and miserable. cellent scheme for exciting sympathetic industry amongst the children of the poor at Munich ; in the large hall, where the elder children were busy in spinning, there was a range of seats for the younger, who were not yet permitted to work; these, who were compelled to sit idle and see the busy multitude, grew extremely uneasy in their own situation, and became anxious to be employed. We need not use any compulsion or any artifice; such parents as think of educating their own children, are usually employed some hours in the day in reading, writing, business, or conversation; during these hours children will naturally feel the want of occupation, and will, from sympathy, from ambition, and from impatience of insupportable ennui, desire with anxious faces, "to "have something to do." Instead of loading them with playthings, by way of relieving their misery, we should honestly tell them, if that be the truth, "I am sorry I cannot find any thing for you to do at present. I hope you "will soon be able to employ yourself. What

Count Rumford's was an ex

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a happy thing it will be for you to be able, by and by, to read, and write, and draw; then you will never be forced to sit idle."

The pains of idleness stimulate children to industry, if they are from time to time properly

contrasted with the pleasures of occupation. We should associate cheerfulness, and praise, and looks of approbation, with industry; and whenever young people invent employments for themselves, they should be assisted as much as possible, and encouraged. At that age when they are apt to grow tired in half an hour of their playthings, we had better give them playthings only for a very short time, at intervals, in the day; and, instead of waiting till they are tired, we should take the things away before they are weary of them. Nor should we discourage the inquisitive genius from examining into the structure of their toys, whatever they may be. The same ingenious and active dispositions, which prompt these inquiries, will secure children from those numerous temptations to do mischief, to which the idle are exposed. Ingenious children are pleased with contrivances which answer the purposes for which they are intended, and they feel sincere regret whenever these are injured or destroyed: this we mention as a further comfort and security for parents, who, in the company of young mechanics, are apt to tremble for their furniture. Children who observe, and who begin to amuse themselves with thought, are not so actively hostile in their attacks upon inanimate objects.

We were once present at the dissection of a

wooden cuckoo, which was attended with extreme pleasure by a large family of children; it was not one of the children who broke the precious toy, but it was the father who took it to pieces. Nor was it the destruction of the plaything which entertained the company, but the sight of the manner in which it was constructed. Many guesses were made by the spectators about the internal structure of the cuckoo, and the astonishment of the company was universal, when the bellows were cut open, and the simple contrivance was revealed to view. So far from being indifferent to the destruction of this plaything, H, the little girl of four years old to whom it belonged, remembered, several months afterwards, to remind her father of his promise to repair it.

Several toys give pleasure only by exciting surprise. This species of delight is soon over, and is succeeded by a desire to triumph in the ignorance, the credulity, or the cowardice of their companions. Hence that propensity to play tricks, which is often injudiciously encouraged by the smiles of parents, who are apt to mistake it for a proof of wit and vivacity. They forget, that "gentle dullness ever loved a joke;" and that even wit and vivacity, if they become troublesome and mischievous, will be feared and shunned. Many juggling tricks and puzzles are ingenious; and as far as they can exercise the

invention or the patience of young people, they are useful. Care, however, should be taken, to separate the ideas of deceit and of ingenuity, and to prevent children from glorying in the mere possession of a secret.

Toys which afford trials of dexterity and activity, such as tops, kites, hoops, balls, battledores and shuttlecocks, ninepins, and cup and ball, are excellent; and we see that they are consequently great and lasting favourites with children; their senses, their understanding, and their passions, are all agreeably interested and exercised by these amusements. They emulate each other; but, as some will probably excel at one game, and some at another, this emulation will not degenerate into envy. There is more danger that this hateful passion should be created in the minds of young competitors at those games, where it is supposed that some knack or mystery is to be learned before they can be played with success. Whenever children play at such games, we should point out to them how and why it is that they succeed or fail: we may shew them, that, in reality there is no mystery in any thing, but that from certain causes certain effects will follow; that, after trying a number of experiments, the circumstances essential to success may be discovered; and that all the ease and dexterity, which we often attribute to the power of natural genius,

is simply the consequence of practice and industry. This sober lesson may be taught to children without putting it into grave words, and without formal precepts. A gentleman once astonished a family of children by his dexterity in playing at bilboquet: he caught the ball sixteen times successively with great rapidity upon the spike; this success appeared miraculous, and the father, who observed that it had made a great impression upon the little spectators, took that opportunity to shew the use of spinning the ball, to make the hole at the bottom ascend in a proper direction. The nature of centrifugal motion, and its effect in preserving the parallelism of motion, if we may be allowed the expression, was explained, not at once, but at different intervals, to the young audience, As much only was

explained at a time as the children could understand, without fatiguing their attention, and the abstruse subject was made familiar by the mode of illustration that was adopted.

It is surprising how much children may learn from playthings when they are judiciously chosen, and when the habit of reflection and observation is associated with the ideas of amusement. little boy of nine years old, who had a hoop to play with, asked " why a hoop, or a plate, if rolled

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upon its edge, keeps up as long as it rolls, but falls as soon as it stops, and will not stand if