11 
 
0898. j 
 
 REPRINTEiD KROM 
 
 EDUCATION, 
 
 Boston, March, 1894. 
 
 'Joseph neef and pestalozzianism 
 in america. 
 
 WILL si MONKOE, STANFORT> UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA. 
 
 THE history of education in the United States is yet unwritten. 
 Young as it is in years, many of the men and movements 
 connected with its beginning are aheady forgotten or remembered 
 only by a few special students. But when it comes to be written, 
 Joseph Neef and his efforts to introduce Pestalozzianism in Ameri- 
 ca, during the opening years of the present century, will be famil- 
 iar to teachers generally. Today, scarcely a score of our profes- 
 sional educators know more than his name. Of the character and 
 activities of this remarkable Alsacian — who fought with Napoleon, 
 taught with Pestalozzi, and made the first contribution to a peda- 
 gogical literature in America — the present article is to deal. For 
 it, the writer has taken possession of many widely scattered facts — 
 the various accounts of Pestalozzi's work at Burgdorf, Owen's com- 
 munistic movement at New Harmony, the excellent articles by Mr. 
 Gardette'^^ and Mr. ^Vood,<*> the printed books of Neef, letters and 
 other documents from his daughter — and these he has endeavored 
 to weave into a continuous sketch. For the benefit of those who 
 may be interested in the further study of this wonderful man, 
 there has been appended a bibliography, to which the numbei-s in 
 the body of the article refer. While he has admired the work of 
 this pioneer disciple of Pestalozzi and seemed to make the touch of 
 the critical finger somewhat gentle, he has withal, endeavored to 
 indicate the limitations and mistakes of the subject of his memoir. 
 
2 EDUCATION. ^_^ (April, 
 
 Francis Joseph Nicholas Neef was born at Soultz, Alsace, on the 
 6th of December, 1770. His father was a miller and destined his 
 son for the priesthood ; but when about twenty-one years old, 
 young Neef gave up the idea of taking orders, and entered the 
 French army under Napoleon. At the famous battle of Arcole, 
 Italy, in 1796, he was severely wounded and forced to retire from 
 the military service. It was then that he turned his attention to 
 education. When he joined Pestalozzi, is nowhere positively 
 stated. In the Plan of Education he says : " About a year after 
 Pestalozzi's school was established I became acquainted with him." 
 The school at Burgdorf was opened in 1799, so that Neef must 
 have joined Pestalozzi in 1800. The character of his teaching at 
 Burgdorf is best given by Ramsaner^"' who was a pupil of the 
 school at the time. He says : "• Buss had the scholars to sing 
 whilst marching in time two and two, holding each other by the 
 hand, in the large corridors of the castle. This was our chief 
 pleasure ; but our joy reached its climax when our gymnastic mas- 
 ter Neef, with his peculiar charm, took part hi it. This Neef was 
 an old soldier who had fought in all parts of the world. He was a 
 giant with a great beard, a crabbed face, a severe air, a rude exter- 
 ior, but he was kindness itself. When he marched with the air of 
 a trooper at tlie head of sixty or eighty cliildren, his great voice 
 thundering a Swiss air, then he enchanted the whole house. 
 ****** J should say that Neef, in spite of the rudeness of 
 his exterior, was the pupils' favorite, and for this reason he always 
 lived with them and felt happiest when amongst them. He played, 
 exercised, walked, bathed, climbed, threw stones with the scholars 
 all in a childish spirit : this is how he had such unlimited author- 
 ity over them. Meanwhile, he was not a pedagogue, he only had 
 the heart of one." 
 
 Pestalozzi, having been chosen a member of the Helvetic con- 
 sulta in 1802, was frequently called to Paris to settle disputes and 
 look after interests involving Helvetia. A ])hilanthropic society in 
 Paris, learning of his method of instruction, induced him to send 
 one of his teachers among them. Neef, because of his familiarity 
 with the French and German languages, was chosen to conduct 
 the Paris school. This school, a sort of orphanage, and not un- 
 like the one that Pestalozzi was at the time conducting at Burg- 
 dorf, attracted general attention, and was visited by numerous dis- 
 tinguished educators and philanthropists, not a few of whom were 
 Americans. 
 
