On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    faculty , and some another , he is ever advocating universal cultivation . The quantum of actual knowledge , derived from books and other sources , is not his rule of measurement ; but the improvement of every power of our natures . And for what purpose ? For the very noblest : that the Creator

    may no longer be served with onl y a part of his own ; that no faculty which he has given us may be allowed to rust and spoil ; that the " head , and heart , and hand , " of man may conspire to do his will , instead of being pressed into the service of other masters . That this was the heart ' s desire and aim of Pestalozzi , every page of his writings assures us .

    " My days , " says he , in one of his last appeals to mothers , " my days may be numbered , my glass may be run , long before you may chance to hear , that in a far distant land , ia a valley between his native Alps , there lived , and lived to old age , a man who knew not a cause of higher interest , or of greater importance , than that in which you are now engaged : whose life has been spent in endeavours , weak , perhaps , but in which was concentrated all his strength , to assist in their task the mothers , and those who may act in their

    place , and those on whom may devolve the duty of guiding the mind at a more advanced period of youth : a man who wishes that others may take up what he has commenced , and succeed where he may have failed : who trusts that his friends will speak where his voice would not have gained a hearing ; and act where his efforts would have passed unnoticed : a man , who firmly believes , that there is an invisible tie to unite all those whose hearts have embraced the same sacred cause , and who would hail with delight their appearance , to whatever nation they may belong , to whatever opinions they may be addicted , " * &c . —Letters , p . 33 .

    Again , in another letter , " I wish that no Christian mother may lay down this volume without asking herself seriously , * Is the course , and are the measures recommended in these letters , in unison with principles truly Christian ? Are they calculated merely to promote intellectual improvement , or to produce an appearance of self-made and self-styled morality ? Or , are they such as deserve the names

    of the first and preparatory steps to Christian education ? ' Let her answer this question to herself , to the best of her knowledge and her feelings , and upon the result let it depend whether she will adopt them , with such modifications as experience or circumstances will suggest , in the education of her children . If her answer be in the negative ; if her heart should give her warning , and mature reflection confirm it , that these principles are not Christian , then let them be rejected and be mentioned no more . "—P . 151 .

    With respect to the subject of universal developement , which Pestalozzi has so strongly advocated , we cannot forbear quoting a few of his remarks : " Whatever class of society a pupil belong to , whatever calling he may be intended for , there are certain faculties in human nature common to all , which constitute the stock of the fundamental energies of man . We have no ri g ht to withhold from any one the opportunities of developing all these faculties . It may be judicious to treat some of them with marked attention , and to give up the jdea of bringing others to high perfection ; the diversity of talent and inclination , of plans and pursuits , is a sufficient proof of the necessity of such a distinction . JBut I repeat , that we have no right to shut out the child from

    * ** There is a spiritual community , binding together the living and the dead , the good , the brave , and the wise , of all ages . We would not be excluded from this community , and therefore do we hope , "—Wordsworth .

    Untitled Article

    Reweuh . —Pe 8 talo % xi on Early Education * 45

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1828, page 45, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2556/page/45/