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INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SERIES
THE
EDUCATION OF MAN
i
BY
FRIEDRICH FROEBEL
V «
TEAN8LATED FKOM THE GERMAN AND ANNOTATED BT
W. N. HAILMANN, A. M.
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS AT LA PORTE, INDIANA
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1895
v\'
COPTKIGHT, 1887
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
J ' ' I c 7
EDITOE'S PEEFACE.
This work of Froebel admits us into his philosophy,
and shows us the fundamental principles upon which he
based the kindergarten system. His^reat word is in-
ner connectio7i. There must be an inner connection
between the pupil's mind and the objects which he
studies, and this shall determine what to study. There
must be an inner connection in those objects among
themselves which determines their succession and the
order in which they are to be taken up in the course of
instruction. Finally, there is an inner connection with-
in the soul that unites the faculties of feeling, percep-
tion, phantasy, thought, and volition, and determines
the law of their unfolding. Inner connection is in fact
the law of development, the principle of evolution, and
Froebel is the Educational Keformer who has done more
than all the rest to make valid in education what the
Germans call the " developing method."
Unlike Pestalozzi, Froebel was a philosopher. The
great word of the former is immediate jperception
(anschauen). Pestalozzi struggled to make all educa-
tion begin with immediate perception and abide with it
for a long period. Because, say his followers, sense-
258271
Vi EDITOR'S PREFACE.
perception is the source of all our knowledge. Froebel
and his disciples would defend the great educational re-
former by saying that by beginning with immediate
perception education is sure of arousing the self-activity
of the pupil. Froebel's aim is to educate the pupil
'through his self-activity. This, we see at once, goes
much further than the cultivation of perception. The
pupil unfolds his will-power quite as much as his sense-
perception, and by this arrives in the surest way at think-
ing reason, which is the culmination of self-activity.
The child is to begin with what he can easily grasp.
That is well. But he must also begin with that which
is attractive to him. Tke best of all is to begin with
that activity which, while easy and attractive, leads him
forward, develops all his powers, and makes him
master of himself.
Froebel goes down into the genesis of objects of
study in order to discover the relation of such objects
to the nourishment of mind. The chemists and physi-
ologists have ascertained the relation of bread and meat
to the sustenance of human life. Froebel has investi-
gated the relation of the child's activities in play to the
growth of his mind. The mind grows by self -revelation.
In play the child ascertains what he can do, and dis-
covers his possibilities of will and thought by exerting
his power spontaneously. In work he follows a task
prescribed for him by another, and does not reveal his
own proclivities and inclinations, but another's. In
play he reveals his owrufiriginal power. But there are
two selves in the child — one is peculiar, arbitrary, ca-
pricious, different from all others, and hostile to them,
and is founded on short-sighted egotism. The other
EDITOR'S PREFACE. vij
self is reason, common to all humanity, unselfish and
universal, feeding on truth and beauty and holiness.
Both of these selves are manifested in play. There is
revelation of bad as well as of good. Froebel, accord-
ingly, attempts to organize a system of education that
will unfold the rational self and chain down the irra-
tional. He wishes to cultivate selfhood and repress
selfishness. This must be done, if done effectively, by
the pupil himself. If he does not chain the demon
within him, external constraint will do it, but at the
same time place its chains on the human being who has
permitted his demon to go loose. Self-conquest is the,
only basis of true freedom.
The insights of Froebel into the unfolding of rational .
selfhood have enabled him to organize the method of
infant education to which he, in 1840, gave the name
of " Kindergarten." In the work here presented to the
public, which was published fourteen years before that
date, we have a discussion of the essential ideas which
moved him in his subsequent experiments to discover
the methods and more especially the ajppliances to be
employed in early education.
Pestalozzi uttered the noble sentiment that all should
be educated. All children of men are children of the
same God, and all are born for an infinite career. This
Christian doctrine he construed to mean that all should
receive alike a school education, developing the intellect,
and giving it possession of the power to master the treas-
ures of science — the wisdom of the race. This intellect-
ual education it should have, as well as religious and
moral education and training in a special industrial call-
ing (education in religion, moraUty, and industry had
viii EDITOR'S PREFACE.
long been conceded). Froebel shares Pestalozzi's en-
lightened sentiments, but goes further in the matter of
method. H e invent s an efficient means for securing the
developmelrt of the child between the ages of three and
six years — a period when the child is not yet ready for
the conventional studies of the school — a period when
he is not mature enough for work, and when there is no
temptation on the part of the" parent to employ him at
any labor. The child has, by the beginning of his fourth
year, begun to outgrow the merely family life, and to
look at the outside world with interest. He endeavors
to symbolize life as it appears to him by plays and games.
The parents are unable to give the child within the
house all the education that he needs at this period. He
needs association with other children and with teachers
from beyond the family circle. Froebel's invention is
the happiest educational means for this symbolic epoch
of infancy.
Froebel sees better than other educators tlie true
means of educating the feelings, and especially the re-
ligious feelings. He reaches those feelings that are the
germs of the intellect and will. It must be always borne
in mind that clear ideas and useful deeds exist in the
heart as undefined sentiments before they are born in
the intellect and will.
Froebel is, in a peculiar sense, a religious teacher.
All who read this book on the Education of Man will
see that he is not only full of faith in God, but that his
intellect is likewise illumined by theology. He sees the
worlds of physical nature and human history as firmly
established on a divine unity which to him is no ab-
straction but a creative might and a living Providence.
EDITOR'S PREFACE. ix
God to him is infinite reason. Pestalozzi has the piety
of the heart, while Froebel has also the piety of the in- -^
tellect, which sees God as the principle of truth.
The work before us is divided substantially into two
pai*ts : The first deals with general principles and con-
siders the development of man during infancy and boy-
hood. The second part (beginning with § 60) discusses
the chief subjects of instruction, grouping them under
(1) religion, (2) natural science and mathematics, (3)
language, (4) art.
Especial attention is called to §§ 68-73, wherein the
author deduces the forms of the crystal exhaustively
from the nature of force and space, and makes some
application of it to botany and human development.
This deduction is worthy of the fertile and suggestive
mind of Schelling or Oken. In subsequent sections he
asserts (to our no small surprise) that even mathematics
is the expression of life as such.
But Parts I and II (§§ 1-44) contain the most im-
portant doctrines of the work, and deserve a thorough
annual study by every teacher's reading club in the
land. A good plan for study is to form small classes of
three to eight members, and meet weekly for two hours'
discussion of the text, sentence by sentence. The slower
one goes over the book, the faster grows his original
power of thinking, and his ability to read profound and
difficult writings.
Perhaps the greatest merit of Froebel's system is to
be found in the fact that it furnishes a deep philosophy
for the teachers. Most pedagogic works furnish only \/
a code of management for the school-room. Froebel
gives a view of the world in substantial agreement with
X EDITOR'S PREFACE.
the spiritual systems of pliilosopby that have prevaile»d
in the world. A view of the world is a perpetual stimu-
lant to thought— always prompting one to reflect on the
immediate fact or event before him, and to discover its
relation to the ultimate principle of the universe. It
is the only antidote for the constant tendency of the
teacher to sink into a dead formalism, the effect of too
much iteration and of the practice of adjusting knowl-
edge to the needs of the feeble-minded by perpetual ex-
planation of what is already simple ad nauseam for the
mature intelligence of the teacher. It produces a sort of
pedagogical cramp in the soul for which there is no
remedy like a philosophical view of the world, unless,
perhaps, it be the study of the greatest poets, Shake-
speare, Dante, or Homer. It is, I am persuaded, this
fact — that Froebel refers his principles to a philosophic
view of the world — ^that explains the almost fanatical zeal
of his followers, and, what is far more significant, the
fact that those who persistently read his works are al-
ways growing in insight and in power of higher achieve-
ment.
W. T. Harris.
CoNOOED, Mass., August, 1887.
TEAKSLATOE'S PEEFAOE.
" The Education of Man " appeared in 1826, under
the title : Die MenscKenerzieliung^ die Erzieliungs-
Unterrichts- und LehrJcunst, angestrebt in der allge-
meinen deutschen Erziehungsanstalt zu Keilhau, darge-
stellt V071 dem Vorsteher derselben^ F. W, A. Froehel.
1. Band his zum hegonnenen Knabenalter. Keilhau,
1826. Yerlag der Anstalt. Leipzig in Commission
hei a F. Doerffling. 497 S.^
The very title-page reveals the history of the growth
and development of this remarkable book. Similarly
we read in the expressive countenance of a mature man
or woman the life history of its possessor.
Froebel established the Educational Institute at
Keilhau, a small village of about one hundred inhabit-
ants, in 1817. It was not a business enterprise in any
sense of the word. Yielding to the entreaties of his
widowed sister-in-law, he had given up excellent exter-
* The Education of Man, the Art of Education, Instruction,
and Training, aimed at in the Educational Institute at Keilhau,
written by its Principal, F. W. A. Froebel. Volume I ; to the begin-
ning of Boyhood. Keilhau, 1826. Published by the Institute.
Sold in Commission at Leipzig by C. F. Doerffling. 497 pp.
xii TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE,
nal prospects in Berlin in order to undertake the educa-
tion of her three bojs. To these, two other nephews
were added, and Middendorff had brought a younger
brother of Langethal, who himseK joined the little band
a few months later. Thus the six boys and the three
high-souled men — Froebel, Middendorff, and Lange-
thal — constituted the nucleus of this remarkable enter-
prise, established wholly in the interest of the new
educational ideas of Froebel.
In spite of many difficulties and vicissitudes that
would have discouraged less faithful men, however, the
institute grew even beyond the dimensions originally
planned for it. Froebel had intended to limit it to
twenty-four pupils and the three teachers mentioned,
but circumstances seemed to render it desirable or neces-
sary to admit a greater number of pupils. Possibly
this very success aroused the hostility of low-minded
men, which led to persecution by the Prussian Govern-
ment on political and religious grounds, and the scatter-
ing of the three friends ; and would have submerged
the institute itself had it not been saved by the tact of
Barop, who joined the enterprise in 1823, and assumea
its control in 1833. Froebel himself had left it in
1831.
The persecutions on the part of the Prussian Gov-
ernment induced the local duke to send Superintendent
Zech to inspect the institution. The report of this visit
throws so much light upon the character of Froebel's
work and aims that I translate its essential portions in
this place. He says, among other things :
" Both days which I passed in the institute, almost
as one of its members, as it were, were in every way
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. xiii
pleasant to me, higlilj interesting, and instructive.
Tliey increased and strengthened mj respect for the
institute as a whole, as well as for its director, who up-
held and maintained it amid the storms of care and
w^ant with rare persistence and with the purest and
most unselfish zeal. It is most pleasing to feel the in-
fluence which goes out from the buoyant, vigorous,
free, and yet orderly spirit that pervades this insti-
tution, both in the lessons and at other times.
" I found here what is never seen in actual practical
life, a thoroughly and intimately united family of at
least sixty members, living in quiet harmony, all show-
ing that they gladly perform the duties of their very
different positions ; a family held together by the strong
ties of mutual confidence, and in which, consequently,
every member seeks the interest of the whole, where
all things thrive in joy and love, apparently without
effort.
" With great respect and real affection all turn to the
principal ; the little five-year-old children hang about
his knees, while his friends and assistants hear and
honor his advice with the confidence due to his insight
and experience, and to his indefatigable zeal in the in-
terest of the institution ; and he himself seems to love
in brotherliness and friendship his fellow-workers, as
the props and pillars of his life-work, which to him is
truly a holy work.
" It is evident that a feeling of such perfect har-
mony and unity among the teachers must in every way
exert the most salutary influence on the discipline and
instruction, and on the pupils themselves. The love
and respect in which the latter hold all their teachers is
xiv TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
shown in a degree of attention and obedience that ren-
ders needless ahnost all disciplinary severity. During
the two days I heard no reproving word from the lips
of the teachers, neither in the joyous tumult of inter-
mission nor during the time of instruction ; the merri-
est confusion with which, after instruction, all sought
the play-ground, was free from every indication of ill-
breeding, of rude and unmannerly, and, most of all, of
immoral conduct. Perfectly free and equal among
themselves, reminded of their privileges of rank and
birth neither by their attire nor by their names — for
each pupil is called only by his Christian name — the
pupils, great and small, live in joyousness and serenity,
freely intermingling, as if each obeyed only his own
law, hke the sons of one father ; and while all seem un-
restrained, and use their powers and carry on their plays
in freedom, they are under the constant supervision of
their teachers, who either observe them or take part in
their plays, equally subject with them to the laws of
the game.
"Every latent power is aroused in so large and
united a family, and finds a place where it can exert it-
self ; every inclination finds an equal or similar inclina-
tion, more clearly pronounced than itself, by which it
can strengthen, itself ; but no impropriety can thrive, for
whoever would commit some excess punishes himself,
the others no longer need him, he is simply left out of
the circle. ' ,; If he would return, he must learn to adapt
himself, he must become a better boy. Thus the boys
guide, reprove, punish, educate, cultivate one another
unconsciously, by the most varied incitements to activ-
ity and by mutual restriction.
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. ^
" The agreeable impression of the institution as a
whole is increased bj the domestic order which is
everywhere manifest, and which alone can give co-
herence to so large a family by a punctuality free from
all pedantry, and by a cleanliness which is rarely met in
so high a degree in educational institutions.
" This vigorous and free, yet well-ordered, outer life,
has its perfect counterpart in the inner life of heart and
mind that is here aroused and established. Instruction
leads the five-year- old child simply to find himself, to
differentiate himself from external things, and to dis-
tinguish these among themselves, to know clearly what
he sees in his nearest surroundings, and, at the same
time, to designate it with the right words, to enjoy his
first knowledge as the first contribution toward his
future intellectual treasure. Self-activity of the mind
is the first law of instruction ; . . . slowly, continuous-
ly, and in logical succession it proceeds . . . from the
simple to the complex, from the concrete to the ab-
stract, so well adapted to the child and his needs, that
he learns as eagerly as he plays ; nay, I noticed how the
little children, whose lesson had been somewhat delayed
by my arrival, came in tears to the principal of the in-
stitution and asked ' should they to-day always play and
never learn, and were only the big boys to be taught
to-day ? '
" In the last winter semester the pupils of the high-
est grade of the classical course read Horace, Plato,
Phaedrus, and Demosthenes, and translated Cornelius
Kepos into Greek. On the day of my first visit, when
I looked more closely into the elementary instruction, I
could not suppress the wish that the instruction might
2 y
XVI
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
be sucli in all elementary schools. 'Now, when I in-
spected the classical instruction, which has been in
operation fully only since 1820, I was compelled to ad-
mire the progress and the intense thoroughness of the
school in this short time ; . . . and I was as thoroughly
gratified by the instruction as I was by the discipline.
" My experience was the same as that of all impar-
tial examiners of the institution. Of all strangers who
had visited and inspected the institution, and whose
opinion I heard, none left without being pleased, and
many whom I deem specially competent came away
full of enthusiasm, and fully appreciated the high aim
of the institution, and the perfectly natural method it
follows in order to attain its object as surely and com-
pletely as possible. This object is by no means mere
knowledge, but the free, self -active development of the
mind from within. Nothing is added from without
except to enlighten the mind, to strengthen the pupil's
power, and to add to his joy by enhancing his con-
sciousness of growing power. The principal of the in-
stitution beholds with enthusiasm the nobility that
adorns the mind and heart of the all-sidedly developed
human being ; in the high destiny of such a man he has
found the aim of his work, which is to develop the
whole man, whose inner being is established between
true insight and true religiousness as its poles. Every
pupil is to unfold this from his own inner life, and is to
become in the serene consciousness of his own power
what this power may enable him to become.
" What the pupils know is not a shapeless mass, but
has form and life, and is, if at all possible, immediately
applied in life. Each one is, as it were, familiar with
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. XVli
himself ; there is not a trace of thoughtless repetition
of the words of others, nor of vague knowledge among
any of the pupils. What tliey express they have in-
wardly seen, and is enounced as from inner necessity
with clearness and decision. Even the objections of
the teachers can not change their opinion until they
have clearly seen their error. Whatever they take up
they must be able to think ; what they can not think
they do not take up. Even dull grammar, with its host
of rules, begins to live with them, inasmuch as they are
taught to study each language with reference to the
history, habits, and character of the respective people.
Thus seen, the institution is a gymnasium in the fullest
sense, for all that is done becomes mental gymnastics.
" Happy the children who can be taught here from
earliest school-life (six years) ! If all schools could be
transformed into such educational institutions, they
would send out in a few generations a people intel-
lectually stronger, and, in spite of original depravity,
purer, nobler."
I have reproduced this documentary evidence be-
cause I desired to show that Froebel was not a dreamer
nor an empty enthusiast, but that his " Education of
Man," like all his other writings of this and subsequent
periods, flowed from the fullness of an earnest, practical
life, that struggled in every way to utter itself pro-
ductively, creatively, in full, teeming deeds.
Again, I desired to show once for all that his educa-
tional principles and methods, like his practical educa-
tional activity, were not confined to the earliest years
of childhood, but embraced the entire impressionable
period of human life. It is true, the succeeding vol-
xviii TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
limes of the " Education of Man " were never written ;
not, however, because they were not clear and complete
in Froebel's mind when he gave us his first volume, but
rather because he was too much taken up with efforts to
live them out practically against untold hindrances.
The report of Commissioner Zeh averted, indeed,
the immediate and forcible dissolution of the Keilhau
Institute, but it could not undo the indirect evil effects
of the Prussian persecution. By this the little colony
was reduced to straits that placed book-publishing and
even book- writing beyond the power of its members.
It is true, in the very next year after Commissioner
Zeh's report (in 1826), the first volume appeared. Yet
the institute had not enough popularity left to induce a
publisher to assume the risk of the work, although there
was still enough substance and faith in the little band
to enable it to do this independently.
Immediately after the publication, however, affairs
rapidly grew worse. In 1829 the number of pupils had
been reduced from sixty to five, and in 1831 Froebel
was driven from his post, although the enterprise was
still kept up in the hands of friends.
The greatness of Froebel's soul appears at no time
in a brighter fight than it does in these days of trouble.
On the first day of April, 1829, he wrote : " I look u}X)n
my work as unique in our time, as necessary for it, and
as salutary for all time. In its action and reaction, it
will give to mankind all that it needs and seeks in
every direction of its tendencies and being. I have no
complaint whatever that others should think differently ;
I can endure them ; I even can — as I have proved — live
with them; but I can not have with them the same
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. xix
aim, the same purpose in life. However, this is not
my fault, but theirs ; I do not cut them off, they do it
themselves.''
What high and perfect faith speaks from these
words ! 'No wonder if his contemporaries, still groping
in the darker depths of the valley, failed to see him on
his height, and, still more, to appreciate his higher aspi-
rations. JS'o wonder if even now many, who have
laboriously climbed half way up the eminence, sit down
in weariness and despondency, turn their backs upon
his light, and gaze longingly down upon the rank weeds
that gave* them sustenance below. Poor creatures ! the
light that holds blessedness they contemn because of
their weakness, and the few imperishable rays that
have entered their souls have irretrievably lifted them
out of the darkness they cherish.
It would be a most grateful task to present in this
preface a succinct review of Froebel's great plan of
education ; to show it in its complete unity and perfect
harmony ; to sketch how he receives the almost uncon-
scious child from the hands of the Eternal and leads him
surely and persistently to eager, conscious unity with the
infinite source of life and being — how in earliest child-
hood he kindles the religious sense — the sense of com-
plete, all-sided, responsible kinship with all created
things — and gently fans it into a mighty blaze of uni-
versal good-will — ^how skillfully he enables the child to
gather golden harvests of knowledge and skill from the
burdened fields of experience and life, and again to sow
these in an intensely creative life of unwearied, vigor-
ous well-doing for the sustenance and uplifting of gen-
erations to come — how completely he blends in the
XX TRANSLATOE'S PREFACE.
bosom of a holy family the interests of the individual,
of fellowmen, of mankind, and leads all to an ever-
creative worship of an ever-creative God — how he im-
parj;s to his pupils a thorough knowledge of the inner
connection and oneness of all things, and enables them
to control and handle in life and for life all they know of
life — how, thus, he "tills them with an eager thirst for ever
wider and higher knowledge and with a holy hunger
for ever broader and deeper efficiency in whatever
practical calling may be theirs — and how, by showing
the intrinsic importance and indispensableness of every
calling and occupation, he plants in every human being
the feeling th^ on his efficiency depends the welfare of
the whole, a sense of inner, responsible manhood which
is the measure of true worth in every station of life, a
practical, real Christianity that holds every human be-
ing, as a beloved manifestation of The Man, equally in
the bosom of the Father. To the reader, however, who
will thoughtfully and reverentially peruse the book,
such a review would bring little help, inasmuch as the
book shows all these things more clearly and powerfully
than such a review could do.
In 1836, Froebel, in a remarkable essay on " The Ee-
newal of Life," pointed to the United States of America
as the country best fitted, by virtue of its spirit of free-
dom, true Christianity, and pure family life, to receive his
educational message and to profit thereby. To a large
extent, his prophecy has already been realized. May this
translation help to hasten and strengthen its still further
and fuller realization !
W. N. HAILMANN.
La Porte, Ind., August^ 1887.
ANALYTICAL INDEX.
I. Groundwork of the Whole. — § 1. Universal law; unity;
God. § 2. Destiny and life-work of man ; education defined. § 'd^
Science of education ; theory and practice. § 4. Value of wisdom ;
need of education. § 5. Object of education. § 6. Method of educa-
tion ; law of inverse inference ; misunderstandings. § 7. Originally
passive character of education. § S^Development needs freedom ;
dangers of mandatory education ; proper time for mandatory educa-
tion. § 9. Free self-activity, a requirement of the divine origin of
man. § 10. Human perfection can serve as a model only in spirit.
§ 11. Jesus, as an exemplar, calls for free, self-active development.
§ 12. Faith and insight render the ideal mandatory ; law of opposites
in good education ; education itself must obey law and banish des-
potism. § 13. Teacher and pupil equally subject to the law of right.
§ 14. Law of spiritual development. § 15. Man as a child of God ; as
a child of humanity. § 16. Humanity developed in successive indi-
vidual human beings. § 17. Duty of parents ; destiny of child. § 18.
Trinity of relatpns — unity, individuality, diversity. § 19.* Need of
early educationc self -activity. § 20. Force, the child's first utter-
ance; joy and sorrow ; willfulness; value of small suffering; stage
of infancy; need of adjustment of surroundings; the first smile.
g 21. Sense of community, as first germ of religious spirit ; the
mother's prayer ; value of religious spirit. § 22. Continuity of de-
velopment in the child's life. § 23. Cr'eativeness ; productive work ;
singleness of purpose ; relentlessness of law ; need of industrial work
in education ; temperance.
II. Man in the Period of Earliest Childhood. — § 24. The
child finding his individuality ; agreement between the child's de-
xxii ANALYTICAL INDEX.
velopment and all development ; dawn of reason ; agreement between
the development of the individual and that of the race. § 25. De-
velopment of the senses; law of connection of contrasts. § 26.
Order of the senses. § 27. Muscular development ; standing ; play-
ing with his limbs ; false habits ; need of watchfulness. § 28. Be-
ginning of childhood ; language ; the family. § 29. Importance of
childhood ; play and speech. § 30. Play ; nature of play ; impor-
tance of play ; unity of child and surroundings. § 31. Food of the
child ; simplicity necessary ; dangers of over-stimulation ; food only
for nourishment. § 32. Clothing of the child. § 33. Object of pa-
rental care ; maternal instinct is not sufficient ; sketch of the
mother's work ; arousing self -consciousness ; study of surroundings ;
arousing self -activity : nursery of the " worldly-wise " mother ; arous-
ing the sense of community ; value of rhythmic movements ; spon-
taneous association of ideas. § 34. Learning to stand and walk ;
collecting material. § 35. Studying the material ; seeking the inner
nature; parental indifference crushes development; pernicious in-
fluence of our short-sightedness. § 36. First attempts at drawing ;
finding the chalk ; first sketches ; linear representation. § 37. Prog-
ress of drawing-work; parents need not be artists; need of de-
scriptive words ; word and drawing. § 38. Drawing leads to num-
ber ; development of number-notions ; need of objects. § 39. Wealth
of the child's world. § 40. Helping father and mother; leading
the horse ; attending the goslings ; the little gardener ; the forest-
er's son ; the blacksmith, etc. ; harshness ; fostering independence ;
joy of child-guidance ; development of industry. § 41. Our own
dullness. § 42. " Let us live with our children." § 43. Importance
of speech; importance of inner unity. § 44. Misunderstandings
from nearness of things ; difficulty of self-knowledge ; transition to
boyhood.
III. The Boyhood of Man. — § 45. Boyhood defined; instruc-
tion ; school defined. § 46. Objects of the school. § 47. Will de-
fined ; starting-point ; development of boyhood rests on childhood.
^ 48. Importance of the family ; the family a type of life. § 49.
Transition from play to work; formative instinct; desire to help
the parents ; danger of repulsion ; indolence results ; inquisitiveness ;
love of difficulties ; climbing ; exploring caves ; the garden ; love of
water ; love of plastic material ; building ; sense of proprietorship ;
common endeavor; group-work in school; at the brook; garden-
ing; trials of strength and skill; sense of power; play-grounds;
ANALYTICAL INDEX. xxiii
home-industry ; love of the past ; love of tales and stories ; love of
song ; symbolism of play. § 50. Actual boy-life very different from
this ; causes of difference. § 51. Man essentially good. § 52. Nature
and origin of falsehood ; how to overcome evil with good. § 58. In-
fluence of common sympathy; faults of ignorance; the boy and
the wig ; the boy and the bowl ; the broken window ; the boy and
the pigeon ; how boys are made bad ; false conversion ; the boy and
the beetle ; ravages of harsh words. § 54. Sins against childhood.
§ 55. Seeking unity.
IV. Man as a Scholar or Pupil. — § 56. Aim of the school ; aim
of instruction; the schoolmaster; the faith of boyhood; spirit of
the school ; inner power of boyhood ; playing with this inner power ;
the spirit makes the school. § 57. Need of schools. § 58. What
shall schools teach ? § 59. Mind ; nature ; language.
V. Chief Groups of Subjects of Instruction. — A. Religion
and Religious Instruction. — § 60. Religion defined ; religious instruc-
tion ; assumption of some degree of religion; difficulty of under-
standing original unity } the thinker and the thought ; father and
son ; spiritual unity. § 61. Essence of Christianity ; parental and
filial relations, the key ; Sonship of Jesus ; Christian religion ; three-
fold manifestation of God — unity, individuality, diversity.
B. Natural Science and Mathematics. — § 63. Nature and relig-
ion. § 63. Nature and art ; immortality of the spirit ; nature as
God's work; nature a revelation of God. §64. Importance of na-
ture-study to boyhood; excursions; loss of sensitiveness. § 65.
Nature in inner and outer contemplation. § 66. External view un-
connected. § 67. The boy's desire to find unity : character of force ;
the source of all things. § 68. Definition of force ; force and mat-
ter ; spherical tendency of force. § 69. The sphere ; origin of diver-
sity in form and structure. § 70. Crystallization ; the crystal the
first result of simply active force. § 71. Analogies between human
and crystalline development. § 72. Laws of crystallogenic force ;
the cube; the octahedron; the tetrahedron; the "fall" of the oc-
tahedron ; forms derived from the cube, etc. ; the rhombohedron
and derivative forms ; compound and cumulative forms ; organized
material, j^ 73. Living force ; vegetable and animal forms ; binary
plants ; quinary relations ; relation of animals to plants ; law of op-
position ; law of equipoise. § 74. Man, the first step of spiritual de-
velopment ; evil effects of studying nature fragmentarily. § 75.
Nature, a living organism ; the sun ; technical terms not essential ;
xxiv ANALYTICAL INDEX.
technical knowledge not essential ; mission of colleges ; God erery-
where; natural objects, a Jacob's ladder; number, as guide; cor-
rectness of the boy's instinct ; honest seeking. § 76. Mathematics,
the fixed point for nature-study ; mathematics, a Christian science ;
mathematics, the expression of life, as such ; all forms proceed from
the sphere ; number, form, extent ; mathematics and mind.
C. Language. — § 77. Relation to religion and nature ; their unity.
§ 78. Language defined. § 79. Language, a product of the human
mind; born in consciousness; its mediatory character ; significance
of word-elements ; roots not adventitious ; illustrations of the mean-
ing of letters and sounds. §80. Rhythmic law of language; evil
effects of its neglect ; elocutionary tricks. § 81. Historical develop-
ment of writing; pictorial and symbolic writing; presupposes a
rich life ; satisfies an inner want. § 82. Forms of letters not arbi-
trary; and S. § 83. Reading naturally follows; value of the
alphabet ; the use of letters presupposes knowledge.
D. Art and Objects of Art. — § 84. Art, the representation of
inner life, i^ 85. Its relation to religion, nature, and language ; its
materials ; art, a universal talent ; mediatory character of drawing
and poetry ; Christian art.
VI. Connection between School and Family, and the Sub-
jects OF Instruction it implies. — A. General Considerations. —
§ 86. Union of family and school ; mere extraneous knowledge per-
nicious ; value of the family ; need of soul-training. § 87. Subjects
of study enumerated ; domestic duties and industrial work.
B. Particular Considerations. — a. Cultivation of Religious
Sense. — § 88. Religious instruction, based on sense of community ;
spiritual union of father and son ; religious intuition of boyhood ;
need of religious experience; errors of dogmatism; contemplation
of the tree ; renunciation ; pernicious effect of promising rewards ;
consciousness of duty well done. § 89. Memorizing of religious
maxims; prayer.
b. Knowledge and Cultivation of the Body. — § 90. Respect for the
body; physiology.
c. Nature and Surroundings. — § 91. To be studied in natural
connection ; from the near to the remote ; method and course illus-
trated ; necessary ramifications ; additional illustrations ; natural
history ; physics ; sociology ; objections met.
d. Memorizing Poems. — ^ 92. Memory-gems; song; illustration
of singing-lessons.
ANALYTICAL INDEX. XXV
e. Language- Exercises, based on the Observation of Nature. —
§ 93. Language-exercises and grammatical exercises con^ pared ; illus-
tration of language-exercises ; physics and chemistry ; mathematics ;
additional illustrations.
/. Outward Corporeal Representation. — § 94. Importance of outer
representation; superiority of manual over verbal expression; our
blindness due to false education ; service of God or man ; building ;
tablets ; lines ; character of building-material ; modeling.
g. Drawing in the Network. — § 95. Formation of network ; square
and triangle ; avoid difficulty in work ; size of square ; essentials of
the course ; details of the course ; invention ; needs of the school.
h. Study of Colors and Painting. — § 96. Color and light ; varie-
gation; its significance to boyhood; color and form; essentials of
color-study ; naming the colors ; painting natural objects ; illustra-
tions of lessons.
i. Plays. — g 97. Three kinds of plays ; they imply inner life and
vigor.
j. Stories and Tales. — § 98. Fondness of boys for stories ; legends
and fairy-tales ; love of repetition ; praise of the genuine story-tell-
er ; no need of practical applications and moralizing ; connection of
stories with experience.
k. Excursions and Walks. — § 99. In search of oneness of nature
and life; mountains and valleys ; living things ; observation.
I. Arithmetic. — § 100. Formation, reduction, and comparison of
numbers ; course of instruction indicated.
m. Form- Lessons. — § 101. Outlines of work.
n. Grammatical Exercises. — § 102. They consider the word as
material of representation ; words, syllables, sounds ; suggestions.
0. Writing. — § 103. Suggestions of method.
p. Reading. — § 104. Suggestions of method.
VII. Conclusion. — ^ 105. All-sided development the aim ; objec-
tions met ; creative freedom.
THE EDUCATION OP MAN.
GROUNDWORK OF THE WHOLE.
§ 1. In all things there lives and reigns an eternal
law. To him whose mind, through disposition and
faith, is filled, penetrated, and quickened with the ne-
cessity that this can not possibly be otherwise, as well as
to him whose clear, calm mental vision beholds the
inner in the outer and through the outer, and sees the
outer proceeding with logical necessity from the essence
of the inner, this law has been and is enounced with
equal clearness and distinctness in nature (the external),
in the spirit (the internal), and in life which unites the
two. This all-controlling law is necessarily based on
an all-pervading, energetic, living, self-conscious, and
hence eternal Unity. This fact, as well as the Unity
itself, is again vividly recognized, either through faith
or through insight, with equal clearness and comprehen-
siveness ; therefore, a quietly observant human mind, a
thoughtful, clear human intellect, has never failed, and
will never fail, to recognize this Unity.
This Unity is God. All things have come from the
Divine Unity, from God, and have their origin in the
%'' * '/'' I' ' '! !' ' J''?™' El)UC4TI0N OF MAN.
Divine Unity, in God alone. God is the sole source of
all thiDgs. In all things there lives and reigns the
Divine Unity, God. All things live and have their
being in and through the Divine Unity, in and through
God. All things are only through the divine effluence
that lives in them. The divine effluence that lives in
each thing is the essence of each thing.
§ 2. It is the destiny and life-work of aU things to
unfold their essence, hence their divine being, and,
therefore, the Divine Unity itself — to reveal God in
their external and transient being. It is the special des-
tiny and life-work of man, as an intelligent and rational
being, to become fully, vividly, and clearly conscious of
his essence, of the divine effluence in him, and, there-
fore, of God ; to become fully, vividly, and clearly con-
scious of his destiny and life-work ; and to accomplish
this, to render it (his essence) active, to reveal it in his
own life with self-determination and freedom.
I Education coiuisU in leading 7nan^ as a thinking,
intelligent heing, growing into self -consciousness, to a
pure and unsullied^ conscious and free rejyresentation
of the inner law of Divine Unity, and in teaching him
ways and means thereto.
[In his educational work this principle of life-unity was ever
uppermost in Froebel's mind. The full, clear, consistent translation
of this principle into life, and into the work of education, constitutes
the chief characteristic, as well as the chief merit, of his work.
Viewed in its light, education becomes a process of unification ;
therefore, Froebel frequently called his educational method " devel-
oping, or human culture for all-sided unification of life." In his let-
ter to the Duke of Meiningen he characterizes his tendency in these
words ; " I would educate human beings who with their feet stand
rooted in God's earth, in nature, whose heads reach even into heaven
and there behold truth, in whose hearts are united both earth and
LIFE-UNITY. 3
heaven, the varied life of earth and nature, and the glory and peace
of heaven, God's earth and God's heaven." Still later he said, in the
same vein : " There is no other power but that of the idea ; the iden-
tity of the cosmic laws with the laws of our mind must be recognized,
all things must be seen as the embodiments of one idea." With ref-
erence to the individual human being, this unification of life means
to Froebel harmony in feeling, thinking, willing, and doing ; with
reference to humanity, it means subordination of self to the common
welfare and to the progressive development of mankind ; with refer-
ence to nature, it means a thoughtful subordination to her laws of
development ; with reference to God, it means perfect faith as Froe-
bel finds it realized in Christianity.
It may not be amiss to point out at the very start the essential
agreement between Froebel and Herbert Spencer in this 'fundamental
principle of unification. Of course, it will be necessary in this com-
parison to keep in mind that Froebel applies the principle to educa-
tion in its practical bearings as an interpretation of thought in life,
whereas Spencer applies it to philosophy, as the interpretation of life
in thought. To Spencer " knowledge of the lowest kind is ununified
knowledge; science is partialhj-unified knowledge; philosophy is
completely -unified knowledge." In the concluding paragraphs of
'• First Principles" he. sets forth the "power of which no limit in
time or space can be conceived" as the " inexpugnable consciousness
in which religion and philosophy are at one with common sense,"
and as " likewise that on which all exact science is based." He desig-
nates " unification " as the " characteristic of developing thought,"
just as Froebel finds in it the characteristic of developing life ; and
Spencer's faith in the " eventual arrival at unity " in thought is as
firm as Froebel's faith in the eventual arrival at unity in life. —
Translator.]
§ 3. The knowledge of that eternal law, the insight
into its origin, into its essence, into the totality, the con-
nection, and intensity of its effects, the knowledge of
life in its totality, constitute science^ the science of life /
and, referred by the self-conscious, thinking, intelligent
being to representation and practice through and in
himself, this becomes science of education.
4 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
The system of directions, derived from the knowl-
edge and study of that law, to guide thinking, intelli-
gent beings in the apprehension of their life-work and
in the accomplishment of their destiny, is the theory of
education.
The self-active application of this knowledge in the
direct development and cultivation of rational beings
toward the attainment of their destiny, is thfi jpractice
of education.
The object of education is the realization of a faith-
ful, pure, inviolate, and hence holy life.
Knowledge and application, consciousness and reali-
zation in life, united in the service of a faithful, pure,
holy life, constitute the wisdom ojlife^ pure wisdom.
§ 4. To he wise is the highest aim of man^ is the
most exalted achievement of h^man seK-determina-
tion.
To educate one's self and others, with consciousness,
freedom, and self-determination, is a twofold achieve-
ment of wisdom : it hegan with the iirst appearance of
man upon the earth ; it was manifest with the first ap-
pearance of full self-consciousness in man ; it hegir<s
now to proclaim itself as a necessary, universal require-
ment of humanity, and to be heard and heeded as such.
With this achievement man enters upon the path which
alone leads to life ; which surely tends to the fulfillment
of the inner, and thereby also to the fulfillment of the
outer, requirement of humanity ; which, through a faith-
ful, pure, holy life, attains beatitude. ^
§ 5. By education, then, the divine essence of man
should be unfolded, brought out, lifted into conscious-
ness, and man himself raised into free, conscious obedi-
AIM OF EDUCATION. 5
ence to the divine priDciple that lives in him, and to a
free representation of this principle in his life.
Education, in instruction, should lead man to see and
know the divine, spiritual, and eternal principle which
animates surrounding nature, constitutes the essence of
nature, and is permanently manifested in nature ; and,
in living reciprocity and united with training, it should
express and demonstrate the fact that the same law rules
both (the divine principle and nature), as it does nature
and man. ^''^^^^-
JMi^ication^^a^^aj^hole^^^ of instruction and
training, should bring to man's consciousness, and re^n^er
efficient J n h is lifejj :h^ fact that man and joature pro-
ceed froia ^od and are cQiLditimiad-J}y_him — that both
have their being in God.
Education should l9kd and guide mam. to clearness
concerning himself and in himself j to jpeace with nOr
tuTP'^ and to unity with God / hence, it should lift him
to a knowledge of himself and of mankind, to a knowl-
edge of God and of nature, and to the pure and holy
life to which such knowledge leads.
§ 6. In all these requirements, however, education
is based on considerations of the innermost.
The inner essence of things is recognized by the in-
nermost spirit (of man) in the outer and through out-
ward manifestations. The inner being, the spirit, the
divine essence of things and of man, is known by its
outward manifestations. In accordance with this, all
education, all instruction and training, all life as a free
growth, start from the outer manifestations of man and
things, and, proceeding from the outer, act upon the
inner, and form its judgments concerning the inner.
6 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
JS'evertlieless, education should not draw its inferences
concerning the inner from the outer directly, for it lies
in the nature of things that always in some relation in-
ferences should be drawn inversely. Thus, the diversity
and multiplicity in nature do not warrant the inference
of multiplicity in the ultimate cause — a multiplicity of
gods — nor does the unity of God warrant the inference
of finality in nature ; but, in both cases, the inference
lies conversely from the diversity in nature to the oneness
of its ultimate cause, and from the unity of God to an
eternally progressing diversity in natural developments.
The failure to apply this truth, or rather the contin-
ual sinning against it, the drawing of direct inferences
concerning the inner life of childhood and youth from
certain external manifestations of life, is the chief cause
of antagonism and contention, of the frequent mistakes
in life and education. This furnishes constant occasion
for innumerable false judgments concerning the motives
of the young, for numberless failures in the education of
children, fo;r endless misunderstanding between parent
and child, for so much needless complaint and unseemly
arraignment of children, for so many unreasonable de-
mands made upon them. Therefore, this truth, in its
application to parents, educators, and teachers, is of
such great importance that they should strive to render
themselves familiar with its application in its smallest
details. This would bring into the relations between
parents and children, pupils and educators, teacher and
taught, a clearness, a constancy, a serenity which are now
sought in vain : for the child that seems good outwardly
often is not good inwardly, i. e., does not desire the good
spontaneously, or from love, respect, and appreciation ;
PASSIVE EDUCATION. 7
similarly, the outwardly rough, stubborn, self-willed
child that seems outwardly not good, frequently is tilled
with the liveliest, most eager, strongest desire for spon-
taneous goodness in his actions ; and the apparently in-
attentive boy frequently follows a certain fixed line of
thought that withholds his attention from all external
things.
§ 7. Therefore, education in instruction and train-
ing, originally and in its first principles, should neces-
sarily be passive^ following (only guarding and pro-
tecting), not prescriptive^ categorical^ interfering.
[This should in no way be interpreted as a pretext for letting
the child alone, giving him up wholly to his own so-called self-
direction, allowing him possibly to drift into vicious lawlessness in-
stead of training him upward into free obedience to law. Froebel,
indeed, sees in the child a fresh, tender bud of progressing hu-
manity, and it is with reference to the divinity that to him lies in
the child thus viewed that he calls for passive following and vigi-
lant protection. He would have the educator study the child as a
struggling expression of an inner divine law; and it is this he would
have us obey and follow, guard and protect, in our educational
work. It is evident that this involves constant activity in judicious
adjustment of surroundings, so that the child may be free from
temptation and from the growth of unhealthy whims and pernicious
tendencies ; while, on the other hand, he may be supplied with ample
incentives and opportunities to unfold aright.
Spencer says, with the same thought : " A higher knowledge
tends continually to limit our interference with the processes of
life. As in medicine, etc., ... so in education, we are finding that
success is to be achieved only by rendering our measures subservient
to that spontaneous unfolding which all minds go through in their
progress to maturity." — Tr.]
§ 8. Indeed, in its very essence, education should
have these characteristics; for the undisturbed opera-
tion of the Divine Unity is necessarily good — can not be
8 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
otherwise than good. This necessity implies that the
r young human being — as it were, still in process of crea-
■ tion — would seek, although still unconsciously, as a
product of nature, yet decidedly and surely, that which
is in itself best; and, moreover, in a form wholly
adapted to his condition, as well as to his disposition,
his powers, and means. Thus the duckling hastens to
the pond and into the water, while the young chicken
scratches the ground, and the young swallow catches
its food upon the wing and scarcely ever touches the
ground. IS^ow, whatever may be said against the pre-
viously enounced law of converse inference, and against
this other law of close sequence, as well as against their
application to and in education, they will be fully vin-
dicated in their simplicity and truth among the genera-
tions that trust in them fully and obey them.
(/^^ We grant space and time to young plants and ani-
mals because we know that, in accordance with the
laws that live in them, they will develop properly and
grow well ; young animals and plants are given rest,
and arbitrary interference with their growth is avoided,
because it is known that the opposite practice would
disturb their pure unfolding and sound development ;
but the young human being is looked upon as a piece
of wax, a lump of clay, which man can mold into
what he pleases^V' O man, who roamest through garden
and field, through meadow and grove, why dost 'thou
close thy mind to the silent teaching of nature ? Be-
hold even the weed, which, grown up amid hindrances
and constraint, scarcely yields an indication of inner
law ; behold it in nature, in field or garden, and see
how perfectly it conforms to law — what a pure inner
ACTIVE EDUCATlUxV. 9
life it shows, harmonious in all parts and features : a
beautiful sun, a radiant star, it has burst from the earth !
Thus, O parents, could your children, on whom jou force
in tender years forms and aims against their nature,
and who, therefore, walk with you in morbid and un.
natural deformity — thus could your children, too, un-
fold in beauty and develop in all-sided harmony !
In accordance with the laws of divine influence,
and in view of the original soundness and wholeness of
man, all arbitrary (active), prescriptive and categorical,
interfering education in instruction and training must,
of necessity, annihilate, hinder, and destroy. Thus —
to take another lesson from nature — the grape-vine
must, indeed, be trimmed ; but this trimming as such
does not insure wine. On the other hand, the trim-
ming, although done with the best intention, may wholly
destroy the vine, or at least impair its fertility and pro- v
ductiveness, if the gardener fail in his work passively )
and attentively to follow the nature of the plant. In
the treatment of the things of nature we very often
take the right road, whereas in the treatment of man
we go astray ; and yet the forces that act in both pro-
ceed from the same source and obey the same law.
Hence, from this point of view, too, it is so important
that man should consider and observe nature.
l^ature, it is true, rarely shows us that unmarred
original state, especially in man ; but it is for this reason
only the more necessary to assume its existence in every
human being, until the opposite has been clearly shown ;
otherwise that unmarred original state, where it might
exist contrary to our expectation, might be easily im-
paired. If, however, there is unmistakable proof from
10 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
Lis entire inner and outer bearing that the original
wholeness of the human being to be educated has been
marred, then directly categorical, mandatory education
in its full severity is demanded.
On the other hand, however, it is not always possi-
ble, and often difficult, to prove with certainty that the
inner being is marred ; at least, this applies to the
point, the source in which the marring originates and
whence it derives its tendency. Again, the last essen-
tially infallible criterion of this lies only in the human
being himself. Hence, from this point of view, too,
education in training and in all instruction should be
by far more passive and following than categorical and
prescriptive ; for, by the full application of the latter
mode of education, we should wholly lose the pure, the
sure and steady progressive development of mankind —
i. e., the free and spontaneous representation of the
divine in man, and through the life of man, which, as
we have seen, is the ultimate aim and object of all edu-
cation, as well as the ultimate destiny of man.
Therefore, the purely categorical, mandatory, and
prescriptive education of man is not in place before
'^' the advent of intelligent self-consciousness, of unity in
life between God and man, of established harmony and
community of life between father and son, disciple and
master ; for then only can truth be deduced and known
from insight into the essential being of the whole and
into the nature of the individual.
Before any disturbance and marring in the original
wholeness of the pupil has been shown and fully de-
termined in its origin and tendency, nothing, therefore,
is left for us to do but to bring him into relations and
V
SELF-ACTIVITY. H
surroundings in all respects adapted to him, reflecting •
his conduct as in a mirror, easily and promptly reveal-
ing to him its effects and consequences, readily disclosing
to him and others his true condition, and affording a
minimum of opportunities for iujury from the out-
breaks and consequences of his inner failings.
§ 9. The prescriptive, interfering education, indeed,
can be justified only on two grounds : either because it
teaches the clear, living thought, seK-evident truth, or
because it holds up a life whose ideal value has been
established in experience. But, where self-evident, liv-
ing, absolute truth rules, the eternal principle itself
reigns, as it were, and will on this account maintain a
passive, following character. For the living thought, the
eternal divine principle as such demands and requires
free self -activity and self-determination on the part of
man, the being created for freedom in the image of God. ,
[Self-activity, in Froebel's sense of the word, implies not merely
that the learner shall do all himself, not merely that he will be bene-
fitted only by what he himself does : it implies that at all times Jiis
whole self shall he active, that the activity should enlist his entire
self in all the phases of being. The law of self-activity demands
not activity alone, but all-sided activity of the whole being, the
whole self.
There is much difference between the self -activity of Pestalozzl
and that of Froebel. The former has reference more to acquisitive
or learning processes that fill the memory with little that bears di-
rectly on mental expansion ; it is much concerned with long lists of
names, verbal facts and formulas, recitation, and with imitation even
in reading, writing, singing, and drawing. Froebel's self-activity ap- |
plies to the whole being; it would have all that is in the child self-
actively growing, simultaneously and continuously. He looks upon
the child as an individuality distinctly separated from all other in-
dividualities that make up the universe, but^with an all-sided in-
stinctive yearning for unification with these, with points eager for
12 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
contact in all directions of being, and his self-activity applies to
these outward tendencies, to doing in its widest sense, as much as it
does to the inward tendencies, or to seeing in its widest sense.
Froebel, consequently, lays more stress than Pestalozzi on spon-
taneity of action, on the adaptation of all activities to the child's
power, and on the full, whole-hearted, sympathetic, active co-opera-
tion of the teacher, whom he urges " to live (to learn and do) with
the children."
Froebel's self-activity is necessarily coupled with joy on the
part of the child. To him joy is the inward reaction of self-activity.
Here, too, he is closely followed by Spencer, who asks that " through-
out youth, as in early childhood and maturity, the process (of intel-
lectual education) shall be one of self-instruction " ; and " that the
mental action induced by this process shall be throughout intrin-
sically grateful."
It is a matter of great regret that Spencer, who seems to be quite
familiar with Pestalozzi, was unacquainted with Froebel's work.
What a weapon of strength Froebel's thoughts and suggestions
would have proved in Spencer's hands ! — TV.]
§ 10. Again, a life wliose ideal value has been per-
fectly established in experience never aims to serve as
model in its form, but only in its essence, in its spirit.
It is the greatest mistake to suppose that spiritual, hu-
man perfection can serve as a model in its form. This
accounts for the common experience that the taking of
such external manifestations of perfection as examples,
instead of elevating mankind, checks, nay, represses, its
development.
§ 11. Jesus himself, therefore, in his life and in his
teachings, constantly opposed the imitation of external
perfection. Only spiritual, striving, living perfection
is to be held fast as an ideal ; its external manifestation
— on the other hand — its form should not be limited.
The highest and most perfect life which we, as Chris-
tians, behold in Jesus — the highest known to mankind —
y ' MANDATORY IDEAL. 13
is a life wliicli found the primordial and ultimate reason
of its existence clearly and distinctly in its own being ;
a life which, in accordance with the eternal law, came
from the eternally creating All-Life, self-acting and self-
poised. This highest eternally perfect life itself would""
have each human being again become a similar image
of the eternal ideal, so that each again might become a
similar ideal for himself and others ; it would have each
human being develop from within, self-active and free,
in accordance with the eternal law. This is, indeed, the
problem and the aim of all education in instruction and
training ; there can and should be no other. We see,
then, that even the eternal ideal is following, passive, in
its requirements concerning the form of being.
§ 12. Nevertheless, in its inner essence (and we see
this in experience), the living thought, the eternal spirit-
ual ideal, ought to be and is categorical and mandatory
in its manifestations : and we see it, indeed, sternly
mandatory, inexorable, and inflexible, but only when the
requirement appears as a pronounced necessity in the
essence of the whole, as well as in the nature of the in-
dividual, and can be recognized as such in him to whom
it is addressed ; only where the ideal speaks as the or-
gan of necessity, and, therefore, always relatively. The
ideal becomes mandatory only where it supposes that
the person addressed enters into the reason of the re-
quirement with serene, child-like faith, or with clear,
manly insight. It is true, in word or example, the ideal
is mandatory in all these cases, but always only with
reference to the spirit and inner life, never w^ith refer-
ence to outer form.
In good education, then, in genuine instruction, in\
14 THE EDUCATION OF MAN. -
true training, necessity should call forth^ freedom ; law,
self-determination ; external compulsion, inner free-
will ; external hate, inner love. Where hatred brings
forth hatred ; law, dishonesty and crime ; compulsion,
slavery ; necessity, servitude ; where oppression de-
:.«troys and debases ; where severity and harshness give
rise to stubbornness and deceit — all education is abort-
ive. In order to avoid the latter and to secure the for-
mer, all prescription should be adapted to the pupil's
nature and needs, and secure his co-operation. This is
the case when all education in instruction and training, in
spite of its necessarily categorical character, bears in all
details and ramifications the irrefutable and irresistible
impress that the one who makes the demand is himself
strictly and unavoidably subject to an eternally mhng
law, to an unavoidable eternal necessity, and that, there-
fore, all despotism is banished.
§ 13. All true education in training and instruction
should, therefore, at every moment, in every demand
and regulation, be simultaneously double-sided — giving
and_jtaking^jinitin£ and dividing, prescribing and fol-
lowing, active and passive, positive yet giving scope,
firm and yielding; and the pupil should be similarly
conditioned: but between the two, between educator
and pupil, between request and obedience, there should
invisibly rule a third something, to which educator
and pupil are equally subject. This third something
is the Tight^ the hest^ necessarily conditioned and ex-
pressed without arbitrariness in the circumstances. The
calm recognition, the clear knowledge, and the serene,
I cheerful obedience to the rule of this third something
is the particular feature that should be constantly and
CONTROLLING LAW. 15
clearly manifest in the bearing and conduct of the edu-
cator and teacher, and often firmly and sternly empha-
sized by him. The child, the pupil, has a very keen
feeling, a very clear apprehension, and rarely fails to
distinguish, whether what the educator, the teacher, or
the father says or requests is personal or arbitrary, or
whether it is expressed by him as a general law and ne-
cessity.
§ 14. This obedience, this trustful yielding to an
unchangeable third principle to which pupil and teacher
are equally subject, should appear even in the smallest
details of every demand of the educator and teacher.
Hence, the general formula of instruction is : Do this
and observe what follows in this particular case from
thy action^ and to what Jcnowledge it leads thee. Simi-
larly, the precept for life in general and for qyqyj one
is : Exhibit only thy spiritual essence^ thy life, in the
external, and by means of the external in thy actions,
and observe the requirements of thy inner being and its
nature.
Jesus himself charges man in and with this precept
to acknowledge the divinity of his mission and of his
inner life, as well as the truth of his teaching ; and this
is, therefore, the precept that opens the way to the
knowledge of all life in its origin and nature, as well as
of all truth (see § 23).
This explains and justifies, too, the next require-
ment, and indicates, at the same time, the manner of its
fulfillment : The educator, the teacher, should make the
individual and particular general, the general par-
ticular and individual, and elucidate both in life / he
should make the external internal, and the internal ex-
IQ THE EDUCATION OF MAK
ternal, and indicate the necessary unity of hoth ; he
should consider the finite in the light of the infinite^
and the infinite in the light of the finite, and harmonize
hoth in life / he should see and perceive the divine es-
sence in whatever is human, trace the nature of man to
God, and seek to exhibit both within one another in life
(see § 25).
This appears from the nature of man the more
clearly and definitely, the more distinctly and unmis-
takably, the more man studies himself in himself, in the
growing human being, and in the history of human de-
velopment.
§ 15. Now, the representation of the infinite in the
finite, of the eternal in the temporal, of the celestial in
the terrestrial, of the divine in and through man, in
the life of man by the nursing of his originally divine
nature, confronts us unmistakably on every side as the
only object, the only aim of all education, in all instruc-
tion and training. Therefore man should be viewed
from this only true standpoint immediately with his ap-
pearance on earth ; nay, as in the case of Mary, imme-
diately with his annunciation, and he should be thus
heeded and nursed while yet invisible, unborn.
"With reference to his eternal immortal soul, every
human being should be viewed and treated as a mani-
festation of the Divine Spirit in human form, as a
pledge of the love, the nearness, the grace of God, as a
gift of God. Indeed, the early Christians viewed their
children in this light, as is shown by the names they
gave them.
Even as a child, every human being should be
viewed and treated as a necessary essential member of
MAN'S RELATIVITY. 17
humanity ; and therefore, as guardians, parents are re-
sponsible to God, to the child, and to humanity.
Similarly, parents should view their child in his ne-
cessary connection, in his obvious and living relations
to the present, past, and future development of human-
ity, in order to bring the education of the child into
liarmony with the past, present, and future require-
ments of the development of humanity and of the race
(see § 24). For man^ as such, gifted with divine, earth-
ly, and human attributes, should he viewed and treated
as related to God, to nature, and to humanity; as com-
prehending within himself U7iity (God), diversity (na-
ture), and individuality (humanity), as well as also the
present, past, and future (see §§ 18, 61).
§ 16. Man, humanity in man, as an external mani-
festation, should, therefore, be looked upon not as per-
fectly developed, not as fixed and stationary, but as
steadily and progressively growing, in a state of ever-
living development, ever ascending from one stage of
culture to another toward its aim which partakes of the
infinite and eternal.
It is unspeakably pernicious to look upon the de-
velopment of humanity as stationary and completed,
and to see in its present phases simply repetitions and
greater generalizations of itself. For the child, as well
as every successive generation, becomes thereby exclu-
sively imitative, an external dead copy — as it were, a
cast of the preceding one — and not a living ideal for
its stage of development which it had attained in human
development considered as a whole, to serve future
generations in all time to come. Indeed, each succes-
sive generation and each successive individual human
18 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
being, inasmuch as he would understand the past and
present, must pass through all preceding phases of hu-
man development and culture, and this should not be
done in the way of dead imitation or mere copying, but
in the way of living, spontaneous self-activity (see § 24).
Every human being should represent these phases spon-
taneously and freely as a type for himself and others.
For in every human being, as a member of humanity
and as a child of God, there lies and lives humanity as a
whole ; but in each one it is realized and expressed in a
wholly particular, peculiar, personal, unique manner ;
and it should be exhibited in each individual human
being in this wholly peculiar, unique manner, so that
the spirit of humanity and of God may be recognized
ever more clearly and felt ever more vividly and dis-
tinctly in its intinity, eternity, and as comprehending
all existing diversity.
Only this exhaustive, adequate, and comprehensive
knowledge of man and of the nature of man, from
which diligent search derives spontaneously, as it were,
all other knowledge needful in the care and education
of man — only this view of man, from the moment of
his conception, can enable true, genuine education to
thrive, blossom, bear fruit, and ripen.
[Herbert Spencer, in his " Education," states this less broadly
in these words: '-The education of the child must accord both in
mode and arrangement with the education of mankind as considered
historically ; or, in other words, the genesis of knowledge in the in-
dividual must follow the same course as the genesis of knowledge in
the race." He attributes the enunciation of this doctrine to M.
Comte. Inasmuch as M. Corate published the first volume of his
" Positive Philosophy " in 1830, and Froebel issued his " Education
of Man " in 1826, the question of priority is easily settled. How-
ever, the thought was in the atmosphere of that period, it would
MAN'S DESTINY. 19
be easy to show traces of it in Pestalozzi, in Richter and Goethe, in
Kant and Hegel, and certainly in Herbart ; Froebel himself clearly
foreshadows it in writings from the years 1821 and 1822. (See, also,
note, § 24.)— Tr.]
§ 17. From tliis all that parents should do before
and after the annnn elation follows readily, clearlj, and
unmistakably — to be pure ano[ true in word and deed,
to be filled and penetrated with the worth and dignity
of man, to look upon themselves as the keepers and
guardians of a gift of God, to inform themselves con-
cerning the mission and destiny of man as well as con-
cerning the ways and. means for their fulfillment. Now,
the destiny of the child as such is to harmonize in his
development and culture the nature of his parents, the
fatherly and motherly character, their intellectual and
emotional drift, which, indeed, may lie as yet dormant
in both of them, as mere tendencies and energies.
Thus, too, the destiny of mem as a child of God and of
nature is to represent in harmony and unison the
spirit of God and of nature, tlie natural and the divine,
the terrestrial and the celestial, the finite and the in-
finite. Again, the destiny of the child as a member of
the family is to unfold and represent the nature of the
family, its spiritual tendencies and forces, in their har-
mony, all-sidedness, and purity ; and, similarly, it is the
destiny and mission of man as a memher of humanity
to unfold and represent the nature, the tendencies and i
forces, of humanity as a whole.
