gratitude, and from the opposition that his work was exciting amongst the very people on whom he had relied for its support. In spite of his burning faith and courage, he feared at times that this new undertaking, which had filled him with such great hopes, would fail like the rest, and by its failure rob the idea that had engrossed his thoughts for the last thirty years, of all its value for himself, his country, and humanity.

This trouble comes out in the first report that he sent to the minister Rengger, which is dated the 19th of April, 1799, and is couched in these terms:

"Citizen Minister,—

"I know and feel that it is my duty not to leave you without information as to the progress of the institution, but I am oppressed by the weight of the many urgent things to be done, which can be done only by me. Unfortunately, what absorbs my strength is not the essential work of the establishment, but a multitude of minor details. In spite of the success of my efforts hitherto, I am powerless to do all I would, for want of a few paltry kitchen utensils, for which citizen Haas has kept me waiting for a fortnight without even noticing my applications. At the same time political animosity, which is beginning to make itself felt again here, is exercising a fatal influence on the children, and those who ought to try and check this animosity say that this is not the time to make people dissatisfied for the sake of an orphan asylum. I have already accomplished much, and I long for the time to come when you will be able to come and judge for yourself of the good results that have been obtained in an establishment which started amid so many difficulties, and especially of those which may confidently be looked forward to, if the work is continued on the same principles and on the same method. I shall endeavour shortly to draw up a clear account of the money I have received, and shall send it to you. Workmen here are very dear, and there are prejudices which prevent my always doing things in the cheapest manner; but I shall steadily continue to use my best efforts to carry out the objects of the institution as economically as possible.

The hours of work and study are now fixed as follows: from six to eight, lessons; then manual work till four in the

afternoon; then lessons again till eight. The health of the children is excellent. The difficulty of combining work and instruction grows less every day; the children are slowly learning to be orderly, and to apply themselves. You can imagine how much trouble it has taken to bring these neglected little mountain-children as far even as this. We are only the more pleased at having reached our end. Several children have had a sort of bilious, feverish cold, but are now almost well again. I am waiting impatiently for letters from Zurich on the subject of the assistants of both sexes of whom I stand in need; I should be glad, too, to be reassured by hearing that your views coincide with mine.

"Allow me to commend the institution and myself to your kind consideration.

"With respect and gratitude,

"PESTALOZZI."

In spite of everything the undertaking prospered. The children had arrived with sad, troubled faces, with eyes weary and timid, or bold and distrustful, some apathetic, some rebellious. But they had undergone the same transformation as Nature when she revives under the breath of spring, and were now joyful, unrestrained, eager, active, gentle, and kind.

The 24th of May, 1799, was a great day for the institution and its director. On that day Pestalozzi took his whole establishment to Lucerne, where they were welcomed by the Executive Directory, the highest authority in Switzerland, each child receiving a new silver coin worth a little more than a shilling. It is evident from this that the director Legrand had paid little heed to Pestalozzi's de

tractors.

Unfortunately, the institution was near its end. It contained eighty children and was in full prosperity, when, a fortnight after the excursion to Lucerne, unforeseen events made its further existence impossible.

The chances of the war brought the French troops once more into the canton. They had a great number of sick with them, and Zschokke, the Government agent, could find no other place for a hospital but Pestalozzi's orphanage. On the 8th of June, 1799, sixty of the children were sent away, homes being found for them in different families. This left only twenty in the establishment. Under these circum

stances Pestalozzi himself was unwilling to stay. He gave two suits of clothes and a little money to each child who had been sent away, put the furniture in safety in Lucerne, and handed over to Zschokke what money he had left, amounting to rather more than a hundred pounds.

Then, utterly broken down in health, he retired to the Gurnigel for the waters. He had worked far beyond his strength, and was so worn out that he spat blood.

The Directory only heard of these events when they were already accomplished facts, and in its sitting of the 17th of June, 1799, it granted Pestalozzi a small sum of money (about twenty-five pounds) for his services in connection with the Stanz institution.

The orders given by Zschokke, Pestalozzi's departure, and the subsequent final closing of the establishment, blamed by some, approved by others, gave rise to much angry discussion, in which the facts were often considerably strained. For the sake of making known the real truth of the matter, we shall continue to quote from authentic documents.

