BOHEMIA AND THE CZECHS 



179 



turies of oppression, is still in a large 

 measure the Czech of the old. 



He is kind and with a stock of native 

 humor. He is musical, loves songs, 

 poetry, art, nature, fellowship, the other 

 sex. He is an intent thinker and restless 

 seeker of truth, of learning, but no apt 

 schemer. He is ambitious, and covetous 

 of freedom in the broadest sense, but 

 tendencies to domineering, oppression, 

 power by force over others, are foreign 

 to his nature. He ardently searches for 

 God and is inclined to be deeply religious, 

 but is impatient of dogma, as of all other 

 undue restraint. 



He may be opinionated, stubborn, but 

 is happy to accept facts and recognize 

 true superiority. He is easily hurt and 

 does not forget the injury ; will fight, but 

 is not lastingly revengeful or vicious. 

 He is not cold, calculating, thin-lipped, 

 nor again as inflammable as the Pole or 

 the southern Slav, but is sympathetic and 

 full of trust, and through this often open 

 to imposition. 



His endurance and bravery in war for 

 a cause which he approved were prover- 

 bial, as was also his hospitality in peace. 



He is often highly capable in lan- 

 guages, science, literary and technical 

 education, and is inventive, as well as in- 

 dustrial, but not commercial. Imagina- 

 tive, artistic, creative, rather than frigidly 

 practical. Inclined at times to melan- 

 choly, brooding, pessimism, he is yet deep 

 at heart for ever buoyant, optimistic, 

 hopeful — hopeful not of possessions or 

 power, but of human happiness, and of 

 the freedom and future golden age of not 

 merely his own, but all people. 



COMENIUS — ONE 01? THE GREAT MEN 0E 

 ALE TIME 



Every nation has its local heroes, local 

 geniuses, but these mean little for the rest 

 of the world. Bohemia had a due share 

 of such among its kings, reformers, gen- 

 erals, and especially writers ; but it also 

 gave the world many a son whose work 

 was of importance for humanity in gen- 

 eral and whose fame is international. 

 Not a few of these were exiles or emi- 

 grants from the country of their birth, 

 who, having settled permanently abroad, 

 are only too readily credited to the coun- 



try that gave them asylum. Germany 

 and Austria, as the nearest geographic- 

 ally and with a language that the Czech 

 youth were forced to learn, received most 

 of such accessions ; but some reached 

 Holland, France, England, and even 

 America. 



One of the most honored names in the 

 universal history of pedagogy is that of 

 the Czech patriot and exile, Jan Amos 

 Komensky, or Comenius (i 592-1671), 

 the last bishop of the Bohemian Brethren. 



Driven away, in 1624, after all his books 

 and manuscripts were taken and burnt, 

 he settles for a time in Poland, then in 

 Holland. Plis pedagogical writings con- 

 stitute the foundations of modern educa- 

 tion. His best-known works in this con- 

 nection are Janua linguarum reserata 

 (1631), Labyrinth -of the World (1631), 

 Opera didactica magna (1657), an d Orbis 

 pictus (1658). This latter work is the 

 first children's picture-book. He con- 

 demns the system of mere memorizing in 

 school, then in use, and urges that the 

 scholar be taught to think. Teaching 

 should be, as far as possible, demonstra- 

 tive, directed to nature, and develop 

 habits of individual observation. 



All children, without exception — rich 

 or poor, noble or common — should re- 

 ceive schooling, and all should learn to 

 the limits of their possibilities. "They 

 should learn to observe all things of im- 

 portance, to reflect on the cause of their 

 being as they are, and on their interrela- 

 tions and utility ; for the children are 

 destined to be not merely spectators in 

 this world, but active participants." 



"Languages should be taught, like the 

 mother tongue, by conversation on ordi- 

 nary topics; pictures, object lessons, 

 should be used ; teaching should go hand 

 in hand with a happy life. In his course 

 he included singing, economy, politics, 

 world history, geography, and the arts 

 and handicrafts. He was one of the first 

 to advocate teaching science in schools." 



The child should "learn to do by do- 

 ing." Education should be made pleas- 

 ant ; the parents should be friends of the 

 teachers ; the school-room should be spa- 

 cious, and each school should have a good 

 place for play and recreation. 