§ 18. Now, although the nature of the parents and
of the family as a whole may still lie concealed in
them, unrecognized even in its dimmest foreshado wings,
it will be developed and represented most purely and
20 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
perfectly by the children, if each unfolds and repre-
sents his own being, as perfectly, purely, and univer-
sally as possible ; and, on the other hand, as much as
possible in accordance with his own individuality and
personality. Thus, too, the spirit of God and of hu-
manity — although as yet concealed and unrecognized —
is revealed most purely and perfectly by man as a child
of God and of humanity as a whole, if he unfolds and
represents his own being as much as possible in accord-
ance with his individuality and personality. This is
done if man develops and perfects himself in that man-
ner and according to that law by which all things are
developed and perfected, have been developed and per-
fected, and which is supreme wherever Creator and
creature, God and nature, are found ; if man in his life
reveals his being in inner and outer unity ; in individ-
uality^ pure and perfect, in all individual outward re-
actions ; in diversity so far as all he does and all that
proceeds from him has diverse relations. Only and
alone in this threefold, yet in itself one and united^ rep-
resentation, is the inner being perfectly shown, mani-
fested, and revealed. Wherever one phase of this three-
fold representation is really lacking, or, indeed, only
imperfectly known or understood, we find imperfect,
incomplete representation — imperfect, hindering insight.
Only in this way each thing is manifested and revealed
in its unity, all-sidedly, and in accordance with its nature ;
only by the recognition and application of this triune
representation of each thing whose nature is to be com-
pletely manifested and revealed, can a true knowledge
of each thing, a true understanding of its nature, be
reached (see §§ 16, 61),
OPERATION OF FORCE. 21
§ 19. Therefore the child should, from the very
time of his birth, be viewed in accordance with his na- ^y
ture, treated correctly, and given the free, all-sided use ;
of his powers. By no means should the use of certain
powers and members be enhanced at the expense of
others, and these hindered in their development ; the
child should neither be partly chained, fettered, nor
swathed ; nor, later on, spoiled by too much assistance.
The child should learn early how to lind in himself the
center and fulcrum of all his powers and members, to
seek his support in this, and, resting therein, to move
freely and be active, to grasp and hold with his own
hands, to stand and walk on his own feet, to find and
observe with his own eyes, to use his members symmet-
rically and equally. At an early period the child should
learn, apply, and practice the most difficult of all arts —
to hold fast the center and fulcrum of his life in spite
of all digressions, disturbances, and hindrances.
§ 20. The child? s first iiUerance is that of force.
The operation of force, of the forceful, calls forth coun-
ter-force ; hence the first t^rying of the child, his push-
ing with his feet against whatever resists them, the
holding fast of whatever touches his little hands.
Soon after, and together with this, there is developed
in the child sympathy. Hence his smile^ his enjoy-
ment, his delight, his vivacity in comfortable warmth,
in clear light, in pure, fresh air. This is the beginning
of self-consciousness in its very first germs.
Thus the first utterances of the child — of human
life — are rest and unrest, joy and sorrow, smiles and
tears.
Kest, joy, and smiles indicate whatever in the child's
4
22 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
feeling is adapted to the pure, undisturbed development
of his nature, of his human nature, to the child's life,
to human life in the child. To foster and guard these
should be the first concern of all educating influences,
of life-development, life-elevation, and life-representa-
tion.
Unrest, sorrow, tears, indicate in their first appear-
ance whatever is opposed to the development of the
child, of the human being. These, too, should be con-
sidered in education ; it should strive and labor to find
their cause or causes, and to remove them.
In the very first — but generally only in the very
first — manifestations of fretting, restlessness, and cry-
ing, the child is unquestionably wholly free from stub-
bornness and willfulness ; but, as soon as the little one
feels — we know not how and in what degree — that he
is left arbitrarily or from negligence or indolence to
whatever may give him discomfort or pain, these faults
begin to germinate.
Whenever this unfortunate feeling has been, as it
were, inoculated, willfulness, the first and most hideous
of all faults, has been begotten — nay, is born — a fault
that threatens to destroy the child and his surroundings,
and which can scarcely be banished without injury to
some trait of his better nature ; a fault that soon becomes
the mother of deceit, of falsehood, defiance, obstinacy,
and a host of subsequent sad and hideous faults.
However, in choosing the right way, too, we may err
in the manner and form of proceeding.
In accordance with the spirit and destiny of hu-
manity, man should be trained to learn, by the endurance
of small, insignificant sufiering, how to bear heavy suf-
EARLIEST INFANCY. 23
fering and burdens that threaten destructionj If, then,
parents or attendants are firmly and surely convinced
that all the fretting, restless child may need at the time
has been supplied — that all that is or can be injurious
has been removed-Rhey should calmly and quietly
leave the fretting, restless, or crying child to himself ;_j
calmly give him time to find himself. } For, if the little
one has once or repeatedly compelled sympathy and
help from others in illusbry suffering or slight discom-
fort, parents and attendants have lost much, almost all,
and can scarcely retrieve their loss by force ; for the
little ones have so keen a sense, so correct a feeling for
the weaknesses of attendants, that they would rather
put forth their native energy in the easier way of con-
trol of others — for. which the weakness of attendants
gives them the opportunity — than to exercise and culti-
vate it in themselves, in patience, endurance, and ac-
tivity.
At this stage of development the young and grow-
ing human being is called Sdugling (suckling), and this
he is in the fullest sense of the word ; for sucking m
(absorbing) is as yet the almost exclusive activity of the
child. Does he not, indeed, suck in (absorb) the con-
dition of surrounding human beings ? Therefore, the
above-named manifestations — his smiles and frettings —
remain as yet wholly within himself, are as yet the di-
rect, undifferentiated concomitants of that activity.
At this stage the human being absorbs and takes in
only diversity from without; he s — augt j his whole
being is, as it were, only an appropriating Auge.^ For
* This is a play upon the words saugen (to suck) and Auge (eye), by
which Froebel desires to emphasize the statement that, at this stage, the
24: THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
this reason even this first stage of development is of
the utmost importance for the present and later life of
the human being. It is highly important for man's
present and later life that at this stage he absorb noth-
ing morbid, low, mean; nothing ambiguous, nothing
bad. The looks, the countenances of attendants should,
therefore, be pure ; indeed, every phase of the surround-
ings should be firm and sure, arousing and stimulating
confidence, pure and clear : pure air, clear light, a clean
room, however needy it may be in other respects. For,
alas! often the whole life of man is not sufficient to
efface what he has absorbed in childhood, the impres-
dons of early youthy^simply because his whole being,
lil^ a large eye, as it were, was opened to them and
wholly given up to them. Often the hardest struggles
of m2in with himself ,Jind even the later most adverse
and oppressive events in his life, have their origin in
this stage of development ; for this reason the care of
the infant is so important.
Positive testimony to this can be borne by mothers
who have nursed some of their children themselves,
have relegated the nursing of others to attendants, and
have observed both in later life. Similarly, mothers
also know that the first smile of the child marks a very
definite epoch in the child's life and development ; that
it is the expression, at least, of the first physical finding-
of-self (Sich-Selhst-Jindens), and may be much more.
For that first smile originates not only in the physical
feeling of his individuality, but in a still higher physical
feeling of community between mother and child ; then
almost exclusive activity of the child is to take in hosts of impressions
through the senses, of which the e//e is the chief one, — Tr.
ESSENCE OF RELIGION. 25
with father and brothers and sisters ; and, later, between
these and humanity on the one hand and the child on
the other.
§ 21. This feeling of community, first uniting the
child with mother, father, brothers, and sisters, and rest-
ing on a higher spiritual unity, to which, later on, is
added the unmistakable discovery that father, mother,
brothers, sisters, human beings in general, feel and know
themselves to be in community and unity with a higher
principle — with humanity, with God — this feeling of
community is the very first germ, the very first begin-
ning of all true religious spirit, of all genuine yearning
for unhindered unification with the Eternal, with God.
Genuine and true, living religion, reliable in danger and
struggles, in times of oppression and need, in joy and
pleasure, must come to man in his infancy; for the
Divine Spirit that lives and is manifest in the finite, in
man, has an early though dim feeling of its divine ori-
gin ; and this vague sentiment, this exceedingly misty
feeling, should be fostered, strengthened, nurtured, and,
later on, raised into full consciousness, into clear appre-
hension.
It is, therefore, not only a touching sight for the
quiet and unseen observer, but productive of eternal
blessings for the child, when the mother lays the sleep-
ing«infant upon hi& couch with an intensely loving, soul-
ful look to their heavenly Father, praying him for
fatherly protection and loving care.
It is not only touching and greatly pleasing, but
highly important and full of blessings for the whole
present and later life of the child, when the mother,
with a look full of joy and gratitude toward the heav-
26 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
enly Father, and thanking him for rest and new vigor,
lifts from his couch the awakened child, radiant with
joyous smiles ; nay, for the whole time of the related
life between child and mother this exerts the happiest
influence. Therefore, the true mother is loath to let
another put the sleeping cJiild to bed, or to take from it
the awakened child.
The child thus cared for by his mother is well-condi-
tioned in a human, earthly, and heavenly point of view.
Prayer gives peace ; ^ through God man rests in God,
the beginning and end of all created things.
If father and mother would give to their children,
as the choicest portion for life, this never-failing hold,
this ever-steady point of support, parent and child must
ever be in intimate inner and outer unity, when in
prayer — in the silent chamber or in open nature — they
feel and acknowledge themselves to be in union with
their God and Father. Let no one say, " The children
will not understand it," for thereby he deprives them
of their greatest good. If only they are not already
degenerate, if only they are not already too much
estranged from themselves and their parents, they un-
derstand it, and will understand it : they understand it
not through and in the thought, but through and in the
heart. Religious spirit, a fervid life in God and with
God, in all conditions and circumstances of life and of
the human mind, will hardly, in later years, nse to full
vigorous life, if it has not grown up with man from his
infancy. On the other hand, a religious spirit thus fos-
tered and nursed (from early infancy) will rise supreme
* Gehet hettet — literally, prayer gives a bed — another of Froebel's plays
on ^'ords. — Tr.
CONTINUITY OF GROWTH. 27
in all storms and dangers of life. This is the fruit of
earlier and earliest religious example on the part of the
parents, even when the child does not seem to notice it
or to understand it. Indeed, this is the case with all
living parental example (see § 60).
§ 22. ]N^ot only in regard to the cultivation of the
divine and religious elements in jnan, but in his entire
cultivation, it is highly important that his development
should proceed continuously from one point, and that
this contmuous progress be seen and ever guarded.
Sharp limits and definite subdivisions within the con-
tinuous series of the years of development, withdrawing
from attention the permanent continuity, the living con-
nection, the inner living essence, are therefore highly
pernicious, and even destructive in their influence.
Thus, it is highly pernicious to consider the stages of
human development — infant, child, boy or girl, youth
or maiden, man or woman, old man or matron — as really
distinct, and not, as life shows them, as continuous in
themselves, in unbroken transitions ; highly pernicious
to consider the child or boy as something wholly differ-
ent from the youth or man, and as something so distinct
that the common foundation {human heing) is seen but
vaguely in the idea and word, and scarcely at all con-
sidered in life and for life. And yet this is the actual
condition of affairs ; for, if we consider common speech
and life as it actually is, how wholly distinct do the
child and the boy appear ! Especially do the later stages
speak of the earlier ones as something quite foreign,
wholly different from them ; the boy has ceased to see
in himself the child, and fails to see in the child the
boy ; the youth no longer sees in himself the boy and
28 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
the child, nor does he see in these the youth — with
affected superiority he scorns them ; and, most perni-
cious of all, the adult man no longer hnds in himself
the infant, the child, the boy, the youth, the earlier
stages of development, nor in these the coming adult
man, but speaks of the child, the boy, and the youth as
of wholly different beings, with wholly different natures
and tendencies.
These definite subdivisions and sharp limitations
► have their origin in the want of early and continuously
growing attention to the development and self -observa-
tion of his own life. It is possible only to indicate, but
not to point out in their full extent, the unspeakable
mischief, disturbance, and hindrance in the development
and advancement of the human race, arising from these
subdivisions and limitations. Suffice it to say that only
rare inner force can break through the limits set up
around the human being by those who influence him.
Even this can be accomplished only by a violent effort
that threatens to destroy, or, at least, to check and dis-
turb, other phases of development. Therefore, there is
throughout life somewhat of violence in the actions of
a man who has done this at any stage of his develop-
ment.
How different could this be in every respect, if par-
ents were to view and treat the child with reference
to all stages of development and age, without breaks
and omissions ; if, particularly, they were to consider
the fact that the vigorous and complete development
and cultivation of each successive stage depends on the
vigorous, complete, and characteristic development of
each and all preceding stages of life I Parents are espe-
CONTINUITY OF GROWTH. 29
cially prone to overlook and disregard this. When the
human being has reached the age of boyhood, they look
upon him as a boy; when he has reached the age of
youth or manhood, they take him to be a youth or a
man. Yet the boy has not become a boy, nor has the
youth, become a youth, by reaching a certain age, but
only by having lived through childhood, and, further
on, through boyhood, true to the requirements of his
mind, his feelings, and his body ; similarly, adult man
has not become an adult man by reaching a certain age,
but only by faithfully satisfying the reg^uirements of his
childhood, boyhood, and youth. Parents and fathers,
in other respects quite sensible and efficient, expect not
only that the child should begin to show himself a boy
or a youth, but, more particularly, that the boy, at least,
should show himself a man, that in all his conduct he
should be a man, thus jumping the stages of boyhood
and youth. To see and respect in the child and boy
the germ and promise of the coming youth and man is
very diflEerent from considering and treating him as if
he were already a man ; very different from asking the
child or boy to show himself a youth or man ; to feel,
to think, and to conduct himself as a youth or a man.
Parents who ask this overlook and forget that they
themselves became mature and efficient only in so far
as they lived through the various stages in natural suc-
cession and in certain relationships which they would
have their child to forego (see § 28).
This disregard of the value of earlier, and particu-
larly of the earliest, stages of development with refer-
ence to later ones, prepares for the future teacher and
educator of the boy difficulties which it will be scarcely
30 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
possible to overcome. In tlie first place, the boy so con-
ditioned has also a notion that it is possible for him to
do wholly without the instruction and training of the
preceding stage of developmeut; in the second place,
he is much injured and w^eakened by having placed be-
fore himself, at an early period, an extraneous aim for
imitation and exertion, such as preparation for a certain
calling or sphere of activity. Tlie child^ the hoy, man,
\indeed, should know no other endeavor hut to he at every
\stage of development wholly what this stage calls for.
jThen will each successive stage spring like a new shoot
from a healthy bud; and, at each successive stage, he
will with the same endeavor again accompHsh the re-
quirements of this stage : for only the adequate develop-
ment of man at each preceding stage can effect and
bring about adequate development at each succeeding
later stage.
§ 23. It is especially needful to consider this in the
development and cultivation of human activity for the
pursuits of practical industry.
At present the popular notions of work and the pur-
suits of practical industry are wholly false, superficial,
untenable, oppressive, debasing, devoid of all elements
of life.
God creates and worhs productively in uninter-
rupted continuity. Each thought of God is a work, a
deed, a product ; and each thought of God continues to
work with creative power in endless productive acti^aty
to all eternity. Let him w4io has not seen this behold
Jesus in his life and works ; let him behold genuine life
and work in man ; let him, if he truly lives, behold his
own life and work.
CREATIVENESS. 31
The Spirit of God hovered over chaos, and moved
it ; and stones and plants, beasts and man took form
and separate being and life. God created man in hiA
own image ; therefore^ man should create and hringj
forth like God. His spirit, the spirit of man, should\
hover over the shapeless, and move it that it may take
shape and form, a distinct being and life of its own.
This is the high meaning, the deep significance, the
gi-eat pm-pose of work and industry, of productive and
creative activity. We become truly godHke in dili-
gence and industry, in working and doing, which are
accompanied by the clear perception or even by the
vaguest feeling that thereby we represent the inner in
the outer; that we give body to spirit, and form to
thought ; that we render visible the invisible ; that we
impart an outward, finite, transient being to life in the
spirit. Through this godlikeness we rise more and
more to a true knowledge of God, to insight into his^
Spirit ; and thus, inwardly and outwardly, God comes
ever nearer to us. Therefore, Jesus so truly says in
this connection of the poor, " Theirs is the kingdom of
heaven," if they could but see and know it and practice
it in diligence and industry, in productive and creative
work. Of children, too, is the kingdom of heaven ;
for, unchecked by the presumption and conceit of adults,
they yield themselves in childlike trust and cheerful-
ness to their formative and creative instinct (see § 49). . ^
[How deeply Froebel valued the creative activity, and how con- *
stantly he studied to keep it from degenerating into destnictive-
ness, appears from the account of " a visit to Froebel," by Bormann.
He writes, in speaking of the building-games : " Two things seemed
to me particularly interesting and significant. Froebel never per-
mitted the children to destroy an old form built by them for the
32 THE EDUCATIOX OF MAN.
sake of building a new one with the same material, but insisted that
the new formations should be made (by suitable changes) from the
old ones. Thus he avoids haste, and awakens thoughtfulness and
patience, and, on the other hand, inspires respect for existing things,
and teaches at an early period not to build from the ruins of de-
stroyed things, but to build up in an orderly manner from the
things that are." — Tr.]
The debasing illusion that man works, produces,
creates only in order to preserve his body, in order to
secure food, clothing, and shelter, may have to be en-
dured, but should not be diffused and propagated. Pri-
.y marily and in truth man works only that his spiritual,
X ^ divine essence may assume outward form, and that
■ thus he may be enabled to recognize his own spiritual,
divine nature and the innermost being of God. What-
ever food, clothing, and shelter he obtains thereby
comes to him as an insignificant surplus. Therefore
Jesus says, " Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven," i. e.,
the realization of the divine spirit in your life and
through your life, and whatever else your finite life
may require will be added unto you.
Again, Jesus says, "My meat is to do the will oi
him who sent me," to work and accomplish whatever
God has enjoined me to do and as he has enjoined me
to do.
Thus the lilies of the field — which, in the ordinary
human sense, do not toil — are clothed by God more
splendidly than Solomon in all his glory. But does
not the lily put forth leaves and blossoms ; does it not
in its whole outward being reveal the inner being of
God?
The fowls of the air, in a human sense, neither sow
nor toil, but do they not in their song, in the building
"THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN." 33
of their nests, in all their manifold and varied actions,
reveal the spirit and life which God has put into them ?
And God feeds and keeps them.
Thus should man learn from the lilies of the field
and from the fowls of the air to reveal in his outward
work and deeds — however small and trifling, or great
and weighty they may be at the time — the spirit that
God has breathed into him, as place and time, po-
sition or calling in life may require. Then his suste-
nance will take care of itself. God will show him a
hundred ways ; his intelligence will surely always indi-
cate to him within himself or in his surroundings one
way or means — and what more does he need ? — to sat-
isfy his earthly necessities. And if all about him should
fail him, he has left within himself — not only undimin-
ished, but, indeed, developed in a higher degree — the
divine power of allaying want by patient endurance.
Now, all spiritual effects as finite manifestations sup-
pose a succession of time and events. If, therefore, at
any time in his life man has neglected to respect in the
use of his powers their divine nature and to exalt them
to work, or, at least, to develop them for work, lie will
necessarily and unavoidably be overtaken by want in
proportion to his neglect. At least, he will not, at
some time, reap what he could have reaped, had he, in
the use of his powers, in his calling, always respected
their divine nature ; for, in accordance with the earthly
and universal laws under which we live, the results of
that neglected activity would have appeared at some
time. Now, if the activity was neglected, how can its
results appear ? If, then, at any time such want over-
take him, man has no other alternative than to let the
34 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
second side of his spiritual power, renunciation and
endurance, come into plaj in order to allay the want,
and to labor most diligently in order to avoid all similar
want for the future.
The young, growing human being should, therefore,
jbe trained early for outer work, for creative and pro-
ductive activity. For this there exists a double reason,
an inner and an outer requirement ; and the former, in-
asmuch as it includes the latter, is of the greatest im-
portance and eternal. The requirement is supported,
too, by the nature of man as such (see § 87).
The activity of the senses and limbs of the infant is
the first germ, the first bodily activity, the bud, the
first formative impulse; play, building, modeling are the
first tender blossoms of youth (see § 30) ; and this is the
period when man is to be prepared for future industry,
diligence, and productive activity, ffivery child, boy,
and youth, whatever his condition or position in life,
should devote daily at least one or two hours to some
serious activity in the production of some definite ex-
ternal piece of work. "Lessons through and by work,
through and from \iie,Are by far the most impressive
and intelligible, and most continuously and intensely
progressive both in themselves and in their effect on the
learner. ^Notwithstanding this, children — mankind, in-
deed — are at present too much and too variously con-
cerned with aimless and purjooseless pursuits, and too
little with work. Children and parents consider the
activity of actual work so much to their disadvantage,
and so unimportant for their future conditions in life,
that educational institutions should make it one of their
most constant endeavors to dispel this delusion. \\The
RELIGION, INDUSTRY, TEMPERANCE. 35
domestic and scholastic education of our time leads
children to indolence^nd laziness; a vast amount of
human power thereby remains undeveloped and is lost.
It would be a most wholesome arrangement in schools
to establish actual working hours similar to the existing
study hours ; and it will surely come to this. By the
current practice of using his powers so sparingly and
in reference only to outer requirements, man has lost
their inner and outer measure, and, therefore, fails
adequately to know, appreciate, respect, and faithfully
guard them.
As for religion, so, too, for industry^ early cultivation
is highly important. Early work, guided in accordance
with its inner meaning, confirms and elevates religion.
Religion without industry, without work, is liable to be
lost in empty dreams, worthless visions, idle fancies.
Similarly, work or industry without religion degrades
man into a beast of burden, a machine. Work and re-
ligion must be simultaneous ; for God, the Eternal, has
been creating from all eternity. Were this fully recog-
nized, were men thoroughly impressed with this truth,
were they to act and work in conformity to it in life,
what a height could mankind soon attain !
Yet human power should be developed, cultivated,
and manifested, not only in inner repose, as religion and
religious spirit ; not only in outward efficiency, as work
and industry ; but also — withdrawing upon itself and its
own resources — in abstinence, temperance, and frugality.
Is it needful to do more than indicate this to a human
being not wholly at variance with himself? Where
religion^ industry, and temperance, the truly undivided
trinity, rule in harmony, in true pristine unity, there,
36 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
indeed, is heaven upon earth— peace, joy, salvation,
grace, blessedness.
Thus is seen in the child man as a whole ; thus the
unity of humanity and of man appears in childhood ;
thus the whole future activity of man has its germs in
the child. And it can not be otherwise. If we would
develop man and in him humanity as a whole, we must
view him even in the child as a unit and in all his
earthly relations. Now, since unity in the finite mani-
festations implies diversity, and since all all-sidedness
in the finite manifestations impHes a succession in time,
the world and life are unfolded for the child and in the
child in diversity and succession. Similarly, powers
and tendencies, the activities of the senses and limbs,
should be developed in the order in which they appear
in the child.
[Froebel's demand for manual training in education has been
adopted quite generally. However, the utterances of this need relate
largely to industrial considerations. It is claimed that the chiefly
literary character of school education does not meet the demands of
the world's industrial interests ; that there is a dearth of talent and
skill in industrial pursuits, and a consequent excess of applicants for
the learned professions and for commercial and clerical work ; that
labor is shunned as degrading, instead of being sought as ennobling ;
and that consequently pauperism and crime, as the results of enforced
idleness, are on the increase.
There is much force in these claims, and, unquestionably, man-
ual training will do much to meet the evils they disclose. Yet the
need of manual training as an educational factor lies deeper — in the
demand for full, all-sided development in all relations of life. In
this sense manual training is as much a need of the professional and
literary man, of the merchant and clerk, of the capitalist and land-
owner, as it is of the artist and artisan, of the laborer and farmer;
as much a need of woman as it is of man : its need rests on the im-
manent being of man more than on a transient industrial need.
MANUAL TRAINING. 37
It has long been conceded that experience, and, primarily, direct
personal experience, furnishes the material for human insight and
conduct. Until quite lately, however, the school has recognized this
fact only in the in-leading processes of intellectual growth, which
are now largely based on direct personal contact with things and
life. In the out-leading processes of intellectual growth, in the ex-
pression of ideas, the school is still satisfied with words and ignores
the value of things ; it recognizes, indeed, the debt of gratitude the
intellect owes to the reflex influence which comes from efforts to
formulate knowledge in words, but neglects the plastic expression of
ideas by the hands which hold to their formulation in words the
same relation that things hold to symbols in impression.
Thus, in the study of the cube, the child will probably first see
the cube, handle it, use it in his plays, and thus gain many notions
concerning its shape. These may be expressed in words, and plas-
tically in clay. Both modes of expression will react favorably upon
the child's idea of the shape ; but the efforts at plastic representation
will be found much more effectual in clearing the idea of inaccura-
cies and imperfections. . At every step the child has opportunities to
compare the representation of his idea with the idea and with the
original, to correct faults and to supply omissions.
While, therefore, this manual training gives skill for industrial
pursuits, and lifts work to a high place in the respect and gratitude
of the child, it supplies imperative needs of permanent self-expansion
as no other educational agency can do. Of course, this manual train-
ing should adapt the material of work to the capacities and needs of
the little workers, so that it may yield readily to their limited skill,
adapt itself without worry to their aims, and thus secure for manual
expression an automatism similar to that of speech. Again, the ex-
ternal products of this manual training are more symbolical than
practical — the real product lies in the child. In this it passes beyond
mere industrial training, whose products are chiefly practical and
external. Similarly, this manual training would lead beyond the
mere artisanship of industrial training to true creative art.
With proper guidance this systematic manual training becomes
the most powerful agency in securing for the pupil the habit of suc-
cess, a calm sense of power, a firm conviction of mastership, which
are so essential to fullness of life, and almost indispensable to the
success of the school.
That Froebel, in his recommendations of the school workshop,
5
38 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
was guided by these larger views, appears from his announcement of
the Volkserziehungsanstalt at Helba, a project which he, unfortu-
nately, never realized. This announcement was made in 1829, in the
full flush of the hopes kindled in Froebel's breast by the recently
won favor of the Duke of Meiningen. In the announcement he writes :
*' The institution will be fundamental, inasmuch as in training and
instruction it will rest on the foundation from which proceed all
genuine knowledge and all genuine practical attainments ; it will
rest on life itself and on creative effort, on the union and interde-
pendence of doing and thinking, representation and knowledge, art
and science. The institution will base its work on the pupil's per-
sonal efforts in work and expression, making these, again, the foun-
dation of all genuine knowledge and culture. Joined with thought-
fulness, these efforts become a direct medium of culture ; joined with
reasoning, they become a direct means of instruction, and thus make
of work a true subject of instruction."
Froebel proposed to devote the forenoon to instruction in the
current subjects of school study, and the afternoon to work in the
field, the garden, the forest, in and around the house. His list of
occupations comprised the preparation of wood for the kitchen and
the furnace ; the making of simple wooden kitchen utensils ; the
weaving and binding of mats for the table and for the floor ; the
binding of books and the ruling of slates and practice-paper ; the
making of a variety of collections of objects of nature and art, and of
suitable boxes for these objects ; the care of the garden, the orchard,
the field ; the plaiting of straw mats for the hot-beds, and basket-
making ; the care of pigeons, chickens, ducks, etc. ; the preparation
of artistic and geometrical forms with paper in folding, cutting, and
mounting, pricking, weaving, interlacing, etc. ; the use of paste-
board in the making of stars, wheels, boxes, napkin-rings, card-
baskets, lamp-shades, etc. ; play with splints, tablets, sticks and peas ;
the whittling of boats, windmills, water-wheels, etc. ; the making of
chains and baskets from flexible wire ; modeling with clay ; draw-
ing and painting ; and many other things.
Froebel's project failed ; yet much of the seed he had scattered
broadcast had fallen on good soil. A stray grain had taken root in
distant Finland, where, in 1866, Cygnaeus, an ardent admirer of
Froebel, introduced slojd (wood-work) as an obligatory branch of in-
struction in the schools of his countiy. The success of Finland
aroused Sweden, and brought support to Clausen-Kaas in Denmark.
SCHOOL WORKSHOPS. 39
In 1875 this man was invited by admirers of Froebel to visit Dresden
to bring to them a gospel which Germany is gradually recognizing
as the neglected gift of one of her own sons. In the mean while the
thought had found an earnest advocate in Dr. Schwab, at Vienna,
through whose vigorous agitation Austria-Hungary is dotted all
over with school gardens and school workshops ; and in 1882 France
decreed that in her common schools " boys and girls shall devote two
or three hours per week to instruction in manual work {travaux
manuehy
In the further special directions for carrying out this law in the
schools of France, the following points are of interest : Boys from
seven to nine years old are to be instructed in manual exercises to
develop manual dexterity, in cutting geometrical figures from paste-
board, in basket-making, in modeling geometrical figures and simple
objects ; boys from nine to eleven years old are to be taught the
manufacture of pasteboard articles to be covered with glazed paper,
in bending iand plaiting iron wire, in the manufacture of objects
from wire and wood (e. g., bird-cages), in the modelfng of architect-
ural ornaments, in the use of the commonest tools ; boys from eleven
to thirteen years old have practice in drawing and modeling, in the
use of tools for working in wood (planes, saws, simple joints, turn-
ing-lathes), and in the use of the file and other tools for smoothing
metal casts and working in iron.
In all these cases the educational influence of work as a crea-
tive and expressional activity constitutes the chief consideration.
They look to the establishment of true school workshops, i. e., work-
shops that serve the purposes of the school, which cejiter in the ade-
quate development of the physical and psychical powers of a com-
plete human being, destined to the mastership of inner and outer life.
They differ in this respect from manual training-schools, technical
schools, industrial schools of all names, whose specific aim is prepa-
ration for efficiency in engineering or industrial pursuits. Of
course, in the latter, too, the work will not be without educational
influence, but this is a secondary consideration of little moment
compared with the specific objects of the schools in question.
Schools of this character existed in all the countries named' above
long before the introduction of the school workshop as an adjunct
of the common school. — Tr.l
II.
MAN m THE PERIOD OF EARLIEST CHILD-
HOOD.
§ 24. Although in itself at all times made up of tlie
same objects and of the same organization, the external
world comes to the child at first out of its void — as it
were, in misty, formless indistinctness, in chaotic confu-
sion — even the child and the outer world merge into
each other. At an early period there come, too, on the
part of the parents, corresponding words which at first
separate the child from the outer world, but afterward
reunite them. With the help of these words, these
objects present themselves, at first singly and rarely, but
later in various combinations and more frequently, in
their self-contained fixed individuahty. At last man —
the child — beholds himself as a definite individual ob-
ject, wholly distinct from all others.
Thus, in the mind of man, in the history of his
mental development, in the growth of his consciousness,
in the experience of every child from the time of his
appearance on earth to the time when he consciously
beholds himself in the garden of Eden, in beautiful na-
ture spread out before him, there is repeated the history
of the creation and development of all things, as the
/
MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 41
holy books relate it. Similarly, in each child there is
repeated at a later period the deed which marks the
beginning of moral and human emancipation, of the
dawn of reason — essentially the same deed that marked,
and, inasmuch as the race was destined for freedom,
must mark, the moral and human emancipation, the
dawn of reason in the race as a whole.
Every human being who is attentive to his own de-
velopment may thus recognize and study in himself the
history of the development of the race to the point it
may have reached, or to any fixed point. For this pur-
pose he should view his own hfe and that of others at
all its stages as a continuous whole, developing in ac-
cordance with divine laws. Only in this way can man
reach an understanding of history, of the history of
human development as well as of himself, the history
and phenomena, the events of his own development,
the history of his own heart, of his own feelings and
thoughts ; only in this way can he learn to understand
others ; only in tliis way can parents hope to understand
their child (see § 16).
[Of course, this is to be taken in a general sense. Froebel's idea
is not that each human being must imitate the various phases of
human.development from savagery to present civilization, and labori-
ously wade through the grossness, ignorance, and wickedness of past
generations to the refinement, culture, and good-will of our day.
Froebel's thought is, rather, that the various instincts and tenden-
cies of life are developed in each human being in the same general
order in which we find them developed in humanity as a whole.
This is amply illustrated in the pages of this work, and needs no ad-
ditional elucidation. (See also note, § 16.) — Tr.}
§ 25. To make the internal external, and the exter-
nal internal, to find the unity for both, this is the gen-
42 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
eral external form in which man's destiny is expressed
(see § 14). Therefore, every external object comes to
man with the invitation to determine its nature and re-
lationships. For this he has his senses, the organs that
enable him to meet that invitation. This is exhaustively
indicated in the word S-inn (sense), or self -active mter-
nalization.*
Every thing and every being, however, comes to be
known only as it is connected with the opposite of its
kind, and as its unity, its agreement with this opposite,
its equation with reference to this is discovered; and
the completeness of this knowledge depends upon the
completeness of this connection with the respective
opposite, and upon the complete discovery of the con-
necting thought or link.
[The law of the connection of contrasts Froebel designates vari-
ously as the law of development and as the law of unification. To
Fichte and Hegel this is a law of mere thought ; to Froebel it is
more a law of life. In a letter to Krause, written in 1828, he states
this quite clearly in these words : " I see the simple course of devel-
opment progressing from analysis to synthesis, which appears in
pure thought, also in the development of every living thing." When,
in 1850, Poesche and Benfey in his presence compared this law
with Fichte's law of the idealistic constitution of things, and with
Hegel's dialectic method, he said : " It is both of these, and yet has
nothing in common with either of them ; it is the law which the
contemplation of nature has taught me, and which I offer to chil-
dren to guide them in their development." The high place it occu-
pied in his life he revealed to Diesterweg in 1849 : " The pantheistic
view of life belongs to the past : we see no longer an inseparable
One, but a Three. Trinity has become a corner-stone which people
had rejected because they did not understand its meaning. To
eyes that can see, the trinity of God is manifest in all his works. Do
* A play on the word Sinn and ^elbsthatige iKS-erUchmachung (sense
and self-active internalization). — Tr.
LAW OF CONTRASTS.
43
we not everywhere see the Three in contrasts and their connection?
And where do we find absolute contrasts, contrasts (opposites) that
have not somewhere or somehow a connection ? In action and re-
action the contrasts that we see everywhere give rise to the motions
in the universe as they do in the smallest organism. This implies
for all development a struggle, which, however, sooner or later will
find its adjustment; and this adjustment is the connection of con-
trasts resulting in harmony among all the parts of the whole." A
comparatively concise statement of the principal applications of this
law in education will be found in the italicized words near the close
of § 14,
A favorite external illustration of this law Froebel finds in his
Second Gift, consisting of the ball, cube, and cylinder. The ball
and cube are clear contrasts ; they represent the one and the many
(in the faces), rest and motion, straight and curved. They find their
connection in the cylinder, which has one curved face on which it
moves, and many (two) straight faces on which it rests. In his Ham-
burg lectures of 1849 he furnishes the following systematic presenta-
tion of all development, in which (— ) designates fixed or constant,
and (+) fluid or variable elements, and (±) the connection of the
two:
Nature.
Matter.
I
Spirit.
I
±
Development.
Development of macrocosm.
Development
of the
inorganic world.
I I
— +
Absolute Air and
earthy water
matter
(solid).
(fluid).
Chemical com-
bination.
(Life of the
inorganic world.)
Development
of the
organic world.
1
De-
veloped
earthy-
matter.
I
+
Light
and
heat.
I
±
Growth.
Development of microcosm.
Development
of the body.
Development
of the mind.
1
Impres-
sion
(action)
from the
outer
world.
I
I
+
Reaction
of the
organ-
ism.
I
Impression
(action)
of the
organism
(experience
—sensation).
Reaction
of the
mind
(feeling—
know-
ing).
I
±
Central life-
Self- mobility.
I
±
Will— Action-
Conduct.
44
THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
Mind.
Development
of experience.
1 I
I
±
Percept.
Development
of knowledge.
Impression Fixing Per-
f rom of the cept.
without, impression.
Abstrac-
tion.
Concept-idea.
Development
of peace.
Contem-
plation.
Faith.
Development
of feeling.
i
I
+ — +
Belief. Peace. Joy.
±
Freedom.
In a highly instructive paper on this subject, Dr. Hohlfeld gives
the following account of contrasts and their mediation or connec-
tion:
In their quality, the terms of a contrast are either both affirma-
tive (contrary), such as man and woman, science and art, God and
world, or only one of the terms is affirmative, the other negative
(contradictory), such as yes and no, ego and non-ego, good and not-
good. The latter exist only in abstraction ; the contradictory con-
trast simply comprehends in a convenient fashion the sum of all the
contrary contrasts of a given idea. Thus the non-ego comprehends
all existence with the exception of the ego.
In their direction, the terms of a contrast are either rigJit or
oblique. Of these the former are either co-ordinate or sub-ordinate.
Nature and mind, man and woman, art and science are co-ordinate
contrasts. In the contrast of Grod and world, whole and part, body
and member, the second term is subordinate to the first. Man and
animal, animal and plant, science and a particular art, are oblique
contrasts.
In tiieir modality, contrasts are temporal, eternal, or combine
the two.
The " mediation," or connection, of contrasts is either direct or
indirect (true " mediation "), and the former is eitlier more external
or more internal. Examples of more external direct contrasts we
have in the combination of a horizontal and vertical line into a right
angle or a right cross, and in the juxtaposition of blue and red.
Examples of more internal contrasts we have in the slanting line
which partakes of both the horizontal and vertical direction, in the
mixture of blue and red into violet, in the combination of sulphur
and mercury into cinnabar. These inner direct connections are ex-
cellent "mediating" links between the simple terms of the con-
ORDER OF SEXSES. 45
trasts. Thus, slanting mediates between horizontal and vertical,
violet between blue and red, etc. — Tr.]
§ 26. The objects of the external world present
themselves to man in a more or less solid, liquid, or
gaseous condition. Accordingly, man finds himself en-
dowed with senses that apprehend more or less fully
the solid, liquid, or gaseous conditions.
Again, every object comes to man in a state of pre-
dominating rest or motion ; and, accordingly, each of
these senses is again distributed between two distinct
organs, of which one is fitted more to give a knowledge
of objects at rest, and the other to give a knowledge
of objects in motion. Thus the sense for the gaseous
(aeriform) is distributed between the eye and the ear,
the sense for the liquid between the organs of taste and
smell, the sense for the solid between the organs of
feeling and touch.*
In accordance with the law of contrasts in the de-
velopment of knowledge, the sense of hearing is the
first to be developed in the child ; later on, there fol-
lows, guided and incited by hearing, the sense of sight.
The development of these two senses in the child, then,
enables parents and attendants to establish a most inti-
mate union between objects and their opposites, words
and symbols, connecting them into one, as it were,
thus leading the child to see and, later on, to know
them.
[Concerning the order of development of the senses, Froebel's
position may require modification. Darwin's child "had his eyes
fixed on a candle as early as the ninth day, and up to the forty-fifth
* The sense of feeling determines the temperature and mere contact
presence, that of touch the hardness and smoothness of a body. — Tr.
46 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
day nothing else seemed thus to fix them " ; " on the forty-ninth
day his attention was attracted by a bright-colored tassel, as was
shown by his eyes becoming fixed and the movements of his arms
ceasing." It is true that " during the first fortnight he often started
on hearing any sudden sound," and once, when he was sixty-six days
old, he was frightened into nervous crying by his father's sneezing ;
but these were probably reflex movements, and had little to do with
true hearing, for, even when one hundred and twenty-four days old,
he found it difficult " to recognize whence a sound proceeded." All
this would indicate that, in time of development, sight had the pre-
cedence. Mr. Champneys reports that his child had his eyes fixed
on a candle when a week old ; not until the fourteenth day did he
turn to his mother when she spoke to him, and " even then did not
start at sudden noises, however loud, unless accompanied by jerks
or vibrations." M. Taine finds the first positive evidence of true
hearing at two and a half months, when the child, "hearing her
grandmother's voice, turns her head to the side from which it
comes." It will be noticed that all these observers find the test for
accomplished hearing in the turning of the head (or eyes) toward
the point whence the sound proceeded. This seems to imply that
the sense of sight is used as the criterion, and must, therefore, have
been previously developed.
Preyer found his child decidedly sensitive to light " long before
the lapse of the first day " ; on the second day the eyes were rapidly
closed on the approach of a candle ; on the ninth, the head is at the
same time energetically averted ; on the tenth day the candle, held
at the distance of one metre, is viewed without flinching ; on the
eleventh, it is viewed with evidences of pleasure. Color seems to
make an impression on the twenty-third day : and after the first
month brilliant objects are the signal for exclamations of joy. Con,
cerning the sense of hearing, Preyer mentions the difficulty of separ
rating the convulsive movements of the eyelids, due to reflex action
from other causes, from similar movements due to sound-impres-
sions. Not until the first half of the fourth day can he convince
himself that his boy has ceased to be deaf : at this time the clapping
of hands close to the child causes him suddenly to open his half-
closed eyes ; on the same day whistling near his ears stops his cry-
ing ; on the eleventh and twelfth day the father's voice has a sooth-
ing effect ; on the twenty-fifth day still less doubtful symptoms of
sensitiveness to sound are noticed ; in the sixth week he shows for
USE OF LIMBS. 47
the first time appreciation of musical sound, being soothed by the
mother's singing, which he receives with eyes wide open.
Thus, along the entire line, sight seems to be in advance : the
child is decidedly sensitive to light on the first day, but, to sound,
not before the fourth day ; color impresses the child on the twenty-
third day, and nmsical sound not before the thirty-sixth. Addi-
tional proof might be furnished, but this must sufiice here. It
seems to indicate clearly enough that Froebel's position concerning
these two senses is untenable.
Later on, however, Preyer shows that to neither of these two
senses belongs the first place in the order of development, but that
this belongs to the sense of taste, which, even at birth, distinguishes
sweet things from bitter, sour, and salt things. Similarly, certain
parts of the body, such as the tongue and the lips, are sensitive to
contact with external things at birth ; and many observations point
to a similar, though less definite, sensitiveness to certain odors. This
seems to be in full accord with the biological history of the senses,
which shows that they are all differentiations from a general contact
sense that pervades the entire mass of the lowest forms of individ-
ualized protoplasm.
When the senses, however, are once established, it seems natural
that in their further development sight, hearing, and specialized
touch should take the lead. More than the other senses — taste,
smell, and the general contact sense — they enable the human being
in his efforts to separate self from not-self for the sake of securing
control of the latter. And in this further development, too, sight
and touch, leading man further from self in insight, will excel hear-
ing in relative importance and development. — Tr.'\
§ 27. With tlie advancing development of tlie
senses, there is developed in the child, simultaneously
and symmetrically, the use of the body, of the limbs ;
and this, too, in a succession determined by their nature
and the properties of corporeal objects.
External objects are themselves near, at rest, and
invite rest; or they are in motion, moving away,
and invite seizure, grasping, holding fast ; or they
are fixed in distant places or spaces, and thus invite
48 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
him who would bring them nearer to move toward
them.
Thus is developed the use of the limbs in sitting
and lying, in grasping and holding, in walking and
running.
Standing represents the use of the body and limbs
in their most complete totality ; it is the finding of the
center of gravity of the body.
This bodily standing is as significant for this stage
as the first smile, the physical finding of self, was for
the preceding stage, and as moral and religious equi-
poise is for the highest stage of human development.
At this stage of development the young, growing
human being cares for the use of his body, his senses,
his limbs, merely for the sake of their use and practice,
but not for the sake of the results of this use. He is
wholly indifferent to this ; or, rather, he has as yet no
idea whatever of this. For this reason the child at this
stage begins to jplay with his limbs — his hands, his
fingers, his lips, his tongue, his feet, as well as with the
expression of his eyes and face (see § 30).
Now, as has been just indicated, these movements
of the face and body are, at first, in no way representa-
tions of the internal in the external ; indeed, this is re-
served for the next stage of development. Yet these
plays, as the first utterances of the child, should be care-
fully observed and watched, lest the child contract
habitual bodily and, particularly, facial movements that
have no inner meaning (e. g., distortions of the eyes and
face), thus inducing at an early period a separation be-
tween gestures and feelings, between body and mind,
between the inner and the outer. This separation, in
BEGINNING OF CHILDHOOD. 49
its turn, might lead either to hypocrisy or to the forma-
tion of habitual movements and manners which refuse
obedience to the will and accompany man like a mask
through all his life.
From a very early period, therefore, children should
never be left too long to themselves on beds or in
cradles without some external object to occupy them.
This precaution is needful, too, in order to avoid bodily
enervation, which necessarily gives rise to mental enerva-
tion and weakness.
In order to avoid this enervation, the bed of children
should from the beginning, from the very first moment,
not be too soft. It should consist of pillows of hay,
sea-grass, fine straw, chaff, or, possibly, horse-hair, but
never of feathers. So, too, the child should be but
lightly covered while asleep, securing for it the influ-
ence of fresh air.
In order to avoid leaving the child on its bed men-
tally unoccupied while going to sleep, and, still more,
just after waking, it is advisable to suspend in a line
with the child's natural vision, a swinging cage with a
lively bird.* This secures occupation for the senses and
the mind, profitable in many directions.
§ 28. As soon as the activity of the senses, of the
body and the limbs is developed to such a degree that
the child begins self -actively to represent the internal
outwardly, the stage of infancy in human development
ceases, and the stage of childhood begins.
* The women of Appenzell, naturally great lovers of liberty, substi-
tuted for this an artificial bird cut from bright-colored paper, Froebel
himself, at a later period, proposed the substitution of the balls of the first
gift.— 2>.
60 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
Up to this stage the inner being of man is still un-
organized, nndiiferentiated.
With language, the expression and representation of
the internal begin ; with language, organization, or a
differentiation with reference to ends and means, sets in.
The inner being is organized, differentiated, and strives
to make itself known [Kund thun), to announce itself
(ver^i^7i<^igen) externally. The human being strives by
his own self -active power to represent his inner being
outwardly, in permanent form and with solid material ;
and this tendency is expressed fully in the word Kind
(child), K-in-d^^ which designates this stage of develop-
ment.
At this stage of childhood — when there become
manifest the tendency and endeavor to represent the
inner in and through the outer, and to unite the two, to
find the unity that connects them — the actual education
of man begins, and attention and watchful care are di-
rected less to the body and more to the mind.
But man and his education are, at this stage, wholly
intrusted to the mother, the father, the family, who, to-
gether with the child, constitute a complete, unbroken
unity. For language — the medium of representation —
audible speaking is at this stage in no way differentiated
from the human being. He does not, as yet, know or
view it as having a being of its own. Like his arm, his
eye, his tongue, it is one with him, and he is uncon-
scious of its existence.
§ 29. However, it is impossible to establish among
the various stages of human development and cultiva-
* A play on the word Kind^ probably referring back to the worda
KuHD thun and verKtn<rDi(/en in the same paragraph. — Tr.
IMPORTANCE OF CHILDHOOD. 51
tion any definite order with reference to their relative
degrees of importance, except the necessary order of
succession in their appearance in which the earlier is
always the more important. In its place and time each
stage is equally important. Nevertheless, inasmuch as
it contains the development of the first points of con-
nection and union with surrounding persons and things,
the first approaches toward their interpretation and un-
derstanding, toward the comprehension of their inuer
being, this stage (of childhood) is of paramount im-
portance (see § 22).
This stage is, indeed, important, for it matters much
to the developing human being whether the outer world
seem to him noble or ignoble ; low, dead, as a thing
made only for the enjoyment of others — to be used,
consumed, destroyed, or as having a destiny of its own —
high, living, spiritual, animated, and divine ; whether
it seem to him pure or impure, ennobling and uplifting,
or debasing and oppressive ; whether he see and know
things in their true or in false distorted relations.
/Therefore, the child at this stage should see all
things rightly and accurately, and should designate them
rightly and accurately, definitely and clearly ; and this
applies to things and objects themselves, as well as to
their nature and properties.
He should properly designate the relations of ob-
jects in space and time, as well as with one another ;
give each its proper name or word, and utter each word
in itself clearly and distinctly according to its constitu-
ent vocal elements.
[Mothers and other attendants of children not unfrequently re-
tard this unification of language and thought by excessive indul-
52 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
gence in so-called " baby-talk." The child struggles against many
difficulties of speech — calls cows, tows; calves, talves; bread, bed ;
brown, hown. Fond mothers and attendants find these imperfections
of si)eech so very sweet that they imitate them, and are loath to have
the children lose these charming defects. In the pernicious indul-
gence of their selfish delight they even intensify the faults and in-
vent new ones, which they force upon the child. Such inventions
are hannies, for hands ; hootsy-iootsies, for feet ; pets, mammas, dinks,
and other unmeaning plural for corresponding singular forms. In
all such cases it is the mother's clear duty to speak plainly and
correctly, in order to aid her child in overcoming the troublesome
difficulties of speech involved. She need not on this account address
her child any less tenderly, fondly, and soothingly.
There are, indeed, phases of " baby-talk " that are not open to
these objections. These we find in thoughtful efforts to aid the
child through judicious adaptation of our efforts to his difficulties.
Thus, as soon as the child begins his meaningless monologues,
practicing certain sounds, such as tattattatta . . ., appappappapp . . .,
dadadada . . ., rrrrrr . . ., the attendants may sometimes carefully
join in these exercises. This will probably teach the child to listen
to others as well as to himself more attentively, and will hasten the
time when he will find himself able to imitate sounds uttered by
others. More or less onomatopoetic words may, for a time at least,
be received into the legitimate vocabulary of the child. Such words
are moo, for cow ; tin-tin, for bell ; tchoo-tchoo, for locomotive, etc.
Yet even in these cases the ordinary name should soon be connected
regularly with the onomatopoetic name, and at last the latter dropped
entirely by the attendants.
On the other hand, when the child, in his efforts to imitate the
language of his surroundings, fails, saying wah-wah, for water ; shoo-
mum, for sugar; Tcean, for clean — the only way to help the child is
always to speak the correct words clearly and distinctly. Here there
should be no yielding, inasmuch as the peculiarities of the child's
speech are due wholly to imperfections of hearing or speaking ; and,
so far as the child's attendants are concerned, only persistent purity
in their model speech can remove these imperfections. Of course,
this does not imply that the attendants should use " big words " or
complex forms of expression. On the contrary, the forms should
be simple and closely adapted to the child's understanding. Thus
the words, "Baby — drink"?" "See— dog," "Milk — sweet," accom-
BABY-TALK. 53
panied by some deliberate, suitable gesture and a sympathetic coun-
tenance, will be solidly helpful to the child without loss of endear-
ment and mutual joy. On the other hanid, " Does mamma's little
darling pet want a drink *? Well, it shall have some. Mamma will
give it just all it wants, and more, too," are largely unmeaning chat-
ter to the child; only now and then he recognizes a word that
arouses in him corresponding thought, as the sea-faring man now
and then espies an island in an ocean of water.
The observations of E. S. Holden and M. W. Humphreys, which
are corroborated by the experience of all thoughtful mothers with
whom I have conversed on the subject, indicate that children will
learn most readily nouns, and then in their order verbs, adjectives,
adverbs, pronouns, conjunctions, and prepositions. Professor Hol-
den found that at the close of the second year two children had
acquired the following vocabulary :
Nouns. Verbs. Adjectives. Adverbs. Miscellaneous. Total.
First Child: 285 107 34 39 28 483
Second Child: 230 90 37 17 25 399
He excluded from his lists some 500 words which the children could
use only in connection with nursery-rhymes they had learned, and
many names of pictures concerning which the children's under-
standing was doubtful. Humphreys found that a two-year-old girl
possessed a vocabulary of 592 nouns, 283 verbs, 114 adjectives, 56
adverbs, 35 pronouns, 28 prepositions, 5 conjunctions, and 8 inter-
jections. He, too, excluded the words which the child knew only
in nursery-rhymes, numerals, the names of the week-days, and many
proper names.
The observations of these men, as well as those of many others,
seem to indicate that a normal child, after the lapse of his second
year, need no longer be in the trammels of the imperfections of pro-
nunciation, of needless suffixes, and of affected reduplications that
characterize ordinary so-called "baby-talk." — Tr.]
Now, since this stage of human development re-
quires that the child should learn to designate all things
rightly, clearly, and distinctly, it is essentially needful
that all things should be brought before him rightly,
clearly, and distinctly, so that he may see and know
6
54: THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
them rightly, clearly, and distinctly. These things are
inseparable and reciprocally dependent (see § 33).
However, inasmuch as at this stage language is still
undifferentiated or one with the speaking human being,
names are for the speaking child still one (united) with
the things — i. e., he can not as yet separate the name
and the thing, as he can not separate matter and spirit,
soul and body. To him they are still one and the same.
This is seen particularly in the play of children at this
time ; how eagerly and (if he can do so) how much the
child speaks during his play.
Play and speech constitute the element in which the
child lives. Therefore, the child at this stage imparts
to each thing the faculties of life, feeling, and speech.
Of everything he imagines that it can hear. Because
the child himself begins to represent his inner being
outwardly, he imputes the same activity to all about
him, to the pebble and chip of wood, to the plant, the
flower, and the animal.
And thus there is developed in the child at this
stage his own life, his life with parents and family, his
life with a higher invisible spirit, common to both, and
particularly his life in and with nature, as if this held
life like that which he feels within himself. Indeed,
life in and \^ith nature and with the fair, silent things
of nature should be fostered at this time by parents and
other members of the family as a chief fulcrum of child-
life ; and this is accomplished chiefly in play, in the cul-
tivation of the child's play, which at flrst is simply
natural life.
§ 30. Play. — Play is the highest phase of child-
development— of human development at this period;
PLAYS OF CHILDHOOD. 55
/'
for it is self -active representation of the inner — repre-
sentation of the inner from inner necessity and im-
pulse (see § 27).
' ^ Play is the purest, most spiritual activity of man at
this stage, and, at the same time, typical of human life
as a whole — of the inner hidden natural life in man and
all things. -j^It gives, therefore, joy, freedom, content-
ment, inner and outer rest, peace with the world. It
holds the sources of all that is good. i<A child that
plays thoroughly, with self -active determination, perse-
veringly until physical fatigue forbids, will surely be a
thorough, determined man, capable of self-sacrifice for
the promotion of the welfare of himself and others^ Is
not the most beautiful expression of child-life at this
time a playing child ? — a child wholly absorbed in his
play ? — a child that has fallen asleep while so absorbed ?
As already indicated, play at this time is not trivial,
it is highly serious and of deep significance. Cultivate
and foster it, O mother ; protect and guard it, O father I
To the calm, keen vision of one who truly knows human ^
nature, the spontaneous play of the child discloses the '
future inner life of the man.
The plays of childhood are the germinal leaves of 1
all later life ; for the whole man is developed and shown
in these, in fhis tenderest dispositions, in his innermost
tendencies. The whole later life of man, even to the
moment when he shall leave it again, has its source in
the period of childhood — be this later life pure or im-
pure, gentle or violent, quiet or impulsive, industrious
or indolent, rich or poor in deeds, passed in dull stupor
or in keen creativeness, in stupid wonder or intelligent
insight, producing or destroying, the bringer of bar-
56 THE EDUCATIOX OF MAN.
monj or discord, of war or peace. His future relations
to father and mother, to the members of the family, to
society and mankind, to nature and God — in accordance
with the natural and individual disposition and tenden-
cies of the child — depend chiefly upon his mode of life
at this period ; for the child's life in and with himself,
his family, nature, and God, is as yet a unit. Thus, at
this age, the child can scarcely tell which is to him
dearer — the flowers, or his joy about them, or the joy
he gives to the mother when he brings or shows them
to her, or the vague presentiment of the dear Giver of
them. ^
Who can analyze these joys in which this period is
so rich ?
If the child is injured at this period, if the germinal
leaves of the future tree of his life are marred at this
time, he will only with the greatest difficulty and the
utmost effort grow into strong manhood ; he will only
with the greatest difficulty escape in his further devel-
opment the stunting effects of the injury or the one-
sidedness it entails.
[Much has been said concerning the value and importance of
play by educators at all times. Plato thinks that " the plays of
children have the mightiest influence on the maintenance or non-
maintenance of laws " ; that during the first three years the " soul of
the nursling" should be made "cheerful and kind" by keeping
away from him " sorrow and fears and pain," and by soothing him
with song, the sound of the pipe, and rhythmic movement ; that at
/the next period of life, when the children "almost invent "their
games, they ought to come together at the temples and play under
the supervision of nurses, who are to " take cognizance of their be-
havior." He foreshadows Froebel even in the demand for the regu-
lation of play by music. " From the first years," he says, " the plays
of children ought to be subject to laws ; for, if these plays and those
PLAYS OF CHILDHOOD. 57
who take part in them are arbitrary and lawless, how can children
ever become virtuous men, abiding by and obedient to law ? If, on
the contrary, children are trained to submit to laws in their plays,
the love for law enters their souls with the music accompanying the
games, never leaves them, and helps in their development." Aris-
totle, too, believes that children (until they are five years old) " should
be taught nothing, not even necessary labor, lest it hinder growth ;
but should be accustomed to use so much motion as to avoid an in-
dolent habit of body ; and this can be acquired by various means,
among others by play, which ought to be neither illiberal nor too
laborious nor lazy." Elsewhere he insists on the need of " enter-
taining employment " for children, and praises the " rattle of Archy-
tas" as a useful contrivance, "keeping children from breaking
things about the house." Even Quintilian, while he covets instruc-
tion at an early period, and, inasmuch as "they must do some-
thing," would have them learn to read "after they are able to
speak," yet would labor to render the instruction " an amusement to
the child," and does not object to the use of " ivory figures of letters
to play with." He looks upon playing as " in itself a mark of ac-
tivity of mind," and thinks that " children who play in a slow and
spiritless manner will not show any remarkable aptitude for any
branch of science."
Luther severely censures those who " despise the plays of chil-
dren," and informs us that " Solomon, who was a judicious school-
master, did not prohibit scholars from play at the proper time, as
the monks do their pupils, who thus become mere logs and sticks."
..." A young man shut up in this way, and kept apart from men,"
he says, " is like a young tree which ought to bear fruit, but is planted
in a pot." Rabelais has his Pantagruel redeemed from the stultify-
ing effects of over-training by placing him in the hands of a wise
tutor, who knew how to make his studies amusing, interesting, and
profitable, by making them " active " and connecting them with life.
Fenelon believes in the efficacy of play. Locke thinks that " all their
innocent folly, playing, and child-like actions are to be left perfectly
free and unrestrained " ; that " to restrain the natural gayety of that
age serves only to spoil the temper both of body and mind " ; that
" this gamesome humor which is wisely adapted by Nature to their
age and temper should be encouraged to keep up their spirits and
improve their health and strength " ; and that " the chief art is to
make all that they have to do sport and play." Further on he finds
58 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
that " free liberty permitted them in their recreation will discover
their natural tempers, show their inclinations and aptitudes."
In his " Letters on Esthetic Education," Schiller says : " The
plays of children often have very deep meaning, for, to speak plainly
and concisely, man plays only where he is a human being in the
fullest sense of the word, and he has reached full humanity only
where he plays. This proposition, which at present may appear
paradoxical, will acquire great and deep significance when we shall
learn to refer it to the doubly serious ideas of duty and destiny ; it
will then, I am sure, sustain the entire superstructure of aesthetic art
and of the yet more difficult art of life." With still keener insight
into child-nature, Richter says in his incomparable '" Levana " : " Ac-
tivity alone can bring and hold serenity and happiness. Unlike our
games, the plays of children are the expressions of serious activity,
although in light, airy dress. . . . Play is the first poetical (creative)
utterance of man."
To Froebel, however, belongs the credit of having found the
true nature and function of play, and of regulating it in such a way
as to lead it gradually and naturally into work, securing for work
the same spontaneity and joy, the same freedom and serenity, that
characterize the plays of childhood, realizing in all directions of hu-
man activity what Prof. Pillans (quoted by Herbert Spencer) asserts
concerning school-work, that " where young people are taught as
they ought to be, they are quite as happy in school as at play, seldom
less delighted, nay, often more, with the well-directed exercise of
their mental energies than with that of their muscular powers." In
his gifts and occupations he found for the two contrasts of play and
work the living connection, making them both utterances of the
same one creative activity. In play, it is the exercise of this activity
that forms the purpose of the exertion and rewards it with joy un-
speakable ; in work, the external product, the outcome of the activity,
becomes the purpose and additional reward of the exertion. Froe-
bel has shown how both may be combined, how the human being —
the child, the boy or girl, the youth or maiden, man or woman — may
learn to secure both enjoyments through the same effort, delighting
in the activity which leads to a coveted result, however distant and
difficult of attainment.
