may also be observed arranging the squares and circles which they may have formed in the sandy gravel; and a few of 'cast peculiar' may be seen on the school door steps, sitting in abstract reverie. The wooden bricks also furnish materials for the skill and taste of our junior architects. The amusement of building castles, squares, etc., with wooden bricks, may also be enjoyed in-doors during wet weather. In the play-ground, sometimes a number of children build one child (who acts as a volunteer in the sport) completely up in the centre of a circle, and when roofed in, he or she bursts forth on a signal previously agreed upon, and demolishes the whole fabric, amid the huzzas of the assembled multitude. These bricks are four inches long, by two inches broad, and 11⁄2 inch thick. To those children who have a constructive propensity, such an exercise may not be without its use in their future occupations in life. It is amusing to see how quickly some children show their building propensity, which the others gradually acknowledge; and without any authoritative adjustment on the part of the trainer, one or two will be found building masters, and a dozen acting as labourers, and contented to carry the bricks. It is here as in more advanced life, one leads and several follow.* In the juvenile and more advanced departments, the sports and games partake of a more athletic character; excluding, however, the throwing of stones or whatever may interfere with the amusements of the others. The whole principle in the juvenile play-ground, as regards superintendence, etc., is the same as in the initiatory, and the more closely the latter is followed, the more thorough will be its efficiency; the chief difference lies in the amount of time to be spent in the play-ground, it being evident that, in it, infants ought to spend a larger proportion of the day than juveniles. The scholars are allowed nearly half an hour in the play-ground in the morning, before the usual time of com* A small covered shed in the play-ground is highly useful during wet weather.

G