"An _esprit de corps_ in a good sense soon arose among the scholars; they felt themselves a distinguished corporate body. I made expeditions with them; amongst others, to Neuenberg, where the curiosities of the town, especially the rich collection of natural history, were shown to them with praiseworthy willingness. Another time we accepted the friendly invitation of a teacher at Solothurn to see a series of physical experiments. To the capital of the country the boys would not go on foot, but drove, as proud Grencheners, in a carriage decked with foliage, drawn by stately horses. In the lecture-room their demeanour was quiet, and they showed attention and intelligence, and they could see there much that, from want of proper appliances, I could only describe to them. The school was the focus of their life, the place where they collected on all great occasions. When one night the alarm-bell sounded, announcing a fire in the neighbouring village of Bettlach, they all came unsummoned to me; we put ourselves in order, and hastened with rapid steps to the spot where the fire was; we formed a rank to the nearest brook, and received our share in the praise and parting thanks of the pastor, for, when the fixe was extinguished, the clergyman delivered a speech of thanks to the neighbours who had come to help. I became the confidant of the cleverer ones in many features of their inward development. The boy who had come forward as advocate for his father was, on his first entrance into the school, so uncurbed in his overflowing strength, and so untamed by any culture, that, instead of taking his place in the usual way, he always vaulted over tables and benches; the wild creature scarcely kept within his clothes. But very soon all this was changed; Sepp became quiet and serious, and his whole strength exerted itself in reflection and learning. I expressed to him my pleasure at the change, and he told me that one night he had not been able to sleep, and the thought had come into his head, 'Thou hast hitherto not been a man, but an animal; now, through the means of the school, thou canst become a man, and must do so.' From that night he felt himself changed. Another--now an able forest-manager and geometrician--had surprised me by an almost sudden transition from slow to quick comprehension and rapid progress. He gave me afterwards this explanation: 'All at once light broke upon me. You had set us an equation; I racked my brains with it, but could not find out a solution. I was in the stable milking the cows: I had taken the paper with me, laid it beside me on a log, and was looking at it every moment. Then it passed like lightning through my brain: "thus must thou do it!" I left the cow and pail, took my paper, ran into the room, and solved the equation. Since that all my learning has gone on better.'