means to continue the studies in natural history which he had commenced
in Jena. He had laid aside for this purpose part of his salary as tutor,
and was permitted, from 1810 to 1812, to complete in Gottingen his
astronomical and mineralogical studies. Yet the wish to try his powers
as a pedagogue never deserted him; and when, in 1812, the position of
teacher in the Plamann Institute in Berlin was offered him, he accepted
it. During his leisure hours he devoted himself to gymnastic exercises,
and even late in life his eyes sparkled when he spoke of his friend, old
Jahn, and the political elevation of Prussia.

When the summons "To my People" called the German youth to war, Froebel
had already entered his thirty-first year, but this did not prevent his
resigning his office and being one of the first to take up arms. He went
to the field with the Lutzow Jagers, and soon after made the acquaintance
among his comrades of the theological students Langethal and Middendorf.
When, after the Peace of Paris, the young friends parted, they vowed
eternal fidelity, and each solemnly promised to obey the other's summons,
should it ever come. As soon as Froebel took off the dark uniform of the
black Jagers he received a position as curator of the museum of
mineralogy in the Berlin University, which he filled so admirably that
the position of Professor of Mineralogy was offered to him from Sweden.
But he declined, for another vocation summoned him which duty and
inclination forbade him to refuse.

His brother, a pastor in the Thuringian village of Griesheim on the Ilm,
died, leaving three sons who needed an instructor. The widow wished her
brother-in-law Friedrich to fill this office, and another brother, a
farmer in Osterode, wanted his two boys to join the trio. When Froebel,
in the spring of 1817, resigned his position, his friend Langethal begged
him to take his brother Eduard as another pupil, and thus Pestalozzi's