ompensation, for, not beginning the study of Latin until sixteen
years of age, he was mature enough to appreciate the defects in the
prevalent method of instruction. One of his most valuable services to
education grew out of his attempt to remedy the defects thus discovered.

Of the schools he attended, he says, "They are the terror of boys, and
the slaughterhouses of minds,--places where a hatred of books and
literature is contracted, where ten or more years are spent in learning
what might be acquired in one, where what ought to be poured in gently
is violently forced in, and beaten in, where what ought to be put
clearly and perspicuously is presented in a confused and intricate way,
as if it were a collection of puzzles,--places where minds are fed on
words."[97]

In speaking of his own experience at school, he says, "I was continually
full of thoughts for the finding out of some means whereby more might be
inflamed with the love of learning, and whereby learning itself might be
made more compendious, both in the matter of charge and cost, and of
labor belonging thereto, that so the youth might be brought by a more
easy method unto some notable proficiency in learning."[98]

The life of Comenius, which extended over nearly eighty years, was full
of vicissitudes and trials. Briefly told, it is as follows: He was left
an orphan at an early age, had poor educational advantages in childhood,
began the study of Latin at sixteen, and completed his studies at
Heidelberg at twenty-two, having previously studied at Herborn. After
leaving the university, he was teacher of the Moravian School at Prerau
for two years, and then having been ordained to the ministry, became
pastor of Fulnek. Here he remained for a number of years, living a happy
and useful life. In the meantime, the Thirty Years' War had broken out,
the battle of Prague had been lost by the Protestants, and the town of
Fulnek sacked. Comenius lost everything he possessed, and this
misfortune was soon followed by the death of his wife and child. After
hiding in the mountains for some time, he was banished from his native
land, together with all the other Protestants. This took place in 1627,
when Comenius was thirty-five years old. Though he often longed to
return to his fatherland, he was never permitted to do so.

He settled in Poland, and began by the study of the works of Ratke,
Bacon, and other writers to prepare himself for the great task of
educational ref