the first fall of snow in winter, the daisy stars he strings upon the meadow. the fish leaping in the stream, the warm air which caresses his check the passing of the great wagon in the street, the swallows' nest above his bedroom window, the hour of rest at night, and his prayer at his mother's knee-all are loved lightly and felt keenly, and touch him with a poetic pleasure. And each impression, as it comes, is clothed in simple wordswords which often, in their spontaneousness, their fearless unconsciousness, their popular quality, their fitness for music, have something of a lyric note, something of the nature of a perfect song. For the child lives in a world of unconscious art. He is fearless in his delight, and when he is happy he trusts his own instincts as revelations: and if we could get back in after-life something of this, we should all be artists in heart. Onc knows in the highest genius that, united with manhood's trained power of expression, there is an eternal element of childhood. Take, for example, the perfect song, such as the songs of Shakespeare were. They were spontaneous, sudden, popular, simple, and able to be sung. But above. all, they derive their magic and winning power from the poet's fearlessness, from his trust in, and his delight in his instinctive emotions. The songs of other poets are spoiled by their fear of their simplicity being called absurd by the public, by that doubt whether the thing is quite right, that thinking about thought, that shyness of one's own feeling which come from want of that unconscious trust in his rightness and delight in it which a child possesses. The kingdom of a perfect song, the kingdom of a perfect work of art, is like the kingdom of heaven, one must enter it like a little child.

"Fostered alike by beauty and by fear," fear which has its thrill of joy, the child grows into union with the world, and into consciousness of his own heart, till "the characters of danger and desire" are impressed upon all outward forms, and day by day more vividly that great enjoyment swells which makes

The surface of the universal carth

With triumph and delight, with hope and fear,
Work like a sea,

And in quieter moments, calmer pleasures are his-pleasures of love given and received, pleasures of childish friendship, pleasures of first successes in learning and in new pursuits, pleasures of obscure feelings just touched, not understood, which make in after-life

Those recollected hours that have the charm

Of visionary things, those lovely forms

And sweet sensations which throw back our life,
And almost make remotest infancy

A visible scene, on which the sun is shining.

We look back on them with reflection, but there was no reflection, or but little, then; the life was natural, unthoughtful, only now and then, amid the full movement of unconscious pleasure, flashes of deeper thought arose and passed away, a faint touch of something to come, a weight within the pleasure, a dim sense of sublimity or calm, a suspicion of what duty meant, just came and were forgotten, but did not die. They went to form the heart, to build up that which was to become the man, and they arose afterwards in maturer life to impregnate and to elevate the mind.

We spoil all this divine teaching of God and nature by forcing the chii, out of his unconsciousness into self-consciousness, by demanding of him reflection, by checking the joy of his receptiveness by too much teaching, too much forcing. Let him remain for a time ignorant of himself, and abide in his heavenly father's hands; let him live naturally, and drink in his wisdom and his religion from the influences which God makes play around him. Above all, do not demand of him, as many do, convictions of sin, nor make him false and hysterical by calling out from his imitative nature deep spiritual experiences which he cannot truly feel. Let him begin with natural religion, leave him his early joy untainted, see that he knows God as love and beauty and sympathy. It is horrible to anticipate for him the days, soon enough to come, when sorrow and sin will make of life a battle, where victory can only be bought by pain.

But if we keep these early days pure and joyful, full of the blessedness of uninjured faith and unconscious love, we give to the man that to which he can always look back with hope, and use for the kindling of effort and aspiration. For the dim remembrance of their pure and powerful pleasure, the divinity within them, have virtue to recall us in after-life, when high feeling is dulled with the cares of this world, to loftier and better thoughts; to nourish and repair imagination when its edge is blunted by distress and doubt; to exalt the soul with hope, that though innocence is lost, yet goodness remains to be won; to tell us, in the midst of the transient and the perishable, that our life is hidden in God, and our spirit at home in immortality. It is true that inimitable innocence, that perfect trust, that belief that nothing is impossible, that fresh and honest freedom, that divine joy, cannot be the blessing of the man. He has been driven out of Eden, and the swords wave forever over the gate and forbid return. But there is a nobler paradise before us, the paradise of the soldier spirit which has fought with Christ against the evil, and finished the work which the Father has given him to do. There the spirit of the child shall be min gled with the power of the man, and we shall once more, but now with ennobled passion and educated energies, sing the songs of the fearless land, children of God, and men in Christ.

