evening. It was, perhaps, a result of the unconscious influence of the surroundings that the teachers here were less kind in manner and tone to the children than was usual elsewhere. As some sort of counterbalance to these disadvantages, there was, however, a small yard or garden for the children to play in, and some little disorderly beds of plants and flowers were pointed out to me as the children's.

I may here take the opportunity of saying that Fröbel's notion, that the children of the Kindergarten are not only to be regarded as human plants themselves, but also as cultivators of real plants, remains still, for the most part, unrealized. I saw very few gardens at all connected with the institution, and those that I saw were scarcely worth a second glance. They were generally overgrown with sprawling plants, or given up to the dominion of weeds. Nor did I see a single instance in which children were at work in them. Indeed, it is obvious enough that things, in most cases, must be so. In large towns where the system is in vogue, and where, I believe, it will still take deep root and flourish, it is next to impossible to obtain adequate space for the experiments in actual gardening. If, indeed, I may venture an opinion, which will, I am aware, be unacceptable to

some of the enthusiastic followers of Fröbel, I should recommend the gradual disuse of the term Kindergarten altogether. Interpreted by facts as they are, it has no special propriety. The Kindergartens are really preparatory schools for very young children, and nothing else. The methods adopted in them may and do differ greatly from those of ordinary schools, but when these, in process of time, are modified, as they will be, so as to form a continuation of the same system, the name will lose its speciality. A child of six or seven years old is as much a human plant as one of three; and the school, as a place for culture, is as much Kindergarten as that which now bears the name. If it is the age only on which the distinction depends, then we have a distinction without a difference. All this will sound very heterodox, no doubt, in the ears of some of the enthusiasts I have referred to; but when they understand that I agree with them as to the value of the thing, they will perhaps tolerate my quibbles about the name. I fully believe myself that, though this foreign name has been temporarily adopted in England and America, neither this nor that of Kindergärtner (gardeners) for the teachers will be permanently employed.

Several of the Hamburg Kindergartens are under

the immediate superintendence of a number of ladies and gentlemen, forming a committee of the Fröbel Verein (a Fröbel Union), the headquarters of which are at Dresden. The ladies of the committee, and the president, who is a Mrs. Johanna Goldschmidt, very kindly take turns in visiting the schools of the Union; and I could distinctly see the good effects of this care in the character of their special institution. In one of them that I visited there were thirty childrenages from three to seven-paying nearly £4 a year each. The rooms, though not large enough, were commodious and cheerful, and the children, when I arrived, were industriously interweaving strips of coloured paper (Flechten), which they did very deftly, and with evident satisfaction to themselves. This work consists in plaiting strips of paper, so as to form various designs, the effect depending on the symmetrical arrangement of the different colours. The little workers, armed with needle and thread, draw the slips in and out amongst others already laid down to form the groundwork of the pattern, an exercise requiring much more attention and thought than might at first sight be expected. The specimen at top of next page will give some idea of the work.

The children had been engaged, I was told, since nine o'clock in (1) building with cubes; (2) in 'sticklaying,' or making different forms on the flat table. This consists in placing little sticks (stäbchen) in various relations to each other, as this

A hi◊ **

(3) In games and gymnastics. While I stayed, there was a good deal of singing, not very well conducted, for the teachers could not be complimented on their own sweet voices; and I invariably remarked that the tone and quality even of the children's voices depended greatly-and for obvious reasons on those of the teachers.

I observed, on looking out from one of the windows, some little flower-beds belonging, as I was told, to the children, to which which the remarks which I have previously made were applicable. The children altogether looked a very

happy little community, earnestly engaged in their occupation, and happy because earnestly engaged. And herein lies one of the great truths which Fröbel brought to light and made practical. He saw more clearly, perhaps, than any one before him, that the secret of happiness is occupation-the healthy employment of our powers, whatever they may be. This is especially true of little children, who are scarcely ever contented with simply doing nothing, and whose fidgettiness and unrest, which often give mothers and teachers so much anxiety, are merely the strugglings of the soul to get, through the body, some employment for its powers. Supply this want, give them an object to work upon, and you solve the problem. The divergence and distraction of the faculties cease as they converge upon the work, and the mind is at rest in its very occupation. The nature of the work makes very little difference, and even its sameness does not weary. It becomes interesting, simply because it gives scope to the energies, and concentrates them. I frequently had occasion to notice that the children were doing over and over again what I knew that they had often done before, and I once enquired whether the teacher did not find. that the children got tired of the apparent sameness