1894.1 JOSEPH NEEF AND PESTALOZZIANISJJ. $ 
 
 Pompee"''* gives this account of Neef s Paris school and a visit 
 to the same made by Napoleon : " Mons. Neef, a teacher of Burg- 
 dorf, was sent to Paris, and commenced teaching in the orphanage, 
 where the administration of the benevolent institutions entrusted a 
 certain number of children to him. Napoleon, wishing to see for 
 himself the results, went to the orphanage accompanied by Tally- 
 rand, the embassador from the United States, and a large number 
 of distinguished people ; he left well satisfied with what he saw. 
 ****** Whilst all the governments of Europe were thinking 
 of introducing a new system of teaching into the elementary 
 schools, a private individual, Mr. McClure, conferred upon his 
 country, the United States, an establishment that could vie with 
 the most important schools of Europe. A singular chance led him 
 toward the improvement of his country's instruction. In 1804 he 
 was in Paris, and had a great desire to see Napoleon. He applied 
 to the ambassador from the United States who took him to the 
 meeting where Napoleon had gone to see the results of Neef's 
 teaching of the orphans. During the whole time that the exer- 
 cises were going on, McClure, absorbed in looking at Napoleon, 
 saw nothing else ; but, when going away, he heard Tallyrand say 
 to Napoleon, It is too much for us. This remark struck him ; he 
 returned to the room and learned from Neef the object of the 
 meeting ; and, as he was deeply interested in the improvement of 
 the condition of the poorer classes, he saw at once all that Pesta- 
 lozzi's system could do to benefit their condition. He made a very 
 favorable offer to Neef to go to Philadelphia, and later on to New 
 Harmony to found a Pestalozzian Institute." 
 
 The circumstances and date of Mr. McClure's visit to Paris, as 
 given by Neef^^"^ himself, are as follows : '' In the summer of 1805, 
 Mr. William McClure, of Philadelphia, one of Pennsylvania's 
 most enlightened sons, happened to visit Helvetia's interesting 
 mountains and valleys. He was accompanied by Mr. C. Cabell, a 
 brother of the present governor of Virginia. Pestalozzi's school 
 attracted their notice. They repaired thither and to be soon con- 
 vinced of the solidity, importance and usefulness of the Pestalozzi's 
 method displayed before his eyes, and to form an unalterable wish 
 of naturalizing it in his own country, were operations succeeding 
 each other with such rapidity, that Mr. McClure took them for 
 one and the same operation. As soon as he had returned to Paris, 
 Mr. McClure sought and sent for me. ' On what terms,' said the 
 
4 EDUCATION. [April, 
 
 magnanimous patriot, ' would you go to my country, and introduce 
 there your method of education ? I have seen Pestalozzi, I know 
 his system ; my country wants it and will receive it with entliiisi- 
 asm. I engage to pay your passage, to secure your livelihood. 
 Go and be your master's apostle in the new world.' My soul was 
 warmed with admiration at such uncommon generosity. Republi- 
 can by inclination and principle, and of course not at all pleased 
 with the new order of things that was established under my e^^es, I 
 was not only glad to quit Europe, but 1 burnt with desire to see- 
 that country, to live in it, to be useful to it which can boast of such 
 citizens. But what still more heightens Mr. McClure's magnan- 
 imity is, that I did not at that period understand English at all. 
 Two years at least were to be allowed for my acquiring a sufficient 
 knowledge of the language of this land ; during which space I had 
 no other resource left but Mr. McClure's generosity. But neither 
 this nor any other consideration could stagger his resolution. 
 Thus it was that I became an inhabitant of the new world " 
 
