Chapter III: Part 3

A schoolmaster, describing a money-lender, says, “He serves you in the present tense, he lends you in the conditional mood, keeps you in the subjunctive mood, and ruins you in the future.”

101. “How much money have I,” says a father to his son. Son replied, “They don’t teach prophecy at our school.” “Well, they teach arithmetic, I suppose,” rejoined the father, smartly; “if you multiply one-half, one-third, one-fourth, one-sixth, three-quarters, and two-thirds of my money together, the product will be 10368. Now find out how many pence I have.”

102. A person has 1260 quarters of wheat. He sells one-fifth at a gain of 5 per cent., one-third at a gain of 8 per cent., and the remainder at a gain of 12 per cent. Had he sold the whole at a gain of 10 per cent. he would have made £23 2s. more than he did. Find the cost price of one quarter.

103. Is the word “with” ever used as a noun?

THE GREAT PUZZLE OF THE CENTURY.

104. Place the nine digits (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) together in such a manner that they will make 100.

105. Also make 100 by using the cipher in addition to the digits.

106. How far apart should the knots of a log-line be to indicate every half-minute, a speed of one mile per hour?

107. Several persons are bound to pay the expenses of a law process, which amount to £800, but three of them being insolvent, the rest have £60 each to pay additional. How many persons were concerned?

108.
If five times four are thirty-three,
What will the fourth of twenty be?

109. A locomotive with a truck is travelling over a straight level line at the rate of 60 miles an hour. A man standing at the extreme rear of the truck casts a small stone into the air in a perpendicular direction. The stone travels upward at an average rate of 30 feet per second for 3 seconds; the height of the man’s hand from ground when the stone leaves is 15 feet. At what distance behind the train will the stone strike the ground in its descent?

A Tombstone in an English Cemetery.

Many quaint and puzzling epitaphs are often to be seen engraved on several of the tombstones in some of the old cemeteries at Home. The adjoining illustration represents a tombstone in the old burial-ground of London--Kensal Green. It might “liven” up the reader to discover the scheme of kindred as given in the inscription.

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF

TWO GRANDMOTHERS WITH THEIR TWO GRANDDAUGHTERS;
TWO HUSBANDS WITH THEIR TWO WIVES;
TWO FATHERS WITH THEIR TWO DAUGHTERS;
TWO MOTHERS WITH THEIR TWO SONS;
TWO MAIDENS WITH THEIR TWO MOTHERS;
TWO SISTERS WITH THEIR TWO BROTHERS
YET, BUT SIX CORPSES IN ALL LIE BURIED HERE--
ALL BORN LEGITIMATE FROM ERROR CLEAR.]

EASILY ANSWERED.

“Johnny,” said his teacher, “if your father can do a piece of work in seven days, and your uncle George can do it in nine days, how long would it take both of them to do it?”

“They’d never get it done,” said Johnny; “they’d sit down and tell snake-yarns.”

110. A well is to be sunk by 12 men, in groups of 4 each, in 12 days. The groups work in the ratio of 6, 7, and 8; when half the task is done rain sets in and prevents them working for 2 days, in which time one man of the first, 2 of the second, and 3 of the third group go away, leaving the remainder to finish the job. What extra time did they work?

“TAKE CARE OF THE PENCE, &c.”

One of the most startling calculations is the following:--

A penny at 5 per cent. compound interest from A.D. 1 to 1890 would amount to £10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, _i.e._, Ten Sextillions of pounds, or more money than could be contained in One Thousand Millions of Globes each equal to the Earth in magnitude, and all of solid gold.

111. On a flagstaff consisting of an upright pole (6 feet of which is underground) is a cross-yard 24 feet long; the latter is fixed at a distance of one-third of the length of the visible part of the pole from the top; passing from the top of the pole to the ends of the yard are ropes, forming stays whose falls or ends reach to the ground on either side of the pole, and it is found that these falls just reach the base of the pole. The total length of rope in the aforesaid stays is 40 feet. Supposing that the top diameter of the pole is one-third of that at the extreme base, and that the whole length of rope used is 54,177 times the base diameter of the pole, what would the pole cost at 1 penny per 100 cubic inches?

TEACHER--“Your writing is fairly good, but how do you account for making so many mistakes in your spelling?”

