LEAP-FROG.

The speaker, who was a fine-looking boy of fifteen, pointed to one of twelve who lay smiling at his feet.

"Is he to go out West too?"

"No; mother pays his board, and will take him away when I leave."

"Is there any difference in the way he's treated here ?"

"No, we fare just the same; only I don't belong to mother any more."

"You've been pretty wild, I suspect." "I don't know, Sir."

man, a widower, and a mechanic.
He came
Iwith a basket of cakes and apples. One of his
offspring was a bright girl of ten years, the oth-
er a handsome, lively boy of five. He evident-
ly regarded them with sincere affection, and I
could see sorrow and humiliation struggling
within him that he was unable to provide a
home of his own for them.

"They seem perfectly happy and contented
here," he remarked, "and are far better off
than they would be with me without their mo-
ther. They are getting a good education, and
have every necessary care taken of them."
"They have plenty fresh air, and compan-
ions of their own age," I returned, while ob-
serving that the children, though smilingly con-
fronting him, yet looked upon him somewhat
as a stranger, paying him the attention usually
accorded an uncle. The poor man felt this,
and was visibly stung. He did not stand to
them completely in the relation of a father.
"Well, good-by, Kate; good-by, Freddy: I will
bring you some more nice things when I next
come-good-day, Sir:" and he turned away.

The children gazed after him for a moment, and then unconcernedly ran into the house.

"I suppose you'd like to be in the city again They had been resident in the institution for a at your old pranks ?"

long time. Six dollars a month is demanded

"I don't believe there is a boy here wouldn't of parents who wish to have control over the rather be in New York."

"Why so?"

"Why, we can see things there, and the boys in the city look down on us here."

"But you are well provided here, and with amusements. You can swim and play, have books and so forth. Many of you haven't any friends. What would they do?"

future of their children. The daily cost of each child for provisions, clothing, etc., averaged 24 cents last year, and previously was about 20.

Upon my strolling to the quarantine I was met at the door by a girl of fifteen, attired in the female uniform of the institution, which mainly consisted of a blue frock nearly reaching the ankles, and a white apron which de"Oh, they can get along; they've tried it pended from the neck and shoulders. The before they were sent up."

girls, unlike the boys, were equipped with shoes

But the dinner-bell here sounded, and I was and stockings. They presented a very comeleft alone.

It was evident that the dissatisfaction felt by many of the children had its origin chiefly in the natural restlessness of boys, and their desire for greater freedom than was good for them. The being sent to masters of whom they could form no opinion had also, I suppose, its terrors.

ly appearance. Some two or three of various sizes were ensconced in wooden swings standing in the centre of the apartment, into which I looked, and which was an extension of the main building, resembling to no inconsiderable degree a summer-house. The young Miss I have mentioned answered all my questions promptly and intelligently, smilingly surveying me meanwhile.

Two wo

This dissatisfaction was felt only at moments for general happiness was observable The children are first received here, where at most times. Elopements occasionally take they are washed and cleansed, examined by the place, but they are very few considering the physician, and kept long enough to see if any number of the population. Thirty-three are diseases break out among them, and then allotrecorded in the last report. All were made by ted to the different departments, each child beboys. Their old home on the island is regarding classified. The clothes of many are burned ed with much pleasure by many who have been in consequence of their condition. discharged to new abodes, and is frequently men were seated on a bench to the left of the visited by them. The majority of the children door-way-the mothers, probably, of children are not vagrants nor orphans. Of 1401 dis-present. They appeared to be of Irish nativity. charged during 1866 but 250 were for indent- I saw but little of the girls during my visits. ure, the remainder, 1151, were returned to their relatives. Many are admitted purely as hospital cases.

I met a parent of two of the Nursery children immediately after finishing the sketches of which I last spoke. He was an amiable

Their number, as I have remarked, is small compared with that of the boys. They were mostly employed indoors, and their quiet, unobtrusive manners alone caught my attention. I descried some swinging beneath the trees in the grounds of their department, and one or

an Inspector, in more than one sense, inasmuch as a most grave and reverent attention was bestowed upon me while I made a sketch.

Being desirous of examining the Gymnasium at the southeastern extremity of the grounds, I thither proceeded, much as I dreaded to again encounter my friends the large boys, who were out anew in force and at their games. With a stern countenance I pushed my way through them at last, having rebuffed numberless entreaties to "dror him-me and that feller." The cool shades of the apartment into which I soon entered afforded an agreeable relief to the scorching rays of the sun; and, little as there was to see, I lingered among the ropes, posts, and ladders. Suddenly I discovered that I was not entirely alone. Curled up on a stair-way in a corner of the room lay a small boy with a quizzical and beseeching expression of face. Taken all in all he was a very funny little chap. What could he be doing here, immediately after school hours, while all his companions were busy at play?

