have, when once set to regular work, quickly recovered their health and spirits, and grown rapidly. Such is the effect of altered circumstances, and the absence of disquieting influences.

"I have found that when taken out of their abject condition, they soon become kindly, trustful, and sympathetic; that even the most degraded of them are touched by kindness, and that the eyes of the child who has been steeped in misery, grow bright with pleasure and surprise, when, after years of hardship, he sees a gentle friendly hand stretched out to help him; and I am convinced that when a child's heart is thus touched, his whole moral nature is the better for it.

"I have found, too, that living together in a well-managed house not only lessens the expense of supporting these children, but increases their zeal for work, and encourages their proper development.

"Had I but had the necessary means, I do not doubt but that I should have succeeded in my object and attained these two great and useful results: instruction adapted to the limited needs of ordinary workmen, and the rescue of children from the very lowest conditions of humanity. The boy who only grows up into a vagabond, perhaps a criminal; the girl, who, without guide or support, prepares for herself a life of misery and dishonour; all, in short, who would almost inevitably be lost both for themselves and their country, these are they whom I was anxious to save, and whom I wished to prepare by education for a useful and active life.

"From an economical point of view, and in many other respects, the position of my house and land seems admirably adapted for the purpose; but to this simple and feasible scheme of agricultural education I unfortunately joined a great industrial and commercial experiment, and with culpable thoughtlessness, entered on paths entirely unknown to me, and engaged in undertakings of too varied and complicated a character. These experiments did not answer my expectations, and I found myself suddenly deprived of resources on which I had thought I could depend, and in imminent danger of ruin. I had therefore to abandon commerce and industry, and return, not too late I hope, to my original idea of simply educating children.

"But to-day I can no longer do even that without help,

and I accordingly submit my plan to the friends and benefactors of humanity.

"My prayer is that they will advance me a small sum yearly, for six years. After the tenth year, the money will be paid back in yearly instalments from the earnings of the workmen I have trained.

"I promise that if I succeed in getting this help, I will abandon every other occupation, and devote my whole time and strength to the education of poor friendless children. I promise that the number of the children shall be regulated by the financial support I receive. I promise to teach them all to read, write, and cipher; I promise to give all the boys, so far as my position and knowledge will allow me, practical instruction in the most profitable methods of cultivating small plots of land, to teach them to lay down pasture-land, to understand the use and value of manures, to know the different sorts of grasses, and the importance of mixing them; the nature and use of marl; the effect, still disputed, of the repeated application of lime; the management of fruit-trees, and perhaps of a few forest trees. All this will come naturally out of the work connected with the actual needs of the house, and will not be a special study calling for increased expense. It will be the household needs, too, that will give the girls an opportunity of learning gardening, domestic duties, and needlework.

"The chief occupation in bad weather will be cottonspinning.

"I undertake to furnish all these children with suitable food, clothing, and lodging, and have already made many of the necessary alterations and arrangements in my house.

"I promise to give the most conscientious attention to their religious instruction, and to do all I can to put gentleness and purity into their hearts.

"I have still to add that in support of my views I can point to the twenty children who are now living and working with me. They are in perfect health, and their happiness, in spite of hard work, has surpassed my expectations. Their general cheerfulness and courage, and the delicate feeling and affection of which several of them have given proof, fill me with great hopes for the future. The care and expense of these children will continue to be mine alone."

Pestalozzi then promises to give a yearly account of the progress of his work, and asks to have it inspected, so that no money may be given unless his promises are found to have been faithfully performed. He then mentions a few names of prominent men who have already expressed approval of his plan, and are prepared to give the necessary information to any who desire it. The appeal closes with these words:

"Friends of humanity, notwithstanding all my mistakes and the injury I have done myself by my precipitation, will you still give me your confidence, and support an undertaking which, though it is beset with dangers, is likely to have the happiest results, my past errors having taught me many lessons.

