66   DON FRANCISCO GINER

vocation. From that moment he became a teacher of teachers.

The main influences which acted on his conception of education were German and English. As is but natural, the German influence was theoretical and philosophical, while the English was personal and positive. The first may be summed up in one name : Krause. The philosophy of Krause inherently appeals to Spaniards more perhaps than to other races. This may be due to the positive element in it, the tendency never to lose sight of the fact that the real aim of all philosophy is life itself. Its expansion in Spain was further favoured by the ability and enthusiasm of Professor Sanz del Rio. It was from Sanz del Rio that Giner took his ideas and, as it were, the foundations of his educational philosophy. For Don Francisco had no tradition to go upon when starting on his adventure, and it was necessary for him to begin at the beginning. That is perhaps why he succeeded so well ; for, being unhindered by precedents, he simply took for his guide the principle that all education must be human, and not merely national or civic. In this he was helped by his English proclivities. He had excellent friendships in England, and soon learnt to appreciate the intellectual and moral refinement of a certain type of English home. He was quick to understand the education value of sports and collegiate life, as he saw it in Eton, and during his stay at Balliol with Jowett. But it is a mark of his greatness that, whilst assimilating all the tendencies of fellowship and character formation which give its permanent value to English education, he remained wholly free from the class prejudice and the snobbishness, both intellectual and social, with which, rightly or wrongly, English education is sometimes associated.

The need for a far-reaching reform in Spanish educational methods was then urgent. The Spanish univer-

DON FRANCISCO GINER   67

sities, which up to the sixteenth century had stood in the first rank of European culture, had since then fallen so low that they hardly counted as educational forces in the country, and, but for the value of individual efforts here and there, might have been closed altogether without any loss to the nation. Spain had lost her Catholic culture, but had evolved nothing in its place. All was to be built anew. Don Francisco realized the position in all its gravity, but he did not, like others, yield to pessimism and despair, perhaps because, unlike others, he took a long view and knew how to be patient. He never swerved from the conviction that the main task was not to be found in administration, organization, or endowment, but in men. And it was to the making of men that he devoted his life.

It is indeed as a maker of men that he will keep his high position in the history of his country. Nor could he have succeeded in his task had he been a mere pedagogue. Pedagogy was with him simply an outlet for the rich stream of life which poured into his soul through action and contemplation. He had a keen love of nature. Before the days of the open air ' cult, he was an indefatigable walker, a hardy mountaineer, fearless of the snows and treacherous winds of Guadarrama, never happier than when chance made him stay the night under a leafy oak or take his morning dip in the thawing brook among the pines. He was no less enthusiastic in his appreciation of the historical beauty of Spanish towns and villages, and had made a detailed study of Spanish architecture. An excellent musician, he delighted in Mozart, whose refinement and delicate tenderness are indeed in harmony with his own spirit. Yet this man, who was sensitive to the slightest smile of beauty in nature and art, lived a life of the utmost simplicity, bordering on poverty. His attire had no luxury but that of

E 2