SCHOLAR--“Please, ma’am, I had chilblains on my hand?”

112. Put down 4 marks (| | | |), and then require a person to put 5 more marks and make 10.

“KEEP YOUR HAIR ON.”

113. Supposing there are more persons in the world than anyone has hairs on his head, there must be at least two persons who have the same number of hairs on the head to a hair. Explain this.

114. Show what is wrong in the following:--

8-8 = 2-2, dividing both these equals by 2-2 the result must be equal; 8-8 divided by 2-2 = 4, and 2-2 divided by 2-2 = 1, therefore, since the quotients of equals divided by equals must be equal, 4 must be equal to 1.

“GLAD TIDINGS.”

Many will be surprised to hear that there is Scriptural authority for advertising. Advertising not only has Scriptural authority, but it is of very respectable antiquity as well. If you will look in Numbers XXIV., 14, you will find Balaam saying “Come now, and I will advertise,” and Boaz says in Ruth IV., 4, “And I thought to advertise.”

OPTICAL ILLUSIONS.

Illusions of the Eye are numberless, and afford a wide field for experiment. Some people are left-eyed, others right-eyed, and very few use both eyes equally. It is impossible to tell how far they really do deceive us unless they have been tested in the proper manner. For instance, if you ask anyone to what height a bell-topper would reach if placed on the floor against the wall, nine times out of ten the height guessed will be half as much again as the real height of the hat. Everyone seems to _over_-estimate the proper height.

Another favourite illusion is to ask a person to mark on the wall a height from the floor which would represent the length of a horse’s head: here the majority guess far too little--for a horse’s head is much longer than most people imagine, ranging from 25 to 34 inches. In a recent experiment 5 persons out of 6 _under_-estimated the proper height.

Here are two triangles. Which is the one whose centre is the better indicated? (It looks like A, but it is B).

Again: Out of the two straight lines C and D which is the longer? (By measurement we see they are both the same).

Guess, by eye-measurement only, the longest and shortest of the three lines marked A A, B B, and C C. When you have done guessing measure, and see how much you are out.

Which is the tallest gentleman of the three appearing in adjoining figure?--Many would imagine the last to be the tallest, and the first the shortest, whereas the reverse is the case--the last is the shortest, and the first the tallest.

It is surprising how the eye can be deceived, when dealing with areas or circles. Place on the table a half-crown and a threepenny-piece; let these be, say, 9 or 10 inches apart, and ask a friend how many of the latter can be placed on the former--with this proviso: the threepenny-pieces must not rest on each other, nor must they overlap the outer rim of the half-crown; they must be fairly within the circumference of the larger coin. Many will answer 6, 5, or 4, others who are more cautious 3. Try for yourself and see how many you can put on, and you are sure to be surprised.

ARE THESE LINES PARALLEL?

The “herring-bone” figure here illustrated is yet another proof that our eyes are faulty. The horizontal lines appear to slant in the direction in which the short intersecting lines are falling, and would give one the idea that they would meet if continued, whereas really they are parallel. The illusion is more striking if you tilt the leaf up.

HOW DID HE DO IT.

115. Once there was an old tramp who had to go through a tollbar, and before he could get through he had to pay a penny. He had not a penny; he did not find a penny, nor borrow a penny, nor steal nor beg a penny, and yet he paid a penny and went through.

116. Find a number which is such that if four times its square be diminished by 6 times the number itself the remainder shall be 70.

117. A man has a certain number of apples; he sells half the number and one more to one person, half the remainder and one more to a second person, half the remainder and one more to a third person, half the remainder and one more to a fourth person, by which time he had disposed of all that he had. How many had he?

TEACHER (impressing one of her _protégés_)--“Be brave and earnest and you will succeed. Do you remember my telling you of the great difficulty ‘George Washington’ had to contend with?”

WILLY RAGGS--“Yes, mum; he couldn’t tell a lie.”

118. Two numbers are in the ratio of 2 and 3, and if 9 be added to each they are in the ratio of 3 to 4. Find the numbers.

PAYING A DEBT.

