So it soon afterwards came about I was teacher and scholar, educator and
pupil, all at the same time.

If I were to attempt to put into one sentence all I expected to find at
Yverdon, I should say it was a vigorous inner life amongst the boys and
youths, quickening, manifesting itself in all kinds of creative
activity, satisfying the manysidedness of man, meeting all his
necessities, and occupying all his powers both mental and bodily.
Pestalozzi, so I imagined, must be the heart, the life-source, the
spiritual guide of this life and work; from his central point he must
watch over the boy's life in all its bearings, see it in all its stages
of development, or at all events sympathise with it and feel with it,
whether as the life of the individual, of the family, of the community,
of the nation, of mankind at large.

With such expectations I arrived at Yverdon. There was no educational
problem whose resolution I did not firmly expect to find there. That my
soul soon faithfully mirrored the life which there flowed around me, my
report for 1809 sufficiently shows.[67]

To throw myself completely into the midst, into the very heart, of
Pestalozzi's work, I wished to live in the main buildings of the
institution, that is to say, in the castle itself.[68] We would have
cheerfully shared the lot of the ordinary scholars, but our wish could
not be granted, some outside jealousies standing in the way. However, I
soon found a lodging, in immediate proximity to the institution, so that
we were able to join the pupils at their dinner, their evening meal, and
their supper, and to take part in the whole courses of their
instruction, so far as the subjects chosen by us were concerned; indeed,
to share in their whole life. I soon saw much that was imperfect; but,