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The Story of My Life — Volume 04 by Georg Ebers
page 4 of 56 (07%)

The restless years of wandering, during which, unloved and scarcely
heeded, he had been thrust from one place to another, had awakened in his
warm heart a longing to keep others from the same fate. He, who had been
guided by no kind hand and felt miserable and at variance with himself,
had long been ceaselessly troubled by the problem of how the young human
plant could be trained to harmony with itself and to sturdy industry.
Gruner showed him that others were already devoting their best powers to
solve it, and offered him an opportunity to try his ability in his model
school.

Froebel joyfully accepted this offer, cast aside every other thought,
and, with the enthusiasm peculiar to him, threw himself into the new
calling in a manner which led Gruner to praise the "fire and life" he
understood how to awaken in his pupils. He also left it to Froebel to
arrange the plan of instruction which the Frankfort Senate wanted for the
"model school," and succeeded in keeping him two years in his
institution.

When a certain Frau von Holzhausen was looking for a man who would have
the ability to lead her spoiled sons into the right path, and Froebel had
been recommended, he separated from Gruner and performed his task with
rare fidelity and a skill bordering upon genius. The children, who were
physically puny, recovered under his care, and the grateful mother made
him their private tutor from 1807 till 1810. He chose Verdun, where
Pestalozzi was then living, as his place of residence, and made himself
thoroughly familiar with his method of education. As a whole, he could
agree with him; but, as has already been mentioned, in some respects he
went further than the Swiss reformer. He himself called these years his
"university course as a pedagogue," but they also furnished him with the
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