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knew so well. Leonard is an honest fellow, full of good intentions, but fond of drink. At one time his love for his wife and children, whose ruin he is causing, induces him to make the best resolutions; at another, the influence of bad companions drags him into evil again. Gertrude, his wife, is an excellent mother, gentle, hard-working, and sensible. By dint of hard work, patience, and perseverance, she saves her family by saving her husband. The bailiff, Hummel, who is also the village innkeeper, is a cunning, unscrupulous man. He takes advantage of his position to get foolish men to his house to drink and run into debt, and then hastens their ruin, that he may grow rich on the spoil. Arner, the new squire, is a man of noble ideas, and a generous heart; it is he who supports Gertrude in her trouble, and baffles the plans of the bailiff.

In Leonard and Gertrude the characters are so admirably drawn that, after having read the book, we seem to know all the personages as well as if we had lived with them. That, however, is not its chief merit. In Pestalozzi's view, this story was only another way of popularizing his ideas, by showing how education can raise the people and make them happy. Into Gertrude's mouth he puts his views as to the method in which children should be taught and made to take part in the work of the home, and he uses Arner to prove how much can be done by a kind and enlightened administration towards helping and improving the moral condition of the poor. But the story is so life-like that the intention to teach never appears.

It is not surprising, then, that the public read it simply as a healthy and interesting novel. Their very praise showed Pestalozzi that he had not yet attained his end. He accordingly wrote another book, intended to show the use that might be made of Leonard and Gertrude in the education of children, and to bring out more clearly the lessons it contained. Its title was: The Instruction of Children in the Home. This book was never printed, either because Pestalozzi was not satisfied with it, or because he foresaw that it would be very little read. Niederer, however, who at one time had the MS. in his possession, afterwards published a part of it in his Notes on Pestalozzi. The first chapter runs as follows:

CHAPTER I.-A man whose heart is good, and who yet makes his wife and children very unhappy.

There is one woman in Bonal who brings up her children better than all the others. Her name is Gertrude (1); her husband, who is a mason (2), is called Leonard (3). They have (4) seven children, who (5) work from morning till evening, and are obedient, good-tempered, clean, careful, and fond of each other. The father's failing (6) is that he often allows himself to be enticed to the inn, where he sometimes acts (7) like a madman.

(8) The village where this family has the misfortune to live has been so demoralized for more than thirty years, that (9) most of the present inhabitants care neither for law nor gospel.

The fault is really (10) due to the late squire, who died a few weeks ago. This (11) man took less interest in his people than (12) in his dogs and game, with the result that (13) there is nothing but misery in his villages, and that they are filled with men who suck the very heart's blood of the people. The worst of these blood-suckers (14) is Hummel, the bailiff of Bonal. His house is full every day (15) of cunning scoundrels, whose sole occupation and amusement it is to lay snares for simple, honest folk, and rob them of their money. They know the good-natured Leonard (16), whom they encourage to drink and gamble, and so deprive him almost daily of the fruit of his toil (17). But he always repents bitterly the next morning, and (18) his heart bleeds when he sees Gertrude and her children without bread (19). He dares not look Gertrude in the face; his eyes fill when he takes one of his children in his arms, and he often weeps bitter tears in secret.

Gertrude is the best wife in the village, but (20) as Leonard cannot resist the seductions of the inn, she and her children (21) are in danger of losing father and cottage, of being separated, and of falling into the direst poverty.

(22) Gertrude sees the extent of the danger, and is sore troubled by it. She cannct forget it for a moment, and when bringing grass from the meadow, or hay from the barn, or when filling her spotless pails with milk, she has always present with her the same terrible thought (23) that meadow, barn, cow, nay, her very cottage may soon no longer be hers.

When (24) her children surround her and nestle to her bosom, her trouble is still greater, and often (25) when her precious little ones are folding their innocent hands in prayer to the Father in heaven, her heart is rent with anguish.

(26) Hitherto, however, she had succeeded in hiding from her children her silent tears, but (27) when, on the Wednesday before Easter, her husband was even later than usual in coming home, she could not restrain her grief. The children noticed her tears, and cried with one accord (28), “Oh, mother, you are crying!" (29) With grief on their faces they clung about her, sobbing aloud in their terror. For the first time the very baby looked into his mother's eyes without smiling, for he saw in them nothing but despair. (30) Gertrude, feeling that her heart must break, burst out into loud sobs, the children weeping with her. (31) At this moment the mason opened the door unperceived, for (32) Gertrude had hidden her face in the bed. (33) The children did not notice him either; they had no eyes for anything but their mother's grief, and clung about her in helpless wonder. And thus their father found them.

