so rapidly, and continues to vanish. Unfortunately, we see here again confirmed what to our sorrow confronts us so often in hfe : that even the highest and most precious blessing is lost by man, if he does not know what he possesses, if he does not hold it 136 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. fast and represent it in his life consciously, freely, and from his own choice (see § 33). The anticipation and hope, the trust and disposition of childhood indeed show the way, but man is to follow it with conscious insight and self-determination, persisting in what he knows to be right. For man is destined for consciousness, for freedom, and for self-determination. § 57. Furthermore, a vivid presentation of the re- quirements of the school shows that the subject in which the boy is to be instructed is also the one aboiU which he should be instructed — else instruction and learning are thoughtless play and without effect upon head and heart, the intellect, and the feelings. What has been said will also answer, or, at least, make it easy to answer, the questions : Do we need schools ? Why do we need schools and instruction ? What shall they be, and how shall they be constituted ? As spiritual and material beings, we are to become thinking, conscious, intelligent (self-consciously feeling and perceiving), efficient human beings. We should first seek to cultivate our powers, our spirit, as received from God ; to represent the divine in our lives, know- ing that thereby all that is earthly will, too, have its claims satisfied. We are to grow in wisdom and under- standing with God and men, in human and divine thingSo We should know that we are and ought to be and to live in that which is our Father's. We should know that we in our earthly being and all earthly things are a temple of the living God. We should know that we are to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect ; and in ac- cordance with this knowledge we should act and live. To this knowledge the school is to lead us ; for this the MAN AS A SCHOLAR OR PUPIL. 137 scliool and instruction are needed ; in accordance with this aim they should be constituted. § 58. What, now, shall the school teach ? In what shall the human being, the boj as scholar, be instructed ? Only the consideration of the nature and require- ments of human development at the stage of boyhood will enable us to answer this question. But the knowl- edge of this nature and these requirements can be de- rived only from the observation of the character of man in his boyhood. !N^ow, in accordance with this character, this man- ner of being, in what things is the boy to be in- structed ? The life and outward being of man in the beginning of boyhood show him, in the first place, to be animated by a spiritual self of his own ; they show, too, the exist- ence of a vague feeling that this spiritual self has its being and origin in a higher and Supreme Being, and depends on this Being in which, indeed, all things have their being and origin, and on which all things depend. The life and outward being of man in boyhood show the presence of an intense feeling and anticipation of the existence of a living, quickening Spirit, in which and by which all things live, by wliich all things are invisibly surrounded, as a fish is surrounded by water and man and all creatures by the clear, pure atmosphere. In his boyhood, in the beginning of his school-life, man seems to feel the power of his spiritual nature, to anticipate vaguely God and the spiritual nature of all things. He shows, at the same time, a desire to attain ever more clearness in that feeling, and to confirm his anticipation. 138 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. Man, in boyhood, approaches the outer world, placed over against him, with the feeling and hope and belief that it, too, is animated and ruled by a spirit, like that which animates and rules him ; and he is filled by an intense, irresistible longing — which returns with every new spring and every new fall, -vvdth every new, fresh morning and calm evening, with every peaceful festive day — a longing to know this all-ruling spirit, to make it his own, as it were. The outer world confronts man in boyhood in a two-fold character — first, as the product of human re- quirements and human power, and, secondly, as the outcome of the requirements of the power that works in nature. Between this outer world (the world of form and matter) and the inner world (the world of mind and spirit), language appears — originally united with both, but gradually freeing itself from both, and thereby unit- ing the two. § 59. Thns the inind and the meter world (first as nature)^ and language which unites the two, are the poles of boy-life, as they also were the poles of mankind as a whole in the first stage of approaching maturity (as the sacred books show). Throngh them the school and instruction are to lead the boy to the threefold, yet in itself one, knowledge — to the knowledge of himself in all his relations, and thus to the knowledge of man as such ; to the knowledge of God, the eternal condition, canse, and source of his being and of the being of all things ; and to the knowledge of nature and the onter world as proceeding from the Eternal Spirit, and de- pending thereon. MAN AS A SCHOLAR OR PUPIL. 130 Instruction and the school are to lead man to a life in full harmony with that threefold, yet in itself one, knowledge. By this knowledge they are to lead man from desire to will, from will to firmness of will, and thus in continuous progression to the attainment of his destiny, to the attainment of his earthly perfection. THE CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. A. Religion and Religious Instruction, § 60. Religion is the endeavor to raise into clear knowledge the feeling that originally the spiritual self of man is one with God, to realize the unity with God which is founded on this clear knowledge, and to con- tinue to live in this unity with God, serene and strong, in every condition and relation of life. Religion is not someiJdng fixed^ hut an ever-jpro- gressing and, for this very reason, ever-jpresent tend- ency. Religious instruction quickens, confirms, explains the feeling that man's own spiritual self, his soul, his mind and spirit, have their being and origin in God and proceed from God ; it shows that the qualities and the nature of the soul, of the mind and spirit, have their being in and through God ; it gives an insight into the being and working of God ; it gives an insight into the relation of God to man, as it is clearly manifested in the mind and life of every one, in life as such, and par- ticularly in the life and development of mankind, as they are preserved and revealed in the sacred books ; it CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION, l^l applies this knowledge to life as such, and particularly to and in the life of each one, and to the progressive development of mankind, so that the divine may be represented in the human, and that man may know and do his duty ; it presents and points out the w^ays and means by which the desire to live in true unity with God may be gratified, and by which this unity, if im- paired, may be restored. For this reason religious instruction always as- sumes some degree of religion^ hovjever weak. Relig- ious instruction can bear fruit, can affect and influ- ence life only in so far as it linds in the mind of man true religion, however indefinite and vague. If it were possible that a human being could be without re- ligion, it would also be impossible to give him religion. This should be considered by thoughtless parents who allow their children to grow to school age without giving the slightest care to the religious tendency of the young minds (see § 21). Intelligent insight into the nature of religion — sim- ple as it is, founded in the very nature of man, and so in harmony with the nature of man — is nevertheless so rarely pure, because man, who is also material and oc- cupies space, finds it difficult to understand original unity without assuming and premising previous separa- tion, and because in the mind of man the conception of unification is always associated with the conception of union in space or time. But God, the spiritual, eter- nally self-developing, must ever remain an undivided one, simply because he is spiritual ; and, as true origi- nal unity by no means implies, but absolutely excludes^ previous separation^ so unification neither supposes 142 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. nor requires, but absolutely excludes^ union in space and time. Human experience and observation offer by far more proofs than are needed to demonstrate and ex- plain this. For the idea, the thought translated by man into living form in some outward work, was origi- nally in immediate unity with his being, and bears un- mistakably the impress of the personality and individu- ality of the particular human being. This thought in this particular form belongs only to this human being ; and, were it to become conscious of itself in the form given to it, it could return to the totality of the thought of the man from whom it proceeds — i. e., it would give itself an account of its relation to the totality of thought of this man ; in the consciousness of this relation it might develop and cultivate itself and thus raise itself to an apprehension of the totality of thought of this man ; nay, it might even raise itself at least to a vague apprehension of the fundamental thought of the human being from whom it proceeds. For every human heing has, indeed, hut one thought jpeculiarly am.d predoini- nantly his own, the fundamental thought, as it were, of his whole being, the key-note of his life-symphony, a thought which he simply seeks to express and render clear with the help of a thousand other thoughts, with the help of all he does. Yet, by the representation of that thought, and of all other thoughts in living out- ward fonn, man has not in any sense been diminished within himseK; and, although this thought now ap- pears only outside of man, yet he will always cheerfully recognize it as his own, and concern himself about its development and cultivation (see § 63). CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 143 The thinker and the thought — could the latter be- come conscious of itself — must ever be intensely mind- ful of the fact of their original unity ; and yet the thought is not the thinker, although essentially one and united ; such is the relation of the human spiiit to God. A father has one or many sons. Each one is an in- dependent, .self-conscious being. Yet who can fail to see that each son expresses, in a new individuality, the nature of the father ? The son, or each one of the sons, even in the most trivial thing and the most decided peculiarity, is again the father, only in a new individuality. Indeed, the sons of the same father, of the same parents, resemble one another in disposition, speech, tone of voice, and movements, so that, with the exception of a small new peculiarity, any one of them may, in many respects, be put in the place of another. Yet none of them is a part of another — each one is whole ; not one of them is a particular part of the father. As they are whole and undivided, so, too, the father is still whole and undivided. Could we see human relationships clearly, we should apprehend and recognize the divine. Similarly, unification does not imply a material union in time and space. Can not the thinking, feeling man be at one with his friends and beloved ones, and act in unison with them, although lands and seas separate them from him ? Can not and does not man feel him- self to be in spiritual union with human beings of whom he has only heard, whom he has never seen and never will see, and does he not act in unison with tbem ? Can not man feel himself to be in spiritual 144 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. union with human beings who lived and worked thou- sands of years ago, or who may appear upon the earth or elsewhere in space thousands of years later, and can he not act in unison with these ? Man spurns what might be to liim a guide and a light in his material experiences. Therefore, he is apt to grope also without guide and light in the realms of the purely spiritual, of the divine, which is without time and space. It is and remains forever true that, in purely and distinctly human relations, particularly in parental and spiritual human relations, there are mirrored the rela- tions between the divine and the human, between God and man. Those pure relations of man to man reveal to us the relations of God to man and of man to God. § 61. If man consciously and clearly recognizes that his spiritual self proceeds from God, that it is bom in God and from God, that it is originally one with God, and that consequently he is in a state of continuous de- pendence on God, as w^ell as in a state of continuous and uninterrupted community with God ; if he iinds his sal- vation, his peace, his joy, his destiny, his life (which is the genuine and only true life as such), and the source of his being in this eternally necessary dependence of his self on God, in the clearness of this knowledge, in living and constant obedience to this knowledge in all he does, in a life, indeed, fully unified with this knowl- edge and conviction — he truly, and in the full sense of the words, recognizes in God his Father. If he ac- hnowledges himself to he a child of God,, and lives in accordance with this^ he has the Christian religion^ the religion of Jesus. CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 145 Therefore, a pure earthly, filial relation in tliought and action is such as was told of Jesus — " and he was subject unto them " (his parents). Therefore, a genuine parental relation in thought and action, honoring and acknowledging the as yet un- revealed and undeveloped divine spirit in the child, is such as was told of Mary : " But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart." Therefore, pure human, parental, and filial relations are the key, the first condition, of that heavenly, divine, fatherly, and filial relation and life, of a genuine Christian life in thought and action. Therefore, the comprehension of the purely spiritual human relations, of the true parental and filial relations, furnishes the only key for the recognition and appre- hension of the relations of God to man and of man to God. Only in the measure in which we fully comprehend the purely spiritual, intrinsically human relations, and are faithful to them in life, even in the smallest details, can we attain a full knowledge and conception of the relations between God and man, apprehending them so deeply, vividly, and tnily that every yearning of our whole beuig is thereby gratified, or at least clearly in- terpreted, and is transformed from an ever-ungratified longing into a steadily fruitful aspiration. We do not yet know, we do not, indeed, apprehend in the least, that which is so near us, which is one with our life, with ourselves ; we are not even loyal to the verbal knowledge and verbal apprehension of which we boast. This is daily shown by our behavior toward our parents, our children, our education. 146 THE EDUCATION OF MAN, We would be children of God, and are not yet chil- dren of our fathers, of our parents. God is to be our Father, and we are so far from being true fathers to our children. We would have an insight into the divine, and we leave unheeded the human relations that lead to such insight. Insight into the relations between God and man, with full comprehension of these relations, blesses even to the thousandth generation through pure parental and filial relations, and a life in accordance with these. We put outward limits to humanity eternally pro- gressing in its development, we inclose it in external bounds, and we imagine that it has already reached these bounds, even in its earthly development. Hu- manity, which lives only in its continuous development and cultivation, seems to us dead and stationary, some- thing to be modeled over again and again in accordance with its present type. We are ignorant of our own nature and of the nature of humanit}^, and yet would know God and Jesus. We imagine that we already know our own nature and the nature of humanity, and, therefore, fail to know God and Jesus. We separate God and man, man and Jesus, and yet would come to God and Jesus. We fail to see that every external separation implies an original inner unity. However clearly and unequivocally this is taught in the word and in the idea of separation, we overlook it wholly. The intimate unity of God and Jesus can not be ex- pressed more comprehensively and exhaustively, more truly and adequately, than by the relation of father and son, the highest and most intimate relation that man can CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 147 know and comprehend, but which generally is viewed only superficially, and not in its innermost spiritual, per- vasive significance. The child, however, attains true sonship only by developing within himself the father s nature in full consciousness and clear insight, by mak- ing the father's views, the father's nature and aspira- tions, the motives for all his thoughts and actions ; and by esteeming it his chief business, the source of peace and joy in his life, to be in all he does in harmony with his father whose high worth he has recognized. Such is the pure, genuine, and high, yet truly human, relation of the son to his father — the relation of the true, genu- ine son to the true, genuine father. The relation of sonship always implies on the part of the son a conscious sharing of the father's views and aspirations — a complete, essential, intrinsic, spiritual ac- cord between the son and father. Of course, this relation is and should be established first with the oldest, first-born son. While all his younger brothers are still children, he is the only, the first-born son. Jesus is the only-begotten Son of God — he is the beloved son of God ; for among all human and earth- born, among all heaven-born children, he is the first who in his knowledge and insight, in his thoughts, views, and conduct, was equally filled and animated by his Sonship to God — by God's Fatherhood to him. Therefore, he is the first-born of God, the first-born of all created beings. The oft-repeated saying of Jesus, " Believe in me " — " If ye were to believe in me " — means this : " Gould you but feel, know, see, that the highest thing that man, 148 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. as an earth-born creature of God, can see and under- stand — ^liis divine origin and his constant dependence on God — is expressed with equal clearness and vividness in my life, my tli oughts, and aspirations ; could you be brought by my life, my thoughts, my views, my con- duct, my deeds and words, to feel, to know, and to see that every human being should raise himself to this knowledge and insight, and live accordingly — a knowl- edge and insight which can not be designated more ade- quately, purely, and worthily than by the relation of father and son — you, too, would rise to the true life^ you would live as truly and eternally as God and I live eternally, you would thus through me receive eternal life, and I would give you truly eternal life." To recognize this, and to apply it in a pure human }ife, is Christian religion. Christian religion is the eternal conviction of the truth of the teachings of Jesus, and a lirm, persistent conduct in obedience to this conviction ; it is the con- viction that the truth of Christ's teaching confronts every human being, wheresoever he may turn with his spiritual eyes to seek, to test, to examine, to inquire ; that wheresoever he may turn he will be confronted by this one truth, this one spirit ; and that, as man's spirit- ual eye sees and discerns this one divine truth — this one divine spirit everywhere in endless diversity — this spirit would afford him the consolation and support which he needs in representing that truth in a world where the cultivation of the outer sensual eye is still so far in advance of the cultivation of the inner spiritual eye ; where the knowledge and cultivation of the outer man is still so far in advance of the knowledge and cul- CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 149 tivation of the inner man. Thus, with the aid of this spirit, he may rise to the highest knowledge, not alone of man, but of all created - 'eings, to a knowledge of the truth that the infinite is revealed in the finite, the eter- nal in the temporal, the celestial in the terrestrial, the living in the dead, the divine in the human. The Christian religion, therefore, is the clear insight and conviction, firmly and eternally self-grounded and free from all illusion — and a life and conduct in full harmony and perfect accord with such insight and con- viction — that the manifestation and revelation of the one, eternal, li\dng, seK-existent Being — of God — must from its very nature be triune : that God manifests and reveals himseK in his oneness as the Creator, Preserver, Ruler, the Father of all things ; that he manifests and reveals himself, has manifested and revealed himself, in and through a man who absorbed his whole being in himself, in and through an only being of supreme per- fection, who was therefore his Son, his only-begotten and first-bom Son ; that in all the diversity of created things, in all things that are and move, in the life and spirit of all things, he has manifested and revealed him- self, and continues without interruption to manifest and reveal himself as the One Life and Spirit, the Spirit of God ; and that he does all this ever as the One Living God. Similarly we say, humanly speaking, but with a deep spiritual meaning, and with exhaustive fullness of spir- itual truth : The spirit of the peace, of the order and purity of this family, is shown in every single thing as well as in the whole house. Or, again, with correct and true feeling : The spirit of the father is seen in all the 12 150 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. children, and in the whole family. Or, in high creative truth: The spirit of the artist is manifest in all his works, as well as in each individual one. Or, with cor- rect sense and feeling of truth : It is a living expression of himself. The Christian religion carries with itself the eternal conviction that it is this knowledge which leads not man alone, but all created beings (i. e., all beings that have come from the unity of God into an individual exist- ence), to a knowledge of their existence, to the fulfill- ment of their mission, to the attainment of their destiny ; and that every individual being — if it would attain its destiny — in necessary and indispensable obedience to its nature, must manifest and reveal itself in this triune way — in and as unity ^ in and as indimduality^ in and as manifoldness in ever-contimiing diversity (see §§ 15, 18). The truth of this conviction is the sole foundation of all insight and knowledge. It is the only test of our conduct. It is the foundation of all religious instruc- tion. The knowledge and application of this truth en- ables us to recognize nature in its true character, as the writing and book of God, as the revelation of God. The knowledge of this truth gives a language to things human as well as to things natural, and imparts true significance and true life to all teaching and learn- ing, to all knowing and doing. Only through this conviction life becomes in all its phases and manifestations a self-contained whole, a unit. This knowledge and conviction alone render genuine human education truly possible. The knowledge of this truth, the insight into its na- ture, brings light and life, and, if need be, consolation CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 151 jind support in all circumstances ; it alone gives a mean- ing and a purpose to life. Therefore, Jesus commanded his disciples : " Go ye into all the world and teach all nations " ; purify and lead them to the knowledge of God the Father, of Jesus, the Son of God, and of the Holy Spirit of God, to a life in accordance with this knowledge and insight, and to all insight necessarily proceeding from this. Therefore, the truth of the threefold manifestation and revelation of the One God is the corner-stone of the religion which suffices all men in all zones, and which tiiey have felt, however vaguely, and sought, however unconsciously; for it leads man in the spirit and in truth, in insight and life, to God and in God. Every human being, as a being proceeding from God, existing through God and living in God, should raise himself to the Christian religion — the religion of Jesus. Therefore, the school should first of all teach the religion of Christ ; therefore, it should first of all, and above all, give instruction in the Christian religion ; everywhere, and in all zones, the school should instruct for and in this rehgion. B, Natural Science and Mathematics. % 62. What religion says and expresses, nature says and represents. "What the contemplation of God teaches, nature confirms. What is deduced from the contempla- tion of the inner, is made manifest by the contemplation of the outer. What religion demands, nature fulfills. For nature, as well as all existing things, is a manifesta- tion, a revelation, of God. The purpose of all existence 152 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. is tlie revelation of God. All existing things are only through and because of the (divine) essence that is in them (see § 1). Everything is of divine nature, of divine origin. Everything is, therefore, relatively a unity, as God is absolute unity. Everything, therefore, inasmuch as it is — though only relatively — a unity, manifests its nature only in and through a triune revelation and representa- tion of itself, and these only in and through continu- ously progressive, hence relatively all-sided development (see § Gl). This truth is the foundation of all contemplation, knowledge, and comprehension of nature. Without it there can be no true, genuine, productive investigation and knowledge of nature. Without it there can be no true contemplation of nature, leading to insight into the essential being of nature. Only the Christian, only the human being with Christian spirit, life, and aspiration, can possibly attain a true understanding and a living knowledge of nature ; only such a one can be a genuine naturalist. True knowledge of nature is attainable by man only in the measure in which he is — consciously or unconsciously, vaguely or distinctly — a Christian, i. e., penetrated with the truth of the one divine power that lives and works in all things ; only in the measure in which he is tilled with the one living divine spirit that is in all things and to which he himself is subject, through which all nature has its being, and by which he is enabled to see this one spirit in its essential being and in its unity in the least phenomenon, as well as in the sum of all natural phe- nomena. CHIEF GKOLTS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. I53 § G3. The relation of nature to God may be truly and clearly perceived and recognized by man in the study and elucidation of the innermost spiritual relation of a genuine human work of art to the artist. In a sec- ondary degree it may be perceived and recognized in every human work with reference to the human being to whom it owes its origin (see § 61). All things that the living spirit creates, produces, and represents must have impressed and implanted in them the nature of this spirit, must bear the imprint of the seal of this spirit in every part of the product. Absolutely nothing can appear, nothing visible and sensible can come forth, that does not hold within itself the living spirit ; that does not bear upon its surface the imprint of the living spirit of the being by whom it has been produced, and to whom it owes its existence. And this is true of the work of every human being — from the highest artist to the meanest laborer, from the most material to the most spiritual human work, from the most permanent to the most transient human activity — as well as of the works of God which are nature, the creation, and all created things. A keen, critical eye can discern in the work of art the artist's powers of thought and feeling, as well as their state of cultivation ; thus, too, the creative spirit of God may be discerned in his works (see § 60). We do not pay sufficient attention to this fact in human works, in works of art; therefore, it is so difficult for us to discern it in nature, in the work of God. In the consideration of the human work of art we do not concern ourselves sufficientlv with the innermost 154 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. spiritual relation of the artist to the work ; we judge its origin too inechanicallj and superficially. We do not consider sufficiently that these works, if they are works of high art, are not meant to be art-masks, but are al- ways representations of the most individual, the most personal inner life of the artist; for this reason the genuine spirit of the art-work and the spirit of nature are equally foreign, equally dead to us. Now, as the work of man, of the artist, carries within itself the spirit and character^ the life and essential he- ing^ of this man, and — as we say in human metaphor exhaustively and most significantly — breathes out this spirit and life, and as the human being who produced it, who created it, as it were, out of himself, neverthe- less remains the same undiminished and undivided be- ing, and is even strengthened in his power by this work, thus, too, the spirit and being of God — although the cause and source of all existing things, and although all existing things carry within themselves and breathe the one spirit of God — remain nevertheless in themselves the one Being, the one Spirit, undiminished and un- divided. As in the human work of art there is no material part of the artist's spirit, and as nevertheless the work of art as such carries within itself the whole spirit of its artist in such a way that this spirit lives in this work, is expressed by it and exhaled by it, is even breathed by it into others, where it may live, be developed, and cul- tivated — as the spirit of man is thus related to the work produced by him, so is the spirit of God, so is God, re- lated to nature and to all created things. The spirit of God rests in nature, lives and reigns in nature, is ex- CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 155 pressed in nature, is communicated by nature, is devel- oped and cultivated in nature — yet nature is not tlie body of God. The spirit of the work of art, the spirit to which the work of art owes its existence, is the one and undivided spirit of the artist ; but, having as it were gone forth from the artist, it now lives and works on in the artist's work as an independent spirit, yet at one with the art- ist. Thus, the spirit of God, having gone forth from God, lives and works on in and through nature as an in- dependent spirit, yet at one with God. As nature is not the body of God, so, too, God him- self does not dwell in nature as in a house ; but the spirit of God dwells in nature, sustaining, preserving, foster- ing, and developing nature. For does not even the spirit of the artist, though but a human spirit, dwell in his work, sustaining, preserving, fostering, and keeping it ? Does not even the spirit of the artist impart earthly immortality, as it were, to a block of marble, to a per- ishable piece of canvas — nay, even to a winged and fleet- ing word, which passes away at the moment of its birth — indeed, to all his works, be he musician, poet, painter, or sculptor ? Does he not endow his work of art, as he puts it forth into life, with the choicest, most thought- ful care, the tenderest keeping, the high esteem of the most exalted human minds ? Who can fail to mark the lofty, mighty spirit of a trae human work of art, the presence at once supplicat- ing and commanding that g08s forth from a lofty, pure work of art, as it