Preyer, in his work on " The Soul of the Child," after speaking
of the pleasurable sensations aroused in his boy on being carried out
into the open air, etc., says : " A new kind of pleasurable sensations,
PLAYS OF INFANCY. 69
with some admixture of intellectual elements, is noticed when the
child begins to effect some change of form by his own activity,
gradually gaining some knowledge of his own power. Not only the
effects of the voice, especially crying and the first consciously made
sounds, are concerned in this, but a number of ' plays.' At first it
was, in the fifth month, the crumpling of a sheet of paper, which
the boy repeated with evident pleasure. From this time on to
his third year he found great pleasure in the tearing and rolling
up of newspapers. With similar pleasure he engaged in puiling
a glove from side to side (until his fourth year), in pulling the hairs
of my beard, in ringing a small bell for an insufferably long time.
Later he found enjoyment in the movement of his own body, in
marching and in purely intellectual plays, packing and unpacking
of things, cutting with scissors, turning the leaves of a book, looking
at pictures. At last there came imagination, which animates clumsy
pieces of wood, changes the leaves of trees into delicious articles of
food, etc.
" On the whole, however, during the first period of their life,
children owe many more pleasurable feelings to the removal of con-
ditions of discomfort than to the creation of conditions of positive
pleasure. The removal of hunger, thirst, wet, cold, tight clothing,
gives rise to pleasurable sensations that are stronger than those
generated by soft light, moving tassels, tepid baths, singing, and the
kindliness of parents, or as strong as these. Not before the fourth
month new pleasurable sensations are added by the first successful
attempts to take hold."
He is inclined to look upon the cries, the laughter, and the
various movements attending these pleasurable sensations as in-
stinctive or reflex in their character for quite a long time. Even
the stamping with the foot in the eleventh month, the stiffening
of the body as a measure of resistance in the tenth month, he does
not consider intentional. About this time, however, a number of
plays and experiments seem to indicate the awakening of will.
" Thus, in the eleventh month," he writes, " my child would fre-
quently beat with a spoon against a paper or some other object held
in the other hand, then suddenly exchange the two objects, and
move the spoon with the other hand, as if he desired to determine
whence the noise proceeded."
At a still later period, between the fifteenth and twentieth
months, the pleasure of the child's plays seems to be due to the " re-
60 THE EDUCATION OF MAK
production of familiar thought-images attended with pleasurable
feelings which have been crystallized out, as it were, mto relative
clearness from the great mass of vague perceptions. Most of the
plays which the children invent themselves may be reduced to this,
even the game of hide-and-seek (in the seventeenth and eighteenth
months), and, related to this, the game of ' hunting for ' scraps of
paper, pieces of biscuits, buttons, and other favorite things (in the
fifteenth month)."
Much that goes by the name of play, Preyer considers as true
experimenting, more particularly with reference to the study of
changes produced by the child's own activity. In this connection
he mentions the tearing of paper into small bits, continued with re-
markable patience even between the forty-fifth and fifty-fifth weeks.
For this he finds the explanation in the '• gratification on the part
of the child to find himself the cause of so remarkable a change."
The same he holds to be true with reference to "the shaking of
a bunch of keys ; the opening and closing of a box or purse (thir-
teenth month) ; the pulling out, emptying, refilling, and replacing
of a table-drawer ; the piling up and scattering of gravel ; turning
the leaves of a book (thirteenth to nineteenth month) ; burrowing
and working in sand; the arranging of shells, pebbles, buttons
(twenty-first month) ; the filling and emptying of bottles, cups,
watering-pots (thirty-first to thirty-third month) ; the throwing of
stones into the water. The zeal with which these seemingly aimless
movements are executed is remarkable. The sense of gratification
must be very great, and is probably due to the feeling of his own
power, and of being the cause of the various changes." — Tr.]
§ 31. In these years of childhood the child's food is
a matter of very great importance, not only at the time
— for the child may by its food be made indolent or
active, sluggish or mobile, dull or bright, inert or vigor-
ous — but, indeed, for his entire future life. For im-
pressions, inclinations, appetites which the child may
have derived from his food, the turn it may have given
to his senses, and even to his life, as a whole, can only
with difficulty be set aside even when the age of self-
dependence has been reached. They are one with his
FOOD OF CHILDHOOD. 61
whole physical life, and therefore intimately connected
with his spiritual life ; at any rate, with his sensations
and feelings.
Tlierefore, after the mother's milk, the first food of
the child should be plain and simple, not more artificial
and refined than is absolutely needful, in no way stiju-
ulating and exciting through an excess of spices, nor
rich, lest it hinder the inner organs in their activity.
Parents and nurses should ever remember, as under-
lying every precept in this direction, the following
general principle : that simplicity and frugality in food
and in other physical needs during the years of child-
hood enhance man's power of attaining happiness and
vigor — true creativeness in every respect.
Who has not noticed in children, over-stimulated by
spices and excess in food, appetites of a very low order,
from which they can never again be freed — appetites
which, even when they seem to have been suppressed,
only slumber, and in times of opportunity return with
greater power, threatening to rob man of all his dignit}^,
and to force him away from his duty ?
If parents would consider that not only much indi-
vidual and personal happiness, but even much domestic
happiness and general prosperity, depend on this, how
very differently they would act !
But here the foolish mother, there the childish fa-
ther, is to blame. We see them give their children
all kinds of poison, and in every form, coarse and fine.
Here it comes in the oppressing quantity which does
not allow the body to digest it, which is often given
only to drive away the enmd that torments the unoc-
cupied child ; again, it comes in over-refinement in
62 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
the preparation of food, bj which the physical side
of the child's L'fe is stimulated without tnie spiritual
cause, consuming and weakening the body. Here indo-
lence and sluggishness are considered as needful rest ;
there the child's physical mobility, a symptom of over-
stimulation, and independent of true spiritual causes, is
greeted as trae increase and development of life.
It is by far easier than we think to promote and
establish the happiness and welfare of mankind. All
the means are simple and at hand ; yet we see them not.
We see them, perhaps, but do not notice them. In
their simplicity, naturalness, availability, and nearness,
they seem too insignificant, and we despise them. We
seek help from afar, although help is only in and through
ourselves. Hence, at a later period, half or all our ac-
cumulated wealth can not procure for our children what
greater insight and a clearer vision discern as their
greatest good. This they now must miss, or can enjoy
but partially and scantily. It might have been theirs
without effort, as it were, had we in their childhood
attended to it but a little more ; indeed, it would have
been theirs in full measure had we expended very much
less for their physical comfort.
Would that to each young, newly married couple
there could be shown, in all its vividness, only one of
the sad experiences and observations in its small and
seemingly insignificant beginnings, and in its incalcu-
lable consequences, that tend utterly to destroy all the
good of later education ! — only one of these sad experi-
ences, of which the educator is compelled to make hun-
dreds, and whose knowledge can help him but little to
counteract the injurious consequences of the respective
CLOTHING OP CHILDHOOD. 63
faults in the later life of those in whom he observes
them ; for who does not know the mighty influence of
early impressions ?
And here it is easy to avoid the wrong and to find
the right. Always let the food be simply for nourish-
ment — never more, never less. Never should food be
taken for its own sake, but only for the sake of promot-
ing bodily and mental activity. Still less should the
peculiarities of the food, its taste or delicacy, ever be-
come an object in themselves, but only a means to make
it good, pure, wholesome nourishment ; else, in both
cases, the food destroys health.
Let the food of the child, then, be as simple as the
circumstances in which the child lives can aiford ; and
let it be given in quantities proportioned to his bodily
and mental activity.
§ 32. In order to enable the child at this period to
move and play, to develop and grow freely, and without
hindrance, his clothing should be free from lacing and
pressure of all kinds ; for such clothing would oppress
and fetter also the spirit of the child. The clothing of
the child, in this as well as in the next period, should
not bind the body ; * for it will have on the mind, on
the soul, of the child, the same effect it has on the body.
Clothes, in form and color and cut, should never become
an object in themselves, else they will soon direct the
child's attention to his appearance instead of his real
being, make him vain and frivolous — dollish — a puppet
instead of a human being. Clothing, therefore, is by no
means an unimportant concern, either for the child or
* By tipfht lacing, close-fitting seams, and multiplicity of articles of
clothing.— Tr.
64 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
the adult man, as it is desirable for him, even as a Chris-
tian, to be able to say, " Without piece and without
seam, only a continuous whole, like the garment of
Jesus, was also his life and work, and his doctrine."
§ 33. The aim and object of the parental care of the
child, in the domestic and family circle, then, is to
awaken and develop, to quicken all the powers and
natural gifts of the child, to enable all the members and
organs of man to fullill the requirements of the child's
powers and gifts.
[Herbert Spencer, who, although ignorant of Froebel's work,
has so many points of contact with him, finds the proper function
of education in " preparation for complete living," which is the free
exercise of all our faculties. There seems to be little fundamental
difference, too, between the physiological, psychological, sociological,
and ethical limitations of complete living on the part of Spencer,
and the life-unity with self, mankind, nature, the universe, and God
demanded by Froebel. (Compare § 19.)— Tr.]
The natural mother does all this instinctively, with-
out instruction and direction ; but this is not enough :
it is needful that she should do it consciously, as a con-
scious being acting upon another being which is growing
into consciousness (see § 56), and consciously tending
toward the continuous development of the human being,
in a certain inner living connection (see § 2).
[That instinct alone is not sufficient to enable the mother to guide
the child aright is amply shown by the many cruel practices to
which children are subjected among barbarous tribes, and by the
survival of many senseless and even pernicious customs in the imr-
series of even the most cultured communities of our day. Consci-
entious mothers everywhere point with expressions of deepest regret
to the many oversights and neglects of which they were unwittingly
guilty, the many misunderstandings and misapplications that blurred
their efficiency, the many blunders whose pernicious effects years of
EARLIEST LESSONS. 65
subsequent toil could not efface. Insight will add a conscious pur-
pose to the instinct ; it will arouse the sense of duty in the soul, it
will enable the head to help the heart, add wisdom to love, avoid
waste, and insure success. — Tr.]
Bj sketching her work, therefore, I hope to show it
to her in its nature, significance, and connection. It is
true, the plainest thoughtful mother could do this more
fully, more perfectly, and more deeply; but through
imperfection man rises to perfection. 1 trust, therefore,
that this sketch may awaken faithful and calm, thought-
ful and rational parental love, and show us the course
of development in childhood in unbroken succession.
'' Give me your arm." " Where is your hand ? "
In such words the mother strives to teach the child to
feel the complexity of his body and the diiference be-
tween his limbs.
" Bite your finger." This is an especially well-con-
ceived action, which a deep natural feeling has suggested
to the thoughtful mother playing with her child. It
induces reflection in its earliest phases, by tending to
bring to the child's knowledge an object which, although
it has an individuality of its own, is yet united with the
child.
Not less important is the mother's pleasantly playful
manner of leading the child to a knowledge of the mem-
bers which he can not see, the nose, the ears, the tongue,
and teeth. The mother gently pulls the nose or ear, as
if she meant to separate them from head or face, and,
showing to the child the half -concealed end of her finger
or thumb, says, " Here I have the ear, the nose," and
the child quickly puts his hand to his ear or nose, and
smiles with intense joy to find them in their right places.
QQ THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
In this action the mother first arouses and directs in the
child a desire to know even what he can not see exter-
nally.
All this tends to lead the child to self-conscionsness,
to reflection about himself in the approaching period of
boyhood. Thus, a boy ten years old, similarly guided
by instinct, believing himself unobserved, soliloquized :
" I am not my arm, nor my ear ; all my limbs and organs
I can separate from myself, and I still remain myself ; I
wonder what I am ; who and what this is which I call
myself?"
In the same spirit, maternal love continues with the
child, in order to lead him to use these things. " Show
me your tongue." " Show me your tooth." " Bite it
with your tooth?' " Slip the foot into the stocking —
into the shoe." " There is the foot in the stocking — in
the shoe."
' Thus maternal in&tinct and love gradually introduce
.the child to his little outside world, proceeding from the
whole to the part, from the near to the remote.
Similarly, as she at first sought to bring to the child's
notice objects as such, and in their relative positions, she
soon directs attention to their attributes and qualities.
In this, of course, she first shows tbem in their actions,
and only later in their passive conditions.
She says, " The candle burns," as she cautiously
holds the child's finger toward the flame, enabling him
to feel the heat without being really burned, and guard-
ing him against an unknown danger. Or, she says,
" The knife pricks," as she carefully and gently presses
the point of the knife against the child's finger. Or,
" The soup burns your mouth."
MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. (57
At a later period, as if she would direct tlie child to
the permanence of the active quality, or to its cause, the
mother says, " The sonp is hot^ it hums you." " The
knife is sharp, it pricks, it-Quts ; let it alone." From a
knowledge of the effect, the mother leads to the imma-
nent lasting cause, sharp j and, later, from a knowledge
of the immanent quality to a knowledge of the effect,
pricking, cutting, as such, without the direct personal
experience of these effects.
Further on, the mother leads the child iirst to feel
his own action, and then to contemplate the action it-
self. Thus, the mother delightfully teaching him in
all she does and says, requests the child who is to take
food, " Open your mouth " ; or, when he is to be
washed, "Close your^eyes"; or she teaches the child
to find the object of his action. Thus, when she lays
the child in his little bed, she says, " Go to sleep " ; or,
as she lifts a spoonful of food to his lips, "Eat, my
pet." And, in order to direct his attention to the effect
of the food upon the nerves of taste and upon the re-
lation between the food and the body, she says, " How
good that tastes ! " In order to direct his attention to
the smell of flowers, the mother imitates the noise of
snuffing, and says, "How good that smells! Would
you like to smell it ? " Or, on the other hand, she turns
with the expression of displeasure her face away from
the flower, which she removes from the child.
Thus, the plainest mother, who with her beloved
child withdraws almost bashfully into privacy — lest un-
consecrated eyes profane the sanctuary — seeks in the
most natural manner to arouse to full activity all his
limbs and senses.
68 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
Unfortunately, onr conceit induces us to lose sight
of this natural and divine starting-point of all human
development; we stand perplexed, having lost begin-
ning and end, and therefore the right direction. Hav-
ing denied God and nature, we seek counsel from hu-
man knowledge and wit. We build houses of cards ;
but there is no room in them for the ways of the nat-
ural mother, for divine influence ; and the slightest ut-
terance of the child, impelled by the joy and instinct of
life, throws them down. If they should stand, the
child must be, if not bodily, yet intellectually fettered.
Where has this discussion taken us ? Into the nur-
sery of the worldly-wise, of the so-called refined people,
who scarcely believe that there are in the child germs
which, if they are to thrive, must be developed early ;
who know still less that all the child is ever to be and
become, lies — however shghtly indicated — in the child,
and can be attained only through development from
within outward.
How dead, therefore, does everything seem here;
how cold, or, at best, how loud and noisy ! But, is not
the mother here ? Alas ! it is not the mother's room,
it is only the nursery.
Away! and let us again go where not only the
room of child and mother is one, but where even
mother and child are still one; where the mother is
loath to give the care of her child to strangers. Let us
see and hear how the mother, there, shows to the child
objects in their motions : " Hark ! the bird sings ! The
dog says, ' bow-wow ! ' " And then, directly from the
word to the name, from hearing to sight, " Where is
Peep-peep ? Where is Bow-wow ? " The mother even
MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 69
ventures to lead from the contemplation of the thing
and its quaUty in their connection to the contemplation
of the quality as distinct from the thing. " The bird
flies," she says at first about tlie actual bird that flies.
'' See the little bird," she says later, on beholding the
flitting, unsteady light-reflection that comes from the
moving surface of water or of a mirror. Then, in
order to teach the child that this is an incorporeal phe-
nomenon which shares with the bird only its mobility,
she says, " Catch the little bird," and asks the child to
cover the reflection with his hands.
Again, in order to lead the child to the contempla-
tion of the motion alone, the mother says, when she be-
holds the pendulum oscillations of some object, " swing-
swong," or " To-fro."
Similarly, she seeks to attract the child's attention
to the mutability of things — e. g., showing the lighted
candle, " Here is the light " ; taking it away, " All gone,
light"; or, "Papa comes," and, "Ey-by, papa."
Again, showing the self -mobility of things, "Come,
kitty, to my pet," and, " Run, kitty, run." She incites
the child to bodily activity — " Hold the flower," " Catch
the kitty," or, slowly rolling the ball, "Catch the
ball."
All-embracing mother-love seeks to awaken and to
interpret the feeling of community between the child
and the father, brother, and sister, which is so impor-
tant, when she says, " Love dear papa " ; or as she caress-
ingly passes the child's hand over the father's cheek,
" Dear, dear papa " ; or, " Love little sister," etc.
In addition to the sense of community as such, the
germ of so much glorious development, the mother's love
70 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
seeks also through movements to lead the child to feel
his own inner life. By regular, rhythmic movements —
and this is of special importance — she brings this life
within the child's conscious control when she dandles
him up and down on her hand or arm in rhythmic
movements and to rhythmic sounds.
Thus the genuine, natural mother cautiously follows
in all directions the slowly developing, all-sided life in
the child. She strengthens it, and thus arouses to ever-
greater activity the still more all-sided life within, and
develops this.
Others suppose the child to be empty, wish to inocu-
late him w^ith life, make him as empty as they think
him to be, and deprive him of life, as it were. Thus,
too, there are lost again in word and tone those means
of cultivation that lead so simply and naturally to the
development of rhythm and obedience to law in all
human life-utterances, for their significance is recog-
nized by few pei*sons, and by still fewer persons con-
sidered and further unfolded in connection with the
further development of life in the hirnian being.
I^J'evertheless, an early, pure development of rhyth-
mic movement would prove most wholesome in the
succeeding life-periods of the human being. We rob
ourselves as educators, and we still more rob the child
as pupil by discontinuing so soon the development of
rhythmic movements in early education. It would be
easier for him to compass the legitimate, proper measure
of his life. Much willfulness, impropriety, and coarse-
ness would be taken out of his life, his movements, and
actions. He would secure more firmness and modera-
tion, more harmony ; and, later on, there would be de-
MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 71
veloped in him a higher appreciation of nature and art,
of music and poetry (see § 80).
Even very small children, in moments of quiet, and
'particularly when going to sleep, will hum little strains
of songs they have heard ; this, too, has not escaped
the attention of the observant, thoughtful mother, and
should be heeded and developed even more in the edu-
cation of little children as the iirst germ of future
growth in melody and song. Undoubtedly this would
soon lead in children to a self-activity similar to that
attained in speech, and children whose faculty of speech
has been thus developed and trained, find, seemingly
without effort, the words for new ideas, peculiar associa-
tions and relations among newly discovered qualities.
Thus, a very little girl, brought up in child-like
purity by maternal though tfulness, after long and
thoughtful examination of the soft and downy leaves of
a plant, exclaimed joyfully, " Oh, how woolly ! " The
mother could not recollect that she had ever directed
the child's attention to such a quality.
Similarly, the same child, on beholding the two most
brilliant planets quite near each other in the clear,
starry sky, exclaimed joyfully, " Father and mother
stars!" Yet the mother had not the least idea how
this association with the stars had been called up in the
child's mind.
§ 34. In teaching the child to stand and walk, we
should use neither perambulators nor leading-strings.
He should stand when he is strong enough to keep his
balance freely and independently ; and he should walk
when, freely moving forward, he can independently
keep his balance. He should not stand before he can
72^ THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
sit erect, draw himself up by some tall object near by,
and thus keep his balance without support. He should
not walk before he can creep, rise freely, maintain his
balance, and proceed by his own effort. At first, when
at some distance from his mother, he has raised himself
by his own effort, the return to the mother's lap \vill
invite him to go forward. Soon, however, the child
feels strength in his own feet, rejoices intensely over it,
and, for his own pleasure, repeats the new art for its
own sake, as formerly he repeated the art of standing.
In a short time he begins the practice of the art with-
out strain or effort ; he is attracted by the bright, round,
smooth pebble, by the gayly-colored, fluttering bit of
paper, by the smooth, symmetrical, three- or four-cor-
nered piece of board, by the rectangular blocks of
wood for building, by the brilliant, quaint leaf, and he
tries to get hold of these with the help of the newly
acquired use of his hmbs, to bring like things together,
and to separate things that are unlike. Look at the
child that can scarcely keep himself erect, and that can
walk only with greatest care — he sees a twig, a bit of
straw ; painfully he secures it, and, like the young bird
in spring, carries it to his nest, as it were.
Behold, again, the child laboriously stooping and
slowly going forward on the ground, under the eaves of
the roof. The force of the rain has washed out of the
sand small, smooth, bright pebbles, and the ever-observ-
ing child gathers them as building-stones, as it were, as
material for future building. And is he wrong ? Does
not the child, in truth, collect material for his future
life-building? Like things must here be ranged to-
gether, things unlike must be separated. J^ot crude
MAN m EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. ^3
things, but things wrouglit out of their crudeness, are
to be joined together.
§ 35. If the building is to be sound, all the material
must be known not only bj its name, but also by its
qualities and uses ; and, that the child desires this, is
shown in his child-like, quiet, busy activity. We call
it childish because we do not understand it, because we
have not eyes to see, nor ears to hear, and, still less,
feeling to feel with the child ; we are dull, therefore
the child's life seems dull to us. We do not know its
meaning; how, then, can we interpret it for the child?
And yet it is the longing for this interpretation that
urges the child to appeal to us. IIow can we impart
a language to the things of child-life when they are
dumb in us? And yet it is the intense desire for this
that urges the child to bring his treasures to us and to
lay them in our laps. The child loves all things that
enter his small horizon and extend his little world. To
him the least thing is a new discovery ; but it must not
come dead into the little world, nor lie dead therein,
lest it obscure the small horizon and crush the little
world.
Therefore, the child would know himself why he
loves this thing ; he would know all its properties, its
innermost nature, that he may learn to understand him-
self in his attachment. For this reason the child ex-
amines the object on all sides ; for this reason he tears
and breaks it ; for this reason he puts it in his mouth
and bites it. We reprove the child for his naughtiness
and foolishness ; and yet he is wiser than we who re-
prove him.
The child would know the inner nature of the thing.
74 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
An innate instinct which, properly appreciated and
guided, would seek to find God in all his works, urges
him to this. God gave him understanding, reason, lan-
guage. Those who lead his life do not, can not gratify
this instinct. Where, then, shall the child seek gratifi-
cation for this instinct of research, if not from the ob-
ject itself ?
It is true the broken object, too, is dumb ; yet it
reveals in its fragments at least either like or unlike
parts, as is instanced in the broken stone, the torn
flower, and this means an extension of knowledge. Do
adults extend their knowledge in a different way ? Is
not the inside of the plant pithy, hollow, or woody 'i Is
not its cross-section circular, triangular, square, polyg-
onal ? Is not the fracture even or uneven, smooth or
rough, impervious or porous, splintery or conchoidal, or
hackly or fibrous ? Are not the fragments sharp or
blunt-edged ? Is it not brittle, or does it not rather
yield to the blows without breaking ?
All this the child does in order that from the diver-
sity of outer manifestations of the object its inner na-
ture and its relation to him may become revealed to
him, that he may know the cause of his liking, his fond-
ness of the object ? And do we adults who seek knowl-
edge proceed differently ?
We overlook this in the child's activity, and we do
not recognize its value and significance until the teacher
does it, and requests our sons to do it.
Therefore, even the lucid word of the most lucid
teacher frequently has no influence upon our sons ; for
they are asked to learn now with the teacher what they
should have learned in childhood with the help of our
MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 75
quickening explanations ; what, indeed, childhood meant
they should learn almost without effort.
And yet how little is needed from attendants to aid
childhood in this tendency ! It is only needful to desig-
nate, to name, to put into words what the child does,
sees, and Unds.
Rich, indeed, is the life of the child ripening into
boyhood ; but we see it not. Real is his life, but we
feel it not. His life accords with the destiny and mis-
sion of humanity, but we know it not. We not only
fail to guard, nurse, and develop the inner germ of his
life, but we allow it to be stifled and crushed by the
weight of his own instincts, or to find vent on some
weaker side in unnaturalness. We then see the same
phenomenon which, in the plant, we call wild-shoot, or
water-shoot, a misdirection of the energies, of the de-
sires and instincts in the child (the human plant).
E^ow, at last, we would fain give another direction
to the energies, desires, and instincts of the child grow-
ing into boyhood ; but it is too late. For the deep
meaning of child-life passing into boyhood we not only
failed to appreciate, but we misjudged it ; we not only
failed to nurse it, but we misdirected and crushed it.
§ 36. A child has found a pebble. In order to de-
termine by experiment its properties, he has rubbed it
on a board near by, and has discovered its property of
imparting color. It is a fragment of lime, chiy, red-
stone, or chalk.
See how he delights in the newly discovered prop-
erty, and how busily he makes use of it! Soon the
whole surface of the board is changed.
At first the boy took delight in the new property.
76 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
then in the changed surface — now red, now white, now
black, now brown — but soon he began to find pleasure
in the winding, straight, curved, and other forms that
appear. These linear phenomena direct his attention
to the linear properties of surrounding objects. Now
the head becomes a circle, and now the circular line
represents the head, the elliptical curve connected with
it represents the body ; arms and legs appear as straight
or broken lines, and these again represent arms and legs ;
the fingers he sees as straight lines meeting in a common
point, and lines so connected are, for the busy child,
again hands and fingers ; the eyes he sees as dots, and
these again represent eyes ; and thus a new world opens
within and without. For what man tries to represent
or do he begins to understand.
The perception and representation of linear relations
open to the child on the threshold of boyhood a new
world in various directions. 'Not only can he represent
the outer world in reduced measure, and thus compre-
hend it more easily with his eyes ; not only can he re-
produce outwardly what lives in his mind as a remi-
niscence or new association, but the knowledge of a
wholly new invisible world, the world of forces, has its
tenderest rootlets right here.
The ball that is rolling or has been rolled, the stone
that has been thrown and falls, the water that was
dammed and conducted into many branching ditches —
all these have taught the child that the effect of a force,
in its individual manifestations, is always in the direc-
tion of a line.
Thus the representation of objects by lines soon
leads the child to the perception and representation of
MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. Y7
the direction in which a force acts. " Here flows a
brook," and, saying this, the child makes a mark indi-
cating the course of a brook. The child has drawn lines
signifying to him a tree. " Here grows another branch,
and here still another," and as he speaks he draws forth
from the tree, as it were, the Hnes indicating the
branches.
Yery significantly the child says, " Here comes a
bird flying," and draws in the direction of the supposed
flight a winding line.
Give the child a bit of clialk or the like, and soon
a new creation will stand before him and you. Let
the father, too, in a few Hnes, sketch a man, a horse.
This man of lines, this horse of lines, will give the
child more joy than an actual man, an actual horse
would do.
§ 37. Mothers and attendants, would you know how
to lead the child in this matter ? See and observe the
child ; he will teach you what to do.
Here a child traces a table by passing its fingers
along its edges and outlines, as far as he can reach them.
Thus the child sketches the object on the object itself,
as it were. This is the first, and, for the child, the
safest step by which he first becomes aware of the out-
lines and forms of objects. In like manner he sketches
and studies the chair, the bench, the window.
Soon, however, the child advances. He draws lines
across four-sided boards — the table, the seat of the
chair or bench — vaguely anticipating that this is the
method for retaining the forms and relations of sur-
faces. A little later he draws the form in reduced
measure.
78 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
Behold ! here he has sketched the table, the chair,
the bench, and many other things, on the table-top.*
Do yon not see how he developed and grew spontane-
ously to this attainment ?
Objects which he could move, which he could take
in at one glance, he laid on a board or bench or table,
and sketched their outline by passing his hand around
them. Later on, scissors and boxes, and still later, leaves
and twigs, nay, the child's own hand and the shadows
of objects, are sketched in this way.
Many things are gained by these proceedings of the
child — more than I can enumerate — a clear conception
of forms, the power to represent the forms independ-
ently, the Hxing of the forms as such, strengthening and
practice of the arm and hand in free representation of
these.
The attentive mother, the thoughtful father, the
sympathetic family (witliout any of them having ever
drawn, without an artist among them), may lead the
child growing into boyhood to draw with tolerable ac-
curacy a straight line, a diagonal or diameter, even rect-
angular objects in vertical position (e. g., mirrors, win-
dows, and many other things), with some degree of
resemblance.
* It was formerly not uncommon to find table- tops made of large slabs
of slate-st me. There was such a table in my father's house when I was a
boy. I still connect with it many a fruitful memory of earnest studies of
form and outline, of delightful trains of fancy, and of vigorous struggles of
invention that made the ugliest weather a boon. A small portable black-
board is an excellent substitute for such a table. It will accomplish more
for the child's understanding of things, and for the vigorous development
of a healthy imagination, than the most earnest talks, and the most ideal
story-books could do. — Tr.
MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. Y9
It is not only conducive but necessary to tlie devel-
opment and strengthening of the child's power and skill
that parents should, without being pedantic or too exact-
ing, connect the child's actions with suitable language,
Co g., " Now I draw a table, a mirror ; now I draw the
diagonal of the slate, of the board."
This enhances the inner and the outer power, in-
creases knowledge, awakens the judgment and reflection,
which avoids so many blunders, and which, in a natural
way^ can not be aroused too soon. For the word and
the drawing * are always mutually explanatory and com-
plementary ; for neither one is, by itself, exhaustive and
sufficient with reference to the object represented. The
drawing properly stands between the word and the
thing, shares certain qualities with each of them, and is,
therefore, so valuable in the development of the child.
The true drawing has this in common with the thing,
that it seeks to represent it in form and outline ; like
the word, however, it never is the thing itself, but only
an image of the thing. The word and the drawing are
again clearly opposed in their nature : for the drawing
is dead, w^iile the word lives ; the drawing is visible, as
the word is audible. The word and the drawing, there-
fore, belong together inseparably, as light and shadow,
night and day, soul and body do. The faculty of draw-
ing is, therefore, as much innate in the child, in man, as
is the faculty of speech, and demands its development
and cultivation as imperatively as the latter ; experience
shows this clearly in the child's love for drawing, in the
child's instinctive desire for drawing.
* I translate Zeichen here by drawing^ not symbol, inasmuch as Froe-
bel has reference to the drawings just described. — Tr.
80 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
[Drawing offers the child the full connection between the inner
and the outer, so far as the eye is concerned. Here outer objects are
freed of all the attributes of corporeality ; and yet their images have
a visible reality, and vividly recall the absent attributes. Here the
child gives visible expression to his ideas. Here he feels the full
delight of creating, as it were, whatever his fancy dictates. This
accounts for the evident eagerness with which he returns, again and
again, to slate and pencil, and for the satisfaction with which he
lingers with them. — Tr.]
§ 38. The representation of objects bj and in draw-
ing induces and implies clear perception, and this soon
leads the child to the ready recognition of the constantly
repeated association of certain numbers of similar ob-
jects — e. g., two eyes and two arms, five fingers and
five toes, the six legs of the beetle and of the fly. Thus
the drawing of the object leads to the discovery of num-
ber (see §§ 75, 99). The repeated return of one and the
same object, leads to counting. The fixed distinctive
sum of objects similar in certain respects constitutes
the number of these objects. Thus, by a new discovery,
by the development and cultivation of the number- fac-
ulty in the child, his sphere of knowledge, his world, is
again extended ; and an essential need of his inner be-
ing, a certain yearning of his spirit, is satisfied by this
development. For the child has heretofore viewed his
greater or smaller quantities of similar and dissimilar
objects with a certain longing, a vague feeling that he
still lacks a certain means of knowledge. He was still
unable to recognize and to determine the relative quan-
tities of these different heaps of things ; but now he
knows he has two large and three small pebbles, four
white and five yellow flowers, etc. The knowledge of
number relations adds very much to the child's life.
MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 81
The mind of the child requires, however, that the
mother and other attendants should, from the very be-
ginning and early, develop in the child the number-
faculty in accordance with the nature of number, and
with the specific laws of human thought.
If the child is quietly observed, it will be easy to
see how he follows spontaneously the road implied by
the laws of human thought, proceeding from the visi-
ble to the invisible and more abstract. He does this
unconsciously, it is true, but surely. At first the child
places together similar objects, and obtains thus, e. g.,
apples, pears, nuts, beans.
Let, now, the mother or some other attendant add the
explanatory word ; in other words, let them join the
visible with the audible, thus bringing it nearer the
child's insight and knowledge, nearer his inner percep-
tion, by naming these objects.
Who has not observed and had frequent opportuni-
ties to see how the child arranges the objects of each
kind singly in a row ? Let the mother here again add
the explanatory, quickening word, saying, e. g. :
Apple, apple, apple, apple, etc. ; all apples.
Pear, pear, pear, pear, etc. ; all pears ;
or whatever else the child may have placed in the
rows — nuts, beans, pebbles, or leaves — of each kind of
objects there are always several. Now, in order to
enable the child particularly to see this, let the mother
speak the words in common with the child, as just in-
dicated.
Later, when the mother has the child to arrange the
objects one after the other, let her describe this proceed-
ing with the child definitely and clearly, thus :
82 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
One apple, another apple, still another apple ; many
apples.
One pear, another pear, still another pear; many
pears.
And so on with other objects. The quantity of
each kind of objects is continually increased by the
regular addition of a new object of the same kind.
Instead of the indefinite words " another," " still an-
other," the mother subsequently uses the numerals defi-
nitely indicating the increase, counting together with
tlie child, thus :
One apple, two apples, three apples, etc.
One pear, two pears, three pears, four pears, etc.
Again, let the mother place several objects of each
kind in naturally increasing quantities, in successive sets,
and indicate in words what she does, thus :
* apple, * pear,
* * apples, * * pears,
* * * apples, etc. * ^c * pears, etc.
Subsequently, again, let mother and child pronounce to-
gether. At last let the child do the arranging as well
as the speaking, counting alone.
While here with each number the kind of object
was still named, let, subsequently, the numbers only be
named and reserve the name of the kind of object for
the last number, thus :
* (one), * * (two), * * * (three), * * * * (four apples) ;
* (one), * * (two), * * * (three), * * * * (four pears), etc.
Here the successive groups of objects are considered
chiefiy with reference to their numbers, the considera-
tion of the kind of object lying in the background.
Lastly, the mother names only the numbers in the
MAN m EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 83
series, leaving the kind of objects wholly out of consid-
eration, thus :
* (one), * * (two), * * * (three), * * * * (four), ***** (five), etc.
This is the abstract consideration and perception of
groups in their natural succession, the perception of
numbers as such.
In this way a clear and sure knowledge of numbers
(at least up to ten) should be developed in the period
of childhood. But at no time should the numerals be
given to the child as empty, unmeaning sounds and be
thus repeated by him; by such a method the child
might be led to count two, four, seven, eight, one,
five, two, if it were not rescued at last by the native
power of the human mind, throwing off all things un-
natural.
For a long time the child should never say the nu-
merals, which, in themselves, are empty and meaning-
less to him, without the aid of objects which he actually
counts.
In this presentation of the development of number
ideas there has been given, at the same time, an illus-
tration in what manner and according to what laws the
child ascends from the perception of individual things
to the more general and the most general conceptions.
It is true, in experience, this transition is often quite
sudden.
§ 39. What wealth, what abundance and vigor of
inner and outer life, do w^e now find in the rightly
guided and guarded child toward the close of childhood
and entrance into the period of boyhood ! Where will
the coming man find an object of thought and feeling,
of knowledge and skill, that does not have its tenderest
84: THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
rootlets in tlie years of childliood ? What subject of
future instruction and discipline does not germinate in
childhood ?
Language and nature lie open before the child. He
begins to apprehend the properties of number, form,
magnitude, the knowledge of space, the nature of forces,
the effects of substances. Color, rhythm, melodious
sound, and shapeliness have impressed him in their ul-
timate germs and in their peculiar significance. He has
begun to distinguish, with some degree of definiteness,
nature and the world of art, and has commenced, with
some degree of certainty, to contrast himself with the
outer world ; already there has been aroused in him the
consciousness of an inner world of his own. JSTeverthe-
less, we have as yet not touched nor even considered an
important side of child-life, the side of association with
father and mother, brother and sister, in their domestic
cares, in their professional duties.
§ 40. I look about me : I see the scarcely two-year-
old child of a day-laborer leading his horse ; the father
has placed the halter in the child's hands. Calmly and
deliberately the little fellow walks before the horse, and
looks back with steady eye to see if the horse is follow-
ing. It is true, the father holds the check-reins in his
hand, still the child firmly believes that he leads the
horse, that the horse must obey him. For, see, the
father stops to speak to an acquaintance, and, of course,
the horse stops too ; but the child, thinking the horse
willful, pulls the halter with all his might to make it
go on.
My neighbor's son, scarcely three years old, tends
his mother's goslings near my garden-hedge. The
MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 85
space to which he is to confine the lively little creatures
in their search for food is small. They escape from the
little swain, who may have been busy in other ways,
seeking food for his mind. The goslings get into the
road, where they are exposed to injury. The mother
sees this, and calls out to the child to be careful. The
little boy who, by the ever-renewed efforts for freedom
on the part of the goslings, probably had been often
disturbed in his own pursuits, retorts in his vexation,
" Mother, you seem to think it is not hard to tend the
goslings."
Who can indicate the present and future develop-
ments which the child reaps from this part of the
parent's work, and which he might reap even more
abundantly, if parents and attendants heeded the mat-
ter and made use of it later on in the Instruction and
training of their children ?
Behold here the little child of the gardener. He is
weeding ; the child wishes to help, and he teaches the
little fellow to distinguish hemlock from parsley, to
observe the differences in the brilliancy and odor of the
leaves.
There the forester's son accompanies his father to
the clearing that, at some previous time, they together
had sown. Everything looks green. The child sees
only young pine-plants ; but the father teaches him to
recognize the cypress-spurge and to distinguish it from
the pine-plant by its different properties.
Again, the father takes aim and fires ; he hits the
mark, and teaches the attentive child that three points
that lie in the same direction always lie in one and the
same straight line ; that in order to direct a line — the
8
86 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
barrel of the rifle — toward a certain point, three points
must be laid in this direction, and that, when this has
been done, all other points of the gun-barrel lie in the
same line and direction.
In another place the child sees his father striking
the hot iron, and is taught bj the father that the heat
makes the iron softer ; and, again, as the father tries in
vain to push the heated iron rod through an opening
through which before it passed so easily, that heat ex-
pands the iron.
[Froebel here continues through three pages to fur-
nish similar illustrations from a variety of professions
and trades, showing the exhaustless wealth of informa-
tion and discipline that may come to the child from this
loving intercourse with a kind and thoughtful father
in his daily work. — TrJ]
The child — your child, ye fathers — feels this so in-
tensely, so vividly, that he follows you wherever yon
are, wherever you go, in whatever you do. Do not
harshly repel him ; show no impatience about his ever-
recurring questions. Every harshly repelling word
crushes a bud or shoot of his tree of life. Do not, how-
ever, tell him in words much more than he could find
himself without your w^ords. For it is, of course, easier
to hear the answer from another, perhaps to only half
hear and understand it, than it is to seek and dis-
cover it himself. To have found one fourth of the
answer by his own effort is of more value and impor-
tance to the child than it is to half hear and half under-
stand it in the words of another ; for this causes mental
indolence. Do not, therefore, always answer your
children's questions at once and directly ; but, as soon
MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 87
as they have gathered sufficient strength and experience^
furnish them with the means to find the answers in the J
sphere of their own knowledge. ^
Let parents — more particularly fathers (for to their
special care and guidance the child ripening into boy-
hood is confided)— let fathers contemplate what the
fulfillment of their paternal duties in child-guidance
yields to them ; let them feel the joys it brings. It is
not possible to gain from anything higher joy, higher
enjoyment, than we do from the guidance of our chil-
dren, from living with and for our children. It is in-
conceivable how we can seek and expect to find any-
where higher joy, higher enjoyment, fuller gratification
of our best desires than we can find in intercourse with
our children ; more recreation than we can find in the
family circle, where we can create joy for ourselves in
so many respects.
We should be deeply impressed with the truth of
these statements could we but see in his plain home-
surroundings, in his happy, joyous family, the father
who, from his own resources, has created what here has
been but partially described. In a few words he sums
up his rule of conduct: '^To lead children early to
think, this I consider the first and foremost object of
child-training."
To give them early habits of work and industry
seemed to him so natural and obvious a course as to need
no statement in words. Besides, the child that has
been led to think will thereby, at the same time, be
led to industry, diligence — to all domestic and civic
virtues.
Those words are a seed from which springs a shady.
88 THE EDUCATION OF MAN,
evergreen tree of life, full of fragrant blossoms and
soundj ripe fruit. May those of us who allow our chil-
dren to grow up thoughtless and idle, and therefore
dull and dead, hear and heed this !
§ 41. But — it is hard to say it, yet its truth will ap-
pear if, in our intercourse and life with our children,
we cast a searching glance upon the condition of our
minds and hearts — we are dull, our surroundings are
dull to us. With all our knowledge, we are empty for
our children. Almost all we say is hollow and empty,
without meaning and without life. Only in the few
rare cases, when our discourse rests on intercourse
with life and nature, we enjoy its life.
Let us hasten, then ! Let us impart life to ourselves,
to our children ; let us through them give meaning to
our speech and life to the things about us ! Let us live
with them, and let them live wdtli us ; thus shall we
obtain through them what we all need.
Our words, our discourses in social life, are dull, are
empty husks, lifeless puppets, worthless chips ; they are
devoid of inner life and meaning ; they are evil spirits,
for they have neither body nor substance.
Our surroundings are dead and dull. Objects are
matter. They crush, instead of lifting us, for they lack
the quickening word that gives them significance and
meaning.
We do not feel the meaning of what we say, for our
speech is made up of memorized ideas, based neither
on perception nor on productive effort. Therefore, it
does not lead to perception, production, life ; it has not
proceeded, it does not proceed, from life.
Our speech is like the book out of which we have
MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 89
learned it, at third or fourth hand. We do not our-
selves see what we say, we can not give outer form to
what we say. Therefore, our speech is so empty and
meaningless. For this reason, and only for this, our
inward and outward life, as well as the life of our chiL
dren, is so poor, because our speech is not born from a
life, rich inwardly and outwardly, in seeing and doing ;
because our speech, our word, is not based on the per-
ception of the thing it designates. Therefore, we hear
the sound, it is true, but we fail to get the image ; we
hear the noise, but see no movement.
§ 42. Fathers, parents, let us see that our children
may not suffer from similar deficiencies. What we no
longer possess — the all-quickening, creative power of
child-life — let it again be translated from their life into
ours.
Let us learn from our children, let us give heed to
the gentle admonitions of their life, to the silent de-
mands of their minds.
Let us live with our children : then will the life of
our children bring us peace and joy, then shall we begin
to grow wise, to be wise.
[This celebrated saying, " Kommt, lasst uns unsern Kindern le-
ben / " is frequently translated, " Come, let us live for our children ! "
Unsern Kindern is the dative case, and implies here devotion to, ab-
sorption in, harmony ivith, the life of our children. It seems to me
that this is more fully expressed by the preposition with. With im-
plies that both, we and the children, are equally active ; for seems
to place the burden on us, and renders the children passive recipients
of our bounty.
Living with our children means entering fully into their simple
ways of seeing and saying, of feeling and thinking, of willing and
doing ; it means placing at their service our wider knowledge, our
greater strength, patiently helping them, guarding and guiding
90 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
them in their life, in their spontaneous search for light and love ; it
means joining them in their simple truthfulness, their childish faith
in man, and leading them on the basis of this to a higher and
mightier faith in the immutable laws of nature and of God; it
means being true with them so that they may reach higher truth ; it
means loving with them what they love, so that with our help they
may learn to love the highest good.
Living with our children implies on our part sympathy with
childhood, adaptability to children, and knowledge and appreciation
of child-nature; it implies genuine interest in all that interests
them, to rejoice and grieve with them in the measure of their joy
and grief, not merely in the measure of our appreciation of loss or
gain, of substance or shadow ; it implies seeing ourselves with the
eyes of a child, hearing ourselves with the ears of a child, judging
ourselves with the keen intuition of a child.
Froebel even sees in it the expression of a universal law in its
application to the lite of humanity ; it means to him the realization
in consciousness of the organic connection of human life in succes-
sive generations. " The loving heart," he says elsewhere, " feels it
in all things, the eager mind sees it in all things as a cosmic
thought ; the heart and the mind find it in the universe of vvhich
man himself is only an organic part. Does not the sun proclaim
it to the earth and all her creatures, all her children ? Do not the
elements — earth, water, air, light, and heat — proclaim it to each
other with reference to all earthly things I Do not, again, in each
plant all the various parts proclaim this to each other with reference
to the seed growing in quiet seclusion? In all nature, wherever
there are life and activity, we find this thought : ' Come, let us live
with our children' — revealed as a law comprehending all life." — TrJ\
§ 43. During the period of human development
heretofore considered, the objects of the external world
were intimately connected with the word, and through
the word with the human being.
This period, therefore, is pre-eminently the period
of development of the faculty of speech. Therefore,
in all the child did, it was so indispensable that what-
ever he did should be clearly and definitely designated
MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 91
by the word, connected with the word. Every object,
every thing became such, as it were, only through the
word ; before it had been named, although the child
might have seemed to see it with the outer eyes, it had
no existence for the child. The name, as it were, created
the thing for the child ; hence the name and the thing
seemed to be one, like the stem and the marrow, the
branch and the twdg. Yet, in spite of this intimate
connection of the object with its name, and, through
this, with man — and this can not be too clearly noticed
and too carefully followed by the educator — every object
at this stage of human development is again so entirely
distinct from all others, each object and each whole,
too, shows in its parts no organic connection. The des-
tiny of man and of things, however, tends in a very
different direction. Not only should man consider each
thing as an undivided whole, but he should also look
upon it as organized in its parts for a common pur-
pose. He is to view it not only as an independent
w^hole, an individual unit, but he should also view
it as a member of a relatively greater and higher
whole, fulfilling a higher common purpose. Of each
thing he is to know not only its external conditions
and associations, but its inner relationships, its in-
ner unity with what seems to be outw^ardly distinct
from it.
§ 44. Yet the totality of what surrounds man as his
outer world can not be known by him in its oneness ;
he can find it only in the knowledge of the peculiar
nature of each thing, the individuality and personality
of each object.
l^ow, man finds it diflacult to recognize a thing —
92 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
the inner nature of a thing — if it is brought too close
to him inwardly and outwardly ; and the difficulty is
increased in the measure in which it approaches him
too closely, inwardly and outwardly. The misunder-
standings between parent and child in the family circle
furnish frequent and speaking proofs for this. For
this reason man finds it so difficult to know himself.
On the other hand, external separation often brings
about inner unity, inner recognition and appreciation.
Thus, alas! man knows many foreign things — foreign
objects, other times, other men — better than his home
surroundings, his own time, better than himself. If
man would know himseK truly, he must represent him-
self externally, must place himself over against him-
self, as it were. Now, if man in obedience to his des-
tiny is truly and thoroughly to know each thing of the
surrounding world ; if, with the aid of each thing, he
is truly and thoroughly to know himself, the period of
childhood which unites man and object must be fol-
lowed by a new period opposed to its predecessor in
its nature ; a period which separates man and object,
which outwardly opposes them to one another, but
unites them inwardly ; a period which brings the ob-
jects inwardly nearer to man by separating the object
from its name, considers the object and the word as
separate, distinct, yet uniting things. This period,
when language assumes an independent existence, is the
One that now follows.
When he learns to separate the name from the
thing, and the thing from its name, the speech from
the speaker, and vice versa j when, later on, language
itself is externalized and materialized in signs and
MAN IN EARLIEST CHILDHOOD. 93
writing, and begins to be considered as something
actually corporeal, man leaves the period of childhood
and enters the jperiod of hoy hood,
[In an additional paragraph, Froebel indulges in a play on the word
KnabCy boy^ seeking to fix the idea that this is the period when man, by his
own strength, consciously appropriates the external.— TV.]
III.
THE BOYHOOD OF MAK
§ 45. As tlie preceding period of human develop-
ment, the period of childhood^ was predominantly that
of life for the sake merely of living, for making the in-
ternal external, so the jperiod of hoyhood is predomi-
nantly the period for lea/rning^ for making the external
internal.
On the part of parents and educators the period of
infancy demanded chiefly fostering care. During the
succeeding period of childhood, which looks upon man
predominantly as a unit, and would lead him to nnity,
training prevails. The period of boyhood leads man
chiefly to the consideration of particular relationships
and individual things, in order to enable him later on
to discover their inner unity. The inner tendencies
and relationships of individual things and conditions are
sought and established (see § 56).
Now, the consideration and treatment of individual
and particular things, as such, and in their inner bear-
ings and relationships, constitute the essential character
and work of instruction ; therefore, hoyhood is the pe-
riod in ivhich instruction predominates.
This instruction is conducted not so much in accord-
ance with the nature of man as in accordance with the
THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 95
fixed, definite, clear laws that lie in the nature of things,
and more particularly the laws to which man and things
are equally subject. It is conducted not so much in the
method in which the universal, eternal law finds pecul-
iar expression in man as rather in the method in which
this law finds peculiar expression in each external thing,
or simultaneous expression in both man and thing. It
is conducted, then, in accordance with fixed and definite
conditions lying outside the human being ; and this im-
plies knowledge, insight, a conscious and comprehensive
survey of the field.
Such a process constitutes the school in the widest
sense of the word. The school, then, leads mafl ,to_j;_
knowledge of external thing s, and of their nature in
accordance with tJie particular and general laws that lie
in them ; by the presentation of the external, the indi-
vidual, the particular, it leads man to a knowledge of
the internal, of unity, of the universal. Therefore, on
entering the period of boyhood, man becomes at the
same time a school-hoy. With this period school begins
for him, be it in the home or out of it, and taught by
the father, the members of the family, or a teacher.
School, then, means here by no means the school-room,
nor school-keeping, but the conscious communication of
knowledge, for a definite purpose and in definite inner
connection (see § 56).
Y^ % 46. On the other hand, as it has appeared and con-
tinues to appear in every aspect, the development and
cultivation of man, for the attainment of his destiny
and fulfillment of his mission, constitute an unbroken
whole, steadily and continuously progressing, gradually
ascending. The feeling of community, awakened in the
96 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
infant, becomes in the child impulse, inclination ; these
lead to the formation of the disposition and of the heart,
and arouse in the boy his intellect and will.
To give firmness to the will, to quicken it, and to
make it pure, strong, and enduring, in a life of jpure
humanity, is the chief concern, the main oljject in the
\ guidance of the hoy, in instruction amjd the school.
j § 47. Will is the mental activity, ever consciously
proceeding from a definite point in a definite direction
toward a definite object, in harmony with the man's
nature as a whole.
This statement contains everything, and indicates all
that parent and educator, teacher and school, should be
or should give to the boy in example and precept during
these years.
The starting-point of all mental activity in the boy
should be energetic and sound ; the source whence it
flows, pure, clear, and ever flowing ; the direction, sim-
ple, definite ; the object, fixed, clear, living and life-
giving, elevating, worthy of the effort, worthy of the
destiny and mission of man, worthy of his essential na-
ture, and tending to develop it and to give it full ex-
pression.
In order, therefore, to impart true, genuine firmness
to the natural will-activity of the boy, all the activities
of the boy, his entire will, should proceed from and have
reference to the development, cultivation, and represen-
tation of the internal. Instruction in example and in
words, which later on become precept and example, fur-
nishes the means for this. J^either example alone nor
words alone will do : not example alone, for it is par-
ticular and special, and the word is needed to give to
THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 97
particular individual examples universal applicability ;
not words alone, for example is needed to interpret and
explain the word wliich is general, spiritual, and of
many meanings.
But instruction and example alone and in themselves
are not sufficient : they must meet a good, pure heart,
and this is an outcome of proper educational influences
in childhood.
Therefore, the cultivation of boyhood rests wholly
on that of childhood ; therefore, activity and firmness
of the will rest upon activity and firmness of tlie feel-
ings and of the heart. Where the latter are lacking,
the former will scarcely be attainable.
§ 48. The pure and good heart and the thoughtful
and gentle sympathies of the child constitute in them-
selves a unity. Hence their utterance is an intense
longing to find for the many externally separate things
that surround the child an inner necessary unity, such as
he feels in himself, a quickening spiritual bond and law
—a bond and law by which these things may gain at least
the significance of life and significance for life.
Kow, it is true, for the period of childhood this long-
ing is gratified in the complete enjoyment of living
play. By this, in the period of childhood, man is placed
in the center of all things, and all things are seen only
in relation to himself, to his life. Yet above all it is
family-life that gratifies this longing fully. Family-life
alone secures the development and cultivation of a good
heart and of a thoughtful, gentle disposition in their
full intensity and vigor, so incomparably important for
every period of growth, nay, for the whole life of man
(see § 86).
98 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
Now, inasmnoli as that desire for unity is the
basis of all geniiinely human development and cul-
tivation, and inasmuch as every separating tendency
hinders pure human development, man, even in child-
hood, refers everything to family-life, beholds every-
thing through family-life, as is shown so clearly in
childhood.
For the child, therefore, the life of his own family
becomes itself an external thing and a type of life.
Parents should consider this fact : that the child in his
own life would fain represent this type in the purity,
harmony, and efficiency in which he sees it.
[On the great value of family-life, see also § 86. The family is
to Froebel the type of unified human life. In it the triune essence of
humanity — light, love, and life — is individualized in father, mother,
and child ; light predominating in the father, love in the mother, life
in the child. Of these, love is the center and fulcrum, as the mother,
too, is at the center and fulcrum of the family. Light may secure
individual existence and furnish insight, but love alone can make
life worth living, love alone can lead to the suhordination of the whole
being to a heart turned upward, taught lovingly and patiently — as
mothers teach — to yearn for the Infinite. This is in full agreement
with his primary principle of life-unity ; for the emotional element
of our being, the heart, is nearest the divinity within us. Head and
hand are but the instruments of the heart from which they receive
their direction. — 2V.]
§ 49. Now, in the family, the child sees the parents
and other members of the family at work, producing,
doing something ; the same he notices with adults gen-
erally in life and in those active interests with which his
family is concerned. Consequently the child, at this
stage, would like himself to represent what he sees. He
would like to represent — and tries to do so — all he sees
his parents and other adults do and represent in work,
THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 99
all which he thus sees represented by human power and
human skill. ^
What formerly the child did onljfor the sake of the ]
activity, the boj now does for the sake of the result or ;
product of his activity ; the child's instinct of activity
has in the boy become ^ forpiative instinct, diTidi this
occupies the whole outward life, the outward manifes-
tation of boy-life at this period (see § 23).
How cheerfully and eagerly the boy and the girl at
this age begin to share the work of father and mother —
not the easy work, indeed, but the difficult work, calling
for strength and labor !
Be cautious, be careful and thoughtful, at this point,
O parents ! You can here at one blow destroy, at least
for a long time, the instinct of formative activity in
your children, if yOu repel their help as childish, use-
less, of little avail, or even as a hindrance.
Do not let the urgency of your business tempt you
to say, " Go away, you only hinder me," or, "I am in a
hurry, leave me alone."
Boys and girls are thus disturbed in their inner ac-
tivity; they see themselves shut out from the whole
with which they felt themselves so intimately united ;
their inner power is aroused, but they see themselves
alone, and do not know what to do with the aroused
power; nay, it becomes a burden to them, and they
become fretful and indolent.
After a third rebuff of this character, scarcely any
child will again propose to help and share the work,
lie becomes fretful and dull, even when he sees his
parents engaged in work which he might share. Who
has not later on heard the parents of such children com-
100 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
plain : " "When tMs boy (or girl) was small and could
not help, he busied himself about everything; now
that he knows something and is strong enough, he does
not want to do anything" ?
Just so! In accordance with the nature of the
spiritual principle working in man, as yet unconscious-
ly and unrecognized, the first utterances of the instinct
of activity, of the formative instinct, come without any
effort on his part, and even against his will, as indeed
happens to him even in later life. I^ow, if this inner
impulse to formative activity in man, particularly in
early youth, is met by an external obstacle, especially
by one like the will of parents, which can not be set
aside, the inner power itself is weakened, and a fre-
quent repetition of this forces it back into complete
inactivity.
When the child has been thus disturbed, he does
not consider why his help was permissible at one time
and not at another time ; he chooses that which is more
agreeable to his physical nature. He abstains from the
activity the more readily and willingly, because the will
of his parents seems to make it his duty to do so.
^ The child becomes indolent — i. e., spirit and life
cease to animate his physical being ; the latter becomes
a mere body to him, which now he must carry as a bur-
den ; whereas, formerly, the sense of power led him to
. feel his body, not as such, but as the mighty source of
the power that filled him.
Therefore, O parents, if you wish your children
eventually to help you, foster in them at an early pe-
riod the instinct of activity, and especially the forma-
tive instinct of boyhood, even though it should involve
THE BOYHOO);) OF ;>I'AN^ . ; ;, ;,/ ^^iir^J,
some effort, some sacrifice on your part. It will re-
pay a hundred-fold, as does good wheat planted in
good soil.
[Here, as elsewhere, Froebel places himself broadly on the
thought that in the order of development, the lower is the neces-
sary condition of the higher, and owes its value to the higher.
Later on, this will be shown in his presentation of the development
of conscious spontaneity from the mere energy as seen in the crys-
tal. For the same reason he asks us here to foster this, as yet com-
paratively simple instinct, of more or less purposeless activity, which
appears almost like a reflex effect of the impressions that crowd in
upon the child. He sees in this activity the germ and promise of
higher developments, of the highest differentiations of conscious
purpose. Similarly, he would lead the child from apparently pur-
poseless and frivolous play to the teeming fields of earnest labor ;
not by contemning play but by fostering it, and by directing it in
its legitimate channels. — Tr.]
Strengthen and develop this instinct ; give to your
child the highest he now needs ; permit him to add his
power to your work — specially dear to him because it
is yours — so tha^ he may not only gain the consciousness
of his power, but learn to appreciate its limitations.
If in his former activity (in childhood) he imitated
phases of domestic life, in his present activity (in boy-
hood) he shares the work of the house — lifting, pulling,
carrying, digging, splitting. The boy wants to try his
strength in everything, so that his body may grow
strong, that his strength may increase, and that he may
know its measure. The son accompanies his father
everywhere — to the field and to the garden, to the shop
and to the counting-house, to the forest and to the
meadow ; in the care of domestic animals and in the
making of small articles of houseliold furniture ; in the
splitting, sawing, and the piling up of wood ; in all the
103 J J / c V :{}' .T jiE : lyjuc AjioN of man.
work his father's trade or calling involves. Question
'upon question comes from the lips of the boy thirsting
.for knowledge— How? Why? When? What for? Of
what?— and every somewhat satisfactory answer opens
a new world to the boy. Language comes to him every-
where, in its independence, as a mediator.*
At this age the healthy boy, brought up simply and
naturally, never evades an obstacle, a difficulty ; nay, he
seeks it, and overcomes it.
