is solitude his love for Nature awoke. He studied
plants, animals, minerals; and while his young heart vainly longed for
love, he would have gladly displayed affection himself, if his timidity
would have permitted him to do so. His family, seeing him prefer to
dissect the bones of some animal rather than to talk with his parents,
probably considered him a very unlovable child when they sent him, in his
tenth year, to school in the city of Ilm.

He was received into the home of the pastor, his uncle Hoffman, whose
mother-in-law, who kept the house, treated him in the most cordial
manner, and helped him to conquer the diffidence acquired during the
solitude of the first years of his childhood. This excellent woman first
made him familiar with the maternal feminine solicitude, closer
observation of which afterwards led him, as well as Pestalozzi, to a
reform of the system of educating youth.

In his sixteenth year he went to a forester for instruction, but did not
remain long. Meantime he had gained some mathematical knowledge, and
devoted himself to surveying. By this and similar work he
earned a living, until, at the end of seven years, he went to
Frankfort-on-the-Main to learn the rudiments of building. There Fate
brought him into contact with the pedagogue Gruner, a follower of
Pestalozzi's method, and this experienced man, after their first
conversation, exclaimed: "You must become a schoolmaster!"

I have often noticed in life that a word at the right time and place has
sufficed to give the destiny of a human being a different turn, and the
remark of the Frankfort educator fell into Froebel's soul like a spark.
He now saw his real profession clearly and distinctly before him.

The restless years of wandering, during which, unloved and scarcely
heeded, he had been thrust from one place to another, had awakened in his
warm heart a longing to keep others from the same fate. He, who had been
guided by no kind hand and felt miserable and at variance with himself,
had long been ceaselessly troubled by the problem of how the young human
plant could be trained to harmony with itself and to sturdy industry.
Gruner showed him that others were already devoting their best powers to
solve it, and offered him an opportunity to try his ability in his model
school.

Froebel joyfully accepted this offer, cast aside every other thought,
and, with the enthusiasm peculiar to him, threw himself into the new
calling in a manner which