It is true that, tossed with doubt, and confused with thoughts which go near to mastering the will, we are tempted to look back with wild regret to the days, when children, we dreamt so happily of God, and lived in a quaint and quiet heaven of our own fanciful creation, and took our dreams for realities, and were happy in our belief. But after all, though the simple religion is lost, its being now more complex does not make it less divine; our faith is more tried, but it is stronger; our feelings are less easily moved, but they are deeper; our love of God is less innocent, but how much more profound; our life is not so bright in the present, but its future is glorious in our eyes. We are men who know that we shall be made partaker's of the child's heart towards our Father, united with the awe and love and experience of the man. And then, through death, again we enter the imperial palace whence we came. We hear the songs and voices which of old we heard before we left our home, but we hear them now with fuller, more manly comprehension; we see again the things which eye hath not seen, but our vision pierces deeper. We worship God with the delight of old, before we went upon our Wander-Year, but the

joy is more stately, for it is now the joy of sacrifice; and all things now are new to us, for we have grown into men, and we feel the power and joy of progress. But never, as we look to Him who led us all our life long until this day, shall we lose the feeling of the child. Through all eternity the blessing of the child's heart shall be ours. In the midst of our swiftest work, in the midst of our closest pursuit of new knowledge, in the midst of all the endless labor and sacrifice of the heavenly life, we shall always turn with the sense of infinite peace to God, and say, Our Father, suffer a little child to come to Thee.

THE GREEN PASTURES.

I WALK'D in a field of fresh clover this morn,
Where lambs play'd so merrily under the trees,
Or rubbed their soft coats on a naked old thorn,
Or nibbled the clover, or rested at case.
And under the hedge ran a clear water brook,
To drink from, when thirsty or weary with play;
And so gay did the daisies and buttercups look,

That I thought little lambs must be happy all day.
And when I remember the beautiful psalm,

That tells about Christ and his pastures so green,
I know he is willing to make me his lamb,

And happier far than the lambs I have seen.
If I drink of the waters, so peaceful and still,
That flow in his field, I forever shall live;
If I love him and seek his commands to fulfill,
A place in his sheep-fold to me he will give.
The lambs are at peace in the fields when they play,
The long summer's day in contentment they spend;

But happier I, if in God's holy way

I try to walk always with Christ for my friend.-Mrs. Duncan

THE CHILD'S DESIRE.

I think, as I read that sweet story of old,

When Jesus was here among men,

How He called little children as lambs to His fold,

I should like to have been with them then.

I wish that His hands had been placed on my head,
That His arms had been thrown around me,

And that I might have seen His kind look when He said,

Let the little ones come unto me."

But still to His footstool in prayer I may go,

And ask for a share in His love;

And if I thus earnestly seek Him below,

I shall see Him and hear Him above,

In that beautiful place He has gone to prepare
For all that are washed and forgiven;

And many dear children are gathering there,

For such is the kingdom of Heaven."-Mrs. Luke.

FRÖBEL'S SYSTEM IN CONGRESS OF PHILOSOPHERS.

SESSION HELD AT FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN, IN OCTOBER, 1869.

INTRODUCTION.

The Congress of Philosophers first met at Prague, on the call of Prof. von Leohnardi, of that University, on the 26th of September, and continued in session till the 4th of October, 1868.* There were fifty-five members present, and one hundred more responded in letters of sympathy, representing the prominent chairs of philosophy in European Universities. It had a section of Pedagogy in which, among other phases of education, Fröbel's system and the Kindergarten were discussed. The meeting decided to hold a second session in October and November, 1869. In May, 1869 a circular was issued in the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, in which due prominence is given to the Pedagogical section.