" Let it lie," the vigorous youngster exclaims to his
father, who is about to roll a piece of wood out of the
boy's way — " let it lie, I can get over it." With diffi-
culty, indeed, the boy gets over it the first time ; but he
has accomplished the feat by his own strength. Strength
and courage have grown in him. He returns, gets over
the obstacle a second time, and soon he learns to clear
it easily. If activity brought joy to the child, work now
gives delight to the boy. Hence, the daring and vent-
uresome feats of boyhood ; the explorations of caves
and ravines ; the climbing of trees and mountains ;
the searching of the heights and depths ; the roaming
through fields and forests.
The most difficult thing seems easy, the most daring
thing seems without danger to him, for his promptings
come from his innermost heart and will.
However, it is not alone the desire to try smd use
his power that prompts the boy at this age to seek ad-
venture high and low, far and wide ; it is particularly
the peculiarity and need of his unfolding innermost
life, the desire to control the diversity of things, to see
* As a mediator between him and the outer world, bringing him the
knowledge for which he thirsts. — Tr.
THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 103
individual things in their connection with a whole, es-
pecially to bring near that which is remote, to compre-
hend (the outer world) in its extent, its diversity, its
integrity; it is the desire to extend his scope step
by step.
To climb a new tree means to the boy the discovery
of a new world. The outlook from above shows every-
thing so different from the ordinary cramped and dis-
torted side-view. How clear and distinct everything lies
beneath him ! Could we but recall the feelings that
filled our hearts and souls in boyhood, when the narrow
limits of our surroundings sank before our extended
view, we should not cry out to him : " Come down ; you
might fall!"
Not by walking and standing alone, do we learn to
walk and stand. Kot by walking and standing, sitting
and crawling, do we learn to keep from falling ; the
survey of our surroundings, too, is needed. And how
different does the commonest thing look when viewed
from above !
[More clearly than in any other passage, Froebel here indicates
his position with reference to the much-abused maxim, " Learn to do
by doing,'' which has sometimes been attributed to him by well-mean-
ing but ill-informed persons. Froebel, it is true, would have skill in
action imparted by practice ; but he never makes skill as such an
object of educational activity, deeming it of value only when it
serves insight, which can come only from seeing. He would, indeed,
have doing, but always as the expression of thought and feeling,
which, again, are based on previous seeing. In this respect Froebel
is a more faithful follower of Comenius than those over-zealous per-
sons who seem to have caught nothing from the great Moravian
teacher than this maxim, " Learn to do by doing." Comenius him-
self applies the saying only to the arts of the school — such as writ-
ing, speaking (or reading), singing, and ciphering — and treats of it
104 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
in a chapter subordinate to the " Method of the Sciences " which, as
he says, need " the eye, the object, and light.'
This is not vitiated by the fact that " every science is evolved out
of its corresponding art." An art is a complex empirical organism,
involving the co-operation of more or less extended systems of vari-
ously inter-related seeing and doing. The corresponding science
grows in the measure in which we learn to see it as a living, ration-
ally constituted whole. — Tr.]
Should it not be our duty and our work to secure
for our boy at an early period this elevation of mind
and heart ? Shall he not from a lofty standpoint clear
his understanding, and expand heart and mind by ex-
tending his view into the distance ?
" But," you object, " the boy will become reckless ;
I am never free from anxiety about him." The boy,
who from early youth has been led quietly and with
reference to the steady development of his power, will
never task his strength much more than his previous
trials justify. Thus he passes through all these dangers
like one led by a good genius ; while another boy, who
knows neither his strength nor the difficulty of his task,
attempts to do what his little skill and strength do
not warrant him to undertake, and thus incurs danger
where even the most timid would deem himself safe.
Indeed, the most really venturesome boys are always
those who, without steadily practiced strength, are
taken with a sudden fit of power, and, at the same
time, are offered an opportunity for its use. They will
then, particularly if others observe them, easily get into
danger.
Not less significant and developing is the boy's in-
clination to descend into caves and ravines, to ramble in
the shady grove and in the dark forest. It is the de-
THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 105
sire to seek and find the new, to see and discover the
hidden ; the desire to bring to hght and to appropriate
that which lies concealed in darkness and shadow.
From these rambles the boy returns with rich treas-
ures of unknown stones and plants, of animals — worms,
beetles, spiders, and lizards — that dwell in darkness
and concealment. " What is this ? what is its name ? "
etc., are the questions to be answered ; and every new
word enriches his world, and throws light upon his sur-
roundings. Beware of greeting the boy with the excla-
mation, '' Fie, throw that down ; that is horrid ! " or
" Drop that, it will bite you ! " If the child obeys, he
drops and throws away also a considerable portion of
his power ; and, when later on you say to him, or when
common sense and reason tell him, " See, this is a harm-
less creature," he will avert his eyes, and a great amount
of knowledge will be lost at the same time. On the
other hand, the little boy, scarcely six years old, may
tell you about the structure of the beetle and about the
peculiar uses it makes of its limbs ; things that hereto-
fore had remained unnoticed by you. It may be well
to caution him about taking hold of unknown creatures,
but not in such a way as to make him timid.
However, the genuine, vigorous boy at this age is by
no means always on the heights or in the depths. The
same desire that urges him to seek knowledge and in-
sight on the mountains and in the valleys, attracts and
holds him also to the plain. Here he makes a little
garden under the hedge near the fence of his father's
garden ; there he represents the course of the river in
his furrow and in his ditch ; there he studies the effects
of the fall or pressure of water upon his little water-
106 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
wheel ; here he observes a small piece of wood or a bit
of light bark floating on a little pond he has dammed
Tip. He is particularly fond of occupying himself with
the clear, living, mobile water in which the boy who
seeks self-knowledge beholds the image of his soul as in
a mirror. For the same reason he is fond of busying
himself with plastic substances (sand, clay), which to
him are, as it were, a life-element. For he seeks now,
impelled by the previously acquired sense of his power,
to master the material, to control it. Everything must
submit to his formative instinct ; there in the heap of
earth he builds a cellar, a cavern, and on it a garden, a
bench.
Boards, branches of trees, laths, and poles are made
into a hut, a house ; the deep, fresh snow is fashioned
into the walls and ramparts of a fortress ; and the rough
stones on the hill are heaped together to make a castle :
all this is done in the spirit and tendency of boyhood,
in the spirit and tendency of unification and assimila-
tion (see § 94).
There two boys, scarcely seven years old, with
their arms around each other, walk across the yard in
friendly, intimate consultation ; they are on the way to
get tools in order to build in a dark grove, on the hill
behind the house, a hut witli a table and bench, an out-
look from which their eyes can take in the whole valley
at one glance, as a beautifully organized whole.
This unifying and, at the same time, self-reliant
spirit unites all things that come near and seem adapt-
ed to its nature, its wants, and inner status — unites
stones and human beings in a common purpose, a com-
mon endeavor. And thus each one soon forms for him-
THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 107
self his own world ; for the feeling of his own power
implies and soon demands also the possession of his
own space and his oion material belonging exclasive-
Ij to him.
Be his realm, his province, his land, as it were, a
corner of the court-yard, of the house, or of the room ;
be it the space of a box, of a chest, or of a closet ; be it
a grotto, a hut, or a garden — the human being, the boy
at this age, needs an external point, if possible, chosen
and prepared by himself, to which he refers all his ac-
tivity.
When the room to be filled is extensive, when the
realm to be controlled is large, when the whole to be
represented or produced is complex, then brotherly
union of similar-minded persons is in place. And
when similar-minded persons meet in similar endeavor,
and their hearts find each other, then either the work
already begun is extended, or the work begun by one
becomes a common w^ork.
[In this and the following passages Froebel foreshadows the
kindergarten, which he meant to be jpar excellence the social nursery
of the child — a place where the children's faculties might be directed
without violence into social channels. In the educational practice
of home and school this phase of child-nature is almost wholly ig-
nored, and not unf requently suppressed as detrimental to the child's
individual welfare. To the mother the child is lier child, to the
school it is a child.
Perhaps this is well, so far as the mother is concerned, inasmuch
as it is her special province to nurse the earliest germ of individual
development which underlies the future social worth of the child,
and inasmuch as the home rarely offers suitable conditions to train
the child for life in a society of equals. With the school, however,
this is different; here all the elements of a society of equals are
given, opportunities for common enterprise are so abundant that
isolation becomes a matter of great difficulty. Here, then, it would
108 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
be easy to establish an atmosphere of universal good-will; to de-
velop and foster habits of sympathy, gratitude, and helpfulness ;
to have the pupil grow surely and steadily into ever fuller appre-
ciation of the value of social effort to himself, and of his own value
to society ; to fill the soul of each one brimful of a generous self-
assertion and a rational self-sacrifice that shrink from no duty and
yield no right.
In the kindergarten Froebel has provided an ideal society of
equals which the child may enter at the very moment when his social
instincts enter consciousness. The school would gain in every phase
of its work, could it connect itself organically with the kindergarten
and become an institution where the future men and women might
learn the arts of co-ordination and subordination, of creative and
directive leadership, of intelligent and cheerful helpfulness in the
attainment of common purposes. Thus the school would strengthen
the pupil's individuality, invigorate it through exercise, lead it to
ever greater self -consciousness in practice, elevate his drift and char-
acter by giving him a tendency to seek worthy objects for a generous
activity, enable him to become a leader in matters in which he has
the stuff for leadership, and a contented follower in all affairs in
which his powers assign him a humbler station. — Tr.]
Would you, O parents and educators, see in minia-
ture, in a picture, as it were, what I have here indicated,
look into this education-room * of eight bojs, seven to
eight years old.
On the large table of the much-used room there
stands a chest of building-blocks, in the form of bricks,
each side about one sixth of the size of actual bricks,
the finest and most variable material that can be offered
a boy for purposes of representation. Sand or sawdust,
too, have found their way into the room, and fine, green
moss has been brought in abundantly from the last walk
in the beautiful pine-forest.
* A word formed in imitation of the word school-room, to indicate
the wider scope of the place. — Tr,
THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 109
[This is the first foreshadowing of what has since in the kinder-
garten been developed into groii^-work. In group- work several chil-
dren, or the whole little society, unite their skill and energy in the use
of the gifts and occupations for a common purpose. This purpose may
lie within the limits of a single gift or occupation, or it may require a
variety of these. A few instances will illustrate this : The group-
work remains within the limits of a single gift or occupation when
the children use the folding papers as paving-stones in building a
sidewalk, when they use their third gifts in representing a farm-yard
with its buildings and implements, when they combine to build a
street railroad with the help of the fourth gift, when two children
fold a dwelling-house from a large sheet of cardboard, while the
others are busy folding from smaller sheets of paper all kinds of fur-
niture — tables, chairs, sofas, beds, writing-desk, picture-frames, look-
ing-glasses, etc.
Here the individuality of each child has full play, and ^yet is ex-
ercised in the service of a common purpose, subordinating itself to
the claims and needs of the little society with no loss and much
gain. This becomes still more evident when a variety of gifts and
occupations are brought into play. Here is an instance : In one
corner of a suitably prepared " sand-table " a few handfuls of sand
are spread to receive yellow folding-papers, cut and rolled so as to
represent a wheat-field; behind this a few children build a small
village, from the fifth and sixth gifts ; others erect near the center
of the table a large mill, with the necessary out-houses ; still others
build a road, a brook, a bridge, with suitable material ; a few boys
are busy making bags of flour out of clay ; two girls are constructing
a wagon out of sticks, peas, and interlacing material. Thus all unite
to express what they know about the history of wheat.
In the primary school it becomes desirable to develop these social
tendencies methodically and in harmony with individual develop-
ment. This is accomplished with the help of my group-table, first
systematically used at La Porte (Indiana). The table is similar to
the ordinary kindergarten-table, but in the shape of a square or
hexagon, and of a size to accommodate four or six children, one
at each side of the table. When the children work at this table
with any given material, at respectively equal distances from the
center or margin, the work will be strictly symmetrical and definitely
related to the sides and angles, diagonals and diameters of the table-
top. This symmetrical arrangement serves as a powerful connecting
110 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
link among the individual workers. They soon learn to contribute
their material and energy to the execution of social purposes with
little or no thought of individual gain, and still less of individual
supremacy. — Tr.]
It is intermission, and eacli one has begun "his own
work. There in a corner stands a chapel quite concealed,
a cross and an altar indicate the meaning of the struct-
ure : it is the creation of a small, quiet boy. There on a
chair two boys have united to undertake a considerably
greater piece of work : it is a building of several stories,
and probably represents a castle, which looks down
from the chair as from a mountain into a valley. But
what has quietly grown under the hands of that boy at
the table ? It is a green hill crowned by an old, ruined
castle. The others, in the mean while, have erected a
village in the plain below.
• Now, each one has finished his work ; each one ex-
amines it and that of the others. In each one rises the
thought and the wish to unite all in a connected whole ;
and scarcely has this wish been recognized as a com-
mon one, when they establish common roads from the
village to the ruin, from this to the castle, and from the
castle to the chapel, and between them lie brooks and
meadows.
At another time some had fashioned a landscape
from clay, another had constructed from pasteboard a
house with doors and windows, and a third had made
miniature ships from nut-shells. Each one examines his
work : it is good, but it stands alone. He sees his neigh-
bor's work : it would gain so much by being united.
And immediately the house, as a castle, crowns the hill,
and the tiny ship floats on the small artiiicial lake, and,
THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. HI
to the delight of all, the youngest bi'ings his shepherd
and sheep to graze between the mountain and the lake.
Now, they all stand and behold with pleasure and satis-
faction the work of their own hands.
Again, what busy tumult among those older boys at
the brook down yonder ! They have built canals and
sluices, bridges and sea-ports, dams and mills, each one
intent only on his own work. Now the water is to be
used to carry vessels from the higher to the lower
level ; but at each step of progress one trespasses on the
limits of another realm, and each one equally claims his
right as lord and maker, while he recognizes the claims
of the others. What can serve here to mediate ? Only
treaties^ and, like states, they bind themselves by strict
treaties. Who can point out the varied significance, the
varied results of these plays of boys ? Two things, in-
deed, are clearly established. They proceed from one
and the same spirit of boyhood ; and the playing boys
made good pupils, intelligent, and quick to learn, quick
to see and to do, diligent and full of zeal, reliable in
thought and feeling, efficient and vigorous. Those i
who played thus are efficient men, or will become so.
Particularly helpful at this period of life is the cul-
tivation of gardens owned by the boys, and their culti-
vation for the sake of the produce. For here man for
the first time sees his work bearing fruit in an organic
way, determined by logical necessity and law — fruit
which, although subject to the inner laws of natural de-
velopment, depends in many ways upon his work and
upon the character of his work !
This work fully completes, in many ways, the boy's
life with nature, and satisfies his curiosity concerning
112 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
her workings, his desire to know her — a desire that urges
him again and again to give thoughtful and continuous
attention and observation to plants and flowers. [Nature,
too, seems to favor these promptings and occupations,
and to reward them with abundant success ; for a glance
upon these gardens of children reveals at once the fact
that, if a boy has given his plants only moderate care
and attention, they thrive remarkably well; and that
the plants and flowers of the boys who attend to them
with special care live in sympathy with these boys,
as it were, and are particularly healthy and luxuriant.
V If the boy can not have the care of a httle garden of
his own, he should have at least a few plants in boxes
or pots, filled not with rare and delicate or double
plants, but with common plants that have an abundance
of leaves and blossoms, and thrive easily.
4[^ The child, or boy, who has guarded and cared for
another living thing, although it be of a lower order,
will be led more easily to guard and foster his own life. ^
At the same time the care of plants will gratify his
desire to observe other living things, such as beetles,
butterflies, and birds, for these seek the vicinity of
plants.
By no means, however, do all the plays and occupa-
tions of boys at this age aim at tlie representation of
things ; on the contrary, many are predominantly mere
practice and trials of strength, and many aim simply
at display of strength. ^Nevertheless, the play of this
period always bears a peculiar character, corresponding
with its inner life. For, while during the previous pe-
riod of childliood the aim of play consisted simply in
activity as such, its aim lies now in a definite, consdous
THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 113
purpose; it seeks representation as such, or the thing
to be represented in tlie activity. This character is
developed more and more in the free boyish games as
the boys advance in age. This is observable even with
all games of physical movement, with games of running,
boxing, wrestling, with ball-games, racing, games of
hunting, of war, etc. (see § 30).
It is the sense of sure and reliable power, the sense
of its increase, both as an individual and as a member
of the group, that fills the boy with all-pervading, ju-
bilant joy during these games. It is by no means, how-
ever, only the physical power that is fed and strength-
ened in these games ; intellectual and moral power, too,
is definitely and steadily gained and brought under
control. Indeed, a comparison of the relative gains
of the mental and of the physical phases would scarce-
ly yield the palm to the body. Justice, moderation,
self-control, truthfulness, loyalty, brotherly love, and,
again, strict impartiality — who, when he approaches a
group of boys engaged in such games, could fail to
catch the fragrance of these delicious blossomings of the
heart and mind, and of a firm will ; not to mention the
beautiful, though perhaps less fragrant, blossoms of cour-
age, perseverance, resolution, prudence, together with
the severe elimination of indolent indulgence ? Who-
ever would inhale a fresh, quickening breath of life
should visit the play-grounds of such boys. Flowers of
still more delicate fragrance bloom, and the spirited,
free boy spares them as the spirited horse spares the
child that lies in the path of his dashing career. These
delicate blossoms, resembling the violet and anemone,
are forbearance, consideration, sympathy, and encourage-
114 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
ment for the weaker, younger, and more delicate ; fair-
ness to those who are as yet unfamiliar with the game.
Would that all who, in the education of boys, bare-
ly tolerate play-grounds, might consider these things !
There are, indeed, many harsh words and many rude
deeds, but the sense of power must needs precede its
cultivation. Keen, clear, and penetrating are the boy's
eye and sense in the recognition of inner meaning ; keen
and decided, therefore, even harsh and severe, is his
judgment of those who are his equals, or who claim
equality with him in judgment and power.
Every town should have its own common play-
ground for the boys. Glorious results would come from
this for the entire community. For at this period
games, whenever it is feasible, are common, and thus
develop the feeling and desire for community, and the
laws and requirements of community.
The boy tries to see himself in his companions, to
feel himself in them, to weigh and measure himself by
them, to know and find himself with their help. Thus,
the games directly influence and educate the boy for
life, awaken and cultivate many civil and moral virtues.
Yet the seasons and surroundings do not always
permit the boy, free from the duties of home and
school, to exercise and develop his powers in the open
air, and at no time should boys be unoccupied. There-
fore other kinds of external occupations and representa-
tions of in-door life constitute at this age an essential
part of the activity and guidance of boys, and are very
important to him. This is particularly the case with
so-called mechanical pursuits, such as paper and paste-
board work, modeling, etc. (see § 22).
THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 115
However, there is in man still another wish — a long-
ing, a desire of the soul that can not be gratified by ex-
ternal occupations, by external activity. All that exter-
nal occupation and activity can give man at this period
does not by any means suffice him, does not meet the
demands and needs of an education adequate to his
nature : the present, however full and rich, can not
suffice him.
The existence of the present teaches him the exist-
ence of the past. This, too, which was before he was,
he would know. He would know the reason, the past
cause of what now is. Indeed, he would that what has
remained over from past time should reveal to him the
reason of its existence, should tell him of that old time.
Who fails to remember the keen desire that filled
his heart, more particularly in the period of his later
years of boyhood, when he beheld old walls and towers,
ruins, old buildings, monuments, and columns on the
hills and on the road-side — to hear others give accounts
of these things, of their time and their causes ? Nay,
who has not at such times noticed in himseK a vague,
undefinable feeling that at some time these things them-
selves could and would give an account of themselves
and their time ?
And who, judging by his experience and knowl-
edge, can furnish him these accounts, if not those who
lived before he did — his elders ? That these might tell
him, is his earnest wish ; and thus there is developed in
the boy at this age the desire and craving for tales, for
legends, for all kinds of stories, and later on for histori-
cal accounts. This craving, especially in its first appear-
ance, is very intense ; so much so, that, when others fail
116 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
to gratify it, the boys seek to gratify- it themselves,
particularly on days of leisure, and in times when the
regular employments of the day are ended.
Who has not been filled with respect when noticing
a group of boys of this age gathered around one whom
a good memory and a lively imagination have designated
as their story-teller ? How attentively they all listen when
his story gratifies their favorite wish and confirms their
judgment by its plot and incidents — in short, when it
brings before them words and deeds in harmony with
their own inner thoughts and feehngs !
However, even the present in which the boy lives
still contains much that at this period of development
he can not interpret, and yet would like to interpret ;
much that seems to him dumb, and which he would fain
have speak ; much that appears to him dead, and which
he longs to see alive and active.
He wishes that others might furnish him this inter-
pretation, and impart a language to the silent objects ;
that they might put into clear words the inner Mving
connection of all things which his mind vaguely ap-
prehends.
Yet these others frequently are quite unable to grat-
ify the boy's wish, and thus there is developed in him
the intense desire for fables and fairy-tales which impart
language and reason to speechless things — ^the one with-
in, and the other beyond the limits of human relations
and human, earthly phenomena of life.
Surely all must have noticed this, if they have given
more than superficial attention to the life of boys at
this age. Similarly, they must have noticed that — if
here, too, the boy's desire is not or can not be gratified
THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 117
by his attendants — he will spontaneously hit upon the
invention and presentation of fairj-tales and fables, and
either work them out in his own mind alone or enter-
tain his companions with them.
[One of the most difficult arts of the kindergartner is the telling
of stories ; and it is, perhaps, equally difficult to give detailed direc-
tions concerning the practice of this art. Yet there are a few plain
requirements which it may be well to mention here. In the first
place, the story should be simple in plot and form ; the events and
words should be few and marked, and within the child's comprehen-
sion. Involved constructions, long words, unmeaning sentimentali-
ties, and confusing moralizings should be omitted.
Again, the plot should be true— i. e., the events should be possible,
and should have some logical connection. All that is hideous or
vicious should be kept out. Cruel or wanton punishments or acci-
dents and ludicrous situations should be avoided: they blunt or
pervert the moral sense of the child. The story should take the
child into an ideal world of truth and beauty and goodness, where he
may always rest from the unpleasant experiences and gather strength
from the struggle with their opposites in life. Here he should learn
to love truth and beauty and goodness, so that when their opposites
do come these may find no points of attraction in the child's soul.
The stories, too, should be such that the child may easily imitate
them by drawing on his slender stock of experiences, and by enliven-
ing these with his ideals of whatever is lovely and good. — Tr.]
These fairy-tales and stories will then very clearly
reveal to the observer what is going on in the innermost
mind of the boy, though doubtless the latter may not be
himself conscious of it (see § 97). Whatever he feels in
his heart, whatever lives in his soul, whatever he can not
express in his own words, he would fain have others
express. Whatever his mind vaguely apprehends, what-
ever fills his heart with joy and pleasure, as the sense of
power and the feeling of spring, he would fain express
in words; but he feels himself unable to do so. He
10
118 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
seeks for words, and, as lie can not jet find them in
himself, he rejoices intensely to hear them from others,
especially in song.
How the serene, happy boy of this age rejoices in
song ! He feels, as it were, a new, true life in song.
It is the sense of growing power that in his wander-
ings from the valley to the hill, and from hill to hill,
pours forth the joyous song from his throat.
The intense desire to understand himself holds the
boy ; therefore he seeks the clear, pure, living water in
lake or brook. In his play he ever returns to this, be-
cause in it he sees himself, the image of his soul, and
because in and through it he hopes to get a knowledge
of his spiritual nature.
What the water in brook and lake, what the pure air
and wide expanse on the mountain-top are to the boy's
soul, that, too, play is to him — a mirror of the life-strug-
gles that await him ; therefore, in order to gain strength
for these, boys and youth seek obstacles, difficulties, and
strife in their play.
The desire to gain a knowledge of the past and of
nature attracts the boy again and again to flowers and to
old walls and ruined vaults. The desire to express what
fills his innermost heart and mind urges him to sing.
Thus it is certain that very many of the external phe-
nomena, very many things in the boy's conduct and ac-
tions, have an inner, spiritual significance ; that they
indicate his inner, spiritual life and tendency, and are,
therefore, symbolic.
How salutary would it be for parents and child,
for their present and future, if parents believed in this
symbolism of childhood and boyhood, if they heeded
THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 119
the child's life in reference to this ! It would unite
parents and children bj a new living tie ; it would es-
tablish a new living connection between their present
and their future life.
§ 50. Such is pure boy-Kfe at this period. From this
description of inner and outer pure boy-life and child-
life, which fortunately for man we still meet occasion-
ally — where natural views of education prevail in actual
life possibly in greater beauty, richness, and intensity
than has been represented — from this description let us
cast a glance upon boy-life and child-life as we generally
meet it more or less pronounced in actual life. Let us
look particularly upon the life of the child and boy in
his filial, brotherly, domestic relations, in his activity
and work as a pupil and companion. We shall be com-
pelled to confess frankly that many things are very dif-
ferent: that we meet stubbornness, obstinacy, supine-
ness, mental and physical indolence, sensuality, vanity
and self-conceit, dogmatism and despotism, an unbroth-
erly and unfilial spirit, emptiness and superficiality, aver-
sion to work and even to play, disobedience and ungod-
liness, etc;
When we look for the sources of these and many
other undeniable shortcomings in the life of children
and boys, we are confronted ultimately by a double
reason : in the first place, the complete neglect of the
development of certain sides of full human life ; sec-
ondly, the early faulty tendency — the early faulty and
unnatural steps of development and distortion of the
originally good human powers and tendencies by arbi-
trary and willful interference with the original orderly
and logical course of human development.
120 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
§ 51. For, surely, the nature of man is in itseK good,
and surely there are in man quahties and tendencies in
themselves good. Man is by no means naturally bad,
nor has he originally bad or evil qualities and tenden-
cies ; unless, indeed, we consider as naturally evil, bad,
and faulty the Jmite, the material^ the transitory, the
physical as such, and the logical consequences of the
existence of these phenomena, namely, that man must
have the possibility of failure in order to be good and
virtuous, that he must be able to make himself a slave
in order to be truly free. Yet these things are the neces-
sary concomitants of the manifestation of the eternal
in the temporal, of unity in diversity, and follow neces-
sarily from man's destiny to become a conscious, reason-
able, and free being.
Whoever is to do with self-determination and free-
dom that which is divine and eternal, must be at liberty
to do that which is earthly and finite.
Since God wished to reveal himself in the finite, this
could be done only with finite and transitory material.
Whoever, then, considers that which is finite, mate-
rial, physical, as in itself bad, thereby expresses con-
jtempt for creation, nature, as such — ^nay, he actually
jblasphemes God.
' Similarly, it is treason to human nature and to man
to consider him in his essence as neither good nor badi
or evil ; how much more, then, is it treason to considerS
him in his nature as essentially bad or evil !
I Man thereby denies God in humanity, for he denies
His work, and hence the ways and means of truly
knowing God, and thus puts into the world falsehood,
the only source of all evil.
THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 121
§ 52. If there is anytliing absolutely evil, it is this,
for it is the origin of all evil. But falsehood has no
real existence ; it is already annihilated ; and, as in its
very nature it is annihilated, it must also be annihilated
m its outward manifestations. For man has been created
neither with nor for falsehood, but with and for truth.
Again, man does not create falsehood out of himself,
out of his own nature ; he can and does create it only
because God has created him for truth. Man creates
falsehood by failing to recognize this fact for himself,
or to lead others to recognize it. Man creates false-
hood by hindering the recognition of this fact as pro-
ceeding from the pure fount of his being in and
through himself.
Man, as an earthly phenomenon, is destined to have
body and soul developed consciously and rationally, with
a certain degree of symmetry and harmony. If man
could only reach a clear and distinct knowledge of his
nature — if, after having attained such knowledge wholly
or in part, he were not so paralyzed in strength and will
by evil habit and infirmity — he would immediately throw
off all shortcomings, and even the manifestation of all
evil that is in him and done by him — ^that clings to him,
as it were, and hides him like a disguise. All these
shortcomings and wrong-doings have their origin merely
in the disturbed relations of these two sides of man :
his nature, that which he has grown to be ; and his
essence, his innermost being. Therefore, a suppressed
or perverted good quality — a good tendency, only re-
pressed, misunderstood, or misguided — lies originally
at the bottom of every shortcoming in man. Hence
the only and infallible remedy for counteracting any
122 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
shortcoming and even wickedness is to find the origi-
nally good source, the originally good side of the human
being that has been repressed, disturbed, or misled into
the shortcoming, and then to foster, build up, and prop-
erly guide this good side. Thus the shortcoming will
at last disappear, although it may involve a hard strug-
gle against hahit, hut not against original depravity in
man ; and this is accomplished so much the more rapidly
and surely because man himseK tends to abandon his
shortcomings, for man prefers right to wrong.
§ 53. Thus, selecting one point for illustration, we
can not deny that there is at present among children
and boys little simplicity, little true gentleness, little
mutual forbearance, brotherly patience, little true re-
ligious feeling ; but, on the other hand, much egotism,
unfriendliness, particularly rudeness, etc. This is clearly
-due not merely to the failure of arousing at an early
period, and of subsequently cultivating in the child
and boy a feeling of common sympathy, but also to
the early annihilation of this feeling between parents
and children.
If, then, true brotherly love, true simplicity, trust-
ful and truly loving gentleness, friendliness, forbear-
ance, and respect for the companion and fellow-man is
to prevail again, this can be accomplished only by ad-
dressing ourselves to the feeling of common sympathy
lingering — however much or little of it there may still
be left — in the heart of every human being, and culti-
vating it with the greatest care. This would surely
soon give back to us what we now miss so painfully in
domestic, social, and religious life.
Another source of many boyish faults lies in precipi-
THE BOYHOOD OP MAN. 123
tation, carelessness, frivolity, and thoughtlessness. The
boy is apt to act in obedience to a possibly praiseworthy
impulse that holds captive his mind and body ; but he
has not as yet experienced in his life the consequences
of gratifying this particular impulse, and it has, indeed,
not even occurred to him to consider the consequences
of the action (see § 6).
Thus a boy of by no means evil disposition took real
delight in powdering his dear uncle's wig with plaster-
of -Paris without any thought of wrong, and still more
without considering that the hard grains of stone would
necessarily injure the hair of the wig.
Another boy found in a large tub of water some
deep, round bowls of porcelain. He observed accident-
ally that these bowls, when dropped upside down on
the smooth surface of water, sprang back with an ex-
plosive noise. This gave him pleasure ; he frequently
tried the experiment, perfectly sure, without doubt, that
the bowl could not be broken in the deep, yielding
water. He was frequently successful, and, in order to
improve the result of the experiment, the bowl w^as
dropped from greater and greater heights. At one
time the bowl fell so horizontally upon the level water-
surface, and from so great a height, that the imprisoned
air could not escape in any direction, but was com-
pressed so forcibly that it broke the bowl into two al-
most equal parts. Perplexed and distressed, the little
self-teaching physicist stood before the unexpected re-
sult of his play that had delighted him so much.
Yet boys show a still greater — indeed, almost an in-
credible — degree of short-sightedness in obeying their
impulses.
124: THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
A boy throws stones for a long time at the small win-
dow of a house near by, trjdng very hard to hit it. He
has no idea, nor does he realize that, if a stone strikes
the window, the latter must necessarily break. At last
a stone hits the window, the window breaks, and the
amazed boy stands rooted to the spot.
Again, another boy — by no means malicious, but,
on the contrary, very good-natured and fond of pigeons
— aimed at his neighbor's beautiful pigeon on the roof,
with perfect delight and an intense desire to hit his
mark. He did not consider that, if the bullet should
hit the mark, the pigeon would be killed, and still less
that this pigeon might be the mother of young ones
needing her care. He fired, the bullet struck, the pigeon
fell, a beautiful pair of pigeons were separated, and a
number of unfledged young ones lost the mother who
had fed and warmed them.
It is certainly a very great truth — and failure to
appreciate it does daily great harm — that it generally
is some other human being, not unfrequently the edu-
cator himself, that first makes the child or the boy bad.
This is accomplished by attributing evil — or, at least,
wrong — motives to all that the child or boy does from
ignorance, precipitation, or even from a keen and praise-
worthy sense of right or wrong.
Unfortunately, there still are such men of mischief
among educators. To them children and boys are
always little malicious, spiteful, lurking sprites, where
others see at most a jest carried too far, or the effect of
too free an exercise of spirit.
Such birds of ill omen, especially when they are
educators, are the first to bring guilt upon such a child,
THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 125
who, tliough not wholly innocent, is yet without guilt;
for they give him motives and incentives which were
as yet unknown to him; they make his actions bad,
though not, at first, his will ; they kill him spiritually,
take away his (spiritual) life, and lead him to think
that this life does not come to him out of himself
and through himself, and that he can not secure it
by his own effort. When true (spiritual) life has thus
left him, and he can not secure it by his efforts, what
does mere knowledge avail him ? what does a powerless
wish, devoid of energy, avail him? What they have
thus made evil and bad in the belief that not even the
child can attain heaven, can carry a heaven in his heart,
without first going, to speak mildly, through guilt —
this they would have made good again by God, and this
they call converting the child.
They act like the good-natured little boy who says
of his fly or beetle that is weak from maltreatment, or
has even lost its feet, "• See, how tame ! "
There still are children and boys who, in spite of
great external shortcomings from neglect or ignorance
of external relations of life, and in spite of total aban-
donment to momentary impulses, nevertheless have an
intense inner desire to become good and virtuous. It is
true, such boys ultimately also may become intrinsically
bad, but only because in their innermost desires they
have frequently been not only not understood, but mis-
understood. Could they yet be appreciated in good
time, they would certainly still become good men.
Children and boys, indeed, are often punished by
parents and adults for faults and misdemeanors which
they had perhaps previously learned from these very
126 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
persons. Punisliment, especially punislimeiit by words,
very often teaches children, or at least brings to their
notice, faults of which they were wholly free.
§ 54. Man, therefore, sins much more against man,
against the children, than he does against God. For
what can the unworthy action of the naughty child
eifect against the dignity of the father whose virtue has
been proved and is acknowledged ? On the other hand,
how much injury in body and soul may come to a
younger child through the words and deeds of a naughty
boy ! This, too, indicates the relation of man to man,
and of man to God.
§ 55. As already indicated, a deep and significant
feeling of anticipation and longing aspiration occupies
the boy's mind in all he does during this period. All
he does bears a common character, for he seeks the unity
that unites all things and beings, he seeks to find him-
self in and among all things.
An indefinable longing urges him to seek the things
of nature, the hidden objects, plants and flowers, etc.,
in nature ; for a constant presentiment assures him that
the things which satisfy the longing of the heart can
not be found on the surface ; out of the depth and
darkness they must be brought forth.
Educators not only neglect at an early period to
nurture this longing, but, unfortunately, they disturb at
too early a period even the boy's effort to nourish it from
his own resources. For the boy of this age, who has
been led naturally, however feebly and unconsciously,
seeks, in fact, only the unity that unites all things, the
absolute living Unity, the source of all things — God ;
not a god made and fashioned by human wi^, bjaj; Him
THE BOYHOOD OF MAN. 127
who is ever near the heart and mind, near the living
spirit, and who, therefore, may be known in spirit and
in truth, and who alone can be thus approached. _^
In his maturity, the boy is satisfied only when he has /
found Him to whom he has been drawn by indefinable 1
yearning, because only then will he have found himself . J
We have thus reviewed the inner and outer life of the
boy in free activity at school age. What, now, makes
the school ?
ly.
MAN AS A SCHOLAE OK PUPIL.
§ 56. The school endeavors to render tlie scholar
fnlly conscious of the nature and inner life of things
and of himself, to teach him to know tlie inner rela-
tions of things to one another, to the human being, to
the scholar, and to the living source and conscious unity
of all things — to God (see § 45).
jiThe aim of instruction is to bring the scholar to in-
sight into the miity of all things, into the fact that all
things have their being and life in God, so that in due
time he may be able to act and live in accordance with
this insight. Instruction itself offers the ways and
means for attaining this aim (see § 45).
Therefore, the school and instruction place the ex-
ternal world and his own self, inasmuch as this forms a
part of the external world, before the scholar as some-
thing separate, something different from him, something
foreign to him.
Furthermore, the school points out the inner tenden-
cies and relations among individual things and objects,
and thus rises to ever higher generality and spirituality.
Therefore, the boy, when he enters school, leaves the
external view of things and enters upon a higher spirit-
ual view of them.
MAN AS A SCHOLAR OR PUPIL. 129
It is this leaving of the outer and superficial view
of things on the part of the child, and his entrance upon
an inner view leading to knowledge, insight, and con-
sciousness, it is this transition of the child from do-
mestic order to the higher cosmic order of things that
makes the boy a scholar and constitutes the essence of
the school.
It is bj no means the acquisition of a certain num-
ber of miscellaneous external facts that constitutes the
essential characteristic of the school, but only the living
spirit that animates all things and in which all things
move.
Would that all whose business it is to direct and
manage schools might carefully consider this !
Therefore, the school, as such, implies the presence
of an intelligent consciousness which, as it were, hovers
over and between the outer world and the scholar,
which unites in itself the essence of both, holds the in-
ner being of both, mediating between the two, impart-
ing to them language and mutual understanding. This
consciousness is the master in this art, who is called
master also because for most things he is to point out
the unity of things.* He is ^(^AooZmaster because it is
his business to point out and render clear to himself
and others the inner, spiritual nature of things.
Every school-child anticipates, expects, and requires
this of the schoolmaster ; and this anticipation and hope,
this faith, is the invisible and efficacious tie between
the two.
* Another of FroebePs strange plays on words that have no connec-
tion with each other — this time the words Meister and meist {master and
most). — Tr.
130 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
It is probable, too, that this anticipation and hope,
this childlike faith of children, enabled former school-
masters to be much more efficient in the production of
genuine inner life in their children than many school-
teachers of our day, who acquaint the children with
many things without showing them their necessary
inner spiritual unity and connection.
Do not reply that, even if this higher view of the
school is the true one, and if there exists an inner
spiritual ideal of it, it could scarcely be shown to have
an actual existence — at least, not where a tailor, as
schoolmaster, sits enthroned on his working-table, and
the children below him recite their a-b, ab, and their
" sum total of all instruction," nor where an old wood-
cutter in winter, in a dark, sooty room, drives into the
heads of children the explanation of the small Lutheran
catechism as he would his wedges for wood-splitting —
that here certainly spirit, spiritual nature, and life have
no place.
[Froebel's early life fell in the period when country schools
were still, in many cases, intrusted to persons who earned their live-
lihood chiefly in some other occupation, such as tailoring, shoemak-
ing, weaving, etc. Not unfrequently in poorer communities the same
man " kept school " m winter, and during the summer worked on
farms, or acted as a communal shepherd. One and the same scanty
school-book contained " the sum total of all instruction " — the bulk
of which was made up of the Lutheran catechism. — Tr.]
But just here they have a place ; how else could the
blind show the way to the lame, and the cripple support
the weak on his feet ? It is only the child's anticipa-
tion, his faith, his child-like siraphcity, which hopes
and trusts that the schoolmaster — simply because he is
and is called schoolmaster — can give an inner spiritual
MAN AS A SCHOLAR OR PUPIL. 131
unity to that which is externally separated, giving life
to that which is dead, and meaning to that which lives.
This expectation alone, be it ever so misty and ob-
scure, renders the schoolmaster's work efficient. This
anticipation and faith are like the all-quickening air by
which the stones, which he may offer his children to eat,
are turned into food for them — if not for their head,
yet for the heart. It is this anticipation, hope, and
yearning, this all-quickening spirit and breath, that even
in the dark, sooty room, make the school so dear to the
school-boy.
The spirit, the genuine spirit of the school, like the
spirit of Jesus and of God, does not come by external
doings. Thus, too, spacious school-rooms, as such, are
not sufficient if the good ventilation has taken the place
of higher spiritual life. Airy, bright school-rooms are
a great, precious boon, worthy the daily gratitude of
teacher and pupil ; but alone they are not sufficient.
Luther's words, " To fast and to deck out the body
furnish, indeed, fine external discipline ; but only he
is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith and
trust," find their application here, too.
The faith and trust, the hope and anticipation with
which the child enters school, accomplish everything;
they bring about stupendous results in such schools.
For the child enters school with the child-like faith, the
silent hope : " Here you will be taught something that
you can not learn elsewhere ; here you gain food for
mind and spirit, elsewhere you can obtain food only for
the body ; here (this is literally the child's living hope
and anticipation) you receive food and drink that still
the hunger and thirst, elsewhere you are offered food
132 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
and drink that only give occasion for new hunger and
thirst."
With this faith he Hstens, too, to the ordinary words,
the ordinary speech from the Hps of the man who is the
schoolmaster.
Even if there is no high spiritual meaning in his
words, the child's faith discovers it there ; and the child's
high power of spiritual digestion gets food from chips
and straw.
Now, if even the tailor, wood-cutter, or weaver,
when he teaches, ceases to be to the child tailor, wood-
cutter, or weaver, and becomes schoolmaster, how much
more will this be the case where the school-teacher in
village or city — be he called organist, chorister, or rector
— is truly a schoolmaster !
Ask every true school-child, let every one who in
village or city has been a true school-child ask himself,
with what feeling he approached the school-house, and
still more with what feeling he entered it ; how he felt
more or less keenly each day as if he had entered into
a higher spiritual world.
How else could it be possible for children to repeat
daily, not only for more than a quarter of an hour during
a whole week, without tiring but with a feeling of height-
ened life, some text from Sunday's sermon — e. g., " Seek
ye hrst the kingdom of God " ? How else could the chil-
dren sing and memorize hymns abounding in strange
figures, such as " How much it costs to follow Christ,"
or, " Let heart and spirit soar on high," daily, in sec-
tions, during a whole week, with true inner edification
and a living influence on the life of every scholar ? How
else could this be done at an early period of boy-Hfe in
MAN AS A SCHOLAR OR PUPIL. 133
Bucli a way that in tlie storms of life the youth and the
man rest on these things as on a rock ?
The occasional excessive vivacity of the boys in
school does not contradict this. The boy feels less re-
straint and moves more freely just because of the in-
fluence of the school, because of the heightened inner
spiritual power which has been fed by the school. The
genuine school-boy should never be dispirited and indo-
lent, but full of life and spirit, strong in body and mind.
Therefore the truly high-spirited boy who follows hi»
natural vivacity full of joy surely never thinks of any
injurious effect on outer life.
It is a great mistake to think that the energetic,
animating, uniting (intensive) power of man increases
with years and cultivation. The energetic, animating,
uniting power decreases ; and the expansive, productive,
creative, modifying (extensive) power increases.
The feeling and consciousness of this extending,
creative power in man unfortunately have a tendency
to destroy the recognition and appreciation of the for-
mer energetic, animating, uniting power. This, with
the confounding of the two in their nature and mani-
festation, leads us in life, in the management of
schools and of the education of children, to great and
frequent errors, and robs the life of each one of its
true basis.
We now trust too little to the energetic and uniting
power in the child and boy — we respect it too little as
a spiritually quickening power. Therefore, too, it has ;
too little influence in the later years of boyhood. For
the neglect of this inner power causes the inner power
itself to vanish.
11
134 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
Or we play witli this power wlien it manifests itself
in cliildren. Hence we fare with them as with a mag-
net which we leave hanging or even lying inactive and
without a burden, or with whose magnetic power we
play irregularly and regardless of magnetic laws. In
both cases the power is diminished or lost ; when, later
on, the magnet is to show its power, it is found weak
and inefficient. So it is with those children ; when, later
on, they are expected to bear some physical or moral
burden, they are found wanting.
Would that, in judging and estimating the inner
power of children and boys, we might never forget the
words of one of our greatest German writers: that
there is a greater advance from the infant to the
speaking child than there is from the school-boy to a
Newton !
Now, if the advance is greater, the power, too, must
be greater ; this we should consider. The later extent,
diversity, directness, and concentration of man's knowl-
edge and insight (their extensiveness) dim and weaken
our apprehension of the former unity and mobility (in-
tensiveness) of human power.
It is the spirit alone, then, that makes the school
and the school-room ; not the increasing analysis and
isolation of what is already isolated — a process that
has no Hmits, and supplies ever-new data for further
analysis and reduction — but the unification of that which
is isolated and separate by attention to the uniting spirit
that lives in all isolation and diversity. This it is that
makes the school.
Never forget that the essential husiness of the school
is not so muoh to teach and to communicate a variety
MAN AS A SCHOLAR OR PUPIL. 135
and multiplicity of things as it is to give prominence
to the ever-living unity that is in all things, j
[This is not to be construed as meaning that schooling should be
chiefly for " power " or " mental discipline," as is claimed by the ad-
vocates of chiefly formal studies. No one could be more opposed
than Froebel to the various school practices of " threshing empty
straw " for the sake of gaining " threshing power." What he de-
mands in the above sentence is the teaching of principles as opposed
to the teaching of isolated facts and rules. He is filled with the
same thought which Herbert Spencer subsequently expressed as fol-
lows: " Between a mind of rules and a mind of principles, there ex-
ists a difference, such as that between a confused heap of materials,
and the same materials organized into a complete whole, with all its
parts bound together." In both eases, it will be seen, material con-
tents are implied, and mere formalism is excluded. — Tr.'\
Because this is so frequently forgotten and placed
in the background disregarded, there are at present so
many ^ohool-teachers and so few mliool-masters, so many
institutions of learning and so few schools.
Possibly they do not know, or, at least, they may
not have recognized with sufficient clearness and dis-
tinctness, what spirit it is that pervaded and even now
sometimes pervades genuine schools, what spirit it is
that ought to animate schools. Even the genuine, faith-
ful schoolmaster, in the simplicity of his vocation, may
not have recognized it nor formulated it ; in the faith-
ful performance of his work, thoroughly absorbed in
his calling, he may not recognize it nor be able to for-
mulate it. For this reason, no doubt, it has glided away
so rapidly, and continues to vanish.
Unfortunately, we see here again confirmed what to
our sorrow confronts us so often in life : that even the
highest and most precious blessing is lost by man, if he
does not know what he possesses, if he does not hold it
■[36 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
fast and represent it in his life consciously, freely, and
from his own choice (see § 33). The anticipation and
hope, the trust and disposition of childliood indeed show
the way, but man is to follow it with conscious insight
and self-determination, persisting in what he knows to
be rio^ht. For man is destined for consciousness, for
freedom, and for self-determination.
§ 57. Furthermore, a vivid presentation of the re-
quirements of the school shows that the subject in which
the boy is to be instructed is also the one about which
he should be instructed — else instruction and learning
are thoughtless play and without effect upon head and
heart, the intellect, and the feelings.
What has been said will also answer, or, at least,
make it easy to answer, the questions : Do we need
schools ? Why do we need schools and instruction ?
What shall they be, and how shall they be constituted ?
As spiritual and material beings, we are to become
thinking, conscious, intelligent (self-consciously feeling
and perceiving), efficient human beings. We should
first seek to cultivate our powers, our spirit, as received
from God ; to represent the divine in our lives, know-
ing that thereby all that is earthly will, too, have its
claims satisfied. We are to grow in wisdom and under-
standing with God and men, in human and divine things.
We should know that we are and ought to be and to live
in that which is our Father's. We should know that we
in our earthly being and all earthly things are a temple
of the living God. We should know that we are to be
perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect ; and in ac-
cordance with this knowledge we should act and live.
To this knowledge the school is to lead us ; for this the
MAN AS A SCHOLAR OR PUPIL. 137
school and instruction are needed ; in accordance with
this aim they should be constituted.
§ 58. What, now, shall the school teach ? In what
shall the human being, the boy as scholar, be instructed ?
Only the consideration of the nature and require-
ments of human development at the stage of boyhood
will enable us to answer this question. But the knowl-
edge of this nature and these requirements can be de-
rived only from the observation of the character of man
in his boyhood.
]N^ow, in accordance with this character, this man-
ner of being, in what things is the boy to be in-
structed ?
The life and outward being of man in the beginning
of boyhood show him, in the first place, to be animated
by a spiritual self of his own ; they show, too, the exist-
ence of a vague feeling that this spiritual self has its
being and origin in a higher and Supreme Being, and
depends on this Being in which, indeed, all things have
their being and origin, and on which all things depend.
The life and outward being of man in boyhood show
the presence of an intense feeling and anticipation of
the existence of a living, quickening Spirit, in which
and by which all things live, by which all things are
invisibly surrounded, as a fish is surrounded by water
and man and all creatures by the clear, pure atmosphere.
In his boyhood, in the beginning of his school-hf e,
man seems to feel the power of his spiritual nature, to
anticipate vaguely God and the spiritual nature of all
things. He shows, at the same time, a desire to attain
ever more clearness in that feeling, and to confirm his
anticipation.
138 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
Man, in boyhood, approaches the outer world, placed
over against him, with the feeling and hope and belief
that it, too, is animated and ruled by a spirit, like that
which animates and rules him ; and he is filled by an
intense, irresistible longing — which returns with every
new spring and every new fall, with every new, fresh
morning and calm evening, with every peaceful festive
day — a longing to know this all-ruling spirit, to make it
his own, as it were.
The outer world confronts man in boyhood in a
two-fold chara;3ter — first, as the product of human re-
quirements and human power, and, secondly, as the
outcome of the requirements of the power that works
in nature.
Between this outer world (the world of form and
matter) and the inner world (the world of mind and
spirit), language appears — originally united with both,
but gradually freeing itself from both, and thereby unit-
ing the two.
§ 59. Thus the mind and the outer xoorld (first as
nature)^ and language which unites the two, are the
poles of boy-life, as they also were the poles of mankind
as a whole in the first stage of approaching maturity (as
the sacred books show). Through them the school and
instruction are to lead the boy to the threefold, yet in
itself one, knowledge — to the knowledge of himseK in
all his relations, and thus to the knowledge of man as
such ; to the knowledge of God, the eternal condition,
cause, and source of his being and of the being of all
things ; and to the knowledge of nature and the outer
world as proceeding from the Eternal Spirit, and de-
pending thereon.
MAN AS A SCHOLAR OR PUPIL. 139
Instruction and the school are to lead man to a life
in full harmony with that threefold, yet in itself one,
knowledge. By this knowledge they are to lead man
from desire to will, from will to firmness of will, and
thus in continuous progression to the attainment of his
destiny, to the attainment of his earthly perfection.
THE CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF
INSTRUCTION.
A. Religion and Religious Instruction.
§ 60. Religion is the endeavor to raise into clear
knowledge the feeling that originally the spiritual self
of man is one with God, to realize the unity with God
which is founded on this clear knowledge, and to con-
tinue to live in this unity with God, serene and strong,
in every condition and relation of life.
Religion is not something fixed, hit an ever-jpro-
gressiiig and, for this very reason, ever-jyresent tend-
ency.
\ Religious instruction quickens, confirms, explains
the feeling that man's own spiritual self, his soul, his
piind and spirit, have their being and origin in God and
proceed from God ; it shows that the quaHties and the
nature of the soul, of the mind and spirit, have their
being in and through God ; it gives an insight into the
being and working of God ; it gives an insight into the
relation of God to man, as it is clearly -manifested in
the mind and life of every one, in life as such, and par-
ticularly in the life and development of mankind, as
they are preserved and revealed in the sacred books ; it
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 141
applies this knowledge to life as such, and particularly
to and in the life of each one, and to the progressive
development of mankind, so that the divine may be
represented in the human, and that man may know and
do his duty ; it presents and points out the ways and
means by which the desire to live in true unity with
God may be gratified, and by which this unity, if im-
paired, may be restored.
For this reason religious instruction always as-
sumes some degree of religion^ however weak. Relig-
ious instruction can bear fruit, can aifect and influ-
ence life only in so far as it finds in the mind of
man true religion, however indefinite and vague. If it
were possible that a human being could be without re-
ligion, it would also be impossible to give him religion.
This should be considered by thoughtless parents
who allow their children to grow to school age without
giving the slightest care to the religious tendency of
the young minds (see § 21).
Intelligent insight into the nature of religion — sim-
ple as it is, founded in the very nature of man, and so
in harmony with the nature of man — is nevertheless so
rarely pure, because man, who is also material and oc-
cupies space, finds it difficult to understand original
unity without assuming and premising previous separa-
tion, and because in the mind of man the conception of
unification is always associated with the conception of
union in space or time. But God, the spiritual, eter-
nally self-developing, must ever remain an undivided
one, simply because he is spiritual ; and, as t/rue origi-
nal unity by no means implies, but absolutely excludes^
jprevious separation, so unification neither supposes
142 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
nor requires, but absolutely excludes^ union in space
and time.
Human experience and observation offer by far
more proofs than are needed to demonstrate and ex-
plain this. For the idea, the thought translated by
man into living form in some outward work, was origi-
nally in immediate unity with his being, and bears un-
mistakably the impress of the personality and individu-
ality of the particular human being. This thought in
this particular form belongs only to this human being ;
and, were it to become conscious of itself in the form
given to it, it could return to the totaHty of the thought
of the man from whom it proceeds — ^i. e., it would give
itself an account of its relation to the totality of thought
of this man ; in the consciousness of this relation it
might develop and cultivate itself and thus raise itself
to an apprehension of the totality of thought of this
man ; nay, it might even raise itself at least to a vague
apprehension of the fundamental thought of the human
being from whom it proceeds. For every human heing
has, indeed, hut one thought jpeculiarly am.d predomi-
nantly his own, the fundamental thought, as it were, of
his whole being, the key-note of his life-symphony, a
thought which he simply seeks to express and render
clear with the help of a thousand other thoughts, with
the help of all he does. Yet, by the representation of
that thought, and of all other thoughts in living out-
ward form, man has not in any sense been diminished
within himseK; and, although this thought now ap-
pears only outside of man, yet he will always cheerfully
recognize it as his own, and concern himself about its
development and cultivation (see § 63)o
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 14,3
The thinker and the thought — could the latter be-
come conscious of itself — must ever be intensely mind-
ful of the fact of their original unity; and yet the
thought is not the thinker, although essentially one and
nnited; such is the relation of the human spirit to
God.
A father has one or many sons. Each one is an in-
dependent, self-conscious being. Yet who can fail to
see that each son expresses, in a new individuality, the
nature of the father ?
The son, or each one of the sons, even in the most
trivial thing and the most decided peculiarity, is again
the father, only in a new individuality. Indeed, the
sons of the same father, of the same parents, resemble
one another in disposition, speech, tone of voice, and
movements, so that, with the exception of a small new
peculiarity, any one of them may, in many respects,
be put in the place of another. Yet none of them
is a part of another — each one is whole; not one of
them is a particular part of the father. As they are
whole and undivided, so, too, the father is still whole
and undivided. Could we see human relationships
clearly, we should apprehend and recognize the divine.
Similarly, unification does not imply a material union
in time and space. Can not the thinking, feeling man
be at one with his friends and beloved ones, and act in
unison with them, although lands and seas separate
them from him ? Can not and does not man feel him-
self to be in spiritual union with human beings of
whom he has only heard, whom he has never seen and
never will see, and does he not act in unison with
them ? Can not man feel himself to be in spiritual
144 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
nnion with human beings who lived and worked thou-
sands of years ago, or who may appear upon the earth
or elsewhere in space thousands of years later, and can
he not act in unison with these ?
Man spurns what might be to him a guide and a
light in his material experiences. Therefore, he is apt
to grope also without guide and light in the realms of
the purely spiritual, of the divine, which is without time
and space.
It is and remains forever true that, in purely and
distinctly human relations, particularly in parental and
spiritual human relations, there are mirrored the rela-
tions between the divine and the human, between God
and man. Those pure relations of man to man reveal
to us the relations of God to man and of man to God.
§ 61. If man consciously and clearly recognizes that
his spiritual self proceeds from God, that it is born in
God and from God, that it is originally one with God,
and that consequently he is in a state of continuous de-
pendence on God, as well as in a state of continuous and
uninterrupted community with God ; if he finds his sal-
vation, his peace, his joy, his destiny, his life (which is
the genuine and only true life as such), and the source
of bis being in this eternally necessary dependence of
his self on God, in the clearness of this knowledge, in
living and constant obedience to this knowledge in all
he does, in a life, indeed, fully unified with this knowl-
edge and conviction — he truly, and in the full sense of
the words, recognizes in God his Father. If he ac-
knowledges himself to he a child of God, and lives in
accordance with this, he has the Christian religion, the
religion of Jesus.
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 145
Therefore, a pure earthly, filial relation in thought
and action is such as was told of Jesus — " and he was
subject unto them " (his parents).
Therefore, a genuine parental relation in thought
and action, honoring and acknowledging the as yet un-
revealed and undeveloped divine spirit in the child, is
such as was told of Mary : " But Mary kept all these
sayings, pondering them in her heart."
Therefore, pure human, parental, and filial relations
are the key, the first condition, of that heavenly, divine,
fatherly, and filial relation and life, of a genuine Christian
life in thought and action.
Therefore, the comprehension of the purely spiritual
human relations, of the true parental and filial relations,
furnishes the only key for the recognition and appre-
hension of the relations of God to man and of man to
God.
Only in the measure in which we fully comprehend
the purely spiritual, intrinsically human relations, and
are faithful to them in life, even in the smallest details,
can we attain a full knowledge and conception of the
relations between God and man, apprehending them so
deeply, vividly, and truly that every yearning of our
whole being is thereby gratified, or at least clearly in-
terpreted, and is transformed from an ever-ungratified
longing into a steadily fruitful aspiration.
We do not yet know, we do not, indeed, apprehend
in the least, that which is so near us, which is one with
our life, with ourselves ; we are not even loyal to the
verbal knowledge and verbal apprehension of which we
boast. This is daily shown by our behavior toward our
parents, our children, our education.
146 THE EDUCATION OF MAN,
We would be children of God, and are not yet chil-
dren of our fathers, of our parents. God is to be our
Father, and we are so far from being true fathers to our
children. "We would have an insight into the divine,
and we leave unheeded the human relations that lead to
such insight.
Insight into the relations between God and man,
with full comprehension of these relations, blesses even
to the thousandth generation through pure parental and
filial relations, and a life in accordance with these.
"We put outward limits to humanity eternally pro-
gressing in its development, we inclose it in external
bounds, and we imagine that it has already reached
these bounds, even in its earthly development. Hu-
manity, which lives only in its continuous development
and cultivation, seems to us dead and stationary, some-
thing to be modeled over again and again in accordance
with its present type. We are ignorant of our own
/nature and of the nature of humanity, and yet would
know God and Jesus. We imagine that we already
know our own nature and the nature of humanity, and,
[ therefore, fail to know God and Jesus.
We separate God and man, man and Jesus, and yet
would come to God and Jesus. We fail to see that
every external separation implies an original inner unity.
However clearly and unequivocally this is taught in
the word and in the idea of separation, we overlook it
wholly.
The intimate unity of God and Jesus can not be ex-
pressed more comprehensively and exhaustively, more
truly and adequately, than by the relation of father and
son, the highest and most intimate relation that man can
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 14-7
know and compreliend, but whicli generally is viewed
only superficially, and not in its innermost spiritual, per-
vasive significance. The child, however, attains true
sonship only by developing within himself the father's
nature in full consciousness and clear insight, by mak-
ing the father's views, the father's nature and aspira-
tions, the motives for all his thoughts and actions ; and
by esteeming it his chief business, the source of peace
and joy in his life, to be in all he does in harmony with
his father whose high worth he has recognized. Such
is the pure, genuine, and high, yet truly human, relation
of the son to his father — the relation of the true, genu-
ine son to the true, genuine father.
The relation of sonship always implies on the part
of the son a conscious sharing of the father's views and
aspirations — a complete, essential, intrinsic, spiritual ac-
cord between the son and father.
Of course, this relation is and should be established
first with the oldest, first-born son. "While all his
younger brothers are still children, he is the only, the
first-born son.
