This ends the autobiographical part of the Krause letter.  Here and there in the footnotes the present editors, profound admirers of the great master, have ventured to criticise frankly the inordinate belief in himself which was at once Froebel’s strength, and his weakness.  On the one hand, his noble and truly gigantic efforts were only made possible by his almost fanatical conviction in his principles and in his mission.  On the other hand, this dogmatic attitude made it very difficult to work with him, for persons of any independence of mind.  He could scarcely brook discussion, never contradiction.  This is most characteristically shown by a fragment of Froebel’s dated 1st April, 1829, as follows:—­

“I consider my own work and effort as unique in all time, as necessary in itself, and as the messenger of reformation for all ages, working forwards and backwards, offering and giving to mankind all that it needs, and all that it perpetually seeks on every side.  I have no complaint to make if others think otherwise about it; I can bear with them;[122] I can even, if need be, live with them, and this I have actually done; but I can share no life-aim with them, they and I have no unity of purpose in life.  It is not I, it is they who are at fault herein; I do not separate myself from them, they withdraw themselves from me.”

To get a view of Froebel’s work from the practical side, so as to supplement the account we have received from Froebel himself as to the origination and development of the principles upon which that work was based, we have selected a sketch by Barop entitled “Critical Moments in the Froebel Community;” written for Dr. Lange’s edition by Barop (then the principal and proprietor of Keilhau) about the year 1862.

CRITICAL MOMENTS IN THE FROEBEL COMMUNITY.

Under this heading Barop writes as follows:—­

About 1827 we were in an unusually critical position.  You know how little means we had when we began to create our Institution.[123] Middendorff had sacrificed his entire inheritance from his father, but the purchase of the ground and the erection of necessary buildings called for considerable sums, so that Middendorff’s addition to the capital had disappeared like drops of water falling on a hot stone.  My father-in-law, Christian Ludwig Froebel, had later on come forward and placed his entire fortune unconditionally in the hands of his brother,[124] but even this sacrifice was not sufficient to keep away care and want from the door.  My own father was a man of means, but he was so angry at my joining the Froebel community at Keilhau[125] that he refused me any assistance whatever.  Mistrust surrounded us on all sides in these early years of our work; open and concealed enmities assailed us both from near and far, and sought to embitter our lot and to nip our efforts in the bud.  None the less for this, the institution blossomed