 The following document, copied from the original kindly loaned 
 to the writer by his daughter Mrs. Richard Owen, states clearl}^ 
 and briefly the agreement between Neef and McClure : "Professor 
 Neef agrees to go to Pennsylvania in the U. S. of America and 
 -- ^) teach children after the methods of Pestalozzi for three years from 
 
 the date of his arrival, in consequence of which Wm. Maclure 
 agrees to pay Professor Neef's expenses from Paris to the U. S. of 
 America to the amount of Three thousand Two hundred Livres 
 Tournois, and to make good to Professor Neef whatever sum as 
 salary he may receive for teaching said methods that falls short of 
 Five hundred Dollars per Annum during the three years or the 
 time Professor Neef may continue to teach the system of Pesta- 
 lozzi. Paris, 19th March, 1806. WM. MACLURE." On the 
 back of the same is the following: "Paris, 19th March, 1806. 
 Received from Wm. Maclure Three thousand two hundred Livres 
 Tournois in full for my expenses to the U. S. of America agreeable 
 to the terms of the Within Engagement. NEEF." What broad 
 humanitarianism ! Well might Mr. Maclure's biographer^''^ say 
 of him : " He devoted his talents and his wealth, not to the acqui- 
 sition of a greater fortune, or person-al agrandizement, or sensual 
 indulgence, but to the advancement of science and the amelioration 
 of the condition of his fellow-men, born and living in circum- 
 stances not as favorable to happiness as himself." 
 
1894.] JOSEPH NEEF AND PESTALOZZIANISM. 5 
 
 Neef opened his school in Philadelphia in 1809, at the Falls of 
 the Schuylkill, near where the Fairniount water works are now lo- 
 cated. The school house was situated on a hill and near it were 
 two other buildings, used as the dwelling house and dormitories. 
 They were plainly built, of rough, Substantial material, but they 
 were well-ventilated and comfortable. On this spot, as Mr. Gar- 
 dette tells us, Mr. Neef succeeded in collecting over one hundred 
 pupils, most of them sons of the best families in and around Phila- 
 delphia, and nearly, but not quite, all of them boarders. A kins- 
 man of Mr. GardetteW has thus desciibed this institution: "I 
 lived at the school for four years (from my seventh to my 
 eleventh). During this period I saw no book, neither was I taught 
 my alphabet. The chief subjects taught us orally, were the lan- 
 guages, mathematics, and the natural sciences; and the idea was 
 to make us understand the object and application of all we learned. 
 ****** Our outdoor life was equally curious. We never 
 wore hats, winter or summer, and many of us went barefooted also 
 during the warm weather. Our master, hatless as ourselves, would 
 lead us on long tramps through the adjacent country, talking, as 
 we went, upon agriculture, botany, mineralogy and the like, in a 
 pleasant, descriptive way, and pointing out to us their practical il- 
 lustration in the grain fields, the gardens, the rocks and streams 
 along our route. And wherever we came, we were always recog- 
 nized by our bare heads and hardy habits as ' the Neef boys from 
 the Falls.' We were encouraged in all athletic sports, were great 
 swimmers and skaters, walkers and gymnasts. In the pleasant 
 weather we went to bathe twice every day in the Schuylkill, with 
 Neef, who was an accomplished swimmer, at our head. It was 
 possibly owing to these amusements and exercises being taken in 
 common with our master that there existed between Neef and his 
 pupils a freedom so great as to be sometimes, I fear, slightly incon- 
 .sistent with good breeding or the deference due from pupil to 
 teacher. But this seemed to be a part of the system, and Mr. 
 Neef^>;vvas a thoroughly good-tempered, simple-mannered, and amia- 
 ble man, without an atom of false pride or pedagogism." How like 
 the characterization by Ramsaner ! 
 
