seen better days,
and, oppressed by disappointment and suffering, had lost all disposition
to exert themselves; while a few, who were from the higher classes of
society, had been spoiled by indulgence and luxury, and were now
conceited, petulant, and full of scornful airs toward their companions.

The whole charge of the establishment thus composed devolved upon
Pestalozzi. From motives of economy and from the difficulty of procuring
suitable assistants, he employed no one but a housekeeper. The burden of
this task was increased by the caprice and folly of many of the parents,
whose children had been sent to the asylum. They were prejudiced against
him as a Protestant and an agent of the Helvetic Government, and spared
no complaints which their unreasonableness or ignorance could suggest.
Mothers who were in the daily practice of begging from door to door
would come on some silly pretext and take away their children because
they would be no worse off at home. On Sundays especially the whole
family circle, from parents to the remotest cousin, would assemble in a
body at the asylum, and, after filling the minds of the children with
their idle whims, would either take them home or leave them peevish and
unhappy.

Sometimes children were brought to the asylum merely to obtain clothing,
which being done they were soon removed and no reasons given. In many
instances, parents required payment for leaving their children, to
compensate for the loss occasioned by taking them off from their
begging. In others, they desired to make an agreement for a certain
number of days in the week, in which they could have permission to send
them out to beg; and this being refused, they indignantly declared that
they would remove them forthwith--a threat which was not unfrequently
executed.

Such was the character of the materials on which Pestalozzi was obliged
to commence his great experiments. He was deprived of the ordinary means
of instruction and authority; and thus thrown entirely upon his own
resources, the inventive genius, for which he was afterward
distinguished, was awakened within him, and the spirit of humanity
received a fresh impulse. One of the first benefits which he derived
from his apparently untoward circumstances was the necessity of
resorting to the power of love in the child's heart as the only source
of obedience. There was nothing either in the disposition of the parents
or the children to aid him in his efforts; on