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the earth, so high above all these glorious things is the gospel, the of God for the salvation of all who believe."

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The next discourse, on Patriotic Education, is, according to our republican ideas, hardly equal to the theme. The following one, on the Choice of a Profession, by the Christian elevation of its sentiments and its noble enthusiasm for the higher interests of society, exceeds the expectations we had formed.

The ninth discourse, on the Relation of Learning to Active Life, deserves a more particular notice. While the cultivated nations of antiquity preserved these two things in a state of happy union-active men pursuing study, and studious men fructifying life with the seeds of wisdom-learning, says the author, in our native land, the home of profound thinkers and investigators, has acquired such an independence that, in its ideal flight, it often leaves real life quite behind, and goes its own upward way. The higher schools are subject to the influence of both tendencies, the ideal and the real; and it is their proper office to harmonize the claims of both. The old saying, that "we learn not for the school, but for life," expresses the general conviction that education should prepare men for life. But here the question arises: What constitutes a preparation for life? If we look at life as it appears in the present age, with its thousand springs of action, we see a wide chasm between it and the subjects which occupy the attention of the learned. The bustling spirit of the age, its eagerness for external things, is unfavorable to that calm and collected state of mind necessary to the search after wisdom. It were a degradation of the schools, to aim merely at ministering to the material interests of society. The latter, forming a constituent part of our public prosperity, and growing out of the condition of the people, deserve, indeed, consideration. The scriptures themselves say: "all things are yours." But, at the same time, it should be the aim of knowledge to let all its light shine; to fill the minds of its disciples with ideas of the beautiful and the true, as they are treasured up in the noblest productions of genius; to cherish an enthusiastic devotion to what is invisible and eternal, and to guard the mind against the selfish pursuit of those material objects which makes it forget its heavenly origin, and sink like lead to the earth and to the gross realities of common life. There may also be a false idealism, converting the living God into a logical idea, or a speculative materialism, converting him into a physical law. But such things can happen only when philosophy and real life are divorced from each other. There was a happy period in our history when they went hand in hand, the period of the Reformation, when men of learning were the truest guardians both of the church and of the state; and there are now signs of a return to such a condition, by making the schools nurseries of piety and of practical wisdom.

Learning ministers to life by imparting the knowledge necessary to understand life, with all its social, political, and religious institutions, as growing out of the past; by imbuing its disciples with those lofty and pure

sentiments which will preserve them from all that is selfish, sensual, and mean; by forming the mind, through the acquisition and the love of truth, for all those callings by which it can serve the church, the state, and civil society at large. While mami ammon-worshippers contribute little or nothing to the improvement of the national character, the lover of learning, the student of history, and the cultivator of our national literature are scattering those seeds of knowledge which connect the schools with the life of the people. Do we not contribute something to the improvement of life when we introduce the young student to the pure and simple creations of beauty which characterize the works of the ancients, that have served as models for our national culture? Is it of no practical importance to make him familiar with the wisdom of the most eminent nations of antiquity, to kindle in his soul an ardent love of their patriotism and virtues, and to inspire him with their noble sentiments? What an instructress for real life is history which is a fresh life of itself, guarding men against the worship of theories, and teaching them moderation and sobriety in their judgments! Above all, does the history of our own country open to the view of the young the path of honor and glory by which the nation has risen to greatness. Do we not educate our youth for life and its most sacred interests, when we initiate them into the spirit of our poets who have touched all the cords in the depths of the German beart, and whose harps are strung to truth, fidelity, the love of country, and the fear of God? And need I mention the study of the book that most of all connects the learning of the schools with the life of the people? The Bible is the book of books. It is the scholar's best guide in his deepest reflections, and the poor man's stay and staff in affliction and sorrow. The critical knowledge of the scriptures, of the history of the church, of the lives and deeds of its heroes and martyrs, who have produced greater revolutions than kings or warriors, prepare men to act in the great crises of a nation's history.

The remaining five discourses on high aims (mental gymnastics), moral earnestness, a German heart and character, a historical spirit (in opposition to hasty abstract theories), and Herder as a school reformer, are no less interesting and important than the preceding; but, for want of space, we must content ourselves with the specimens of thought fand style already given.

Hoffman's Eight School Addresses on Educational Topics connected with the Gymnasia. This pamphlet of seventy-two pages, notwithstanding the brevity with which the several topics embraced in it are treated, is decidedly the most sensible, the most comprehensive, the clearest, the soundest, and the best of all that we have seen on the same subjects. The author

1 Acht Schulreden über pädagogischen Zeitfragen für Freunde des Gymnasialwesens, herausgegeben von K. A. J. Hoffmann, Director des Johanneums zu Lüneburg. 1859.

analyzes and classifies his materials perfectly; omits nothing that is essential; introduces nothing, rot even a word, that is superfluous; is brief without being obscure, and advances none but well-considered opinions, the very statement of which carries its own evidence with it. The opening address gives us a fair sample of his manner. It does not admit of material abridgment.

Of all the demands, he says, made upon the higher schools in recent times, none is presented with more urgency than that for nationality in the education of our youth. Go back with me for a moment, and let us see if it was so in the last century. You know that such a demand was hardly possible then; scarcely was such a thought entertained. Then one of the greatest of men sat upon the Prussian throne, the great Frederick, who professed to be a philosopher; but he was more ambitious to be a Frenchman than a German. It was then that the noble Emperor of Austria, Joseph II., inscribed upon the gates of his park, the Augarten, the words: "Dedicated to all men, by their friend." Then men's hearts glowed with the thought of being citizens of the world, and they prided themselves in being cosmopolitans. When, at the close of the century, the revolution broke out which aimed at obliterating all historical recollections, there was in many noble minds a longing that peace might prevail, and that the people of all nations might extend a friendly hand to each other, and unite in efforts for freedom and progress.