 The Ischool was continued at the Falls of the Schuylkill for a 
 little more than three years with great success, Avhen it was re- 
 moved to Village Green, Chester County. While here, among 
 other pupils, was one David Glasgow Farragut, subsequently the 
 
6 ED UCA riON. [April , 
 
 famous Admiral. But the cliauge proved disastrous ; and after a 
 little more than a year, upon the advice of Dr. Gait, of Louisville, 
 Kentucky, whose sons had been under Neef's tuition at Village 
 Green, he moved his school thither. The Louisville school did not 
 prosper as he had hoped. It was given up and he purchased a 
 farm twenty-five miles from the city Avliich he continued to oper- 
 ate until 1826 when Robert Owen induced him to go to New Har- 
 mony, Lidiana, and join his community and supervise the schools 
 of the same. A writer^^*'^ in the American Journal of Education 
 (Boston) For March, 1827, says of the New Harmony school : 
 "The system is the improved Pestalozzian ; and of course they 
 never attempt to teach children what they cannot comprehend. 
 In consequence all kinds of dogmas of every sect or persuasion are 
 banished from the schools, but the purest and unsophisticated 
 morals are taught by example and precept. In the infant school a 
 friendly feeling and equanimity of temper, kindness and mild dis- 
 position towards one another is taught more b}^ example than pre- 
 cept.'" And Sir Rowland HillP'^ in mentioning the same says : 
 " Here is a specimen of the advantages of the system. The nat- 
 uralists having made the children acquainted with their wants, the 
 little creatures swarm over the woods, and bring in such an abun- 
 dance of specimens that they are forming several immense collec- 
 tions, some of which they will })resent to new communities, and 
 others will be exchanged for collections in other parts of the 
 world." Mr. Dunnl^"^^ in an editorial on " New Harmony's Influ- 
 ence," in the Indianapolis Sentinel^ says : " At the founding of the 
 community William McClure, an educator and political economist 
 of high attainments, and Joseph Neef, a disciple and associate of 
 Pestalozzi, took charge of the mental and manual training of the 
 colony. In addition to the school-room, frequent lectures were 
 given on various subjects, and the most advanced methods of agri- 
 culture and all branches of industry were introduced. ****** 
 But beyond their immediate labors, there was certainly an educa- 
 tional influence in the New Harmony work that must have been 
 widely felt." 
 
 But the New Harmony community was given up in 1828 and 
 Mr. Neef removed to Cincinnati and later to Steubenville, Ohio, 
 where he conducted a school for a short time. In 1834 he re- 
 turned to New Harmony where he continued to live up to the 
 time of his death, April 8, 1854. Robert Dale Owenti'^] i„ ]^ig 
 
1894. J JOSEPH NEEF AND PESTALOZZIANISM. 7 
 
 autobiographical sketches has this to say of him : " Simple, 
 straight-forward, and cordial, a proficient in modern languages, a 
 good musician, he had brought with him from Pestalozzi's institu- 
 tion an excellent mode of teaching. To his earlier life, as an 
 officer under Napoleon, was due a blunt, off-hand manner and an 
 abrujit style of speech, enforced, now and then, with an oath — an 
 awkward habit for a teacher, which I think he tried ineffectually 
 to get rid of. One day, when I was within hearing, a boy in his 
 class used profane language. ' Youngster,' said Neef to him, ' you 
 mustn't swear. It's silly and its vulgar, and it means nothing. 
 Don't let me hear you do so again.' ' But, Mr. Neef,' said the 
 boy, hesitating, and looking half-frightened, ' if — if its vulgar and 
 wrong to swear, why — ' ' Well, out with it ! Never stop when you 
 want to say anything : that is another bad habit. You wished to 
 know why — ' 'why you swear yourself, Mr. Neef?' 'Because I'm 
 
 a d d fool. Don't you be one, too.* With all his roughness, 
 
 the good old man was a general favorite alike with children and 
 adults. Those whose recollections of Harmony extend back thirty 
 years preserve a genial remembrance of him walking about in the 
 sun of July or August, in linen trousers and shirt, always bare- 
 headed, sometimes barefooted, with a grandchild in his arms, and 
 humming to his infant charge some martial air, in a wonderful 
 bass voice, which, it is said, enabled him, in his younger days, 
 when giving commands to a body of troops, to be distinctly heard 
 by ten thousand men." 
 