For instance, Zschokke, in his report to the minister Rengger of the 28th of June, 1799, says:

"I have not closed the Stanz orphanage, that noble monument of Swiss beneficence; I have simply reduced the number of children. Such an establishment deserves to be maintained even amid the troubles of the war; I, at least, will not be the one to suppress it. The large number of soldiers to be lodged, the absence of any place fit for a hospital for the sick and wounded defenders of our country, the anxiety of the parents who, on the approach of the war, asked to be allowed to take their children till the danger had passed, these and a hundred other reasons made it imperative that the numbers of the establishment should be reduced. In accordance with my strict injunctions, no children have been sent away, save those whose parents or friends assured either Pestalozzi or myself that they would be properly looked after for a time. Pestalozzi gave them each a change of clothes, some linen, and a little money. At the present moment there still remain in the establishment twenty-two children of both sexes. Citizen van Matt,1 a

1 Van Matt was a blacksmith.

member of the Stanz municipality, and a kind, fatherly man, has undertaken to superintend the establishment for nothing. He visits it several times a day. The greatest attention is paid to cleanliness and order. The Capuchin friars take turns in teaching the children reading, writing, and religion.

"It is a real pleasure to me to see these little ones in their tidy rooms, with health, joy, and innocence so clearly expressed in their faces. Their appearance alone is reward enough for those who founded the establishment. Here, too, Pestalozzi, by his generous activity, has raised himself a monument which can never be forgotten."

We feel that we ought to supplement the details contained in this report by what Zschokke wrote five years afterwards in his History of the Memorable Facts of the Swiss Revolution, 1804, vol. ii. p. 259:

"One of the first unfortunate consequences of the return of the French to Unterwalden was that, for want of a better place for a hospital, that part of the out-buildings of the women's convent at Stanz in which the noble Pestalozzi was living with his orphans, had to be made over to them. Even if it had been possible to save the orphanage, by putting the sick into one of the crowded houses in the town that had escaped the fire, the military authorities would never have consented to it. Pestalozzi realized this painful necessity, and yielded to it, though not without sorrow.

Van

"With Pestalozzi disappeared the spirit of his teaching. The orphans, however, were still carefully taught, and such matters as order and cleanliness, which had previously been somewhat neglected, received particular attention. Matt deserves the highest praise for the zeal with which he undertook the general superintendence of the establishment. He received valuable help from the parish priest Businger."

On the 4th of July, 1799, the sub-prefect Truttman wrote to Rengger:

"It was only a few days afterwards that I heard of the break up of the Stanz orphanage. It was simply the result of the general terror. There are still twenty-two children in the establishment. For their support, citizen Van Matt

a most honourable man, whom the municipality have made superintendent, has asked me for dried fruits, potatoes, and peas, which I have accordingly sent him. I must ask you, citizen minister, to give me definite instructions as to whether I am to continue to furnish provisions to the establishment, and generally as to what I am expected to do for it."

The same year, in the month of August, Zschokke wrote to the Directory asking that, as the scene of war had once more shifted from Stanz, the orphanage there should be revived and submitted to a thorough reorganization, and that its management should be entrusted to himself and Truttman.

This request was granted, but the thorough reorganization was slow in coming, for on the 16th of September, 1799, Truttman wrote:

"The poor-school now contains forty children, boys and girls, but everything necessary for carrying out the purpose for which it was founded is absolutely wanting. The children are fed, and that is all! "

At last, in October, Zschokke presented his scheme for reorganization, which was little more than a consideration of the best way of providing funds for the institution, so as to make it as small a burden as possible to the national budget. He proposed that the expense should no longer fall upon the Government, but that it should be met partly by the convent estate, and partly by the profits of a cotton mill in which the children would be employed. Of the internal organization, looked at from the intellectual and moral point of view, he said nothing.

In the report which accompanied this scheme, we read:

"There are now thirty-eight children of both sexes in the orphanage. I have made the town-councillor Van Matt inspector. He has hitherto carried out his duties gratuitously. He visits the establishment every day, looks after the accounts, the purchases, the order of the children, etc.

"I have, besides, employed a poor, honest citizen, Remigi Gut, who sleeps in the school, is constantly with the children, and gives them reading and writing lessons four hours a day.