Jesus is the only-begotten Son of God — he is the
beloved son of God ; for among all human and earth-
born, among all heaven-born children, he is the first
who in his knowledge and insight, in his thoughts,
views, and conduct, was equally filled and animated by
his Sonship to God — by God's Fatherhood to him.
Therefore, he is the first-born of God, the first-born of
all created beings.
The oft-repeated saying of Jesus, " Believe in me "
— " If ye were to believe in me " — means this : " Could
you but feel, know, see, that the highest thing that man,
148 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
as an earth-born creature of God, can see and under-
stand — ^liis divine origin and liis constant dependence on
God — is expressed with equal clearness and vividness
in my life, my thoughts, and aspirations ; could you be
brought by my life, my thoughts, my views, my con-
duct, my deeds and words, to feel, to know, and to see
that every human being should raise himself to this
knowledge and insight, and live accordingly — a knowl-
edge and insight which can not be designated more ade-
quately, purely, and worthily than by the relation of
father and son — you, too, would rise to the true life,
you would live as truly and eternally as God and I live
eternally, you would tlius through me receive eternal
life, and I would give you truly eternal Ufe."
To recognize this, and to apply it in a pure human
life, is Christian religion.
Christian religrion is the eternal conviction of the
truth of the teachings of Jesus, and a Urm, persistent
conduct in obedience to this conviction ; it is the con-
viction that the truth of Christ's teaching confronts
every human being, wheresoever he may turn with his
spiritual eyes to seek, to test, to examine, to inquire ;
that wheresoever he may turn he will be confronted by
this one truth, this one spirit ; and that, as man's spirit-
ual eye sees and discerns this one divine truth — this
one divine spirit everywhere in endless diversity — this
spirit would afford him the consolation and support
which he needs in representing that truth in a world
where the cultivation of the outer sensual eye is still so
far in advance of the cultivation of the inner spiritual
eye ; where the knowledge and cultivation of the outer
man is still so far in advance of the knowledge and cul-
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. I49
tivation of the inner man. Tims, with the aid of this
spirit, he may rise to the highest knowledge, not alone
of man, but of all created beings, to a knowledge of the
truth that the infinite is revealed in the finite, the eter-
nal in the temporal, the celestial in the terrestrial, the
living in the dead, the divine in the human.
The Christian religion, therefore, is the clear insight
and conviction, firmly and eternally self-grounded and
free from all illusion — and a life and conduct in full
harmony and perfect accord with such insight and con-
viction — that the manifestation and revelation of the
one, eternal, living, self-existent Being — of God — must
from its very nature be triune : that God manifests and
reveals himseK in his oneness as the Creator, Presei-ver,
Ruler, the Father of all things ; that he manifests and
reveals himself, has manifested and revealed himself,
in and through a man who absorbed his whole being in
himseK, in and through an only being of supreme per-
fection, who was therefore his Son, his only-begotten
and first-born Son ; that in all the diversity of created
things, in all things that are and move, in the life and
spirit of all things, he has manifested and revealed him-
self, and continues without interruption to manifest and
reveal himself as the One Life and Spirit, the Spirit of
God ; and that he does all this ever as the One Living
God.
Similarly we say, humanly speaking, but with a deep
spiritual meaning, and with exhaustive fullness of spir-
itual truth : The spirit of the peace, of the order and
purity of this family, is shown in every single thing as
well as in the whole house. Or, again, with correct and
true feeling : The spirit of the father is seen in all the
12
150 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
children, and in the whole family. Or, in higli creative
truth: The spirit of the artist is manifest in all his
works, as well as in each individual one. Or, with cor-
rect sense and feeling of truth : It is a living expression
of himself.
The Christian rehgion carries with itself the eternal
conviction that it is this knowledge which leads not man
alone, but all created beings (i. e., all beings that have
come from the unity of God into an individual exist-
ence), to a knowledge of their existence, to the fulfill-
ment of their mission, to the attainment of their destiny ;
and that every individual being — if it would attain its
destiny — in necessary and indispensable obedience to its
nature, must manifest and reveal itseK in tliis triune way
— in and as unity, in and as individuality, in and as
manifoldness in ever-continuing diversity (see §§ 15, 18).
The truth of this conviction is the sole foundation
of all insight and knowledge. It is the only test of our
conduct. It is the foundation of all religious instruc-
tion. The knowledge and application of this truth en-
ables us to recognize nature in its true character, as the
writing and book of God, as the revelation of God.
The knowledge of this truth gives a language to
things human as well as to things natural, and imparts
true significance and true life to all teaching and learn-
ing, to all knowing and doing.
Only through this conviction life becomes in all its
phases and manifestations a self-contained whole, a unit.
This knowledge and conviction alone render genuine
human education truly possible.
The knowledge of this truth, the insight into its na-
ture, brings light and life, and, if need be, consolation
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 151
find support in all circumstances ; it alone gives a mean-
ing and a purpose to life.
Therefore, Jesus commanded his disciples : " Go ye
into all the world and teach all nations " ; purify and
lead them to the knowledge of God the Father, of Jesus,
the Son of God, and of the Holy Spirit of God, to a life
in accordance with this knowledge and insight, and to
all insight necessarily proceeding from this.
Therefore, the truth of the threefold manifestation
and revelation of the One God is the corner-stone of the
religion which suffices all men in all zones, and which
they have felt, however vaguely, and sought, however
unconsciously; for it leads man in the spirit and in
truth, in insight and life, to God and in God.
Every human being, as a being proceeding from
God, existing through God and living in God, should
raise himself to the Christian religion — the religion of
Jesus. Therefore, the school should first of all teach
the religion of Christ ; therefore, it should first of all,
and above all, give instruction in the Christian religion ;
everywhere, and in all zones, the school should instruct
for and in this religion.
B. Natural Science and Mathematics.
% 62. What religion says and expresses, nature says
and represents. What the contemplation of God teaches,
nature confirms. What is deduced from the contempla-
tion of tlie inner, is made manifest by the contemplation
of the outer. What religion demands, nature fulfills.
For nature, as well as all existing things, is a manifesta-
tion, a revelation, of God. The purpose of all existence
152 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
is the revelation of God. All existing things are only
through and because of the (divine) essence that is in
them (see § 1).
Everything is of divine nature, of divine origin.
Everything is, therefore, relatively a unity, as God is
absohite unity. Everything, therefore, inasmuch as it
is — though only relatively — a unity, manifests its nature
only in and through a triune revelation and representa-
tion of itself, and these only in and through continu-
ously progressive, hence relatively all-sided development
(see § 61).
This truth is the foundation of all contemplation,
knowledge, and comprehension of nature. Without it
there can be no true, genuine, productive investigation
and knowledge of nature. Without it there can be no
true contemplation of nature, leading to insight into the
essential being of nature.
Only the Christian, only the human being with
Christian spirit, life, and aspiration, can possibly attain
a true understanding and a living knowledge of nature ;
only such a one can be a genuine naturalist. True
knowledge of nature is attainable by man only in the
measure in which he is — consciously or unconsciously,
vaguely or distinctly — a Christian, i. e., penetrated with
the truth of the one divine power that lives and works
in all things ; only in the measure in which he is filled
with the one living divine spirit that is in all things and
to which he himself is subject, through which all nature
has its being, and by which he is enabled to see this one
spirit in its essential being and in its unity in the least
phenomenon, as wdl as in the sum of all natural phe-
nomena.
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. I53
§ 63. The relation of nature to God may be truly
and clearly perceived and recognized by man in the
study and elucidation of the innermost spiritual relation
of a genuine human work of art to the artist. In a sec-
ondary degree it may be perceived and recognized in
every human work with reference to the human being
to whom it owes its origin (see § 61).
All things that the living spirit creates, produces,
and represents must have impressed and implanted in
them the nature of this spirit, must bear the imprint of
the seal of this spirit in every part of the product.
Absolutely nothing can appear, nothing visible and
sensible can come forth, that does not hold within itself
the living spirit j that does not bear upon its surface the
imprint of the living spirit of the being by whom it has
been produced, and to whom it owes its existence. And
this is true of the work of every human being — from
the highest artist to the meanest laborer, from the most
material to the most spiritual human work, from the
most permanent to the most transient human activity —
as well as of the works of God which are nature, the
creation, and all created things.
A keen, critical eye can discern in the work of art
the artist's powers of thought and feeling, as well as
their state of cultivation ; thus, too, the creative spirit of
God may be discerned in his works (see § 60).
We do not pay suflScient attention to this fact
in human works, in works of art ; therefore, it is so
difficult for us to discern it in nature, in the work
of God.
In the consideration of the human work of art we
do not concern ourselves sufficiently with the innermost
154: THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
spiritual relation of the artist to the work ; we judge its
origin too mechanically and superficially. We do not
consider sufficiently that these works, if they are works
of high art, are not meant to be art-masks, but are al-
ways representations of the most individual, the most
personal inner life of the artist; for this reason the
genuine spirit of the art-work and the spirit of nature
are equally foreign, equally dead to us.
Now, as the work of man, of the artist, carries within
itseK the sj>irit and character^ the life and essential he-
ing^ of this man, and — as we say in human metaphor
exhaustively and most significantly — breathes out this
spirit and life, and as the human being who produced
it, who created it, as it were, out of himself, neverthe-
less remains the same undiminished and undivided be-
ing, and is even strengthened in his power by this work,
thus, too, the spirit and being of God — although the
cause and source of all existing things, and although all
existing things carry within themselves and breatlie the
one spirit of God — remain nevertheless in themselves
the one Being, the one Spirit, undiminished and un-
divided.
As in the human work of art there is no material
part of the artist's spirit, and as nevertheless the work
of art as such carries within itself the whole spirit of its
artist in such a way that this spirit lives in this work, is
expressed by it and exhaled by it, is even breathed by
it into others, where it may live, be developed, and cul-
tivated — as the spirit of man is thus related to the work
produced by him, so is the spirit of God, so is God, re-
lated to nature and to all created things. The spirit of
God rests in nature, lives and reigns in nature, is ex-
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 155
pressed in nature, is communicated by nature, is devel-
oped and cultivated in nature — ^yet nature is not the
body of God.
The spirit of the work of art, the spirit to which the
work of art owes its existence, is the one and undivided
spirit of the artist ; but, having as it were gone forth
from the artist, it now lives and works on in the artist's
work as an independent spirit, yet at one with the art-
ist. Thus, the spirit of God, having gone forth from
God, lives and works on in and through nature as an in-
dependent spirit, yet at one with God.
As nature is not the body of God, so, too, God him-
self does not dwell in nature as in a house ; but the spirit
of God dwells in nature, sustaining, preserving, foster-
ing, and developing nature. For does not even the
spirit of the artist, though but a human spirit, dwell in
his work, sustaining, preserving, fostering, and keeping
it ? Does not even the spirit of the artist impart earthly
immortality, as it were, to a block of marble, to a per-
ishable piece of canvas — nay, even to a winged and fleet-
ing word, which passes away at the moment of its birth
— indeed, to all his works, be he musician, poet, painter,
or sculptor ? Does he not endow his work of art, as he
puts it forth into life, with the choicest, most thought-
ful care, the tenderest keeping, the high esteem of the
most exalted human minds ?
Who can fail to mark the lofty, mighty spirit of a
true human work of art, the presence at once supplicat-
ing and commanding that goes forth from a lofty, pure
work of art, as it does from the innocent look of a help-
less child ? And yet it is but the work of a human
spirit ; and this spirit preserves and keeps it, however
166 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
long tlie time and wide the space that separate tlie work
from the artist.
Toward a genuine work of art — though not, indeed,
toward a merely mechanical piece of work with w^hich
thought had little or nothing to do — the artist feels as
does a father who dismisses his son into hfe : he gives
him words and thoughts to bless, guard, and keep him.
To the true artist it is by no means a matter of indiffer-
ence who buys his work, as a good father is by no means
indifferent to the character of the companions of his
son. Yet, full of trust and confidence, he dismisses his
son into the world ; for his own spirit and aspirations
rest upon and in his son. Thus, too, the artist's charac-
ter lives and breathes wholly in his work, even in its
least and smallest parts, in every line, and in the very
mode of their connections. This spirit or character,
whose lofty nature and aspirations the artist knows in
his own being, fills him with the hope that it will keep
his work of art, that it will bring his work to human
beings who will receive the created spirit in their own
lives, and will develop and cultivate it there.
The work of art is external to man — no material
part, not a drop of life-blood, passes from him to his
work — and yet man sustains, keeps, and preserves it ;
he strives to keep aw^ay from it what may cause it the
least injury now and in time to come. Man feels him-
self to be one with his work of art ; how much more,
then, will God sustain, keep, and preserve his work,
which is nature, and keep away from it all injury — for
God is God, and man is only man !
Yet the artist, in whatever direction, remains ever
unalterably and independently the same in himself,
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 157
though all his works perish ; so, too, God remains un-
alterably the same, even though all nature perish.
Nay, the human work of art, as well as nature, the
divine work of God, may externally perish, and yet the
spirit expressed, revealed, living and moving in it, will
continue to be and to unfold itself evermore. Indeed,
it gains thereby true freedom, and, from this very fact,
is revealed more clearly and vividly.
Behold the ruins of perished human art-power ! be
they the mighty work of the giant strength of indi-
viduals or the colossal product of the omnipotence of
the intimate union of many for one purpose which is
common to all, and which each one of the workers,
on whatever stage of insight, holds and must hold as
his purpose — an omnipotence whose existence man-
kind have scarcely felt as yet, and in which they still
less believe. Those ruins admonish the succeeding
weaker generations ; and the generation that begins
to become conscious of its essential nature is lifted
in confidence and courage by those proofs of vanished,
though by no means only outer, human power and
greatness.
Thus the colossal remains of shattered mountains
and mountain-chains speak of the greatness of the spirit
of God, of the greatness of God ; and even man is en-
couraged, and lifts himself up by them, feeling within
himself the same spirit and power. Thus the slender
ivy climbs up on the mighty rock, and gathers from it
strength and food, not only for its life, but also for its
upward growth.
Thus we see everywhere the same living and deep,
inner and spiritual, pervading and sustaining relations
158 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
between man and the work of art, and between God and
nature.
When barbarians — ^rough, unfeeling, thoughtless men
— destroy the work of art, or even the slightest vestige
of a human spirit that has lived and worked on earth,
the noble, sensitive human being grieves perhaps even
more than he would do if the life of an ordinary living
being were destroyed.
For does not even the work of man imply the inde-
pendent development of the spirit and thought it holds ?
May not the character expressed in a work of art influ-
ence entire generations, elevating or, on the other hand,
degrading them ? And yet they are but the works of
man that may do this ; what, then, may, will, and must
the works of God do ; what must nature, the work of
God, be to man ?
We study to acquaint ourselves with the life and
aspirations, etc., of human works ; we study the works
of man, and justly so. The undeveloped, maturing hu-
jman being should profit by the development of maturer
jmen. How much more, then, should we endeavor to
I know nature, the work of God, to acquaint ourselves
with the objects of nature in their life, their signifi-
cance, in their relation to the spirit of God !
This is indicated to us, too, in the fact that genuine
works of human art, human works that express the pure
spirit of man, which is also the spirit of God, are not
easily nor always readily accessible for every one, and
under all circumstances ; while, on the other hand, man
finds himself everywhere surrounded by pure works of
God, by works of nature that clearly express the spirit
of God.
CHIEF GROUrS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 159
It is true, we can find and recognize God's spirit
through and in the human spirit ; but it is difficult to
distinguish in each particular case that which belongs
to humanity in general from that which belongs to the
particular human being; it is difficult to distinguish
which one of the two predominates, and which one, at
any particular time, is acting. On the other hand, with
pure works of nature, the natural as such preponderates
very decidedly, the particular characteristics of the natu-
ral object are by far less prominent. Thus the pure
spirit of God not only is seen more clearly and dis-
tinctly in nature than it is in human life, but in the
clear disclosures of God's spirit in nature are seen the
nature, dignity, and holiness of man reflected in all
their pristine clearness and purity.
Again, man sees in nature not only general princi-
ples — as has been previously indicated — but he beholds
therein his aspiration, his destiny, his mission, the ne-
cessary conditions, impediments, and phases of their
attainment, as in a picture, in unmistakable and living
characters, expressing not the notion, but the thing,
the relation itself. Following these silent, absolutely
reliable, outwardly intelligible, impersonal teachers,
man may not only learn from them with certainty the
thing to be done at every moment of life, but, acting ,
accordingly, he will surely satisfy the demands made)
upon him.
/ Among all objects of nature, none seem in this re-
'spect truer, clearer, more complete, and yet simpler —
I because of their calm thoughtful aspect and the clear un-
folding of their inner life — than plants, especially trees.
They are, therefore, rightly distinguished among nat-
160 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
ural objects as trees of tlie knowledge of good and evil,
for they are such in reality ; indeed, they were so con-
sidered and named with touching, truthful, and deep
significance, on the very iirst appearance of self-con-
sciousness in the human race.
The observation of the development of individual
/ man and its comparison with the general development
of the human race show plainly that, in the develop-
ment of the inner life of the individual man, the history
of the spiritual development of the race is repeated,
and that the race in its totality may be viewed as one
human being, in whom there will be found the neces-
sary steps in the development of individual man (see
§§ 15, 24). Therefore, not only may we learn from the
trees, from the life of a tree, the phenomena of indi-
vidual human life, but we may lind therein the phenom-
ena of the development of the race in their necessary
connection. It is true, in their full distinctness, free
from all arbitrariness and triviality, this has as yet
scarcely been shown, yet the further development and
cultivation of the parables of Christ may lead to it
(see § GQ).
A by far wider application might be given to this
contemplation of nature here only touched upon, were
it not out of place on account of the almost complete
ignorance that prevails concerning this subject, and
were it not founded on a now very rare mode of obser-
vation of external natural phenomena and of the devel-
opment of inner life in ourselves.
If we seek the inner reason for this high symbolic
meaning of the different individual phenomena of na-
ture, particularly in the phases of development of natu-
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION, Id
ral objects in relation to the stadia of human develop-
ment, we find it in the fact tliat nature and man have
their origin in one and the same eternal Being, and that
their development takes place in accordance with the
same laws, only at different stages.
Thus the observation of nature and the observation
of man, in comparison and in connection wdth the facts
and phenomena of the general development of human-
ity, are mutually explanatory, and mutually lead to
deeper knowledge the one of the other. A clear insight
into the causative and creative relation of the human
spirit to its external work leads also to a clear insight
into the relation of the causative, creative spirit of God
to nature ; leads to a knowledge of the manner in which
the finite proceeds from the infinite, the material from
the spiritual, nature from God. Even man, although
externally a finite being, does not always need his arms
and hands for the production and outward representa-
tion of his work ; more frequently his will, his deter-
mining look, the breath of his word, create and bring
forth. Even man, although externally finite, can bring
forth material for his creations, without having recourse
to material existences.
Whoever wants further proof for this need only pass
in review the whole series of developments, conditions,
and phenomena, from the least material, innermost
thought to the most definitely formed, most material
word in writing.
Thus man may know and understand even the most
difficult process, the production of the external and ma-
terial from the inner and spiritual ; may know and un-
derstand it — not as an idea, but as a fact — in the pro-
162 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
cesses of his own thinking as an effect and consequence
of the transformation of his own innermost thought into
an external work, an outer something.
Therefore, as the spirit of the artist is in the work
of art, so is the spirit of God in nature. As the work
of art hves and moves in accordance wdth its spirit and
related to its maker, so nature, born from God, lives and
moves in accordance with its spirit, as a work of God,
living in and through God, and breathing the spirit of
God, related to God, its Maker, and in inner spiritual
relation to man.
As the world of art is the invisibly-visible * revela-
tion and expression of the spirit of man, and thus be-
comes an invisibly- visible kingdom of the human spirit,
so, too, nature is the invisiblj-visible revelation of the
spirit of God, and becomes an invisiblj-visible kingdom
of God.
§ 64. To feel the presence of this threefold king-
dom of God (the visible, the invisible, and the in-
visibly-visible), to acknowledge it, and to let it influ-
ence life — this alone can give us the peace which we
seek within and without, which from the first moment
of self-consciousness we are driven to seek and to
pursue, even at the expense of our own life, of our
external possessions, of our external welfare, whatever
its name.
For this reason alone, man — particularly in boyhood
— should become intimate with nature, not so much
with reference to the details and the outer forms of her
phenomena as with reference to the spirit of God that
* WnsicMbar-sichthar = iny\s\h\y-y'isih\e, i. e., visible to the mental,
to the spiritual eye, though invisible to the physical eye. — Tr.
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 163
lives in lier and rules over her. Indeed, the boy feels
this deeply, and demands it ; for this reason, where love
of nature is still unimpaired, nothing, perhaps, unites
teachers and pupils so intimately as the thoughtful study
of nature, and of the objects of nature.
Parents and school-teachers should remember this,
and the latter should, at least once a week, take a walk
with each class — not driving them out like a flock of
sheep, nor leading them out like a company of soldiers,
but going with them as a father with his sons or aj
brother with his brothers, and acquainting them more
fully with whatever the season or nature offers them
(see § 98).
The schoolmaster who lives in a village or in the
country should not object to this request, by saying,
"My school-children are constantly out-doors anyhow,
and running about in the fields and forests." They are,
indeed, in the fields and forests, but they do not live
there ; they do not live in and with nature.
Not only children and boys, but indeed many adults,
fare with nature and her character as ordinary men fare
with the air. They live in it, and yet scarcely know it
as something distinct, and much less with reference to
its essential properties concerning the preservation of
his life ; for ordinarily the name air is given merely to
the currents of wind or to their temperature.*
Therefore, these children and boys who spend all
their time in the fields and forests see and feel nothing
of the beauties of nature, and of their influence on the
human heart. They are like the people who have grown
* This has reference to the German word Luft (air), which is popularly
used for Wind (wind).— Tr.
164 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
up in a very beautiful country, and who have no idea of
its beauty and its spirit.
Yet — and this is the essential point — the boy may
possibly with his spiritual eye find, see, and apprehend
the inner life of surrounding nature ; but he fails to find
the same feelings among adults who suppress that ger-
minating inner life in its very beginning.
The boy seeks from adults the confirmation of his
inner, spiritual anticipations, and justly so, from an in-
tuitive sense of what the elder ought to be, from respect
for the elder. If he fails to find it, a double effect fol-
lows—loss of respect for the elder, and a recoil of the
original inner anticipation.
Therefore, it is so important that boys and adults
should go into the fields and forests together striving to
receive into their hearts and minds the life and spirit of
nature, which would soon put an end to the idle, use-
less, and indolent loafing of so many boys.
The cruel treatment of insects and other animals in
which, particularly, young boys engage good-naturedly
and with no evil intention — though this does not apply
to cruelty as such — originates in the little boy's desire
to obtain an insight into the inner life of the animal,
to get at its spirit. But failure to explain or to guide,
as well as false interpretation or guidance, or the
misunderstanding of this desire, may at a later period
develop in such boys hardened intentional cruelty to
animals.
§ 65. Such are the character and influence of nature
as a whole, such are the character and influence of na-
ture as the image and work of God, as the word of God,
revealing, communicating, and awakening the spirit of
CUIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 1^5
God in and by its integrity ; as such, nature presents
herself to inner contemplation.
Quite differently, however, she presents herself to
ordinary outer contemplation. To this she appears as a
diversity of many different and separate individualities
without definite, inner, living connection ; individuali-
ties each of which has its own peculiar form, peculiar
development, peculiar absolute purpose; without any
indication that these externally distinct and separate in-
dividualities are organically united members of one great
living organism, of one great intrinsically and spiritually
coherent whole ; without any indication that nature is
such a whole.
§ 66. This external view of nature, based on partic-
ular natural phenomena, on particular natural objects
seen in their separation, is like the external view of a
large tree, or of any complex plant, in which each leaf
seems to be strictly separate from the others. Here,
too, there seems to be no bridge, no inner connection
among the leaves and twigs, nor in the little blossom
between the calyx and corolla, and between this and the
stamens and pistils. But here, too, when in thoughtful
search the spiritual eye seeks and finds the common
bond among the nearest particulars, and proceeds from
every new-found unity to a higher and the highest unity,
it is at last recognized as an external manifestation of an
inner law acting deep in the very heart of the plant.
That external view of nature in her particulars re-
sembles the external view of the starry sky, in which
only by means of arbitrary lines particular stars are
gathered into larger groups, and whose inner connection
even the keenest, clearest, and most fully developed
13
166 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
spiritual eye can appreliend only in the union of smaller
world-groups into ever larger ones.
In this usual, merely external, view of nature, the
particulars of the distinct and separate natural objects
appear not so much as the products of one and the same
existence, but rather as the products of diiferent active
forces. But this can not satisfy, even in boyhood, the
mind a,nd spirit of man, in itself one and undivided.
§ 67. Therefore at an early period, even in boy-
hood, man seeks unity and union for this externally sep-
arate diversity and individuality among objects ; seeks
unity and union in a separation which in obedience to a
necessary law of inner development presents things out-
wardly in apparently confused heaps. His mind is con-
tented when he begins to apprehend this unity and
union, but only later on, when he has found it, is his
spirit fully satislied.
But a review of the diversities in the particulars
of a plant leads to the recognition of deep-laid law dis-
cernible only for the spiritual eye. Similarly the pa-
tient following of this diversity itself leads to the recog-
nition, too, of the external unity among the diversities
and individualities of nature ; for, however great the pe-
culiarities, diiferences, and degrees of separation among
natural objects, the peculiar nature and appearance, the
structure and form of each thing, are always found to rest
ultimately upon the nature of force^ as the connecting
unit from which all individuality and diversity proceed.
JS'ow force, from its very nature, is seK-existent, pro-
ceeds from itself by its own activity as its own outward
manifestation ; therefore, active force is the ultimate
cause of all things, of every phenomenon in nature.
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTIOX. 167
Tlie contemplation of the essence of force— in its
manifestations as divine power as well as in its activity
in our own minds and life — will enable us, too, to appre-
hend and understand nature in her numberless forms
and structures, in her living inner affinities and develop-
ments, as well as in her external relations and deduc-
tions. Man is urged to contemplate the inner essence
of force by the desire and hope of finding thereby the
outer unity of the particular facts of nature, of the vari-
ous forms and shapes of nature.
[Similarly Herbert Spencer declares force to be the ultimate of
ultimates, and looks upon space, time, matter, and motion as " either
built up of, or abstracted from, experiences of force." — Tr.]
§ 68. Force, as such, is a spontaneous energy equally
active in all directions, proceeding either from absolute
unity or from some relative unity, but always from a
unity. At the same time, the nature of force necessarily
implies the coexistence and simultaneousness of action
and reaction.
Individual and varied existence as such, however,
postulates necessarily a second, external condition or
form and structure, viz., matter. It shows how all
eartlily and natural structure and form are born from
matter which is the same everywhere, in every respec^
even in the smallest details of cohesion and constitu-
tion, subject to the same laws, and therefore outwardly
infinitely mobile in its minutest parts ; and all this be-
cause of the everywhere equally diffused indwelling
force, because of the external infiuence of the sun and
of light and heat, in obedience to the all-pervading great
law of nature, according to which the general gives rise
to the particular.
168 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
I All individuality and diversity of earthly and nat-
f ural objects, as well as all inner contemplation of nature,
show that force and matter are in themselves insepa-
rably one.
Matter and spontaneous force proceeding from a
point with equal activity in all directions mutually con-
dition each other: neither exists without the other,
neither can exist without the other ; nay, strictly speak-
ing, it is impossible to think one without the other.
The reason for the infinite mobility of matter in its
minutest parts lies in the original spherical tendency of
the indwelHng force, in the original tendency of force,
spontaneously proceeding from a point, to diffuse equally
in all directions.
§ 69. JSTow, since force develops and diffuses itself
in all directions equally, freely, and unimpeded, its out-
ward manifestation, its material resultant, is a sphere.
For this reason the spherical or, in general, the round
form is most commonly the fii-st and the last form of
things in nature : e. g., the great heavenly bodies, such
as the suns, planets, and moons, water and all liquids,
the air and all gases, and even the dust.
In all the diversity and amid the apparently most in-
compatible differences of earthly and natural structures,
the sphere seems to be the primitive form, the unity
from which all earthly and natural forms and structures
are derived. Hence, too, the sphere resembles none of
the other natural forms, and yet essentially contains the
possibility and the law of all of them ; it is, at the same
time, formless and the most perfect form.
Neither point nor line, neither plane nor side, can be
discerned on its surface ; yet it is all-pointed and all-
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 169
sided, contains all the points and all the lines, etc., of
all earthly structures and forms, not in their possibility
alone, but even in their actuality.
Therefore, all structures of the living, active, effect-
ive objects of nature rest primarily on the law of sphe-
ricity, underlying the structure of the sphere ; rest
primarily — starting from the conception of the inner
essence of force, and viewing them as products of force
— on the necessary tendency of force to represent in
and through matter the spherical nature of force, the
nature of the sphere in all possible forms and structures,
varieties, and combinations. For in and with the spon-
taneous, spherical action of the force as a natural and
earthly phenomenon, and as such united with matter,
there is implied at the same time an inward swelling
and surging, measuring and weighing tendency — caus-
ing differences in the effect and tension of the force in
the different directions.
[How much Proebel was impressed with the significance of the
sphere as a symbol of unity of life is shown in the following extract
from " Aphorisms," written down in 1821 : *' The spherical is the
symbol of diversity in unity and of unity in diversity. The spheri-
cal is the representation of diversity developed from the unity on
which it depends, as well as the representation of the reference of all
diversity to its unity. The spherical is the general and the particu-
lar, the universal and the individual, unity and individuality at the
same time. It is infinite development, and absolute limitation ; it
connects perfection and imperfection. All things unfold their
spherical nature perfectly only by representing their nature in their
unity — in some individuality, and in some diversity. The law of the
spherical is the fundamental law of all true and adequate human
culture." — Tr.]
The differences in the quantity and intensity of the
effect of the force in different directions — differences
170 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
whicli in accordance with their nature mnst appear
simultaneously in force and in matter — this fixed preva-
lence of the effect of the force in certain directions —
this fixed, peculiar relation among the different direc-
tions of the force — this difference of tension in the dif-
ferent directions, and the corresponding and simultane-
ous difference in the individualization of matter — must,
as a fundamental quality of the mass of matter as a
whole, dwell in the same measure in each and every
smallest particle of that mass.
This peculiar relation and inner law of the efiicient
force constitute, in every particular case, the essential
cause of the form and structure in question.
The differences of direction and intensity in the
action of the forces, these differences of tension and the
resulting easy divisibility of matter, these planes and
directions of tension, contain the fundamental law of
all forms and structures. Their clear conception affords
the possibility of seeing them in their nature, relations,
and combinations.
Now, as each thing can manifest itself completely
only by representing its being in unity, individuahty,
and diversity, or in the indispensable triune way (see §
61), the essential nature of force, too, is shown completely
and perfectly only in such a triune representation of its
being by and in form. This implies, at the same time,
two other tendencies of nature : the tendency to repre-
sent the particular in the general, and the general in
the particular ; and the tendency to make the internal
external, the external internal, and to represent the two
in unity (to unify the two).
All individual forms in nature, in all their diversity,
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 171
have their origin in this triune representation bj means
of matter and through form, of force in union with
those general tendencies of nature.
§ 70. Furthermore, however, one and the same force
acts in one and the same material, either particularizing
in many individual phenomena or undivided and in
general ; or within the limits of its formative law its ac-
tion predominates in the direction of one of the dimen-
sions — height, length, or breadth — producing a number
of variations of crystalline form, such as the fibrous, the
radiate, the granular, the laminate, the foliate, needle-
shaped, etc. The former is due to the fact that as
many particles of the material as possible in a relatively
large mass tend to represent their formative law, but
are reciprocally hindered by their very mass in the de-
velopment and completion of their crystals. The latter
is due to the fact that the representation of the law of
formation is greater in certain dimensions than it is in
the rest.
The pure and perfect crystal, which represents even
in its outward form the relative intensity in the differ-
ent directions of the inner force, is formed when all the
individual particles and all the individual points of the
active force subject themselves to the higher law of a
common requirement and of the integral representation
of the law of formation, a higher law which, though it
may hamper and fetter individual particles or points,
yet yields the greater, perfectly formed product.
The crystalline is the first phase of earthly forma-
tion. Action and reaction and their simultaneousness,
which belong to the essential nature of force, give rise
to a tendency toward predominance of the force in cer-
172 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
tain directions, and to a reciprocal hindrance and ten-'
sion e7en in the minutest parts, and consequently to
the most sharply defined relations of tension in the ma-
terial in all directions, and thereby to greater or smaller
divisibility in these planes and lines of tension.
Therefore, the first crystals must of necessity have
rectilinear outlines ; nay, in the first appearance of the
crystalline, there must be evidence of resistance to the
common subordination under the fixed law of a definite
crystal — resistance to its perfect representation. Simi-
larly, crystals in which the force acts unequally in dif-
ferent directions must appear earlier than those in which
the force acts equally in different directions ; hence the
external result will not be an all-sidedly equilateral crys-
tal — as would be indicated by the essential nature of the
force — but solid forms not in conformity with this all-
sided equal activity of the force. Again, the develop-
ment of the essential nature of force in its external
manifestation of crystallization ascends from the un-
equilateral to the simplest equilateral forms ; while, at
the same time, the essential nature of the force as such
for the purpose of outward representation descends,
from unity and all-sidedness, to individuality and one-
sidedness.
If we now seek to recognize and represent this de-
scent in the essential nature of the force from unity to
individuality, we shall see nature at this stage, both in
her inner tendency and her outer manifestations, in all
her individuality and one-sidedness, but also in her unity
and all-sidedness.
[Froebel's interest in crystallography was aroused by the lect-
ures of Professor Weiss at Berlin in 1812. He saw in it the possi-
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 173
bility of direct jpvoot of the inner connection of all things. After
the campaign of 1813 against Napoleon, he returned at once to this
study, and was fortunate enough to secure the position of assistant
to Professor Weiss in the Royal Museum of Natural History. He
writes concerning this period : " What I had seen in so many ways in
the great universe, in the life of men, in the development of human-
ity, I saw here again in the smallest crystal. I saw it clearly, that
the divine is not only in the greatest, it is also in the most minute
things ; in full abundance and power it is even in the least thing.
Thus my earths and crystals became to me a mirror of the develop-
ment and history of mankind." However, he was much disconcerted
by the multiplicity of fundamental forms as taught in this science ;
and he busied himself much with efforts to reduce all forms to one —
probably the cube. The results of these efforts appear in the follow-
ing paragraphs, and, although not accepted by the mineralogical
science of the day, stand as a remarkable monument of Froebel's
faith in the principle of liie-unity.
In his letter to the Duke of Meiningen he exclaims, " The world
of crystals proclaimed to me, in distinct and unequivocal terms, the
laws of human life." His genius, however, urged and forced him
away from stones to rrien, and, sacrificing everything, refusing even
a professorship of mineralogy, he devoted himself to the work of
education. — Tr.]
§ 71. In the entire process of the development of the
crystal, as it is found in natural objects, there is a highly
remarkable agreement with the development of the hu-
man mind and of the human heart. Man, too, in his
external manifestation — like the crystal — bearing within
himself the living unity, shows at first more one-sided-
ness, individuality, and incompleteness, and only at a
later period rises to all-sidedness, harmony, and com-
pleteness.
Like all similar facts, this analogy in the develop-
ment of nature and of man is very important for the
purposes of self-knowledge and of the education of self
and others ; it throws light and clearness upon human
174 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
development and education, and gives firmness and snre-
ness of action in their various requirements.
Like the world of the heart and mind, the world of
crystals is a glorious, instructive world. What the spir-
itual eye there beholds inwardly, it here sees outwardly.
§ 72. Every crystallogenic force that manifests itself
in and through formative and externalizing processes
proceeds from a center, simultaneously tending in op-
posite directions. By its very nature, therefore, it im-
poses limits upon itself, is all-sided, radiating, rectilinear,
and, hence, necessarily spherical in its operation.
]N'ow, such a force, operating without hindrance,
will necessarily act bilaterally in any one direction ;
and in the totality of all directions there will always be,
starting in any direction from the center, sets of three
such bilateral directions, perpendicular to one another,
in the fullest equilibrium of independence and interde-
pendence.
Again, on account of the limitations lying in the
force itself, among all these sets of three bilateral direc-
tions, three exclusively predominate and appear wholly
distinct from all others. Even the most abstract view
of force will lead to this distinction and predominance,
because they lie equally in the nature of force and in
the law of human mental activity. The result of the
predominance of these three bilateral, perpendicular
directions, which equally control and determine all other
directions, must be a crystal limited by straight lines
and planes, revealing in every part the inner nature
and action of the force ; it can be only a cube, a regular
hexahedron.
Each of the eight comers shows the perpendicularity
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. I75
of the three bilateral directions at the center, and thus
indicates externally the center of the cube. Similarly
the three sets of four parallel edges show each of the
inner directions fourfold. The six faces mark in their
centers the six terminal points of the three bilateral di-
rections, and determine the invisible center of the cube.
In the cube the tendency of the force toward spheri-
cal representation is in a state of highest tension. In-
stead of all-sidedness we have particular-sidedness of
faces, corners, and edges ; and these few points (corners),
lines (edges), and planes (faces), subordinate and control
all others. There appears, too, the tendency of the
force to represent itself, not only in corporeal space, but
also in each of the possible particular phases of space —
as a point and in points, as a line and in lines, as a plane
and in planes. This, again, necessarily reveals the tend-
ency of the force to derive the line and the 'plane from
the pointy to represent the point as a line and as a plane^
the line as a point and as a plane^ to contract the line
into a point and to expand it into a plane, etc.
We meet this effect of force, henceforth, at every
step of the study of crystal forms ; indeed, the opera
tion of crystallogenic force seems to be limited to this,
and all crystals seem to owe their characteristics exclu-
sively to this tendency. Indeed, this must be so ; it ie
the first general manifestation of the great natural law?
and tendencies to represent each thing in unity, indi-
viduality, and diversity ; to generalize the most particu-
lar, and to represent the most general in the most par-
ticular ; and, lastly, to make the internal external, the
external internal, and to represent both in harmony
and union.
176 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
If, at the same time, we keep in mind that man, too,
is almost wholly subject to these great laws, that almost
all the phenomena and events of his life are based on
them, these considerations will reveal to us also the na-
ture of man, and teach us how to develop and educate
him in accordance with the laws of nature and of his
being.
Let us now pass from the study of the cube to the
study and development of the remaining crystal forms.
The corners of the cube will tend to become planes, the
faces will tend to represent themselves as points ; more
especially, the six directions lying about the center and,
typically, in the six sides of the cube will tend to be-
come externally visible as edges. The result of this is
a crystal which has as many faces or sides as the cube
has comers, as many comers as the cube has sides, and
as many edges as the cube — viz., a regular octahedron.
In this form, again, many things that lie invisibly in
the interior appear outwardly, either directly or typi-
cally visible, but the explanations given in the study of
the cube must suffice to indicate how these things may
be found.
The three- times-two perpendicular principal direc-
tions (three bilateral directions) appear externally in the
cube as three-times-two sides or planes, in the octahedron
as three-tiraes-two corners or points : there must be yet
another crystal form in which they appear as three-
times-two edges or lines. In the cube the six terminal
points of the three perpendicular bilateral directions of
the force appeared as six sides or jplanes, in the octa-
hedron they appeared as corners or points : there must
be another solid in which they appear as edges or lines,
CHIEF GKOUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 1Y7
and this is the regular tetrahedron. Its nature is suffi-
ciently determined by comparison with the cube and
octahedron, and the interior phases expressed in its
external appearance are easily found with the help of
the hints given in the study of the cube.
[This is illustrated in the following figures : Fig. 1 indicates the
three pairs of opposite directions (three bilateral directions) in which
the force operates, constituting the three axes of the cube (Fig. 2),
i/
KiS. 1
A 1
/
1 1 /
i >*' i
/
Kis- S
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
the octahedron (Fig. 3), and the tetrahedron (Fig. 4). In Fig. 2 the
axes terminate in faces ; in Fig. 3 they terminate in points (corners) ;
and in Fig. 4 the terminal points of one axis lie in edges. — Tr.'\
Thus the study of the necessary results of the force
acting spherically, and manifesting itself in material
crystallization, has revealed to us three bodies, bounded
by straight lines and planes, of which the cube is the
first, and, as it were, the central one, and the tetrahedron
and octahedron the two derived bodies.
178 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
If, now, we survey the
CUBE, OCTAHEDEOIT, AND TETRAHEDRON"
in theiv natural position, as shown in our deduction,
we again behold, in perfect harmony with the course of
our study, and as a necessary consequence of the oft-
repeated law of nature, that the cuhe rests on a plane,
the octahedron on a point, and the tetrahedron on a
Ime I and in each of the three solids the axis of devel-
opment coincides wholly with one of the three recipro-
cally perpendicular principal directions.
If, then, we consider each of these three solids as
wholly independent and fixed, each left to itself, seek-
ing a point of rest and support, we find tlie cube
always symmetrically and permanently resting on one
of its faces, and the axis permanently coinciding with
one of its principal directions. On the other hand,
the octahedron and tetrahedron will fall. Thereby
one of the sides will become ^ its base, and at the
same time both solids exhibit a new property quite
peculiar to them : the axis, the vertical or median line
of the solid, does not coincide with any of the three
principal directions, but stands at equal angles between
them.
Now, inasmuch as the nature of the octahedron
and tetrahedron lies in the nature of the cube, and inas-
much as the forms of the octahedron and tetrahedron
are deducible from that of the cube, the property which
permits the axis or vertical line to fall at equal angles
between the three perpendicular principal directions,
must lie already in the cube. Indeed, it is a direct re-
sult of the operation of the law of equilibrium ; for the
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 179
falling of the octaliedron or tetrahedron, by which the
axis or vertical line is brought at equal angles between
the principal directions, when transferred to the cube,
will necessarily cause the latter to rise correspondingly.
This will make the cube seem to rest on one of its cor-
ners, so that the vertical line or axis passes now from
one of these corners through the center to the opposite
corner, no longer coinciding with one of the principal
directions, but falling at equal angles between them.
By this change in the position of the axis, the cube has
been wholly changed internally^ and presents exter-
nally^ too, a wholly changed appearance, an entirely
new form. In its former position the sides seemed
grouped in sets of two, and the corners and edges in
sets of two or four, everything seemed to be arranged
in the order of the even numbers, two and four ; now
everything seems grouped in sets of three — three sides,
three edges, three comers.
Instead of the number two^ we have now the num-
ber three^ and a wholly new series of crystal forms
seems thereby given and determined. However, the
study and development of these must be postponed for
the further study and development of the crystal forms
with three among themselves wholly perpendicular prin-
cipal directions.
In itself and in the crystal forms, force manifests
the tendency to expand corners into edges or sides;
the tendency to contract edges into corners or to ex-
pand them into sides ; the tendency to represent sides
as edges and corners ; the tendency to render externally
visible inner concealed and invisible as well as outer
typical directions, points, lines, and planes ; the tend-
180 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
ency to represent externally in the crystal forms the
inner, spherical nature of force on all sides equally
energetic ; the tendency to reach again the spherical
form in and through these crystal forms. Accordingly,
starting from the cube, the octahedron, and the tetrahe-
dron, three series of crystal forms are definitely given.
These series variously overlap in several directions, but
through a limited number of principal forms and a still
measurable number of intermediate forms they again
approximate sphericity.
In the formation of all the solids so far considered,
there were always three equivalent principal directions,
of relatively equal efficiency in determining the form.
IS'ow, the natural tendency of force to operate simulta-
neously in opposite directions, and the relations of ten-
sion necessarily induced thereby in the force as well as
in the matter in which the force operates, necessarily
lead in the further development of crystal forms to the
development of differences among the three relatively
wholly equal and equivalent principal directions : The
principal direction coinciding with the axis of the crys-
tal form will become either greater or smaller than the
two others.
The series of crystal forms resulting from the first of
these differences will yield chiefly square prisms and
elongated octahedrons ; the series resulting from the
second difference will yield chiefly flat, square prisms
and flattened octahedrons. (Inasmuch as we are con-
cerned here only with the necessary inner relations and
eft'ects of force, we necessarily leave out of consideration
all differences in the forms of crystals depending on ex-
ternal conditions of matter.) The development of these
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 181
two series of crystal forms proceeds always in forms
yielding quadruple crystal forms.
Again, all three principal directions may differ in
length. The forms resulting from this will be chiefly
flattened, oblong, four-sided prisms and octahedrons,
with three different sections. The development of this
series proceeds by twos or multiples of two. Now, the
development may proceed in such a way as to retain the
equality of corresponding parts, or one part may develop
more or less than its mate. The former yields the series
just described ; the latter gives series of crystals in
which the parts appear grouped in sets of two-and-one
or one-and-one.
The further development of these forms, too, ensues
in accordance with the natural law and tendency of force
to develop comers into edges and planes, and vice versa^
and thus to represent externally the inner directions in
spherical forms. Because of the peculiar fundamental
conditions, all the solids resulting from these develop-
ments are, too, distinctly peculiar in their appearance
and structure.
We have so far considered the principal conditions
for the study and deduction of all crystal forms with
three relatively equal principal directions, both in their
individual characteristics and in their net-like inter-
relationships. We now proceed to study the crystal
forms whose structural axis falls symmetrically between
the three principal directions, and whose fundamental
form is the cube resting on one of its comers.
The first examination of the cube in this position
revealed peculiarities determined by the grouping of its
parts in sets of three. To these, further consideration
14
182 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
will add tlia following peculiar structural laws and
properties :
In the first place, even a superficial observation of
the cube in this position shows the peculiarity that the
six limiting planes appear no longer as six regular quad-
rilaterals with equal diagonals, but as symmetrical quad-
rilaterals with different diagonals, or as rhombs. At
the very next step in the development of this series of
crystal forms, this merely superficial appearance is con-
firmed by the actual external results of inner conditions.
Therefore, all the forms of this series limited by six
equal planes are always limited by six equal rhombs.
The fundamental form of this series of form, then, is
the rhombic hexahedron (rhombohedron) ; and the fun-
damental laws and limitations lying in the rhombohe-
dron are the fundamental laws and limitations of all the
following formations.
The number of crystal forms derived from the
rhombohedron is large, almost incalculably large. Yet
they radiate right from the fundamental form in several
series, each of which is again headed by a principal
form determined by the character of the fundamental
form:
1. The three edges at the basal point and the three
edges at the vertex, in accordance with the law already
mentioned, are developed into faces until they mutually
limit one another. The result is a crystal form bounded
by twice six faces and twice six equal basal and vertical
edges, which unite respectively in the vertex and the
basal point — it is the doicble-pointed^ equal-edged dodeca-
hedron (double six-sided pyramid).
2. The lateral edges, in accordance with the inner
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF IXSTRUCTION. 183
characteristics, form sloping double faces. The result
is again a crystal form bounded bj twice six faces, which
unite in the vertex and basal point, but have only the
alternate edges equal. It is the douhle-^ointed, three-
and-three-edged dodecahedron (scalene dodecahedron).
3. The development of the lateral corners or edges
of the rhombohedron or of one or the other dodecahe-
drons into faces parallel to the axis, and of the terminal
comers into planes (perpendicular to the axis), yields two
new crystal forms — two hexagonal prisms with perpen-
dicular bases. They differ, however, in their inner na-
ture and in their origin, inasmuch as one of the prisms
is derived from the lateral edges and the other from the
lateral corners of the fundamental solid ; they may be
distinguished as the hexagonal prism derived from the
edges^ and the hexagonal prism derived from the corners.
In accordance with this inner connection, the prin-
cipal forms are related as foUow^s :
Rhombohedron.
I I
double six-sided pyramid scalene
(dodecahedron). dodecahedron.
I I
hexagonal prism hexagonal prism
derived from corners. derived from edges.
In accordance with the repeatedly enounced and
applied law of crystal logenic force, and with other
necessary conditions, the fundamental and principal
forms derived above from the nature of the force give
rise in strict progression to all possible forms of the
rhombic and hexagonal system with constant approach
to sphericity.
184 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
Thus, in the countless numbers of rhombic and
hexagonal forms here implied, in connection with the
cubic forms indicated above, all simple crystal forms are
implied and detemdned. This does not exclude other
still simple forms in which — in accordance with certain
peculiar conditions in the operation of the crystallogenic
force — the various forms may appear with variously
modiiied dimensions, relatively greater length or breadth
or thickness. On the other hand, by its very tendency
toward ever-higher development of crystal forms, the
crystallogenic force at last reaches so high a degree of
tension, of inner and outer opposition, that at last even
the external results show that the tendency to relieve
this tension and antithesis has become the chief tend-
ency of the force.
The first and simplest external manifestation of this
tendency within the limits of crystallization is seen in
the formation of crystals in precisely opposite directions.
The result will be (compound) forms in which several
simple crystals lying in opposite directions are united
externally in a single form, appearing — when the law
that unites them can not be unraveled — as capricious
accumulations.
These latter formations give rise to a wholly new se-
ries of compound and cumulated crystals which appear
to be imitations of higher forms of development, in a
variety of clustered, protuberant, or globular forms. In
the last-named accumulation, especially, it seems as if
the component crystals together succeeded in attaining
the original spherical form, which singly they could not
reach. Thus, at this stage of crystallization, too, hfe ap-
pears as in a picture ; we see, in spite of all the rigid
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 185
external separation, an inner living connection, the
operation of one and the same law, as we see it more
and more clearly at each successive stage of the develop-
ment of nature.
Now, all these forms as external manifestations be-
long pre-eminently to the world of matter, to the world
of simply energetic force. Their external unit is the
sphere. They are all distinguished by the peculiarity
that their parts are grouped in multiples of two and.
three. The operation of the force in directions grouped
in multiples of five and seven seems to be wholly ex-
cluded, since these numbers appear either only subordi-
nately and irregularly, or accidentally and transiently.
Furthermore, the material conditions of a crystal are
the same at all points. There is no necessarily deter-
mined or determining permanent center. The center
is only relative, and disappears with the related con-
ditions. Hence, if the material remains the same, the
continued operation of the force can increase only the
mass of the crystal. The energetic force, therefore, ap-
pears as a simple and not as a complex unity.
So much for the development and manifestation of
crystallogenic force within the limits of crystals. Now,
the nature of force, as a self-active principle equally
active in all directions, necessarily postulates in the
crystal as its external manifestation a perceptible point
in which the force has its seat, from which all its ac-
tivities proceed, and to which they may be referred.
But such a point is not found in solid crystals ; indeed,
it is excluded by the rigidity of the crystal, however
peremptorily it may be demanded by the nature of the
force that forms the crystal.
186 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
Again, the law of crystallization postulates a mate-
rial whose crystalline character, whose state of inner
tension, renders it impossible to develop a crystal cor-
responding with such a point; for the fact that the
material is throughout uniform in its constitution ex-
cludes the predominance of one or several centers of
force. For the same reason the establishment of such a
center of force would destroy the crystalline character-
of the material.
Furthermore, force as such — in order to become an
independent force — requires in its development a plu-
rahty of manifestations and activities within the law of
unity and proceeding from unity.
The nature of force and its tendency toward com-
plete development and representation is, therefore, not
satisfied with mere many-sidedness in its operation ; its
fundamental tendency implies an organized community
of forces, each of which operates self -actively, but to-
ward a common end lying in unity.
A force thus organized in itseK implies again a mate-
rial similarly organized in itself. Now, material is so
organized when, at any point assigned to it by the ac-
tivity of the force, it adapts itself with equal readiness
to the requirements of the force, be this in the repre-
sentation of the general or the particular, of the inner
or the outer, on any side or in any direction of the force.
Organized material obeys with perfect freedom and
without friction in eyerj direction. On the other hand,
the inner tension of crystalline material excludes this.
Therefore, organized force completely destroys all crys-
talline shape of the material and organizes it. Only by
returning to a perfectly amorphous state, into a state of
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 187
perfect incolierence and solution, can crystalline material
become organized.
Here, too, we have a manifestation of life, we see
the requirements and conditions of highest, most spirit-
ual life as in a picture. Therefore, at this stage of the
development of nature, it is so very necessary for the
education of self and others to know and to understand
the essential character of nature.
§ 73. We notice, at the same time, as an intrinsic
condition of force, the tendency to exert itself in oppo-
site directions. ^N^ow, we may consider force as proceed-
ing from a definite demonstrable unity and unfolding a
diversity related to that unity. This implies, necessarily,
alternation in the opposite tendencies of the force ; and,
as it destroys the crystallinity of the material, it destroys
at the same time the simultaneity of the opposite tend-
encies, and in the state of the material reveals a surg-
ing, heaving, swelling of the force.
In the crystal the opposite tendencies of the force
are simultaneous, in perfect equilibrium : hence the
rigidity of the crystal. The disturbance of this simul-
taneity, with the slightest predominance of one or the
other of the involved tendencies of the force, at once de-
stroys the rigidity of the crystal, and hence the crystal
itself, and renders the material earthy, liquid, or gaseous.
Now, the highest development of force implies its
greatest exercise of freedom, together with the greatest
possible simultaneity in opposite directions. It will,
therefore, have attained this development at the stage
where the pulsations of opposite tendencies alternate
most rapidly. This continuity in the pulsations of force,
together with the continuity of equilibrium in opposite
188 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
tendencies, we have in life / and the definite demonstra-
ble point whence these pulsations proceed, from which
all this self-active life is breathed out, is the hearty the
heart-^oint
In perfect accordance with the nature of force, either
a great number of points, or only a limited number, or
only one, will tend to become heart-points. This is one
of the first grounds for the development of distinct liv-
ing forms. The force tends more and more to render
itself independent of the material, so that the degree
of life-expression may no longer depend on the greater
or smaller mass of material. In accordance with this
fundamental law, all life-forms are grouped from the
very beginning in two series. In the first of these, the
material predominates ; in the second, life predominates.
The former is properly designated as living (vegetable) ;
the latter as animate (animal). From this point of
view, then, all natural objects may be grouped as follows:
Simply energetic
(crystalline).
Living Qebencl) Animate ij^ebendig)
(vegetable). (animal).
Since life implies the ever-recurring return of the
activity to the center of force, or heart-point, and se-
cures by this return ever again a new lease of external
existence, all living forms will necessarily grow from
within outward.
This necessary inner connection, here and previously"
indicated, among crystalline, vegetable, and animal
forms, is demonstrated unmistakably also from another
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 189
point of view and in the general law of nature, accord-
ing to wliich the particular implies the general.
Now, since the previously recognized attributes of
force lie necessarily in its nature, they will continue
with the continuance of the force, and will be unmis-
takably pronounced in the succeeding stages of develop-
ment, although in different forms, combinations, or de-
grees of intensity. This requirement, lying in the very
nature of the force, will necessarily be manifest in every
form of the successive stages of development, and is
the inner determining cause of each of these forms.
"While, therefore, in the crystals, circular and spherical
forms seemed to be secondary and, as it were, acci-
dental, they now appear to be essential ; with this dif-
ference, however, that among the vegetable forms radia-
tion and surface expansion predominate, whereas among
the animal forms foimdness and sphericity prevail.
Now, as organized force necessarily implies organ-
ized material, both imply an organized form. Hence
the vegetable forms in which life still appears subordi-
nate to the material will have a more radiate character,
approximating the law of crystal forms, but in an en-
hanced, organized, living state. Therefore, we see in
many plants the expression of the regularity of crystal
forms, more particularly in the numerical relations of
parts.
ZaJil (number), as is indicated by many obsolete
words and phrases, signifies originally the extremity,
the end.* Therefore, the numerical relations in plants
are so important, because they indicate, as it were, the
* ZaM is related to the English words tale^ fell, but not to tail {zagl)^
8s Froebel seems to assume. — Tr.
190 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
ends of the directions of force to which crystal forms,
as well as successive higher forms, owe their peculiari-
ties. As the binary crystal forms are characterized by
great simplicity, so we find a similar simplicity among
binary plant-forms, as compared with ternary plant-
forms.
In binary plants this law is clearly manifest in the
position of the leaves as well as in the form of the
stem, etc. The peculiar numerical relations are also al-
ways accompanied by other constant peculiarities ; and
each particular numerical expression is constantly at-
tended by certain particular inner properties. Thus,
nearly all binary plants exhale very strongly aromatic
odors, etc.
The life-forms, however, are by no means satisfied
with ever more characteristic representation of the
original directions, and the resulting numerical relations
that yield crystal forms. By the removal of external
tension the inner energy has been raised into life-en-
ergy, and higher activities must become manifest in
the formations. Therefore, among vegetable as well
as among animal life-forms, we observe soon the preva-
lence of numerical relations based on the number five,
which play in crystals a very subordinate part, and
appear only accidentally, as it were, and transiently.
Since, in all natural objects, the appearance of
quinary relations marks very characteristic activities, it
comes fraught with remarkable symbolism and signifi-
cance.
In the vegetable kingdom these quinary relations
rarely appear in perfect regularity — i. e., with all the
units respectively equal or equivalent in position, form.
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 191
and significance ; and, when they are regular externally,
they are so variable that the regularity is perfectly
maintained in a few cases only. This proves clearly its
origin in the liberated energy of force — in the tendency
of force, now lifted into life, to represent each relation
independently.
Inasmuch as the representation of the numbers five
and seven in independent and continuous development
is excluded from the realm of simply energetic force,
and inasmuch as every succeeding development of force-
activity must be derived from simply energetic force,
it follows that quinary and septenary relations can
originate only from a subdivision or contraction of
numerical relations lying within the realm of simply
energetic force.
This is actually the fact. Quinary forms appear in
the vegetable kingdom either in consequence of the
subdivision of one of the principal directions of quater-
nary or binary forms, or in consequence of the combi-
nation of two principal directions of ternary forms.
Kearly all quinary plant-forms show this to be the case.
It appears, then, that plants, which in their blos-
soms show scarcely any variation in the number five,
are to be considered as truly quinary; that binary
plants, which have the parts of their blossoms in fives,
show the five as two, two, and one, inasmuch as this
five results from the bisection of one of the four equiva-
lent directions. Therefore, two of the parts will always
belong together, and one will stand alone. Such plants,
then, appear as representations of the law of two and
two (binary law), passing into that of two, two, and
one, etc.
192 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
In general, the quinary forms and combinations pro-
ceeding from the binary law are the most varied, as is
shown in plants with alternate leaves. The lost equi-
librium between the two twos is regained only with
great difficulty.
It is different with the character of quinary forms
appearing in ternary plants. Here it is not a bisection,
but the union of two principal directions that yields the
five ; and the peace and calmness resulting from this
union are manifest in the simplicity of the blossoms, as
is seen in the rose, etc.
The number five, then, appears' in nature and
among life-forms as uniting the character of the num-
bers two and three; both in bisection and union, it
appears as three and two. Hence, as developed under
the influence of life-force, it is truly the number of
analytic and synthetic life, representing reason, unceas-
ing self -development, self -elevation ; for, the higher the
stage of development reached by the life-forms, the
more persistent is this number.
Among vegetable forms, almost regular quinary ar-
rangements of parts are found in plants that are capable
of the greatest cultivation and variation, as is seen in
the various fruit-plants that yield pomes and drupes
(such as the apple, pear, cherry, etc.), as well as in the
tropical fruits.
The former may be varied indefinitely. The same may
be observed in roses, quinary plants derived from ternary
relations ; their varieties, too, may be increased indefi-
nitely. Similarly, each locality yields its own variety of
potatoes, although so many varieties have been developed
in the few years of our acquaintance with this plant.
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 193
Again, the plants in whose flowers the parts appear
almost regularly in quinary sets, are most easily propa-
gated, improved, and induced to bear double flowers, as
is seen in roses, pinks, primroses, and buttercups.