 Neef was married July 5, 1803, to Eloisa Buss, sister of Johannes 
 Buss, teacher of geometry and drawing in Pestalozzi's school. The 
 ceremony was performed in the old castle at Burgdorf and was 
 witnessed by I'estalozzi, his wife, and other members of the insti- 
 tution. Johannes Buss had two of his brothers in Pestalozzi's 
 school ; and, being desirous of having his sister educated there 
 also, he induced Madame Pestalozzi to take Eloisa under her 
 charge. She was taught there privately for three j'ears — the 
 school being exclusively for boys — and Neef was her teacher of 
 French. In his Plan of Education he thus speaks of her : 
 " Mistress Neef, according to what she very often tells me, and I 
 of course must believe, is an excellent contriver in housekeeping ; 
 she shall, therefore, be entrusted with the management of our 
 domestic affairs. Like the honest Vicar of Wakefield, I chose my 
 wife not for a glossy surface, but such other qualities as I thought 
 
8 EDUCATION. [April, 
 
 would wear well. I shall bestow no further eulogy upon said 
 lady, lest my reader should imagine I am still in love with her, 
 which would be a very unfashionable mistake indeed. No husband 
 who has outlived the honeymoon will be astonished at this assertion 
 of mine, as soon as he shall know that I have been married these 
 five long years." 
 
 ^ That Mrs. Neef had her share of trouble with her simple-hearted 
 pedagogical husband, is evidenced by this incident told by one of 
 his Philadelphia pupils: '' Mr. Neef had no inclination for society, 
 and, on occasions when it became necessary that he should visit 
 the city, his wife, an excellent and notable woman, would tie a 
 cravat (which he habitually went without) round his neck, and 
 slap a hat on his head, much to his disgust and annoyance. 
 ' Alas I ' he would exclaim at such times with a mock resignation ; 
 ' must I again have the rope round my neck.' It usually happened, 
 on these excursions citywards, that, taking off liis hat in the stage 
 or at the first halt on his route, he forgot all about tliat superfluous 
 article, and would return to his good lady hatless as usual. And 
 if the day had been warm, the cravat generally shared the fate of 
 the hat. To guard against these frequently recurring losses, Mrs. 
 Neef had recourse, finally, to the plan of attaching her husband's 
 name and address inside the crown of his headgear." 
 
 Those who knew Neef well describe him as being '•'• a man of un- 
 usual abilities and eccentric character, a profound scholar, a dee}> 
 and original thinker, a thorough philosopher, and a sincere, honest 
 man." In personal appearance he was "■ firm-knit, sinewy, com- 
 pact of form, with a bright, dark eye, and close-cut, coal-black haii ', 
 the figure and gait of a well-drilled, graceful soldier, the face of a 
 Roman Tribune, the mind of a sage, and tlie heart of a child." 
 The same writer ^*' says : " Though possessing agreeable manners, 
 Mr. Neef had no inclination for society." He was a member of the 
 Masonic order as is indicated by a certificate issued August 12, 
 1815, by ''the Worshipful Master and Officers of Lodge No. 69, 
 held in the Borough of Chester, under the jurisdiction of the 
 Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania" and certifying that " Brother Joseph 
 Neef was regularly Entered, Passed, and Raised to the Sublime 
 degree of a Master Mason in our Lodge." Another document 
 states that ^ At a meeting of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 
 Philadelphia, held on the 4th day of the 6th month (June) 1812,' 
 Joseph Neef of the Falls of the Schuylkill was duly elected a 
 
1894.] JOSEPH NEEF AND f^ESTALOZZIANISM. 9 
 
 corresponrling member." These and other documents, preserved 
 by Mrs. Owen and placed at the disposition of the writer, show a 
 breadth of interest and sympathy hardly to be expected from one 
 of his peculiar temperament. 
 