"Neuhof, Koenigsfelden, December 9th, 1775,

"J. H. PESTALOZ." 1

Amongst the men of talent and influence who approved of the enterprise, none supported it with more zeal than Iselin, of Basle, the editor of the Ephemerides, a high-souled and noble-minded man of whom his country should be proud. Soon after Pestalozzi's appeal had been made public, Iselin made the following announcement in his paper:

"We are happy to state that Mr. Pestaloz has not appealed for help in vain. The Council of Commerce of the Berne Republic, together with many private individuals, have promised to support him, so that there is a reasonable hope of his work being continued. In further explanation of his views, we hope shortly to publish some letters from Mr. Pestaloz, in which will be found many excellent ideas on the rural education of poor children."

The letters thus announced by Iselin, together with notices of the establishment at Neuhof and evidence as to its working, were collected from the Ephemerides, and published by Seyffarth in his complete edition of Pestalozzi's works (vol. viii.). These various documents throw a new light on this attempt to regenerate the working classes, regeneration no

1 Pestalozzi's family often signed Pestaloz or Pestaluz, probably to give their Italian name a termination more in keeping with the language of Zurich.

less needed in many countries to-day. As their length unfortunately does not allow us to give them in full, a short summary must suffice.

First letter to N. E. T. (Undated.)

Pestalozzi points out that the defect of ordinary institutions for the education of poor children is that the children are not brought up consistently with the position that they will probably occupy in after life; they contract habits which they will afterwards have to give up; they do not learn to be satisfied with merely having their most pressing wants supplied; they form no habits of steady application or frugality, because they know that whatever they may do, they cannot want for anything.

Second letter, to the same, January 10th, 1777.

Poor children must be brought up in private establishments where agriculture and industry are combined, and where the living is of the very simplest; they must learn to work steadily and carefully with their hands, the chief part of their time being devoted to this manual work, and their instruction and education being associated with it.

The work of the children must pay for their keep; in this way they will be working for themselves, and their style of living will depend on the success of their work.

But is it possible for children's work to pay for their keep, and if so, under what conditions? Pestalozzi examines this question with the greatest care.

He supposes an establishment receiving children at the age of eight or nine years and keeping them for six years. The first year he would admit twenty-five, the second fifteen, the third fifteen, and so on each year till the total number of a hundred pupils was reached. Then he calculates for each year, on the one hand, the earnings of each child at cottonspinning according to his age, on the other, the expenses of the establishment, and from this calculation it results that after the sixth year the establishment would have paid all its expenses and would be making a clear profit.

Pestalozzi then goes on to say that in his district, agriculture alone will not support all the inhabitants, and has to be supplemented by some form of industry, adapted to the particular conditions of the place. As to agriculture, very

expensive operations are, of course, not possible for the poor; all they can hope for is to have a small piece of land to cultivate, the produce of which will provide for their household wants, and perhaps leave them something to sell. He therefore teaches his children hardly anything but the cultivation of vegetables, in which he finds that they take a great interest; afterwards, having seen how much can be got out of the land by steady and intelligent labour, they will be eager to have some of their own.

Pestalozzi then comes to the religious question. We will here give his own words:

"What a terrible responsibility for the director, who, should he let the children forget their God, their Father, their Saviour, or fail to implant in them the faith in God's revelation, which is our only support in trouble and the hope of the eternal life to which we are called, will surely be made to account for his neglect of these young souls! The director should be, as it were, a father to the children; their progress in application and in wisdom should cause him a father's joy; the daily improvement in their powers, their minds and hearts should raise his own character, and so be his reward; if this were not so, the work would not be worth his trouble and would profit him nothing."

Third letter, to the same.

Neuhof, March 19th, 1777. Pestalozzi here gives an account of the results of his experiment for the past three years; from which he concludes that success in his enterprise is not at all impossible. For instance, it is possible to make the work of the children pay for their maintenance; for the amount both of earnings and expenses has entirely justified his calculations.

It is possible to encourage their growth and keep them strong and well on a very plain and inexpensive diet, for they eat hardly anything but vegetable food; and though they work hard, they are very robust; the strongest go about in summer bareheaded and without shoes or stockings. (Jacobli, the director's only son, is treated in the same way.)

It is possible in a very short time not only to make them moderately good workers, but at the same time to teach them all that it is most necessary for them to know.