and harangued "right well," about the power of steam and of the uses of railways; and of the fun they should have on the 4th of July, when they would fire squibs, cry huzza, eat nice fruit and sugarplums, drink cool iced water, and not reduce themselves below the beast with intoxicating liquors, and finally sing "Yankee Doodle." The little fellows are all embryo statesmen. The voice, enunciation, and air of one of those we heard, marked him out for an orator. What should prevent him from rising to high office in the state? We saw them at dinner. On inquiring why two boys stood on the floor looking on while the others were eating, an attendant said that was the punishment for rudeness to each other, but that they should dine when the rest had done and returned to their play. Each child had his little towel fixed to his collar. It serves as a napkin at meals, and also for washing. The plan for ablution was quite new to me, and the object of its construction is, that no one child may by possibility touch the water used by another. In the centre of the room is fixed a circular bath-tub, large enough for a child to swim in, with an aperture in the bottom which carries off its contents. Around the inside rim of the huge tub runs a pipe in which are twenty-four orifices about a foot apart. When the water is turned on it flows out at these, and each child takes his turn to occupy one of them, dabbling freely in the cooling stream, but never finding it possible twice to touch the same water,

as it is all the time flowing away.

Their dormi

tories are airy. They use iron bedsteads, and each child has a bed to himself.

The division of the extensive buildings devoted to the girls is exactly on the same plan as the other. We saw them go through various evolutions, and heard them recite and sing. We saw their nurses at dinner. Their aspect was very unpleasing to me, and when their history was explained I did not wonder. They are all taken from among the criminals on Blackwell's Island. Fierce, vulgar, and unkind, the few words that reached the ear too well suited the appearance of those who used them; and the poor orphans at their mercy seemed little likely to crowd round their knees to seek for attention.

Amongst the many profuse and well-ordered charities in this generous country, which draw forth the warmest admiration, this is the solitary instance of false economy that has come under my notice. A few hundred dollars per annum would procure mild, tender, and Christian "care-takers" for these poor nurslings, some of whom looked delicate, and all of whom are capable of moral injury or improvement, according to the treatment to which they are subject.

That which seemed to me defective in the common schools, pervades this and other establishments. The fear of countenancing any denominational religion in particular limits their religious instruction altogether. A small portion of Scripture is read

daily. There is not generally any questioning upon it, and no catechisms or texts are taught. There is a service on Sunday for Protestants, and one on Wednesday for Papists. If there were real Protestant influences, the opportunity could not fail to be used to win over these poor friendless things. The only influence retained over them by their parentage is to detain them in the Church of Rome.

I asked leave to see the idiots of the place-who, considering the parentage of most of the inmates, were not so numerous as might have been expected. The amiable physician, and my companions, were surprised by my wish, and dissuaded me. But, since seeing the unlooked-for success of Dr Guggenbühl, at the hospital of the Abendberg, in catching up the slender thread of intellect, and unwinding it gently along, with bracing and cheering physical treatment, I have become convinced that many are given up to hopeless idiocy who might, by proper treatment, be very considerably elevated.

We found twenty-seven set around the walls of a room, like gnarled and withered plants. They were clean, and well cared for by a kind old woman, who looks as if half her own intellect had fled, without, however, having injured her large benevolence, during the years that she has cherished her most discouraging charge. The remembrance of them is melancholy-not a toy, a bit of twine, or a soft

ball, was there to teach them the use of their poor, long, feeble, skinny fingers, or to interrupt the monotony of existence. In some of the "Homes," kind ladies have supplied this want, and the little ones trot about with horses on wheels, hoops, balls, or dolls. It would be of use in various ways, if some such gifts might find their way into this doleful ward. Several of them seemed susceptible of interests smiling on the doctor, and watching their companions as he spoke to them in turn. Two of them proposed to sing for us "Mary in Heaven"— they did sing, after a fashion. Their song, however, turned out to be "The Castle of Montgomery." As they knew the words of that song, which they had probably learned before they came there, they must have been capable of learning a hymn. After we left them, one merry little chap called over the window, "You did not hear my song." Not liking to disappoint him, we returned and heard "Old Virginia's shore," in a very imperfect pronunciation. Several seemed greatly to enjoy the song, and the return of the company to hear it; and there were evidences that many of them might be taught something which might render life less dreary, and even awaken in them some sense of the powers of the world to come.

But who has time and patience, or benevolence, for so repulsive an undertaking? No one, probably, but some medical experimenter on matter and mind. No inmates of the huge dwelling were more tidy, or

had a more airy apartment than they. It is a great thing that the state clothes, feeds, and tends these poor things—many of them victims of parental profligacy-and does not allow them to roam about like the "fool Jacks" and "daft Jamies" that we used to see a few years since hanging about innyards and gateways in Scotland.

This day was entirely interesting and satisfactory, in spite of the powerful sun which glared upon us. And the kind lady, whose acquaintance we made at the "Home for the Friendless," and who, out of her generous goodwill, offered to conduct us, rendered it, by her society, still more interesting

On STATEN ISLAND, which forms one side of the Bay of New York, is the Quarantine House, where emigrants, unfit on account of sickness to be taken to Ward's Island, are cared for. Here many a patient in ship-fever is carried to be medicated and nursed-many are restored to health, but many also

die.

The "Sailor's Snug Harbour" has also found its place on Staten Island; but being, as we are told, the fruit of private beneficence, it does not come into the same class with the institutions on the other islands.

Those who have buffeted with winds and waves for many a day find in this beautiful locality a haven of repose-a kind of miniature Greenwich Hospital. To escape the tedium of being unemployed, some of them have learned the art of making