(34) God in heaven sees the tears of the afflicted, and puts an end to men's sorrows, and (35) it was this goodness of God that now made Leonard a witness of this most painful scene. (36) As, pale and trembling, he stammered a few broken words, the mother and children became aware of his presence. (37) The children's sobs at once ceased. "Mother, mother," they cried, "here's father come home!" It is thus that when a wild flood or devouring fire ceases its ravages, the first terror subsides, and is succeeded by a dumb, calm sorrow.

QUESTIONS.

(1) What is the name of the woman in Bonal who brings up her children better than all the rest? (2) What is her husband's name? (3) What is he? (4) How many children has he? (5) How do the children behave? (6) What is the father's failing? (7) How does he often act when he is at the inn? (8) What is the state of the village? (9) What is the result of this demoralization? (10) Whose fault is it chiefly? (11) Why is it his fault? (12) What did he consider more than his people? etc., etc.

INSTRUCTIVE TRUTHS.

1. Children who are well brought up are obedient, goodtempered, clean, tidy, and affectionate.

2. In the ale-house men sometimes act like madmen.

3. It is the same with towns and villages as with individuals: demoralization ends in unhappiness.

4. Demoralized men respect neither law nor gospel.

5. The more demoralized a country is, the more is it infested by clever scoundrels whose only occupation and livelihood consists in cheating honest, simple folk out of their money.

6. He who thinks less of his inferiors than of his dogs or preserves, is the cause of much evil in the world, and incurs a grave responsibility.

7. There is a certain kind of repentance which has no reality, and is without effect on men's actions.

8. A bad conscience deprives men of the power of helping themselves.

9. A bad father brings a thousand troubles on his wife and children.

10. When children are good and thoughtful, kind and God-fearing, their troubles cause their parents double pain. 11. God who is in heaven puts an end to man's distress.

Such was the beginning of the great work by which Pestaozzi hoped to show the public that Leonard and Gertrude was not merely a tale, but a popular manual of education for every age.

The author, however, gave up the idea of publishing it, and we cannot help thinking that he was right. But he was anxious to continue the story he had begun with so much success, and in 1783 a second volume of Leonard and Gertrude appeared, in 1785, a third, and in 1787, a fourth.

The fourth volume was dedicated to Felix Battier, a merchant in Basle, by whose help he had been able to continue at Neuhof, after the failure of his first experiments. In this dedication, dated the 1st April, 1787, Pestalozzi expresses himself as follows:

"My friend! you found me a bruised plant by the wayside, and you preserved me from being trodden under foot. Read these pages, and accept my thanks, for my most im

portant views would never have ripened without your help. The burden of my experiences is still heavy upon me. I still have the picture of my work before me, but only as in a dream. As long as I breathe I shall keep my end steadily in view, and shall only be happy in so far as I succeed in realizing the ideas which inspired my first undertakings.”

The four-volume work contains a complete account of the regeneration of the village of Bonal, the result of the combined effects of law, religion, education, and a careful administration. Pestalozzi called it, Leonard and Gertrude: a Book for the People, but "the people" took very little notice of it. The numerous readers of the first volume had enjoyed it simply as a novel, without in the least caring for the lessons it contained. The three other volumes, in which the action is less sustained and less dramatic, and in which educational, economical, and social questions occupy a very large place, had much less success. They had no interest for any but the most thoughtful people, and even thoughtful people found parts of them beyond their comprehension, so far was their author ahead of his time. The reforms he advocated were then felt to be entirely impracticable, and yet most of the great economical and moral improvements of which Switzerland is proud to-day were suggested by Pestalozzi in this book.

We find, for instance, the abolition of commonage, the division of unproductive parish-land, only requiring the care of an owner to become a source of wealth, the redemption of tithes, the institution of savings-banks, the organization of reformatory schools, the abolition of hanging, and, lastly, the establishment of good primary schools, caring no less for moral than material needs. But for some of these reforms Switzerland had to wait thirty years after the publication of Leonard and Gertrude, for others sixty, for others eighty

Count Zinzendorf, the Austrian Minister of Finance, had vainly endeavoured to induce Pestalozzi to go to Vienna. On the 26th of April, 1784, after receiving the continuation of Leonard and Gertrude, he wrote to him as follows:

and

"Your plans and efforts for the education of the poor, the reform of vicious children, and more particularly what

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