PLAYING SCHOOL.

"Have you been here long?"
"No, Sir."

"Haven't been playing truant, I hope ?"
"No, Sir."

All these "No, Sirs" were delivered in a faint tone, though quite respectfully. I felt extreme pity for the lad, so solitary in misery, so averse to consolation. But after many more No, Sirs my compassion was somewhat assuaged by the exhibition of a discolored optic, which was all he suffered from. It had been given him by a ball during the morning game.

My curiosity next led me to the building opposite, containing also a Gymnasium, but which was for the use of the "small boys." I passed the threshold, sketch-book in hand, and was "What's the matter, Bub? Are you asleep?" leisurely surveying the bath-room through an

open door when a pattering of many feet was heard; shrill cries like the voices of mammoth crickets rent the air, and in a moment more I, an unprotected bachelor, was surrounded by some two hundred of the beings most formidable to me. A stray visitor was apparently considered a great prize by these five-year-olds. My first impression was that each of them desired a piece of me. I felt as I suppose Gulliver felt upon his first acquaintance with the Lilliputians, and as became a prudent man, opposed by overwhelming odds, I established myself hurriedly in a corner. Pride enabled me to summon an expression of indifference to my countenance, and I made an attempt at a goodnatured smile, in which I unfortunately succeeded too well, for it imposed completely upon the three attendants, who made but faint attempts to call off the children, imagining that I was greatly enjoying myself.

The first tremor having passed I did begin

A some

deavored to portray some of the odd little vis- which the meal was awaiting them. ages about. The sight of the paper and pen- what protracted "blessing," after the Catholic cil turned their minds from the idea that I was form, was there asked by the matron, the chilmerely something to play with; a more serious dren repeating her words and crossing themair spread over the assembly, and there was a selves at its conclusion, while they stood a pace general outcry: "Put my name down." To distant from their respective tables. Then arose judge from the continued iteration of the com- a clatter of spoons as each child attacked instantmand, accompanied in no case by a name, each ly the viands before it. Beef soup, with the acyoungster considered himself a distinguished companying bread and meat, formed the dinner. individual, known to every citizen of New York Salt fish and potatoes, boiled beans with peacity. The occasion of the request was a desire soup, roast beef with gravy and potatoes, salt to go to Harlem, that being the principal thought beef and cabbage, are on the weekly bill of fare. of each as regarded adoption. Bread is supplied according to the wants of each. At breakfast the drink is cocoa; at supper, milk and water sweetened. Knives and forks, once furnished the children, have been discarded, inasmuch as they were continually appropriated for purposes of juvenile ingenuity. The children now follow their natural instinct as to the means of conveying food to their mouths. The meal was eaten in silence. As the sketch shows, two of the lines of tables were used by girls.

My legs and arms proving insufficient to prevent the thorough overhauling of my person, I was at last obliged to ask the nurses to free me from persecution. In a moment thereafter the pants and white aprons of their charges were Auttering up and down ladders and between poles all over the exercise-room. Various performances proved that muscle had been acquired to a considerable extent by the little chaps, tender as were their ages. I started more than once in alarm as some particularly dangerous elevation was reached by a gymnast; but the unconcerned air of the attendants told me that accidents were not expected by them. It was a surprising sight, when one or two swung safely high in air holding the rings by their hands alone.

The visitor meanwhile was not forgotten; his attention was called to certain feats, and he was led to believe that they were exhibited entirely for his benefit. A notability present, struggling in the arms and upon the shoulders of two companions, was brought forward and introduced as "the little boy who ate rats." "He eats 'em raw," was further observed by the laughing party. I could not discover that the young gentleman made a practice of living on that Celestial diet. He had been seen once making a trial of the esculent. It had apparently agreed with his constitution.

Upon a subsequent visit to the Gymnasium I found my little friends arranged to do honor to some visitors ex

pected. They sat Turkish fashion on the floor, in three rows, opposite the entrance of the apartment, and were commencing, under the direction of an attendant, the series of light gymnastics laid down by Dio Lewis. Perfect attention to order and discipline reigned among them. Shortly after the dinner-bell sounded, and quickly forming in a procession, twoby-two, they marched to the building in

VOL. XXXVI.-No. 211.-B

AT DINNER.