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The Arithmeticon, of which a description will be given in a subsequent chapter, is simple in its construction, but, as will be seen hereafter, may be variously and beneficially applied.  It is indeed indispensable in an infant school, as it is useful for teaching the first principles of grammar, arithmetic, and geometry.  The expense of furnishing a large school is about L16.; that of a smaller one about L10.

I must here protest against a violation of the freedom of the infant mind.  A fold, as it is called, is erected in some schools for the youngest of the children; and thus they are cut off from the society of the rest, from whom they would learn much more than they could from any teacher.  The monitors having charge of this class, are also cooped up in the same cage, and therefore suffer the same privation.  The result of my own experience, as well as that of others, is, that a child is decidedly incompetent to the duties of a monitor, if he cannot keep the youngest class in order without any such means.  I would therefore deprecate, in the strongest terms, the separation referred to, as not only altogether unnecessary, but exceedingly injurious.

To have one hundred children, or upwards, in a room, however convenient in other respects, and not to allow the children proper relaxation and exercise, which they could not have without a play-ground, would materially injure their health, which is a thing, in my humble opinion, of the first importance.  I would rather see a school where they charged two-pence or three-pence per week for each child, having a play-ground, than one where the children had free admission without one; for I think the former institution would do the most good.  The play ground, likewise, is one of the most useful parts of the system.  It is there the child shews itself in its true character, and thereby gives the master an opportunity of nipping in the bud its evil propensities.  I am, therefore, most anxious to recommend that this necessary appendage to an infant school should not be dispensed with.  I moreover observe, that where there is a play-ground attached to the school, instead of playing in the streets, where scarcely anything but evil is before their eyes, the children will hasten to the school, with their bread and butter in their hands, in less than a quarter of an hour after they have left it, knowing that they have an opportunity of playing there the remainder of their dinner-time, so that they love the school, and but rarely wish to be anywhere else.

The play-grounds of some schools are paved with bricks, which I have found to answer very well, as they absorb the rain so quickly, that ten minutes after a shower, the place is dry enough for the children to play in; which, perhaps, would not be the case with any other kind of paving.  They are commonly placed flat on the ground, but I should prefer them being put edge-ways, as they would last many years longer, yet