Thus, wherever the number five appears, there is
unmistakable evidence of a higher phase of life, which,
through bisection or union of the parts implied by rigid
law, calls forth this number.
Starting, not from the external features of the num-
ber, but rather from the innermost essential condition
on which all variations and relations of numbers depend,
the following additional considerations force themselves
upon our notice :
The binary crystal forms, essentially simple and mani-
festing little variation of energy, resemble the differ-
ent species of feelings ; on the other hand, the ternary
crystal forms, in their continuous external subdivision
into ever-new forms, resemble forms of the understand-
ing and of knowledge. As, in the ternary crystals,
the structural axis is distinct from each of the three
fundamental directions and placed independently at
equal angles among them, their development through
external subdivision and external union continues almost
indefinitely. Therefore, the ternary form can subdivide
the most subtile things ; even light must submit to its
analytic power, as in calcareous spar and in the three-
sided prism — an artificial ternary form.
Therefore, the falling of the crystal from the bi-
nary into the ternary law of development resembles the
falling^ or — since the result is the same — the ascent of
the mind of man from simple, uniform emotional de-
velopment into the development of externally analytic
194 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
and critical reason ; for the ternary law, too, first intro-
duces us to the external knowledge of crystal forms as-
cending in the scale of development.
Concerning the peculiar nature and effects of living
force, the vegetable world shows the following facts;
Throughout the various stages of upward development
of the same living force in a plant, each part of the
whole seems to possess the whole force only in a different
degree of development ; hence it is so frequently possible
to produce the whole plant from a single part — from a
shoot, a bud, a leaf, a fragment of the root. Hence,
too, is derived the distinct fundamental law of vegeta-
ble life that each successive stage of development is
a higher growth of the preceding one — e. g., the petals
are transformed ordinary leaves, the stamens and pistils
transformed petals. Each successive formation presents
the essential nature of the plant in a more subtile garb,
until at last it seems clothed only in a delicate perfume.
The inner — having thus become almost wholly external
— is taken up by the ovary, and again becomes internal.
From the beginning to the time of blossoming, the life
of the plant is an upward and outward unfolding ; from
this to the time of full maturity of the fruit, it is an
exalted withdrawing.
Plant-forms, then, exhibit the (inner) force not only
in multiplied diversity, but also in a state of progres-
sive changes. Hence, too, when the (inner) force re-
cedes, we notice quite frequently a retrogression of a
later to an earlier form of development — e. g., the
retrogression of petals to sepals, and of these to ordi-
nary leaves ; the retrogression of stamens and pistils to
petals, so frequent in roses, poppies, mallows, tulips,
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. I95
etc. As an instance of progressive transformation, we
have the artificial change of the calyx to the corolla,
with the aid of favorable position and food — e. g., in
the garden primrose.
We see, then, that the essential nature of the whole
plant lies in some peculiar manner in each individual
part of the plant. ^N^ow, the first tendency of every
thing and of every plant is toward the all-sided repre-
sentation of its individuality. This tendency toward
sphericity seems to be most fully restrained in the
leaves. Therefore, it is frequently noticed, though not
in the leaves alone, that after some injury the seemingly
unfettered tendency toward spherical representation ap-
pears in the accessory formations ; this is seen very
beautifully in the rose-gall on inj ured rose-leaves.
Thus the plant seemingly represents the nature of
life-force in external quiescence. Therefore, from this
point of view, plants appear as the blossoms of nature ;
and as among plants, after the period of blossoming, the
essential nature of the plant withdraws inwardly, thus,
on the next stage of natural development — the stage of
animal life — all external diversity is again gathered up
in an inner unity, as it were in a kernel or seed, in
spherical forms. Therefore, the lowest animals in their
simple, spherical shapes resemble seeds endowed with
animal life.
Thus, inasmuch as the law of the individual part is
repeated in the whole, the totality of all nmndane
forms, although but a small part of the great universe,
is nevertheless, relatively, a great, individual, organized,
and organic whole. The animals, too, constitute again
a great organic whole, seemingly one living form : this
196 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
is manifest in the great general laws of nature that con-
trol the totality and apply distinctly in individual cases.
Thus, the quinary law, the necessary condition of
higher life, one with the appearance of life on earth and
inseparable from that life, is expressed with increased
vitality in all animals; this is evident in the earliest
forms, with the first appearance of animal life, as is
shown by the remains of perished ages, and this fun-
damental law accompanies animal life in all its varied
combinations and differentiations. Even in the human
being, in whom life appears lifted into perfect spirit-
uality, the number five is an essential attribute of his
hand, man's principal member, his principal instrument
in formative, creative activity, etc.
Another great, universally diffused law of nature,
particularly well pronounced in the whole animal king-
dom, and again representing the animal kingdom as a
whole in relative individuality, is the law that makes the
external i nternal, and vice versa. Thus we find the
first aninials having soft bodies, living in houses almost
wholly composed of stone, almost wholly independent
of the animals, and only externally inclosing their bod-
ies as if they were foreign, separate things. Neverthe-
less, the existence of the animals depends on their fixed
calcareous dwelling-place. Later on the animals appear
detached, free, no longer like plants fixed in one point ;
they and their stony coverings are firmly united in
growth, the solid covering incloses the body like a
solid rind.
In succeeding (higher) animal forms, the half-gristly,
half -stony covering unites more and more fully with
the body of the animal, and at last disappears externally.
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 197
It sinks into the flesh, as it were ; and, in the measure
in which it disappears outwardly, it becomes in fish
and amphibia an inner cartilaginous skeleton, with re-
siduary scales on the surface of the body.
In the still higher forms, this cartilaginous skeleton
is transformed more and more into a solid, bony skele-
ton, and the muscular mass, formerly inclosed in a stony
covering, now incloses the stony bones. What, in low-
er forms, was external is now internal ; what was in-
ternal is now, in the perfected animal, external.
Again, the great law of equilibrium is manifested
with special distinctness in the animal world. By this
law a relatively determinate quantity of force dwells in
each life-form, and a relatively determinate quantity of
material is required for each body and for each kind of
its organs; consequently, if this material is used pre-
dominantly on one side in the formation of the body or
of its organs, the development of the body or similar
organs on the other side will suffer, and one organ or
side will grow at the expense of the other. Thus, in
fish, the trunk of the body is developed at the expense
of the hmbs.
The operation of this law appears most clearly if the
human form in its symmetrical development is taken as
the criterion. If we compare, for instance, the arm and
hand of man with the wing of a bird, we see clearly
that certain parts or organs are developed at the ex-
pense of others.
§ Y4. Thus, the forms of nature in all their diversity,
in all the stages of their development, result from the
operation of one and the same force. Primarily this
force appears as a unity, is clearly and fully pronounced
15
198 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
in completely individualized life, but is externally re-
vealed in universal and all-sided application only in the
varied forms of nature, the possibility of whose repre-
sentation is implied in the force. Here, too, is con-
firmed the great and universal truth that only in triune
representation, only in unity, individuality, and diversity
can each form of nature completely and perfectly ex-
press its inner being.
We have in this a new confirmation of the law of
development of crystals, the passing from special-sided-
ness to all-sidedness, from imperfection to perfection —
as the law of all development in nature. Man, then, ap-
pears as the last and most perfect earthly being, in whom
all that is corporeal appears in highest equilibrium and
symmetry, and in whom the primordial force is fully
spiritualized, so that man feels, understands, and knows
his own power. But, while man externally and cor-
poreally has attained equilibrium and symmetry of form,
there heave and surge in him — viewed as a spiritual be-
ing — appetites, desires, passions. As in the world of
crystals we noticed the heaving and surging of simple
energy, ^nd in the vegetable and animal worlds the
heaving and surging of living forces, so here the heav-
ing and surging of spiritual forces.
Therefore, man, with reference to spiritual develop-
ment has returned to a first stage, as crystals are in the
first stage with reference to the development of life.
Therefore, again, a knowledge of the laws of crystal and
life forms is so highly important in the education of self
and others ; it teaches and guides, gives light and peace.
For this reason, the boy — the learning human being —
should at an early period be taught to see nature in all
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 199
her diversity as a unit, as a great living whole, as one
thought of God. The integrity of nature as a con-
tinuously self-developing whole must be shown him at
an early period. Without a knowledge of this unity
in the activities and forms of nature, it is impossible
to attain or to impart a genuine knowledge of natural
history.
This unity the boy's mind seeks at an early period ;
it alone satisfies him (see §45). Go with a genuire boy
into open nature, show the diverse natural objects, and he
will soon ask you to indicate to him the higher, causal,
living unity. While I write this, it is corroborated by
constantly recurring questions from boys who have just
entered upon this stage of development and who are
interested in natural objects. All fragmentary study of
nature, so different from the study of individual objects
with reference to the unity that embraces all, deprives
natural objects and nature of life and impairs the vigor
of the human mind.
§ 75. These few hints for the study of nature as a
whole must suffice here. They are simply intended to
guide the father or teacher in leading the pupil to a
knowledge of the universal application of the same law
in all the various stages of natural development, to the
apprehension of unity in diversity and of nature as a
living organism. The inner connection among the ac-
tivities and objects of nature has here been indicated
only in general and only in one direction (that of form).
Similarly, nature must be shown to the pupil as an or-
ganized and organic whole in all directions; for the
various forces, materials, sounds, colors, etc., have — like
the forms — their inner unity, their living inner con-
200 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
nection in and among themselves and with the whole.
Indeed, in their perfect development, all depend on the
influence of the same great, uniting, causal, natural ob-
jects, on the sun, which calls into being and sustains all
earthly life. It almost seems as if all earthly things
simply revealed the nature of sunlight ; eagerly all turn
toward the sun, absorb the sunHght, hang upon his rays
as the children hang upon the words and looks of father
and mother — of the father who teaches in love, of the
mother who sustains and strengthens their development.
As the development and improvement of the children
are affected by the presence or absence of pure parental
love, of perfect parental spirit, so the development and
improvement of earthly things — the children of sun and
earth, as it were — depend on the presence or absence
of sunlight. Thus, earthly things, as a whole, repre-
sent externally, visibly, and in manifold diversity the
nature of sunlight, which in the sun is seen as a unity ;
and the knowledge of one leads to the knowledge of
the other.
Thus, father and son, teacher and pupil, parent and
child, walk together in one great living universe. Let
not teacher or parent object that he himself is as yet
ignorant of this. Not the communication of knowledge
already in their possession is the task, but the calling
forth of new knowledge. Let them observe, lead their
pupils to observe, and render themselves and their pupils
conscious of their observations.
An apprehension of the universality of law in
nature, of her unity, does not require special technical
terms for the objects or their attributes, but plain and
accurate observation and accurate naming of these things
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 201
in accordance with the character of language and of the
thing named.
In rendering the boy familiar with natural objects
we are by no means concerned with the teaching of
names nor of preconceived views and opinions, but only
with presenting the things themselves with their ob-
vious attributes in such a way that the boy may view
each object as the definite individual object it reveals
itself to be in its form, etc.
Even the knowledge of a previously given or gener-
ally accepted name is unimportant ; only the clear and
distinct apprehension and the correct naming of the
general and particular attributes are important. We
may give the object a wholly provincial name, or — if
we have not this — we may give it a name suggested by
the moment, or, better still, we may name it by circum-
locution, until in some way we find out the generally
accepted name. Through such endeavors we shall soon
learn the generally accepted name, and thus be enabled
to harmonize our knowledge with the general knowl-
edge, and to correct and supplement it with the latter.
Let not the teacher of a country school object that
he knows nothing about natural objects, not even their
names. Even if he has had the scantiest education, by
a diligent observation of nature he may gain a deeper
and more thorough, more living, intrinsic, and extrinsic
knowledge of natural objects in their diversity and in-
dividuality, than he can acquire from ordinary availa-
ble books.
Besides, that so-called higher knowledge rests, ordi-
narily, on phenomena and observations within the reach
of the plainest man, observations which frequently — if
202 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
he know how to use his ejes — come to him with little
or no expense, in greater beauty than the costliest ex-
periment could yield them. But to this he must bring
himself by continued observation ; to this he must let
himself be brought by the boys and youths around him.
Parents should not be timid, should not object that
they know nothing themselves and do not know how to
teach their children. If they desire to know something,
their ignorance is not tlie greatest evil. Let them imi-
tate the child's example ; let them become children with
the child, learners with the learner; let them go to
father and mother, and with the child be taught by
Mother JN^ature and by the fatherly spirit of God in
nature. The spirit of God and nature will guide them.
One of the purposes of the college, indeed, is to
open the inner eye for outer and inner truths ; but it
were sad for humanity if only those who go to college
should learn to see. On the other hand, if parents and
teachers teach children at an early period to see and
think, colleges would again become what they ought to
become, viz., schools for the study of the highest arid
most spiritual truths y schools for the representation of
these in the life of the students ; schools of wisdom.
From every point, from every object of nature and
life, there is a way to God. Only hold fast the point,
and keep steady on the way, gather strength from the
conviction that nature must necessarily have not only
an external, general cause, but an inner living cause,
efficient in the most trivial detail ; that it proceeds from
one Being, one Creator, one God, in accordance with
the self-evident, necessary law by which the temporal
is an expression of the eternal, the corporeal a mani-
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 203
festation of the spiritual. You can not fail, then, to
see the general in the particular, and the particular in
the general.
The things of nature form a more beautiful ladder
between heaven and earth than that seen by Jacob ; not
a one-sided ladder leading in one direction, but an all-
sided one leading in all directions. Not in dreams is it
seen ; it is permanent ; it surrounds us on all sides. It is
decked with flowers, and angels with children's eyes
beckon us toward it ; it is solid, resting on a floor of
crystals; the inspired singer, David, praises and glori-
fies it.
Would you have a fixed point, a reliable guide in all
this diversity ? It is given you in number (see §§ 38, 99).
!N"umber leads you on a reliable path ; for it is deter-
mined by the external manifestations of the directions
of inner energy. In the most direct way, it reveals the
innermost nature of force, if you will but behold it
with the keen eye of the boy, with the simple mind
and heart of the child.
Let the boy's eye and mind be your guide, for you
may know that a simple natural boy will not be satisfied
with half-truths and false notions. Follow his questions
thoughtfully — they will teach you and him. For they
come from the mind of a child, and surely father and
mother can answer a child's questions.
You object that children and boys ask more than
parents and adults can answer. This is true. Either
you stand at the limit of earthly things and at the
threshold of divine things (if so, say so plainly; the
child's or boy's spirit will be satisfied), or you stand
at the limit of your knowledge and experience. Do
204 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
not hesitate to say so ; but beware of saying in this
case tliat you stand at the Hmit of human knowledge
in general — this would dwarf and stunt the human
mind.
In such cases, examine the life within you, compare
it with the life around you, lead your pupil to make the
same comparison, and you and he will, in due time, find
the answer to your question. You will see clearly, with
the inner eye, the reliable and unequivocal answer
which you seek. Thus you will clearly see God in his
works ; your earthly longings will be appeased ; what-
ever of peace and good-cheer, whatever of consolation
and help you may require in times of need, you will
find in your own souls.
§ 76. Man needs a fixed point and a safe guide in
the study of the inner connection of all this manifold
diversity in nature. What can furnish a more reliable
and uniting starting-point in this than that which ap-
pears as the source from which all diversity develops
itself, the visible expression of all law and obedience to
law, viz., mathematics, which, on account of this great
exhaustive property, was from the very beginning so
named — mathematics — i. e., the science of learning.
As a phenomenon of both the inner and outer world
(of the macrocosm and microcosm), mathematics be-
longs equally to man and nature. Mathematics, as pro-
ceeding from a priori laws of thought, as the visible
expression of thought and its laws, finds the phenom-
ena, combinations, and forms logically deduced from
these laws, again in the outer world independently es-
tablished.
Similarly, man finds again in himself, in the laws of
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 205
his thouglit, the same diversity of forms which in na-
ture are developed independent of him. Mathematics
thus appears as a mediator between man and nature, be-
tween the inner and the outer world, between thought
and perception.
This great mission, coexistent with the differentia-
tion of inner and outer world, with the law of cause and
effect, has secured for mathematics the high rank which
it has enjoyed through all ages. Because of this, too, it
could be seen in its true character and assigned its true
place onlj^ by Christianity. Only the Christian who sees
in all things the outgoings of the One Divine Spirit,
can possibly appreciate its true character ; for only the
Christian can understand the unity of the purely spirit-
ual (a priori) forms with the forms of nature. Only
he can solve the question whether mathematics has been
deduced from natural phenomena, or whether natural
objects were formed after laws of human thought, and
have an existence only in these laws. For does not the
same One Divine Spirit live and work in man and in na-
ture ? Are not man and nature the creatures of the
sam-e one God ? Must we not, on this account, neces-
sarily find unity and harmony and obedience to the
same law in the spirit of nature and in the spirit of
man, in external forms and forces, and in internal for-
mation and thought ?
Therefore, it is possible to study nature in her forms
and organisms, and with the help of the formulated
laws of human thought, in mathematics.
For this reason mathematics mediates, unites, gen-
erates knowledge ; it is not dead, self-limited, a certain
sum of separate forms and truths found separately and
206 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
accidentally and put on file, but it is a living whole,
continually regenerating itself anew, strictly keeping
pace in its development with the development of the
human mind with reference to unity and diversity, and
insight and contemplation ; for it is the visible expres-
sion of thought, the expression of obedience to law in
the spiritual as such, and therefore in this respect an
organism, a product of necessity and freedom.
Mathematics is, then, neither foreign to actual life
nor something deduced from life ; it is the expression
of life as such : therefore its nature may be studied in
life, and life may be studied with its help.
Inasmuch as thought and its laws themselves pass
from unity to diversity or all-sidedness, and, although
apparently starting with a diversity (something exter-
nal), yet always refer to some remote or obscure unity
(something primarily internal), mathematics, too, passes
necessarily from unity to diversity or all-sidedness ; and,
although externally and apparently it proceeds from
individuality and diversity, yet a necessary inner unity
underhes all its deductions.
All mathematical forms and figures should, there-
fore, be viewed as proceeding from the laws lying in
the sphere and circle, and referred to these as their
unity ; the sphere itself, however, is to be regarded as
proceeding from unity with its own self-active energy
(see g 68).
Mathematical forms and figures should not, there-
fore, be considered as put together in accordance with
external, arbitrary causes, but as the necessary outcome
of a self-active, inner force, acting in all directions
from a central point. They are not, in the very first
CniEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 207
instruction, to be considered as separate things, but in
their necessary inner connection ; even if we do start
with individual and diverse forms and figures, we
^hould always refer them to this ever-present and ever-
active unity which may be likened to their soul.
Mathematics is the expression of the inner cause
and of the outer limitations and properties of space.
As it originates in unity, it is in itself a unity ; and, as
space implies diversity in direction, shape, and exten-
sion, it follows that number, form, and magnitude mu-
tually imply one another, and are an inseparable three
in unity.
Now, number is the expression of diversity as such,
and, indeed, the expression of the inner cause of diver-
sity, of tlie directions of energy ; it does not result from
dead, external addition, but from living inner laws that
lie in the very nature of force. On the other hand,
form and magnitude find their explanation only in di-
versity. It follows from this that a knowledge of num-
ber is first and most essential to a knowledge of the
triune whole ; that a knowledge of number is the foun-
dation of a knowledge of form and magnitude — of a
general knowledge of space.
Space itself, however, is by no means dead and sta-
tionary, but owes its existence to the constant operation
of inner absolute energy. And, as space owes its ex-
istence to the cause and primordial law of all existing
things, it follows that the universal laws of space under-
lie all that manifests itself in space and the laws of
thought and knowledge themselves.
Mathematics should be treated more physically and
dynamically, as the outcome of nature and energy.
THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
This would make it even more instructive, more profit-
able than we even now anticipate, not only in the
study of nature, especially in her chemical (material)
structure, but also in the study of the nature and opera-
tion of the spiritual, of the laws of thought and feel-
ing. This is especially true of the study of curves, of
the spherical, and the like.
Education without mathematics (at least without a
thorough knowledge of numbers, supplemented by occa-
sional instruction in form and magnitude) is, therefore,
weak, imperfect patchwork; it interposes insuperable
limits to the normal culture and development of man.
Unable to free himself from his inner longing for prog-
ress, man attempts to leap over these, or, weary of his
fruitless endeavors, seeks to suppress the energy of his
powers ; for the mind and mathematics are as insepar-
able as the soul and religion.
C. Language.
% 77.^ What, now, is language^ the third of the fulcra
of boy-life and of human life in general, and what re-
lation does it hold to the other two ?
Wherever there is true inner connection, true inner
and living reciprocity, there appears a relation similar
to that of unity, individuality, and diversity. This ap-
plies, too, to religion, nature, and language. In religion,
the aspiration of the soul which is directed toward unity
in man, prevails and seeks the fruition of its hopes. In
the contemplation of nature and mathematics, the aspi-
ration of intelligence, which refers to individuality in
man, prevails and seeks certainty. In language, the de-
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 209
mand of reason which refers to diversity and unites all
diversity, prevails and seeks satisfaction. Religion is a
living in the soul that finds and feels the One in All ;
nature studies individualities in nature, in themselves
and in their relations to one another and to the whole ;
and language represents the unity of all diversity, the
inner living connection of all things. These three,
therefore, form an inseparable unity, and the one-sided,
fragmentary development of one or the other of them
necessarily pi oduces one-sidedness and, w^ith this, finally,
the annihilation, or at least destruction, of unity in
man.
Religion strives to manifest and does manifest he-
ing ; nature strives to manifest and does manifest
energy, the cause of its action and this action itself ;
language strives to manifest and does manifest life as
such and as a whole.
Eehgion, nature — (Mathematics represents, as it
were, the tendency, laws, and causes of nature in man ;
mathematics represents nature as, in accordance with
her necessary causes, she must lie in the mind of man ;
without mathematics man could obtain no knowledge
of nature ; with it he can see her more fully and har-
moniously than her external phenomena would warrant)
— religion, nature (mathematics), and language in all
their diverse relations have the same one mission and
purpose, to reveal the inner ; to make the internal ex-
ternal, the external internal, and to show both the in-
ternal and external in their natural, primordial, neces-
sary harmony and union.
Whatever, therefore, is true of one of the three will
necessarily be relatively true also of the other two.
210 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
Whatever has been said heretofore of religion and na-
ture (with mathematics), if it is only in itself true, must
apply to language in the peculiar way determined by
the character of language.
Therefore, unfortunately for humanity as a whole,
we are confronted in life, as one of the greatest ob-
stacles to the development of the three, by the illusion
that each may have an independent existence and reach
perfection in its development ; that we may have lan-
guage without religion and nature (mathematics), etc.
But as it was necessary that God, desiring to reveal
himself unequivocally in the fullness and integrity of
his being, should do so in the triune manner indicated
(see § 61) ; so, too, religion, nature (mathematics), and lan-
guage constitute an integral unity. A complete knowl-
edge and firm confidence in the one necessarily implies
complete knowledge and firm confidence in the other ;
a true study of the one necessarily implies also the true
study of the other.
Now, since man is destined to know and to see
clearly (see § 78), human education requires the knowl-
edge and appreciation of religion, nature (mathematics),
and language in their intimate living reciprocity and
mutual causality. Without the knowledge and appreci-
ation of the intimate unity of the three, the school and
we ourselves are lost in the fallacies of bottomless, self-
producing diversity
Such is the nature of language and its relation to
man and his education. We shall now inquire how
language itself manifests and corroborates this in its
structure.
§ 78. In general, language is the self-active outward
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 211
expression of the inner. This is shown in the word
sprechen^ s-prechen * — i. e., to break one's self. As the
breaking of a thing makes known its inner structure, as
the opening (breaking-up) of a bud reveals the inner
structure of the blossom, so the speaker self-actively re-
veals, expresses what is within him.
Now, the innermost (soul) of man is constantly mov-
ing life^ therefore the attributes and phenomena of life
must be revealed in human speech. Hence, perfect
human language, as a continuous representative of the
innermost soul of man, must manifest itself through the
most mobile medium and by the slightest movements ;
it necessarily must be audible.
A man's speech should be, as it were, his self in its
integrity, and that it may reveal him all-si dedly and
continuously in greatest mobility. It will, then, inas-
much as man is a product of nature, reveal also the
character of nature as a whole. It will become an
image of man's inner and outer world.
N'ow, the soul of man, like the soul of nature, is
law, necessity, spiritual, eternal — the Divine revealing
itself in the external and through the external. There-
fore, language must reveal this law in and through it-
self ; it must be the expression of necessary conformity
to law. All the laws of the inner and outer world, col-
lectively and singly, must be revealed in language, must
lie in language itself.
* In this case Froebel's play on the word comes nearer to truth.
Sprechen^ by the loss of r becomes in Englisli speaJc^ and is traceable to a
root which si»nifies to break., to split^i to scatter^ etc. He looks here upon
8-prechen as Sich beechen, to hreah one's self which, however, belongs to
another root— TV.
212 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
§ 79. Language, like matliematics, has two sides ; it
belongs both to the inner and to the outer world.
Language as evolved from man proceeds, therefore^
directly from the human mind ; it is the expression of
the human mind, as nature is the expression of the divine
mind.
The question whether language be a simple product
of the mind or an imitation of nature is due to the
adaptation of language to both views, an adaptation due
to the fact that in all things the same Divine Spirit, the
same spiritual, divine laws operate ; to the fact that the
spirit of nature and that of man are one^ that they have
the same source, which is God.
As language is an expression of man and nature, and
therefore of the Spirit of God, it implies, too, a knowl-
edge of nature and of man, and therefore a revelation
of God.
Viewed in the light of the study of nature, language
is an expression of energy lifted into life ; viewed in the
light of the study of man, it is the expression of the
human mind Kfted into consciousness. Language, there-
fore, must be born as the spirit of man enters conscious-
ness, and is inseparably one with this spirit.
The mediatory character of language implies both
physical and mathematical attributes, attributes of life
and of motion. Hence, in its ultimate word-elements —
in its vowels, semi-vowels, and consonants, and in the
letters that represent these — language expresses the
fundamental attributes and relations of the natural as
well as the operations of the spiritual.
However imperfect and fragmentary our objective
knowledge of language may be, it clearly reveals the
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 213
inner life that pervades language in its minutest libers,
and renders it a complete organism. In spite of this
imperfection and fragmentariness of our experiments
and knowledge, however, we can not repress the con-
viction, corroborated at every step, that in every lan-
guage — primarily in our mother-tongue (German) — the
sound and letters in their combinations express definite
and fixed mathematical, physical, physio-psychical laws,
resting on inner necessity ; that the representation of
an object, viewed from a certain standpoint, by a word,
necessarily demands certain sounds and letters and no
others, so that each word is the necessary product of
certain word-elements, just as each material chemical
product is the result of the combination of certain de-
terminate elementary substances.
In other words, the word-elements in their various
combinations represent, as in a picture, the natural ob-
jects, the forms of the mind and their relations in ac-
cordance with their innermost nature and the personal
or national view of them.
Only a moderate attention to the conformity to law,
manifest everywhere in the natural and spiritual, physi-
cal and psychical world, forces upon us this conformity
to law in the formation of the words of our language.
The inner conformity to law and, as it were, the vitality
primarily of our German language admit of no doubt
in him who is himself animated by its inner life and
unity, although little can be definitely said about this,
particularly in the dull forms of written language.
Well might this deter us 'from asserting this con-
formity to law in language, but we are here in the pre-
dicament of the musical amateur deficient in musical
IG
214 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
culture. Although he knows and can say but little con-
cerning musical laws, and still less compose anything in
accordance wdth these laws, he sees necessity and con.
formity to law at every step of a great musical produc-
tion in spite of all its apparent freedom. Even one
wholly without musical culture who may hear that
music is rejoiced by it, although he has not the slightest
notion of the law, and can hold fast only the coarse
rhythmic phases, at best.
Similarly we may say of forms, colors, materials,
and forces, that w^e are surrounded by their diversity
and their various effects on us and others, without any
notion or knowledge of their inner unity and conformity
to law ; but our inability to know and see them does not
alfect the existence of these laws.
The same is true of our mother-tongue and the
more subtle laws of word-structure. It is true of our
mother-tongue, because we speak it from the first dawn
of self-consciousness. Therefore, it seems to us a mere
heap of sounds, or, at best, with reference to its visible
mdividual words and roots, a collection of motley stones
and beautiful flowers from which we can make bouquets
and a variety of jewels. The words, in their first be-
ginnings, their so-called roots, seem to be adventitious
material not subject to higher causes of production.
But as an organized musical whole proceeds from
elementary sounds, as an organized material whole pro-
ceeds from elementary substances, and as shapes pro-
ceed from elementary directions of forces, so in lan-
guage the words as images of objects and as expressions
of ideas are organized wholes proceeding from simpler
elements.
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUr^TIOls. 215
The elements of words (visibly, the letters) are,
therefore, by no means without life, forming words by
arbitrary or accidental contiguity; but they designate
originally and necessarily elementary notions, having
mathematical, physical, and psychical phases ; they have
a meaning, and in the formation of words they obey
necessary laws of co-ordination. Every object, attribute,
relation, etc., appears as an organized concept, the prod-
uct of certain elementary notions by whose intimate
mutual union the word is formed.
[^Translator's Synojpsis. — Here follow in Froebel's
book a number of more or less fanciful illustrations
of the operation of this law, all taken from the Ger-
man language. Even in the German language, how-
ever, the operation of the law is nearly concealed or
obliterated by other influences, and complicated by dif-
ferences in " points of view " that may have prevailed
among different tribes in the formation of different
words for different ideas. In the English language
these disturbing influeoces are notoriously much great-
er, so that it would be difficult to render Froebel's
illustrations intelligible to the English reader in all
their details. This is particularly true of illustrations
in which vowel-sounds are concerned, whose mobility
renders them peculiarly sensitive to every influence or
change of condition, however minute.
For these reasons, I content myself with merely in-
dicating Froebel's method of illustration, with the help
of a few instances in which the Saxon forms of English
are sufficiently like the German to render this possible.
1 feel that I am the more justified in this as Froebel,
too, confines himself to a series of illustrations, and does
216 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
not give a systematic preseotation of tlie whole of this
interesting study.
Collating words such as fresh, Z*^^^? frolic, freaky
fruit, friend, fry, and again, flee, flight, flame, flx)at,
flow, flood, floor, flesh, fleet, he finds in the first series
the expression of spirituality manifested in a diversity
of outward activities indicated by the sounds /r, and
in the second series the expression of spirituality mani.
fested in continuous inner activity indicated by the
sounds fl. In both series the sound f would point to
the spirituality, r and I being due to its different mani-
festations.
Similarly, the sound of c or ^ in the words crack,
climb, creejp, crab, cramp, cry, clear, clad ; corn, kernel,
cook, keep, keen, kick, kill, king / knell, knot, knock,
know, knight, knoll, etc., gives expression to the opera-
tion of self-active force prominent in the ideas covered
by these words.
In general, he arrives at the law that vowels repre-
sent the inner, or unity ; consonants (mutes), the outer,
or individuality ; and semi-vowels (continuants and
sonants), the mediations, or diversity.]
It is by no means intended here to systematize these
laws of language, but simply to insist that the boy's at-
tention be directed to them at an early period ; his un-
biased observation will soon teach him more than has
been indicated. What has been said must, therefore,
suffice to direct attention to the mathematical, physi-
cal, and psychical attributes of language by which
it becomes truly an image of the inner and outer
world.
Of course, these attributes shoidd be studied first in
CniEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 217
our mother-tongue. However, they are by no means
the exclusive property of the German, but are found
also in Greek and Latin in a manner peculiar to these
languages. Thus, this view of language reveals to us
-«even an inner relationship among these languages, show-
ing German, Greek, and Latin in the relationship of
soul, life, and body.
In general, our children would reach a by far more
thorough insight into language, if in our teaching we
were to connect the words more with real ideas of the
things and objects designated. Language would then
cease to be for us merely a system of sounds and words,
and would become a real living organism. Thus, it
would lead more to the study of things, to the study of
the essential nature of each thing and of the word itself.
Thus, our language would again become truly a living
language — i. e., bom from life and generating life;
whereas now it threatens by merely external study to
sink more and more into death.
[Froebel devoted himself at different times with much zeal to
the study of languages, particularly of the French, Latin, and Greek.
In 1811 he became deeply interested in the Oriental languages,
chiefly on account of their kinship with the German. The tendency
to seek a definite absolute meaning in each sound and letter was a
characteristic of the philology of his time. Froebel, in his great
love of the German language, became deeply involved in this ten-
dency. He became an enthusiastic follower of RUckert, who found
in eh (pronounced with the long sound of the English a) the root of
all languages. E (a) is the root of all vowels, h is the root of all con-
sonants. This to him is shown in words like eh {ante, formerly),
ewig (eternal), etc. Froebel finds corroboration, too, in the word ehe
(matrimony). Later developments of philology have shown the
futility of these deductions from a law of inner unity which still
awaits formulation. — Tr,'\
218 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
§ 80. Among the different things which, in addition
to the things previously considered, language offers for
consideration, the law of rhythm claims special attention.
This law appears in the different parts of words, as well
as in the combinations of words; it proves both the
spiritual origin of language and its conformity to nat-
ural laws (see § 33).
The rhythmic law of language, its universal ex-
pression of life, belongs to it originally and inseparably
as much as life belongs to the things represented in lan-
guage. Hence, all primitive language expressions, as
representations of active inner and outer life, are neces-
sarily rhythmic; and the more so because man in hisl
childhood and youth, as well as humanity as a whole inx
its childhood and youth, has a more living and keener f
perception of the inner life of things. Therefore, for
early youth language representation should assume a ;
rhythmic form, for this is its first form in the early
youth of mankind ; and, in general, man sees the whole
in its rhythmic organization and in its connection with
man before he sees its particulars in their respective in-
dividuality. Thus, a number of considerations point to
rhythmic language as necessarily belonging to the early
youth of man. The loss of this has deprived him and
mankind as a whole of one of the foremost, most primi-
tive, and most natural means of elevation.
If, then, we would restore our children to a true,
higher, spiritual, and inner life, we must again awaken
in them that inner life of language, of nature-contem-
plation, and of feeling. The way to this is so easy.
"We only need to let the child live in accordance with
its own nature and to remove caref ally whatever might
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 219
destroy or annihilate this natural life. Instead of this
we put an end to budding life with crude, dead, heart-
less words, and frighten back into rigid inactivity what-
ever of life strives to free itself.
Thus, we say, " Come, dear child, see the little
violet. Is it not nice ? Break it off, and put it in some
water, but take good care of it. It would be a great
pity if you should lose it."
How different would be the impression and the
effect upon the same child's mind, if we should say
more rhythmically :
Come and see the '
— v_y >-> — v^
Blossoming violet ;
and then give expression to the child's feelings, thus :
Blossoming violet ! how
Much I do love thee (you) I
Let the skeptic who considers this above the capacity
of the child listen to children, simply, naturally, and
thoughtfully led. He will find how very early in the
simplest expressions of feeling and accounts of observa-
tions they express themselves unwittingly in more or
less rhythmic speech.
It is true there are few such children; but there
220 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
would be more, were we not ignorantly blunting so
many tendencies in our children or starving them into
inanition.
And, nevertheless, we expect our children, who have
grown up so barren and empty of feeling, to understand
poets and nature at a later period. Then, the drill-
master's art — even in our day and with the children of
cultured parents — is expected to impart its elocutionary
tricks. Behold the poor child, vain or trembling, con-
ceited or timid, reciting his piece, and say who is most
to be pitied, the child, his teacher, the poem, the poet, or
the audience.
[The instinctive tendency to rhythmic utterance in children is
quite manifest in the character of their first words— papa, mama,
td-ta, etc. ; and in the delight they find in the rhythmic repetition of
seemingly meaningless syllables, which to many is mere senseless
jabbering. Preyer has recorded some of these utterances from the
" monologues " of his infant boy — e. g., eda, didl-dadl, dldoh-dldah ;
-^v^ — v^ -^v^ -^v^ -^v>» \-> — v^ — ^J — \^ —
papa, mama, meme, mimi, momo ; e — mama — mamemama — ma —
-^. _ _^ __
— me — ma — me — ma. Perez records the following: "A little girl,
two years and two months old, went on repeating from morning to
night for a fortnight, toro, toro, toro, rapapi, rapapi, rapapi, a
rhythmic monotone which caused her great delight. Another child,
nearly three years old, for three months went on repeating these
three syllables, articulated in a sonorous voice, tahille', tahille',
tahille'r
I am favored with clear remembrances from the time of my
babyhood, and can even now see myself lying in my crib keenly en-
joying the rhythmic spell of similar exercises.
I would here again refer the reader to Spencer. In "First
Principles," chapter x, he treats on " The Rhythm of Motion " quite
exhaustively. — Tr.]
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 221
§ 81. Eeligion, nature, and language place tlie child,
the boj, and the man — developed in accordance with
these principles — in the midst of all life. He finds
himself unable to hold fast for himself and his memory
the great number of facts, not even as such, and much
less in their relations to time and place; and one ex-
perience seems to displace another. A still richer life
is developed in his soul, so rich that the soul, unable to
compass its abundance and wealth, overflows with it.
This superabundance now meets him again from with-
out as an independent, determinate, seemingly second
life, and he can and does grasp it in its definiteness.
And this is well, for this awakens in him the irresistible
impulse and imperative need to snatch from oblivion
for himself and others the blossoms and fruits of the
rich but passing inner life, and to hold fast by means of
external symbols the fleeting external life in shape,
place, time, and other circumstances.
Thus, the art of writing is developed in each indi-
vidual human being in the general historical way and in
agreement with the general course of development
of the human mind (see § 24). Indeed, we find ever
again that the same laws which have guided man-
kind in its development, hold good, too, in the devel-
opment of each individual human being ; and we find
at the same time that an externally richer life leads
necessarily to jpictorial hieroglyphics, and an intern-
ally richer life to conventional letters [alphabetic writ-
ing].
However, both the pictorial and alphabetic writing
imply an exceedingly rich life — only out of this richness
writing was bom ; and even now the true desire and
222 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
need of it are thus developed in the child, in each
human being.
Therefore, from this point of view, too, it is im-
perative that parents and teachers should be careful to
render the inner life of their children as rich as possible,
not so much in diversity as in inner significance and ac-
tivity. Without this, the art of writing comes without
a corresponding inner need, and the mother-tongue be-
comes — what it is now for so many in a very high de-
gree — extraneous, meaningless, dead. Only if in each
particular we choose again the great necessary highway
of humanity as a whole, the great and vigorous early
life of humanity comes to us again in and through our
children ; the enfeebled mental qualities and faculties,
the weakened powers of intuition and insight will come
back to us in their full vigor (see § 16).
And why, seeing that every boy endeavors to lead
us on this way, should we not earnestly seek it ? Here
we see a boy making a sketch of the apple-teee on
which he discovered a nest with young birds, there
another busy over the picture of the kite he sent up
high into the air. Before me a little six-year old child,
in self-active endeavor, without external compulsion,
draws, in a book kept for this purpose, representations
of strange animals he saw the day before in a menagerie.
Who, having the charge of little children, has not
been asked for some paper to write a letter to father or
brother? The little boy is urged to this by the in-
tensity of his inner life which he would communicate
to these. It is not imitation, he has seen no one writing,
but he knows how he can gratify his desire. To him
his marks, resembling one another quite closely, mean
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 223
different words which he intended to write to the person
addressed ; and we see here a manifestation of the inner
desire for symbolic writing, as in the former cases the
mner desire for pictorial writing was shown.
There are, indeed, thoughtful boys endowed with
great intuitive power for the spiritual with whom one
might develop in the strictly historical manner the
want and the invention of pictorial and symbolic writ-
ing. It is a well-known fact, too, that larger boys
frequently invent their own alphabets. Certainly w^e
should always proceed in some such way ; we should
here, as in all instruction, start from a certain inner
want of the boy. Indeed, to a certain extent such a
want is indispensable if the boy is to be taught with
profit and success.
There is in this a source of many of the errors in our
schools. We teach our children without having aroused
an inner want for the instruction and after repressing
everything that was previously in the child. How can
such instruction be profitable ?
§ 82. It has been shown that the irresistible impulse
of a soul overflowing with superabundance of life in
some direction, and the desire to hold fast this wealth
gave rise to waiting; this art, therefore, appears as
the fruit of thoughtful self-observation. Similarly, the
written characters or letters can not have been chosen
arbitrarily, and must have some connection with the
idea designated and with the growth of this idea.
Although the laws to which letters owe their origin
and development have become obscured, the little that
is left of their first rudiments, seems to point unequiv-
ocally to an inner connection between the form and
224 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
the meaning — e. g., the letter as symbol in the word
for the idea of absolute self -limitation, and the letter 8
as symbol in the word for the idea of a return to
self.'
An examination of the original Phoenician and later
Roman characters readily reveals in a number of them
a definite relation between the form of the letter and
the idea it stands for in the word. However, even if
the original definite connection between the letter and
the meaning of the word could no longer be proved,
some such connection should be assumed on the slight-
est foundation for the purposes of instruction. Nothing
should ever be brought to the notice of the human be-
ing in purely arbitrary connection — in a connection that
does not admit at least the possibility of discovering a
necessary inner reason. The neglect of this makes in-
struction in writing, at present, so mechanical, lifeless,
and dispiriting. [A sentence relating to the Gothic and
Latin styles of type is omitted here].
§ 83. I shall here add merely the suggestion that in
the same way reading again enters into its original and
natural relationship to the human being and to the
learner. Reading is the necessary outcome of the de-
sire to render again audible to himself or others, to re-
suscitate, as it were, what has been written down.
Writing and reading, which necessarily imply a liv-
ing knowledge of language to a certain extent, lift man
beyond every other known creature and bring him
nearer the realization of his destiny. Through the
practice of these arts he attains personality. The en-
deavor to learn these arts makes the scholar and the
school. The possession of the alphabet places the pos-
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 225
sibilitj of self-consciousness within his reach, for it
alone renders true self-knowledge possible, by enabling
him to place his own nature objectively before himself,
as it were ; it connects him clearly and definitely with
the past and future, brings him into universal relation-
ship with the nearest things, and gives him certainty
concerning the most remote.
The alphabet thus jplaces man within reach of the
highest and f idlest earthly perfection. Writing is the
first chief act of free and self active consciousness.
IS'ow, since reading and writing are of such great
importance to man, the boy (when he begins to practice
them) should possess a sufficient amount of strength and
insight. The possibility of self -consciousness must have
been developed in him ; the inner need and desire to
know them must have manifested itself clearly and defi-
nitely, before he begins to learn these arts.
If he is to learn these arts in a truly profitable way,
the boy must himself already have become something
of which he can become self-conscious, instead of labor-
ing to become conscious of what he has not yet come
to be ; otherwise, all his knowledge will be hollow, dead,
empty, extraneous, mechanical. For, if the foundation
is dead and mechanical, how could we expect later on
to see developed therefrom life-activity and true life,
which is the highest prize of all earnest endeavor ; how
could man truly attain his destiny, which is life ?
D. Art and Objects of Art,
% 84. If what has been said heretofore concerning
the objective and central points, or axes, of human
226 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
life is surveyed from a common point of view/lmman
aims will present themselves under tliree aspects. There
is either a tendency to inward repose and life, or a ten-
dency to the study and comprehension of the external,
or a tendency to direct representation of the inter-
nal.
The first is the prevailing tendency of religion ; the
second, of the contemplation of nature ; the third, of
self-development and self-contemplation.
Similarly, it will be found that mathematics is con-
cerned more with the representation of the external in
the internal, with the representation of inner conformity
to universal law, with the representation of nature in
inner (human) terms. For this reason mathematics
mediates between nature and man ; it has reference more
to the understanding.
Language is concerned more with the outward rep-
resentation of inner perception, has reference more to
reason. There is still wanting for the complete repre-
sentation of his nature as a whole the representation of
inner life as such, of the mind. This representation of
the internal, of the inner man as such, is accomplished
in art.
§ 85. With one exception all human ideas are rela-
tive ; mutual relations connect all ideas, and they are
distinct only in their terminal points.
Therefore, there is in art, too, a side where it
touches mathematics, the understanding ; another where
it touches the world of language, reason ; a third where
— although itself clearly a representation of the inner
— it coincides with the representation of nature ; and a
fourth where it coincides with religion.
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 227
Yet all these relationships will have to be disre-
garded, when it is considered with reference to the edu-
cation of man, in order to lead him to an appreciation
of art. Here, art will be considered only in its ultimate
unity as the pure representation of the inner. We
notice at once that art, or the representation of inner
life in art, must be differentiated in accordance with the
material it uses.
]^ow, the material, as an earthly phenomenon, may
be motion as such, but audible in sound, as tones which
vanish while being produced ; or it may be visible in
lines, surfaces, and colors ; or it may be corporeal, mass-
ive. Here, too, as in all actual tilings, there are, how-
ever, many transitions and combinations.
Art, as representation by tones, is music, particu-
larly song. Art, as representation by color, is painting.
Art, as representation by plastic material, is modeling.
The last two are connected by drawing. This, however,
may be considered simply as representation by lines, so
that painting would appear as representation by sur-
faces, and modeling as representation by solids.
On account of the mediating quality of drawing, it
appears very early as a phase in human development,
and we noticed that even at an earlier stage children
have the desire to draw (see § 36). Even the desire to
express ideas by modeling and coloring is frequently
found at this earlier stage of childhood, certainly at the
very beginning of the stage of boyhood (see § 49).
This proves clearly that art and appreciation of art
constitute a general capacity or talent of man, and should
be cared for early, at the latest in boyhood.
This does not imply that the boy is to devote him-
228 THE EDUCATION OF MAX.
self chiefly to art and is to become an artist ; but that
he should be enabled to understand and appreciate
works of art. At the same time, a true scholastic
education will be sure to guard him against the error
of claiming to be an artist, unless there is in him the
true artistic calling.
A universal and comprehensive plan of human edu-
cation must, therefore, necessarily consider at an early
period singing, drawing, painting, and modeling ; it will
not leave them to an arbitrary, frivolous whimsicalness,
but treat them as serious objects of the school. Its in-
tention will not be to make each pupil an artist in some
one or all of the arts, but to secure to each human be-
ing full and all-sided development, to enable him to see
man in the universality and all-sided energy of his nature,
and, particularly, to enable him to understand and ap-
preciate the products of true art.
Like drawing, but in a different respect, representa-
tioQ in rhythmic speech is mediatory. As representa-
tion of the ideal world in language, as the condensed
representation, as it were, of the ethereal spiritual
world of ideas, as the tranquil representation of ab-
solute, eternally moving, and moved life, it belongs
to art.
In everything, in life and religion, hence also in art,
the ultimate and supreme aim is the clear representation
of man as such. In its tendency. Christian art is the
highest, for it aims to represent in everything, particu-
larly in and through man, the eternally permanent, the
divine. Man is the highest object of human art.
Thus, we have indicated in their totality the object,
the aim, and the meaning of human life, as they are re-
CHIEF GROUPS OF SUBJECTS OF INSTRUCTION. 229
vealed even in tlie life of the boy as a scholar. It still
remains to consider the sequences and connections in
the development of successive phases of his nature at
the scholastic stage, as well as the character, the order,
and form of the instruction by which the school seeks
to aid the boy in this development.
17
YI.
CONNECTION BETWEEN THE SCHOOL AND
THE FAMILY AND THE SUBJECTS OF
INSTEUCTION IT IMPLIES.
A. General Considerations.
§ 86. In the family the child grows up to boyhood
and pupilage ; therefore, the school must link itself to
the family. The union of the school and of Jife, of
domestic and scholastic life, is the first and indispensable
requisite of a perfect human education of this period.
The union of family and school hfe is the indispensable
requisite of the education of this period, jf-meii, indeed,
are ever to free themselves from the oppressive burden!
and emptiness of merely extraneously communicated!
knowledge, heaped up in memory ; if they would ever •
rise to the joy and vigor of a knowledge of the inner
nature and essence of things, to a living knowledge of
things — a knowledge which, like a sound, vigorous
tree, like a family or generation full of the joy and
consciousness of Kfe, is spontaneously developed from
within ; if they would cease at last to play in word and
deed with the valueless shadows of things, and to go
through life in a mask.
It would prove a boon to our children and a blessing
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 231
to coming generations if we could but come to see that
we possess a great oppressive load of extraneous and
merely external information and culture, that we fool-
ishly seek to increase this from day to day, and that we
are very poor in inner knowledge, in information evolved
from our own soul and grown up with it.
We should at last cease making a vain display of
the thoughts, the knowledge, and even the feelings of
others. We should no longer seek the highest glory of
our education and of our schools in efforts to garnish
the minds of our children with foreign knowledge and
skill.
This is, indeed, an old disease ; for, if we inquire
how the German people has obtained the first principles
of its present knowledge, we discover unequivocally that
those first principles always came from a distance, from
foreign parts, or were even forced upon it from without.
Therefore, we have not even a generally accepted term
in our mother-tongue for these first principles, elements,
or rudiments.
The strong German mind, it is true, digested this
foreign acquisition and assimilated it, but it nevertheless
continued to wear the character of its extraneous origin.
For thousands of years we have worn these fetters.'
Shall we, therefore, never begin to plant in our own
minds a tree of life and knowledge, and let it germinate
and nurse it, that it may unfold in beauty, put out vig-
orous and sound blossoms, and ripen delicious fruit,
which may fall from the tree in this world and yield a
new harvest in the world beyond ?
Shall we never cease stamping our children like
coins and adorning them with foreign inscriptions and
232 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
foreign portraits, instead of enabling them to walk
among us as the images of God, as developments of the
law and life implanted in them by God and graced with
the expression of the divine ?
Are we afraid that our children might excel us ?
What people and what time will be high-minded enough
to deny itself for the sake of its children and in the in-
terest of a pure humanity ? N^ay, what father and what
family will allow its soul to be tilled with this thought,
and thus multiply and enhance its inner power mani-
fold?
Only the quiet, secluded sanctuary of the family can
give back to us the welfare of mankind. In the foun-
dation of every new family, the Heavenly Father,
eternally working the welfare of the human race, speaks
to man through the heaven he has opened in the heart
of its founders. With the foundation of every new
family there is issued to mankind and to each individual
human being the call to represent humanity in pure de-
velopment, to represent man in his ideal purity (see
§48).
It is sufficiently clear, too, that the German mind
can no longer be satisfied with the lifeless extraneous
knowledge and insight of the time ; that a culture of
mere external polish can no longer suffice, if, indeed,
we are to become self -centered, worthy children of God.
Therefore, we need and seek knowledge and insight
that have sprung into vigorous and healthy life in our
own minds and grown strong in the sunshine and con-
ditions of our own life.
Or would we ever again cover with rubbish the
source of life which God has opened in the heart and
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 233
mind of every human being ? Would we deprive our
children and pupils of the unspeakable joy of finding
in their souls the source of everlasting life? Would
you, parents and teachers, continue to compel your
children to stop up this source of life with valueless
waste and to hedge it with thorns ?
You say : " Only thus can they get along in the
world. Children will soon be grown up. Who will
then take care of them ? What will thej eat ? Where-
with will they be clothed ? "
Ye fools ! I shall not answer you by saying, " Seek
ye first the kingdom of God," etc. ; for in your es-
trangement from God and from yourself you could not
understand this. But again and again I shall say unto'
you, that we are not here concerned with a dull, brood-
ing life, empty of knowledge and works (see § 23).
Mankind is meant to enjoy a degree of knowledge!
and insight, of energy and efiiciency of which at present i
we have no conception ; for who has fathomed the des- 1
tiny of heaven-born mankind ? But these things are to
be developed in each individual, growing forth in eachi
one in the vigor and might of youth, as newly created!
self-productions.
The boy is to take up his future worl^, which nowT/
has become his calling, not indolently, in sullen gloom,
but cheerfully and joyously, trusting God and nature,
rejoicing in the manifold prosperity of his work.
Peace, harmony, moderation, and all the high civil and
human virtues will dwell in his soul and in his house,
and he will secure through and in the circle of his
activity the contentment for which all strive.
Neither will he say that his son may take up any
234- THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
business but his own, the most ungrateful of all ; nor
will he insist that his son shall take up this business
which he himself carries on profitably and with satis-
faction to himself. He will see that the smallest busi-
ness may be carried on in a great way, that every busi-
ness may be ennobled and made worthy of man. He
will see that the smallest power, cheerfully and rightly
applied to any work, will secure bread, clothing, and
shelter, as well as respect ; he will, therefore, feel no
anxiety concerning the future welfare of his children,
whose soul-development has been his chief care.
§ 87. The various directions of this unified school
and family life, of this active educational life, are in-
dicated by the degree of development man has attained
at this stage, by the inner and outer needs of the boy
entering upon this stage of pupilage. They are, of
necessity, the following :
a. The arousing, strengthening, and cultivation of the
religious sense ; the sense that brings the soul of man
into ever-more living unity with God; the sense that
feels and holds fast the unity in all the apparent di-
versity of things, and by whose vigor and activity the
boy's life and actions are brought into harmony with
this unity. • For this purpose we have the memorizing
of religious utterances concerning nature, man, and
their relation to God, and particularly for prayer ; fur-
nishing him a mirror, as it were, in which the boy may
see, as in a picture, his feelings, intuitions, and tenden-
cies in their original unity with God, and thus become
conscious of them and hold them fast in this aspect.
h. Consideration, knowledge, and cultivation of the
body as the servant of the mind and the medium for
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 235
the representation of its being, to be developed in or-
derly graded exercises.
(?. Observation and study of nature and the external
world, proceeding from the nearest surroundings to the
more remote.
d. Memorizing of short poetical representations of
nature and life, particularly of short poems that impart
life to the objects of nature in the nearest surroundings,
and significance to the incidents of home-life, showing
them, as in a mirror, in their pure and deep meaning.
This is to be done particularly for the purposes of song
and in song.
e. Exercises in language starting with the study of
nature and the external world and passing over to the
inner world, but always with strict reference to lan-
guage as the audible rnedium of representation.
f. Exercises in systematic outward corporeal repre-
sentation, proceeding from the simple to the complex.
Here are included representations by means of more or
less prepared material (building, paper, card-board, wood-
work, etc.), as well as modeling with plastic material.
g. Exercises in representation with lines on a plane,
and in constant, visible relation to the vertical and hori-
zontal direction, the media for the apprehension of all
external shapes. These directions in their repetitions
constitute a net- work of lines, which is to be the outer
law for these drawing exercises.
A. Study of colors in their differences and resem-
blances, and representation of these in prescribed out-
lines, with special reference to the form of the outline
(coloring of outline pictures) or to the color-relations
(painting in the square net-work).
236 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
i. Plaj, or representations and exercises of all kinds
in free activity.
j. ]N"arration of stories and legends, fables and fairy-
tales, with reference to the incidents of the day, of the
seasons, of life, etc.
All this is interspersed in the ordinary school and
family life, with the ordinary occupations of home and
school.
For boys of this age should have some definite
domestic duties to perform. They might even receive
regular instruction from mechanics or farmers, such as
has been frequently given by fathers inspired by vigor-
ous and active natural insight. Especially should older
boys frequently be set by parents and teachers to doing
things independently and alone (i. e., errands), so that
they may attain firmness and the art of self-examination
in their actions. It is very desirable that such boys
should devote daily at le ast one or two hours to some
definite external pursuit, some externally produTrtive
work. It is surely one of the greatest faults of our cur-
rent school arrangements, especially of the so-called
Latin and high schools, that the pupils are wholly de-
barred from outwardly productive work. It is futile to
object that the boy at this age, if he is to reach a cer-
tain degree of skill and insight, ought to direct his
whole strength to the learning of words, to verbal in-
struction, to intellectual culture. On the contrary,
genuine experience shows that external, physical,
productive activity interspersed in intellectual work
strengthens not only the body but in a very marked
degree the mind in its various phases of development,
so that the mind, after such a refreshing work-bath
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 237
(I can find no better name), enters upon its intellectual
pursuits with new vigor and life (see § 23).
If we compare the just enumerated subjects of the
educational life of home and school, they appear grouped
in accordance with the inner needs of boyhood into sub-
jects (a) of the more quiet, calm, inner life ; (b) of the
more receptive, intro- active life ; (c) of the more express-
ive outwardly formative life. They completely meet
the needs, therefore, of man in general.
Furthermore, it will be noticed that they develop,
exercise, and cultivate all the senses, all the inner and
outer powers of man, and thus meet the requirements
of human life in general.
Lastly, it will be seen that a simple, orderly home
and school life can easily meet the requirements of all
these subjects, and, consequently, the requirements of
human development at this stage.
Let us now examine these subjects in their par-
ticulars.
B. Particular Consideration of the Different Subjects
of Instruction.
A. AROUSING AND CULTIVATION OF THE RELIGIOUS SENSE.
§ 88. If the child has grown up in unity of life and
soul with his parents, this unity will not only be main-
tained but strengthened and intensified during the
period of boyhood, provided no disturbing and obstruct-
ing causes intervene.
The question here is not of that vague and indefinite
unity of feeling which makes one body of two bodies,
not uncommon between parents and child, but of that
238 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
living soul-unitj, that clear oneness of mind, which sees
life as an unbroken whole in all its operations and phe-
nomena.
This living unity of soul, this clear oneness of mind
— which is not a mere external community of life — is
the unshakable foundation of genuine religious feeling.
For this spiritual unity between parent and child, the
inner life, the pure outward representation of inner
spiritual life of man is a common concern. What the
father and mother because of the hindrances of life
could not attain, they seek to accomplish in and through
their child — the representation of pure humanity as
such.
Dearly, and often painfully, the father has purchased
clear and sure results from his experience in the devel-
opment and cultivation of his own innermost life. His
loss of strength prevents him from applying these re^
suits in his own life, but he communicates them to his
son ; and the son profits by this experience and applies
it in his own life with the unbroken and full energy
and vigor of his youth.
Where the life of parent and child has not been an
unbroken whole from the earliest beginning, these com-
munications have no effect ; apparently the experiences
of two different worlds are opposed to each other with
different wants and different forces, and the connecting
link is missing. Only he who has tried to secure them
can appreciate the results of that spiritual unity between
parent and child, which is based on the common purpose
of cultivating and representing highest and purest
humanity.
Such a spiritual union necessarily implies the obser-
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 239
vation of individual and common life in their inner
cause and purpose, in their inner and living connection.
From this the soul of man, even in boyhood, obtains the
most unequivocal proofs and conviction that, to speak
humanly, God continues uninterruptedly to guide man-
kind in its development and cultivation with fatherly
protection and care, and follows each individual as an
essential member of the whole in all the events of life
with fatherly aid and solicitude.
How could man better express the fact that the
events of life, truly seen and understood in their causes,
their nature and significance, are always for the best of
the individual and of the whole ? Thus, we ever speak
of the divine most clearly and comprehensibly for our-
selves in human tenns.
The boy's mind thus steadily grows in clearness and
purity, his powers are ever enhanced and increased, his
courage and perseverance strengthened by thus finding
the confirmations of these truths in his own life and in
that of others, in individual and common life, in ex-
perience and revelation ; by thus finding the harmony
and unity of revelation in scripture, nature, and life ;
by thus seeing himself the member of a whole unfold-
ing from the small domestic circle into ever wider and
higher realms, of a whole whose common purpose he
recognizes, amid the most positive evidences of divine
guidance and care, in the representation of the spiritual
in and by the corporeal, of the divine in and by the
human.
The life of such a family, of such a boy, will neces-
sarily be a prayer of Jesus expressed in conduct and in
deeds, a living prayer of Jesus ; a rich and efiicient
240 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
Christian life, trusting in God, loving God and man,
spontaneously active in childlike obedience to God.
Thus, the teachings of Jesus will be interpreted in their
own life, and the application of these teachings in life
will become possible.