 Although Christopher Dock's Schul-Ordnung is the oldest book 
 in America on the art of teaching, it was printed in German and 
 has only lately been translated. Neef's Plan of Education may be 
 said to be the first strictly pedagogical book written and published 
 in the new world. The full title reads : Sketch of a Plan and 
 Method of Education founded on the Analysis of the Human 
 Faculties and Natural Reason, suitable for the offspring of a Free 
 People and for all Rational Beings. By Joseph Neef, formerly a 
 co-adjutor of Pestalozzi at his scliool near Berne, Switzerland. 
 Philadelphia : Printed for the Author, 1808. pp. 168. 
 
 In the preface the author pays this tribute to his master : " There 
 lives in Europe, beneath the foot of the Alps, an old man whose 
 name is Pestalozzi, a man as respectable for goodness of his heart 
 as for the soundness of his head. This man endowed by nature, 
 or rather nature's god, with the felicity of an observing mind, was 
 forcibly struck by the vices, follies, and extravagancies of the supe- 
 rior ranks, and the ignorance, superstition, and debasement of the 
 inferior ranks of society. He perceived that from these impure 
 sources flowed all the miseries that afflicted his unhappy fellow- 
 creatures. Being no disciple of Zeno, the woes of his brethren 
 naturally imparted tlieir anguish to his sensible heart. The host 
 of calamities, under which he saw his fellow-men growning, deeply 
 grieved diis feeling soul, and the gulf of evils, into which he 
 viewed mankind plunged, called forth the most cordial and sincere 
 compassion. Tears fell from his mourning eyes but they were 
 manly tears. Far from being disheartened by such a sad spectacle, 
 he had the courage to enquire into the causes of human misery ; 
 he went even a step farther and endeavored to find out a whole- 
 some remedy, calculated to destroy at their very source those evils 
 which inundate the world. ****** He therefore 
 established a school. Other men, animated by his philosophical 
 enthusiasm, joined him ; and thus began a work which will render 
 Pestalozzi's name as dear and venerable to posterity as the deeds 
 of many of his contemporaries will render them execrable to future 
 generations. ****** About a year after Pestalozzi's 
 school w;is established, I became acquainted with him and hia 
 
10 EDUCATION. (April, 
 
 noble undertaking. Previously I had read several of his writings 
 and admired both his profound reasoning powers and generous 
 sentiments. By the interference of some of our mutual friends I 
 became one of his disciples, or if you please, collaborators." 
 
 Then follows a brief account of his meeting with Mr. Maclure, 
 already alluded to, and a discussion of the scope of education. 
 The first chapter after this introduction discusses Speech or Speak- 
 ing. In this he makes a plea for the study of natural objects. 
 " To unfold any faculty whatever we must exercise it, and to exer- 
 cise it we must possess means fitted for exercising it. And these 
 means we have in abundance. Let us but open up our eyes. The 
 whole cabinet of nature, beings and objects, animate and inanimate, 
 obtrude themselves as it were on us ; and yet how neglected they 
 are ! how little use is made of our faculties and these invaluable 
 means !" The second chapter — one of the longest — discusses 
 Numbers and Calculation. He distinguishes between calculating 
 and cyphering, and urges early objective instruction in the former. 
 " As it is evident that all our numerical notions proceed from 
 objects, we shall of coui-se begin our studies l)y them. Easily 
 movable things, as beans, peas, little stones, marbles, small boards 
 shall be our first instructors." The third chapter is given to 
 Geometry and the fourth to Drawing. To both of these subjects 
 he attaches an importance comparable with that of the best educa- 
 tors of our own day. Chapter five is given to Reading and Writ- 
 ing. In this the unphonetic character of English speech gets a 
 good deal of just condemnation. The sixth chapter discusses 
 Grammar and the seventh chapter Ethics or Morals. In the lattei- 
 the Golden Rule furnishes the basis of his instruction. Natural 
 History, Natural Philosophy, and Chemistry are discussed in the 
 three succeeding chapters. The value of each of these is strongly 
 stated and methods of teaching them clearly set forth. "• Our arts 
 and sciences are only to be looked upon as means by which the 
 natural faculties of the growing man should be gradually brouglit 
 to their maturity." 
 
