'I cannot conceive at all how it was possible that this should not have struck me'.

"I felt as if he were telling me a dream. In the pressure of events I had so neglected my own improvement that I could scarcely write a line without committing grammatical errors; and in spite of all that Füssli said, I thought myself quite incapable of such work. But necessity which is so often said to be a bad counsellor was now a good one to me. Marmontel's Contes moraux were lying on my table when I came home; I immediately took them up and asked myself the distinct question, whether it might be possible for me to do anything of the kind, and after I had read a few of these tales, and read them again, it appeared to me that, after all, this might not be altogether impossible. I attempted five or six similar little stories, of which all I know is that no one of them pleased me; the last was Leonard and Gertrude, whose history flowed from my pen, I know not how, and developed itself of its own accord, without my having the slightest plan in my head, and even without my thinking of one. In a few weeks the book stood there, without my knowing exactly how I had done it. I felt its value, but only as a man in his sleep feels the value of some piece of good fortune of which he is just dreaming, I scarcely knew that I was awake, and yet a new ray of hope began to dawn upon me, when I thought that it might be possible to better my pecuniary condition, and to make it more supportable to my family.

"He [Recorder Iselin of Basle, whom Pestalozzi consulted] immediately wrote to Decker in Berlin, who paid me a louis d'or per sheet, but promised at the same time that, if the sale of the work should render a second

edition necessary, he would pay me the same again. I was unspeakably satisfied. A louis d'or per sheet was to me much, very much, in the circumstances in which. I then was. The book appeared, and excited quite a remarkable degree of interest in my own country and throughout the whole of Germany. Nearly all the journals spoke in its praise, and, what is perhaps still more, nearly all the almanacs became full of it; but the most unexpected thing to me was that, immediately after its appearance, the Agricultural Society of Bern awarded me their great gold medal, with a letter of thanks. Pleased as I was with the medal, and glad as I should have been to keep it, I was nevertheless obliged to part with it in my then situation, and sold it some weeks after for its value in money at a goldsmith's."

In the preface to the first edition he writes: "In that which I here relate, and which I have for the most part seen and heard myself in the course of an active life, I have even taken care not once to add my own opinion to what I saw and heard the people themselves feeling, judging, believing, speaking and attempting". In the preface to the second edition he says that the object of the book was "to bring about a better popular education, based upon the true condition of the people and their natural relations. It was my first word to the heart of the poor and destitute in the land. . . to the mothers in the land, and to the heart which God gave them, to be to theirs what no one on earth can be in their stead."

Briefly the story, so far as it directly concerns education, is as follows: In the village of Bonnal, of which Arner is lord and which is managed by his unprincipled steward Hummel, live Leonard and his wife Gertrude.

Leonard is a man of weak character, easily led into wrong, and has fallen into the power of Hummel, through borrowing money from him. Gertrude is "the angel in the house": the perfect wife and mother, the Good-Samaritan neighbour, and the complete housewife. To rescue her husband from the clutches of the steward Gertrude goes to the castle to see Arner. The result of her visit is that Leonard is commissioned to build a church, and Hummel becomes suspect. Then follows a conflict between the influences for evil and for good in the village; Arner having become, through Gertrude's influence and the force of events, the champion of the good. Though many good deeds are done by Arner nothing really substantial in reform takes place until a spinner named Cotton Meyer suggests to Arner that "after all we can do very little with the people unless the next generation is to have a different training from that our schools furnish. Our schools ought really to stand in the closest connection with the life of the home, instead of, as now, in strong contradiction to it."

Lieutenant Glülphi, a friend and helper of Arner, warmly supports this view. The question then arises: how is such a school to be set up in Bonnal. Cotton Meyer says: "I know a spinning-woman in the village who understands it far better than I". This is Gertrude who trains her own children in her own house. Arner, Glülphi and the pastor visit Gertrude's cottage and watch Gertrude training her children. The result is that Glülphi resolves, "I will be schoolmaster," and obtains Gertrude's promise to help him; all agreeing that the proper education of the young is the only means of reforming the village. Glülphi becomes the village schoolmaster and, after he has overcome great

opposition from the parents and the children, his work is crowned with success and he becomes a power for good in the village. Thus is opened a new era, and from this time forward things go on so well that Bonnal becomes a model village, and a commission is appointed from the ducal court to report on the possibility of a universal application of the principles of government in the village. This commission was constituted on these lines: "to ensure thoroughness there must be among the examiners men skilled in law and finance, merchants, clergymen, Government officials, schoolmasters and physicians, beside women of different ranks and conditions, who shall view the matter with their woman's eyes, and be sure that there is nothing visionary in the background". The examiners, after six days' searching inspection, unanimously recommended that the principles should be applied universally.

There is also a parallel purpose in the book: the setting forth of ways and means of social and economic reform. The terrible evils wrought upon the persons and characters of poor people by tyrannical and unprincipled officials-influenced by greed of gain and unchecked by proper supervision-are exposed with unflinching truth. It is then shown how an intelligent and right-minded man, with power, can thwart the designs of the corrupter and the corrupted, and encourage those who desire to do well, by personal action and wisely planned arrangements. Indolence, theft, and the abuse of charity can be prevented; whilst the love of ease, pleasure and honour can be rightly directed. A proper use of religious services and festivals, and the exposure of superstitions, can be used for the furthering of enlightenment amongst the people.

One of the most powerful influences for good will be found in the union and harmonious action of all classes. A scheme to realise this in Bonnal is outlined :—(1) A school to be organised, the methods in which are to be in harmony with the developing influence of domestic life. (2) The better part of the people of Bonnal to join with those of the castle and the parsonage obtaining a real and active influence over the various households in the village. (3) A new method of choosing overseers (bailiffs) to be adopted, so that the evil influence of bad overseers might be avoided. Further, the peasants were to have tithe-free land for those of their children who saved eight or ten florins before their twentieth year. Thus developed through education: a share in their local government: and security of property, the people of Bonnal make their place a model village.

The book has many passages of great eloquence, exquisite pathos, manly moralising, sparkling wit, dramatic intensity, riotous humour, fine character sketches, and charming incidents, in spite of its want of plot and great diffuseness.

Whilst the book was widely and eagerly read it failed to convey to the masses Pestalozzi's own moralthat the proper education of the young is the foundation and corner-stone of true reform. Most of those who read the book desired only to be interested and amused, and seemed to think that it showed that all the poverty and depravity among the common people resulted from the dishonesty and greed of village officials; and that it only needed mothers like Gertrude, schoolmasters like Glülphi, and lords like Arner to put such matters right. Pestalozzi realised that his readers missed his point and,