Pestalozzi was, before all, a social reformer. His pedagogy was a part of his social philosophy, or rather the last fruit of his fervent efforts for the betterment of his people and country. Having been brought up in poverty and among the poor, he was well acquainted with the actual life of the country people. The inborn tenderness of his heart, ennobled by the influence of both his devout mother and uncle, deepened by the constant appeal of the helplessness about him, could not but be touched by the sight of the mass of humanity which was without right, without comfort and even without necessities of life. “Dear people, I will help you up!” was the utterance that came already from the lips of his boyhood. And he confesses in his later age: “Ever since my youthful days, the course of my feelings, rolled on like a mighty stream, was directed to this one point; namely, to stop the sources of that misery in which I saw the people around me immersed” (1: p. 671). First, his childhood fancy was attracted by the good example of his uncle, and he wanted to follow his footsteps as a village pastor. While a student of theology at Zürich, he came under the influence of Rousseau, and was animated by an intense reformatory spirit. His immediate plan was to become a defender of the people’s rights as a lawyer. Then, finding his unfitness for the profession, he turned to agriculture, through which he intended to realize his philanthropic educational dream, according to Rousseauean principles. An orphanage which he established on his farm having a mill connected with it, Paul Monroe thinks, was probably the first “industrial school for poor children.” After having met with a succession of failures, ending in utter financial ruin, he turned “schoolmaster,” first at Stanz, then at Burgdorf, lastly at Yverdun. He organized an institute for female teachers. He became the trainer of educators who came from different parts of Europe and America to learn his spirit and method. Yverdun became the Mecca of pedagogues. Meanwhile he wrote extensively, not only on education, but on politics, finance, jurisprudence, prison systems and punishment, military affairs, industrial questions, and social problems, such as infanticide, home, and the church. But through all changes in his plans, circumstances, and activities, his central purpose remained the same--namely, the elevation of humanity working from within and from below. The poor, the destitute, the weak were always the dearest objects to his heart.