24 



FARMEl^' REGISTER-^A VISIT TO HOPWYL. 



ANSWER TO AN ILLEGIBLE LETTEK. 



[Archdeacon Coxe wrote so illegibly as to draw 

 from a friend the following good humored reproof. 

 The plan suggested might be adopted with as much ad- 

 vantage by some of our correspondents, as by him for 

 whom it was proposed.] 



Mongewdl, Jan. Sth, 1798. 



' Dear Sir, — A Frenchman of high rank under 

 the monarchy, answering a letter which he had 

 received from a person of similar rank, expressed 

 himself thus: — "Par respect, Monsieur je vous 

 ecris de ma prnpre main; 7imis, pour faciliter la 

 lecture, je vuus envoye v/ne copie de ma lettre.* I 

 will in future forgive the want of respect, if you 

 will have the goodness to follow this Frenchman's 

 example. 1 wish to comply with your request, 

 for so far I can decipher, that there i.s a request — 

 but I must beg to kno^vv from your amanuensis 

 what it is. • 



' I am, dear sir, with much regard, 



Your faithful servant, 



'S. DUNELM. 



A VISIT TO HOFWYL. 



From the London Penny M.ogazine. 



Wc have received the following interesting 

 communication from a correspondent upon whose 

 accounts we can place a full reliance. The estab- 

 lishments for education, which have been founded 

 and matured in Switzerland, by the pultlic spirit 

 and laborious perseverance of M. Fellenberg, 

 have now existed about thirty-two years. Their 

 high merits have been long familiar to the Eng- 

 lish public. At the present time, we understand 

 that certain political dissensions, which have pro- 

 duced mucli ill-will and unhappiness in the canton 

 of Berne, have had the coinmon etlcct of all vio- 

 lent contests of opinion, — they have made men 

 indifJiirent or opposed to those institutions for the 

 amelioration of the human character, whose great 

 object is to elevate our species above the intoler- 

 ance and narrowness of party-feeling. We trust 

 that the open or concealed hostility which, it is 

 said, now threatens the excellent establishments of 

 M. Fellenberg will speedily be put to shame by 

 the good sense of the people of Switzerland; w^ho 

 will perceive in such institutions the surest preser- 

 vation against the outbreaks of a mistaken zeal 

 for freedom, on the one hand, and the tpanny of 

 exclusive pretensions, on the other. 



In the month of August, 1832, I travelled into 

 Switzerland flir the purpose of making myself ac- 

 quainted with tlie schools and institutions at Hof- 

 wyl. Situated about three leagues from the pic- 

 turesque cajjital of Berne, amidst a beautiful sce- 

 nery, composed of a cultivated vale, the Jura 

 ridge of mountains, a pine forest, a small lake, 

 and the glaciers of the Bernese Alps, stand the 

 extensive buildings of the establishment, surround- 

 ed by about two hundred and fiity acres of farm 

 land. Upon my first an-ival, before I could obtain 

 an opportunity of presenting my letters to the be- 

 nevolent founder, I wandered about in various 

 directions, — all was business and activity. Here 

 was a troop of lads cutting tbe ripened corn, while 

 another troop was engaged in conducting it to the 



*Through rospiet, sir, I write to you witli my own 

 hand; but to facilitate the reading, I send you a copy 

 of my letter. 



barns. Here was the forge in activity, and there 

 some little gardeners performing various ojierations 

 in small plots of ground that Avere portioned out: 

 here were a group of little girls gleaning, there 

 others carrying water, most of them singing while 

 thus employed. But my attention was peculiarly 

 arrested by about one hundred men, who in a 

 large open building, erected in a recess of the gar- 

 den, appeared to be engaged like boys in a school- 

 room; over the entrance was inscribed this motto, 

 "The Hope of their Country." _ • 



I was at last fortunate enough to be admitted 

 into the study of M. de Fellenberg, — a man some- 

 wliat advanced in years, with a countenance 

 beaming whh intelligence and kindness. De Fel- 

 lenberg was, by birth, one of the ancient aristo- 

 cracy of the country, and in possession of the here- 

 ditary property of his family. He determined up- 

 on devoting his fortune, and the labor of a life, in 

 the endeavor to eflect the regeneration of his 

 native land, by the means of education. "I will 

 inRise good habits and principles into the children," 

 said he, "for in twenty short years these children 

 will be the men, giving the tone and the manners 

 to the nation." For thirty-two years has he pur- 

 sued his steady course, increasing in influence, 

 and extending his establishment as his scheme 

 grew upon him, until it has become what be de- 

 scribed to me. "This," said he, pointing to a 

 large building, "is the institute for the boys of the 

 higher classes. Here are their dining-rooms; — ar- 

 ranged on each side of yonder galleries are their 

 dormitories. Here you see their gardens, their 

 museum, their v/ork-shops, their school-rooms; 

 here their gymnasium where they exercise them- 

 selves in wet weather, here their stream of run- 

 ning water where they bathe every day: study is 

 their employment, bodily labor their recreation, — 

 but bodily exertion I insist upon. There is no 

 health, no vigor of mind, no virtue without it. 

 Those persons grown to manhood, who are mix- 

 ing with the ])oys, are placed by me to observe 

 every action, and catch every expression. My 

 grand object is to comprehend thoroughly the cha- 

 racter of my joupils, in order that I may work more 

 efficaciously upon them. These persons are by no 

 means considered as spies by the boys; they are 

 their compaiuons. At Hoiwyl all that is not in 

 itself wrong is pemiitted. I never like to forbid a 

 thing when I am unable to assign a reason for 

 doing so: it creates a confitsion in young minds 

 with regard to principle, a thing most dangerous 

 to their fliture happiness. We have no boundary- 

 mark, yet my boys stay at home; we interfere not 

 with their pleasures, yet they cling to their duty. 



"Within this enclosui-e is my eldest daughter's 

 poor school for girls. She has about a hundred 

 under her direction, who are fed and clothed by 

 the establishment. To these she devotes her en- 

 tire time. They learn all that in afler-hfe will be 

 of service to them:— to clean the house, — to culti- 

 vate the garden, — to sew, — to make all those little 

 necessaries which are of so nuich importance in 

 the cottage; to read, to sing, — to be cheerful, and 

 to be happy. Unless oin- women be brought up in 

 modesty, and with industrious and religious habits, 

 it is in vain that Ave educate the men. It is they 

 who keep the character of men in its pi'ojier ele- 

 vation. 



"Here is my school for the middling classes, — 

 here all iustmction lias reference to practical pur- 



