eft to Froebel himself to do. These words
were written in 1827. The "Menschen Erziehung" of Froebel ("Education
of Man"), which appeared the year before, had also touched upon the
subject. It was further developed in his "Mutter und Koselieder"
("Mother's Songs and Games"), in which his first wife assisted him. That
appeared in 1838. In the same year was also founded the _Sonntags-Blatt_
(_Sunday Journal_), to which many essays and articles on this subject
were contributed by Froebel. The third volume ("Paedagogik") of Dr.
Wichard Lange's complete edition of Froebel's works is largely made up
of these _Sonntags-Blatt_ articles. The whole Kindergarten system rests
mainly on this higher view of children's play.

[67] A report that Froebel drew up for the Princess Regent of Rudolstadt
in 1809, giving a voluminous account of the theory and practice pursued
at Yverdon (Wichard's "Froebel," vol. i., p. 154).

[68] The castle of Yverdon, an old feudal stronghold, which Pestalozzi
had received from the municipality of that town in 1804, to enable him
to establish a school and work out his educational system there.

[69] Froebel desired to see in Rudolstadt, or elsewhere in Thuringia
(his "native land"), an institution like that of Pestalozzi at Yverdon;
and he sought to interest the Princess Regent of Rudolstadt by the full
account of Yverdon already mentioned.

[70] This would scarcely seem probable to those who admire and love
Pestalozzi. But we must remember that religious teaching appeals so
intimately to individual sympathies that it is quite possible that what
was of vital service to many others was not of so much use to Froebel,
who was, as he frankly admits, out of harmony on many points with his
noble-hearted teacher.

[71] That the boys' characters were immersed in an element of
strengthening and developing games as the body is immersed in the water
of a strengthening bath, seems to be Froebel's idea.

[72] Sanskrit is here probably meant.

[73] Hebrew and Arabic.

[74] The comet of 1811, one of the most brilliant of the present
century, was an equal surprise to the most skilled astronomers as to
Froebel. Observations of its path have led to a belief that it has a
period of 300 years; so that it was possibly seen by our ancestors in
1511, and may be seen by our remote descendants in 2111. The appearance
of this comet was synchronous with an unusually fine vintage harvest,
and "wine of the great Comet year" wa