does from the innocent look of a help- less child? And yet it is but the work of a human spirit ; and this spirit preseiwes and keeps it, however 156 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. long tlie time and wide the space that separate the work from the artist. Toward a genuine work of art — though not, indeed, toward a merely mechanical piece of work with which thought had little or nothing to do — the artist feels as does a father who dismisses his son into life : he gives him words and thoughts to bless, guard, and keep him. To the true artist it is by no means a matter of indiffer- ence who buys his work, as a good father is by no means indifferent to the character of the companions of his son. Yet, full of trust and confidence, he dismisses his son into the world ; for his own spirit and aspirations rest upon and in his son. Thus, too, the artist's charac- ter lives and breathes wholly in his work, even in its least and smallest parts, in every line, and in the very mode of their connections. This spirit or character, whose lofty nature and aspirations the artist knows in his own being, fills him with the hope that it will keep his work of art, that it will bring his work to human beings who will receive the created spirit in their own lives, and will develop and cultivate it there. The work of art is external to man — no material part, not a drop of life-blood, passes from him to his work — and yet man sustains, keeps, and preserves it ; he strives to keep away from it what may cause it the least injury now and in time to come. Man feels him- self to be one with his work of art ; how much more, then, will God sustain, keep, and preserve his work, which is nature, and keep away from it all injur)^ — for God is God, and man is only man ! Yet the artist, in whatever direction, remains ever unalterably and independently the same in himself. CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 157 thougli all his works perish ; so, too, God remains un- alterably the same, even though all nature perish. Kay, the human work of art, as well as nature, the divine work of God, may externally perish, and yet the spirit expressed, revealed, living and moving in it, will continue to be and to unfold itself evermore. Indeed, it gains thereby true freedom, and, from this very fact, is revealed more clearly and vividly. Behold the ruins of perished human art-power ! be they the mighty work of the giant strength of indi- viduals or the colossal product of the omnipotence of the intimate union of many for one purpose which is common to all, and which each one of the workers, on whatever stage of insight, holds and must hold as his purpose — an omnipotence whose existence man- kind have scarcely felt as yet, and in which they still less believe. Those ruins admonish the succeeding weaker generations ; and the generation that begins to become conscious of its essential nature is lifted in confidence and courage by those proofs of vanished, though by no means only outer, human power and greatness. Thus the colossal remains of shattered mountains and mountain-chains speak of the greatness of the spirit of God, of the greatness of God ; and even man is en- couraged, and lifts himself up by them, feeling v/ithin himself the same spirit and power. Thus the slender ivy climbs up on the mighty rock, and gathers from it strength and food, not only for its life, but also for its upward growth. Thus we see everywhere the same living and deep, inner and spiritual, pervading and sustaining relations 158 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. between man and the work of art, and between God and nature. When barbarians — rough, unfeeling, thoughtless men — destroy the work of art, or even the slightest vestige of a human spirit that has lived and worked on earth; the noble, sensitive human being grieves perhaps even more than he would do if the life of an ordinary living being were destroyed. For does not even the work of man imply the inde- pendent development of the spirit and thought it holds ? May not the character expressed in a work of art influ- ence entire generations, elevating or, on the other hand, degrading them ? And yet they are but the works of man that may do this ; what, then, may, will, and must the works of God do ; what must nature, the work of God, be to man ? We study to acquaint ourselves with the life and aspirations, etc., of human works ; we study the works of man, and justly so. The undeveloped, maturing hu- man being should profit by the development of maturer men. How much more, then, should we endeavor to know nature, the work of God, to acquaint ourselves with the objects of nature in their life, their signifi- cance, in their relation to the spirit of God ! This is indicated to us, too, in the fact that genuine works of human art, human works that express the pure spirit of man, which is also the spirit of God, are not easily nor always readily accessible for every one, and under all circumstances ; while, on the other hand, man finds himself everywhere surrounded by pure works of God, by works of nature that clearly express the spirit of God. CHIEF GROLTS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 159 It is true, we can find and recognize God's spirit through and in the human spirit ; but it is difficult to distinguish in each particular case that which belongs to humanity in general from that which belongs to the particular human being; it ie difficult to distinguish which one of the two predominates, and which one, at any particular time, is acting. On the other hand, w^ith pure w^orks of nature, the natural as such preponderates very decidedly, the particular characteristics of the natu- ral object are by far less prominent. Thus the pure spirit of God not only is seen more clearly and dis- tinctly in nature than it is in human life, but in the clear disclosures of God's spirit in nature are seen the nature, dignity, and holiness of man reflected in all their pristine clearness and purity. Again, man sees in nature not only general princi- ples — as has been previously indicated — but he beholds therein his aspiration, his destiny, his mission, the ne- cessary conditions, impediments, and phases of their attainment, as in a picture, in immistakable and living characters, expressing not the notion, but the thing, the relation itself. Following these silent, absolutely reliable, outwardly intelligible, imj^ersonal teachers, man may not only learn from them with certainty the thing to be done at every moment of life, but, acting accordingly, he w^ill surely satisfy the demands made upon him. Among all objects of nature, none seem in this re- spect truer, clearer, more complete, and yet simpler — because of their calm thoughtful aspect and the clear un- folding of their inner life — than plants, especially trees. They are, therefore, rightly distinguished among nat- 160 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. ural objects as trees of the knowledge of good and evil, for they are such in reality ; indeed, they were so con- sidered and named with touching, truthful, and deep significance, on the very lirst appearance of self-con- sciousness in the human race. The observation of the development of individual man and its comparison with the general development of the human race show plainly that, in the develop- ment of the inner life of the individual man, the history of the spiritual development of the race is repeated, and that the race in its totality may be viewed as one human being, in whom there will be found the neces- sary steps in the development of individual man (see §§ 15, 24). Therefore, not only may we learn from the trees, from the life of a tree, the phenomena of indi- vidual human life, but we may find therein the phenom- ena of the development of the race in their necessary connection. It is true, in their full distinctness, free from all arbitrariness and triviality, this has as yet scarcely been shown, yet the further development and cultivation of the parables of Christ may lead to it (see § 66). A by far wider application might be given to this contemplation of nature here only touched upon, were it not out of place on account of the almost complete ignorance that prevails concerning this subject, and were it not founded on a now very rare mode of obser- vation of external natural phenomena and of the devel- opment of inner life in ourselves. If we seek the inner reason for this high symbolic meaning of the different individual phenomena of na- ture, particularly in the phases of development of natu- CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. IGl ral objects in relation to the stadia of human develop- ment, we lind it in the fact tliat nature and man have their origin in one and the same eternal Being, and that their development takes place in accordance with the same laws, only at different stages. Thus the observation of nature and the observation of man, in comparison and in connection wdth the facts and phenomena of the general development of human- ity, are mutually explanatory, and mutually lead to deeper knowledge the one of the other. A clear insight into the causative and creative relation of the human spint to its external work leads also to a clear insight into the relation of the causative, creative spirit of God to nature ; leads to a knowledge of the manner in which the finite proceeds from the infinite, the material from the spiritual, nature from God. Even man, although externally a finite being, does not always need his arms and hands for the production and outward representa- tion of his work ; more frequently his will, his deter- mining look, the breath of his word, create and bring forth. Even man, although externally finite, can bring forth material for his creations, without having recourse to matei'ial existences. Whoever wants further proof for this need only pass in review the whole series of developments, conditions, and phenomena, from the least material, innennost thought to the most definitely formed, most material word in writing. Thus man may know and understand even the most difficult process, the production of the external and ma- terial from the inner and spiritual ; may know and un- derstand it — not as an idea, but as a fact — in the pro- 1G2 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. cesses of his own thinking as an effect and consequence of the transformation of his own innermost thought into an external work, an outer something. Therefore, as the spirit of the artist is in the work of art, so is the spirit of God in nature. As the work of art lives and moves in accordance with its spirit and related to its maker, so nature, born from God, lives and moves in accordance with its spirit, as a work of God, living in and through God, and breathing the spirit of God, related to God, its Maker, and in inner spiritual relation to man. As the world of art is the invisibly- visible * revela- tion and expression of the spirit of man, and thus be- comes an in visibly- visible kingdom of the human spirit, so, too, nature is the invisibly-visible revelation of the spirit of God, and becomes an invisibly-visible kingdom of God. § 64. To feel the presence of this threefold king- dom of God (the visible, the invisible, and the in- visibly-visible), to acknowledge it, and to let it influ- ence life — this alone can give us the peace which we seek w^ithin and without, which from the first moment of self-consciousness we are driven to seek and to pursue, even at the expense of our own life, of our external possessions, of our external welfare, whatever its name. For this reason alone, man — particularly in boyhood — should become intimate with nature, not so much with reference to the details and the outer forms of her phenomena as with reference to the spirit of God that * V/isichtbar-sichtbar = mvls'ihly -visible, i. e., visible to the mental, to the spiritual eye, though invisible to the physical eye. — Tr. CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 163 lives in her and rules over her. Indeed, the boy feels this deeply, and demands it ; for this reason, where love of nature is still unimpaired, nothing, perhaps, unites teachers and pupils so intimately as the thoughtful study of nature, and of the objects of nature. Parents and school-teachers should remember this, and the latter should, at least once a week, take a walk with each class — not driving them out like a flock of sheep, nor leading them out like a company of soldiers, but going with them as a father with his sons or a brother with his brothers, and acquainting them more fully with whatever the season or nature offers them (see § 98). The schoolmaster who lives in a village or in the country should not object to this request, by saying, *'My school-children are constantly out-doors anyhow, and running about in the fields and forests." They are, indeed, in the fields and forests, but they do not live there ; they do not live in and with nature. Not only children and boys, but indeed many adults, fare with nature and her character as ordinary men fare with the air. They live in it, and yet scarcely know it as something distinct, and much less with reference to its essential properties concerning the preservation of his life ; for ordinarily the name air is given merely to the currents of wind or to their temperature.* Therefore, these children and boys who spend all their time in the fields and forests see and feel nothing of the beauties of nature, and of their influence on the human heart. They are like the people who have grown * This has reference to the German word Luft (air), which is popularly used for fPiw^t (wind). — Tr. 164 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. up in a very beautiful country, and wlio have no idea of its beauty and its spirit. Yet — and this is the essential point — the boy may possibly with his spiritual eye find, see, and apprehend the inner life of surrounding nature ; but he fails to find the same feelings among adults who suppress that ger- minating inner life in its very beginning. The boy seeks from adults the confirmation of his inner, spiritual anticipations, and jnstly so, from an in- tuitive sense of what the elder ought to be, from respect for the elder. If he fails to find it, a double effect fol- lows—loss of respect for the elder, and a recoil of the original inner anticipation. Therefore, it is so important that boys and adults should go into the fields and forests together striving to receive into their hearts and minds the hfe and spirit of nature, which would soon put an end to the idle, use- less, and indolent loafing of so many boys. The cruel treatment of insects and other animals in which, particularly, young boys engage good-naturedly and with no evil intention — though this does not apply to cruelty as such — originates in the little boy's desire to obtain an insight into the inner life of the animal, to get at its spirit. But failure to explain or to guide, as well as false interpretation or guidance, or the misunderstanding of this desire, may at a later period develop in such boys hardened intentional cruelty to animals. § 65. Such are the character and influence of nature as a whole, such are the character and influence of na- ture as the image and work of God, as the word of God, revealing, comnmnicating, and awakening the spirit of CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 1^5 God in and by its integrity; as such, nature presents herself to inner contemplation. Quite differently, however, she presents herself to ordinary outer contemplation. To this she appears as a diversity of many different and separate individualities without definite, inner, living connection ; individuali- ties each of which has its own peculiar form, peculiar development, peculiar absolute purpose ; without any indication that these externally distinct and separate in- dividualities are organically united members of one great living organism, of one great intrinsically and spiritually coherent whole ; without any indication that nature is such a whole. § 66. This external view of nature, based on partic- ular natural phenomena, on particular natural objects seen in their separation, is Hke the external view of a large tree, or of any complex plant, in which each leaf seems to be strictly separate from the others. Here, too, there seems to be no bridge, no inner connection among the leaves and twigs, nor in the little blossom between the calyx and corolla, and between this and the stamens and pistils. But here, too, when in thoughtful search the spiritual eye seeks and finds the common bond among the nearest particulars, and proceeds from every new-found unity to a higher and the highest unity, it is at last recognized as an external manifestation of an inner law acting deep in the very heart of the plant. That external view of nature in her particulars re- sembles the external view of the starry sky, in which only by means of arbitrary lines particular stars are gathered into larger groups, and whose inner connection even the keenest, clearest, and most fully developed 13 1G6 THE EDUCATIO:?^ OF MAN. spiritual eye can apprehend only in the union of smaller world-groups into ever larger ones. In this usual, merely external, view of nature, the particulars of the distinct and separate natural objects aj)pear not so much as the products of one and the same existence, but rather as the products of different active forces. But this can not satisfy, even in boyhood, the mind and spirit of man, in itself one and undivided. § 67. Therefore at an early j^eriod, even in boy- hood, man seeks unity and union for this externally se]> arate diversity and individuality among objects ; seeks unity and union in a separation which in obedience to a necessary law of inner development presents things out- wardly in apparently confused heaps. His mind is con- tented when he begins to apprehend this unity and union, but only later on, when he has found it, is his spirit fully satisfied. But a review of the diversities in the particulars of a plant leads to the recognition of deep-laid law dis- cernible only for the spiritual eye. Similarly the pa- tient following of this diversity itself leads to the recog- nition, too, of the external unity among the diversities and individualities of nature ; for, however great the pe- culiarities, differences, and degrees of separation among natural objects, the peculiar nature and appearance, the structure and form of each thing, are always found to rest ultimately upon the nature of force^ as the connecting unit from which all individuality and diversity proceed. Kow force, from its very nature, is seK-existent, pro- ceeds from itself by its own activity as its own outward manifestation ; therefore, active force is the ultimate cause of all things, of every phenomenon in nature. CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 167 The contemplation of the essence of force — in its manifestations as divine power as well as in its activity in our own minds and life — will enable us, too, to appre- hend and understand nature in her numberless forms and structures, in her living inner affinities and develop- ments, as well as in her external relations and deduc- tions. Man is urged to contemplate the inner essence of force by the desire and hope of finding thereby the outer unity of the particular facts of nature, of the vari- ous forms and shapes of nature. [Similarly Herbert Spencer declares force to be the ultimate of ultimates, and looks upon space, time, matter, and motion as " either built up of, or abstracted from, experiences of force." — Tr.] § 68. Force, as such, is a spontaneous energy equally active in all directions, proceeding either from absolute unity or from some relative unity, but always from a unity. At the same time, the nature of force necessarily implies the coexistence and simultaneousness of action and reaction. Individual and varied existence as such, however, postulates necessarily a second, external condition or form and structure, viz., iiuitter. It shows how all earthly and natural structure and form are born from matter which is the same everywhere, in every respec^ even in the smallest details of cohesion and constitu- tion, subject to the same laws, and therefore outwardly infinitely mobile in its minutest parts ; and all this be- cause of the everywhere equally diffused indwelling force, because of the external influence of the sun and of light and lieat, in obedience to the all-pervading great law of nature, according to which the general gives rise to the particular. 1G8 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. All individuality and diversity of earthly and nat- ural objects, as well as all inner contemplation of nature, show that force and matter are in themselves insepa- rably one. Matter and spontaneous force proceeding from a point with equal activity in all directions mutually con- dition each other: neither exists without the other, neither can exist without the other ; nay, strictly speak- ing, it is impossible to think one without the other. The reason for the infinite mobility of matter in its minutest parts lies in the original spherical tendency of the indwelling force, in the original tendency of force, spontaneously proceeding from a point, to diffuse equally in all directions. § 69. Now, since force develops and diffuses itself in all directions equally, freely, and unimpeded, its out- ward manifestation, its material resultant, is a sphere. For this reason the spherical or, in general, the round form is most commonly the first and the last form of things in nature : e. g., the great heavenly bodies, such as the suns, planets, and moons, water and all liquids, the air and all gases, and even the dust. In all the diversity and amid the apparently most in- compatible differences of earthly and natural structures, the sphere seems to be the primitive form, the unity from which all earthly and natural forms and structures are derived. Hence, too, the sphere resembles none of the other natural forms, and yet essentially contains the possibility and the law of all of them ; it is, at the same time, formless and the most perfect form. Neither point nor line, neither plane nor side, can be discerned on its surface ; yet it is all-pointed and all- CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 1G9 sided, contains all tlie points and all the lines, etc., of all earthly structures and forms, not in their possibility alone, but even in their actuality. Therefore, all stiTictures of the living, active, effect- ive objects of nature rest primarily on the law of sphe- ricity, underlying the structure of the sphere ; rest primarily — starting from the conception of the inner essence of force, and viewing them as products of force — on the necessary tendency of force to represent in and through matter the spherical nature of force, the nature of the sphere in all possible forms and structures, varieties, and combinations. For in and with the spon- taneous, spherical action of the force as a natural and earthly phenomenon, and as such united with matter, there is implied at the same time an inward swelling and surging, measuring and weighing tendency — caus- ing differences in the effect and tension of the force in the different directions. [How much Froebel was impressed with the significance of the sphere as a symbol of unity of life is shown in the following extract from " Aphorisms," written down in 1821 : " The spherical is the symbol of diversity in unity and of unity in diversity. The spheri- cal is the representation of diversity developed from the unity on which it depends, as well as the representation of the reference of all diversity to its unity. The spherical is the general and the particu- lar, the universal and the individual, unity and individuality at the same time. It is infinite development, and absolute limitation ; it connects perfection and imperfection. All things unfold their spherical nature perfectly only by representing their nature in their unity — in some individuality, and in some diversity. The law of the spherical is the fundamental law of all true and adequate human culture."— Tr.] The differences in the quantity and intensity of the effect of the force in different directions— diff'erences lYO THE EDUCATION OF MAN. whicli in accordance with their nature must appear simultaneously in force and in matter — this fixed preva- lence of the effect of the force in certain directions — this fixed, peculiar relation among the different direc- tions of the force — this difference of tension in the dif- ferent directions, and the corresponding and simultane- ous difference in the individualization of matter — must, as a fundamental quality of the mass of matter as a whole, dwell in the same measure in each and every smallest particle of that mass. This peculiar relation and inner law of the efiicient force constitute, in every particular case, the essential cause of the form and structure in question. The differences of direction and intensity in the action of the forces, these differences of tension and the resulting easy divisibility of matter, these planes and directions of tension, contain the fundamental law of all forms and structures. Their clear conception affords the possibility of seeing them in their nature, relations, and combinations. Now, as each thing can manifest itself completely only by representing its being in unity, individuality, and diversity, or in the indispensable triune way (see § 61), the essential nature of force, too, is shown comjDletely and perfectly only in such a triune representation of its being by and in form. This implies, at the same time, two other tendencies of nature : the tendency to i-epre- sent the particular in the general, and the general in the particular ; and the tendency to make the internal external, the external internal, and to represent the two in unity (to unify the two). All individual forms in nature, in all their diversity, CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 171 have their origin in this triune representation by means of matter and through form, of force in union with those general tendencies of nature. § To. Furthermore, however, one and the same force acts in one and the same material, either particularizing in many individual phenomena or undivided and in general ; or within the limits of its formative law its ac- tion predominates in the direction of one of the dimen- sions — height, length, or breadth — producing a number of variations of crystalline form, such as the fibrous, the radiate, the granular, the laminate, the foliate, needle- shaped, etc. The former is due to the fact that as many particles of the material as possible in a relatively large mass tend to represent their formative law, but are reciprocally hindered by their very mass in the de- velopment and completion of their crystals. The latter is due to the fact that the representation of the law of formation is greater in certain dimensions than it is in the rest. The pure and perfect crystal, which represents even in its outward form the relative intensity in the differ- ent directions of the inner force, is formed when all the individual particles and all the individual points of the active force subject themselves to the higher law of a common requirement and of the integral representation of the law of formation, a higher law which, though it may hamper and fetter individual particles or points, yet yields the greater, perfectly formed product. The crystalline is the first phase of earthly forma- tion. Action and reaction and their simultaneousness, v/hich belong to the essential nature of force, give rise to a tendency toward predominance of the force in cer- 172 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. tain directions, and to a reciprocal hindrance and fceii' sion even in the minutest parts, and consequently to the most sharply defined relations of tension in the ma- terial in all directions, and thereby to greater or smaller divisibility in these planes and lines of tension. Therefore, the first crystals must of necessity have rectilinear outlines ; nay, in the first appearance of the crystalline, there must be evidence of resistance to the common subordination under the fixed law of a definite crystal — resistance to its perfect representation. Simi- larly, crystals in which the force acts unequally in dif- ferent directions must appear earlier than those in which the force acts equally in different directions ; hence the external result w^Jl not be an all-sidedly equilateral crys- tal — as would be indicated by the essential nature of the force — but solid forms not in conformity with this all- sided equal activity of the force. Again, the develop- ment of the essential nature of force in its external manifestation of crystallization ascends from the un- equilateral to the simplest equilateral forms ; while, at the same time, the essential nature of the force as such for the purpose of outward representation descends, from unity and all-sidedness, to individuality and one- sidedness. If we now seek to recognize and represent this de- scent in the essential nature of the force from unity to individuality, we shall see nature at this stage, both in her inner tendency and her outer manifestations, in all her individuality and one-sidedness, but also in her unity and all-sidedness. [Froebel's interest in crystallo2:raphy was aroused by the lect- ures of Professor Weiss at Berlin in 1812. He saw in it the possi- CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 173 bility of direct proof of the inner connection of all things. After the campaign of 1813 against Napoleon, he returned at once to this study, and was fortunate enough to secure the position of assistant to Professor Weiss in the lloyal Museum of Natural History. He writes concerning this period : '* What I had seen in so many ways in the great universe, in the life of men, in the development of human- ity, I saw here again in the smallest crystal. I saw it clearly, that the divine is not only in the greatest, it is also in the most minute things ; in full abundance and power it is even in the least thing. Thus my earths and crystals became to me a mirror of the develop- ment and history of mankind." However, he was much disconcerted by the multiplicity of fundamental forms as taught in this science ; and he busied himself much with efforts to reduce all forms to one — probably the cube. The results of these efforts appear in the follow- ing paragraphs, and, although not accepted by the mineralogical science of the day, stand as a remarkable monument of Froebel's faith in the principle of liie-unity. In his letter to the Duke of Meiningen he exclaims, " The w^orld of crystals proclaimed to me, in distinct and unequivocal terms, the laws of human life." His genius, however, urged and forced him. away from stones to men, and, sacrificing everything, refusing even a professorship of mineralogy, he devoted himself to the work of education. — Tr.] § 71. In the entire process of the development of the crystal, as it is found in natural objects, there is a highly remarkable agreement with the development of the hu- man mind and of the human heart. Man, too, in his external manifestation — like the crystal — bearing within himself the living unity, shows at first more one-sided- ness, individuality, and incompleteness, and only at a later period rises to all-sidedness, harmony, and com- pleteness. Like all similar facts, this analogy in the develop- ment of nature and of man is very important for the pui^oses of self-knowledge and of the education of self and others ; it throws light and clearness upon human 17i THE EDUCATION OF MAN, development and education, and gives firmness and sure- iiess of action in their various requirements. Like the world of the heart and mind, the world of crystals is a glorious, instructive world. What the spir- itual eye there beholds inwardly, it here sees outwardly. § 72. Every crystallogenic force that manifests itself in and through formative and externalizing processes proceeds from a center, simultaneously tending in op- posite directions. By its very nature, therefore, it im- poses limits upon itself, is all-sided, radiating, rectilinear, and, hence, necessarily spherical in its operation. JSTow, such a force, operating without hindrance, will necessarily act bilaterally in any one direction ; and in the totality of all directions there will always be, starting in any direction from the center, sets of three such bilateral directions, perpendicular to one another, in the fullest equilibrium of independence and interde- pendence. Again, on account of the limitations lying in the force itself, among all these sets of three bilateral direc- tions, thi^ee exchtsively predominate and appear wholly distinct from all others. Even the most abstract view of force will lead to this distinction and predominance, because they lie equally in the nature of force and in the law of human mental activity. The result of the predominance of these three bilateral, perpendicular directions, which equally control and determine all other directions, must be a crystal limited by straight lines and planes, revealing in every part the inner nature and action of the force ; it can be only a citbe, a regular hexahedron. Each of the eight, corners shows the perpendicularity CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. I75 of the three bilateral directions at the center, and thus indicates externally the center of the cube. Similarly the three sets of four parallel edges show each of the inner directions fourfold. The six faces mark in their centers the six terujinal points of the three bilateral di- rections, and determine the invisible center of the cube. In the cube the tendency of the force toward spheri- cal representation is in a state of highest tension. In- stead of all-sidedness we have particular-sidedness of faces, corners, and edges ; and these few points (corners), lines (edges), and planes (faces), subordinate and control all others. There appears, too, the tendency of the force to represent itself, not only in corporeal space, but also in each of the possible particular phases of space — as a point and in points, as a line and in lines, as a plane and in planes. This, again, necessarily reveals the tend- ency of the force to derive the line and the plane from the point, to re/present the point as a line and as a plane, the line as a p>oint and as a plane, to contract the line into a point and to expand it into a plane, etc. We meet this effect of force, henceforth, at every step of the study of crj^stal forms ; indeed, the opera tion of cry stall ogenic force seems to be limited to this, and all crystals seem to owe their characteristics exclu- sively to this tendency. Indeed, this must be so ; it is the first general manifestation of the great natural laws and tendencies to represent each thing in unity, indi- viduality, and diversity ; to generalize the most particu- lar, and to represent the most general in the most par- ticnlar ; and, lastly, to make the internal external, the external interaal, and to represent both in harmony and union. 