 Gymnastics or Exercise is the title of chapter eleven. This, it 
 'will be remembered, was one of the subjects taught by him in 
 Pestalozzi's school at Burgdorf ; and the importance of systematic 
 bodily exercise is here stated with great clearness. Methods of 
 teaching Greek, Latin, and French are given in chapter twelve. 
 Music, Poetry, Geography, and Lexicology are considered in the 
 
1894.] JOSEPH NEEF AND PESTALOZZIANISM. 1^ 
 
 next four chapters, and in conclusion the author discusses some- 
 what briefly the internal management of his ideal school. 'It 
 would be next to insulting the good sense of my readers should i 
 attempt to tell them upon what footing I shall be with my pupils, 
 for they know enough of me and my system to perceive that the 
 crrave, doctorial, magisterial, and dictorial tone shall never msuit 
 their ears ; and that they shall never hear of a cat o' nine tails ; 
 that I shall be nothing else but their friend and guide, their school- 
 fellow, play-fellow, and messmate." And all this his students tell 
 us he was to them. . 
 
 The closing paragraph of the book is sadly prophetic ot the 
 author's subsequent career. " Should my project of forming my 
 own school miscarry, then the director of some already established 
 seminary will perhaps please to accept my service ; and it tins 
 should not be the case, I shall in all likelihood find out some re- 
 mote, obscure village, whose hardy youth want a schoolmaster. 
 Hear it, ye men of the world ! To become an obscure, useful, coun- 
 try schoolmaster is the highest pitch of my worldly ambition 
 
 Neef's second published book was a translation of Condillacs 
 Logic. The full title reads : The Logic of Condillac. Translated 
 by Joseph Neef as an illustration of the Plan of Education estab- 
 lished at his School near Philadelphia. Philadelphia. 1809. 
 pp 138 It is a literal translation without notes or comments by 
 the translator. His third book was : The Method of Instructing 
 Children Rationally in the Arts of Writing and Reading. By 
 Joseph Neef. Philadelphia, 1813. In this book he elaborate^ his 
 ideas on the teaching of reading and writing outlined m his Plan 
 of Education. In the preface he writes: -Whether my plan be 
 good or bad, better or worse than others, is to be decided by those 
 who make proper trial of it; and to them I dedicate the following 
 instructions for teachers." His daughter writes^^^) that he also 
 wrote a book giving his method of teaching the French lan- 
 guage, but the manuscript never was printed. 
 
 Of Neef's influence as an educator but few traces remain. His 
 books on education— excellent pedagogical treatises— have fallen 
 into undeserved neglect and are now out of print. The number of 
 students under his charge was never large at any one time ; and 
 these, if distinguished at all, were not in educational lines. That 
 his teachings bore the scientific impress, is witnessed by all who 
 have left records of his work. Dr. Wickersham (^'^^ says of ins- 
 