But how changed are all things in the space of fifty years! As the great Pericles said, "the thoughts and feelings of men change beyond all calculation." Why, then, is a national education now demanded? A series of afflictive events came over Europe, and especially over our country, such as rarely ever occur. The contempt with which the invading conqueror treated all whose resistance he had overcome, drove men back upon themselves, and awakened in their minds an indignation at their violated nationality, and called forth the determination to throw off the foreign yoke. The national feeling was aroused, and it has not slumbered since. This is sufficient to explain the existence of the demand for a national culture. But what is the precise meaning of the demand? It can mean nothing but these two things: first, that we should educate our pupils to be Germans should nourish and cherish in their hearts German sympathies and a German character; secondly that, for the accomplishment of this end, we should draw the means and the materials of education from our own national literature and culture.

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Let us begin with the second, and inquire what these means are. We have a peculiarly German music, a German architecture, a German school of painting, a German history, a German language, and literature; and in all these branches of culture and art, the German mind has exhibited a greatness and elevation surpassed by no other nation. Our music, our Gothic cathedral architecture, and our old paintings are incomparably rich. But these three arts do not properly belong to the schools. They

are not adapted to every person, are not sufficiently general. It is not the office of the schools to train artists. Our history and our language and literature alone remain as a means of general education; and in these we excel. They, of course, cannot be neglected in any system of education. But it is quite another question whether these alone are a sufficient means of education for our times. To this question, so often proposed, I must reply emphatically in the negative.

I hardly need say that the intercourse of nations, which for the last three centuries has extended to all quarters of the world, compels us to learn other languages. As to our literature, we will certainly study it diligently in the schools. But it is not sufficient of itself. The German literature of the Middle Ages has power to attract us; but it does not offer the means of a sufficiently various culture on account of its limited range of thought. And where in our modern literature, excellent as it confessedly is, do we find the gigantic greatness of a Shakspeare, the wonderful power and loveliness of a Homer, the comic genius of an Aristophanes and Molière ? How many writers have the smoothness and transparent clearness of the best French prose-writers? How many of our historians have the picturesqueness, ease, and grace of the Greek and Roman historians? What we need is the best means of education, whether national or not. The best are none too good.

Our own history needs no commendation to awaken an interest for it in our youth. But he who has studied only German history, cannot understand our times and our present public and social life. He who would know the good and the evil of an absolute monarchy, must study Spanish and French history. He who would learn the rapid growth and decay of democracies, must study the history of Athens, of Rome, and of Florence; and he who would understand constitutional government, must know the history of England. It is not enough to know one side of national life. We must be able to compare it with another, of a wholly different people. A Humboldt failed to understand many of the phenomena of the forms of our territory till he observed similar ones, in gigantic proportions and in a much more distinct outline, in the Andes. So we often learn the delicate traits of our own national character, only when we have seen them magnified in the character of another people.

We may be told that the other is the main point to be insisted upon in securing a national education; namely, that we should cultivate German sympathies and form a German character in our pupils. If by German sympathies and character are meant good nature, fidelity, industry, perseverance, simplicity, moderation, depth of feeling and thoroughness of knowledge, if modesty, orderly conduct, composure in danger, and persistent courage in calamity are meant, then it were a disgrace not to inculcate them. This, however, is but one side, and that the bright side, of our national character. All national character · -ours no less than others— has its weaknesses; and they are often an essential element of it. Shall

we also cherish these? Let it be remembered, too, that all great nations, whether ancient or modern, have possessed, if not all, yet the greater part, of these same qualities; and if some were wanting, others of equal value were found in their place.

In truth, teachers have only one thing to strive for the good, wherever it is found; and to remove whatever is evil and wrong, however closely it may be interwoven with our national life. This course will not expose us to the undue imitation of what is foreign; for many good traits in the character of other people will be incompatible with those of our own. Does Christianity, which is the highest perfection, recognize nationality as essential to itself? Is not that which is purest and noblest in art universal, except that it must take on some definite form? Let me not be misunderstood. In nationality I recognize the stamp of the coin, not the precious metal itself. Let the stamp be clear and distinct; but also let the gold be pure, so that it may have an independent and universal value apart from its form.

The best way to bring this little work to the notice of our readers, would be to translate it entire. But we must be excused from doing anything further in this line. The second address is on the relation of the gymnasia to the people, in respect to which he lays down two propositions: first, the school rules; second, the school serves. Quaint as these statements may seem to be, they are nevertheless true. Within its own appropriate sphere, the school rules. It does not ask leave to define its own aims and to make its own regulations. Both the parent and the pupil expect that the school will have its laws, to which they must conform. Order is a part of the education which it gives. The school is a little community, where the authority is less parental than in the family, and more parental than in the state. Here the young make their first essay at living in a public way, and feel the influence of a public sentiment, and the force of inflexible rules. In another, and quite a different sense, the school serves. It serves the community, by toiling for the general good. Serving the whole, it cannot sacrifice the whole to any of its parts. It cannot attempt to teach those things in which all do not, in a certain order, participate. It cannot undertake to qualify men specifically for any particular calling. This would be abandoning the common ground of a learned school, - a school for liberal culture, and trenching upon that of professional or practical schools. A gymnasium best serves all, when it so exercises and disciplines the minds of all that they shall be able, in the end, to master whatever they undertake In another discourse the author discusses the importance of an idea element in education. Deep in the soul of man, unexplained and perhaps inexplicable in their origin, exist the natural or intuitive ideas of the beautiful, the good, and the true. While these are the standards by which he ultimately judges of things, he feels assured that, in its actual form, as it is met in life, there is nothing beautiful or good without some foreign admix

ture.

These ideas, more perfect than any observed reality, present models

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