176 THE EDUCATION OF MAN If, at the same time, we keep in mind that man, too, is almost wholly subject to these great laws, that almost all the phenomena and events of his life are based on them, these considerations will reveal to us also the na- ture of man, and teach us how to develop and educate him in accordance with the laws of nature and of his being. Let us now pass from the study of the cube to the study and development of the remaining crystal forms. The corners of the cube will tend to become planes, the faces will tend to represent themselves as points ; more especially, the six directions lying about the center and, typically, in the six sides of the cube will tend to be- come externally visible as edges. The result of this is a crystal which has as many faces or sides as the cube has corners, as many corners as the cube has sides, and as many edges as the cube — viz., a regular octahedron. In this form, again, many things that lie invisibly in the interior appear outwardly, either directly or typi- cally visible, but the explanations given in the study of the cube must suffice to indicate how these things may be found. The three-times-two perpendicular principal direc- tions (three bilateral directions) appear externally in the Giibe as three-times-two sides or planes, in the octahedron as three-times-two corners or points : there must be yet another crystal form in which they appear as three- times-two edges or lines. In the cube the six terminal points of the three perpendicular bilateral directions of tlie force appeared as six sides or planes, in the octa- hedron they appeared as corners or points : there must be another solid in which they appear as edges or lines, CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 177 and this is the regular tetrahedron. Its nature is suffi- ciently determined by comparison with the cube and octahedron, and the interior phases expressed in its external appearance are easily found with the help of the hints given in the study of the cube. [This is illustrated in the following figures : Fig, 1 indicates the three pairs of opposite directions (three bilateral directions) in which the force operates, constituting the three axes of the cube (Fig. 3), /I f Fig. 1 A \ / I I / ! ' / 1 / \ 1 —■>■ / + / Kig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 the octahedron (Fig. 3), and the tetraliedron (Fig. 4). In Fig. 2 the axes terminate in faces; in Fig. 3 they terminate in points (corners); and in Fig. 4 the terminal points of one axis lie in edges. — Tr.] Thus the study of the necessary results of the force acting spherically, and manifesting itself in material crystallization, has revealed to us three bodies, bounded by straight lines and planes, of which the cube is the first, and, as it were, the central one, and the tetrahedron and octahedron the two derived bodies. 178 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. If, now, we survey the CUBE, OCTAHEDKON, AND TETRAHEDRON in their natural position, as shown in our deduction, we again behold, in perfect harmony with the course of our study, and as a necessary consequence of the oft- repeated law of nature, that the cuhe rests on a plane, the octahedron on a point, and the tetrahedron on a line ; and in each of the three solids the axis of devel- opment coincides wholly with one of the three recipro- cally perpendicular principal directions. Jf, then, we consider each of these three solids as wholly independent and fixed, each left to itself, seek- ing a point of rest and support, we find the cube always symmetrically and permanently resting on one of its faces, and the axis permanently coinciding with one of its principal directions. On the other hand, the octahedron and tetrahedron will fall. Thereby one of the sides will become its base, and at the same time both solids exhibit a new property quite peculiar to them : the axis, the vertical or median line of the solid, does not coincide with any of the three principal directions, but stands at equal angles between them. Now, inasmuch as the nature of the octahedron and tetrahedron lies in the nature of the cube, and inas- much as the forms of the octahedron and tetrahedron are deducible from that of the cube, the property which permits the axis or vertical line to fall at equal angles between the three perpendicular principal directions, must lie already in the cube. Indeed, it is a direct re- sult of the operation of the law of equilibrium ; for the CniEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 179 falling of the octahedron or tetrahedron, by which the axis or vertical line is brought at equal angles between the principal directions, when transferred to the cube, will necessarily cause the latter to rise correspondingly. This will make the cube seem to rest on one of its cor- ners, so that the vertical line or axis passes now from one of these corners through the center to the opposite corner, no longer coinciding with one of the principal directions, but falling at equal angles between them. By this change in the position of the axis, the cube has been wholly changed internally^ and presents exter- nally^ too, a wholly changed appearance, an entirely new form. In its former position the sides seemed grouped in sets of two, and the corners and edges in sets of two or four, everything seemed to be arranged in the order of the even numbers, two and four ; now everything seems grouped in sets of three — three sides, tliree edges, three corners. Instead of the number two^ we have now the num- ber tlwee^ and a wholly new series of crystal forms seems thereby given and determined. However, the study and development of these must be postponed for the further study and development of the crystal forms with three among themselves wholly perpendicular prin- cipal directions. In itself and in the crystal forms, force manifests the tendency to expand corners into edges or sides ; the tendency to contract edges into corners or to ex- pand them into sides ; the tendency to represent sides as edges and corners ; the tendency to render externally visible inner concealed and invisible as well as outer typical directions, points, lines, and planes ; the tend- 180 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. ency to represent externally in the crystal forms the inner, spherical nature of force on all sides equally energetic ; the tendency to reach again the spherical form in and through these crystal forms. Accordingly, starting from the cube, the octahedron, and the tetrahe- dron, three series of crystal forms are definitely given. These series variously overlap in several directions, but through a limited number of principal forms and a still measurable number of intermediate forms they again approximate sphericity. In the formation of all the solids so far considered, there were always three equivalent principal directions, of relatively equal efficiency in determining the form. Now, the natural tendency of force to operate simulta- neously in opposite directions, and the relations of ten- sion necessarily induced thereby in the force as well as in the matter in which the force operates, necessarily lead in the further development of crystal forms to the development of differences among the three relatively wholly equal and equivalent principal directions : The principal direction coinciding with the axis of the crys- tal form will become either greater or smaller than the two others. The series of crystal forms resulting from the first of these differences will yield chiefly square prisms and elongated octahedrons ; the series resulting from the second difference will yield chiefly flat, square prisms and flattened octahedrons. (Inasmuch as we are con- cerned here only with the necessary inner relations and effects of force, we necessarily leave out of consideration all differences in the forms of crystals depending on ex- ternal conditions of matter.) The development of these CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 181 two series of crystal forms proceeds always in forms yielding quadruple crystal forms. Again, all three principal directions may differ in length. The forms resulting from this will be chiefly flattened, oblong, four-sided prisms and octahedrons, with three different sections. The development of this series proceeds by twos or multiples of two. Now, the development may proceed in such a way as to retain the equality of corresponding parts, or one part may develop more or less than its mate. The former yields the series just described ; the latter gives series of crystals in which the parts appear grouped in sets of two-and-one or one-and-one. The further development of these forms, too, ensues in accordance with the natural law and tendency of force to develop comers into edges and planes, and vice versa^ and thus to represent extenially the inner directions in spherical forms. Because of the peculiar fundamental conditions, all the solids resulting from these develop- ments are, too, distinctly peculiar in their appearance and structure. We have so far considered the principal conditions for the study and deduction of all crystal forms with three relatively equal principal directions, both in their individual characteristics and in their net-like inter- relationships. We now proceed to study the crystal forms whose structural axis falls symmetrically between the three principal directions, and whose fundamental form is the cube resting on one of its corners. The first examination of the cube in this position revealed peculiarities determined by the grouping of its parts in sets of three. To these, further consideration 14 182 TEE EDUCATION OF MAN. will add the following peculiar structural laws and properties : In the first place, even a superficial observation of the cube in this position shows the peculiarity that the six limiting planes appear no longer as six regular quad- rilaterals with equal diagonals, but as symmetrical quad- rilaterals with different diagonals, or as rhombs. At the very next step in the development of this series of crystal forms, this merely superficial appearance is con- firmed by the actual external results of inner conditions. Therefore, all the forms of this series limited by six equal planes are always limited by six equal rhombs. The fundamental form of this series of form, then, is the rhombic hexahedron (rhombohedron) ; and the fun- damental laws and limitations lying in the rhombohe- dron are the fundamental laws and limitations of all the following formations. The number of crystal forms derived from the rhombohedron is large, almost incalculably large. Yet they radiate right from the fundamental form in several series, each of which is again headed by a principal form determined by the character of the fundamental form: 1. The three edges at the basal point and the three edges at the vertex, in accordance with the law already mentioned, are developed into faces until they mutually limit one another. The result is a crystal form bounded by twice six faces and twice six equal basal and vertical edges, which unite respectively in the vertex and the basal point — it is the dotcble-pointed^ equal-edged dodeca- hedron (double six-sided pyramid). 2. The lateral edges, in accordance with the inner CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF IXSTRUCTION. 183 cliaracteristics, form sloping double faces. The result is again a crystal form bounded bj twice six faces, which unite in the vertex and basal point, but have only the alternate edges equal. It is the doicble-pointed^ three- and-three-edged dodecahedron (scalene dodecahedron). 3. The development of the lateral corners or edges of the rhombohedron or of one or the other dodecahe- drons into faces parallel to the axis, and of the terminal corners into planes (perpendicular to the axis), yields two new crystal forms — two hexagonal prisms with perpen- dicular bases. They differ, however, in their inner na- ture and in their origin, inasmuch as one of the prisms is derived from the lateral edges and the other from the lateral corners of the fundamental solid ; they may be distinguished as the hexagonal jyrism derived from the edges^ and the hexagonal prism derived from the corners. In accordance with this inner connection, the prin- cipal forms are related as follows : Rhombohedron. I I double six-sided pyramid scalene (dodecahedron). dodecahedron. I I hexagonal prism hexagonal prism derived from corners. derived from edges. In accordance with the repeatedly enounced and applied law of crystallogenic force, and with other necessary conditions, the fundamental and principal forms derived above from the nature of the force give rise in strict progression to all possible forms of the rhombic and hexagonal system with constant approach to sphericity. 134 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. Tims, in tlie countless numbers of rhombic and hexagonal forms here implied, in connection with the cubic forms indicated above, all simple crystal forms are implied and determined. This does not exclude other still simple forms in which — in accordance with certain peculiar conditions in the operation of the cry stall ogenic force — the various forms may appear with variously modified dimensions, relatively greater length or breadth or thickness. On the other hand, by its very tendency toward ever-higher development of crystal forms, the crystallogenic force at last reaches so high a degree of tension, of inner and outer opposition, that at last even the external results show that the tendency to relieve this tension and antithesis has become the chief tend- ency of the force. The first and simplest external manifestation of this tendency within the limits of crystallization is seen in the formation of crystals in precisely opposite directions. The result will be (compound) forms in which several simple crystals lying in opposite directions are united externally in a single form, appearing — when the law that unites them can not be unraveled — as capricious accumulations. These latter formations give rise to a wholly new se- ries of compound and cumulated crystals which appear to be imitations of higher forms of development, in a variety of clustered, protuberant, or globular forms. In the last-named accumulation, especially, it seems as if the component crystals together succeeded in attaining the original spherical form, which singly they conld not reach. Thus, at this stage of crystallization, too, life ap- pears as in a picture ; we see, in spite of all the rigid CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 185 external separation, an inner living connection, the operation of one and tlie same law, as we see it more and more clearly at each successive stage of the develop- ment of nature. Now, all these forms as external manifestations be- long pre-eminently to the world of matter, to the world of simply energetic force. Their external tinit is the sphere. They are all distinguished by the peculiarity that their parts are grouped in multiples of tioo and thi'ee. The operation of the force in directions grouped in multiples of five and seven seems to be wholly ex- cluded, since these numbers appear either only subordi- nately and irregularly, or accidentally and transiently. Furthermore, the material conditions of a crystal are the same at all points. There is no necessarily deter- mined or determining permanent center. The center is only relative, and disappears with the related con- ditions. Hence, if the material remains the same, the continued operation of the force can increase only the ma^s of the crystal. The energetic force, therefore, ap- pears as a simple and not as a complex unity. So much for the development and manifestation of crystallogenic force within the limits of crystals. Now, the nature of force, as a self-active principle equally active in all directions, necessarily postulates in the crystal as its external manifestation a perceptible point in which the force has its seat, from which all its ac- tivities proceed, and to which they may be referred. But such a point is not found in solid crystals ; indeed, it is excluded by the rigidity of the crystal, however peremptorily it may be demanded by the nature of the force that forms the crystal. 186 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. Again, the law of crystallization postulates a mate- rial whose crystalline character, whose state of inner tension, renders it impossible to develop a cr}^stal cor- responding with such a point; for the fact that the material is throughout uniform in its constitution ex- cludes the predominance of one or several centers of force. For the same reason the establishment of such a center of force would destroy the crystalline character of the material. Furthermore, force as such — in order to become an independent force — requires in its development a plu- rahty of manifestations and activities within the law of unity and proceeding from unity. The nature of force and its tendency toward com- plete development and representation is, therefore, not satisfied with mere many-sidedness in its operation ; its fundamental tendency imphes an organized community of forces, each of which operates self-actively, but to- ward a common end lying in unity. A force thus organized in itseK implies again a mate- rial similarly organized in itself. Now, material is so organized when, at any point assigned to it by the ac- tivity of the force, it adapts itself with equal readiness to the requirements of the force, be this in the repre- sentation of the general or the particular, of the inner or the outer, on any side or in any direction of the force. Organized material obeys with perfect freedom and ^\dthout friction in every direction. On the other hand, the inner tension of crystalline material excludes this. Therefore, organized force completely destroys all crys- talline shape of the material and organizes it. Only by returning to a perfectly amorphous state, into a state of CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 187 perfect incoherence and solution, can crystalline material become organized. Here, too, we have a manifestation of life, we see the requirements and conditions of highest, most spirit- ual life as in a picture. Therefore, at this stage of the development of nature, it is so very necessary for the education of self and others to know and to understand the essential character of nature. § 73. We notice, at the same time, as an intrinsic condition of force, the tendency to exert itself in oppo- site directions. ^N^ow, we may consider force as proceed- ing from a definite demonstrable unity and unfolding a diversity related to that unity. This implies, necessarily, alternation in the opposite tendencies of the force ; and, as it destroys the crystallinity of the material, it destroys at the same time the sirmiltaneity of the opposite tend- encies, and in the state of the material reveals a surg- ing, heaving, swelling of the force. In the crystal the opposite tendencies of the force are simultaneous, in perfect equilibrium : hence the rigidity of the crystal. The disturbance of this simul- taneity, with the slightest predominance of one or the other of the involved tendencies of the force, at once de- sjtroys the rigidity of the crystal, and hence the crystal itself, and renders the material earth}^, liquid, or gaseous. Now, the highest development of force implies its greatest exercise of freedom, together with the greatest possible simultaneity in opposite directions. It will, therefore, have attained this development at the stage where the pulsations of opposite tendencies alternate most rapidly. This continuity in the pulsations of force, together with the continuity of equilibrium in opposite 188 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. tendencies, we have in life / and the definite demonstra- ble point whence these pulsations proceed, from which all this self-active life is breathed out, is the hearty the hearppoint. In perfect accordance with the nature of force, either a great number of points, or only a limited number, or only one, will tend to become heart-points. This is one of the first grounds for the development of distinct liv- ing forms. The force tends more and more to render itself independent of the material, so that the degree of lifer-expression may no longer depend on the greater or smaller mass of material. In accordance with this fundamental law, all life-forms are grouped from the very beginning in two series. In the first of these, the material predominates ; in the second, life predominates. The former is properly designated as living (vegetable) ; the latter as animate (animal). From this point of view, then, all natural objects may be grouped as follows: Simply energetic (crystalline). Living (lehend) Animate {lehendig) (vegetable). (animal). Since Hfe implies the ever-recurring return of the activity to the center of force, or heart-point, and se- cures by this return ever again a new lease of external existence, all living forms will necessarily groio from within outward. This necessary inner connection, here and previously indicated, among crystalline, vegetable, and animal forms, is demonstrated unmistakably also from another CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION^. 189 point of view and in the general law of nature, accord- ing to wliich the particular implies the general. Now, since the previously recognized attributes of force lie necessarily in its nature, they will continue with the continuance of the force, and will be unmis- talvably pronounced in the succeeding stages of develop- ment, although in different forms, combinations, or de- grees of intensity. This requirement, lying in the very nature of the force, will necessarily be manifest in every form of the successive stages of development, and is the inner determining cause of each of these forms. While, therefore, in the crystals, circular and spherical forms seemed to be secondary and, as it were, acci- dental, they now appear to be essential ; with this dif- ference, however, that among the vegetable forms radia- tion and surface expansion predominate, whereas among the animal forms roundness and sphericity prevail. Now, as organized force necessarily implies organ- ized material, both imply an organized form. Hence the vegetable forms in which life still appears subordi- nate to the material will have a more radiate character, approximating the law of crystal forms, but in an en- hanced, organized, living state. Therefore, we see in many plants the expression of the regularity of crystal forms, more particularly in the numerical relations of parts. Zahl (number), as is indicated by many obsolete words and phrases, signifies originally the extremity, the end."^ Therefore, the numerical relations in plants are so important, because they indicate, as it were, the * Zahl is related to the English words tale^ tell, but not to tail (zagl)^ as Froebel seems to assume. — Tr. 190 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. ends of the directions of force to which crystal forms, as well as successive higher forms, owe their peculiari- ties. As the binary crystal forms are characterized by great simplicity, so we find a similar simplicity among binary plant-forms, as compared with ternary plant- forms. In binary plants this law is clearly manifest in the position of the leaves as well as in the form of the stem, etc. The peculiar numerical relations are also al- ways accompanied by other constant peculiarities ; and each particular numerical expression is constantly at- tended by certain particular inner properties. Thus, nearly all binary plants exhale very strongly aromatic odors, etc. The life-forms, however, are by no means satisfied with ever more characteristic representation of the original directions, and the resulting numerical relations that yield crystal forms. By the removal of external tension the inner energy has been raised into life-en- ergy, and higher activities must become manifest in the formations. Therefore, among vegetable as well as among animal life-forms, we observe soon the preva- lence of numerical relations based on the number five, which play in crystals a very subordinate part, and appear only accidentally, as it were, and transiently. Since, in all natural objects, the appearance of quinary relations marks very characteristic activities, it comes fraught with remarkable symbolism and signifi- cance. In the vegetable kingdom these quinary relations rarely appear in perfect regularity — i. e., with all the units respectively equal or equivalent in position, form, CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 191 and significance ; and, when tliey are regular externally, they are so variable that the regularity is perfectly maintained in a few cases only. This proves clearly its origin in the liberated energy of force — in the tendency of force, now lifted into life, to represent each relation independently. Inasmuch as the representation of the numbers five and seven in independent and continuous development is excluded from the realm of simply energetic force, and inasmuch as every succeeding development of force- activity mnst be derived from simply energetic force, it follows that quinary and septenary relations can originate only from a subdivision or contraction of numerical relations lying within the realm of simply energetic force. This is actually the fact. Quinary forms appear in the vegetable kingdom either in consequence of the subdivision of one of the principal directions of quater- nary or binary forms, or in consequence of the combi- nation of two principal directions of ternary forms. Xearly all quinary plant-forms show this to be the case. It appears, then, that plants, which in their blos- soms show scarcely any variation in the number five, are- to be considered as truly quinary; that binary plants, which have the parts of their blossoms in fives, show the five as two, two, and one, inasmuch as this five results from the bisection of one of the four equiva- lent directions. Therefore, two of the parts will always belong together, and one will stand alono. Such plants, then, appear as representations of the law of two and two (binary law), passing into that of two, two, and cne, etc. 192 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. In general, the quinary forms and combinations pro- ceeding from the binary law are the most varied, as is shown in plants with alternate leaves. The lost equi- librium between the two twos is regained only with great difficulty. It is different with the character of quinary forms appearing in ternary plants. Here it is not a bisection, but the union of two principal directions that yields the five ; and the peace and calmness resulting from this union are manifest in the simplicity of the blossoms, as is seen in the rose, etc. The number hve, then, appears in nature and among life-forms as uniting the character of the num- bers two and three; both in bisection and union, it appears as three and two. Hence, as developed under the influence of life-force, it is truly the number of analytic and synthetic life, representing reason, unceas- ing self -development, self -elevation ; for, the higher the stage of development reached by the life-forms, the more persistent is this number. Among vegetable forms, almost regular quinary ar- rangements of parts are found in plants that are capable of the greatest cultivation and variation, as is seen in the various fruit-plants that yield pomes and drupes (such as the apple, pear, cherry, etc.), as well as in the tropical fruits. The former may be varied indefinitely. The same may be observed in roses, quinary plants derived from ternary relations ; their varieties, too, may be increased indefi- nitely. Similarly, each locality yields its own variety of potatoes, although so many varieties have been developed in the few years of our acquaintance with this plant. CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 193 Again, the plants in whose flowers the parts appear almost regularly in quinary sets, are most easily propa- gated, improved, and induced to bear double flowers, as is seen in roses, pinks, primroses, and buttercups. Thus, wherever the number five appears, there is unmistakable evidence of a higher phase of life, which, through bisection or union of the parts implied by rigid law, calls forth this number. Starting, not from the external features of the num- ber, but rather from the innermost essential condition on which all variations and relations of numbers depend, the following additional considerations force themselves upon our notice : The binary crystal forms, essentially simple and mani- festing little variation of energy, resemble the difl^er- ent species of feelings ; on the other hand, the ternary crystal forms, in their continuous external subdivision into ever-new forms, resemble forms of the understand- ing and of knowledge. As, in the ternary crystals, the structural axis is distinct from each of the three fundamental directions and placed independently at equal angles