Page:The Great Didactic of John Amos Comenius (1896).pdf/424

 young of both sexes. The Latin-School gives a more thorough education to those who aspire higher than the workshop; while the University trains up the teachers and learned men of the future, that our churches, schools, and states may never lack suitable leaders.

9. These four classes of schools may be compared to the four seasons of the year. The Mother-School recalls the gentle spring, filled with the varied scent of flowers. The Vernacular-School represents the summer that spreads before our eyes its full ears and early fruit. The Latin-School corresponds to autumn, for here the fruit in the fields and vineyards is collected and stored away in the granaries of our mind. And last of all, the University may be compared to the winter, when we prepare for various uses the fruit already collected, that we may have sufficient to sustain us for the rest of our lives.

10. Our method of education may also be compared to the various stages in the growth of a tree. The boys who are six years of age and are tenderly cared for by their parents are like shoots that have been carefully planted, have taken root, and are beginning to put forth buds. At twelve years of age they are like a young tree that is covered with branches and buds, though it is as yet uncertain how these will develope. At eighteen years of age, youths well instructed in languages and arts are like trees covered with blossoms that are pleasant to see and to smell, and at the same time give promise of fruit. And finally, at twenty-four or twenty-five years of age, young men, who have been thoroughly educated at a university, resemble a tree covered with fruit that can be plucked and used when it is required.

But we must now examine the several stages in detail.