s ideas. Teachers were sent to learn
of him. From Burgdorf is sprung the whole school system of to-day.
As a practical school-teacher Pestalozzi was nevertheless a failure
in the end, because he relied on no force but that of personal
affection to control his pupils. This divinest of methods succeeded
remarkably while his schools were so small as to bring him into
close paternal contact with every child. But at the large
institution at Yverdon, of which he was master in his later years,
the method broke down badly. Hence there were not wanting in his own
times critics who pronounced him a failure. They did not see that
beside his insistence on love as the "way," the reformer had an even
more important message for the world. "The grand change advocated by
Pestalozzi," says Mr. Quick, "was a change of object. The main
object of the school should not be to teach, but to develop." In
this sentence we have the key to all modern education, though not
every teacher even to-day has digested fully the idea that his duty
is less that of stuffing a child full of facts than of developing
its character and abilities, encouraging whatever of value exists
within itself.

The full importance of Pestalozzi's work was recognized by keener
intellects even in his own lifetime. Queen Louise, the heroine of
Prussia, wished she could fly to Switzerland to grasp Pestalozzi's
hand. His system was introduced throughout Northern Germany and did
wonders for the development of the German people. To-day it is the
system of the world.

After completing the usual course of education, Pestalozzi continued his
studies, with a view to engaging in the ministry of the gospel, to which
the wishes of his friends, as well as his own deep religious feelings,
had early destined him. This course, however, was soon abandoned. He
appeared for the first and only time in the pulpit as a candidate, and
then, discouraged by the ill-success of the experiment, renounced all
aspirations to the sacred office. Soon after, he applied himself to the
law, but with a strong predilection for political studies. At this time
his inquiries seem to have taken the direction which ultimately led him
to the discoveries that characterize his name. He saw clearly the great
abuses in society which prevailed in his native country; and by dwelling
on their enormity his active mind suggested m