and made us all so happy. With Pestalozzi the heart was first, with Fellenberg, the mind.

"And yet Munchenbuchsee had its good points too; there was more order there, and we learned more than at Burgdorf.

"In February, 1805, to my great joy, Pestalozzi sent for me to go back to him to Yverdun, where I once more found a father's love, and my dear masters, Krusi and Buss. A few months later the whole institute had rejoined Pestalozzi in Yverdun Castle."

CHAPTER XII.

PESTALOZZI'S BOOKS AND METHOD AT BURGDORF.

"How Gertrude Teaches Her Children.” "How to Teach Spelling and Reading." "Book for Mothers." Elementary Teaching on Number and Form. "The Natural Schoolmaster."

PESTALOZZI had no sooner opened his institute at Burgdorf than he was anxious to give the public some more complete account than they had yet had of his life work and of the views which he was endeavouring to put into practice. He accordingly published the book entitled: How Gertrude Teaches Her Children; an Attempt to Show Mothers how they can Teach their Children Themselves.

Morf, whose estimate of Pestalozzi's work at Stanz we have already quoted, speaks of this book as follows:

"This book is the most important and the most carefully thought out of all Pestalozzi's pedagogical writings. Not only was its importance great at the time at which it appeared, but it will remain great for ever. The true char

acteristics of his genius stand out free as yet from all foreign influence. His own thoughts, expressed in his own words, give us the most faithful picture of this noble heart. We are filled with admiration at the fulness of his intuitionsI might almost say of the revelations of which Providence had made him the instrument. From the beginning to the end of this work our attention and interest never flag. Here and there we may object to certain of his methods, but never to his principles and conclusions. And even

though experience has enabled us to improve on certain points, we are bound to admit with gratitude that this improvement has only been reached by following the lines originally laid down by Pestalozzi. This book is to-day and will ever remain the foundation stone of all

instruction for the people, but its hidden treasures are still far from having been all put into practice, and we cannot too earnestly urge all those who are engaged or interested in education to make a serious study of it.'

We must, however, add that this book is by no means free from the defects of most of Pestalozzi's writings. The author is too easily carried away by his heart and imagination; the wealth and abundance of his ideas interfere with the order of the general plan and the proportion of the various parts. The digressions and repetitions are innumerable, though it is fair to say that when the same ideas reappear, it is always in a new light.

A simple analysis of the work would give but a very imperfect idea of it; we prefer to run rapidly through it with our readers, calling attention to the most essential principles, and translating the most characteristic passages.

The book consists of fifteen letters addressed to Gessner. The first, which briefly reviews the author's life and work, and his efforts towards raising the people, begins thus:

"My dear Gessner, you say that it is time I made some public statement of my ideas about the education of the people. I shall be only too glad to do so, and will endeavour in a series of letters to set forth my views as clearly as possible.

แ

Seeing popular education lying before me like an immeasurable swamp, I plunged into its slime, and, by exerting all my strength, waded toilsomely through, till I at last discovered the sources of its waters, the reason of their stagnation, and the means of reclaiming the ground.

"I will now take you with me for a moment into this labyrinth, from which, by good fortune rather than by good judgment, I have at last found a way out."

After giving a description of the intellectual poverty in which the schools of his time left the people, and the history of his various unsuccessful attempts to remedy it, Pestalozzi proceeds to sum up the aim of his work as follows:

แ Ah, how happy I shall be in my grave if in what I am doing for popular education I can succeed in uniting Nature

and Art, now so widely separated! That they should be separated at all is sad enough, but that the wickedness of men should have so opposed them to each other as to render them utterly incompatible, fills me with indignation."

The second and third letters relate Pestalozzi's meeting with Krusi, Tobler, and Buss, and the valuable assistance that these men had rendered to him and his work.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth set forth the general principles of his method.

In the fourth he endeavours to formulate the laws of instruction.

In the fifth he begins by declaring that these laws do not satisfy him because he cannot find any general principle to express their essential character. He then goes on to search for the natural sources of human knowledge.

In the sixth letter Pestalozzi says that in spite of the trouble he is taking to explain his views, he is doing it very imperfectly, because for twenty years he has lost the power of philosophizing; that is, of expressing his ideas in a philosophical manner. He points out that for many centuries, reading, writing, and arithmetic have been regarded as the elements of instruction, but that they are not really the elements. His investigations have shown him that the true elements are sound (language), number, and form. At every new appearance, we ask: What is it? (name), How many objects? (number), What is it like? (form). In thus reducing instruction to its really simplest elements, we bring Art into harmony with Nature, for in this way all knowledge is made to result from the very first manifestations by which Nature acts on men.

The seventh letter is devoted to the elementary teaching of language, but Pestalozzi afterwards considerably modified, and in many cases entirely abandoned, the methods which are here described.

The eighth is concerned with the elementary teaching of form by sense-impression, from which the child learns to judge of size, to draw, and to write.

He must first be made familiar with the simple elements of all form: straight lines, angles, etc., and be taught to measure their length and size with his eye. Only when he has done this will he be able to draw successfully, reproduce

on his slate, that is, the various lines, angles, and simple figures which are put before him.

These first lessons in linear drawing serve to train his eye and hand, and are thus a preparation for writing. He writes at first on his slate, beginning with the easiest letters, and with words formed from them. Before very long, however, he will be able to use pen and

paper.

In teaching drawing, Pestalozzi makes great use of the square, which possesses several important advantages:

In the first place, it serves in ordinary drawing as a sort of basis for an infinite number of rectangular figures and patterns that the child can invent, vary, and develop, according to his fancy. In the next place, if divided into smaller squares or rectangles, it furnishes an admirable senseimpressing introduction to the study of geometry and the measurement of surfaces.

Lastly, this division of the square produces the table of fractions of fractions, by the help of which children acquire great facility in mental calculations with fractions.

Pestalozzi then speaks of the elementary books that he is planning: The ABC of Sense-Impression, and the Book for Mothers. He hopes that these books will enable mothers to instruct their children themselves.

It must be observed that these sense-impressing lessons in form, as they are described in this letter, were somewhat modified by Pestalozzi as his experiment progressed.

The ninth letter treats of the elementary teaching of numbers by sense-impression. The author begins by pointing out that, in the study of language and form, certain means and ideas have to be made use of which are foreign to the particular end. Amongst these is the testimony of the senses, often so liable to error. On the other hand, operations with numbers need no outside help, and always furnish us with exact results. Certain other sciences furnish us with exact results, too; but this is only because they depend on the science of numbers. Hence the immense importance of this subject of instruction, which not only develops the intellect, but is of such great practical utility.

Pestalozzi then shows that all arithmetical calculation consists in increasing or decreasing numbers by various methods which are simply intended to shorten the repetition of the formula: one and one are two, one from two is one.