The Parallel Bar consists of two bars placed parallel with one another, each being from 6 to 8 feet long, 4 inches deep by 2 inches wide, with the corners rounded off. The posts that support these bars in their position should be 18 inches apart. The bars should project four inches beyond the post.

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Two sets of parallel bars are advantageous, one being 2 feet 9 inches high for the younger children, the other 4 feet high for the elder.

The exercises on these bars consist in supporting the body on the arms, one hand resting on each bar, and by moving each hand alternately, proceeding forwards and backwards along the bars; in swinging the body between the arms; and in springing over the bar on each side, both backwards and forwards.

The Wooden Springs afford a kind of exercise extremely popular with the younger children, who are not sufficiently active to take part in the other exercises. Each swing consists of two distinct parts: 1. A piece of 2-inch deal, 1 foot wide and 3 feet long, one end of which is sunk firmly in the ground, the other projecting 18 inches above the surface. At each edge of this piece is screwed on an iron plate, with an eye to receive the iron pivot on which the upper piece works. The upper, or horizontal piece, is made of 2-inch plank, 1 foot wide and 12 feet long. At each end of this piece three handles, formed of 11-inch deal, are strongly mortised in, 1 foot apart, thus forming seats for three children at each end. Between the handles the plank should be rounded at the edges, so as to form an easy seat. At the under surface of each end a small block of wood is fixed, to prevent the plank wearing by striking the ground.

The above directions should be adhered to. If the support be made lower, the motion of the swing is much lessened; if the plank be made shorter, or the support higher, the swing approaches too nearly to the perpendicular, and serious accidents may ensue from the children being thrown violently from the seats. The whole should be made as stout as recommended, otherwise it is apt to break from the violent action.

The Double Inclined Plane is adapted more especially for the younger children. It consists merely of a support of two-inch deal, 1 foot wide, and projecting 3 feet from the ground. On this is laid the ends of two planks, each 12 feet long, 1 foot wide, and 1 inch in thickness. On the upper surface of each plank may be nailed, at intervals of eight or ten inches, small crosspieces, to prevent the feet slipping.

The use of the inclined plane is, that by ascending and descending it, children acquire a facility in balancing themselves. The exercise is beneficial, as it calls into action the muscles of the legs and even of the body. It also furnishes an excellent situation to jump from, as the children can themselves vary the height of the leap at pleasure.

The general use of all these various exercises is, that the different muscles of the body may be strengthened, and the children thus fitted for a future life of labor, and better prepared to escape in case of accidents

In addition to these simple appliances of the playground, and which are particularly adapted to young children, there are a variety of gymnastic machines or apparatus, designed for the systematic exercise of the entire physical organization of scholars, some of which it would be desirable to provide in some sheltered position of the yard, in all city schools, but which should be accessible only under strict regulations, and the instructions of a well-trained master. As an illustration both of the machines and their arrangement, we give below engravings of the ground plan and principal machines of the gymnasium attached to the Collegiate and Commercial Institute-a private school of the highest grade of William H. Russell, of New Haven-which has the best apparatus which has fallen under our observation in this country.

In the large cut, there will be observed a partition running across the building near the stove and staircase W. This marks the limit of a boarded platform at this end, upon which arrangements may be made for a dressing-room, or at least for clothes pegs.

As the letters upon the cuts of single machines designate the same machines in the larger engraving, the descriptions which we will give of them will apply to both.

The wooden horse, A, is a log, which may be, if preferred, rudely fashioned like a horse's body, and is set upon four legs, about breast high. Two cross

A

pieces, which do not appear in the cut, should be set transversely in the places of the pommel and cantle of the saddle, raised high enough to allow of being well grasped by the hand, and rounded over the top. The exercises upon this machine are leaps and vaulting with the help of the hands, which are set upon the above cross-pieces, or on various parts of the machine. B, is a spring-board; an elastic plank raised upon blocks at the ends, to assist the spring. It is, however, doubtful whether such aids are desirable, for they do not habituate the pupil to the unyielding surface from which leaps must generally be taken. The wooden horse exercises give elasticity and spring to the frames and are useful to riders.

C, is a slanting ladder, and D, a horizontal one. The exercises upon these consist in hanging upon or under them, and passing from one end to the other,

by means of the hands alone, in various ways, and are intended to strengthen the gripe, the arms, and the shoulders. The slanting ladder may run at an angle of about forty-five degrees, from a base about four feet high, to an altitude as great as is convenient.

Ground Plan of Gymnasium attached to Russell's Collegiate and Commercial Institute,

New llaven.

E, is a pair of parallel bars, both horizontal and slanting. The exercises upon this machine widen the shoulders, open the chest, and strengthen that and the

shoulders. They are somewhat difficult, but exceedingly strengthening. The bars are large enough to grasp, say two and a half inches in thickness by three and a half deep, set upon strong uprights, so framed that the uprights at their insertion do not extend beyond the bars. About five feet is a proper height for the upper side of the bars.

F, is a pair of inclined ropes, with their sliding-boxes. The windlass at Y, with a stout ratchet, is used to keep the ropes strained tight. This machine is not

very useful; the principal operation to be performed upon it being to put the sliding-boxes under the arms, and progress up the ropes by swinging the body.

The machines marked G, H, I, K, O, c, d, and e, are fixed between timbers and cross-pieces, whose places are shown by dotted lines, and the ground. G, G, are the weights. They run in wooden tubes, and are suspended upon ropes, at the other end of which are rings for handles, seen hanging down in the cut. These are used to exercise the arms; and the exercisers upon them are capable of rapidly developing the muscles of the fore arm, upper arm, shoulder and chest. They are performed by drawing or pushing out the weights with the fingers, hands, or feet, in various positions. H, is a slanting ladder, such as was above described. I, is a double running rope, running over two sheaves set in a cross-piece upon

the timbers overhead, and with a stout wooden handle, hung by the middle, at each end; so that these handles hang loose, perhaps six feet apart, and five or six feet from the ground. Two persons, of nearly equal weight, are best fitted to use this machine. One jumps up a few inches, while the other weighs down upon his end of the rope so as to keep it strained tight; and as the first comes down again, the second jumps in his turn; the motion being increased, if desired, until the jumps carry the hands up to the timber overhead, and the lower of the two pupils crouches down to the ground. K, is a single and double vaulting bar. The bars are movable in slips in the uprights, and are set at any desired height by iron pegs running in holes in the uprights and through the bars. The bars, either alone or together, are used for performing jumps from the ground, with the hands on the bar, and for various other exercises with the feet off the ground. The vaulting exercises strengthen the lower limbs and give elasticity; the remaining ones are chiefly calculated, as indeed are the majority of the apparatus exercises, to strengthen the body above the waist, and the arms. O, is a trapezium or bar-swing; a hard-wood cross-bar, hung by two ropes, and which should be about five and a half or six feet from the ground. The trapezium exercises are numerous, and consist of jumping, swinging, and turning, in many ways.