country a service. Up almost to the present moment, we, as we have been called, a nation of shopkeepers, have neglected the cultivation of the physical powers. Our school instruction has been the cramming of the head with a vast quantity of useless lumber, in which boys, and girls too, had to sit on stools and forms, to do their tasks, losing, in a great degree, the use of their limbs, at the same time that the sunshine and the song of the birds, and the gurgle of running brooks, cried, "Come out, come out to play."

We are beginning to correct all this. The urchins of the task room, the lads of the shop, the knights of the thimble, the drivers of the quill, and the heroes of the counting-house, long to exercise their muscles, and to gulp down the air of hills and commons and village greens; and in accordance with this craving for physical exercise, we find them rushing to the Volunteer ranks with a noble zeal, to do what their forefathers did of old, when the sling, the bow, and the mace did its work in the field, and the tournament and quintain accustomed them to give and take in the sporting ground.

But in this movement, which is to turn our young men into British lions, something seems to be still wanting, and this is an early training from childhood. In former days none could pull the bow with vigour or success, but such as had been used to it almost from their infancy; and so those who may hereafter have to be our country's defence, to make them thoroughly effective, should be exercised early in all those games which give accuracy to the eye and hand, and power to muscles and sinews.

But there is a higher reason. Open air sports, running, leaping, vaulting, and other athletic games, are not only highly conducive to health, but are indispensable to the enjoyment of it, and often strengthen those whose delicate

organization would seem to mark them for a premature grave; and thus life itself is preserved to future action and usefulness. Hence it is that we shall in a series of papers set forth all the sports, games, exercises, and pastimes which are likely to benefit boys and girls in the period of their childhood and adolescence, believing that we cannot perform them a greater service, or one more likely to afford them a round of entertainment and delight, which shall endear them to each other, and lay down the bases of those friendships which will survive in after-life for many years.

SPORTS AND PASTIMES OF THE BOYS AND GIRLS OF
ANCIENT GREECE.

HOPE, my young friends, the boys are among the Grecians, as I hope my no less friends the girls are not among the Tartars. I like the Greeksbthey were a sturdy, manly race; and the Greek boys were models in their way of courage and strong endurance, and also of ingenuity and invention. They were also lively and full of fun, and, as we say in modern vernacular English, "up to everything."

They had their toys and their games as we have, and many of their sports have come down to us not much changed. Their first toy was the rattle, said to be the invention of the philosopher Archytas,-a rattle

brained philosopher, as I should think. Then they had balls

of many colours; and also little chariots, sometimes purchased at the fair held at Athens in honour of Zeus. Often the children made sand pies and dirt houses on the shores of the Piræus, as they do now-a-days at Yarmouth and elsewhere. Then they-that is, the boys-built and carved ships, cut chariots out of leather, from pomegranate leaves in the shape of frogs, and some funny things in wax, which often made the pedagogue wax warm with wrath, in which they got sundry whacks behind. Then they had puppets, which may be considered as the genuine ancestors of our renowned Punch and Judy.

Among the earliest sports of the Greek boy was whipping the bombyx or top: they not only whipped them, but spun them with cord also. The hoop too, so familiar with us boys, formed one of the first sports of Greek children. It was sometimes made of bronze, about three feet in diameter, and adorned with little spherical bells and moveable rings, which jingled while it rolled. The stick or iron which urged it was crooked at the point, and called a plectron, as may be seen now almost everywhere, except when the boys are Goths.

Another less innocent game among the Greek boys was the spinning of the cockchafer, which appeared to have afforded the Greek urchins as much delight as it does the cruel boys of our own country. They did not, however, spin it after our fashion, with a pin stuck through its wing, but having caught it they tied a linen thread about its feet; it was then let loose, and the fun was to see it move in spiral lines through the air as it was twisted by the thread.

A great game among the Greeks was our "Blind man's buff," in which, as with us, a boy moved about with his eyes bandaged, spreading forth his hands and crying, "Beware.”

If he caught any of those who were skipping around him, the captive was made to play the blind man himself. Another form of the game was for the seers to hide, and the blind man to grope for them till he found them. A third form was for the players to strike or touch the blindfolded boy till he could declare who touched him, when the touching boy had to play blindfold in his place. Another game was called "the brazen fly," in which, a boy having his eyes bound with a fillet, went groping about, crying, "I am seeking the brazen fly." His companions replied, "You may seek, but cannot find," at the same time striking him with cords, made from the bark of the papyrus; and thus they proceeded till one of them was taken. "Hide and seek" was played exactly as it is played with us.

Another game was the ephedrismos, in which a stone called the dioros was set up at a certain distance, and aimed at with bowls or stones. The one who missed took the successful player on his back, and was compelled to carry him about blindfolded until he went straight from the standing-point to the dioros. There was a variety of this game called encotyle, or the "pick aback" of English boys, and consisted of one lad's placing his hands behind his back, and receiving therein the knees of his conqueror, who, putting his fingers over the bearer's eyes, drove him about at pleasure.

There was a game called chytrinda, well known to us as "hot cockles." One boy sat on the ground, and was called the chytra or pot, while his companions, forming themselves into a ring, ran round plucking, pinching, or striking him as they went. If he who played the chytra succeeded in seizing one of the buffeters, the captive took his place. Another form of this game required the lad in the centre to move about with a pot on his head, where he held it with his