try cheated and imposed upon because of
their ignorance, and determined to become their champion. Kruesi thinks
that his study of the law must "have produced negative results by
showing him the insufficiency of human legislation to do away with
abuses, unless supported by principles of charity and justice." He
therefore gave up this enterprise also.

=Farming.=--The advice of a dying friend, Bluntschli, "Never embark in
any operation which might become dangerous to your peace of mind,
because of the simplicity and tenderness of your disposition," may have
had its effect upon Pestalozzi. He now entered upon his third venture.
Having induced a wealthy firm in Zurich to advance him money, he bought
about one hundred acres of unimproved land in the canton of Aargau,
where he proposed to raise madder as a means of profit. Once more his
real purpose was philanthropic, as he intended to show the poor peasants
improved methods of farming whereby they could obtain better results for
their labor and thereby be enabled to live more comfortably. He named
the place Neuhof.

=Marriage.=--At this time he had just passed his twenty-first year. We
pause to mention an event that had much to do with his happiness and
with his later life. He had made the acquaintance of Anna Schulthess, a
young lady of considerable means, and sought her hand in marriage. His
letter to her, proposing marriage, is remarkable for its frankness, for
the ingenuous confession of his own weaknesses, and for its correct
estimate of himself. A few quotations from this letter must
suffice.[135] "My failings, which appear to me the most important in
relation to the future, are improvidence, want of caution, and want of
that presence of mind which is necessary to meet unexpected changes in
my future prospects. I hope, by continued exertions, to overcome them;
but know that I still possess them to a degree that does not allow me to
conceal them from the maiden I love.... I am further bound to confess
that I shall place the duties toward my fatherland in advance of those
to my wife, and that, although I mean to be a tender husband, I shall be
inexorable even to the tears of my wife, if they should ever try to
detain me from performing my duties as a citizen, to their fullest
extent. My wife shall be the confidant of my heart, the partner of all
my most secret counsel. A great and holy simplicity shall reign in my
house.... My dear friend, I love you so tenderly and fer