Jasper's first teaching was by the telling of stories that leave in the young mind right ideas and impressions.
"My children, listen," said the gracious old man, as he sat down to his rude desk, "and let me tell you some stories like those Pestalozzi used to tell. Still, now!"
He lifted his finger and his eyebrows, and sat a little while in silence.
"Hark!" he said. "Hear the birds sing in the trees! Nature is teaching us. When Nature is teaching I listen. Nature is a greater teacher than I, or any man."
The little school sat in silence and listened. They had never heard the birds sing in that way before. Presently there was a hush in the trees.
"Now I will begin," said he.
PESTALOZZI'S STORIES.
"Did you ever see a mushroom? Yes, there are mushrooms under the cool trees. Once, in the days when the plants and flowers and trees all talked—they talk now, but we have ceased to hear them, a little mushroom bowed in the winds, and said to the grass:
"'See how I grow! I came up in a single night. I am smart.'
"'Yes,' said the grass, waving gently.