among them, their development through external subdivision and external union continues almost indefinitely. Therefore, the ternary form can subdivide the most subtile things ; even light must submit to its analytic power, as in calcareous spar and in the three- sided prism — an artificial ternary form. Therefore, the falling of the crystal from the bi- nary into the ternary law of development resembles the falling^ or — since the result is the same — the ascent of the mind of man from simple, uniform emotional de- velopment into the development of externally analytic 194: THE EDUCATION OF MAN. and critical reason ; for the ternary law, too, first intro- duces US to tlie external knowledge of crystal forms as- cending in the scale of development. Concerning the peculiar nature and effects of living force, the vegetable world shows the following facts : Throughout the various stages of upward development of the same living force in a plant, each part of the whole seems to possess the whole force only in a different degree of development ; hence it is so frequently possible to produce the whole plant from a single part — from a shoot, a bud, a leaf, a fragment of the root. Hence, too, is derived the distinct fundamental law of vegeta- ble life that each successive stage of development is a higher growth of the preceding one — e. g., the petals are transformed ordinary leaves, the stamens and pistils transformed petals. Each successive formation presents the essential nature of the plant in a more subtile garb, until at last it seems clothed only in a delicate perfume. The inner — having thus become almost wholly external — is taken up by the ovary, and again becomes internal. From the beginning to the time of blossoming, the hfe of the plant is an upward and outward unfolding ; from this to the time of full maturity of the fruit, it is an exalted withdrawing. Plant-forms, then, exhibit the (inner) force not only in multiplied diversity, but also in a state of progres- sive changes. Hence, too, when the (inner) force re- cedes, we notice quite frequently a retrogression of a later to an earlier form of development — e. g., the retrogression of petals to sepals, and of these to ordi- nary leaves ; the retrogression of stamens and pistils to petals, so frequent in roses, poppies, mallows, tulips, CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. I95 etc. As an instance of progressive transformation, we have the artificial change of the caljx to the corolla, with the aid of favorable position and food — e. g., in the garden primrose. We see, then, that the essential nature of the whob plant lies in some peculiar manner in each individual part of the plant. Now, the first tendency of every thing and of every plant is toward the all-sided repre- sentation of its individuality. This tendency toward sphericity seems to be most fully restrained in the leaves. Therefore, it is frequently noticed, though not in the leaves alone, that after some injury the seemingly unfettered tendency toward spherical representation ap- pears in the accessory formations ; this is seen very beautifully in the rose-gall on injured rose-leaves. Thus the plant seemingly represents the nature of life-force in external quiescence. Therefore, from this point of view, plants appear as the blossoms of nature ; and as among plants, after the period of blossoming, the essential nature of the plant withdraws inwardly, thus, on the next stage of natural development — the stage of animal life — all external diversity is again gathered up in an inner unity, as it were in a kernel or seed, in spherical forms. Therefore, the lowest animals in their simple, spherical shapes resemble seeds endowed with animal life. Thus, inasmuch as the law of the individual part is repeated in the whole, the totality of all nmndane forms, although but a small part of the great universe, is nevertheless, relatively, a great, individual, organized, and organic whole. The animals, too, constitute again a great organic whole, seemingly one living form : this 196 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. is manifest in the great general laws of nature that con- trol the totality and apj^ly distinctly in individual cases. Thus, the quinary law, the necessary condition of higher life, one with the appearance of life on earth and inseparable from that life, is expressed with increased vitality in all animals; this is evident in the earliest forms, with the first appearance of animal life, as is shown by the remains of perished ages, and this fun- damental law accompanies animal life in all its varied combinations and differentiations. Even in the human being, in whom life appears lifted into perfect spirit- uality, the number five is an essential attribute of his hand, man's principal member, his principal instrument in formative, creative activity, etc. Another great, universally diffused law of nature, particularly well pronounced in the whole animal king- dom, and again representing the animal kingdom as a whole in relative individuality, is the law that makes the external internal, and vice versa. Thus we find the first animals having soft bodies, living in houses almost wholly composed of stone, almost wholly independent of the animals, and only externally inclosing their bod- ies as if they were foreign, separate things. Neverthe- less, the existence of the animals depends on their fixed calcareous dwelling-place. Later on the animals appear detached, free, no longer like plants fixed in one point ; they and their stony coverings are firmly united in growth, the solid covering incloses the bod}^ like a solid rind. In succeeding (higher) animal forms, the half-gristly, half -stony covering unites more and more fully with the body of the animal, and at last disappears externally. CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 197 It sinks into tlie flesh, as it were; and, in the measure in which it disappears outwardly, it becomes in fish and amphibia an inner cartilaginous skeleton, with re- siduary scales on the surface of the body. In the still higher forms, this cartilaginous skeleton is transformed more and more into a solid, bony skele- ton, and the muscular mass, formerly inclosed in a stony covering, now incloses the stony bones. What, in low- er forms, was external is now internal ; what was in- ternal is now, in the perfected animal, external. Again, the great law of equilibrium is manifested with special distinctness in the animal world. By this law a relatively determinate quantity of force dwells in each life-form, and a relatively determinate quantity of material is required for each body and for each kind of its organs ; consequently, if this material is used pre- dominantly on one side in the formation of the body or of its organs, the development of the body or similar organs on the other side will suffer, and one organ or side will grow at the expense of the other. Thus, in fish, the trunk of the body is developed at the expense of the limbs. The operation of this law appears most clearly if the human form in its symmetrical development is taken as the criterion. If we compare, for instance, the arm and hand of man with the wing of a bird, we see clearly that certain parts or organs are developed at the ex- pense of others. § 74. Thus, the forms of nature in all their diversity, in all the stages of their development, result from the operation of one and the same force. Primarily this force appears as a unity, is clearly and fully pronounced 15 198 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. in completely individualized life, but is externally re- vealed in universal and all-sided application only in the varied forms of nature, the possibility of whose repre- sentation is implied in the force. Here, too, is con- firmed the great and universal truth that only in triune representation, only in unity, individuality, and diversity can each form of nature completely and perfectly ex- press its inner being. We have in this a new confirmation of the law of development of crystals, the passing from special-sided^ ness to all-si dedn ess, from imperfection to perfection — as the law of all development in nature. Man, then, ap- pears as the last and most perfect earthly being, in whom all that is corporeal appears in highest equilibrium and symmetry, and in whom the primordial force is fully spiritualized, so that man feels, understands, and knows his own power. But, while man externally and cor- poreally has attained equilibrium and symmetry of form, there heave and surge in him — viewed as a spiritual be- ing — appetites, desires, passions. As in the world of crystals we noticed the heaving and surging of simple energy, and in the vegetable and animal worlds the heaving and surging of living forces, so here the heav- ing and surging of spiritual forces. Therefore, man, with reference to spiritual develop- ment has returned to a first stage, as crystals are in the first stage with reference to the development of life. Therefore, again, a knowledge of the laws of crystal and life forms is so highly important in the education of self and others ; it teaches and guides, gives light and peace. For this reason, the boy — the learning human being — should at an early period be taught to see nature in all CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 199 her diversity as a unit, as a great living whole, as one thought of God. The integrity of nature as a con- tinuously self-developing whole must be shown him at an early period. Without a knowledge of this unity in the activities and forms of nature, it is impossible to attain or to impart a genuine knowledge of natural history. This unity the boy's mind seeks at an early period ; it alone satisfies him (see §-^5). Go with a genuire boy into open nature, show the diverse natural objects, and he will soon ask you to indicate to him the higher, causal, living unity. While I write this, it is corroborated by constantly recurring questions from boys who have just entered upon this stage of development and who are interested in natural objects. All fragmentary study of nature, so different from the study of individual objects with reference to the unity that embraces all, deprives natural objects and nature of life and impairs the vigor of the human mind. § 75. These few hints for the study of nature as a whole must suffice here. They are simply intended to guide the father or teacher in leading the pupil to a knowledge of the universal application of the same law in all the various stages of natural development, to the apprehension of unity in diversity and of nature as a living organism. The inner connection among the ac- tivities and objects of nature has here been indicated only in general and only in one direction (that of form). Similarly, nature must be shown to the pupil as an or- ganized and organic whole in all directions; for the various forces, materials, sounds, colors, etc., have — like the forms — their inner unity, their living inner con- 200 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. nection in and among themselves and with the whole. Indeed, in their pei'fect development, all depend on the influence of the same great, uniting, causal, natural ob- jects, on the sun, which calls into being and sustains all earthly life. It almost seems as if all earthly things simply revealed the nature of sunlight ; eagerly all turn toward the sun, absorb the sunlight, hang upon his rays as the children hang upon the words and looks of father and mother — of the father who teacJies in love, of the mother who sustains and strengthens their development. As the development and improvement of the children are affected by the presence or absence of pure parental love, of perfect parental spirit, so the development and improvement of earthly things — the children of sun and earth, as it were — depend on the presence or absence of sunlight. Thus, earthly things, as a whole, repre- sent externally, visibly, and in manifold diversity the nature of sunlight, which in the sun is seen as a unity ; and the knowledge of one leads to the knowledge of the other. Thus, father and son, teacher and pupil, parent and child, walk together in one great living universe. Let not teacher or parent object that he himself is as yet ignorant of this. Not the communication of knowledge already in their possession is the task, but the calling forth of new knowledge. Let them observe, lead their pupils to observe, and render themselves and their pupils conscious of their observations. An apprehension of the universality of law in nature, of her unity, does not require special technical terms for the objects or their attributes, but plain and accurate observation and accurate naming of these thingsi CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 201 in accordance with the character of language and of the thing named. In rendering the boy familiar with natural objects we are by no means concerned with the teaching of names nor of preconceived views and opinions, but only wdth presenting the things themselves with their ob- vious attributes in such a way that the boy may view each object as the definite individual object it reveals itself to be in its form, etc. Even the knowledge of a previously given or gener- ally accepted name is unimportant ; only the clear and distinct apprehension and the correct naming of the general and particular attributes are important. We may give the object a wholly provincial name, or — if we have not this — we may give it a name suggested by the moment, or, better still, we may name it by circum- locution, until in some way we find out the generally accepted name. Through such endeavors we shall soon learn the generally accepted name, and thus be enabled to harmonize our knowledge with the general knowl- edge, and to correct and supplement it with the latter. Let not the teacher of a country school object that he knows nothing about natural objects, not even their names. Even if he has had the scantiest education, by a diligent observation of nature he may gain a deeper and more thorough, more living, intrinsic, and extrinsic knowledge of natural objects in their diversity and in- dividuality, than he can acquire from ordinary availa- ble books. Besides, that so-called higher knowledge rests, ordi- narily, on phenomena and observations within the reach of the plainest man, observations which frequently — if 202 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. he know liow to use his eyes — come to hiin with little or no expense, in greater beauty than the costliest ex- periment could yield them. But to this he must bring himself by continued observation ; to this he must let himself be brought by the boys and youths around him. Parents should not be timid, should not object that they know nothing themselves and do not know how to teach their children. If they desire to know something, their ignorance is not the greatest evil. Let them imi- tate the child's example ; let them become children with the child, learners with the learner; let them go to father and mother, and with the child be taught by Mother ]S"ature and by the fatherly spirit of God in nature. The spirit of God and nature will guide them. One of the purposes of the college, indeed, is to open the inner eye for outer and inner truths ; but it were sad for humanity if only those who go to college should leam to see. On the other hand, if parents and teachers teach children at an early period to see and think, colleges would again become what they ought to become, viz., schools for the study of the highest and most spiritual truths / schools for the representation of these in the Ufe of the students ; schools of wisdom. From every point, from every object of nature and life, there is a way to God. Only hold fast the point, and keep steady on the way, gather strength from the conviction that nature must necessarily have not only an external, general cause, but an inner living cause, efficient in the most trivial detail ; that it proceeds from one Being, one Creator, one God, in accordance with the self-evident, necessary law by which the temporal is an expression of the eternal, the corporeal a mani- CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTIOX. 203 festation of the spiritual. You can not fail, then, to see the general in the particular, and the particular in the general. The things of nature form a more beautiful ladder between heaven and earth than that seen by Jacob ; not a one-sided ladder leading in one direction, but an all- sided one leading in all directions. Not in dreams is it seen ; it is permanent ; it surrounds us on all sides. It is decked with flowers, and angels with children's eyes beckon us toward it ; it is solid, resting on a floor of crystals; the inspired singer, David, praises and glori- fies it. Would you have a fixed point, a reliable guide in all this diversity ? It is given you in number (see §§ 38, 99). Number leads you on a reliable path ; for it is deter- mined by the external manifestations of the directions of inner energy. In the most direct way, it reveals the innermost nature of force, if you will but behold it with the keen eye of the boy, with the simple mind and heart of the child. Let tlie boy's eye and mind be your guide, for you may know that a simple natural boy will not be satisfied with half-truths and false notions. Follow his questions thoughtfully — they will teach you and him. For they come from the mind of a child, and surely father and mother can answer a child's questions. You object that children and boys ask more than parents and adults can answer. This is true. Either you stand at the limit of earthly things and at the threshold of divine things (if so, say so plainly; the child's or boy's spirit will be satisfied), or you stand at the limit of your knowledge and experience. Do 204 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. not hesitate to say so ; but beware of saying in this case that you stand at the Hmit of human knowledge in general — this would dwarf and stunt the human mind. In such cases, examine the life within you, compare it with the life around you, lead your pupil to make the same comparison, and you and he will, in due time, find the answer to your question. You will see clearly, with the inner eye, the reliable and unequivocal answer which you seek. Thus you will clearly see God in his works ; your earthly longings will be appeased ; what- ever of peace and good-cheer, whatever of consolation and help you may require in times of need, you will find in your own souls. § 76. Man needs a fixed point and a safe guide in the study of the inner connection of all this manifold diversity in nature. What can furnish a more reliable and uniting starting-point in this than that which ap- pears as the source from which all diversity develops itself, the visible expression of all law and obedience to law, viz., mathematics, which, on account of this great exhaustive property, was from the very beginning so named — mathematics — i. e., the science of learning. As a phenomenon of both the inner and quter world (of the macrocosm and microcosm), mathematics be- longs equally to man and nature. Mathematics, as pro- ceeding from a priori laws of thought, as the visible expression of thought and its laws, finds the phenom- ena, combinations, and forms logically deduced from these laws, again in the outer world independently es- tablished. Similarly, man finds again in himself, in the laws of CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 205 his thought, the same diversity of forms which in iia- tm-e are developed independent of him. Mathematics thus appears as a mediator between man and nature, be- tween the inner and the outer world, between thought and perception. This great mission, coexistent with the differentia- tion of inner and outer world, with the law of cause and effect, has secured for mathematics the high rank which it has enjoyed through all ages. Because of this, too, it could be seen in its true character and assigned its true place only by Christianity. Only the Christian who sees in all things the outgoings of the One Divine Spirit, can possibly appreciate its true character ; for only the Christian can understand the unity of the purely spirit- ual {a priori) forms with the forms of nature. Only he can solve the question whether mathematics has been deduced from natural phenomena, or whether natural objects were formed after laws of human thought, and have an existence only in these laws. For does not the same One Divine Spirit live and work in man and in na- ture ? Are not man and nature the creatures of the sam.e one God ? Must we not, on this account, neces- sarily find unity and harmony and obedience to the same law in the spirit of nature and in the spirit of man, in external forms and forces, and in internal for- mation and thought ? Therefore, it is possible to study nature in her forms and organisms, and with the help of the formulated laws of human thought, in mathematics. For this reason mathematics mediates, unites, gen- erates knowledge ; it is not dead, self -limited, a certain sum of separate forms and truths found separately and 206 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. accidentally and put on file, but it is a living whole, continually regenerating itself anew, strictly keeping pace in its development with the development of the human mind with reference to unity and diversity, and insight and contemplation ; for it is the visible expres- sion of thought, the expression of obedience to law in the spiritual as such, and therefore in this respect an organism, a product of necessity and freedom. Mathematics is, then, neither foreign to actual life nor something deduced from life ; it is the expression of life as such : therefore its nature may be studied in life, and life may be studied with its help. Inasmuch as thought and its laws themselves pass from unity to diversity or all -sided ness, and, although apparently starting with a diversity (something exter- nal), yet always refer to some remote or obscure unity (something primarily internal), mathematics, too, passes necessarily from unity to diversity or all-sidedness ; and, although extenaally and apparently it proceeds from individuality and diversity, yet a necessary inner unity underhes all its deductions. All mathematical forms and figures should, there- fore, be viewed as proceeding from the laws lying in the sphere and circle, and referred to these as their unity ; the sphere itself, however, is to be regarded as proceeding from unity with its own self-active energy (see g 68). Mathematical forms and figures should not, there- fore, be considered as put together in accordance with external, arbitrary causes, but as the necessary outcome of a self-active, inner force, acting in all directions from a central point. They are not, in the very first CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 207 instruction, to be considered as separate things, but in tlieir necessary inner connection ; even if we do start with individual and diverse forms and figures, we should ahvajs refer them to this ever-present and ever- active unity which may be likened to their soul. Mathematics is the expression of the inner cause and of the outer limitations and properties of space. As it originates in unity, it is in itself a unity ; and, as space implies diversity in direction, shape, and exten- sion, it follows that number, form, and magnitude mu- tually imply one anotlier, and are an inseparable three in unity. l^ow, number is the expression of diversity as such, and, indeed, the expression of the inner cause of diver- sity, of the directions of energy ; it does not result from dead, external addition, but from living inner laws that lie in the very nature of force. On the other hand, form and magnitude find their explanation only in di- versity. It follows from this that a knowledge of num- ber is first and most essential to a knowledge of the triune whole ; that a knowledge of number is the foun- dation of a knowledge of form and magnitude — of a general knowledge of space. Space itself, however, is by no means dead and sta- tionary, but owes its existence to the constant operation of inner absolute energy. And, as space owes its ex- istence to the cause and primordial law of all existing things, it follows that the universal laws of space under- lie all that manifests itself in space and the laws of thought and knowledge themselves. Mathematics should be treated more physically and dynamically, as the outcome of nature and energy. 208 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. This would make it even more instructive, more profit- able than we even now anticipate, not only in the study of nature, especially in her chemical (material) structure, but also in the study of the nature and opera- tion of the spiritual, of the laws of thought and feel- ing. This is especially true of the study of curves, of the spherical, and the Hke. Education without mathematics (at least without a thorough knowledge of numbers, supplemented b}^ occa- sional instruction in form and magnitude) is, therefore, weak, imperfect patchwork ; it interposes insuperable limits to the normal culture and development of man. Unable to free himself from his inner longing for prog- ress, man attempts to leap over these, or, weary of his fruitless endeavors, seeks to suppress the energy of his powers ; for the mind and mathematics are as insepar- able as the soul and religion. C. Language, § 77. What, now, is language^ the third of the fulcra of boy-life and of human life in general, and what re- lation does it hold to the other two '\ Wherever there is true inner connection, true inner and living reciprocity, there appears a relation similar to that of unity, indi\dduality, and diversity. This ap- plies, too, to religion, nature, and language. In religion, the aspiration of the soul which is directed toward unity in man, prevails and seeks the fruition of its hopes. In the contemplati(m of nature and mathematics, the aspi- ration of intelligence, which refers to individuahty in man, prevails and seeks certainty. In language, the de- CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 209 mand of reason which refers to diversity and unites all diversity, prevails and seeks satisfaction. Religion is a living in the soul that finds and feels the One in x\ll; nature studies individualities in nature, in themselves and in their relations to one another and to the whole ; and language represents the unity of all diversity, the inner living connection of all things. These tliree, therefore, form an inseparable unity, and the one-sided, fragmentary development of one or the other of them necessarily produces one-sidedness and, with this, finally, the annihilation, or at least destruction, of unity in man. Heligion strives to manifest and does manifest Ije- ing I nature strives to manifest and does manifest energy^ the cause of its action and this action itself ; language strives to manifest and does manifest life as such and as a whole. Religion, nature — (Mathematics represents, as it were, the tendency, laws, and causes of nature in man ; mathematics represents nature as, in accordance with her necessary causes, she must lie in the mind of man ; without mathematics man could obtain no knowledge of nature ; with it he can see her more fully and har- moniously than her external phenomena would warrant) — rehgion, nature (mathematics), and language in all their diverse relations have the same one mission and purpose, to reveal the inner ; to make the internal ex- ternal, the external internal, and to show both the in- ternal and external in their natural, primordial, neces- sary harmony and union. Whatever, therefore, is true of one of the three will necessarily be relatively true also of the other two. 210 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. Whatever has been said heretofore of religion and na- ture (with mathematics), if it is only in itself true, must apply to language in the peculiar way determined by the character of language. Therefore, unfortunately for humanity as a whole, we are confronted in life, as one of the greatest ob- stacles to the development of the three, by the illusion that each may have an independent existence and reach perfection in its development ; that we may have lan- guage without religion and nature (mathematics), etc. But as it was necessary that God, desiring to reveal himself unequivocally in the fullness and integrity of his being, should do so in the triune manner indicated (see § 61) ; so, too, religion, nature (mathematics), and lan- guage constitute an integral unity. A complete knowl- edge and firm confidence in the one necessarily implies complete knowledge and firm confidence in the other ; a true study of the one necessarily implies also the true study of the other. E^ow, since man is destined to know and to see clearly (see § 78), human education requires the knowl- edge and appreciation of religion, nature (mathematics), and language in their intimate living reciprocity and mutual causality. Without the knowledge and appreci- ation of the intimate unity of the three, the school and we ourselves are lost in the fallacies of bottomless, self- producing diversity Such is the nature of language and its relation to man and his education. We shall now inquire how lano:ua2:e itself manifests and corroborates this in its structure. § 78. In general, language is the self -active outward CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 211 expression of the inner. This is shown in the word sprecheU:^ s-prechen ^ — i. e., to break one's self. As the breaking of a thing makes known its inner structure, as the opening (breaking-up) of a bud reveals the inner structure of the blossom, so the speaker self-activelj re- veals, expresses what is within him. Now, the innermost (soul) of man is constantly m.ov- ing life, therefore the attributes and phenomena of life must be revealed in human speech. Hence, perfect human language, as a continuous representative of the innermost soul of man, must manifest itself through the most mobile medium and by the slightest movements ; it necessarily must be audible. A man's speech should be, as it were, his self in its integrity, and that it may reveal him all-sidedly and continuously in greatest mobihty. It will, then, inas- much as man is a product of nature, reveal also the character of nature as a whole. It will become an image of man's inner and outer world. IRow, the soul of man, like the soul of nature, is law, necessity, spiritual, eternal — the Divine revealing itself in the external and through the external. There- fore, language must reveal this law in and through it- self ; it must be the expression of necessary conformity to law. All the laws of the inner and outer world, col- lectively and singly, must be revealed in language, must lie in language itself. * In this case Froebel's play on the word comes nearer to truth. SprecJun^ by the loss of r becomes in English speak^ and is traceable to a root which sicrnifies to break, to split, to scatter, etc. He looks here upon e-prechen as Sich breohen, to break one's self which, however, belongs to another root — Tr. 212 THE EDUCATION OF MAN". § 79. Language, like mathematics, lias two sides ; it belongs both to the inner and to the outer world. Language as evolved from man proceeds, therefore^ directly from the human mind ; it is the expression of the human mind, as nature is the expression of the divine mind. The question whether language be a simple product of the mind or an imitation of nature is due to the adaptation of language to both views, an adaptation due to the fact that in all things the same Divine Spirit, the same spiritual, divine laws operate ; to the fact that the spirit of nature and that of man are one^ that they have the same source, which is God. As language is an expression of man and nature, and therefore of the Spirit of God, it implies, too, a knowl- edge of nature and of man, and therefore a revelation of God. Viewed in the light of the study of nature, language is an expression of energy