"With a mature generation there is never much
to be done, neither in things material nor spiritual,
neither in matters of taste nor of character. Be ye
wise and begin in the schools." — Goethe.
FROM time to time as civilization toil-
somely advances along the high-
way of wisdom there arise certain pro-
phets of progress who formulate into a
practical and intelligible message great
truths that become the real marching
orders for civilization in certain fields of
activity. Take, for example, the edu-
cational world. Who can measure the far-
reaching influence for good exerted by
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi and his ill-
ustrious pupil, Friedrich Fröbel, those
apostles of the new education who insisted
on a natural system of instruction — one
training the sense of observation so as to
bring out the fullest capacity of the child-
dren in such a way as to pleasantly en-
gage the imagination while the intellect
was being drilled, developed and enriched
with knowledge, so that the child in the

school should grow unconsciously moral
ly, mentally and physically, precisely as
his life naturally unfolds in beauty in a
well-ordered, love-illuminated home of
culture?
These great educational revolutionists
whose sane and practical theories have
not only influenced the educational meth-
ods of all civilized lands, but whose views
were so fundamentally sound that we
find the measure of true educational ad-
vance the world over is in proportion to
the degree in which their theories have
become a living, animating influence in
educational matters, were ignored and
scorned by the slothful, superficial and
reactionary educators of their day. Yet
because their message impearled a vital,
fundamental truth for which an expand-
ing and developing civilization was wait-
ing, it took root and spread through all
lands where liberty fosters human un-
foldment. Pestalozzi lighted a torch and