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Latin grammar. The same year he be-
came a teacher, and then abandoned
his school for the ministry. Two years
later religious troubles began across
the mountains in Bohemia, the father
land of the Brethren, and these pre-
cipitated the bloody and devastating
Thirty Years War. In 1921 the town
in which Comenius had his charge was
taken and plundered by the Spaniards.
Comenius lost nearly all that he had.
Three years later a decree was issued
banishing all Protestant clergymen
But Comenius would not entirely aban-
don his people. He took refuge in the
mountains, and, strange to say, became
teacher. In 1927 a new decree ban
ished all Protestants The prosecutions
now became so hard that 80 900 families
abandoned their homes and sought ref
uge in other parts of Europe. AS Co
menus and a band of his brethren
crossed the Moravian boundary, it is
said that they fell on their knees and
prayed God that he would not let the
light of his truth be extinguished in
their native land. Henceforth to the
time of his death Comenius was "a
man without a country" unless with
Micheet we call the world his country.
llC IOuuu dn dSy iuil dI l1lSSd, III
Prussian Poland, short distance north
of the Moravian frontier. Here he ap-
piled himself to teaching as means
of livelihood. Being long since con-
vinced that the education of his time
was in need Of reformation, he now
went to work with characteristic ardor
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
says, 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, a
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-
sideration 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 1648, 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
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
to Lissa.
AS head of a church of exiles he now
had duties enough to tax to their ut
most the energies of any ordinary man.
But Comenius was not a man of sumpIy
ordinary energy and industry. In the
midst of his episcopal duties4he 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
and his school work, he
found time to write fifteen volumes;
and among them his World Of Sense
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. 1t is
still in print, being published by G. 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.
It is not what The World of Sense IL
lustrated was, SO much as what il led
to that has given it a fame so enduring.
At the end Of this period, when Com