The Hawaiian gazette., 1896-08-21

their native land. HencelOrtn 10 IN
time OF his death Comenius was q
man without a country" unless witt
Micheet we call the world his country
He found an asylum at LISA, il
Prussian Poland, a short distance nortl
of the Moravian frontier. Here he ap
piled himself to teaching as a mean:
of livelihood. Being long since con
WINGED that the education of his time
was in need of reformation, he now
went to work with characteristic ardol
TO determine definitely what reforms
were needed, and by what means they
could be Brought about. Among other
works which he read with this purpose
in view he names those of Ratich, Cam
PAMELA and Lord Bacon. This led him
TO write his Great Didactic, which" he
saws, shows the art of readily and
solidly teaching all men all things. -
But before this was published he pub
lished another work, THE Gate of
Tongues Unlocked" the success of
which reminds one of that of Uncle
Toms Cabin. He says: Letters of
congratulation came to me from every
quarter, and the work was translated
not only into Greek, Bohemian, Polish,
Swedish, Belgian, English, French,
Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, but also
into Turkish, Arabic, Persian, and even
Mongolian, which is familiar to all the
East Indies"
He was now invited abroad to give
advice as to proposed educational re-
forms. His first invitation to Sweden
he declined, but shortly afterward ac-
cepted one to England which Samuel
Hartlib had been the means of his re-
ceiving from Parliament. He was now
engrossed with a pansophic scheme,
scheme which seems to have been in
tended to realize the plans of his Great
Didactic, to teach all men all things.
He succeeded in arousing an interest in
the scheme on the part of Parliament
But civil war put an end TO all con-
sideTation of the subject, and Comenius,
after declining an invitation to visit
Paris on a similar errand, hastened
away to Sweden, whittier he had been
invited by Lewis de Geer a wealthy and
philanthropic merchant.
After an interview lasting four days
with the great Oxensteiern. Cominius
decided TO accept his advice to let the |
pansophic scheme rest for the time. |
and devote himself toe improvement of |
The ordinary schools beginning with |
the teaching of Latin. Accordingly. |
he entered into an arrangement with
De Deer. whereby the latter was to
support him and his assistants while
they worked out the details of his meth
cd of teaching Latin. This occupied
him for six years. till 164S, the end of
the Thirty Years War This year
marks the most serious disappointment
of his life. The terms Of the Peace Of
Westphalia did not include the return
of the eXiles to their homes, and his
long-cherished hope of returning to his
native land was at last at an end The
same year he was chosen head Bishop
of the Moravian Brethren. and return
10 LISA.
As head of church of exiles he now
had duties enough to tax TO their ut
most the energies of any ordinary man
But COmenius was not man Of supply
ordinary energy and industry In the
midst of mis- episcopal duties.he under
took TO reform the schools OF Transyl-
vania He labored at this task four
years. These were years of great ac-
tivity. Besides the care of his church,
which it must not be supposed that he
abandoned, and his school work, he
found time 10 write fifteen volumes:
and among them his World of Sense
illustrated. This is his most famous
work, as it was the first picture book
for children. It's influence is seen in
all our school readers, as they are more
or less closely modelled after it. It isl
still in print, being published by c. W
Bardeen. of Syracuse, New York The
pictures were crude in conception and
faulty in execution. The same criti-
cisms apply equally to the letter press.
1t is not what The World of Sense Il
Illustrated was, so much as what it led
TO that has given it a fame so enduring
At the end of this period, when Com
enius was siXty-two years old, he was
called to the presidency of Harvard
College. It seems that he gave the call
very serious consideration and even
half promised that he would accept it.
But he was dissuaded, as we are told.
by the Swedish Ambassador However.
this may be, it is certain that he de-
clined the call and returned to LISA
Shortly after this Poland was invad-
ed by the Swedes and Lissa was taken
On this occasion Comenius wrote q con-
gratulatory address to the Swedish
king. Quick pronounces this ''impru-
dent" But in view of the tolerance
which he and his exiled brethren had
enjoyed there for thirty years, the word
imprudent does not seem adequate. We
wish Comenius had not done this, as
we wish Kamehameha had not perfid-
ously betrayed and killed Keoua It is
the one blot upon the record of a sanity
life. But LISA was soon retaken by
the Poles and the house and property
of Comenius was very naturally marked
for special violence. He and his fami-
ly escaped with the clothes they wore
All else was destroyed. In this eX-
tremity Lawrence de Geer, son of his
former patron, invited him to Amster-
dam. Here he lived in comfort, taught
the children of some rich men for
living, and, owing to the generosity of
the younger De Geer, published hand
some and complete edition of all his
books on education, forty-two in num-
Der, according to Professor Laurie. And
here he waited and worked till in his
eightieth year he was called to his final
reward. Such were the most notable
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