12 EDUCATION. [April, 
 
 school lit the Falls of the Schuylkill : " It was governed without 
 punishment of any kind. The pupils used no books but were 
 taught orally and mainly in the open air. Frequent excursions 
 were taken, that instruction might be fresh from the book of 
 nature. Mr. Calkins^^^ thinks that the cause of Neef's apparent in- 
 ability to markedly influence the educational activities of the New- 
 World was because " he failed to comprehend the necessity of 
 Americanizing the Pestalozzian system instead of merely transplant- 
 ing it." But a somewhat careful study of Neef's books and of his 
 actual teaching does not sustain Mr. Calkin's point. Two other 
 and different reasons seem more conclusive to the present writer : 
 His work lacked permanency. Had he remained in Philadelphia 
 where he received a large measure of success and where his ideas 
 were appreciated and endorsed, his name today might be one of the 
 best known in the annals of American education. But he was 
 easily discouraged and easily persuaded, and too often followed the 
 advice of well-meaning but carelessly-informed friends. There is, 
 however, a deeper meaning to be attached to Neef's seeming fail- 
 ure : he came to America twenty-five years too soon. At the time 
 of his coming, only a few generous souls like Maclure were inter- 
 ested in the iniprovement of the schools. The renaissance in 
 American education had not yet begun. A quarter of a century 
 later, the intellectual revival which ushered into active service such 
 men as Henry Barnard, Horace Mann, Walter Johnson, Thomas 
 Gallaudet, and James Wadsworth, would have given Joseph Neef 
 foremost rank in the great movement which developed the Amer- 
 ican public school. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 1. Boone, Richard G. Education in the United States : Its his- 
 
 tory from the earliest settlementw. New York, 1889. 
 
 2. Calkins, N. A. The history of object teaching. Barnard's 
 
 American Journal of Education. Vol. XII, p. 633. 
 
 3. Dunn, J. P., Jr. New Harmony's Influence. Sentinel., Indian- 
 
 apolis, March 30, 1890. 
 
 4. (xardette, C. D. Pestalozzi in America. The Galaxy., New 
 
 York, August, 1867. 
 
 5. de Guimps, Baron Roger. Pestalozzi : His aim and work. 
 
 Translated by Margaret Cuthbertson Crombie. Syracuse, 
 1889. 
 
1894.] PLACE OF THE MYTH IN MODERN EDUCATION. 13 
 
 6. Hill, G. Birbeck. Life of Sir Rowland Hill. London, 1880. 
 
 7. Krusi, Hermann. Pestalozzi : His life, work, and influence. 
 
 Cincinnati, 1875. 
 
 8. Monroe, Will S. Some early American books on education. 
 
 Journal of Uducation, Boston, May 25, and June 8, 1893. 
 
 9. Morton, S.G. Memoir of William Maclure. Barnard's A?ngr- 
 
 iean Journal of Education. Vol. XXX, p. 561. 
 
 10. Neef, Joseph. Sketch of a plan and method of education. 
 
 Philadelphia, 1808. 
 
 11. Neef, Joseph. The method of instructing children rationally 
 
 in the arts of reading and writing. Philadelphia, 1813. 
 ■ 12. Neef, Joseph, Translator. The logic of Condillac. Philadel- 
 phia, 1809. 
 
 13. Owen, Mrs. Richard. Letters regarding her father, to Earl 
 
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 14. Owen, Mrs. Richard. Letters regarding her father, to Will 
 
 S. Monroe. New Harmony, Dec. 13, 1893, and Jan. 1, 1894. 
 
 15. Owen, Robert Dale. Threading my way: Twenty-seven 
 
 years of autobiography. London, 1874. Same in the At- 
 lantic Monthly, Boston, Vol. XXII, p. 342. 
 
 16. Pomp^e, Ph. Etudes sur la vie et les travaux de J. H. Pes- 
 
 talozzi. Paris, 1850. 
 
 17. Ramsaner, Johann. Kurze Skizzie meines padagogischen 
 
 Lebens. Oldenburg, 1838. 
 
 18. Russell, WilHam, Editor. School at New Harmony. Ameri- 
 
 can Journal of Education, Boston, March, 1827. 
 
 19. Wickersham, James Pyle. A history of education in Penn- 
 
 sylvania. Lancaster, 1886. 
 
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 Indiana School Journal, Indianapolis, November, 1892. 
 
019 793 384 7 
 
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