Religious instruction, resting on such spiritual union
between parent and child, stands on firm ground and is
rich in blessings. It is fruitful and rich in blessings
only in the measure in which fortunate circumstances
of life have aroused in the boy at an early period a liv-
ing sense, a quick and clear eye for inner spiritual life
(see § 21).
There is no danger that any subject of inner spiritual
life will prove in its nature too high and unintelligible
for the boy's inner spiritual sense ; let him simply re-
ceive the facts, his inner power will soon find the inner
meaning in forms accessible and intelligible to him.
We do not give early boyhood enough credit for re-
ligious power as well as for mental power generally.
For this reason, in later boyhood, life and the soul are so
empty, so wholly without experience, and, therefore, so
callous and dull with reference to spiritual, ethical, and
religious notions. Only a few threads, and these weak,
are found there to which to fasten, instruction concern-
ing a truly religious life ; nevertheless, so much is asked
in this respect of the boy in the succeeding period of
youth.
Children and boys have their attention called at an
early period to a great number of external matters, and
receive instruction concerning these things which they
can not understand, simply because they are extraneous.
At the same time, they are left uninstructed concerning
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 241
SO many inner matters which they might understand, be-
cause these matters are within them. Thus, they are
early introduced to outer life, and estranged from inner
life ; for this reason, the latter is so hollow and dull.
If the human being is to understand many, par-
ticularly religious, truths, we must see to it that he have
many experiences in this direction, that even in the
more trivial events of his emotional and religious life
he become conscious of the course and conditions of his
spiritual development. Unless man ascends from the
knowledge of the Fatherhood of God in his own life to
a knowledge of His Fatherhood in the life of mankind,
future religious instruction will be empty and barren in
the same inverse ratio.
Very many religious errors and misinterpretations,
many falsities and half-truths would be avoided through
early attention to these matters, or through at least un-
hindered and undisturbed development of inner spiritual
life in harmony with external life and with reference to
it. Similarly, we could avoid the misunderstanding of
certain prominent sayings of dogmatic religious instruc-
tion, which in this one-sided presentation effect in the
life of man the exact opposite of what they are in-
tended to effect. This is true, for instance, of the say-
ing, " The good will be happy," so prominently em-
phasized in religious instruction, generally to the great-
est detriment for the life, the happiness, the contentment,
and the ever-progressive tendency of man.
The simple boy, still poor in outer experiences, feels
and sees his life as an undivided whole ; to him inner
and outer good, inner and outer happiness, inner and
outer life are still undivided, without any differentia-
242 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
tions or oppositions. Therefore, without any idea that
it might be different, the inner pure soul-life is neces-
sarily considered also as external ; hence, the inner fruits
of goodness are looked upon as identical with the ex-
ternal fruits.
The inner and the outer, the infinite and the finite,
however, are two worlds, whose phenomena are neces-
sarily and for ever different in form. Therefore, that
general saying, if it does not at an early period disturb
and weaken the inner peace and power of the boy, will
at least fill his mind with false expectations and lead
him to wholly false judgments, interpretations, and uses
of his experiences— to serious errors in his life.
Dogmatic religious instruction should rather at an
early period establish the truth, showing its application
in individual and collective life, and tracing it in all
development in nature and mankind, that whoever truly
and earnestly, in singleness of purpose and self-sacrifice,
seeks the good, the pure representation of humanity,
must needs expose himself to a life of external oppres-
sion, pain and want, anxiety and care. For this very
tendency implies that the inner, spiritual, true life be
revealed and become manifest ; and, if this is to be ac-
complished, the consequences indicated above are un-
avoidable.
In order to enable the boy to see this vividly, let
him compare the requirements, conditions, and phe-
nomena of the development of a tree with the require-
ments, conditions, and phenomena of the spiritual de-
velopment of a human being. He will find that —
Every phase of development, however beautiful and
proper in its place, must vanish and perish, whenever a
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 243
higher phase is to appear. The sheltering bud-scales
must fall when the young branch or the fragrant blos-
som is to unfold, however much these tender forms may
thereby be exposed to the rough weather of spring.
The fragrant blossom must make room for a fruit, at
first sour, hard, and homely. The luscious, red-cheeked
fruit must decay, that vigorous young plants and trees
may sprout forth.
Thus, the psalms of David, and the hymns of many
others who did battle for the lifting up of mankind,
for the representation of pure humanity, resemble the
fruits of their tree of life which could not appear with-
out the sacrifice of many earlier phases of life develop-
ment dear to them.
And do not the verses of those psalms and hymns
resemble kernels which, sown in the fertile soil of
human souls, bring forth shady trees filled with fragrant
blossoms and strength-giving, eternal, immortal fruits?
Renunciation^ the abandonment of the external for
the sake of securing the internal^ is the condition for
attaining highest develoj>ment.
This agrees with the saying, coming from another
phase of contemplation : " The dearer the child, the more
frequent the rod " ; or, " Whom the Lord loveth he chas-
teneth." Every boy whose soul is not wholly estranged
from himself will understand this truth. The human
being who understands this truth and who is conscious
of an honest purpose will not murmur and complain,
like a stubborn child, about adverse occurrences in his
life, saying : " Why is my lot so sad, so unhappy ? I
have done no harm, at least I am not conscious of any
evil doing. Others are doing so well, although it is
2M THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
known how wicked thej are, or, at least, that they act
only from external points of view, and from transient
and weak motives."
He will rather say to himself : " Just because you
seek earnestly and steadily only the highest and best,
only the absolute and permanent good, all merely relative
and transient good must vanish, to make room for ever
higher and more perfect developments and, at last, for
abiding fruit."
No less detrimental to the attainment of human life
is the predominance frequently given in religious in-
struction to the promise of a reward for good deeds in
a future life, if they seem to go unrewarded in this life.
Brutal minds who hold sensual pleasure highest are not
affected by this ; boys and human beings, generally with
a normally good disposition, do not need it. For, if our
life is pure, if our actions are right and good, no reward
in a future world is needed, even though in this world
all may be lacking that seems valuable to the sensual
man.
It argues a low degree of insight into the nature and
dignity of man, if the incentive of reward in a future
world is needed, in order to insure a conduct worthy of
his nature and destiny. If the human being is enabled
at an early period to live in accordance with genuine
humanity, he can and should at all times appreciate the
dignity of his being ; and at all times the consciousness
of having lived worthily and in accordance with the re-
quirements of his being should be his highest reward,
needing no addition of external recompense.
Does the good child or boy, conscious of having
acted in a manner worthy of the father, in his spirit and
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 245
in obedience to his will, need more than the joy of this
consciousness? Does the simple, normal child, con-
scious of having done right, think of any additional re-
ward, were it only praise ? Should not man be as pure
and perfect in his actions toward God as the son is
toward his earthly father ? Jesus says : " My meat is to
do the will of Him who sent me " — i. e., the conscious-
ness of having done the Father's will gives sustenance,
meaning, aad joy to my life. He deems the poor al-
ready blessed — as they truly are — because their poverty
enhances the efficiency of the soul and lifts conduct ac-
cordingly.
We ought to lift and strengthen human nature, but
we degrade and weaken it when we seek to lead it to
good conduct by means of a bait, even if this bait
beckons to a future world, when we use even the most
spiritual external incentive for a better life and leave
undeveloped the inner self-active forces which in every
human being prompt the representation of a pure
humanity.
How very different are all these things if the boy's
attention has been directed at an early period to the re-
actions of his conduct, not to the external pleasantness
of his situation but to his inner condition, to his inner
freedom, serenity, and contentment ! Experience rest-
ing on this will necessarily arouse more and more man's
inner sense, leading to genuine thoughtfulness, the most
precious treasure of boyhood and youth.
Religious instruction should throw light upon such
experiences, should bring them into clear consciousness,
should harmonize and unite them, should deduce from
them the self-evident and axiomatic truths, show their
18
246 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
application in all conditions of life in which force, life,
and spirit are active, should exhibit their agreement
with the truths recognized and uttered by God-inspired
men. This true religiousness will become the eternal
heritage of man, and gradually of mankind as a whole,
and all that is high and holy and has found utterance in
humanity will again and again find utterance in man.
Thus, the religious development of the individual will
be brought more and more into harmony with the re-
ligious development of mankind, blessing all, dissipat-
ing superstition, doubt, and despotism, and fixing the
glorious consciousness that in God we live and have our
being.
§ 89. Memorizing of Beligioics Sayings, — It is nat-
ural that religious feelings, sentiments, and thoughts
should spring up in the mind of man as such, as well as
in the mind of the boy not estranged from himself and
grown up in spiritual unity with his parents.
In the beginning these sentiments and feelings will
manifest themselves in the mind of man or of the boy
only as an effect, as an intuition, a fullness, without
word or form, without any adequate expression of what
they are, merely as something that uplifts our being and
fills the soul. At this juncture it is most beneficial,
strengthening, and uplifting for the young human being
to receive words — a language for these sentiments and
feelings — so that they may not be stifled in themselves,
vanish in themselves for lack of expression.
There need be no fear that the words of others will
force upon the child or boy an extraneous feeling. The
religious element has the quality of pure air, of bright
sunlight, and clear water ; every earthly creature inhales
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 247
them, and in each it assumes a different form and color,
in the life of each it finds a different expression.
Take any simple religious maxim intelligible to
every boy or child through and in his own life, let a
number of boys memorize it, and it will produce in the
life of each an effect peculiar to his individuality.
Of course, these words must find a response in the
boy's life. The child must not be expected to give life
and meaning to the words, but the words must give ex-
pression to what is already in the boy's soul and find
their meaning in this.
Thus, a boy, scarcely six years old, asks every even-
ing one of his parents taking him to bed: "Please,
teach me a prayer." Then, after repeating it, he quietly
goes to sleep. One day, he had done something that
seemed to indicate that all was not right in his soul.
The evening prayer opened with general terms ; in a
loud and strong voice he repeated the words as usual.
Then a slight turn in the words pointed to the occur-
rence of the day, and suddenly his voice became scarcely
audible, though, probably, his conscience spoke only the
louder.
Yesterday, he said to me for the first time : " Please,
repeat the prayer with me." I inferred that there was
something that concerned him very much. I selected
the prayer which seemed to me the right one, and he
calmly went to sleep.
Not long ago, the same boy came to me and brought
me a picture he had just found ; he was pleased with it,
for it was brilliantly painted. At the same moment a
boy, about a year and a half older, very lively, and
apparently little heeding inner life, came up. " How
248 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
cruel ! " he exclaimed, looking at the picture, which rep-
resented an attack of Turks upon Greeks, particularly
upon Greek mothers and children.
I said to the boys that all ought to give thanks to
God for a life free from harm and sorrow. " Yes, in-
deed," exclaimed the older boy, " as we do in the morn-
ing and evening." Yet at no time had an explanatory
word been spoken to him.
Certainly it is neither necessary nor desirable that
with younger boys there should be frequent changes in
the sayings or utterances memorized for the purpose of
giving expression to their inner life.
B. RESPECT FOR THE BODY, KNOWLEDGE, AND CULTIVATION OF IT.
§ 90. Man respects what he not only knows in its
value, its meaning, and uses, but what he can apply and
use, the things on whose good qualities he knows the
attainment of his work and purpose to depend.
It does not follow that man, especially in boyhood,
knows his body, because it is so near to him, nor that he
eati use his limbs because they are one with him. We
often hear boys admonished not to be so awkward, and
this particularly in walks of life that do not pay regular
attention to all-sided bodily activity in childhood and
early boyhood.
We see that men in whom the culture of mind and
body have not kept pace with each other, at certain
times and under certain circumstances, do not know
what to do with their body. Nay, many a one seems
to feel his body and his limbs to be a burden to himself.
The occasional cultivation of the body in domestic
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 249
occupations may do much to remedy this. But, in
almost all cases, this is very subordinate, and generally
exercises the body only one-sidedly. Besides, man is to
know not only his power but also the means for apply-
ing it ; and this can be attained only by means of an all-
sided, equal cultivation of the body and its parts as the
medium and expression of mental culture.
This appears already in the simplest cases of instruc-
tion, where the use and position of the body and its
members are essential, e. g., in writing, drawing, the play-
ing of musical instruments, etc. If the pupil has not
previously had the benefit of true all-sided cultivation
and use of his body and its members, and has made this
bis permanent possession, only a mechanical training,
equally blunting to teacher and pupil, can secure scanty
success ; the continual repetition of admonitions to sit
straight, to hold the arm right, etc., drives all life and
prosperity from instruction.
An active, vigorous body, in all conditions and pur-
suits of life, a dignified bearing and attitude of the body,
can only result from all-sided cultivation of the body, as
bearer of the mind. Surely, a great deal of rudeness,
ill-mannerliness, and impropriety would disappear from
boyhood, and corresponding admonitions would become
less frequent, if we gave our boys regular, all-sided
bodily training, proceeding from the simple to the com-
plex, based on their mental culture, and keeping pace
with it.
The will, as such, does not yet control the body at
all times ; therefore, the body should be enabled to obey
the mind implicitly at all times, as in the case of a mu-
sical performer. Without such cultivation of the body,
250 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
education can never attain its object, which is perfect
human culture. Therefore, the body, like the mind,
should in this respect pass through a true school, though
not in a one-sided manner ; and regular physical exer-
cises, proceeding from the simple to the complex, based
on the mental development, are a proper subject of in-
struction in every school.
Thus alone is true discipline made possible. True
discipline firmly places the boy, in all his actions, on
the recognition and feeling of human worth, and on
consequent respect for his own nature. This is the
positive element of education at this period ; and the
more vividly and distinctly the pupil apprehends the
nature and dignity of man, and the more clearly and
perfectly he sees and understands the necessary require-
ments of true humanity, the more positively and strictly
the educator should insist upon the fulfillment of these
requirements. Nay, if need be, he should not shun to
descend from admonition to punishment and severity
for the benefit of the pupil ; boyhood is the age of dis-
cipline. Only harmony of mental and bodily culture
renders true discipline possible.
Furthermore, after severe mental activity, the body
as well as the mind calls for strictly regulated, vigorous
bodily activity, and this again reacts on the mind and
strengthens it. Only where mental and bodily activity
are thus in regular, living, mutual action and reaction,
true life is possible.
But bodily exercises have yet another important
side : they lead the human being (here the boy) subse-
quently to a vivid knowledge of the inner structure of
his body ; for the boy feels with special vividness the
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 251
inner mutual connection in the activity of his members.
These perceptions, aided by only tolerably good sketches
of the inner structure of man, must lead to the vivid
knowledge of this structure, and induce, at least, a living
interest in the care and consideration of the body.
C. OBSERVATION OF NATURE AND SURROUNDINGS.
§ 91. The things considered under this head for-
merly — in the period of childhood — seemed isolated and
without inner connection ; now they appear in an or-
derly arrangement and in their necessary inner connec-
tion, adapted to the development of man at this stage,
and in the classifications and subdivisions indicated by
the gradual differentiation of particulars from generals.
The knowledge of every thing, of its purpose and
properties, is found most clearly and distinctly in its
local conditions and in its relations to surrounding ob-
jects. Therefore, the pupil will get the clearest insight
into the character of things, of nature and surround-
ings, if he sees and studies them in their natural con-
nection.
Again, the boy will, of course, see most clearly and
appreciate most fully the conditions and relations of
objects that are in closest and most constant connection
with him., that owe their being to him, or at least have
in their being some reference to him. These are the
things of his nearest surroundings — the things of the
sitting-room, the house, the garden, the farm, the vil-
lage (or city), the meadow, the field, the forest, the
plain. The sitting-room, then, furnishes the starting-
point for this orderly study of nature and surroundings,
252 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
which thus proceeds from the near and known to the
less near and less known, and becomes for the purpose
of orderly classification and subdivision a real subject of
school instruction.
The course is as follows. Instruction begins again
with the necessary indication of the object. Thus, point-
ing to the table, '^ What is this ? " Tlien, pointing to
the chair, " What is this ? " etc. Then the question
comprehending all, " What do you see in the school-
room ? " " The table, the chair, the bench, the window,"
etc. The teacher writes on a slate the names of the
objects which one or several have named, and requests
the pupils to repeat the names in chorus. Again the
teacher asks : " Are the table and the chair in the same
relation to the school-room as the door and the win-
dow ? " "Yes— no." " Why yes — why no ? What
are the door and the window with regard to the room ? "
" They are parts of the room." " Name all the things
which you think are parts of the room." " Walls, ceil-
ing, floor, etc. — all these are parts of the room."
"As the door, the window, etc., are parts of the
room, so the room is a part of some greater whole."
" Yes, of the house." " What other parts has the
house ? " " The hall-way, the sitting-room, the bed-
room, kitchen, etc., are parts of the house." It is quite
desirable, for the training of perception and language,
that the pupils should together repeat the answers in
proper form.
"Again, have all houses the same parts as this
house ? " " No." " What parts which other houses have
not do you find in this house ? What parts do you find
in other houses, but not in this house ? What deter-
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 253
mines the importance of tlie parts and rooms of a
house ? " " The use and purpose of the house." " What
are the most important parts of a complete dwelling-
house ? "
" Besides the objects that are parts of this room, you
named some that are not parts, but which jou see in
the room ; name some of them again." " Chairs, tables,
flower-pots, books, etc." *' Do chairs, tables, etc., stand
in the same relation to the room as flower-pots, books,
etc.?" "No." "Why not?" "Chairs, tables, etc.,
are necessary to the room. Objects that are necessary
to a room make up the furniture of the room." " Name
all things which you know to belong to the furniture
of a room. Has each of the other rooms of the house
its particular kinds of furniture ? " " Yes, the kitchen,
the bed-room, etc." " What things belong to the kitch-
en, the bed-room, etc. ? " " These things are called
kitchen-utensils, etc."
" Are there in the house things that do not belong
to a particular room?" "Yes" (naming some). "All
things that belong to the house are the house-furniture.
Name all things you know as house-furniture."
" The house has its deflnite parts, or rooms. Now,
is the house again a part of a greater whole ? " " Yes ;
the homestead (the premises)." "What things are parts
of the homestead ? " " The court-yard, the garden, the
dwelling-house, the barn, the stable, etc." " The movable
objects which belong in the court-yard are the furniture
(implements) of the yard. All movable objects that
belong in the garden are garden-implements," etc.
" As the house is a part of the homestead, so is the
homestead a part of a greater whole ? " " Yes ; of the
254 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
village." "What things make up the village?" "Houses,
barns, gardens, homesteads, churches, schools, etc."
"What kinds of houses do you iind ? " " Farm houses,
shops, stores, etc." " What belongs in a shop ? What
belongs in the church ? What is around the village ? "
"The township." "What have you seen in the town-
ship ? " " Mountains, valleys, roads, etc."
From this point the study of the earth's surface
(geography) becomes an independent subject of in-
struction.
The study of surroundings has this peculiarity that
all the studies of particular things or classes of things
branch out from it at certain necessary places, like the
buds on the boughs of a tree. This will be seen again
and again in a natural and rational course of instruc-
tion. In general, the proper place for beginning with
a new, distinct subject of instruction, is necessarily
and regularly determined like the ramification of sym-
metrically organized plants.
It is tnie that the indications for this, like the be-
ginnings of a new bud, are often very indistinct. Fre-
quently they manifest themselves only in the mind and
soul of the teacher who gives himself up thoughtfully
to the requirements and relationships of the subject;
or who is so full of the subject that he sees its require-
ments intuitively, as it were. If the moment of the
natural budding of the new subject of instruction has
been missed, every later eilort arbitrarily to introduce
the subject lacks life ; and, although the subject may
be necessary, it will always seem extraneous, dead, and
will continue to behave as such.
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 255
Every teacher who in true love and fidelity seeks a
truly natural and rational instruction must have felt
this often and painfully when, in foolish subjection to
rule and custom, or in ignorance or dullness, he has
missed this moment of new budding. He will labor
without success; the connections of his course of in-
struction will be like those of a limber-jack; his in-
struction will be empty and dull, like the noise of a
toy mill.
Therefore, for the purposes of a living, life-giving,
and life-stirring instruction, it is most important to note
the moment, the proper place, for the introduction of
a new branch of instruction. The distinctive character
of a natural and rational life-stirring and developing
system of instruction lies in the finding and fixing of
this point. For, when it is truly found, the subject of
instruction grows independently in accordance with its
own living law, and truly teaches the teacher himself.
Therefore, the w^hole attention of the teacher must be
directed to these budding-points of new branches of
instruction. To neglect this will, in its consequences,
lead to an unnatural and incoherent course of instruc-
tion (see §§ 81, 82).
After this digression we return to the course to be
pursued in the observation of the external world.
" In the surrounding country you see trees, steeples,
rocks, springs, walls, forests, villages, etc. Consider
again these and all other things you can see, and tell me
if each one is the only thing of its kind, or if several
may be classified together as being similar.'' " Several
things may be classified together as being similar."
256 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
" Name several objects which you can thus classify to-
gether."
"If you go on comparing these things with each
other, do you find an important difference between
them?" "Yes; some things grow in nature (natu-
rally) ; others are made by men. The former are nat-
ural objects, the work of nature ; the latter, artificial
objects, the works of man." "Name several natural
objects that you know." " Trees, fields, grass, etc."
" Name also several artificial objects that you know."
" Walls, hedges, roads, etc." " Are fields and meadows
purely artificial ? " " Yes — no." " Why ? Are hedges,
vineyards, etc., purely artificial 1 " " No." " Why not ? "
" Such things we may call natural and artificial objects
(works of nature and of man)." " Name several such
objects in your surroundings." (To be followed by
repetition in concert, as usual.)
"Name several natural objects in your surround-
ings, examine them more closely, compare them with
one another, and see if you can find other great differ-
ences by which you can classify them — e. g., tree, rock,
stone, river, bird, oak, stag, pine-tree, thunder, light-
ning, air, etc." " There are differences among them by
which they can be classified." "What are they?"
"The bird, the stag, etc., are animals; the oak, the
pine, etc., are plants ; the stone, air, etc., are minerals ;
thunder, lightning, etc., are natural phenomena." " Name
all the animals you know ; all the plants, etc."
Then follow observations of animals with reference
to the locality they inhabit ; yielding classes of domes-
tic animals, animals of the field, of the woods ; terres-
trial, aquatic, amphibious, aerial animals.
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 257
Similarly, plants are considered and classified as
house - plants, hot -house plants, garden - plants, marsh-
plants, parasites, etc. ; then follow minerals, though these
yield few points for comparison ; and, lastly, the various
natural phenomena are arranged as terrestrial, aerial,
aquatic, and igneous phenomena.
Subsequently it is found that, because of the locality
they inhabit, natural objects are near or more or less
remote with respect to man ; and the question is raised
concerning the influence of this nearness or remoteness
on their mode of life, their behavior, or their qualities.
It is found that the nearer natural objects, exposed to
the influence of man, are weaker, more sensitive, need-
ing care, more docile, etc. ; indeed, more tame^ and that
the remoter objects are more crude, more wild.
Tame and wild animals are then named. The tame
animals may be classified with reference to their uses as
beasts of burden, of draught, etc. Wild animals, too,
may be considered as useful or noxious. Similarly,
plants are studied; and even with minerals this may
be done.
Again, natural objects may be considered with refer-
ence to the time of their appearance ; yielding ideas of
winter and summer fruit ; spring, summer, and fall
fiowers, etc. The swallow is recognized as a summer
bird, the lark as a spring bird, etc.
With reference to time and place combined, we may
consider the animals, particularly the birds, learning to
distinguish these as migratory and resident birds.
Of great importance in the consideration of animals
is their mode of life, yielding ideas of carnivorous,
herbivorous, etc., animals.
258 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
Here follows directly, as a new, distinct branch of
instruction, the study of natural history^ first in its
more descriptive, then in its anatomical and physiology
ical features. Similarly, at an earlier period, the con-
sideration of natural phenomena depending on the
operation of physical forces pointed io jpJiysics as a new
branch of instruction ; this is indicated, too, in the study
of minerals.
The consideration of the animals affecting man most
nearly through use and injury furnishes the transition
from the general observation of nature to physics and
natural history. There follows now the distinction
between viviparous and oviparous animals — between the
oviparous that hatch their eggs, and those that leave the
hatching of their eggs to the sun, etc.
Physics and natural history, subsequently, are con-
cerned primarily with external differences and resem-
blances, their conditions and causes, their effects and
consequences, and, particularly, with the consequent
logical grouping of similar natural objects ; with the
study of those external properties in which the inner
nature of the object finds its most unequivocal and
characteristic external expression.
In thus ascending from the particular to the general,
and then descending again from the general to the par-
ticular, in this fluctuation of the instruction — more par-
ticularly in the observation of the outer world — the
course of instruction resembles life closely ; and it be-
comes possible to exhaust the limits of knowledge with
reference to each subject for each successive stage of
mental development and power.
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 259
Up to this point natural objects have been studied
with reference to all obvious, external characteristics of
time, place, mode of life, etc. Now the works of man
(artificial objects) are to be subjected to a similar exter-
nal scrutiny.
[The pupil * is requested to enumerate the works of
man in the surrounding district (the house, the village,
the road, the bridge, the wall, the plow, etc.) ; he finds
their differences in origin, material, use, and purpose ;
he finds those that give him shelter, those that serve as
implements, those that facilitate intercourse, those that
give pleasure, and those that are simply the products of
human skill and thought.
He finds the characteristics of villages and cities ; of
the different private, industrial, and public buildings of
a city ; of workshops, factories, stores, and magazines ;
of the different kinds of workshops, etc. He studies
each workshop and factory with reference to its particu-
lar tools and purposes.
He distinguishes among the various kinds of stores
by their contents: those that keep food-products,
sold chiefly by weight ; those that keep artificial pro-
ducts (dry-goods), sold chiefly by measures of length,
etc.
The public buildings, too, are distinguished and
grouped by their purposes and uses, as educational, de-
votional, charitable, etc.
* The matter included in brackets [ — ] is a full synopsis of the sub-
jects presented in quasi-catechetical style, as in the outset of this section.
— Tr,
260 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
Subsequently, tlie pupil ascends in his study from
the work to the workman, from the product to the pro-
ducer, from the effect to the cause, therefore from
human works to man (as from the study of nature he
ascended to her creator, to God). He finds the names
of the workmen in different kinds of w^orkshops (carpen-
ters, etc.), and classifies these workmen in accordance
with the character of the place in which they work, the
material on which they work, and the kind of work
they do.
He then learns to classify the various products of
human activity in accordance with certain internal
characteristics, such as the material of which they are
made (stone, earthenware, wood, etc.), the use to which
they are put, etc.
Similarly the uses of public buildings are considered
(of the court-house, the school-house, the church, etc.),
as well as the official names of the persons who are oc-
cupied in these buildings. Cities are then classified.
Other occupations of men (hunters, fishermen, etc.) are
cpnsidered.
At last, questions are asked concerning the common
features and the ultimate aim of all human work ; and it
is found that all men live together, grouped in a com-
mon relationship, that of the family.]
'' Since * all men live and have lived in families,
and since the highest and ultimate aim of all men is
the clearest consciousness of and purest representation
of their God-given nature, where can all men be most
* On account of the great importance of the family in Froebel's view
of education, I here give his complete catechism of this phase.— Jr.
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 261
surely and effectively prepared and developed for the
attainment of this aim ^ " " In the family." " What
are the external conditions of a family, and who are its
most important members ? " " Father, mother, chil-
dren and servants." " What now must be the condi-
tion of a family, if it is to prepare and develop the
human being for the attainment of the highest and
ultimate purpose of life ? " " They must know this ul-
timate purpose and the means for its attainment ; they
must be agreed concerning the ways and means to be
adopted ; they must aid and support each other in all
they do, having only this purpose in view." " If a
single family should fulfill these conditions, would it
thereby be enabled to attain the purpose of man in and
through itself ? " " No." " Why not ? " " Because a
single family can not possess all the means for this pur-
pose." " How, then, can the ultimate purpose of man
be attained more easily and surely ? " " When several
families, who appreciate the highest purpose of man and
who agree concerning the means for its attainment,
unite for the sake of aiding and supporting one an-
other in this work." " Only humanity as a whole,
as a unit, can fully attain the highest and ultimate pur-
pose of human striving, the representation of pure hu-
manity."
Thus the pupil in a great meandering circuit has re-
turned to the home from which he started ou his explor-
ings of nature and the outer world, has returned to the
center of all earthly human endeavor ; but with en-
larged and keener powers of observation, although the
objects of the outer world have been brought to his
notice only in their external phases of being. He has
19
262 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
found man in his various relations to the things of the
outer world ; he has found himself.
This subject of instruction, as the first one, has been
presented in a detailed and suggestive manner, in order
to emphasize how all instruction should start from the
pupil and his nearest surroundings, and should again
return to him.
It is scarcely necessary to say that the last of the
above answers neither can nor should be given by the
pupil in their completeness and connection, even though
he may have grown in years ; but the thoughts which
they contain should be awakened in the pupil, and for
this he is sufiiciently developed even at a comparatively
low stage of judgment.
Nor is it necessary to say that, because instruction is
to be connected wholly with the boy's locality, in par-
ticular applications all things are to be excluded that lie
beyond his circle of experience. It was the intention
merely to show how the study of nature and the outer
world, in accordance with a law and development of its
own, embraces in one unbroken unity all that nature and
the outer world may bring to the notice of the student.
Yet these considerations will present themselves, for in-
stance, in the study of commerce and of the higher
mental activities of man, as well as of all the various
pursuits of man ; and the more obscure and the rarer
they are, the more is it desirable to hold them fast in
order to reach with their aid higher and more remote
developments. For who can fail to see that the con-
tinual extension of, at least, external culture brings to
the notice of the inhabitants of even the most secluded
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 263
spots ever new things, and that the knowledge and con-
trol of more remote and higher relations of life are
becoming more and more what they ought to be — a
task for mankind as a whole.
Again, it was not deemed necessary to indicate for
the thoughtful reader — and only thoughtful persons
ought to teach — the various budding-points for each
new branch of instruction : e.g., for physics, in the con-
sideration of natural phenomena resulting from the ob-
vious activity of inner forces ; and for chemistry, in the
consideration of other natural phenomena in which the
qualities of material were changed through the influence
of certain natural energies, such as light or heat, as in
the discoloring of leaves in fall, decay, etc.
In general, it is best that the teacher should find
these points himself ; his knowledge will then be more
vivid and his instruction will gain in interest. And
why should not every thoughtful teacher find the
right way in himself, if only he gives himself up in
faithful obedience, and without conceit and distrust, to
the guidance of the spirit of his work. In all human
beings there lives and acts the one divine spirit;
therefore, even the most experienced teacher, when
he teaches again even the simplest thing, will learn
again — will, teaching, learn again — (at least, this is the
experience of the writer to this day). How else could
the teacher maintain his energy and courage, which
are lost so easily through the hinderances and diffi-
culties that arbitrary ignorance and prejudice oppose
to his work ?
Hence, it is well to meet at once the objection that
it is foolish to expect a boy — particularly between the
264 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
ages of six and eight, as here indicated — to have this de-
tailed knowledge of things which even adults scarcely
possess.
It is not the intention that he should possess it, but
it should gradually come to him in the course of the
instruction ; and it will surely so come to him, as re-
peated experience with the course here indicated has
abundantly shown. At the same time, it arouses in the
pupil such a keenness of observation that scarcely any-
thing of importance in the objects around will escape
him, and he will readily find the proofs of the teach-
ings of earlier lessons. Thus, the young human being
learns at an early period to observe and to think,. Be-
sides, boys (human beings) know more than they are
clearly conscious of.
It might yet be objected that such a course leads
the boy too soon out of his naturally narrow limits,
and might render him proud of his varied knowl-
edge.
Varied knowledge in necessary Iwing connection
never makes one proud, but causes man to reflect, and
teaches him how little he really knows ; thus he is lifted
in his humanity and adorned with that most precious
jewel, modesty.
But it is impossible to meet all the objections that
have been or might be made. Therefore, we leave the
course to the consideration of the reader, though much
might yet be said of its importance. Rightly under-
stood and handled, it may be used in the least favored
schools ; for it places man at an early period in the cen-
ter of all and in inner connection with all that is offered
to man for his external study. Thus he is led to reflect,
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 265
and gains an insight into the character, origin, and pur-
pose of all things. This, and the proper use of this, is
the ultimate aim of all instruction, whatever its name.
D. MEMORIZING OF SHORT POETICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF NATURE
AND LIFE, PARTICULARLY FOR PURPOSES OF SONG.
§ 92. ]S"ature and life, in their phenomena, speak to
man at a very early period ; but they speak in tones so
low that the still undeveloped sense of the boy, the
still untrained ear of man at this stage of development,
while hearing these tones, can not interpret them and
translate them into its own language. Yet, soon after
the first dawn of the consciousness of self as distinct
from the outer world, there are aroused in man the
longing to understand life and language of the external
world, particularly of nature, and the hope that he will
one day receive into himself and make his own the life
that confronts him on every side.
The seasons come and go as regularly as the times of
the day : Spring, with its tide of new growth and wealth
of blossoms, tills man (even in boyhood) with gladness
and new life ; the blood flows faster and the heart beats
louder. Autumn, with its falling brilliant and fragrant
leaves, fills man (even as boy) with a sense of longing
and hope. And rigid but clear and steady winter
awakens courage and vigor ; and these feelings of cour-
age, vigor, perseverance, and renunciation fill the boy's
soul with a sense of freedom and joy. Therefore, the
joy with which he greets the first flowers and birds of
spring is scarcely as jubilant as that with which he
hails the first snowflakes that promise to his vigor and
266 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
courage a smooth, quick road on which to fly to the dis-
tant goal.*
All these things are presentiments of later life —
hieroglyphics of a still-life slumbering as yet in the
soul ; rightly understood, they are angels that guide
man through life. Therefore, man should not lose
them ; they should not vanish in empty vapor and mist.
What, indeed, is there in our life, if childhood and
youth were poor and empty, void of vigorous, living
forms, of the sense of longing, hope, and faith that lifts
life, deprived of the sense and consciousness of our
nobler self ? Are not childhood and youth, are not the
longings, the hope and faith of childhood and youth,
the exhaustless fountains of strength, courage, and per-
severance in later life? Do not the words, "The
heavens declare the glory of God," etc., and " Blessed
is he who fears the Lord," etc., express the funda-
mental thought of the psalmist's life, in spite of all
his errors ?
Even though this was not expressed in words in his
earliest life, it yet appears from his later life that it
moved and lived in him even in his earliest life. And
did not the first of these psalms mirror his observation
of nature, and the second his observation of life ?
Was not this, too, the fundamental thought in the
life of the Saviour? Witness his sayings: "Consider
the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. God
clothes and feeds them ; how much more will he care
for man, his child, in all the events of Kfe ? " and " I
must be about my Father's business ! " Are not both
* A reference to skating and coasting, the boy's delight in winter. — Tr.
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 267
of these based upon a thoughtful observation of nature
and life ?
However, not only do nature and life speak to man,
but man, too, would express the thoughts and feelings
that are awakened in him, and for which he can not
find words ; and these should be given him in accord-
ance with the requirements of his soul-development.
The relation between man and man is neither as
superficial as some people suppose nor as readily com-
municable in its inwardness as others think. It is, in-
deed, of deep meaning and high significance ; but its
soft chords must be early cared for in the boy, though
rather more indirectly and by reflection than directly
in argument and precept. The direct precept fetters,
hinders, represses ; it drills the child and makes a pup-
pet of him. The indirect suggestion — e. g., in the mir-
ror of a song without moralizing applications — gives to
the soul and will of the boy inner freedom, which is so
necessary for his development and growth ; only, here
again, the outer and inner life of the boy — and this is
the first and indispensable requisite — must be in full
accord with it.
The more rarely and vaguely this may appear in
life, the more it should be fostered wherever it is pos-
sible to do so. Even instruction that scarcely touches
life — even the school, generally quite distinct from life
— should foster it.
Let us enter a school-room — a school-room where
instruction in this sense and spirit has just begun.
Twelve or more lively boys, six to nine years old, are
assembled. They know that to-day again they are to
268
THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
have the pleasure of singing under the guidance of their
teacher. In proper order thej await the beginning of
the instruction, of the lesson, as they call it. The teach-
er had been called away in the afternoon ; it is evening.
He enters, and greets them repeatedly in song :
\^~
t^
Good even
This song-greeting comes unexpectedly so near their
inner life that it fills them with pleasure, joy, and mer-
riment.
Then the teacher says : " Shall I have no answer? "
and sings again the same greeting. Most of them an-
swer in spoken words, " Good evening " ; some say,
" Thanks " ; a few say, in a more singing tone, " Good
evening."
These the teacher now addresses particularly, saying,
"Sing the *Good evening' tome." Softly one sings,
m
Good even - ing.
A second one, full of merriment,
A-
Good even
A third,
^
ing.
^^
Good even
mg.
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY.
269
Others whom the teacher addresses sing in about the
same tone after him, " Good evening."
Then he sings to all as the first, second, etc., had
answered, and has all to repeat these strains after him.
He then continues recitatively, as it were :
I^PE
I
Bleak and win - try is tlie sky.
" Is this true ? " he asks. '' Well, then, let us sing
it all together."
Again he continues :
e
-jt=^
1
Winds whis - tie through the tree - tops.
" Is this, also, true ? Well, then, let us sing this to-
gether." Then one who feels and can express the truth
of these words most fully, sings it alone.
Following the feelings awakened by the season, and
expressing them in the description of the natural phe-
nomena, the instruction proceeds in antiphonic song.
The instruction is to develop ear and voice simulta-
neously ; it is to express the feeling in word and sound.
If on the next day the external circumstances are simi-
lar to those of to-day, instruction again begins and con-
tinues similarly. At last, a lively boy, having sung the
same thing again and again, asks : '' May we not soon
have a song about the sunshine ? " This question ex-
presses the boy's inner wish that the sun might shine
again after the long-continued rain and fog and blus-
270
THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
tering wind. The teacher, responding to this feeling,
sings to the boy :
w=
I
t=^
ffi
E^
e
Sunshine, laughing, sparkling, bright; Sunshine, laugh a- way the night.
Full of joy, all the boys repeat it together.
These first lessons have been selected here, because
their topic is by no means the most favorable. Bleak,
chilly fall-days, a wet and cold evening, do not call
forth the inner life. The morning, the spring, a walk
on a beautiful spring day, a cozy place on the slope of a
hill, etc., would have been better fitted to arouse inner
life. However, the boys whose expectation has been
stimulated by this instruction surely will welcome only
the more joyously the first clear day, revealing tha
fields clothed in their dress of snow, or the first clear,
serene moonlit and starlit evening. Only the more fer^
vently and feelingly will they sing to the new spring :
Welcome to the warm blue sky,
Welcome to the blossoms gay.
Welcome grass and herbs and leaves.
Decking fields and groves for May.
or some other suitable spring song. There are many
well-known good collections of songs and small poems
from which selections may be made by a teacher living
in his work and filled with a sense of its worth. If
these are not sufficiently simple and impressive in de-
scription or representation of particular sentiments or
thoughts, an attentive, thoughtful teacher can easily in-
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 271
terpret the thoughts and feelings of the boys as well as
the phases of nature in living, fitting words.
[Here follow a few quotations of songs referring to
a number of varied relationships : songs in which the
children view their own life (Oh, how great is our
pleasure. When together w^e plaj, When alone without
playmates. We are never so gay) ; songs in which indi-
vidual life is pictured (Come, little dove, and get your
food, The corn in my hand is sweet and good) ; songs
that symbolize the life of animals (songs of birds and
bees, illustrating affection and industry) ; songs concern-
ing the relations of human beings to one another (songs
of mother-love, of trades, of helpfulness and sym-
pathy) ; etc.]
We should not forget, however, that this instruction
— if, in view of its representing the child's own life, it
may be called instruction — should start from the pupil's
own life, and proceed from it like a bud or sprout. The
boy should have the feeling, the inner life, before he
receives the words or melodies. This is the essential
difference between the instruction suggested here and
that in which children learn mechanically small songs
and poems coming wholly from without, neither arous-
ing life nor representing it.
In general, indeed, all that was said concerning the
memorizing of religious maxims — particularly at the
outset — is true here.
[Like other material of instruction, songs should not at these
early periods be learned for their own sake. They should come as
the quasi-spontaneous expression of certain emotional conditions, as
language expresses spontaneously certain intellectual states. The
teacher should bring the song at the right time as her own way of
2T2 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
expressing delight or some other feeling, should sing it to enliven the
game or the work, or after a suitable story. In this way the interest
of the majority of the children would be enlisted ; they would get
the spirit of the song, and would be able to repeat or use much, pos-
sibly all, of it after the very first time.
Of course, much depends on the character of the song and its
adaptation to the child's wants. Much hinderance, too, comes from
the excessive use of the piano. This instrument should not be used
until the children thoroughly possess the song, so that the instru-
ment may accompany them instead of teaching them. Because of
the unavoidable inaccuracies of its intervals it is a poor teacher, but
by good tempering it may be made a helpful accompanist.
The words of the song should be neither too puerile, as in " Little
Bo Peep," nor beyond the child's comprehension ; the pitch of the
melodies should be neither too high nor, particularly, too low. The
singing of scales and interval exercises should be relegated to later
periods. Even, with the help of colors, these exercises are unsuitable
for earlier periods, inasmuch as they give too much prominence to
singing as a branch of instruction. — Tr.]
E. LANGUAGE-EXERCISES, BASED ON THE OBSERVATION OF NATURE
AND SURROUNDINGS.
§ 93. The observation of nature and surroundings
considers things merely as such with reference to their
individual peculiarities and their general, more particu-
larly local, relations. Language, as a means of observa-
tion, plays a subordinate part in this ; for man observes
things and forms ideas concerning them without speak,
ing ; but in instruction language comes in as an auxil-
iary in order to furnish tests of the extent and accuracy
of the pupil's observations.
Now language-exercises, too, are connected with ob-
jects, but they consider objects with reference to their
impressions on the senses, and are chiefly concerned
with the designations of these things in words.
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 273
Observation of nature and surroundings is con-
cerned with the objects themselves, language-exercises
chieflj with their representation m audible speech, and
particularly with practice and skill in language as a
means of representation, though in intimate connection
with the objects themselves. The observation of nature
and surroundings asks : " What is ? " Language-exer-
cise asks : " How does language designate that which
is?"
"While the observation of nature and surroundings
considers only the object as such, language-exercises
consider its effect on the senses of man and the proper
designation of these impressions by words. This im-
plies at once a third field of observation, the observation
of language as such and without reference to the object
designated, but only as a result of the use of the organs
of speech. These are grammatical exercises, and are
based directly on the language-exercises.
Complete preparation for a thorough knowledge of
language and thorough skill in its use implies, therefore,
three things : First, the observation of the sensuous ob-
jects of language — the observation of the outer world ;
secondly, the observation of language and objects in
connection with one another, passing from the outer to
the inner world — exercises in language ; lastly, observa-
tion of language as such, without reference to the ob-
jects designated — grammatical exercises.
The course of instruction in the observation of sur-
roundings has already been indicated. The course of
instruction in language-exercises, based on sense-observa-
tion and rising to inner perception, is the following :
274 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
The teacher begins : " We are in a room ; many
things are around us; name some of these things?"
" Mirror, stove, book-case, etc." " Could we put other
things into the room ? " " Yes." " Could we put as
many things into the room as we please ? " " ISTo."
" Why not ? " " Because there would not be room
enough for them." "Why would there not be room
enough ? " " Because each thing takes up its own
room." "Prove and illustrate that." "My hand can
not be where my slate is. Where I write, my neighbor
can not write at the same time. Where the stove
stands, there is not room at the same time for the book-
case." " What is meant, then, by saying that each
thing takes up its own room?" "Where one thing is
or acts, no other thing can be or act."
" In what manner and by what means do you per-
ceive the presence and actions of things in their
places?" "By my hands, ears, eyes, etc." " We call
the organs by which we perceive things our eyes, ears,
hands, etc., and the activities by which we do this —
hearing, seeing, touching, etc. — our senses. We per-
ceive things, then, by our senses." " How do we
recognize and perceive things? Name the senses by
which we recognize and perceive an object and its
actions. Can we say of every object that it does some-
thing?" "Yes, and no." "Why? !Name of every
object around us something it does, and by which you
notice it." "The mirror hangs, the sun shines, the
scholar sits, etc."
[Froebel here continues in the same strain to develop
successively a number of related ideas, as indicated in
the subjoined translator's synopsis :
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 2Y5
First, tlie fact is brought out that these things are
perceived by diiferent senses — some chiefly by sight,
others by hearing, etc. Particular attention is then paid
to the sense of touch as perceiving that the inkstand
stands, the slate lies, etc. ; and it is found that the same
things may also be perceived by the sense of sight.
Then objects are named which actually stand — the house
stands, the pole stands, etc. ; others of which it is said
that they stand (still) — the water stands (still), the sun
stands (still), etc. Then objects are named that lie^ lean,
hang, sit, etc., and others that are said to lie, lean, etc.
It is found that all these activities have this in common,
that they are only internal and without external motion.
States of internal activity with external rest in man are
then enumerated — man rests, sleeps, dreams, thinks, etc. ;
objects that actually rest, sleep, etc. ; objects that show
external and at the same time progressive motion — go,
run, flow, fly, etc. ; objects with externally visible mo-
tion without progression — heave, swell, boil, ripen, etc. ;
objects with external progressive motion communicated
to other objects — draw, ride, lift, etc. ; separating activi-
ties — cut, break, etc. ; uniting activities — bind, weave,
etc. ; formative activities — paint, write, etc. ; activities
that can be seen only — shine, sparkle, etc. ; activities
that can be felt only — ^hurt, heat, etc. ; that can be heard
only ; general activities of nature — storm, rain, etc. ; ob-
jects with chiefly inner mental activity — love, hate, etc. ;
with reflexive activity — cut one's self, wash one's self,
etc. ; activities exclusively belonging to man ; peculiar-
ities of such activities.
It is then found that objects impress the senses not
only by activities, but also by certain qualities; it is
276 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
found that the inkstand is round, the pencil long, etc. ;
many other actually round things are found; things
that are said to be round — round number, round answer,
etc, ; the distinction between the roundness of the circle
(circular) and that of the sphere (spherical) is made, and
objects that have these shapes are named ; from these
he proceeds to cylindrical, oval, elhptical, triangular, etc.,
and all these impressions are united as impressions of
form or shajpe. Similarly, broad, narrow, thick, etc.,
are classed as impressions of size or extent / others as
impressions of numler, surface impressions, material
impressions (wooden, leaden, etc.), of cohesion (hard,
solid, etc.), of light and color, of odor, etc.]
The observation of surroundings has already shown
clearly the budding-points for the development of phys-
ics and chemistry as future distinct subjects of instruc-
tion (see § 91). Language-exercises, based on the obser-
vation of nature and surroundings, in considering the
activities and impressions of objects, and their precise
and accurate designation by words, must revert to phys-
ics and chemistry. They will do this the more directly,
the more exhaustively the conditions and causes of those
activities and impressions which result from the effects
of inner forces and constituent material have been
studied and the more suitably they have been designated
by language. Surely the physical and chemical sides of
nature-study, so important for man, will strike their
roots the deeper in the pupil's interest the more this in-
struction has been exhaustive of essentials.
Unquestionably these sides of nature- and language-
study receive too little attention in ordinary life ; for
this reason, and because they prepare for the study of
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 277
physics and chemistry, they should be specially consid-
ered in this instruction, otherwise the future instruction
in those sciences will have no basis ; it will not be a
living branch sprouting forth spontaneously from the
tree. of human knowledge, but, at best, an ingrafted
limb. Surely many whose senses and interest have not
been awakened in these directions in boyhood, but who,
nevertheless, at a later period took up these sciences,
can corroborate this.
On account of the importance of these studies, to
which these lauguage-exercises revert again and again,
the subject is treated so much in its details. The boy
is thereby placed in the very center of the surrounding
external world, inasmuch as he studies things in the
most varied relations to one another, to man, and to
himself ; thus he finds not only himself, but establishes
equilibrium and harmony between his inner mental cult-
ure and the outer world of things.
The study of number, form, and size — or mathe-
matics — is a direct outcome of this instruction; the
budding-points (see § 91) for these are evident in what
has been indicated heretofore. For the knowledge of
number, form, and size — if at a later period they are to
be effective and fruitful in life — must needs be based on
the observation of actual space-relations.
[Froebel then continues his suggestions concerning
the course of language-lessons: "You said formerly,
' The bush is thorny,' etc." They are taught to render
the same thoughts in the form : " The bush has thorns,
the tree has leaves," etc. Then they name similar rela-
tions in which " one thing has the other thing. Man
has hands, the hands have fingers," etc. ; they name
20
278 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
things that have a skin, scales, feathers, etc. ; thej are
led to say where one thing has the other thing : " The
tree has leaves on the branches," etc. ; they name things
that are at rest in some way on another thing : " The pict-
ure hangs on the wall," etc. ; other relations of position
(at, over, under, between, etc.) are named and variously
illustrated ; the name-relations of position in which one
of the objects is in motion with reference to the other
— the teacher comes to school, the bird flies on the tree,
etc. ; the two relations are compared — the picture hangs
on the wall, the picture is hung on the wall, etc. He
concludes the paragraph in the following words :]
The further presentation of this subject of instruc-
tion must here be interrupted for want of space. Let
me merely add that, in designating these relations in
language, we should proceed from the simple to the
complex, and conclude with a comprehensive description
or narrative exposition of actual phenomena.
p. EXERCISE IN SYSTEMATIC OUTWARD CORPOREAL REPRESENTATION,
PROCEEDING FROM THE SIMPLE TO THE COMPLEX.
§ 94. Man is developed and cultured toward the
fulfillment of his destiny and mission, and is to be valued,
even in boyhood, not only by what he receives and ab-
sorbs from without, but much more by what he puts
out and unfolds from himself.
Experience and history, too, teach that men truly
and effectively promote human welfai*e much more by
what they put forth from themselves than by what they
may have acquired. Every one knows that those who
truly teach, gain steadily in knowledge and insight ;
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 279
Bimilarly, every one knows, for nature herself teaches
this, that the use of a force enhances and intensifies the
force. Again, to learn a thing in life and through do-
ing is much more developing, cultivating, and strength-
ening, than to learn it merely through the verbal com-
munication of ideas. Similarly, plastic material rep-
resentation in life and through doing, united with
thought and speech, is by far more developing and cul-
tivating than the merely verbal representation of ideas.
Therefore, this subject of instruction necessarily follows
the subjects just considered.
The life of the boy has, indeed, no purpose but that
of the outer representation of his self; his life is, in
truth, but an external representation of his inner being,
of his power, particularly in and through (plastic) ma-
terial (see § 23, 49).
In the forms he fashions he does not see outer forms
which he is to take in and understand ; but he sees in
them the expression of his spirit, of the laws and ac-
tivities of his own mind. For the purpose of teaching
and instruction is
to bring ever more out of man rather than to put
more and more vnto him ; for that which can get into
man we already know and possess as the property of
mankind, and ^iWQYj one, simply because he is g, hu-
man being, will unfold and develop it out of himself
in accordance with the laws of mankind. On the
other hand, what yet is to come out of mankind,
what human nature is yet to develop, that we do not
yet know, that is not yet the property of mankind ;
and, still, human nature, like the spirit of God, is
ever unfolding its inner essence.
280 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
However clearly this might and should appear from
the observation of our own and all other life, even the
best among us, like plants near a calcareous spring, are
so encrusted with extraneous prejudices and opinions,
that only with greatest effort and self -constraint we give
even limited heed to the better view. Let us confess at
least that, when, with the best intentions toward our
children, we speak of their development and education,
we should rather say 67^velopment and education ; that
we should not even speak of culture which implies the
development of the mind, of the will of man, but rather
of stamping and molding, however proudly we may
claim to have passed beyond these mind-killing practices.
Those to whom we intrust our children for educa-
tion may, therefore, well be full of anxiety. What
shall they do ?
Jesus, whom we all from innermost conviction con-
sider our highest ideal, says : " Suffer the little children
to come unto me, and forbid them not : for of such is
the kingdom of God." Is not the meaning of this :
Forbid them not, for the life given them by their
heavenly Father still lives in them in its original whole-
ness — its free unfolding is still possible with them. Do
we not in this, as in all that Jesus says, recognize the
voice of God ? Whom, now, shall the educator obey,
God or man ? And whom, if he could do so, shall he
deceive, God or man ?
God he can not deceive, and men he should not de-
ceive. Therefore, he should obey God rather than
men, and he should say distinctly that he means to obey
God rather than men, and do so ; he should rather not
educate at all than to educate badly and in wrong direc-
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 281
tions. For God, and not prejudiced man, gives the true
educator his calling ; for only in all-sided, natural, and
rational development of himself and his spiritual power
man iinds his welfare and the welfare of mankind, and
'every other course hinders the true development of
mankind.
But just with respect to natural and rational all-
sided development and representation of ourselves in
external visible works, in external productive activity,
our domestic education is most superficial and unsys-
tematic ; therefore, domestic education is particularly in
need of schooling — i. e., induction into a natural and
rational system of procedure.
The outer material representation of the spiritual in
man must begin with efforts on his part to spiritualize
the corporeal about him by giving it life and a spiritual
relation and significance.
This is indicated in the course of development of
mankind itself : the corporeal material with which the
representation of the spiritual is to begin must present
and distinctly declare even in its external form the
laws and conditions of inner development — it must be
rectangular, cubical, beam-shaped, and brick-shaped.
The formations made with this material are either
external aggregations — constructive — or developments
from -wiiYLm— formative.
Building, aggregation, is first with the child, as it is
first in the development of mankind, and in crystalli-
zation.
The importance of the vertical, the horizontal, and
the rectangular is the first experience which the boy
gathers from his building ; then follow equilibrium and
282 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
symmetry. Thus he ascends from the construction of the
simplest wall with or without cement to the more com-
plex and even to the invention of every architectural
structure lying within the possibilities of the given
material.
Laying or arranging tablets beside one another on a
plane has much less charm for the boy than placing or
piling them on one another — a clear proof of the ten-
dency of the mind for all-sided development, manifested
in all his activities.
The joining of lines seems to come still later. Thus,
the course of human development and culture seems to
free itself more and more from corporeality, to become
more and more spiritualized ; drawing takes the place
of the joining of concrete lines or splints ; painting, the
place of tablet-work ; true modeling, the corporeal de-
velopment from cubical forms, the place of corporeal
building.
In spite of this obvious, living, progressive develop-
ment from the external and corporeal to the inner and
spiritual, in spite of this continuous progression in the
growth of human culture, some nevertheless are in-
clined to doubt the utility of these exercises for children.
And yet even these could not have reached the de-
gree of general culture they enjoy, if Providence — rul-
ing in secret — had not led them on this very way, either
without their knowledge or through their own persever-
ance against the opposition of their surroundings.
Man should, at least mentally, repeat the achieve-
ments of mankind, that they may not be to him empty,
dead masses, that his judgment of them may not be ex-
ternal and spiritless; he should mentally go over the
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 283
ways of mankind, tliat lie may learn to understand them.
IN'evertheless some are inclined to consider these things
useless in the boyhood of their children (see § 15).
Perhaps, however, it is not necessary to go so far ;
but you do know that your sons need energy, judgment,
perseverance, prudence, etc., and that these things are in-
dispensable to them ; and all these things they are sure to
get (in the course indicated), and by far more, for idle-
ness, ennui, ignorance, brooding, are the most terrible
of poisons to growing childhood and boyhood, and their
opposites a panacea of mental and physical health, of
domestic and civil welfare.
The course of instruction here, too, determines itself,
as it does, indeed, in all cases when we have found the
true starting-point, when we have apprehended the sub-
ject of instruction and grasped its pui-pose.
The material for building in the beginning should
consist of a number of wooden blocks, whose base is
always one square inch and whose length varies from
one to twelve inches. If, then, we take twelve pieces
of each length, two sets — e. g., the pieces one and eleven,
the pieces two and ten inches long, etc. — will always
make up a layer an inch thick and covering one square
foot of surface ; so that all the pieces, together with a
few larger pieces, occupy a space of somewhat more
than half a cubic foot. It is best to keep these in a box
that has exactly these dimensions ; such a box may be
used in many other ways in instruction, as will appear
in the progress of the boy's development.
The material next to this will consist of building-
bricks of such dimensions that eight of them will form
284 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
a cube of two inches to the side. In the former set of
blocks there was the same number of each kind and
length. In this set, the greatest number of blocks — at
least live hundred — are of the described brick-shape and
size ; in addition there are successively smaller numbers
of twice, thrice, to six times the length indicated, as
well as some of half the length.
The first thing the boy should learn is to distinguish,
name, and classify the material according to size. Dur-
ing the progress of building, too, it should always be
carefully arranged according to size. In the next place,
all that has been produced should be carefully and ac-
curately described by the boy — e. g., I have built a ver-
tical wall with vertical ends, a door, and two windows
at equal distances ; the bricks are placed alternately, or
so that in each upper row each brick rests on and covers
the ends of two bricks below.
Subsequently, a simple building with only one door
may be put up ; then, the number of doors and windows
is increased ; at last, partitions, another story, etc., are
added.
Similar considerations control the work with tablets,
although the forms are more complicated. Still greater
diversity is attainable wdth linear splints one half to five
inches long, with special reference to writing, drawing,
and building.
Modeling with paper and paste-board has its peculiar
progressive course.
Still more profitable, but only for those who have
attained a certain degree of mental power, is the model-
ing of plastic soft material in accordance with the laws
indicated by the cubical form. However, this, as well
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 285
as the free modeling of the same material, belongs to a
later part of the period of boyhood.
[In this and the succeeding paragraphs we have the first indica-
tions of the sytem of gifts and occupations subsequently developed in
Froebel's kindergarten. Even at the date of the publication of
" Education of Man," Froebel appreciated the value of simple play-
things, but, as the paragraphs here translated show, his ideas on
the subject were still crude. Not before 1835, he gained from some
children playing ball in a meadow near Burgdorf the inspiration
that the hall is the simplest and as such should be made the first
plaything of the little child. In 1836 he had reached the first five
gifts, and even among these the second gift lacked the cylinder, and
the fifth gift consisted of twenty-seven entire cubes. The cylinder
was added to the second gift, probably not before 1844, when the
idea of the external mediation of contrasts in educational work was
first clearly seen and formulated by him. In a weekly journal which
Froebel began to publish in 1850, a System of Gifts arid Occupa-
tions, similar to the one now used in kindergartens, is described.
These are arranged by Hanschmannin thirty-six gifts, by Marenholtz-
Biilow in eleven gifts .and eight occupations, with the promise of
more for advanced work. A few modifications and additions have
been made since Froebel's death. So far as they seem to be in ac-
cordance with Froebel's thought, they have been embodied with the
Synoptical Table given below. This table gives a concise description
of each gift where this appeared desirable ; and, in the first six gifts,
a few words are added in brackets, [ ], designating in order the chief
external (1) and internal (2) characteristic of the gift, and the essen-
tial lesson (3) which the gift, could it speak, is meant to teach the
child.
SYNOPTICAL TABLE OF GIFTS AND OCCUPATIONS.
Gifts.
A. Bodies (Solids).
I. [Color (1) ;— Individuality (2) ;— " We are here ! " (3).] Six
colored worsted balls, about an inch and a half in diam-
eter.— i^iVs^ Gift.
IL [Shape (1) ; — Personality (2) ; — " We live ! " (3) .] Wooden
ball, cylinder, and cube, one inch and a half in diameter.
— Second Gift
286 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
III. [Number (divisibility) (1) ;— Self-activity (2) ;— " Come, play
with us (3)."] Eight one-inch cubes, forming a two-inch
cube (2 X 2 X 2).— Third Gift.