lifted into life ; viewed in the light of the study of man, it is the expression of the human mind Hfted into consciousness. Language, there- fore, must be born as the spirit of man enters conscious- ness, and is inseparably one with this spirit. The mediatory character of language implies both physical and mathematical attributes, attributes of life and of motion. Hence, in its ultimate word-elements — • in its vowels, semi-vowels, and consonants, and in the letters that represent these — language expresses the fundamental attributes and relations of the natural as well as the operations of the spiritual. However imperfect and fi-agmentary our objective knowledge of language may be, it clearly reveals the CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 213 inner life that pervades language in its minutest libers, and renders it a complete organism. In spite of this imperfection and fragmentariness of our experiments and knowledge, however, we can not repress the con- viction, corroborated at every step, that in every lan- guage — primarily in our mother-tongue (German) — the sound and letters in their combinations express definite and fixed mathematical, physical, physio-psychical laws, resting on inner necessity ; that the rej^resentation of an object, viewed from a certain standpoint, by a word, necessarily demands certain sounds and letters and no others, so that each word is the necessary product of certain word-elements, just as each material chemical product is tlie result of the combination of certain de- terminate elementary substances. In other words, the word-elements in their various combinations represent, as in a picture, the natural ob- jects, the forms of the mind and their relations in ac- cordance with their innermost nature and the personal or national view of them. Only a moderate attention to the conformity to law, manifest everywhere in the natural and spiritual, physi- cal and psychical w^orld, forces upon us this conformity to law in the formation of the words of our language. The inner conformity to law and, as it were, the vitality primarily of our German language admit of no doubt in him who is himself animated by its inner life and unity, although little can be definitely said about this, particularly in the dull forms of written language. Well might this deter us from asserting this con- formity to law^ in language, but we are here in the pre- dicament of the musical amateur deficient in musical 16 214 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. culture. Although he knows and can say but little con- cerning musical laws, and still less compose anything in accordance with these laws, he sees necessity and con> formity to law at every step of a great musical produc- tion in spite of all its apparent freedom. Even one wholly without musical culture who may hear that music is rejoiced by it, although he has not the slightest notion of the law, and can hold fast only the coarse rhythmic phases, at best. Similarly we may say of forms, colors, materials, and forces, that w^e are surrounded by their diversity and their various effects on us and others, without any notion or knowledge of their inner unity and conformity to law ; but our inability to know and see them does not affect the existence of these laws. The same is true of our mother-tongue and the more subtle laws of word-structure. It is true of our mother-tongue, because we speak it from the first dawn of self-consciousness. Therefore, it seems to us a mere heap of sounds, or, at best, with reference to its visible individual words and roots, a collection of motley stones and beautiful flowers from which we can make bouquets and a variety of jewels. The words, in their first be- ginnings, their so-called roots, seem to be adventitious material not subject to higher causes of production. But as an organized musical whole proceeds from elementary sounds, as an organized material whole pro- ceeds from elementary substances, and as shapes pro- ceed from elementary directions of forces, so in lan- guage the words as images of objects and as expressions of ideas are organized wholes proceeding from simpler elements. CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 215 The elements of words (visibly, the letters) are, therefore, by no means without life, forming words by arbitrary or accidental contiguity; but they designate originally and necessarily elementary notions, having mathematical, physical, and psychical phases ; they have a meaning, and in the formation of w^ords they obey necessary laws of co-ordination. Every object, attribute, relation, etc., appears as an organized concept, the prod- uct of certain elementary notions by whose intimate mutual union the word is formed. {Translator's Synopsis, — Here follow in Froebel's book a number of more or less fanciful illustrations of the operation of this law, all taken from the Ger- man language. Even in the German language, how- ever, the operation of the law is nearly concealed or obliterated by other influences, and complicated by dif- ferences in " points of view " that may have prevailed among different tribes in the formation of different words for different ideas. In the English language these disturbing influences are notoriously much great- er, so that it would be difficult to render Froebel's illustrations intelligible to the English reader in all their details. This is particularly true of illustrations in which vowel-sounds are concerned, whose mobility renders them peculiarly sensitive to every influence or change of condition, however minute. For these reasons, I content myself with merely in- dicating Froebel's method of illustration, with the help of a few instances in which the Saxon forms of Enghsh are sufficiently like the German to render this possible. I feel that I am the more justified in this as Froebel, too, confines himself to a series of illustrations^ and does 216 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. not give a systematic presentation of the whole of this interesting study. Collating words such as fresh^ fi'^^-> frolic^ freaky fruity friend^ fry^ and again, ^ knowledge of every thing, of its pui-pose and properties, is found most clearly and distinctly in its local conditions and in its relations to surrounding ob- jects. Therefore, the pupil will get the clearest insight into the character of things, of nature and surround- ings, if he sees and studies ^liem in their natural con- nection. Again, the boy will, of course, see most clearly and appreciate most fully the conditions and relations of objects that are in closest and most constant connection with him, that owe their being to him, or at least have in their being some reference to him. These are the things of his nearest surroundings — the tilings of the sitting-room, the house, the garden, the farm, the vil- lage (or city), the meadow, the field, the forest, the plain. The sitting-room, then, furnishes the starting- point for this orderly study of nature and surroundings, 252 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. which thus proceeds from the near and known to the less near and less known, and becomes for the purpose of orderly classification and subdivision a real subject of school instruction. The course is as follows. Instruction begins again with the necessary indication of the object. Thus, point- ing to the table, " What is this ? " Tlien, pointing to the chair, " What is this 1 " etc. Then the question comprehending all, " What do you see in the school- room ? " " The table, the chair, the bench, the window," etc. The teacher writes on a slate the names of the objects which one or several have named, and requests the pupils to repeat the names in chorus. Again the teacher asks : " Are the table and the chair in the same relation to the school-room as the door and the win- dow ? " "Yes— no." "Why yes — why no? What are the door and the window with regard to the room ? " " They are parts of the room." " Name all the things which you think are parts of the room." " Walls, ceil- ing, floor, etc. — all these are parts of the room." "As the door, the window, etc., are parts of the room, so the room is a part of some greater whole." " Yes, of the house." " What other parts has the house ? " " The hall-way, the sitting-room, the bed- room, kitchen, etc., are parts of the house." It is quite desirable, for the training of perception and language, that the pupils should together repeat the answers in proper form. " Again, have all houses the same parts as this house?" "No." " What parts which other houses have not do you find in this house ? What parts do you find in other houses, but not in this house? What deter- THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 253 mines the importance of tlie parts and rooms of a liouse ? " " The use and purpose of the house." " What are the most important parts of a complete dwelling- house ? " " Besides the objects that are parts of this room, jou named some that are not parts, but which jou see in the room ; name some of them again." " Chairs, tables, flower-pots, books, etc." " Do chairs, tables, etc., stand in the same relation to the room as flower-pots, books, etc.?" ''No." "Why not?" "Chairs, tables, etc., are necessary to the room. Objects that are necessary to a room make up the furniture of the room." " Name all things which you know to belong to the furniture of a room. Has each of the other rooms of the house its particular kinds of furniture ? " " Yes, the kitchen, the bed-room, etc." " What things belong to the kitch- en, the bed-room, etc. ? " " These things are called kitchen-utensils, etc." " Are there in the house things that do not belong to a particular room?" "Yes" (naming some). "All things that belong to the house are the house-furniture. Name all things you know as house-furniture." " The house has its definite parts, or rooms. Now, is the house again a part of a greater whole ? " " Yes ; the homestead (the premises)." "What things are parts of the homestead ? " " The court-yard, the garden, the dwelling-house, the barn, the stable, etc." " The movable objects which belong in the court-yard are the furniture (implements) of the yard. All movable objects that belong in the garden are garden-implements," etc. " As the house is a part of the homestead, so is the homestead a part of a greater whole ? " " Yes ; of the 254 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. village." " What things make up the village ? " " Houses, barns, gardens, homesteads, churches, schools, etc." " What kinds of houses do you find ? " " Farm-houses, shops, stores, etc." " What belongs in a shop ? What belongs in the church ? What is around the village ? " " The township." '' What have you seen in the town- ship ? " " Mountains, valleys, roads, etc." From this point the study of the earth's surface (geography) becomes an independent subject of in- struction. The study of surroundings has this peculiarity that all the studies of particular things or classes of things branch out from it at certain necessary places, like the buds on the boughs of a tree. This will be seen again and again in a natural and rational course of instruc- tion. In general, the proper place for beginning with a new, distinct subject of instruction, is necessarily and regularly determined like the ramification of sym- metrically organized plants. It is true that the indications for this, like the be- ginnings of a new bud, are often very indistinct. Fre- quently they manifest themselves only in the mind and soul of the teacher who gives himself up thoughtfully to the requirements and relationships of the subject; or who is so full of the subject that he sees its require- ments intuitively, as it were. If the moment of the natural budding of the new subject of instruction has been missed, every later eilort arbitrarily to introduce the subject lacks life ; and, although the subject may be necessary, it will always seem extraneous, dead, and will continue to behave as such. THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 255 Every teacher wlio in true love and fidelity seeks a truly natural and rational instruction must have felt this often and painfully when, in foolish subjection to rule and custom, or in ignorance or dullness, he has missed this moment of new budding. He will labor without success ; the connections of his course of in- struction will be like those of a limber-jack ; his in- struction will be empty and dull, like the noise of a toy mill. Therefore, for the purposes of a living, life-giving, and life-stirring instruction, it is most important to note the moment, the proper place, for the introduction of a new branch of instruction. The distinctive character of a natural and rational life-stirring and developing system of instruction lies in the finding and fixing of this point. For, when it is truly found, the subject of instruction grows independently in accordance with its own living law, and truly teaches the teacher himself. Therefore, the w^hole attention of the teacher must be directed to these budding-points of new branches of instruction. To neglect this will, in its consequences, lead to an unnatural and incoherent course of instruc- tion (see §§ 81, 82). After this digression we return to the course to be pursued in the observation of the external world. " In the surrounding country you see trees, steeples, rocks, springs,, walls, forests, villages, etc. Consider again these and all other things you can see, and tell me if each one is the only thing of its kind, or if several may be classified together as being similar.'' " Several things may be classified together as being similar." 256 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. " Name several objects whicli you can thus classify to- gether." "If you go on comparing these things with each other, do you find an important difference between them ? " " Yes ; some things grow in nature (natu- rally) ; others are made by men. The former are nat- ural objects, the work of nature ; the latter, artificial objects, the works of man." "Name several natural objects that you know." " Trees, fields, grass, etc." " Name also several artificial objects that you know." " Walls, hedges, roads, etc." " Are fields and meadows purely artificial ? " " Yes — no." " Why ? Are hedges, vineyards, etc., purely artificial ? " " No." " Why not ? " " Such things we may call natural and artificial objects (works of nature and of man)." "Name several such objects in your surroundings." (To be followed by repetition in concert, as usual.) "Name several natural objects in your surroundr ings, examine them more closely, compare them with one another, and see if you can find other great differ- ences by which you can classify them — e. g., tree, rock, stone, river, bird, oak, stag, pine-tree, thunder, light- ning, air, etc." " There are differeiices among them by which they can be classified." "What are they?" "The bird, the stag, etc., are animals; the oak, the pine, etc., are plants ; the stone, air, etc., are minerals ; thunder, lightning, etc., are natural phenomena." " Name all the animals you know ; all the plants, etc." Then follow observations of animals with reference to the locality they inhabit ; yielding classes of domes- tic animals, animals of the field, of the woods ; terres- trial, aquatic, amphibious, aerial animals. THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 257 Similarly, plants are considered and classified as house -plants, hot -house plants, garden - plants, marsh- plants, parasites, etc. ; then follow minerals, though these yield few points for comparison ; and, lastly, the various natural phenomena are arranged as terrestrial, aerial, aquatic, and igneous phenomena. Subsequently it is found that, because of the locality they inhabit, natural objects are near or more or less remote with respect to man ; and the question is raised concerning the influence of this nearness or remoteness on their mode of life, their behavior, or their qualities. It is found that the nearer natural objects, exposed to the influence of man, are weaker, more sensitive, need- ing care, more docile, etc. ; indeed, more tantie^ and that the remoter objects are more crude, more wild. Tame and wild animals are then named. The tame animals may be classified with reference to their uses as beasts of burden, of draught, etc. Wild animals, too, may be considered as useful or noxious. Similarly, plants are studied; and even with minerals this may be done. Again, natural objects may be considered with refer- ence to the time of their appearance ; yielding ideas of winter and summer fruit ; spring, summer, and fall flowers, etc. The swallow is recognized as a summer bird, the lark as a spring bird, etc. With reference to time and place combined, we may consider the animals, particularly the birds, learning to distinguish these as migratory and resident birds. Of great importance in the consideration of animals is their mode of life, yielding ideas of carnivorous, herbivorous, etc., animals. 258 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. Here follows directly, as a new, distinct branch of instruction, the study of natural history^ first in its more descriptive, then in its anatomical and physiolog- ical features. Similarly, at an earlier period, the con- sideration of natural phenomena depending on the operation of physical forces pointed to physics as a new branch of instruction ; this is indicated, too, in the study of minerals. The consideration of the animals affecting man most nearly through use and injury furnishes the transition from the general observation of nature to physics and natural history. There follows now the distinction between viviparous and oviparous animals— between the oviparous that hatch their eggs, and those that leave the hatching of their eggs to the sun, etc. Physics and natural history, subsequently, are con- cerned primarily with external differences and resem- blances, their conditions and causes, their effects and consequences, and, particularly, with the consequent logical grouping of similar natural objects ; with the study of those external properties in which the inner nature of the object finds its most unequivocal and characteristic external expression. In thus ascending from the particular to the general, and then descending again from the general to the par- ticular, in this fluctuation of the instruction — more par- ticularly in the observation of the outer world — the course of instruction resembles life closely ; and it be- comes possible to exhaust the limits of knowledge with reference to each subject for each successive stage of mental development and power. THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 259 Up to this point natural objects have been studied with reference to all obvious, external characteristics of time, place, mode of life, etc. Now the works of man (artificial objects) are to be subjected to a similar exter- nal scrutiny. [The pupil ^ is requested to enumerate the works of man in the surrounding district (the house, the village, the road, the bridge, the wall, the plow, etc.) ; he finds their differences in origin, material, use, and purpose ; he finds those that give him shelter, those that serve as implements, those that facilitate intercourse, those that give pleasure, and those that are simply the products of human skill and thought. He finds the characteristics of villages and cities ; of the different private, industrial, and public buildings of a city ; of workshops, factories, stores, and magazines ; of the different kinds of workshops, etc. He studies each workshop and factory with reference to its particu- lar tools and purposes. He distinguishes among the various kinds of stores by their contents: those that keep food-products, sold chiefly by weight ; those that keep artificial pro- ducts (dry-goods), sold chiefly by measures of length, etc. The public buildings, too, are distinguished and grouped by their purposes and uses, as educational, de- votional, charitable, etc. * The matter included in brackets [— ] is a full synopsis of the sub- jects presented in quasi-catechetical style, as in the outset of this section. 260 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. Subsequently, tlie pupil ascends in his study from the work to the workman, from the product to the pro- ducer, from the effect to the cause, therefore from human works to man (as from the study of nature he ascended to her creator, to God). He iinds the names of the workmen in different kinds of workshops (carpen- ters, etc.), and classifies these workmen in accordance with the character of the place in which they work, the material on which they work, and the kind of work they do. He then learns to classify the various products of human activity in accordance with certain internal characteristics, such as the material of which they are made (stone, earthenware, wood, etc.), the use to which they are put, etc. Similarly the uses of public buildings are considered (of the court-house, the school-house, the church, etc.), as well as the official names of the persons who are oc- cupied in these buildings. Cities are then classified. Other occupations of men (hunters, fishermen, etc.) are considered. At last, questions are asked concerning the common features and the ultimate aim of all human work ; and it is found that all men live together, grouped in a com- mon relationship, that of the family.] '^ Since * all men live and have lived in families, and since the highest and ultimate aim of all men is the clearest consciousness of and purest representation of their God-given nature, where can all men be most * On account of the great importance of the family in Froebel's view of education, I here give his complete catechism of this phase. — Tr. THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 201 surely aad effectively prepared and developed for the attainment of this aim T' ''In the family." "What are the external conditions of a family, and who are its most important members ? " " Father, mother, chil- dren and servants." " What now must be the condi- tion of a family, if it is to prepare and develop the human being for the attainment of the highest and ultimate purpose of life ? " " They must know this ul- timate purpose and the means for its attainment ; they must be agreed concerning the ways and means to be adopted ; they must aid and support each other in all they do, having only this purpose in view." " If a single family should fulfill these conditions, would it thereby be enabled to attain the purpose of man in and through itself ? " " No." " Why not ? " " Because a single family can not possess all the means for this pur- pose." " How, then, can the ultimate purpose of man be attained more easily and surely ? " " When several families, who appreciate the highest purpose of man and who agree concerning the means for its attainment, unite for the sake of aiding and supporting one an- other in this work." " Only humanity as a whole, as a unit, can fully attain the highest and ultimate pur- pose of human striving, the representation of pure hu- manity." Thus the pupil in a great meandering circuit has re- turned to the home from which he started ou his explor- ings of nature and the outer world, has returned to the center of all earthly human endeavor ; but with en- larged and keener powers of observation, although the objects of the outer world have been brought to his notice only in their external phases of being. He has 19 2G2 TUE EDUCATION OF MAN. found man in his various relations to the things of the outer world ; he has found himself. This subject of instruction, as the first one, has been presented in a detailed and suggestive manner, in order to emphasize how all instruction should start from the pupil and his nearest surroundings, and should again return to him. It is scarcely necessary to say that the last of the above answers neither can nor should be given by the pupil in their completeness and connection, even though he may have grown in years ; but the thoughts which they contain should be awakened in the pupil, and for this he is sufficiently developed even at a comparatively low stage of judgment. Nor is it necessary to say that, because instruction is to be connected wholly with the boy's locality, in par- ticular applications all things are to be excluded that lie beyond his circle of experience. It was the intention merely to show how the study of nature and the outer world, in accordance with a law and development of its own, embraces in one unbroken unity all that nature and the outer world may bring to the notice of the student. Yet these considerations will present themselves, for in- stance, in the study of commerce and of the higher mental activities of man, as well as of all the various pursuits of man ; and the more obscure and the rarer they are, the more is it desirable to hold them fast in order to reach with their aid higher and more remote developments. For who can fail to see that the con- tinual extension of, at least, external culture brings to the notice of the inhabitants of even the most secluded THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 263 spots ever new things, and that the knowledge and con- trol of more remote and higher relations of life are becoming more and more what thej ought to be — a task for mankind as a whole. Again, it w^as not deemed necessary to indicate for the thoughtful reader — and only thoughtful persons ought to teach — the various budding-points for each new branch of instruction : e. g., for physics, in the con- sideration of natural phenomena resulting from the ob- vious activity of inner forces ; and for chemistry, in the consideration of other natural phenomena in which the qualities of material were changed through the influence of certain natural energies, such as light or heat, as in the discoloring of leaves in fall, decay, etc. In general, it is best that the teacher should find these points himself ; his knowledge will then be more vivid and his instruction will gain in interest. And why should not every thoughtful teacher find the right way in himself, if only he gives himself up in faithful obedience, and without conceit and distrust, to the guidance of the spirit cf his work. In all human beings there lives and acts the one divine spirit; therefore, even the most experienced teacher, when he teaches again even the simplest thing, will learn again — will, teaching, learn again — (at least, this is the experience of the writer to this day). How else could the teacher maintain his energy and courage, which are lost so easily through the hinderances and difii- culties that arbitrary ignorance and prejudice oppose to his work ? Hence, it is well to meet at once the objection that it is foolish to expect a boy — particularly between the 264 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. ages of six and eight, as here indicated — to have this de- tailed knowledge of things which even adults scarcely possess. It is not the intention that he should possess it, hut it should gradually come to him in the course of the instruction ; and it will surely so come to him, as re- peated experience with the course here indicated has abundantly shown. At the same time, it arouses in the pupil such a keenness of observation that scarcely any- thing of importance in the objects around will escape him, and he will readily find the proofs of the teach- ings of earlier lessons. Thus, the young human being learns at an early period to observe and to thinlc. Be- sides, boys (human beings) know more than they are clearly conscious of. It might yet be objected that such a course leads the boy too soon out of his naturally narrow limits, and might render him proud of his varied knowl- edge. Varied knowledge in necessary living connection never makes one proud, but causes man to reflect, and teaches him how little he really knows ; thus he is lifted in his humanity and adorned with that most precious jewel, modesty. But it is impossible to meet all the objections that have been or might be made. Therefore, we leave the course to the consideration of the reader, though much might yet be said of its importance. Kightly under- stood and handled, it may be used in the least favored schools ; for it places man at an early period in the cen- ter of all and in inner connection with all that is offered to man for his external study. Thus he is led to reflect, THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 265 and gains an insight into the character, origin, and pur- pose of all things. This, and the proper use of this, is the ultimate aim of all instruction, whatever its name. D. MEMORIZING OF SHORT POETICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF NATURE AND LIFE, PARTICULARLY B^OR PURPOSES OF SONG. § 92. Nature and life, in their phenomena, speak to man at a very early period ; but they speak in tones so low that the still undeveloped sense of the boy, the still untrained ear of man at this stage of development, while hearing these tones, can not interpret them and translate them into its own language. Yet, soon after the first dawn of the consciousness of self as distinct from the outer world, there are aroused in man the longing to understand life and language of the external world, particularly of nature, and the hope that he wdll one day receive into himself and make his own the life that confronts him on every side. The seasons come and go as regularly as the times of the day : Spring, with its tide of new growth and wealth of blossoms, tills man (even in boyhood) with gladness and new life ; the blood flows faster and the heart beats louder. Autumn, with its falling brilliant and fragrant leaves, fills man (even as boy) with a sense of longing and hope. And rigid but clear and steady winter awakens courage and vigor ; and these feelings of cour- age, vigor, perseverance, and renunciation fill the boy's soul with a sense of freedom and joy. Therefore, the joy with which he greets the first flowers and birds of spring is scarcely as jubilant as that with which he hails the first snowflakes that promise to his vigor and 266 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. courage a smooth, quick road on which to fly to the dis- tant goal.