The source of Middendorf's greatness in the sphere where life and his own
choice had placed him may even be imputed to him as a fault. He, the
most enthusiastic of all Froebel's disciples, remained to his life's end
a lovable child, in whom the powers of a rich poetic soul surpassed those
of the thoughtful, well-trained mind. He would have been ill-adapted for
any practical position, but no one could be better suited to enter into
the soul-life of young human beings, cherish and ennoble them.

A deeper insight into the lives of Barop and Langethal taught me to prize
these men more and more.

They have all rested under the sod for decades, and though their
institute, to which I owe so much, has remained dear and precious, and
the years I spent in the pleasant Thuringian mountain valley are numbered
among the fairest in my life, I must renounce making proselytes for the
Keilhau Institute, because, when I saw its present head for the last
time, as a very young man, I heard from him, to my sincere regret, that,
since the introduction of the law of military service, he found himself
compelled to make the course of study at Rudolstadt conform to the system
of teaching in a Realschule.--[School in which the arts and sciences as
well as the languages are taught.-TR.]--He was forced to do so in order
to give his graduates the certificate for the one year's military
service.

The classics, formerly held in such high esteem beneath its roof, must
now rank below the sciences and modern languages, which are regarded as
most important. But love for Germany and the development of German
character, which Froebel made the foundation of his method of education,
are too deeply rooted there ever to be extirpated. Both are as zealously