IV. [Extent (1) ; — Obedience (2); — "Study us!" (3).] Eight
brick-shaped blocks (2 x 1 x ^), forming a two-inch cube.
—Fourth Gift.
V. [Symmetry (1) ;— Unity (2) ;— " How beautiful ! " (3) .] Twenty-
seven one-inch cubes, three bisected and three quadrisected
diagonally, forming a three-inch cube ( 3 x 3 x 3). — Fifth
Gift.
VI. [Proportion (1); — Free obedience (2); — "Be our master!"
(3).] Twenty-seven brick-shaped blocks, three bisected
longitudinally and six bisected transversely, forming a
three-inch cube. — Sixth Gift.
B. Surfaces. — Wooden i&b\Qts.— Seventh Gift.
I. Squares (derived from the faces of the second or third gift
cubes).
1. Entire squares (one-and-a-half in. square or one-inch
square).
2. Half squares (squares cut diagonally).
II. Equilateral triangles (length of side, one inch, or one inch
and a half).
1. Entire triangles.
3. Half triangles (the equilateral triangle is cut in the
direction of the altitude, yielding right scalene tri-
angles, acute angles of 60° and 30°).
3. Thirds of triangles (the equilateral triangle is cut
from the center to the vertices, yielding obtuse isosceles
triangles, angles 30° and 120°).
C. LmES.— Eighth Gift.
I. Straight. (Splints of various lengths.)
II. Circular. (Metal or paper rings of various sizes ; whole cir-
cles, half circles, and quadrants are used.)
D. Points. — Beans, lentils, or other seeds, leaves, pebbles, pieces of
card-board or paper, etc. — Ninth Gift.
E. Reconstruction. — (By analysis the " system " has descended
from the solid to the point. This last gift enables the child
to reconstruct the surface and solid synthetically from the
point. It consists of softened pease or wax pellets and sharp-
ened sticks or straws.) — 2'enth Gift,
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 287
Occnpations.
A. Solids. (Plastic clay, card-board work, wood-carving, etc.)
B. Surfaces. (Paper-folding, paper-cutting, parquetry, painting,
etc.)
C. Lines. (Interlacing, intertwining, weaving, thread games, em-
broidery, drawing, etc.)
D. Points. (Stringing beads, buttons, etft. ; perforating, etc.)
The distinction between the gifts and occupations, though never
clearly formulated by Froebel, is very important. The gifts are in-
tended to give the child from time to time new universal aspects of
the external world, suited to a child's development. The occupations^
on the other hand, furnish material for practice in certain phases of
skill. Anything will do for an occupation, provided it is sufficiently
plastic and within the child's powers of control ; but the gift in form
and material is determined by the cosmic phase to be brought to the
child's apprehension, and by the condition of the child's development
at the period for which the gift is intended. Thus, nothing but the
First Gift can so effectively arouse in the child's mind the feeling
and consciousness of a world of individual things; but there are
numberless occupations that will enable the child to become skillful
in the manipulation of surfaces.
The gift gives the child a new cosmos, the occupation fixes the
impressions made by the gift. The gift invites only arranging ac-
tivities ; the occupation invites also controlling, modifying, trans-
forming, creating activities. The gift leads to discovery ; the oc-
cupation, to invention. The gift gives insight; the occupation,
power.
The occupations are one-sided ; the gifts, many-sided, universal.
The occupations touch only certain phases of being ; the gifts en-
list the whole being of the child.
Froebel has formulated four conditions which true gifts should
satisfy :
1. They should, each in its time, fully represent the child's outer
world, his macrocosm.
2. They should, each in its time, enable the child to give satis-
factory expression in play to his inner world, his microcosm.
3. Each gift should, therefore, in itself represent a complete,
orderly whole or unit.
288 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
4. Each gift should contain all the preceding, and foreshadow
all the succeeding gifts.
In short, each gift should, in due time and in the widest sense,
aid the child " to make the external internal, the internal external,
and to find the unity between the two." — Tr.]
G. DRAWING IN THE NET-WORK, OR IN ACCORDANCE WITH OUTWARD
LAW.
§ 95. However little we may appreciate the fact or
be able to account for it, the horizontal and vertical
directions mediate our apprehension of all forms. We
refer, however unconsciously, all forms to these direc-
tions. In our imagination we constantly draw these
lines across our field of vision ; we see and think accord-
ing to these ; and thus there grows in our conscious-
ness a net-work of lines keeping pace in clearness and
distinctness with our consideration of the forms of
things.
Now form, and whatever may depend on form,
reveals in various ways inner spiritual energy. To rec-
ognize this inner energy is a part of man's destiny ; for
thereby he learns to know himself, his relation to his
surroundings, and, consequently, absolute being. It is,
therefore, an essential part of human education to teach
the human being, not only how to apprehend but also
how to represent form ; and, inasmuch as the perpen-
dicular relations (of the vertical and horizontal) aid the
development of form-consciousness, the external repre-
sentation of these relations as a means for the study and
representation of form is based on the very nature of
man and of the subject of instruction.
Now, if the representation of the vertical and hori-
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 289
zontal directions is repeated at regular intervals, the re-
sult is a network of equal squares.
As an auxiliary form, the square very much facili-
tates representations in the field of vision, particularly in
enlarged and reduced scales. By this fact its use is still
further justified.
The use of the triangle as a help in the study and
representation of form is derived, as will be seen in the
course of the instruction, from the use of the square.
In the use of the square, the amount of inclination
(of a line) is determined by measurable relations to the
sides, but in the use of the triangle it is determined
directly by its measurable relation to the perpendicular.
Both find their application, and should be practiced in
instruction, the latter, however, at a higher stage of de-
velopment.
Another necessary requisite of instruction is not
only that the form should be represented with ease, but
also that the representation should be easily erased.
This is met by the slate and slate-pencil. This, then,
implies as the first requisite in this instruction a slate
niled in a network of equal squares.
The size of the squares, too, as will appear in the
course of instruction, is by no means indifferent. If
the distances between the lines are too small, the repre-
sentations will appear trivial ; if the distances are too
great, the representations will be too large for the pu-
pil's power of simultaneous survey ; the distance of one-
fourth inch is the best.
The first business of this branch of instruction is to
exercise the pupil with the help of this ruled slate in the
clear representation and, consequently, perception of
290 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
tlie cliief fundamental relations of form and extent.
The course of instruction itself is connected with former
corporeal perceptions ; where the boy — as was show--
particularly in the previous paragraph — learned to dib-
tinguish different lengths.
Thus, this branch of instruction, too, as will be
shown in the course of instruction to be sketched di-
rectly, is connected with those previously considered :
for, as has been said before, there should be no break
anywhere in the instruction, nothing should stand de-
tached and isolated ; but, like life itself, all things to-
gether, in the living union of cause and effect, should
constitute an inwardly connected whole.
The course of instruction is as follows :
In one of the grooved sides of one of the squares
the teacher draws a line of the length of this side (one-
fourth inch), and says as he draws the line : " I draw a
vertical hne." Then he asks the pupil: "What did
I do ? " The pupil answers : " You have drawn a
vertical line." " Draw now a row of such vertical lines
across the slate." When this has been done to the
teacher's satisfaction, he continues : " What have you
done ? " "I have drawn many vertical lines," the pupil
answers. When several pupils are instructed simul-
taneously, the teacher, after examining the work of
each, may ask them in common : " What have you
done?" "We have," etc.
On account of their varied usefulness, these questions
and answers should never be omitted in this branch of
instruction ; for man is to translate the representation
into word and thought, and interpret word and thought
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 291
in the representation — this essentially constitutes his
humanity.
[Froebel now continues similarly — drawing and ask-
ing questions — with lines of two, three, four, and five
times the length of the first, and then goes on :]
By drawing the lines themselves in the network, the
pupil strengthens and liberates his hand, as well as his
powers of perception and representation.
Since, for the purposes of perception and memory,
the Goiwparison of dissimilars is more profitable than
that of similars, vertical lines of the diflierent lengths are
then drawn side by side with the customary comments
and exercises.
The instruction does not here pass beyond the five-
fold length, because with the number ^-y^ all subsequent
numerical differences are at least indicated. In fact,
these differences are indicated already in the numbers
one, two, and three, inasmuch as these contain odd,
even, square, and cubic numbers ; and nearly all these
relations are repeated in the series one to ^yq^ and thus
become sufiiciently clear for the purposes of representa-
tion. Besides, six is only three doubled or two trebled,
and seven in this respect is similar to five ; so that these
and all subsequent exercises do not go beyond five.
In these comparative arrangements of lines, a num-
ber of variations may be made to suit the needs particu-
larly of weaker pupils. Thus, the lines may have their
upper or lower ends lying in the same horizontal line ;
in either case, the shortest or the longest line may be
drawn first on the right or on the left. Such variations
are quite useful, particularly where it is desirable to
avoid ennui by presenting the same exercise under
292
THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
different forms; yet their use should be left to the
teacher.
{TroMslator' s Synopsis. — In a similar way the hori-
zontal lines are worked through. Then vertical and
horizontal lines are combined and compared ; for this
purpose it is thought best to have the two kinds of lines
meet in a point. These combinations may be made in
different directions, as shown in these figures : | |
I |. It is suggested that, in order to facilitate com-
parison, the longer lines should always include the
shorter ones, thus :
r n
Subsequently, the vertical and horizontal lines differ
in length, one being made two, three, etc., times the
length of the other ; or one half, one third, etc., of the
other. Considerable stress is laid on this genetic differ-
ence : when the shorter line is drawn first, the longer
line appears as a multiple of the shorter; when the
longer line is drawn first, the shorter appears as a part
of the longer.
These exercises are followed by the drawing of
squares and oblongs. In the latter, the distinction be-
tween " long " and " high " oblongs is emphasized ; in
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 293
the former, the horizontal dimension is greater, in the
latter, the vertical dimension is greater.
Then follow exercises in the drawing of diagonals,
the chief purpose of which is " the clear perception and
accurate representation of the inclination." In the
combinations, a number of characteristic terms help
these developments. The diagonal of a square has the
full slant ; that of an oblong, in which one side is one
haK the other, has the half slants etc. Slanting lines
that are nearer the horizontal side of the oblong are said
to be falling / others that approach more the vertical
side are said to be rising. In the exercises, he begins
with lines of full slant drawn outward from a common
center in all directions, then inward toward a common
center; then follow lines of half -slant, etc., and com-
binations of these, exercises with the falling slant
preceding those with the rising slant. At first the out-
lines of the corresponding squares and oblongs may be
drawn, but gradually these are omitted. Another im-
portant differentiation lies in the radiation of the slant-
ing lines from a common center, and their symmetrical
grouping around a common center, which is the center
of 2^ figure inclosed by the slanting lines.]
At this point we reach an entirely new stage of
drawing, which indicates at the same time a new stage
of development in the pupil — the stage of invention^ of
the spontaneous representation of linear wholes with the
help of all the lines lying within the law of the network.
Invention is every spontaneous representation of the
inner in and by the outer, adapting itself to given ex-
ternal conditions, yet obeying an inner necessity easily
recognized by the pupil himself.
21
294 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
The presentation of a course of study for the inven-
tion of figures is reserved for the next scholastic stage.
Similarly, the presentation of the variously developing
influence of this instruction on true human culture must
be reserved for the latter part of a presentation of in-
struction in drawing as a whole.
Only he who has used this course of instruction, not
only with others but also with himself, can truly appre-
ciate its nature and effect. Indeed, this is the case with
every kind of instruction which aims deliberately to
awaken energy and life and to give skill and dexterity
of representation.
For the purposes of self -development and of the
development of others, at least in essentials, these indi-
cations will, however, suffice, especially for him who
follows the course step by step, applying it to himself,
and who thus finds within himself its simple law.
The use of this instruction would supply one of the
greatest wants of our schools in town and country, and
should be introduced in them all. Every intelligent
person who looks into the matter will clearly see this ;
for this instruction addresses itself equally to the senses,
and through them to the power of thought, and to ex-
ternal manual activity. Thus, it avoids ennui and lack
of occupation so pernicious to those from whom the
teacher's attention is called away for a time. So much
for the school ; but in addition to this it teaches the eye
a knowledge of form and symmetry, and trains the hand
in representing them ; and these find much to do in all
relations and activities of practical life. Indeed, we
have heard of late many impressive complaints concern-
ing the great disadvantages resulting to our citizens,
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 295
more particularly to the artisan and farmer, from the
lack of development in the perception and representa-
tion of form and symmetry.
H. STUDY OF colors; COLORING OF OUTLINE-PICTURES; PAINTING IN
THE NET-WORK.
§ 96. Every one who is not a total stranger to boy-
life will concede that children, particularly in early boy-
hood, feel the need of a knowledge of colors and of
some degree of occupation with pigments.
This must be so. It is implied even in the general
cause of all activity in the child, in the tendency to de-
velop and exercise all his powers in all possible particu-
lar phases. This is strengthened by a second reason,
even weightier, so far as the inner spiritual develop-
ment as such is concerned — by the intimate connection
between color and light, by the fact that all colors are
determined by greater or smaller degrees of light.
Color and light again are most intimately connected
with life-activity, with all that lifts and varies life.
Even mere earthly light points to the heavenly light to
which it owes its being and existence.
Thus, the boy seems to notice or feel the high sig-
nificance of color (as he did in another respect of form
in nature) as an embodiment, as it were, of earthly light,
of sunlight, as a visible revelation of its nature. The
hope of thus obtaining with the aid of the colors an
insight into the nature of earthly light, of sunlight, is
possibly the true, innermost, though sub-conscious,
motive of the boy in his eager occupation with colors ;
indeed, the experience of boys positively corroborates
this.
296 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
It is said, indeed, that colors are variegated, and
tliat it is this variegation that attracts children and gives
them pleasure.
Yer J well ; but what is variegation of color ? Is it
not the effect of one cause (light) in various phases of
appearance (colors) ?
It is by no means external variegation that attracts
the boy and gives him pleasure, for the possession of
external variegation does not satisfy him, as, indeed,
mere quantity never satisfies him ; the pleasure lies in
the finding of the inner connection, in the power to
spiritualize it. If it were otherwise, the boy would be
satisfied when he is surrounded with an abundance, and
a variety of things, and we should not so often hear the
reproof addressed to him : " What in the world do you
still want ; you have this and this and this, and yet you
are not satisfied."
The boy seeks unity of life, expression of life, con-
nection of life — life, indeed. Therefore, variegation of
color interests the child ; he is looking for unity in
diversity, for inner connection. For this reason he
likes to see colors in their combinations, in order to find
the inner unity that makes them one.
Yet, in spite of the high significance of this ten-
dency in boyhood, we leave its development toward the
knowledge and use of colors to merest chance.
We give the boys, among many other things, also,
paints and brushes, as one gives food to beasts, incon-
siderately or good-naturedly ; and they throw them
about like their other playthings, as the beasts do un-
suitable food.
What, indeed, should they do with them? They
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 297
do not know how to give them life and unity ; and we
do not help them.
However distinct and different form and color may-
be, to the young boy they are undivided, united, like
the body and its life. Indeed, the idea of color seems
to come to the boy, as it did possibly to mankind gen-
erally, through form; and, conversely, the forms are
brought out and nearer through colors. Therefore, the
notions of color and form should at first be united and
undivided.
Now, since form and color at first appear to the
boy as an undivided whole — but mutually enhance and
reveal each other — it is necessary in the development of
the color-sense in man by means of observation and
representation to consider three things :
1. That the forms should be simple and definite,
wholly adequate to the things to be designated and rep-
resented.
2. That the colors be as pure and distinct as possible,
and corresponding with those of the object, particularly
if it be a natural object.
3. That the colors should be studied as nearly as
possible in their actually natural relations, in their differ-
ences and resemblances.
As the colors themselves should be studied as defi-
nitely as possible in their impressions, they should, too,
be designated with equal definiteness in language : first,
the color as such — e. g., red, green, etc. ; then its inten-
sity — e. g., dark, bright, etc. ; then the variety of color ac-
cording to kind and mixture. In the last, two phases
are noticed : first, a comparison with objects that show
the color most frequently — e. g., rose-red {rosenroth\
298 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
skj-blue, etc. ; secondly, a comparison of colors among
themselves — e. g., green-yellow (grun-gelh)^ or, approxi-
mately, greenish yellow, etc.
Generally, all color distinctions should be based on
natural objects in which these colors prevail most con-
stantly; if they have been understood, they may be
transferred to the colors of other objects.
Colors, whose names are derived from objects, should
have been observed frequently in the objects themselves
— e. g., violet-blue.
In the beginning, only a few distinctions are made,
but these should be adhered to strictly and constantly.
Similarly the boy should receive for use only a few,
but clearly defined, colors. The secondary colors should,
later, as far as possible, be made by the pupil himself
from the primary colors.
The figures to be painted should, particularly in the
beginning, not be too small, and if possible point to
natural objects, as indeed all instruction should start
from objects in the pupil's surroundings — e. g., leaves,
large flowers, wings of butterflies, even birds. The
colors of quadrupeds and of fish are too indefinite.
However, the effort to represent natural objects in
their peculiar colors will direct the pupil's attention
more and more to their actual colors, as is indicated by
questions like these : " How shall I paint the trunk of
this tree, this flower," etc. ?
The more the notions of colors are separated from
objects, the more it will become desirable to represent
the colors for their own sake, but still in definite forms.
"When colors come to be viewed wholly independent
from form, form steps wholly into the background. The
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 299
form of representation, for a number of practical rea-
sons, is based on the square network.
The coloring material is best chosen from the vege-
table pigments.
The instruction itself is easily connected with the
boy's life ; a hundred opportunities present themselves ;
every circle offers its own peculiar starting-points.
Properly conducted, the instruction will take root in the
children's life, and will itself live.
I shall write down what I saw and see. The more
favorable the circumstances, the better the beginning ;
however, circumstances may not be made but only
used.
About a dozen boys of suitable age are gathered
around their teacher like sheep around their shepherd.
As the shepherd leads his sheep to green pastures, so
the teacher is to lead the boys to joyous activity. It is
Wednesday afternoon, when there is no ordinary school
instruction ; but to-day there is no call for other activity.
It is fall, and the desire to paint has often been ex-
pressed by each one of these active boys. Perhaps fall
invites the boys most urgently to paint, because the
colors in nature are most varied and massive in the
latter part of fall ; and each one has probably tried in
his own way to obey the summons.
" Come, let us paint," the teacher says. " It is true,
you have painted a great deal ; but painting itself and
the things you painted did not seem to please you long,
for you did not paint in distinct and pure colors. Come,
let us see if we can not do better together." *' Now,
what shall we paint? What is easy enough for us?
300 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
For we are to leara, and what we paint should be
simple, and of one color if pfossible."
Teacher and pupils decide quickly that it is easiest
to paint leaves, flowers, or fruits. Leaves are chosen ;
for the beautiful, bright red, yellow, etc., trees, and the
gorgeous leaves which in perfect fall days float with a
gentle rustle from the branches, and deck the ground
with a brilliant carpet, have been keenly noticed by the
boys, and often they have bound them in wreaths and
brought them home.
" Here are outlines of leaves " (the teacher had pre-
pared them for the purpose) ; " how will you paint them ? "
"Green." "Eed." "Yellow." "Brown." "Which
leaves will you paint green, red, etc. ? " " Why ? "
The teacher then distributes the paints, properly
prepared. First, the colors are correctly designated.
It need, however, scarcely be mentioned that — inasmuch
as the representation of the object is the secondary, and
the knowledge and treatment of the colors the primary
consideration — we can not expect to do more than to
give the leaves approximately exact coloring. For the
present, even distribution of the color, keeping within
the lines, etc., are as yet the most important concerns ;
the proper position of the body, in order to insure free
movement of arm, hand, and finger, is a matter to be
attended to, of course.
Inasmuch as each pigment requires its own treat-
ment, we do not pass from one color to the next until
the pupil has attained some proficiency in the use of
the former.
From leaves we proceed to flowers. We choose
flowers with large monopetalous corollas of only one or
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 301
a few very distinct colors — e. g., blue campanulas, yellow-
primroses, etc. Simple flowers are preferred to double
ones, and they are flrst painted in full front view or
full profile.
We should constantly keep in view conscious efforts
to distinguish colors as accurately as possible, to repre-
sent them in the greatest possible purity, and to name
them as clearly as possible; although at this stage of
development these things will still be done quite im-
perfectly. The pupil's feelings are awakened, and he
aspires to understand the relation of one color to an-
other. Thus color is more and more abstracted from
form, and may be observed more and more independ-
ently. The pupil, too, begins to take more interest in
each color, and seeks to enter fully into its character ;
for he wants to control it, and feels the inadequacy of
his present knowledge and skill.
This calls for the representation of colors as such,
without essential reference to form, in figures derived
from the network.
The first consideration in these exercises is to paint
the surfaces evenly and sharply, progressing from
smaller to larger surfaces. Therefore, we first paint
with each color surfaces of one square, then of two to
five squares, either continuous (i. e., in rows touching
each other edge to edge) or interrupted (i. e., in rows
touching each other comer to comer). By this proced-
ure, the pupil becomes thoroughly familiar with the
peculiarities and treatment of each color.
These exercises begin with pure red, blue, and yel-
low ; they conclude with the pure secondary colors, pure
green, orange, and violet.
302 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
The series begins with red and green, because experi-
ence teaches that these two colors are most interesting
to boys.
Similarly, in the subsequent exercises, two, three,
and finally all the six colors are used in continuous (edge
to edge) or interrupted (corner to corner) series — in two
principal arrangements — so that either the long sides of
the colored forms or their short sides touch. The order
of the colors most fully in accordance with nature at
large is now from blue to green, yellow, orange, red,
and violet.
The last phases at this stage of development are four
color-groups, similar to the two line-groups in the draw-
ing of lines. These are derived in accordance with one
law from the thing itself, and present the series of
colors in all directions implied by the network with
reference to some given center.
These four color-groups appear again in two sets.
Either the various equal- colored rectangles touch one an-
other at their long sides, appearing in horizontal or ver-
tical position sharply defined, or the various colored
series, lying in the direction of the diagonals of the
squares, the component squares touching only in the
corners, fit into one another (like the teeth of two saws).
In each of these sets there are two members. In
one of these, the various series proceed from a visible
center ; in the other, they are arranged around an invisi-
ble center, or, rather, inclose it.
These four groups close the course at this stage.
The next stage would comprise — as in the case of the
invention of figures in drawing — the free invention of
color-groups, the study of colors in their various de-
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 303
grees of intensity and tint, and the study and repre-
sentation of natural forms in the square network.
However limited the preceding course in this sub-
ject, experience proves that it has quite an influence on
the scholar. Like song, it lifts man into a nobler moral
atmosphere, quickens the color-sense, and enhances in-
terest in nature and life. Its further connection with
other subjects, as well as with practical life, will be clear
to him who appreciates the requisites of these things.
I. PLAY, OR SPONTANEOUS REPRESENTATIONS AND EXERCISES OF ALL
KINDS.
§ 97. To the many things said about play, I would
add the following : The plays or spontaneous occupa-
tions of this period of boyhood differ in three ways.
They are either imitations of life and of the phenomena
of actual life, or they are spontaneous applications of
what has been learned at school, or they are perfectly
spontaneous products of the mind, of any description,
and with all kinds of material. The last either seek
the laws lying in the material of the play, and adapt
themselves to these, or they obey laws lying in the
thought and feelings of the human being. In every
case, however, the normal plays of this period are the
pure outcome of vital energy and buoyancy (see § 49).
The plays of this period, therefore, imply inner life
and vigor — an actual external life. Where this- is lack-
ing, there can not be true play which, itself full of
genuine life, can arouse, feed, and elevate life.
This explains the remark of a young man who had
been zealous and inventive in these plays of boyhood.
304: THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
He said, concerning some bojs that seemed to have lost
all zest for such plays : " It is strange to me that these
boys can not play ; how vigorously we played at this
age ! "
This shows clearly that even the plays of this age
should be under special guidance, and the boy made tit
for them — i. e., his life at school and out of it should be
rendered so rich that, like a swelling bud, it will burst
forth from within for joy and in joy. Joy is the soul
of every activity of boyhood at this period.
The plays themselves are physical plays, either as
exercises of strength and dexterity, or a3 the mere ex-
pressions of buoyancy of spirits ; sense plays, exercis-
ing hearing, sight, etc. ; or intellectual plays, exercising
reflection and judgment.
[In the hands of thoughtful kindergartners, the social game has
become a powerful aid in the guidance of social development. The
children learn to use the several games as it were like common play-
things, with the help of which they may, as a social body, give
expression to their collective ideas on matters of social concern.
The teacher, for this purpose, does not teach the game in a cer-
tain fixed way, using the children, as it were, to carry out the inten-
tions of the game. Indeed, were she to do this, each child would in
an individual way, and without reference to others, learn to play the
game as he would a lesson, and then lose active interest in it. She
plays the games at first quite simply, sometimes at the table, some-
times in the ring, teaching the children how to represent the simplest
things she may find in their minds concerning the subject involved.
Subsequently she progresses quite gradually, adding from time to
time new facts and relations, gained by observation or instruction,
frequently modifying the games in order to represent the various
facts from new standpoints or In more complex relationships.
This will induce and encourage the children in due time to
bring to bear in their plays the results of their own observations, and
to suggest modifications and additions in accordance with their
growing knowledge and interest. Thus the game will grow with
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 305
their growth in social insight and power, and will become an ade-
quate expression of their inner development in this direction. — Tr.]
J. NARRATION OF STORIES AND LEGENDS, FABLES AND FAIRY TALES, ETC.
§ 98. Man understands other things, the life of
others, and the effects of other powers only in so far as
he understands himself, his own power, and his own
life. Therefore, the highest and most important ex-
periences of a boy of this age (as well, perhaps, as of
man generally) are, the sensation and feeling of his
own life in his own breast, his own thinking and will-
ing, though they manifest themselves ever so vaguely
and almost as a mere instinct.
But knowledge of a thing can never be attained by
comparing it with itself. Therefore, too, the boy can
not attain any knowledge of the nature, cause, and
effect of the meaning of his own life, by comparing his
own transient individual life with itself. He needs
for clearness concerning this, comparison with some-
thing else and with some one else ; and surely every-
body knows that comparisons with somewhat remote
objects are more effective than those with very near
objects.
Only the study of the life of others can furnish such
points of comparison with the life he himself has ex-
perienced. In these the boy, endowed with an active
life of his own, can view the latter as in a mirror, and
learn to appreciate its value.
It is the innermost desire and need of a vigorous,
genuine boy to understand his own life, to get a knowl-
edge of its nature, its origin, and outcome. If he fails
in this, the sensation of his own life either crushes him
306 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
or carries him on headlong, without purpose and irre-
sistibly.
This is the chief reason why boys are so fond of
stories, legends, and tales ; the more so when these are
told as having actually occun-ed at some time, or as
lying within the reach of probability for which, how-
ever, there are scarcely any limits for a boy.
The power that has scarcely germinated in the boy's
mind is seen by him in the legend or tale, a perfect
plant filled with the most delicious blossoms and fruits.
The very remoteness of the comparison with his own
vague hopes expands heart and soul, strengthens the
mind, unfolds life in freedom and power.
As in color, it is not variegated hues that charm the
boy, but their deeper, invisible, spiritual meaning ; so he
is attracted to the legend and fairy tale, not by the
varied and gay shapes that move about in them, but by
their spiritual life, which furnishes him with a measure
for his own life and spirit, by the fact that tliey furnish
him direct intuitions of free life, of a force sponta-
neously active in accordance with its own law.
The story concerns other men, other circumstances,
other times and places, nay, wholly different forms ; yet
the hearer seeks his own image, he beholds it, and no
one knows that he sees it.
Are there not many persons who have seen and
heard how children at an earlier period asked their
mother again and again to tell them the simplest story,
which they had heard half a dozen times — e. g., the
story of a singing and fluttering bird, building its nest
and feeding its young?
Even boys do the same. "Tell us a story," is the
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 307
request of a crowd of eager listeners to some companion
who has proved his art. " I do not know any more ;
I have told you all I know." '^ Well, then, tell us this
or that story." " I have told it two or three times."
" That makes no difl'erence; tell it again." He obeys;
see how eagerly his hearers note every word, as if they
had never before beard it.
It is not the desire for mental indolence that leads
the vigorous boy to the telling of stories and makes him
a pleased listener. You can see how eager he is, bow a
genuine story-teller stirs the inner life of his hearer, to
try its strength, as it were. This proves that a higher
spiritual life lies in the story, that it is not its gay and
changing shapes that attract the boy, that through them
mind speaks directly to mind.
Therefore, ear and heart open to the genuine story-
teller, as the blossoms open to the sun of spring and to
the vernal rain. Mind breathes mind ; power feels
power and absorbs it, as it were. The telling of stories
refreshes the mind as a bath refreshes the body ; it gives
exercise to the intellect and its powers; it tests the
judgment and the feelings.
Hence, too, genuine, effective story-telling is not
easy ; for the story-teller must wholly take into himself
the life of which he speaks, must let it live and operate
in himself freely. He must reproduce it whole and un-
diminished, and yet stand superior to life as it actually is.
It is this that makes the genuine story-teller.
Therefore, only early youth and old age furnish good
story-tellers. The mother knows how to tell stories — she
who lives only in and with the child, and has no care
beyond that of fostering his life.
308 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
The husband and father, fettered bj life, compelled
to face the cares and wants of daily life, will rarely be a
good story-teller, pleasing to the children, influencing,
strengthening, and lifting their lives.
The brother or sister, only a few years older, both
still unacquainted with life in its stem realities, not yet
fettered or hardened by it, still standing outside of it, as
it were ; the grandfather, with his wide experience,
raised superior to life, having rid himself of its hard
exterior ; or the old tried servant, whose heart is full of
contentment in the consciousness of duty well done —
these are the favorites with an audience of boys.
ITo practical application need be added, no moral
brought out ; the related incident of life, in itself, in what-
ever form it may appear, in its causes and consequences,
makes a deeper impression than any added words could
do ; for who can know the needs of the wholly opened
soul, of stimulated, wholly self-conscious life.
We do not tell our children enough stories ; at best,
little stories whose heroes are mechanical contrivances,
puppets which we have whittled or stuffed ourselves.
A good story-teller is a precious boon. Blessed is
the circle of boys that can enjoy him ; his influence is
great and ennobling ; the more so, the less he seems to
aim at this. With high esteem and full of respect I
greet a genuine story-teller; with intense gratitude I
grasp him by the hand. However, better greeting than
mine is his lot ; behold the joyful faces, the sparkling
eyes, the merry shouts that welcome him; see the
blooming circle of delighted boys crowd around him,
like a wreath of fresh flowers and branches around the
bard of joy and delight.
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 309
However, boys of this age are benefited by mental
activity, especially in connection with physical action.
Therefore, the roused and stimulated inner life should
at once find an external object on which it can manifest
and, as it were, perpetuate itself.
Therefore, with boys of this age, the hearing of
stories should always be connected with some activ-
ity for the production of some external work on their
part.
Again the story, in order to be especially effective
and impressive, should be connected with the events
and occurrences of life. One of the least significant
occurrences in the neighbor's life is developed to-day
into an event of such importance that it determines not
only his inner peace, as well as his external prosperity,
but influences also the life of many others.
Whatever similar experience lies in the scope of
the hfe of each individual, or may have happened to
his friends, is connected with this event of the day.
Behold how the attention of each boy, under the influ-
ence of inner excitement, is wholly given to the event
in question. Every story seems to him a new conquest,
a fresh treasure; and whatever it shows and teaches
he adds to his own life for his advancement and in-
struction.
K. SHORT EXCURSIONS AND WALKS.
§ 99. Out-door life, in open nature, is particularly
desirable for young people ; it develops, strengthens,
elevates, and ennobles. It imparts life and a higher
significance to all things. For this reason, short excur-
sions and walks are excellent educational means, to be
22
310 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
highly esteemed even in the beginning of boy- and
school-hfe (see § 64).
If man is fully to attain his destiny, so far as earthly
development will permit this, if he is to become truly
an unbroken living unit, he must feel and know him-
self to be one, not only with God and humanity, but
also with nature.
The feeling of oneness, in order to become a unit
in himself, must be developed early in man. He must
feel the connection between the development of nature
and of man, between the phenomena of nature and of
humanity in their mutual relations — e. g., the differ-
ent impressions made on the same human being, by
external natural causes and by internal human causes,
so that man may appreciate as fully as possible the
character and phenomena of nature, and that she
may ever more become to him a guide to higher per-
fection.
All shorter and longer excursions and all observa-
tions they involve should be made in this spirit of har-
mony, unity, and living oneness of all natural phe-
nomena, and in the conviction how necessarily, because
of the nature of life and force as such, unity comes
from multiplicity, simplicity from complexity, that
which in its impression is great from the apparently
small.
Therefore, all boys are in such a hurry to get for-
ward on their excursions ; they desire quickly to take in
a great unit. The search for details is the more interest-
ing the more fully a relatively greater unit has been
previously grasped, though this need by no means be
the greatest possible whole.
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 311
These excursions should enable the boj to see as a
whole the district in which he lives, and to feel that
nature herself is a constant whole.
Without this, excursions would yield no direct
spiritual benefit. They would repress instead of quick-
ening ; they would waste instead of enriching life.
Man considers the surrounding atmosphere as a part
of himself, and gains bodily health by inhaling the pure
air. Similarly he should look upon surrounding nature
as a part of himself, and breathe in the Divine Spirit
that dwells therein.
Therefore, the boy should early see the objects of
nature in their actual relations and original combina-
tions. His excursions are to show him his valley in its
whole extent ; he should explore its ramifications ; he
should follow his brook or rivulet from its source to its
mouth, and study its local peculiarities in their causes ;
he should explore the elevated ridges, so that he may
see the ranges and spurs of the mountains ; he should
climb the highest summits, so that he may know and
understand the entire region in its unity.
Actual inspection should reveal to him the mutual
relations of mountain and valley and river in their form
and formation. He should see in their native places
the products of mountain, valley, and plain, of the earth
and of the water ; he should in the higher regions seek
the former homes of the stones he found in the fields
and river-beds of the lowlands.
In these excursions the boys should see the animals
and plants in their life, as it were ; they should ob-
serve them in their natural abodes, some basking in the
sun and drinking in light and warmth, others hiding in
312 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
darkness and shade, seeking coolness and moisture.
They should seek to determine to what extent the
abode and food of living things affect their color and
even their form ; how, for instance, the caterpillar, the
butterfly, and other insects, in form and color, are con-
nected with the plants to which they seem to belong.
He should not fail to notice how this external resem-
blance serves to protect the animals, and how higher
animals almost intentionally make use of such resem-
blances ; how, for instance, certain birds build their nests
on trees whose color is scarcely to be distinguished from
that of the nests ; how, indeed, the color-expression of
animals harmonizes with the character of the time of
day when they are most active, or with the activity of
the sun — e. g., the brilliant colors of butterflies, the dull
colors of moths, etc.
This direct and independent observation of the
things themselves, and of their actual living connection
in nature, and not the mere explanation of words and
ideas which are of no interest to the boy, should awaken
in him, vaguely at first but ever more and more clearly,
the great thought of the inner, constant, living unity of
all things and phenomena in nature.
In these excursions he should see man, too, in his
unity with nature — first, in his daily Kfe, his occupations
and callings, later in his social circumstances, his charac-
ter, his mode of thought and action, his manners, cus-
toms, and language.
However, this should be left in actual life, as well as
in our hints on the subject, to later stages of develop-
ment in boyhood and youth.
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 313
In considering the means of instruction, directly im-
plied in man's tendency of development, as well as the
method of instruction thereby conditioned, we were con-
fronted clearly and distinctly, as necessarily proceeding
from the observation of the external world and from
language-exercises, by the demands for the study of
number, of forms of speaking (grammatical exercises),
of writing and of reading; we found, too, indications of
the points from which these particular subjects proceed
naturally.
Inasmuch as these subjects of instruction, according
to their nature, have to be taken up later than those
which we have treated, and not before the subjects
on which they depend have been carried to a certain
point, their special consideration has been postponed, so
that all the others might first be fully presented.
But the subjects named belong to the second half of
the period of boyhood under consideration. Therefore,
their special treatment must now be taken up.
L. ARITHMETIC.
§ 100. The development of number, the abstraction
of number ideas from objects, and the growth of skill
in counting, at least up to ten or twenty — these things
have been clearly presented and often employed in the
previous considerations (see §§ 38, Y5).
This varied use of number soon presents to the
pupil the necessity of a more thorough, more compre-
hensive and varied knowledge of number, and he wel-
comes arithmetic as a special subject of instruction with
pleasure as a needed help.
314 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
This is right, l^o new subject of instruction should
be brought to the pupil unless he at least feels vaguely
that it is based and how it is based on previous work,
how it is applied in this, and that it satisfies a men-
tal need.
Number, in its forms of multiplicity and size, reveals
to the first glance the property it shares with many
things, particularly with things of nature, the property
of a double origin — from without by accumulation, and
from within by growth or development.
But, as it shares with objects of nature their mode of
origin, so it shares with them also the property of tran-
siency, of annihilation ; and this, too, shows itself in
two phases, that of destruction from without, and that
of dissolution from within.
Wherever there is a beginning and a ceasing, in-
crease and decrease, there is also comparison ; and, of
course, again, a merely external and a more internal
comparison, a comparison according to an externally
visible law, and another according to an internally per-
ceptible law.
Thus arithmetic will have to consider the increase,
diminution (annihilation), and comparison of numbers —
each according to an outer and an inner law.
The intimate connection between number and nature
and their laws, as just indicated, is so prominent in our
time, which is entering so thoroughly into the study of
nature, that a natural and rational study and treatment
of number forced men even fifteen years ago to accept
the terms inorganic and organic formation, diminution
and comparison of numbers {vide Joseph Schmid's
"Number," 1810).
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 315
Arithmetic, as well as all instruction, should meet
not only the feeling, early aroused in the boyhood of
man, that natural laws prevail in many ways in human
life, thought, and action, but also the feeling that there
is a living and necessary conformity to law in all
things ; therefore, it should constantly direct the atten-
tion to the laws of number, render them prominent, and
enable the pupil to see them clearly.
The prominence and the vivid and varied percep-
tion of numerical laws on the one hand, and practice in
the ^ quick comprehension and understanding of nu-
merical relations on the other, are both equally impor-
tant and should receive equal attention. The pupil at
this stage should not only be quick in numbers, but
should readily see and understand numerical relations.
Therefore, it is most desirable in this as in all similar
instruction to secure clear comprehension by means of
self -active representation of the quantities ; practice and
repeated appKcation ; surveys of the whole subject ; the
prominent bringing out and discussion of particular
points.
The course of instruction is indicated in these
words, and can be easily prepared. For this reason, and
because Joseph Schmid's arithmetical method is quite
widely known and followed, I limit myself to only a
few hints in the following :
[^Translator's Synopsis. — Froebel first (1) bases the
work on previous knowledge ; for this purpose he sug-
gests exercises in counting forward or backward, con-
tinuously or with omissions from one to twenty. He
next (2) presents the numbers from one to ten as a con-
316 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
tinuous whole. The pupils count from one to ten,
making at each number as many vertical lines as the
number indicates, in vertical arrangement, thus :
I
II
ill, etc.
This is followed by general exercises, fixing the re-
lation between the word and the number. Pointing to
the marks they have made, they say, starting with the
word or numeral: One is one one, two is two ones,
three is three ones, etc. Starting next with the number,
they say : One one is one, two ones are two, three ones
are three, etc. Considering, at last, the number ab-
stractly, they say : One is one, two is two, three is
three, etc.
In the third place (3) are exercises distinguishing the
odd and even numbers. Reading through the column, all
say : One is neither odd nor even ; two is an even num-
ber ; three is an odd number, etc. Froebel adds here
by wav of parenthesis : " It is well to direct the pupil's
attention here at once to a great far-reaching law of
nature and of thought. It is this, that between two
relatively diiferent things or ideas there stands always
a third, in a sort of balance, seeming to unite the
two. Thus, there is here between odd and even num-
bers one number (one) which is neither of the two.
Similarly, in form, the right angle stands between the
acute and obtuse angles ; and in language, the semi-
vowels or aspirants between the mutes and vowels.
A thoughtful teacher and a pupil taught to think
for himself can scarcely help noticing this and other
important laws."
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 317
He then has the pupils to represent with lines all
the even numbers from two to ten, again in vertical ar-
rangement, and has this learned as the natural order of
even numbers in ten. The same is done with the odd
numbers. As soon as some pupils have represented the
series on their slates, the teacher represents it on the
blackboard, and fixes it by pointing to certain numbers,
and having the children designate their places in the
series, etc.
This is followed (4) by exercises in addition. In the
first exercise, the pupils add I to each number of the
first ten (I and I are II), by which they obtain the series
from two to eleven ; in the second exercise, they add I to
each even number in the first ten, obtaining a series of
odd numbers ; in the third exercise I is added to each
odd number. Then follow similar exercises with the
addition of II, 111, etc., and an exercise in which to
each number is added the succeeding number in the
series, yielding a table in vertical arrangement : I and
II are III, II and IN are Mill, etc., up to nineteen.
Then follow exercises in the addition of three and
more numbers, proceeding in every case deliberately and
thoroughly, and not exceeding thirty in the sums ; and
at last the consideration of special questions, such as :
What is the sum of all numbers from 1 to 10 ? What
is the sum of all even numbers between 1 and 10?
What is the sum of the first and last numbers in the
series 1 to 10 ? Of the second and last but one ? etc.
In the fifth place (5), he presents exercises for the
study of compound numbers. The pupils are taught to
look upon each number of the series 1 to 10 as a unit, a
whole. Teacher and pupils read their table : One (I) is a
818 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
simple unit, two (II) is a compound unit, etc. Tliej
represent a number of twos, threes, etc., on the slate.
They make a series of all the twos from one tw^o [1 (2) ]
to ten twos [10 (2) ], and read this in a variety of
ways — e. g., one two (II) is neither an odd nor an even
number of twos; two twos (II II) is an even num-
ber of twos ; three twos (II II II) is an odd number of
twos, etc.
Then follow (6) exercises to represent numbers in
all possible forms — e. g. : Two as two ones (I I) or as one
two (II); three as one three QW), one two and one one
(II I), three ones (I I I), etc. Froebel lays stress upon
the foreshadowing of an important law, which is, how-
ever, merely to guide the teacher at this stage of the
work, and whose development with the pupils is left to
a subsequent stage. He formulates this law as follows :
" Every number always gives twice as many combina-
tions (including those differing merely in the arrange-
ment of component numbers) as its predecessor in the
series; or, the number of combinations of the com-
ponent parts of any number is obtained if two (2) is
raised to the power indicated by the number in ques-
tion less one — e. g. : 4 yields 2*~^ or 2^ = 8 combina-
tions."
Subtraction (7), or the diminution of the number
from without, is carried on similarly.
For multiplication (8), or the development of the
number from within, Froebel starts again with the
series of numbers from 1 to 10. The pupil is then re-
quired to take each number once, or " as often as one
has units," obtaining a vertical arrangement like the
following :
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 319
1,1,1
II , I , II
III , I , III etc.
This is read in a variety of ways, as : 1 1 taken as
often as I has units gives II; or, II repeated in the law
of I gives II; or, two increased by the law of I gives 1 1 ;
or, 1 1 taken I time (once) gives II; or, II I time (once)
gives II ; or, II times I is II. In this way, a variety of
multiplication tables are made and read, and a number
of arithmetical laws developed.
Similarly (9), the squares of the numbers and their
roots are found and fixed ; then (10) all possible com-
binations in which a number may be obtained through
multiplication are studied — 10 is 10 (1), 1 (10), 2 (5),
5 (2) ; this is followed by division (11) and measure-
ment, and the comparison of numbers (12 and 13) in
accordance with their outer and inner law.]
M. FORM-LESSONS (GEOMETRY).
§101. As formerly indicated, the observation of
the outer world and language-exercises already led to
the consideration and study of form. Yet the objects
of the outer world usually exhibit form in such variety
and complication, and their forms are so difficult to
analyze and define, that the study of form itself always
leads to the consideration of objects with simple forms,
to objects bounded by simple planes with equal and
right angles.
A knowledge of any form always implies ultimately
a knowledge of lines, and forms are examined and
detennined through the mediation of straight lines.
Therefore, in the study of objects with reference to
320 THE EDUCATION OF MAX.
their form, curvilinear objects are soon laid aside, and
rectilinear objects at first chosen — e. g., curved are the
surface of a cylindrical stove, a watch-glass, the rim of
an inkstand; plane and straight are the jambs of the
doors and windows, the window-sash, the frame of the
looking-glass.
Again, objects as well as their parts and outlines
are considered with reference to their position and
direction — e. g., the two long and the two short pieces
of the window-frame are respectively jparallel / a long
and a short piece of the window-frame are respectively
^perjpendicular, etc.
[^Translator'' s Synopsis, — Similar material for study
is afforded by the table-legs and other parts of the table,
the sides, floor, and ceiling of the room, etc. The con-
sideration of these complex rectilinear objects is fol-
lowed by the consideration of simple rectilinear objects
— cubes, prisms, pyramids, etc. When, through these
exercises, linear outlines have been made clear, the pupil
feels the need of studying the linear relations as such.
This study begins with the consideration of single lines
with reference to their relative directions ; it then pro-
ceeds to combinations of lines as to number of points in
which they meet, and to their direction with reference
to the points of union. This is followed successively
by the study of angles, of polygons, and at last of the
circle. For lack of room and of cuts, Froebel does not
present the details of the course, but promises to do so
in the discussion of a later stage of development, a
promise that was never realized. He insists, however,
that at the present stage attention is to be given to fre-
quent representation of figures, and the actual examina-
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 321
tion of forms, rather than to the formulation of general
truths; that complicated relations and complex infer-
ences should be avoided ; and that each form-relation
should be studied independently, but in as many figures
as possible, and in quite simple and familiar combina-
tions. In conclusion, he points to the fact that the
study of lines of equal inclination leads from form to
free-hand drawing.]
N. GRAMMATICAL EXERCISES.
§ 102. We turn now again to a wholly different
side of instruction. The subject of form-instruction is
visible, permanent ; the subject of language is audible,
transient. Thus the two objects are direct opposites,
complementing each other, and therefore belong to-
gether. The form represents the object ; language,
too, tends to represent and picture the object.
It was the purpose of the language-exercises to se-
cure correct and clear ideas of the things of the outer
world, and to have them represented precisely and
definitely by language. The grammatical exercises are
concerned with language as material of representation,
with exercises leading to the knowledge and correct use
of this audible material, and with the study and practice
of the manner in which man with the aid of his organs
of speech seems to create and fonn this material.
Therefore, grammatical exercises consider the word
as such irrespective of the thing it designates ; their
purpose is to give the pupil a knowledge of language
considered as material.
This leads necessarily to the formerly indicated con-
nection of language, particularly of the original word
322 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
and its parts with the objects and their qualities, to the
study of the contrasts and resemblances between lan-
guage and object : it leads to etymology as a new sub-
ject of instruction.
{Translator'' 8 Synopsis. — Froebel here maps out the
following succession of points for the course of study.
The first consideration is the size of the word, which is
determined by the number of its syllables / this is fol-
lowed by the consideration of vowels, which form the
constant element of syllables. The vowels are simple
or complex, and the former again are primitive or de-
rivative. This leads to the observation of the use of the
organs of speech in producing the various vowel-sounds,
and shows that the purity and distinctness of the sound
depend on the proper position and shape of the cavity
of the mouth, etc. Then follows the study of the eon^
sonants, which are first classed as mutes and sonants ;
and then grouped as nasals, labials, Unguals, dentals,
palatals, gutturals, etc. Lastly, the different degrees of
intensity of force required in the production of the
various consonants are noted. Thus the pupil gradually
finds that clear pronunciation and speech imply the
proper use of the organs of speech, and gains conscious
control of these.] There is, too, developed in him the
feeling of an inner living connection that unites the
activities of the mind, of the body, and of nature, for
language as a mental product through the activity of the
body furnishes him satisfactory representations of his
inner and outer worlds.
[Translator'* s Synopsis. — The next section of this
paragraph contains a few suggestions for carrying out
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 323
this course. Teacher and pupil first speak words of one,
then of two syllables, etc., slowly, deliberately separat-
ing the syllables, accompanying each syllable with a
clap of the hands, and then following up the pronuncia-
tion of each word with the number of claps of the hand
indicated by the number of syllables — e. g. :
Teacher or ( says : foot . . . one ) ^ j win-dow . . . one, two ) ^^^
pupil ( claps: (_)...(-)) ] ( ) . . . (-) (-) f
Froebel attaches importance to the clapping wdth the
hands, which makes the audible separation of the word
visible in the clapping on the teacher's part, and sensible
in the clapping on the pupil's part.
In order to direct the pupil's attention to the vowels,
Froebel would have the teacher and pupil pronounce
successively and together monosyllabic words ending in
vowel-sounds, and after each word speak the vowel-
sound separately — e. g. : me — e, he — e, etc. Then
words are found that begin with this sound (eel, each,
east, etc.) ; then words that contain the vowels (bead,
read, etc.). Subsequently the fact is brought ont that
there are no monosyllabic words that do not contain
some vowel ; polysyllabic words are similarly examined ;
the prevalence of certain vowels in certain syllables is
found ; the succession of certain vowels in the same
word is observed ; the sonants and mutes are similarly
studied, etc. Finally, tables of the various classes and
groups of sounds are prepared, and a number of exer-
cises are made giving ready control of these tables in
the formation of words.
The next requirement that forces itself upon our
attention in this instruction is the art of writing, by
324 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
which the "audible and transient sounds are made
visible and permanent."]
O. WRITING.
§ 103. [Translator's Synopsis. — By this Froebel
does not mean penmanship as an art, but merely the
skill to write legibly. For the beginning he suggests as
most suitable the capital Roman letters, because their
forms please children, and because they can be readily
made with the help of the horizontal, vertical, and slant-
ing lines with which the child is already familiar.
In the course of instruction he begins with the letter
I (sounded E in German), carefully analyzing its form
and lines ; then follow JS", M, E, U, O, A, etc. The intro-
duction of each new letter is followed by the writing of
as many combinations with previous letters as will yield
true words. " The most important point is that at every
step the pupil should apply the newly learned letter and
combine it with formerly learned letters in as many
ways as possible."
From monosyllables he proceeds to polysyllables ;
then the children are taught to write words and short
sentences by dictation or otherwise. At this point he
recommends that all that has been written on the slate
should subsequently be copied on paper. This enables
the teacher to correct the work; to let pupils whose
work has been corrected correct that of others; and
leads to considerations of orthography. He concludes
the paragraph in the following words :
When the pupil has reached the skill to represent in
this way all the notions and ideas he possesses, and thus
THE SCHOOL AND THE FAMILY. 325
to represent his inner life, as it were, the purpose of
this branch of instruction is accomplished ; for the cen-
ter, the universal fulcrum, the human being has been
found, and the possibility of the representation of his
innermost soul at this period of development has been
secured, as by means of lines in drawing, by means of
colors in painting, by means of plastic material in model-
ing, so here by means of words — transient in speech
and permanent in writing. Thus, every stage of in-
struction should in a certain sense form a complete
whole, a complete representation of the human mind ;
it should render possible the representation of some
complete (external) whole with reference to man and in
its relation to his mind.
The fact that the pupil is required to copy on paper
the corrected representation of his own thoughts or ob-
servations printed by him on his slate soon leads him to
see the use and feel the need of a more rapid mode of
writing. At this point, the writing in script appears as
the new subject of instruction, meeting a want which
the pupil himself feels. It is the business of every
form of instruction in its respective stage to arouse in
the pupil a keen and definite feeling of the need of the
next stage. The business of instruction in this suc-
ceeding stage is then to meet this need as promptly and
as fully as possible according to the requirements of
sound mental development.
In these two simple and important points, current
methods of instruction are still quite deficient, as well
as in other matters indicated in what has been said.
It is the business of pedagogics to reveal these de-
fi.ciencies beyond all doubt, and at the same time to
23
326 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
indicate a course of instruction which avoids these
faults and shows a better way.
p. READING.
§ 104. {Translator's Synopsis. — Eeading is the con-
verse of writing. They are opposites, like giving and
taking ; and as taking implies giving, as, strictly speak-
ing, one neither should nor can truly take who has not
before given, so also in this case reading should follow
writing. The course of instruction is implied in the
nature of things. In fact, the boy can already read ;
the writing of every word was followed by its reading,
and in the copying exercises this was specially practiced ;
so that reading in the ordinary sense now becomes quite
easy, and the task of a year may be accomplished in a
few days.
The first thing to be done is to show the equivalence
of the small Eoman letters to the capital letters hereto-
fore employed ; and to do this in such a way that the
resemblances between the two kinds of letters may be
seen even in their details. As a connecting exercise,
Froebel recommends that the pupil copy passages from
the reader in his usual capital letters, thus comparing
the two styles of letters.
The point to be reached at this stage is correct read-
ing in pronunciation and punctuation, so that he may
be able to understand the writing of others, and test the
thoughts and feelings of others by what he himself has
thought and felt. Higher, more expressive reading is
relegated to the next stage of development.]
YII.
CONCLUSION.
§ 105. Thus we have sketched the growth and de-
velopment of man in all their phases and conditions
from the first origin of his being and existence to the
first years of boyhood. We have, too, surveyed in a
general way in their living inner connection, their
necessary mutual dependence and natural ramifications,
the important means by which man may be and should
be developed in this period in accordance with the re-
quirements of this period and of his being, if his goal
is perfection.
If we now survey all that has been determined and
said so far in this connection, we see that many phases
in the life of boyhood have as yet no specific, definite
direction. Thus, the work with colors does not in any
way mean to develop a future painter, neither is the
work in singing intended to train a future musician.
These occupations simply have the purpose to secure in
the young human being all-sided development and un-
folding of his nature ; they furnish in a general way
the food so necessary for mental growth ; they are the
ether in which his spirit breathes and lives in order to
gain strength and scope, inasmuch as the mental tend-
328 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
encies wliich God lias given him, and whicli irresistibly
unfold from his mind in all directions, will necessarily
appear in great variety, and must be met and fostered
in a corresponding variety of ways.
Therefore, we ought at last to understand that we
do great violence to boy-nature when we repress and
supplant these normal many-sided mental tendencies in
the growing human being ; when, in the belief of do-
ing a service to God and man, and of promoting the
future earthly prosperity, inner peace, and heavenly
salvation of the boy, we cut off one or the other of
these tendencies and graft others in their places.
God neither ingrafts nor inoculates. He develops
the most trivial and imperfect things in continuously
ascending series and in accordance with eternal self-
grounded and self-developing laws. And God-likeness
is and ought to be man's highest aim in thought and
deed, especially when he stands in the fatherly relation
to his children, as God does to man.
We should consider, at least with reference to the
education of our children, that the kingdom of God is
the realm of the spiritual, and that consequently the
spiritual in man, and therefore in our children, is at
least a part of the kingdom of God. For this reason
we should give our attention to the universal cultivation
of the spiritual in our children, to the pure cultivation
of the specifically human, which is the divine in indi-
vidual manifestation ; for we may well be convinced
that whoever has been cultivated to genuine humanity
is also educated for every particular requirement and
need in civil and social life.
Many will say : " This is all very well for earlier
CONCLUSION. 329
periods, but our sons are too old for this — they are
already in the last quarter of boyhood. What can they
do with this general and rudimentary instruction?
They need something definite, something that bears
directly on their future vocation ; for the time is near
when they will enter practical life, when they will have
to earn their own living or help us in our business."
It is true, our sons are rather old for what they are
still to learn. But why did we not, when they were
children and in early boyhood, supply the needs of
their minds ? Are the boys now to lose this develop-
ment and cultivation for their whole lives?
We may console ourselves with the illusion that
when our boys have reached adult life they will have
enough leisure to make up their losses.
Fools that we are ! Our own soul refutes this, if
we will but listen to what it says and study its meaning.
Here and there a few things may indeed be retrieved ;
but, in general, whatever of human education and devel-
opment has been neglected in boyhood will never be
retrieved.
Shall we, men and fathers, and perhaps mothers, too,
not at last be frank, and cease to conceal from ourselves
the never-healing wounds and the permanently callous
places in our disposition, the dark spots left in our souls
by the ruthless extirpation of noble and elevating
thoughts and feelings in the days of our misguided
youth and boyhood ? Shall we never see that noble
germs were at that time broken and withered, nay,
killed in our souls ? And shall we not heed this for our
children's sake ?
We may fill an important office, we may have an
330 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
extensive professional practice, we may have a lucrative
business, we may be expert and energetic, we may pos-
sess a higb degree of social refinement ; but can all this
keep us, when we are alone, from seeing the flaws and
faults of our inner culture ? Can it destroy in us the
feeling of incompleteness and imperfection chiefly due
to our early education ?
Therefore, even though our sons have reached the
third or fourth stage of boyhood, if we would have
them become competent, full men, and if they have not
yet learned and unfolded what their age implies, they
must necessarily return to the work of childhood and
early boyhood, in order that they may yet do what can
be done and retrieve what can be retrieved.
Possibly our sons may thereby finish school-life a
year or two later ; but is it not better that they should
thereby attain a worthy aim rather than (by a more ex-
peditious course) an illusory one?
We claim to be practical men, and we fail to un-
derstand the requirements of genuine, true, practical
life. We claim to be business men, and we vaunt our
prudence and foresight, yet we do not comprehend
the business that concerns us most, and prudence and
foresight fail us where they are of so much impor-
tance.
We boast of our wealth of experience of life, and
yet where it would yield delicious fruit we seem to
possess so little.
We disdain altogether to examine our own youth
from which we might learn so much that would benefit
our children. Yet this admonition, too, to turn back
and observe our own youth and to keep our soul fresh
CONCLUSION. 331
and warm in eternal youth, lies in the words of Jesus :
" Become as little children."
Indeed, much that Jesus said to his time and con-
temporaries, our inner spirit now says to us and to our
time. What was said at the time of Jesus, and more
particularly with reference to the beginning of a wholly
new view of life, is now again spoken, as it were, to all
mankind, and finds its application in all human relations
with reference to the endeavors of man to attain a
higher stage of human perfection. Thus, we are now
told : " If you wiU not fuliill in yourselves and in your
children the spiritual requirements of childhood and
boyhood, if you will not secure this for yourselves and
your children, you will not attain what in the happiest,
most blissful periods of your life caused your soul to
swell with hope, what your heart yearned for in the
noblest hours of your life, what lifts and ever lifted the
souls, what tills and ever filled the hearts of the noblest
human beings."
When we concentrate in one point the elevation of
culture which the human being has attained by the de-
veloping education so far discussed, we find quite defi-
nitely the following : The boy has reached the point of
divining his independent spiritual self; he feels and
knows himself as a spiritual whole. There has been
aroused in him the ability to grasp a whole in its unity
and in its diversity, as well as the ability to represent
outwardly a whole as such and in its necessary parts, to
represent in and through outward diversity his own self
in the unity and diversity of his being.
Thus, we find the human being even at the earlier
stages of boyhood fitted for the highest and most im-
332 THE EDUCATION OF MAN.
portant concern of mankind, for the fulfillment of his
destiny and mission, which is the representation of the
divine nature within him.
To secure for this ability skill and directness, to
lift it into full consciousness, to give it insight and
clearness, and to exalt it into a life of creative freedom,
is the business of the subsequent life of man in suc-
cessive stages of development and cultivation. To dis-
cuss ways and means for this, and to introduce these in
the practice of life, is the purpose of a continuation of
this work and of the author's life.
THE END.
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