* All these things are presentiments of later life — hieroglyphics of a still-life slumbering as yet in the soul ; rightly understood, they are angels that guide man through life. Therefore, man should not lose them ; they should not vanish in empty vapor and mist. What, indeed, is there in our life, if childhood and youth were poor and empty, void of vigorous, living forms, of the sense of longing, hope, and faith that lifts life, deprived of the sense and consciousness of our nobler self ? Are not childhood and youth, are not the longings, the hope and faith of childhood and youth, the exhaustless fountains of strength, courage, and per- severance in later life? Do not the words, "The heavens declare the glory of God," etc., and " Elessed is he who fears the Lord," etc., express the funda- mental thought of the psalmist's life, in spite of all his errors ? Even though this was not expressed in words in his earliest life, it yet appears from his later life that it moved and lived in him even in his earliest life. And did not the first of these psalms mirror his observation of nature, and the second his observation of life ? Was not this, too, the fundamental thought in the life of the Saviour ? Witness his sayings : " Consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. God clothes and feeds them ; how much more will he care for man, his child, in all the events of life ? " and " I must be about my Father's business ! " Are not both * A reference to skating and coasting, the boj's delight in winter. — Tr. THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 207 6f these based upon a thoughtful observation of nature and life ? However, not only do nature and life speak to man, but man, too, would express the thoughts and feelings that are awakened in him, and for which he can not find words ; and these should be given him in accord- ance with the requirements of his soul-development. The relation between man and man is neither as superficial as some people suppose nor as readily com- municable in its inwardness as others think. It is, in- deed, of deep meaning and high significance ; but its soft chords must be early cared for in the boy, though rather more indirectly and by reflection than directly in argument and precept. The direct precept fetters, hinders, represses ; it drills the child and makes a pup- pet of him. The indirect suggestion — e. g., in the mir- ror of a song without moralizing applications — gives to the soul and will of the boy inner freedom, which is so necessary for his development and growth ; only, here again, the outer and inner life of the boy — and this is the first and indispensable requisite — must be in full accord with it. The more rarely and vaguely this may appear in life, the more it should be fostered wherever it is pos- sible to do so. Even instruction that scarcely touches life — even the school, generally quite distinct from life — should foster it. Let us enter a school-room — a school-room where instruction in this sense and spirit has just begun. Twelve or more lively boys, six to nine years old, are assembled. They know that to-day again they are to 2G8 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. have the pleasure of singing under the guidance of their teacher. In proper order thej await the beginning of the instruction, of the lesson, as they call it. The teach- er had been called away in the afternoon ; it is evening. He enters, and greets them repeatedly in song : fe=, m Good even - mg. This song-greeting comes unexpectedly so near their inner life that it fills them with pleasure, joy, and mer- riment. Then the teacher says : '^ Shall I have no answer? " and sings again the same greeting. Most of them an- swer in spoken words, " Good evening " ; some say, " Thanks " ; a few say, in a more singing tone, " Good evening." These the teacher now addresses particularly, saying, " Sing the ' Good evening ' to me." Softly one sings, 5 -li-^- Good even - ing. A second one, full of merriment, 3^E^ Good even A third, mg. ZitZfiJlZIZZ ^J? 1 Good even mg. THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 269 Others wliom the teacher addresses sing in about the same tone after him, " Good evening." Then he sings to all as the hrst, second, etc., had answered, and has all to repeat these strains after him. He then continues recitativelj, as it were : i Bleak and win - try is the sky. " Is this true ? " he asks. '' Well, then, let us sing it all together." Again he continues : i --1 ^ -jt=* 1 Winds whis - tie through the tree - tops. " Is this, also, true ? Well, then, let us sing this to- gether." Then one who feels and can express the truth of these words most fully, sings it alone. Following the feelings awakened bj the season, and expressing them in the description of the natural phe- nomena, the instruction proceeds in antiphonic song. The instruction is to develop ear and voice simulta- neously ; it is to express the feeling in word and sound. If on the next day the external circumstances are simi- lar to those of to-day, instruction again begins and con- tinues similarly. At last, a lively boy, having sung the same thing again and again, asks: ''May we not soon have a song about the sunshine ? " This question ex- presses the boy's inner wish that the sun might shine again after the long- continued rain and fog and blus- 270 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. tering wind. The teacher, responding to this feeling, sings to the bo j : Sunshine, laughing, sparkling, bright; Sunshine, laugh a-way the night. Full of joy, all the boys repeat it together. These first lessons have been selected here, because their topic is by no means the most favorable. Bleak, chilly fall-days, a wet and cold evening, do not call forth the inner life. The morning, the spring, a walk on a beautiful spring day, a cozy place on the slope of a hill, etc., would have been better fitted to arouse inner life. However, the boys whose expectation has been stimulated by this instruction surely will welcome only the more joyously the first clear day, revealing th^ fields clothed in their dress of snow, or the first clear, serene moonlit and starlit evening. Only the more fer^ vently and feelingly will they sing to the new spring : Welcome to the warm blue sky, Welcome to the blossoms gay, Welcome grass and herbs and leaves. Decking fields and groves for May. or some other suitable spring song. There are many well-known good collections of songs and small poems from which selections may be made by a teacher living in his work and filled with a sense of its worth. If these are not sufliciently simple and impressive in de- scription or representation of particular sentiments or thoughts, an attentive, thoughtful teacher can easily in- THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 271 terpret the thoughts and feelings of the boys as well as the phases of nature in living, fitting words. [Here follow a few quotations of songs referring to a number of varied relationships : songs in which the children view their own life (Oh, how great is our pleasure. When together we play, When alone without playmates. We are never so gay) ; songs in which indi- vidual life is pictured (Come, little dove, and get your food. The corn in my hand is sweet and good) ; songs that symbolize the life of animals (songs of birds and bees, illustrating affection and industry) ; songs concern- ing the relations of human beings to one another (songs of mother-love, of trades, of helpfulness and sym- pathy) ; etc.] We should not forget, however, that this instruction — if, in view of its representing the child's own life, it may be called instruction— should start from the pupil's own life, and proceed from it like a bud or sprout. The boy should have the feeling, the inner life, before he receives the words or melodies. This is the essential difference between the instruction suggested here and that in which children learn mechanically small songs and poems coming wholly from without, neither arous- ing life nor representing it. In general, indeed, all that was said concerning the memorizing of religious maxims — particularly at the outset — is true here. [Like other material of instruction, songs should not at these early periods be learned for their own sake. They should come as the quasi-spontaneous expression of certain emotional conditions, as language expresses spontaneously certain intellectual states. The teacher should bring the song at the right time as her own way of 272 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. expressing delight or some other feeling, should sing it to enliven the game or the work, or after a suitable story. In this way the interest of the majority of the children would be enlisted ; they would get the spirit of the song, and would be able to repeat or use much, pos- sibly all, of it after the very first time. Of course, much depends on the character of the song and its adaptation to the child's wants. Much hinderance, too, comes from tlie excessive use of the piano. This instrument should not be used until the children thoroughly possess the song, so that the instru- ment may accompany them instead of teaching them. Because of the unavoidable inaccuracies of its intervals it is a poor teacher, but by good tempering it may be made a helpful accompanist. The words of the song should be neither too puerile, as in " Little Bo Peep," nor beyond the child's comprehension ; the pitch of the melodies should be neither too high nor, particularly, too low. The singing of scales and interval exercises should be relegated to later periods. Even, with the help of colors, these exercises are unsuitable for earlier periods, inasmuch as they give too much prominence to singing as a branch of instruction. — Tr.] E. LANGUAGE-EXERCISES, BASED ON THE OBSERVATION OF NATURE AND SURROUNDIxVGS. § 93. The observation of nature and surroundings considers things merely as such with reference to their individual peculiarities and their general, more particu- larly local, relations. Language, as a means of observa- tion, plays a subordinate part in this ; for man observes things and forms ideas concerning them without speak, i ing ; but in instruction language comes in as an auxil- i iary in order to furnish tests of the extent and accuracy of the pupil's observations. Now language-exercises, too, are connected with ob- jects, but they consider objects with reference to their impressions on the senses, and are chiefly concerned with the designations of these things in words. THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 273 Observation of nature and surroundings is con- cerned with the objects themselves, language-exercises chiefly with their representation m audible speech, and particularly with practice and skill in language as a means of representation, though in intimate connection with the objects themselves. The observation of nature and surroundings asks : " What is ? " Language-exer- cise asks : " How does language designate that wMch is?" While the observation of nature and surroundings considers only the object as such, language-exercises consider its effect on the senses of man and the proper designation of these impressions by words. This im- plies at once a third field of observation, the observation of language as such and without reference to the object designated, but only as a result of the use of the organs of speech. These are grammatical exercises, and are based directly on the language-exercises. Complete preparation for a thorough knowledge of language and thorough skill in its use implies, therefore, three things : First, the observation of the sensuous ob- jects of language — the observation of the outer world ; secondly, the observation of language and objects in connection with one another, passing from the outer to the inner world — exercises in language; lastly, observa- tion of language as such, without reference to the ob- jects designated — grammatical exercises. The course of instruction in the observation of sur- roundings has already been indicated. The course of instruction in language-exercises, based on sense-observa- tion and rising to inner perception, is the following : 271 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. The teacher begins : " We are in a room ; many things are around us; name some of these things?" '' Mirror, stove, book-case, etc." " Could we put other things into the room ? " " Yes." '' Could we put as many things into the room as we please ? " " No." a Why not ? " " Because there would not be room enough for them." "Why w^ould there not be room enough ? " " Because each thing takes up its own room." " Prove and illustrate that." " My hand can not be where my slate is. Where I write, my neighbor can not write at the same time. Where the stove stands, there is not room at the same time for the book- case." " What is meant, then, by saying that each thing takes up its own room 'i " "Where one thing is or acts, no other thing can be or act." " In what manner and by what means do you per- ceive the presence and actions of things in their places ? " " By my hands, ears, eyes, etc." " We call the organs by w^hich we perceive things our eyes, ears, hands, etc., and the activities by which we do this — hearing, seeing, touching, etc. — our senses. We per- ceive things, then, by our senses." " How do we recognize and perceive things? Name the senses by which we recognize and perceive an object and its actions. Can we say of every object that it does some- thing?" "Yes, and no." "Why? Name of every object around us something it does, and by which you notice it." " The mirror hangs, the sun shines, the scholar sits, etc." [Froebel here continues in the same strain to develop successively a number of related ideas, as indicated in the subjoined translator's synopsis : THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 275 First, tlie fact is brouglit out that these things are perceived by different senses — some chiefly by sight, others by hearing, etc. Particular attention is then paid to the sense of touch as perceiving that the inkstand stands, the slate lies, etc. ; and it is found that the same things may also be perceived by the sense of sight. Then objects are named which actually stand — the house stands, the pole stands, etc. ; others of which it is said that they stand (still) — the water stands (still), the sun stands (still), etc. Then objects are named that lie^ lean, hang, sit, etc., and others that are said to lie, lean, etc. It is found that all these activities have this in common, that they are only internal and without external motion. States of internal activity with external rest in man are then enumerated — man rests, sleeps, dreams, thinks, etc. ; objects that actually rest, sleep, etc. ; objects that show external and at the same time progressive motion — go, run, flow, fly, etc. ; objects with externally visible mo- tion without progression — heave, swell, boil, ripen, etc. ; objects with external progressive motion communicated to other objects — draw, ride, lift, etc. ; separating activi- ties — cut, break, etc. ; uniting activities — bind, weave, etc. ; formative activities — paint, write, etc. ; activities that can be seen only — shine, sparkle, etc. ; activities that can be felt only — hurt, heat, etc. ; that can be heard only ; general activities of nature — storm, rain, etc. ; ob- jects with chiefly inner mental activity — love, hate, etc. ; with reflexive activity — cut one's self, wash one's self, etc. ; activities exclusively belonging to man ; peculiar- ities of such activities. It is then found that objects impress the senses not only by activities, but also by certain qualities; it is 27C) THE EDUCATION OF MAN. found that the inkstand is round, the pencil long^ etc. ; many other actually round things are found ; things that are said to be round — round number, round answer, etc. ; the distinction between the roundness of the circle (circular) and that of the sphere (spherical) is made, and objects that have these shapes are named ; from these he proceeds to cylindrical, oval, elliptical, triangular, etc., and all these impressions are united as impressions of form or shape. Similarly, broad, narrow, thick, etc., are classed as impressions of size or extent ; others as impressions of number, surface impressions, material impressions (wooden, leaden, etc.), of cohesion (hard, solid, etc.), of light and color, of odor, etc.] The observation of surroundings has already shown clearly the budding-points for the development of phys- ics and chemistry as future distinct subjects of instruc- tion (see § 91). Language-exercises, based on the obser- vation of nature and surroundings, in considering the activities and impressions of objects, and their precise and accurate designation by words, must revert to phys- ics and chemistry. They will do this the more directly, the more exhaustively the conditions and causes of those activities and impressions which result from the effects of inner forces and constituent material have been studied and the more suitably they have been designated by language. Surely the physical and chemical sides of nature-study, so important for man, will strike their roots the deeper in the pupil's interest the more this in- struction has been exhaustive of essentials. Unquestionably these sides of nature- and language- study receive too little attention in ordinary life ; for this reason, and because they prepare for the study of THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 271 physics and chemistry, they should be specially consid- ered in this instruction, otherwise the future instruction in those sciences will have no basis ; it will not be a living branch sprouting forth spontaneously from the tree of human knowledge, but, at best, an ingrafted limb. Surely many whose senses and interest have not been awakened in these directions in boyhood, but who, nevertheless, at a later period took up these sciences, can corroborate this. On account of the importance of these studies, to which these language-exercises revert again and again, the subject is treated so much in its details. The boy is thereby placed in the very center of the surrounding external world, inasmuch as he studies things in the most varied relations to one another, to man, and to himself ; thus he finds not only himself, but establishes equilibrium and harmony between his inner mental cult- ure and the outer world of things. The study of number, form, and size — or mathe- matics — is a direct outcome of this instruction ; the budding-points (see § 91) for these are e\adent in what has been indicated heretofore. For the knowleds^e of number, form, and size — if at a later period they are to be effective and fruitful in life — must needs be based on the observation of actual space-relations. [Froebel then continues his suggestions concerning the course of language-lessons: "You said formerly, ' The bush is thorny,' etc." They are taught to render the same thoughts in the form : " The bush has thorns, the tree has leaves," etc. Then they name similar rela- tions in which " one thing has the other thing. Man has hands, the hands have fingers," etc. ; they name 20 278 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. things that have a skin, scales, feathers, etc. ; they are led to say where one thing has the other thing : '•' The tree has leaves on the branches," etc. ; they name things that are at rest in some way on another thing : " The pict- ure hangs on the wall," etc. ; other relations of position (at, over, under, between, etc.) are named and variously illustrated ; the name-relations of position in which one of the objects is in motion with reference to the other — the teacher comes to school, the bird flies on the tree, etc. ; the two relations are compared — the picture hangs on the wall, the picture is hung on the wall, etc. He concludes the paragraph in the following words :] The further presentation of this subject of instruc- tion must here be interrupted for want of space. Let me merely add that, in designating these relations in language, we should proceed from the simple to the complex, and conclude with a comprehensive description or narrative exposition of actual phenomena. F. EXERCISE IN SYSTEMATIC OUTWARD CORPOREAL REPRESENTATION, PROCEEDING FROM THE SIMPLE TO THE COMPLEX. § 94. Man is developed and cultured toward the fulfillment of his destiny and mission, and is to be valued, even in boyhood, not only by what he receives and ab- sorbs from without, but much more by what he puts out and unfolds from himself. Experience and history, too, teach that ,men truly and effectively promote human welfare much more by what they put forth from themselves than by what they may have acquired. Every one knows that those who truly teach, gain steadily in knowledge and insight; THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 279 similarlj, every one knows, for nature herself teaches this, that the use of a force enhances and intensifies the force. Again, to learn a thing in life and through do- ing is much more developing, cultivating, and strength- ening, than to learn it merely through the verbal com- munication of ideas. Similarly, plastic material rep- resentation in life and through doing, united with thought and speech, is by far more developing and cul- tivating than the merely verbal representation of ideas. Therefore, this subject of instruction necessarily follows the subjects just considered. The life of the boy has, indeed, no purpose but that of the outer representation of his self; his life is, in truth, but an external representation of his inner being, of his power, particularly in and through (plastic) ma- terial (see § 23, 49). In the forms he fashions he does not see outer forms which he is to take in and understand ; but he sees in them the expression of his spirit, of the laws and ac- tivities of his own mind. For the purpose of teaching and instruction is to bring ever more out of man rather than to put more and more into him ; for that which can get into man we already know and possess as the property of mankind, and every one, simply because he is a hu- man being, w^ill unfold and develop it out of himself in accordance with the laws of mankind. On the other hand, what yet is to come out of mankind, what human nature is yet to develop, that we do not yet know, that is not yet the property of mankind ; and, still, human nature, like the spirit of God, is ever unfolding its inner essence. 280 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. However clearly this might and should appear from the observation of our own and all other life, even the best among us, like plants near a calcareous spring, are so encrusted with extraneous prejudices and opinions, that only with greatest effort and self -constraint we give even limited heed to the better view. Let us confess at least that, when, with the best intentions toward our children, we speak of their development and education, we should rather say ^?^velopment and education ; that we should not even speak of culture which implies the development of the mind, of the will of man, but rather of stamping and molding, however proudly we may claim to have passed beyond these mind-killing practices. Those to whom we intrust our children for educa- tion may, therefore, well be full of anxiety. What" shall they do ? Jesus, whom we all from innermost conviction con- sider our highest ideal, says : " Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not : for of such is the kingdom of God." Is not the meaning of this: Forbid them not, for the life given them by their heavenly Father still lives in them in its original whole- ness — its free unfolding is still possible with them. Do we not in this, as in all that Jesus says, recognize the voice of God ? Whom, now, shall the educator obey, God or man ? And whom, if he could do so, shall he deceive, God or man ? God he can not deceive, and men he should not de- ceive. Therefore, he should obey God rather than men, and he should say distinctly that he means to obey God rather than men, and do so ; he should rather not educate at all than to educate badly and in wrong direc- THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 281 tions. For God, and not prejudiced man, gives the true educator his calling ; for only in all-sided, natural, and rational development of himself and his spiritual power man finds his welfare and the welfare of mankind, and everj other course hinders the true development of mankind. But just with respect to natural and rational all- sided development and representation of ourselves in external visible works, in external productive activity, our domestic education is most superficial and unsys- tematic ; therefore, domestic education is particularly in need of schooling — i. e., induction into a natural and rational system of procedure. The outer material representation of the spiritual in man must begin with efforts on his part to spiritualize the corporeal about him by giving it life and a spiritual relation and significance. This is indicated in the com'se of development of mankind itself : the corporeal material with which the representation of the spiritual is to begin must present and distinctly declare even in its external form the laws and conditions of inner development — it must be rectangular, cubical, beam-shaped, and brick-shaped. The formations made with this material are either external aggregations — constructive — or developnaents from Y^iihrnr—forTYiative. Building, aggregation, is first with the child, as it is first in the development of mankind, and in crystalli- zation. The importance of the vertical, the horizontal, and the rectangular is the first experience which the boy gathers from his building ; then follow equilibrium and 282 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. symmetry. Thus he ascends from the construction of the simplest wall with or without cement to the more com- plex and even to the invention of every architectural structure lying within the possibilities of the given material. Laying or arranging tablets beside one another on a plane has much less charm for the boy than placing or piling them on one another — a clear proof of the ten- dency of the mind for all-sided development, manifested in all his activities. The joining of lines seems to come still later. Thus, the course of human development and culture seems to free itself more and more from corporeality, to become more and more spiritualized ; drawing takes the place of the joining of concrete lines or splints ; painting, the place of tablet-work ; true modeling, the corporeal de- velopment from cubical forms, the place of corporeal building. In spite of this obvious, living, progressive develop- ment from the external and corporeal to the inner and spiritual, in spite of this continuous progression in the growth of human culture, some nevertheless are in- clined to doubt the utility of these exercises for children. And yet even these could not have reached the de- gree of general culture they enjoy, if Providence — rul- ing in secret — had not led them on this very way, either without their knowledge or through their own persever- ance against the opposition of their surroundings. Man should, at least mentally, repeat the achieve- ments of mankind, that they may not be to him empty, dead masses, that his judgment of them may not be ex- ternal and spiritless; he should mentally go over the THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 283 ways of mankind, that he may learn to understand them. Nevertheless some are inchned to consider these things useless in the boyhood of their children (see § 15). Perhaps, however, it is not necessary to go so far ; but yon do know that your sons need energy, judgment, perseverance, prudence, etc., and that these things are in- dispensable to them ; and all these things they are sure to get (in the course indicated), and by far more, for idle- ness, ennui, ignorance, brooding, are the most terrible of poisons to growing childhood and boyhood, and their opposites a panacea of mental and physical health, of domestic and civil welfare. The course of instruction here, too, determines itself, as it does, indeed, in all cases when we have found the true starting-point, when we have apprehended the sub- ject of instruction and grasped its purpose. The material for building in the beginning should consist of a number of wooden blocks, whose base is always one square inch and whose length varies from one to twelve inches. If, then, we take twelve pieces of each length, two sets — e. g., the pieces one and eleven, the pieces two and ten inches long, etc. — will always make up a layer an inch thick and covering one square foot of surface ; so that all the pieces, together with a few larger pieces, occupy a space of somewhat more than half a cubic foot. It is best to keep these in a box that has exactly these dimensions ; such a box may be used in many other ways in instruction, as will appear in the progress of the boy's development. The material next to this will consist of building- bricks of such dimensions that eight of them will form 284 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. a cube of two inclaes to the side. In the former set of blocks there was the same number of each kind and length. In this set, the greatest number of blocks — at least live hundred — are of the described brick-shape and size ; in addition there are successively smaller numbers of twice, thrice, to six times the length indicated, as well as some of half the length. The first thing the boy should learn is to distinguish, name, and classify the material according to size. Dur- ing the progress of building, too, it should always be carefully arranged according to size. In the next place, all that has been produced should be carefully and ac- curately described by the boy — e. g., I have built a ver- tical wall with vertical ends, a door, and two windows at equal distances ; the bricks are placed alternately, or so that in each upper row each brick rests on and covers the ends of two bricks below. Subsequently, a simple building with only one door may be put up ; then, the number of doors and windows is increased ; at last, partitions, another story, etc., are added. Similar considerations control the work with tablets, although the forms are more complicated. Still greater diversity is attainable with linear splints one half to five inches long, with special reference to writing, drawing, and building. Modeling with paper and paste-board has its peculiar progressive course. Still more profitable, but only for those who have attained a certain degree of mental power, is the model- ing of plastic soft material in accordance with the laws indicated by the cubical form. However, this, as well THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 285 as the free modeling of the same material, belongs to a later part of the period of boyhood. [In this and the succeeding paragraphs we have the first indica- tions of the sytem of gifts and occupations subsequently developed in Froebel's kindergarten. Even at the date of the publication of " Education of Man," Froebel appreciated the value of simple play- things, but, as the paragraphs here translated show, his ideas on the subject were still crude. Not before 1835, he gained from some children playing ball in a meadow near Burgdorf the inspiration that the hall is the simplest and as such should be made the first plaything of the little child. In 1836 he had reached the first five gifts, and even among these tho second gift lacked the cylinder, and the fifth gift 'Aionsistcd of twenty-seven entire cubes. The cylinder was added to the second gift, probably not before 1844, when the idea of the external mediation of contrasts in educational work was first clearly seen and formulated by him. In a weekly journal which Froebel began to publish in 1850, a System of Gifts and Occupa- tions, similar to the one now used in kindergartens, is described. These are arranged by Hanschmannin thirty-six gifts, by Marenholtz- Blilow in eleven gifts and eight occupations, with the promise of more for advanced work. A few modifications and additions have been made since Froebel's death. So far as they seem to be in ac- cordance with Froebel's thought, they have been embodied with the Synoptical Table given below. This table gives a concise desci-iption of each gift where this appeared desirable; and, in the first six gifts, a few words are added in brackets, [ ], designating in order the chief external (1) and internal (2) characteristic of the gift, and the essen- tial lesson (3) which the gift, could it speak, is meant to teach the child. SYNOPTICAL TABLE OF GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS. Gifts. A. Bodies (Solids). I. [Color (1) ;— Individuality (2).;—" We are here ! " (3).] Six colored worsted balls, about an inch and a half in diam- eter. — First Gift. II. [Shape (1) ; — Personality (2) ; — " We live ! " (3) .] Wooden ball, cylinder, and cube, one inch and a half in diameter. — Second Gift 286 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. III. [Number (divisibility) (1) :— Self-activity (2);— "Come, play with us (3)."] Eip:ht one-inch cubes, forming a two-inch cube (2 X 2 X 2).— Third Gift IV. [Extent (1) ; — Obedience (2); — "Study us!" (3).] Eight brick-shaped blocks (2 x 1 x -J), forming a two-inch cube. —Fourth Gift. V. [Symmetry (1) ;— Unity (2) ;— " How beautiful ! " (3) .] Twenty- seven one-inch cubes, three bisected and three quadrisected diagonally, forming a three-inch cube ( 3 x 3 x 3). — Fifth Gift. VI. [Proportion (1) ; — Free obedience (2) ; — " Be our master ! " (3).] Twenty-seven brick-shaped blocks, three bisected longitudinally and six bisected transversely, forming a three-inch cube. — Sixth Gift. B. Surfaces. — Wooden t&hi&t?,.— Seventh Gift. I. Squares (derived from the faces of the second or third gift cubes). 1. Fntire squares (one-and-a-half in. square or one-inch square). 