Cette communauté de vie avec ses semblables est ce qui manque généralement à l'éducation première. Cependant, ce n'est que dans ce régime de communauté que l'on peut former de bons citoyens. Il est nécessaire d'être, de vivre en société pour s'élever dans les vertus sociales.

Il faut donc à la vie de famille, qui est le point de départ et le centre de toute éducation, ajouter la vie de communauté dans le Jardin d'Enfans. Ici, le petit enfant apprend aussitôt à se soumettre à un ordre établi, à des lois générales; ici, dans la grande famille, il trouve à remplir bien des devoirs, dont la famille simple n'offre pas l'occasion. Les liens fraternels des enfans entre eux complètent ainsi et perfectionnent les liens des enfans avec leur famille, et l'ame enfantine s'initie à la fois à tous les sentimens et à tous les devoirs.

Les instituts actuels d'éducation publique séparent l'enfant de sa famille, qui doit être et rester sa première source de vie. Les écoles, en général, ne donnent que l'instruction à l'esprit, ne faisant presque rien pour l'éduca tion du cœur. Il est donc nécessaire de fonder des institutions nouvelles qui complètent l'éducation de famille sans l'interrompre.

Tels sont les Jardins d'Enfans, les Ateliers d'Enfans, où les heures de loisir des écoliers se passent dans une communauté qui développe et le caractère individuel et l'homme social. Jardins et ateliers appropriés à chaque âge, et qui, se constituant en colonies agricoles, conduisent l'enfance et la jeunesse à l'étude complète de la nature et à tous les travaux des exploitations rurales et industrielles.

VII.

Développer l'intelligence en mettant le cœur et la volonté en jeu, voilà un des principes fondamentaux de la méthode de Froebel.

Un autre de ses principes essentiels est celui-ci :

Ne point donner de définition et de formule avant que le sujet soit à près connu de l'enfant.

peu

Ainsi, par exemple, l'écolier, dans le Jardin d'Enfans, connait les vérités élémentaires de la mathématique par les architectures, par évidence, avant d'entendre leurs formules scientifiques.

Faire chercher et trouver la vérité en excitant et guidant, tel est le principe. Mettre toujours l'activité, et une activité spontanée, en jeu, pour que le fardeau d'une quantité de choses non comprises n'empêche pas les monvemens libres de l'ame; agir avant de penser, et agir avec la conscience du cœur.

Voilà ce qu'il faut à l'homme, et surtout l'homme de nos jours, qui s'est trop perdu dans les régions de la réflexion froide et spéculative, et s'est mis, par cet excès, dans l'incapacité d'aimer et d'agir.

Et tel est le résultat que doit donner la pratique des Jardins d'Enfans de Fræbel, quand cette humble et féconde institution aura reçu tous ses développemens.

BARONNE DE MARENHOLZ.

THE GOVERNESS.

FANCY NEEDLEWORK.
BY MRS. PULLAN.

[APRIL,

BRAIDED DINNER MAT.

MATERIALS:-Rich dark cloth and braid of two different widths of any colour that will contrast well with it.

The design must be enlarged to the various sizes required for the mats, and then neatly braided; or the entire set, marked ready for working, may be purchased. When finished, they are to be lined with mill-board and black silk, and the edges finished with a fancy cord, combining the colours of the cloth and braid.

MATERIALS:-Fine longcloth, and the Royal Embroidery Cotton, No. 16, of Messrs. W. Evans & Co., Derby.

The stems to be sewed over; the other parts are also to be pierced and sewed over, holding in a thread all the time to strengthen the work. The edging should be considerably raised and overcast.

POETRY.

REFLECTIONS BEFORE GOING TO THE LORD'S TABLE.

By the Author of "The School Girl in France."

(Continued from page 129.)

SAVIOUR! I hear Thy gracious voice,

Which bids the heavy-laden "Come;"

Which makes the mourning heart rejoice,
And calls the weary wanderer home.

LECTURES TO LADIES ON PRACTICAL SUBJECTS.* SUCH is the title of a most admirable and instructive volume, recently published under the able editorship of Mr. Maurice, on the title-page of which we are glad already to see the words Second Edition. "It is at least some proof," says a very quiet preface, "of the interest which the public takes in the question of the employment of women."

Macmillan Cambridge. Second edition. 1856.

"Those who have proposed to raise the Nightingale Fund' will probably be enabled to effect, on a large scale, one of the objects which it was hoped that a college for the rich and poor might attempt on a small scale. So far as nursing and the provision for nurses is concerned, the writer of these lectures may wait, on a good hope that their brightest dreams will be realized; and this, not because they put their trust in large donations and great names, but because a pledge has been given that the committee which collects the donations and contains the names will do nothing except under the advice and direction of the person who has proved, and is proving, that she has been called by a higher than they to her Divine ministry."-Preface, p. vi.

These simple and earnest words may suffice to tell us the spirit in which the writers of the volume have set to work, and in part explain the nature of the good work to which they intended to devote themselves. They may, too, be justly taken as a fair sample and type of the spirit which pervades all its pages, but more especially those filled by Mr. Maurice, whose greatness of mind and depth of thought are nowhere more conspicuous than in his unvarying and humble modesty. Judging by what he says of himself, the reader would suppose him one of the last and weakest labourers in the goodly field of teaching the women of England, instead of one of the noblest, bravest, and first. There is a manly simplicity, a humbleness of mind, and a living faith in all he writes, which are even more attractive than his wisdom or his eloquence. And this is the very highest praise we can give, though it may not be all he deserves. But our readers shall judge for themselves. The volume contains twelve lectures, delivered by different clergymen, physicians, and other gentlemen interested in so good a work, at the Working Men's College, 31, Red Lion Square, in May, June, and July, 1855; and though all are excellent in spirit and intention, and well worthy the attention of all readers, Mr. Maurice's assert and secure for themselves by far the first rank as the product of profound genius and more than ordinary wisdom. Many of the others we shall characterize as clever, instructive, and practical; but, having said this, we find no ground for further commendation.

Our present object is to make our readers acquainted with the Introductory Lecture by Mr. Maurice, entitled, " Plan of a Female College for the help of the Rich and the Poor," returning to the volume in future numbers of "THE GOVERNESS," and examining in due course all the succeeding lectures.

The origin of the Lectures was as follows:-The body of gentlemen who had instituted a College for Working Men, having found their plan a most successful one, determined, after some deliberation, to see if somewhat might not be done for the education of the wives and daughters. They therefore wisely called together the members, and invited them to express their opinions freely on the subject; and the result was a distinct and positive call not to withhold from the one what they were trying to give to the other.