True philosophy, as an educator, is ever active to clear away the barriers that stand in the way of clear, unbiased comprehension of science and life in their relations and integrity, Philosophy raises the banner, not of any one special science, but of human culture, and however regarded by the materialists of the day as a foolish pursuit, it is the only basis of rightful educationnothing less than which has been the aim of all the eminent educators of our time, such as COMENIUS, PESTALOZZI, DIESTERWEG, FRÖBEL. So far as the General German Teachers' Convention and the Austrian Teachers build on the foundations these men have laid, they work for the same ends as the Philosophers' Congress, from which they are only distinguished in this, that they have special educational aims, while the Philosophers' Congress takes into consideration all questions of interest to cultivated persons and society at large. A delegation was sent to the Teachers' Convention at Berlin, asking them to take part in the Congress at Frankfort-on-the-Main; to aid, by word and co-operation, to solve the educational problems of the present, the most prominent of which are the completing and remodeling of the public schools, especially the establishing and reorganizing of Kindergartens, in accordance with the spirit of FRÖBEL

One problem to be solved in the establishing of a philosophical normal school for the training of educators and teachers, by which not only a remodeling and improvement of the primary, but also of the high-schools, shall be attained. Finally they will ask for an improvement in female education, in accordance with the demands of the present time and the vocation of the female sex. As these points are felt to be of importance by every thinking educator, it is believed that all the teachers will meet with confidence and good-will, a convention of thinking friends of humanity, to devise means for its welfare.

The Berlin Teachers' Convention responded favorably, and was present in force at the session held in Frankfort, Oct. 26, 1869.

*We are referred by Dr. Harris, to the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung for October, 1868, and the Philosophische Monertshafte, Vol. I, p. 514, Vol. II. p. 139, 236, 322, 424; and Leohnardi's Die Neuve Zeit for 1867-9, for a full account of the proceedings of the Philosophers' Congress. 19

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"In the beginning of our century, education needed a new impulse; and it was given by PESTALOZZI and FICHTE who broke the road for the national edueation of Germany. But the question, what is the true humane mode of education, applicable to all men every where, comes up anew, and asks for the right means to fulfill its mission.

FRIEDRICK FROBEL, the great educational reformer of our era, in his system of education, promises these means. But, as yet, his method has been only partly and inadequately carried out in the widely-multiplying Kindergartens. It asks for a thorough investigation, on the part of scientific men, of the principles on which it is based; and if its claims prove to be well founded, it should be recommended to all governments and communities, and its adoption decreed. In view of the great importance of this question, an educational committee, which counts eminent scientific meu among its members, was formed last year in Berlin, during the teachers' convention, for the purpose of taking the matter into consideration; and they are invited to attend the Philosophers' Congress as members, taking active part in it, discussing the general educational questions, and devising means to establish a central normal school for the education of male and female teachers, who may meet all the demands of our time in all directions; and an address to the government and school authorities of Germany for the reform of the normal schools, will be submitted for discussion."

The subjects thus announced in the manifests of the Berlin Teachers' Convention were discussed in the Pedagogical Section of the Philadelphia Congress at Frankfort from Oct. 26th to Nov. 4th, and the conclusions reached in the field of popular education, were embodied in a Report of a special committee of which Prof. von Fichte was chairman. During the session, the Baroness von MarenholtzBülow gave four public lectures in Frankfort which were largely attended, and took the initiatory steps for the establishment of a "General Educational Union," which was organized in 1871-72.

PROF. I. H. VON FICHTE, the author of the following Report, was a philosopher and writer of great eminence and remarkable versatility. He was born July 8, 1797, the son of the distinguished philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte, whose writings and personal influence are world renowned, and who died the 27th of June, 1814. His widow died five years later. The son took his degree as Doctor of Philosophy in 1818, at the University of Berlin, where for a short time he was established as Privat-docent. Later he became a Gymnasial teacher in Saarbrücken, and subsequently in Düsseldorf. For several years till 1840, he was Professor Extraordinary of Philosophy in Bonn. In 1842 he was called to Tübingen as Professor of Philosophy, where he remained till 1863, when he resigned and removed to Stuttgart, where he resided till his death, at the age of 83. He was a voluminous writer upon a variety of subjects, on Philosophy, Ethics, Pedagogies, and Theology, singularly clear, candid, and sensible, carnestly theistic and christian. He founded the journal which bears his name and has reached the 78th volume, and is highly esteemed in Germany and wherever German Philosophy is studied.