2. Half squares (squares cut diagonally). II. Equilateral triangles (length of side, one inch, or one inch and a half). 1. Entire triangles. 2. Half triangles (the equilateral triangle is cut in the direction of the altitude, yielding right scalene tri- angles, acute angles of 60° and 30°). 3. Thirds of triangles (the equilateral triangle is cut from the center to the vertices, yielding obtuse isosceles triangles, angles 30° and 120°). C. Lm-ES.— Eighth Gift. 1. Straight. (Splints of various lengths.) II. Circular. (Metal or paper rings of various sizes ; whole cir- cles, half circles, and quadrants are used.) T>. Points. — Beans, lentils, or other seeds, leaves, pebbles, pieces of card-board or paper, etc. — Ni^ith Gift. E. Reconstruction. — (By analysis the " system " has descended from the solid to the point. This last gift enables the child to reconstruct the surface and solid synthetically from the point. It consists of softened pease or wax pellets and sharp- ened sticks or straws.) — Tenth Gift. THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 287 Occupations. A. Solids. (Plastic clay, card-board work, wood-carAing, etc.) B. Surfaces. (Paper-folding, paper-cutting, parquetry, painting, etc.) C. Lines. (Interlacing, intertwining, weaving, thread games, em- broidery, drawing, etc.) D. Points. (Stringing beads, buttons, etc. ; perforating, etc.) The distinction between the gifts and occupations, though never clearly formulated by Froebel, is very important. The gifts are in- tended to give the child from time to time new universal aspects of the external world, suited to a child's development. The occupations, on the other hand, furnish material for practice in certain phases of skill. Anything will do for an occupation, provided it is sufiiciently plastic and within the child's powers of control ; but the gift in form and material is determined by the cosmic phase to be brought to the child's apprehension, and by the condition of the child's development at the period for which the gift is intended. Thus, nothing but the First Gift can so effectively arouse in the child's mind the feeling and consciousness of a world of individual things: but there are numberless occupations that will enable the child to become skillful in the manipulation of surfaces. The gift gives the child a new cosmos, the occupation fixes the impressions made by the gift. The gift invites only arranging ac- tivities ; the occupation invites also controlling, modifying, trans- forming, creating activities. The gift leads to discovery ; the oc- cupation, to invention. The gift gives insight ; the occupation, power. The occupations are one-sided ; the gifts, many-sided, universal. The occupations touch only certain phases of being ; the gifts en- list the whole being of the child. Froebel has formulated four conditions which true gifts should satisfy : 1. They should, each in its time, fully represent the child's outer world, his macrocosm. 2. They should, each in its time, enable the child to give satis- factory expression in play to his inner world, his microcosm. 3. Each gift should, therefore, in itself represent a complete, orderly whole or unit. 288 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. 4. Each gift should contain all the preceding, and foreshadow all the succeeding gifts. In short, each gift should, in due time and in the widest sense, aid the child *' to make the external internal, the internal external, and to find the unity between the two." — Jr.] G. DRAWING IN THE NET-WORK, OR IN ACCORDANCE WITH OUTWARD LAW. § 95. However little we may appreciate the fact or be able to account for it, the horizontal and vertical directions mediate our apprehension of all forms. We refer, however "imconsciouslj, all forms to these direc- tions. In our imagination we constantly draw these lines across our field of vision ; we see and think accord- ing to these ; and thus there grows in our conscious- ness a net-work of lines keeping pace in clearness and distinctness with our consideration of the forms of things. Now form, and whatever may depend on form, reveals in various ways inner spiritual energy. To rec- ognize this inner energy is a part of man's destiny ; for thereby he learns to know himself, his relation to his surroundings, and, consequently, absolute being. It is, therefore, an essential part of human education to teach the human being, not only how to apprehend but also how to represent form ; and, inasmuch as the perpen- dicular relations (of the vertical and horizontal) aid the development of form-consciousness, the external repre- sentation of these relations as a means for the study and representation of form is based on the very nature of man and of the subject of instr action. Now, if the representation of the vertical and hori- THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 289 zontal directions is repeated at regular intervals, the re- sult is a network of equal squares. As an auxiliary form, the square very much facili- tates representations in the field of vision, particularly in enlarged and reduced scales. By this fact its use is still further justified. The use of the triangle as a help in the study and representation of form is derived, as will be seen in the course of the instruction, from the use of the square. In the use of the square, the amount of inclination (of a line) is determined by measurable relations to the sides, but in the use of the triangle it is determined directly by its measurable relation to the perpendicular. Both find then' apjDlication, and should be practiced in instruction, the latter, however, at a higher stage of de- velopment. Another necessary requisite of instruction is not only that the form should be represented with ease, but also that the representation should be easily erased. This is met by tlie slate and slate-pencil. This, then, implies as the first requisite in this instruction a slate ruled in a network of equal squares. The size of the squares, too, as will appear in the course of instruction, is by no means indifferent. If the distances between the lines are too small, the repre- sentations will appear trivial ; if the distances are too great, the representations will be too large for the pu- pil's power of simultaneous survey ; the distance of one- fourth inch is the best. The first business of this branch of instruction is to exercise the pupil with the help of this ruled slate in the clear representation and, consequently, perception of 290 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. tlie chief fundamental relations of form and extent. The course of instruction itself is connected with formei corporeal perceptions ; where the boy — as was shown particularly in the previous paragraph — learned to dis- tinguish different lengths. Thus, this branch of instruction, too, as w^ill be shown in the course of instruction to be sketched di- rectly, is connected with those previously considered : for, as has been said before, there should be no break anywhere in the instruction, nothing should stand de- tached and isolated ; but, like life itself, all things to- gether, in the living union of cause and effect, should constitute an inwardly connected whole. The course of instruction is as follows : In one of the grooved sides of one of the squares the teacher draws a line of the length of this side (one- fourth inch), and says as he draws the line : " I draw a vertical line.'" Then he asks the pupil : " What did I do ? " The pupil answers : " You have drawn a vertical line." " Draw now a row of such vertical lines across the slate." When this has been done to the teacher's satisfaction, he continues: "What have you done ? " "I have drawn many vertical lines," the pupil answers. When several ])upils are instructed simul- taneously, the teacher, after examining the work of each, may ask them in common : " What have you done?" "We have," etc. On account of their varied usefulness, these questions and answers should never be omitted in this branch of instruction ; for man is to translate the representation into word and thought, and interpret word and thought THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 291 in the representation — this essentially constitutes his humanity. [Froebel now continues similarly — drawing and ask- ing questions — with lines of two, three, four, and five times the length of the first, and then goes on :] By drawing the lines themselves in the network, the pupil strengthens and liberates his hand, as well as his powers of perception and representation. Since, for the purposes of perception and memory, the corrvparison of dissimilars is more profitable than that of similars, vertical lines of the difl'erent lengths are then drawn side by side with the customary comments and exercises. The instruction does not here pass beyond the five- fold length, because with the number ^v^ all subsequent numerical differences are at least indicated. In fact, these differences are indicated already in the numbers one, two, and three, inasmuch as these contain odd, even, square, and cubic numbers ; and nearly all these relations are repeated in the series one to five, and thus become sufficiently clear for the purposes of representa- tion. Besides, six is only three doubled or two trebled, and seven in this respect is similar to five ; so that these and all subsequent exercises do not go beyond five. In these comparative arrangements of lines, a num- ber of variations may be made to suit the needs particu- larly of weaker pupils. Thus, the lines may have their upper or lower ends l}ang in the same horizontal line ; in either case, the shortest or the longest line may be drawn first on the right or on the left. Such variations are quite useful, particularly where it is desirable to avoid ennui by presenting the same exercise under 292 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. different forms; yet their use should be left to the teacher. {Translator' s Synojpsis. — In a similar way the hori- zontal lines are worked through. Then vertical and horizontal lines are combined and compared ; for tliis purpose it is thought best to have the two kinds of lines meet in a point. These combinations may be made in different directions, as shown in these figures : | | I |. It is suggested that, in order to facilitate com- parison, the longer lines should always include the shorter ones, thus : r n Subsequently, the vertical and horizontal lines differ in length, one being made two, three, etc., times the length of the other ; or one half, one third, etc., of the other. Considerable stress is laid on this genetic differ- ence : when the shorter line is drawn first, the longer line appears as a multiple of the shorter; when the longer line is drawn first, the shorter appears as a part of the longer. These exercises are followed by the drawing of squares and oblongs. In the latter, the distinction be- tween "long" and "high" oblongs is emphasized; in THE SCnOOL AND THE FAMILY. 293 the former, tlie horizontal dimension is greater, in the latter, the vertical dimension is greater. Then follow exercises in the drawing of diagonals, the chief purpose of which is " the clear perception and accurate representation of the inclination." In the combinations, a number of characteristic terms help these developments. The diagonal of a square has the fall slant; that of an oblong, in which one side is one half the other, has the half slants etc. Slanting lines that are nearer the horizontal side of the oblong are said to be falling / others that approach more the vertical side are said to be rising. In the exercises, he begins with lines of full slant drawn outward from a common center in all directions, then inward toward a common center; then follow lines of half -slant, etc., and com- binations of these, exercises with the falling slant preceding those with the rising slant. At first the out- lines of the corresponding squares and oblongs may be drawn, but gradually these are omitted. Another im- portant differentiation lies in the radiation of the slant- ing lines from a common center, and their symmetrical grouping around a common center, which is the center of 2, figure inclosed by the slanting lines.] At this point we reach an entirely new stage of drawing, which indicates at the same time a new stage of development in the pupil — the stage of invention^ of the spontaneous representation of linear wholes with the help of all the lines lying within the law of the network. Invention is every spontaneous representation of the inner in and by the outer, adapting itself to given ex- ternal conditions, yet obeying an inner necessity easily recognized by the pupil himself. 21 294 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. The presentation of a course of study for the inven- tion of figures is reserved for the next scholastic stage. Similarly, the presentation of the variously developing influence of this instruction on true human culture must be reserved for the latter part of a presentation of in- struction in drawing as a whole. Only he who has used this course of instruction, not only with others but also with himself, can truly appre- ciate its nature and effect. Indeed, this is the case with every kind of instruction which aims deliberately to awaken energy and life and to give skill and dexterity of representation. For the purposes of self-development and of the development of others, at least in essentials, these indi- cations will, however, suffice, especially for him who follows the course step by step, applying it to himself, and who thus finds within himself its simple law. The use of this instruction would supply one of the greatest wants of our schools in town and country, and should be introduced in them all. Every intelligent person who looks into the matter will clearly see this ; for this instruction addresses itself equally to the senses, and through them to the power of thought, and to ex- ternal manual activity. Thus, it avoids ennui and lack of occupation so pernicious to those from whom the teacher's attention is called away for a time. So much for the school ; but in addition to this it teaches the eye a knowledge of form and symmetry, and trains the hand in representing them ; and these find much to do in all relations and activities of practical life. Indeed, we have heard of late many impressive complaints concern- ing the great disadvantages resulting to our citizens, THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 295 more particularly to the artisan and farmer, from the lack of development in the perception and representa- tion of form and symmetry. H. STUDY OF colors; COLORING OF OUTLINE-PICTURES; PAINTING IN THE NET-WORK. § 96. Every one who is not a total stranger to boy- life will concede that children, particularly in early boy- hood, feel the need of a knowledge of colors and of some degree of occupation with pigments. This must be so. It is implied even in the general cause of all activity in the child, in the tendency to de- velop and exercise all his powers in all possible particu- lar phases. This is strengthened by a second reason, even weightier, so far as the inner spiritual develop- ment as sucli is concerned — by the intimate connection between color and light, by the fact that all colors are determined by greater or smaller degrees of light. Color and light again are most intimately connected with life-activity, with all that hfts and varies life. Even mere earthly light points to the heavenly light to which it owes its being and existence. Thus, the boy seems to notice or feel the high sig- nificance of color (as he did in another respect of form in nature) as an embodiment, as it were, of earthly light, of sunlight, as a visible revelation of its nature. The hope of thus obtaining with the aid of the colors an insight into the nature of earthly light, of sunlight, is possibly the true, innermost, though sub-conscious, motive of the boy in his eager occupation with colors ; indeed, the experience of boys positively corroborates this. 296 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. It is said, indeed, that colors are variegated, and that it is this variegation that attracts children and gives them pleasure. Very well ; but what is variegation of color ? Is it not the effect of one cause (light) in various phases of appearance (colors) ? It is by no means external variegation that attracts the boy and gives him pleasure, for the possession of external variegation does not satisfy him, as, indeed, mere quantity never satisfies him ; the pleasure lies in the finding of the inner connection, in the power to spiritualize it. If it were otherwise, the boy would be satisfied when he is surrounded with an abundance, and a variety of things, and we should not so often hear the reproof addressed to him : " What in the world do you still want ; you have this and this and this, and yet you are not satisfied." The boy seeks unity of life, expression of life, con- nection of life — life, indeed. Therefore, variegation of color interests the child ; he is looking for unity in diversity, for inner connection. For this reason he likes to see colors in their combinations, in order to find the inner unity that makes them one. Yet, in spite of the high significance of this ten- dency in boyhood, we leave its development toward the knowledge and use of colors to merest chance. We give the boys, among many other things, also, paints and brushes, as one gives food to beasts, incon- siderately or good-naturedly ; and they throw them about like their other playthings, as the beasts do un- suitable food. What, indeed, should they do with them? They THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 207 do not know how to give tliem life and unity ; and we do not help them. However distinct and different form and color may be, to the young boy tliey are undivided, united, like the body and its life. Indeed, the idea of color seems to come to the boy, as it did possibly to mankind gen- erally, through form ; and, conversely, the forms are brought out and nearer through colors. Therefore, the notions of color and form should at first be united and undivided. Now, since form and color at first appear to the boy as an undivided whole — but mutually enhance and reveal each other — it is necessary in the development of the color-sense in man by means of observation and representation to consider three things : 1. That the forms should be simple and definite, wholly adequate to the things to be designated and rep- resented. 2. That the colors be as pure and distinct as possible, and corresponding with those of the object, particularly if it be a natural object. 3. That the colors should be studied as nearly as possible in their actually natural relations, in their differ- ences and resemblances. As the colors themselves should be studied as defi- nitely as possible in their impressions, they should, too, be designated with equal definiteness in language : first, the color as such — e. g., red, green, etc. ; then its inten- sity — e. g., dark, bright, etc. ; then the variety of color ac- cording to kind and mixture. In the last, two phases are noticed : first, a comparison with objects that show the color most frequently — e. g., rose-red {rosenroth\ 298 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. slvj-blue, etc. ; secondly, a comparison of colors among themselves — e. g., green-yellow (grun-geW)^ or, approxi- mately, greenish yellow, etc. Generally, all color distinctions should be based on natural objects in which these colors prevail most con- stantly ; if they have been understood, they may be transferred to the colors of other objects. Colors, whose names are derived from objects, should have been observed frequently in the objects themselves — e. g., violet-blue. In the beginning, only a few distinctions are made, but these should be adhered to strictly and constantly. Similarly the boy should receive for use only a few, but clearly defined, colors. The secondary colors should, later, as far as possible, be made by the pupil himself from the primary colors. The figures to be painted should, particularly in the beginning, not be too small, and if possible point to natural objects, as indeed all instruction should start from objects in the pupil's surroundings — e. g., leaves, large flowers, wings of butterflies, even birds. The colors of quadrupeds and of fish are too indefinite. However, the effort to represent natural objects in their peculiar colors will direct the pupil's attention more and more to their actual colors, as is indicated by questions like these : " How shall I paint the trunk of this tree, this flower," etc. ? The more the notions of colors are separated from objects, the more it will become desirable to represent the colors for their own sake, but still in definite forms. When colors come to be viewed wholly independent from f onn, form steps wholly into the background. The THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 299 form of representation, for a number of practical rea- sons, is based on the square network. The coloring material is best chosen from the vege- table pigments. The instruction itself is easily connected with the boy's life ; a hundred opportunities present themselves ; every circle offers its own peculiar starting-points. Properly conducted, the instruction will take root in the children's life, and will itself live. I shall write down what I saw and see. The more favorable the circumstances, the better the beginning ; however, circumstances may not be made but only used. About a dozen boys of suitable age are gathered around their teacher like sheep around their shepherd. As the shepherd leads his sheep to green pastures, so the teacher is to lead the boys to joyous activity. It is "Wednesday afternoon, when there is no ordinary school instruction ; but to-day there is no call for other activity. It is fall, and the desire to paint has often been ex- pressed by each one of these active boys. Perhaps fall invites the boys most urgently to paint, because the colors in nature are most varied and massive in the latter part of fall ; and each one has probably tried in his own way to obey the summons. " Come, let us paint," the teacher says. " It is true, you have painted a great deal ; but painting itself and the things you painted did not seem to please you long, for you did not paint in distinct and pure colors. Come, let us see if we can not do better together." " Now, what shall we paint? What is easy enough for us? 300 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. For we are to learn, and what we paint should be simple, and of one color if possible." Teacher and pupils decide quickly that it is easiest to paint leaves, flowers, or fruits. Leaves are chosen ; for the beautiful, bright red, yellow, etc., trees, and the gorgeous leaves which in perfect fall days float with a gentle rustle from the branches, and deck the ground with a brilliant carpet, have been keenly noticed by the boys, and often they have bound them in wreaths and brought them home. " Here are outlines of leaves " (the teacher had pre- pared them for the purpose) ; " how will you paint them ? " " Green." " Ked." " Yellow." " Brown." " Which leaves will you paint green, red, etc. ? " " Why ? " The teacher then distributes the paints, properly prepared. First, the colors are correctly designated. It need, however, scarcely be mentioned that — inasmuch as the representation of the object is the secondary, and the knowledge and treatment of the colors the primary consideration — we can not expect to do more than to give the leaves approximately exact coloring. For the present, even distribution of the color, keeping within the lines, etc., are as yet the most important concerns ; the proper position of the body, in order to insure free movement of arm, hand, and finger, is a matter to be attended to, of course. Inasmuch as each pigment requires its own treat- ment, we do not pass from one color to the next until the pupil has attained some proficiency in the use of the former. From leaves we proceed to flowers. We choose flowers with large monopetalous corollas of only one or THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 301 a few very distinct colors — e. g., blue campanulas, yellow primroses, etc. Simple flowers are preferred to double ones, and they are lirst painted in full front view or full profile. We should constantly keep in view conscious efforts to distinguish colors as accurately as possible, to repre- sent them in the greatest possible purity, and to name them as clearly as possible; although at this stage of development these things will still be done quite im- perfectly. The pupil's feelings are awakened, and he aspires to understand the relation of one color to an- other. Thus color is more and more abstracted from form, and may be observed more and more independ- ently. The pupil, too, begins to take more interest in each color, and seeks to enter fully into its character ; for he wants to control it, and feels the inadequacy of his present knowledge and skill. This calls for the representation of colors as such, without essential reference to form, in figures derived from the network. The first consideration in these exercises is to paint the surfaces evenly and sharply, progressing from smaller to larger surfaces. Therefore, we first paint with each color surfaces of one square, then of two to five squares, either continuous (i. e., in rows touching each other edge to edge) or interrupted (i. e., in rows touching each other comer to corner). By this proced- ure, the pupil becomes thoroughly familiar with the peculiarities and treatment of each color. These exercises begin with pure red, blue, and yel- low ; they conclude with the pure secondary colors, pure green, orange, and violet. 302 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. The series begins with red and green, because experi- ence teaches that these two colors are most interesting to boys. Similarly, in the subsequent exercises, two, three, and finally all the six colors are used in continuous (edge to edge) or interrupted (corner to corner) series — in two principal arrangements — so that either the long sides of the colored forms or their short sides touch. The order of the colors most fully in accordance with nature at large is now from blue to green, yellow, orange, red, and violet. The last phases at this stage of development are four color-groups, similar to the two line-groups in the draw- ing of lines. These are derived in accordance with one law from the thing itself, and present the series of colors in all directions implied by the network with reference to some given center. These four color-groups appear again in two sets. Either the various equal-colored rectangles touch one an- other at their long sides, appearing in horizontal or ver- tical position sharply defined, or the various colored series, lying in the direction of the diagonals of the squares, the component squares touching only in the corners, fit into one another (like the teeth of two saws). In each of these sets there are two members. In one of these, the various series proceed from a visible center ; in the other, they are arranged around an invisi- ble center, or, rather, inclose it. These four groups close the course at this stage. The next stage would comprise — as in the case of the invention of figures in drawing — the free invention of color-groups, the study of colors in their various de- THE SCHOOL AXD THE FAMILY. 303 grees of intensity and tint, and the study and repre- sentation of natural forms in the square network. However limited the preceding course in this sub- ject, experience proves that it has quite an influence on the scholar. Like song, it lifts man into a nobler moral atmosphere, quickens the color-sense, and enhances in- terest in nature and life. Its further connection with other subjects, as well as with practical life, will be clear to him who appreciates the requisites of these things. I. PLAY, OR SPONTANEOUS REPRESENTATIONS AND EXERCISES OF ALL KINDS. § 97. To the many things said about play, I would add the following : The plays or spontaneous occupa- tions of this period of boyhood differ in three ways. They are either imitations of life and of the phenomena of actual life, or they are spontaneous applications of what has been learned at school, or they are perfectly spontaneous products of the mind, of any description, and with all kinds of material. The last either seek the laws lying in the material of the play, and adapt themselves to these, or they obey laws lying in the thought and feelings of the human being. In every case, however, the normal plays of this period are the pure outcome of vital energy and buoyancy (see § 49). The plays of this period, therefore, imply inner life and vigor — an actual external life. "Where this is lack- ing, there can not be true play which, itself full of genuine life, can arouse, feed, and elevate life. This explains the remark of a young man who had been zealous and inventive in these plays of boyhood. 304 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. He said, concerning some boys that seemed to have lost all zest for such plays : "It is strange to me that these bojs can not play ; how vigorously we played at this age ! " This shows clearly that even the plays of this age should be under special guidance, and the boy made tit for them — i. e., his life at school and out of it should be rendered so rich that, like a swelling bud, it will burst forth from within for joy and in joy. Joy is the soul of every activity of boyhood at this period. The plays themselves are physical plays, either as exercises of strength and dexterity, or as the mere ex- pressions of buoyancy of spirits ; sense plays, exercis- ing hearing, sight, etc. ; or intellectual plays, exercising reflection and judgment. [In the hands of thoughtful kindergartners, the social game has become a powerful aid in the guidance of social development. The children learn to use the several games as it were like common play- things, with the help of which they may, as a social body, give expression to their collective ideas on matters of social concern. The teacher, for this purpose, does not teach the game in a cer- tain fixed way, using the children, as it were, to carry out the inten- tions of the game. Indeed, were she to do this, each child would in an individual way, and without reference to others, learn to play the game as he would a lesson, and then lose active interest in it. She plays the games at first quite simply, sometimes at the table, some- times in the ring, teaching the children how to represent the simplest things she may find in their minds concerning the subject involved. Subsequently she progresses quite gradually, adding from time to time new facts and relations, gained by observation or instruction, frequently modifying the games in order to represent the various facts from new standpoints or in more complex relationships. This will induce and encourage the children in due time to bring to bear in their plays the results of their own observations, and to suggest modifications and additions in accordance with their growing knowledge and interest. Thus the game will grow with THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 305 their growth in social insight and power, and will become an ade- quate expression of their inner development in this direction. — Tr.] J. NARRATION OF STORIES AND LEGENDS, FABLES AND FAIRY TALES, ETC. § 98. Man understands other things, the life of others, and the effects of other powers only in so far as he understands himself, his own power, and his own life. Therefore, the highest and most important ex- periences of a boy of this age (as well, perhaps, as of man generally) are, the sensation and feeling of his own life in his own breast, his own thinking and will- ing, though they manifest themselves ever so vaguely and almost as a mere instinct. But knowledge of a thing can never be attained by comparing it with itself. Therefore, too, the boy can not attain any knowledge of the nature, cause, and effect of the meaning of his own life, by comparing his own transient individual life with itself. He needs for clearness concerning this, comparison with some- thing else and with some one else; and surely every- body knows that comparisons with somewhat remote objects are more effective than those with very near objects. Only the study of the life of others can furnish such points of comparison with the life he himself has ex- perienced. In these the boy, endowed with an active life of his own, can view the latter as in a mirror, and learn to appreciate its value. It is the innermost desire and need of a vigorous, genuine boy to understand his own life, to get a knowl- edge of its nature, its origin, and outcome. If he fails in this, the sensation of his own life either crushes him 306 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. or carries him on headlong, without purpose and irre- sistibly. This is the chief reason why boys are so fond of stories, legends, and tales ; the more so when these are told as having actually occurred at some time, or as lying within the reach of probability for which, how- ever, there are scarcely any limits for a boy. The power that has scarcely germinated in the boy's mind is seen by him in the legend or tale, a perfect plant filled with the most delicious blossoms and fruits. The very remoteness of the comparison with his own vague hopes expands heart and soul, strengthens the mind, unfolds life in freedom and power. As in color, it is not variegated hues that charm the boy, but their deeper, invisible, spiritual meaning ; so he is attracted to the legend and fairy tale, not by the varied and gay shapes that move about in them, but by their spiritual life, which furnishes him with a measure for his own life and spirit, by the fact that they furnish him direct intuitions of free life, of a force sponta- neously active in accordance with its own law. The story concerns other men, other circumstances, other times and places, nay, wholly different forms ; yet the hearer seeks his own image, he beholds it, and no one knows that he sees it. Are there not many persons who have seen and heard how children at an earlier period asked their mother again and again to tell them the simplest story, which they had heard half a dozen times — e. g., the story of a singing and fluttering bird, building its nest and feeding its young? Even boys do the same. "Tell us a story," is the THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 30V request of a crowd of eager listeners to some companion who has proved his art. " I do not know any more ; I have told you all I know." " Well, then, tell us this or that story." " I have told it two or three times." " That makes no difference; tell it again." He obeys; see how eagerly his hearers note every word, as if they had never before heard it. It is not the desire for mental indolence that leads the vigorous boy to the telling of stories and makes him a pleased listener. You can see how eager he is, how a genuine story-teller stirs the inner life of his hearer, to try its strength, as it were. This proves that a higher spiritual life lies in the story, that it is not its gay and changing shapes that attract the boy, that through them mind speaks directly to mind. Therefore, ear and heart open to the genuine story- teller, as the blossoms open to the sun of spring and to the vernal rain. Mind breathes mind ; power feels power and absorbs it, as it were. The telling of stories refreshes the mind as a bath refreshes the body ; it gives exercise to the intellect and its powers; it tests the judgment and the feelings. Hence, too, genuine, effective story- telling is not easy ; for the story-teller must wholly take into himself the life of which he speaks, must let it live and operate in himself freely. He must reproduce it whole and un- diminished, and yet stand superior to Kfe as it actually is» It is this that makes the genuine story-teller. Therefore, only early youth and old age furnish good story-tellers. The mother knows how to tell stories — she who lives only in and with the child, and has no care beyond that of fostering his life. 308 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. The husband and father, fettered by life, compelled to face the cares and wants of daily life, will rarely be a good story-teller, pleasing to the children, inflaencing, strengthening, and lifting their lives. Tlie brother or sister, only a few years older, both still unacquainted with life in its stem realities, not yet fettered or hardened by it, still standing outside of it, as it were; tlie grandfather, with his wide experience, raised superior to life, having rid himself of its hard exterior ; or the old tried servant, whose heart is full of contentment in the consciousness of duty well done — these are the favorites with an audience of boys. 'No practical application need be added, no moral brought out ; the related incident of life, in itself, in what- ever form it may appear, in its causes and consequences, makes a deeper impression than any added words could do ; for who can know the needs of the wholly opened soul, of stimulated, wholly self-conscious life. We do not tell our children enough stories ; at best, little stories whose heroes are mechanical contrivances, puppets which we have whittled or stuffed ourselves. A good story-teller is a precious boon. Blessed is the circle of boys that can enjoy him ; his influence is great and ennobling ; the more so, the less he seems to aim at this. With high esteem and full of respect I greet a genuine story-teller; with intense gratitude I grasp him by the hand. However, better greeting than mine is his lot ; behold the joyf al faces, the sparkling eyes, the merry shouts that welcome him; see the blooming circle of delighted boys crowd around him, like a wreath of fresh flowers and branches around the bard of joy and delight. THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 309 However, boys of this age are benefited by mental activity, especially in connection with physical action. Therefore, the roused and stimulated inner hfe should at once find an external object on which it can manifest and, as it were, perpetuate itself. Therefore, wdth boys of this age, the hearing of stories should always be connected with some activ- ity for the production of some external work on their part. Again the story, in order to be especially effective and impressive, should be connected with the events and occurrences of life. One of the least significant occurrences in the neighbor's life is developed to-day into an event of such importance that it determines not only his inner peace, as well as his external prosperity, but infiuences also the life of many others. Whatever similar experience lies in the scope of the life of each individual, or may have happened to his friends, is connected with this event of the day. Behold how the attention of each boy, under the influ- ence of inner excitement, is wholly given to the event in question. Every story seems to him a new conquest, a fresh treasure ; and whatever it shows and teaches he adds to his own life for his advancement and in- struction. K. SHORT EXCURSIONS AND WALKS. § 99. Out-door life, in open nature, is particularly desirable for young people ; it develops, strengthens, elevates, and ennobles. It imparts life and a higher significance to all things. For this reason, short excur- sions and walks are excellent educational means, to be 22 310 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. highly esteemed even in the beginning of boy- and school-hfe (see § 64). If man is fully to attain his destiny, so far as earthly development will permit this, if he is to become truly an unbroken living unit, he must feel and know him- self to be one, not only with God and humanity, but also with nature. The feeling of oneness, in order to become a unit in himself, must be developed early in man. He must feel the connection between the development of nature and of man, between the phenomena of nature and of humanity in their mutual relations — e. g., the differ- ent impressions made on the same human being, by external natural 'causes and by internal human causes, so that man may appreciate as fully as possible the character and phenomena of nature, and that she may ever more become to him a guide to higher per- fection. All shorter and longer excursions and all observa- tions they involve should be made in this spirit of har- mony, unity, and living oneness of all natural phe- nomena, and in the conviction how necessarily, because of the nature of life and force- as such, unity comes from multiplicity, simplicity from complexity, that which in its impression is great from the apparently small. Therefore, all boys are in such a hurry to get for- ward on their excursions ; they desire quickly to take in a great unit. The search for details is the more interest- ing the more fully a relatively greater unit has been previously grasped, though this need by no means be the greatest possible whole. THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 311 These excursions should enable the boy to see as a whole the district in which he lives, and to feel that nature herself is a constant whole. Without this, excursions would yield no direct spiritual benefit. They would repress instead of quick- emng ; they would waste instead of enriching life. Man considers the surrounding atmosphere as a part of himself, and gains bodily health by inhaling the pure air. Similarly he should look upon surrounding nature as a part of himself, and breathe in the Divine Spirit that dwells therein. Therefore, the boy should eai'ly see the objects of nature in their actual relations and original combina- tions. His excursions are to show him his valley in its whole extent ; he should explore its ramifications ; he should follow his brook or rivulet from its source to its mouth, and study its local peculiarities in their causes ; he should explore the elevated ridges, so that he may see the ranges and spurs of the inountains ; he should climb the highest summits, so that he may know and understand the entire region in its unitj^ Actual inspection should reveal to him the mutual relations of mountain and valley and river in their form and formation. He should see in their native places the products of mountain, valley, and plain, of the earth and of the water ; he should in the higher regions seek the former homes of the stones he found in the fields and river-beds of the lowlands. In these excursions the boys should see the animals and plants in their life, as it were ; they should ob- serve them in their natural abodes, some basking in the sun and drinking in light and warmth, others hiding in 312 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. darkness and shade, seeking coolness and moisture. They should seek to determine to what extent the abode and food of living things affect their color and even their form ; how, for instance, the catei-pillar, the butterfly, and other insects, in form and color, are con- nected with the plants to which they seem to belong. He should not fail to notice how this external resem- blance serves to protect the animals, and how higher animals almost intentionally make use of such resem- blances ; how, for instance, certain birds build their nests on trees whose color is scarcely to be distinguished from that of the nests ; how, indeed, the color-expression of animals harmonizes with the character of the time of day when they are most active, or with the activity of the sun — e. g., the brilliant colors of butterflies, tlie dull colors of moths, etc. This direct and independent observation of the things themselves, and of their actual living connection in nature, and not the mere explanation of words and ideas which are of no interest to the boy, should awaken in him, vaguely at first but ever more and more clearly, the great thought of the inner, constant, living unity of all things and phenomena in nature. In these excursions he should see man, too, in his unity with nature — first, in his daily life, his occupations and callings, later in his social circumstances, his charac- ter, his mode of thought and action, his manners, cus toms, and language. However, this should be left in actual life, as well as in our hints on the subject, to later stages of develop- ment in boyhood and youth. THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 313 In considering the means of instruction, directly im- plied in man's tendency of development, as well as the method of instruction thereby conditioned, we were con- fronted clearly and distinctly, as necessarily proceeding from the observation of the external world and from language-exercises, by the demands for the study of number, of forms of speaking (grammatical exercises), of writing and of reading ; we found, too, indications of the points from which these particular subjects proceed naturally. Inasmuch as these subjects of instruction, according to their nature, have to be taken up later than those which we have treated, and not before the subjects on which they depend have been carried to a certain point, their special consideration has been postponed, so that all the others might first be fully presented. But the subjects named belong to the second half of the period of boyhood under consideration. Therefore, their special treatment must now be taken up. L. ARITHMETIC. § 100. The development of number, the abstraction of number ideas from objects, and the growth of skill in counting, at least up to ten or twenty — these things have been clearly presented and often employed in the previous considerations (see §§ 38, 75). This varied use of number soon presents to the pupil the necessity of a jnore thorough, more compre- hensive and varied knowledge of number, and he wel- comes arithmetic as a special subject of instruction with pleasure as a needed help. 314 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. This is right. 'No new subject of instruction should be brought to the pupil unless he at least feels vaguely that it is based and how it is based on previous work, how it is applied in this, and that it satisfies a men- tal need. Number, in its forms of multiplicity and size, reveals to the first glance the property it shares with many things, particularly with things of nature, the property of a double origin — from without by accumulation, and from within by growth or development. But, as it shares with objects of nature their mode of origin, so it shares with them also the property of tran- siency, of annihilation ; and this, too, shows itself in two phases, that of destruction from without, and that of dissolution from within. Wherever there is a beginning and a ceasing, in- crease and decrease, there is also comparison ; and, of course, again, a merely external and a more internal comparison, a comparison according to an externally visible law, and another according to an internally per- ceptible law. Tlius arithmetic will have to consider the increase, diminution (annihilation), and comparison of numbers — each according to an outer and an inner law. The intimate connection between number and nature and their laws, as just indicated, is so prominent in our time, which is entering so thoroughly into the study of nature, that a natural and rational study and treatment of number forced men even fifteen years ago to accept the terms inorganic and organic formation, diminution and comparison of numbers {vide Joseph Schmid's "Number," 1810). THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 315 Arithmetic, as well as all instruction, should meet not only the feeling, early aroused 'in the boyhood of man, that natural laws prevail in many ways in human life, thought, and action, but also the feeling that there is a living and necessary conformity to law in all things ; therefore, it should constantly direct the atten- tion to the laws of number, render them prominent, and enable the pupil to see them clearly. The prominence and the vivid and varied percep- tion of numerical laws on the one hand, and practice in the quick comprehension and understanding of nu- merical relations on the other, are both equally impor- tant and should receive equal attention. The pupil at this stage should not only be quick in numbers, but should readily see and understand numerical relations. Therefore, it is most desirable in this as in all similar instruction to secure clear comprehension by means of self -active representation of the quantities ; practice and repeated application ; surveys of the whole subject ; the prominent bringing out and diecussion of particular points. The course of instruction is indicated in these words, and can be easily prepared. For this reason, and because Joseph Schmid's arithmetical method is quite widely known and followed, I limit myself to only a few hints in the following : \Translator'' s Synopsis. — Froebel first (1) bases the work on previous knowledge ; for this purpose he sug- gests exercises in counting forw^ard or backward, con- tinuously or with omissions from one to twenty. He next (2) presents the numbers from one to ten as a con- 316 TKE EDUCATION OF MAN. tinuous whole. Tlie pupils count from one to ten, making at each hum her as many vertical lines as the number indicates, in vertical arrangement, thus : 1 II III, etc. This is followed by general exercises, fixing the re- lation between the word and the number. Pointing to the marks they have made, they say, starting with the word or numeral : One is one one, two is two ones, three is three ones, etc. Starting next with the number, they say : One one is one, two ones are two, three ones are three, etc. Considering, at last, the number ab- stractly, they say : One is one, two is two, three is three, etc. In the third place (3) are exercises distinguishing the odd and even numbers. Reading through the column, all say : One is neither odd nor even ; two is an even num- ber; three is an odd number, etc. Froebel adds here by wav of parenthesis : " It is well to direct the pupiPs attention here at once to a great far-reaching law of nature and of thought. It is this, that between two relatively different things or ideas there stands always a third, in a sort of balance, seeming to unite the two. Thus, there is here between odd and even num- bers one number (one) which is neither of the two. Similarly, in form, the right angle stands between the acute and obtuse angles ; and in language, the semi- vowels or aspirants between the mutes and vov/els. A thoughtful teacher and a pupil taught to think for himself can scarcely help noticing this and other important laws." THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 317 He then has the pupils to represent with lines all the even numbers from two to ten, again in vertical ar- rangement, and has this learned as the natural order of even numbers in ten. The same is done with the odd numbers. As soon as some pupils have represented the series on their slates, the teacher represents it on the blackboard, and lixes it by pointing to certain numbers, and having the children designate their places in the series, etc. This is followed (4) by exercises in addition. In the first exercise, the pupils add i to each number of the first ten (I and I are II), by which they obtain the series from two to eleven ; in the second exercise, they add I to each even number in the first ten, obtaining a series of odd numbers ; in the third exercise I is added to each odd number. Then follow similar exercises with the addition of II, III, etc., and an exercise in which to each number is added the succeeding number in the series, yielding a table in vertical arrangement : I and II are III, II and ill are Mill, etc., up to nineteen. Then follow exercises in the addition of three and more numbers, proceeding in every case deliberately and thoroughly, and not exceeding thirty in the sums ; and at last the consideration of special questions, such as : What is the sum of all numbers from 1 to 10 ? What is the sum of all even numbers between 1 and 10? What is the sum of the first and last numbers in the series 1 to 10 ? Of the second and last but one ? etc. In the fifth place (5), he presents exercises for the study of compound numbers. The pupils are taught to look upon each number of the series 1 to 10 as a unit, a whole. Teacher and pupils read their table : One (I) is a 318 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. simple unit, two (II) is a compound unit, etc. Tliej represent a number of twos, threes, etc., on the slate. They make a series of all the twos from one two [1 (2) ] to ten twos [10 (2) ], and read this in a variety of ways — e. g., one two (II) is neither an odd nor an even number of twos; two twos (II II) is an even num- ber of twos; three twos (II II II) is an odd number of twos, etc. Then follow (6) exercises to represent numbers in all possible forms — e. g. : Two as two ones (I I) or as one two (II); three as one three (III), one two and one one (II I), three ones (I I I), etc. Froebel lays stress upon the foreshadowing of an important law, which is, how- ever, merely to guide the teacher at this stage of the work, and whose development with the pupils is left to a subsequent stage. He formulates this law as follows : " Every number always gives twice as many combina- tions (including those differing merely in the arrange- ment of component numbers) as its predecessor in the series ; or, the number of combinations of the com- ponent parts of any number is obtained if two (2) is raised to the power indicated by the number in ques- tion less one — e. g. : 4 yields 2^~^ or 2^ = 8 combina- tions." Subtraction (7), or the diminution of the number from without, is carried on similarly. For multiplication (8), or the development of the number from within, Froebel starts again with the series of numbers from 1 to 10. The pupil is then re- quired to take each number once, or " as often as one has units,'- obtaining a vertical arrangement like the following : THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 319 1,1,1 II , I , II III , I , III etc. This is read in a variety of ways, as : 1 1 taken as often as I has units gives II; or, II repeated in the law of I gives M ; or, two increased by the law of I gives 1 1 ; or, 1 1 taken I time (once) gives II; or, II I time (once) gives II ; or, II times I is II. In this way, a variety of multiplication tables are made and read, and a number of arithmetical laws developed. Similarly (9), the squares of the numbers and their roots are found and fixed ; then (10) all possible com- binations in which a number may be obtained through multiplication are studied — 10 is lU (1), 1 (10), 2 (5), 5 (2) ; this is followed by division (11) and measure- ment, and the comparison of numbers (12 and 13) in accordance with their outer and inner law.] M. FORM-LESSONS (GEOMETRY). § 101. As formerly indicated, the observation of the onter world and language-exercises already led to the consideration and study of form. Yet the objects of the outer world usually exhibit form in such variety and complication, and their forms are so difficult to analyze and define, that the study of fomi itself always leads to the consideration of objects with simple forms, to objects bounded by simple planes with equal and right angles. A knowledge of any form always implies ultimately a knowledge of lines, and forms are examined and determined through the mediation of straight lines. Therefore, in the study of objects with reference to 320 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. their form, curvilinear objects are soon laid aside, and rectilinear objects at first chosen — e. g., curved are the surface of a cylindrical stove, a watch-glass, the rim of an inkstand ; plane and straight are the jambs of the doors and windows, the window-sash, the frame of the looking-glass. Again, objects as well as their parts and outlines are considered with reference to their position and direction — e. g., the two long and the two short pieces of the window-frame are respectively parallel / a long and a short piece of the window-frame are respectively ])erj)endiculaT^ etc. {Translator'' s Bynojpsis. — Similar material for study is afforded by the table-legs and other parts of the table, the sides, floor, and ceiling of the room, etc. The con- sideration of these complex rectilinear objects is fol- lowed by the consideration of simple rectilinear objects — cubes, prisms, pyramids, etc. When, through these exercises, linear outlines have been made clear, the pupil feels the need of studying the linear relations as such. This study begins with the consideration of single lines with reference to their relative directions ; it then pro- ceeds to combinations of lines as to number of points in which they meet, and to tlieir direction with reference to the points of union. This is followed successively by the study of angles, of jiolygons, and at last of the circle. For lack of room and of cuts, Froebel does not present the details of the course, but promises to do so in the discussion of a later stage of development, a promise that was never realized. He insists, however, that at the present stage attention is to be given to fre- quent representation of figures, and the actual examina- THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 321 tion of forms, rather than to the formulation of general truths ; that complicated relations and complex infer- ences should be avoided ; and that each form-relation should be studied independently, but in as many figures as possible, and in quite simple and familiar combina- tions. In conclusion, he points to the fact that the study of lines of equal inclination leads from form to free-hand drawing.] N. GRAMMATICAL EXERCISES. § 102. -We turn now again to a wholly different side of instruction. The subject of form-instruction is visible, permanent ; the subject of language is audible, transient. Thus the two objects are direct opposites, complementing each other, and therefore- belong to- gether. The form represents the object ; language, too, tends to represent and picture the object. It was the purpose of the language-exercises to se- cure correct and clear ideas of the things of the outer world, and to have them represented precisely and definitely by language. The grammatical exercises are concerned with language as material of representation, with exercises leading to the knowledge and correct use of this audible material, and with the study and practice of the manner in which man with the aid of his organs of speech seems to create and form this material. Therefore, grammatical exercises consider the word as such irrespective of the thing it designates ; their purpose is to give the pupil a knowledge of language considered as material. This leads necessarily to the formerly indicated con- nection of language, particularly of the original word 322 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. and its parts witli the objects and their qualities, to the study of the contrasts and resemblances between lan- guage and object : it leads to etymology as a new sub- ject of instruction. {Translatoi''' s Synopsis. — Froebel here maps out the following succession of points for the course of study. The first consideration is the size of the word, which is determined by the number of its syllables / this is fol- lowed by the consideration of vowels, which form the constant element of syllables. The vowels are simple or complex, and the former again are primitive or de- rivative. This leads to the observation of the use of the organs of speech in producing the various vowel-sounds, and shows that the purity and distinctness of the sound depend on the proper position and sliaj)e of the cavity of the mouth, etc. Then follows the study of the con- sonants, which are first classed as mutes and sonants / and then grouped as nasals, lalnals, lingvals, dentals, jpalatals, gutturals, etc. Lastly, the different degrees of intensity of force required in the production of the various consonants are noted. Tims the pupil gradually finds that clear pronunciation and speech imply the . proper use of the organs of speech, and gains conscious | control of these.] There is, too, developed in him the feeling of an inner living connection that unites the activities of the mind, of the body, and of nature, for language as a mental product through the activity of the body furnishes him satisfactory representations of his inner and outer worlds. {Translator's Synopsis. — The next section of this paragraph contains a few suggestions for carrying out. TEE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 323 this course. Teacher and pupil first speak words of one, then of two syllables, etc., slowly, deliberately separat- ing the syllables, accompanying each syllable with a clap of the hands, and then following up the pronuncia- tion of each word with the number of claps of the hand indicated by the number of syllables — e. g. : Teacher or j says : foot . . . one K „ j win-dow . . . one, two ) , pupil ( claps: (-)...(-)[ 1 ( ) . . . (-) (_) f • Froebel attaches importance to the clapping with the hands, which makes the audible separation of the word visible in the clapping on the teacher's part, and sensible in the clapping on the pupil's part. In order to direct the pupil's attention to the vowels, Froebel would have the teacher and pupil pronounce successively and together monosyllabic words ending in vowel-sounds, and after each word speak the vowel- sound separately — e. g. : 7ne — e, he — e, etc. Then words are found that begin with this sound (eel, each, east, etc.) ; then words that contain the vowels (bead, read, etc.). Subsequently the fact is brought out that there are no monosyllabic words that do not contain some vowel ; polysyllabic words are similarly examined ; the prevalence of certain vowels in certain syllables is found ; the succession of certain vowels in the same word is observed ; the sonants and mutes are similarly studied, etc. Finally, tables of the various classes and groujDS of sounds are j^repared, and a number of exer- cises are made giving ready control of these tables in the formation of words. The next requirement that forces itself upon our attention in this instruction is the art of loriting^ by 324: THE EDUCATION OF MAN. which the "audible and transient sounds are made visible and permanent."] O. WRITING. § 103. {Translator's Synopsis. — By this Froebel does not mean penmanship as an art, but merely the skill to write legibly. For the beginning he suggests as most suitable the capital Roman letters, because their forms please children, and because they can be readily made with the help of the horizontal, vertical, and slant- ing lines with which the child is already familiar. In the course of instruction he begins with the letter I (sounded E in German), carefully analyzing its form and lines ; then follow K, M, E, U, O, A, etc. The intro- duction of each new letter is followed by the writing of as many combinations with previous letters as will yield true words. " The most important point is that at every step the pupil should apply the newly learned letter and combine it with formerly learned letters in as many ways as possible." From monosyllables he proceeds to polysyllables ; then the children are taught to write words and short sentences by dictation or otherwise. At this point he recommends that all that has been written on the slate should subsequently be copied on paper. This enables the teacher to correct the work; to let pupils whose work has been corrected correct that of others ; and leads to considerations of orthography. He concludes the paragraph in the following words : When the pupil has reached the skill to represent in this way all the notions and ideas he possesses, and thus THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 325 to represent his inner life, as it were, the purpose of this branch of instruction is accomplislied ; for the ccti- ^^;', tlie universal /?_'Dor of PhiIt).-'Oi)hy, I'liiverMity of KOriitrj'beri;. Tranj'latt.Hl by Ansa V. 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