In an office the boy owed one of the clerks threepence, the clerk owed the cashier twopence, and the cashier owed the boy twopence. One day the boy, having a penny, decided to diminish his debt, and gave the penny to the clerk, who in turn paid half his debt by giving it to the cashier, the latter gave it back to the boy, saying, “That makes one penny I owe you now;” the office boy again passed it to the clerk, who passed it to the cashier, who in turn passed it back to the boy, and the boy discharged his entire debt by handing it over to the clerk, thereby squaring all accounts.

A TESTIMONIAL.

“How do you like your new typewriter?” inquired the agent.

“It’s grand!” was the immediate and enthusiastic response. “I wonder how I ever got along without it.”

“Well, would you mind giving me a little testimonial to that effect?”

“Certainly not; do it gladly.”

(A few minutes’ pounding). “How’ll this suit you?”

“afted Using the automatig Back-action a type writ, er for thre emonthan d Over. I unhesittattingly pronounce it prono nce it to be al even more than th e Manufacturs claim? for it. During the time been in our possession e. i. th ree monthzi id has more th an than paid for it£elf in the saving of time an d labrr?

John £ Gibbs.”

STATE OF THE POLL.

119. In a constituency in which each elector may vote for 2 candidates half of the constituency vote for A, but divide their votes among B, C, D and E in the proportion of 4, 3, 2, 1; half the remainder vote for B, and divide their votes between C, D, E in proportion 3, 1, 1; two-thirds of the remainder vote for D and E, and 540 do not vote at all. Find state of poll, and number of electors on roll.

120. Three men, A, B and C, go into an hotel to have a “free and easy” on their own account, and after sundry glasses of Dewar’s Whisky got into dispute as to who had the most cash, and neither being willing to show his hand, the landlord was called upon to umpire. He found that A’s money and half of B’s added to one-third of C’s just came to £32, again that one-third of A’s with one-fourth of B’s and one-fifth of C’s made up £15, again he found that one-fourth of A’s together with one-fifth of B’s and one-sixth of C’s totalled £12. How much had each?

THE BIBLE IN SCHOOLS.

VISITING CLERGYMAN--“What’s a miracle?”

BOY--“Dunno.”

V.C.--“Well, if the sun was to shine in the middle of the night what would you say it was?”

BOY--“The moon.”

V.C.--“But if you were told that it was the sun, what would you say it was?”

BOY--“A lie.”

V.C.--“_I_ don’t tell lies. Suppose _I_ were to tell you it was the sun, what would you say then?”

BOY--“That you was drunk.”

121. A man travels 60 miles in 3 hours by rail and coach; if he had gone all the way by rail he would have ended his journey an hour sooner and saved two-fifths of the time he was on the coach. How far did he go by coach?

WANTED Canvasser, energetic; only “live”
men need apply. Smart & Co.

A determined-looking young man rushed into Mr. Sharp’s office the other day, and, addressing him, said abruptly, “See you’re advertising for a canvasser, sir; I’ve come to fill the place.”

“Gently, young man!--gently! How do you know that you’ll suit?” asked Mr. Sharp, somewhat nettled at the young man’s off-hand manner.

“Certain of it. Best man you could have--energetic, punctual, honest, sober, A1 references, and----”

“Wait a minute, I tell you!” shouted Mr. Sharp. “I don’t think you’d suit me at all.”

“Oh, yes, I shall,” said the young man, seating himself. “And I don’t go out of this office till you engage me.”

“You won’t?” yelled Mr. S.

“Certainly not,” said the young man, calmly.

“Why, you impudent young scoundrel! I’ll--I’ll kick you out!”

“No, you wont. You may kick me, but you won’t kick me _out_.”

“If you don’t go, I’ll call a policeman,” declared Mr. S., purple with rage.

“Will you?”

The young man rushed to the door, locked it, and put the key in his pocket.

Mr. S. gasped and glared, and then roared:--

“I tell you I won’t have you! Get out of my office. Will you take ‘no’ for an answer?”

“No, I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Never did in my life, and don’t intend starting now,” said the young man, very determinedly.

Mr. Sharp hesitated, then rose to his feet, with admiration beaming from his eyes.

“Young man,” he said, “I’ve been looking for an agent like you for twenty years. At first I thought you were only a bumptious fool; but now I see you’re literally bursting with business. If any man can sell my patent vermin-trap (warranted to catch anything from a flea to a tiger) you’re that man. A hundred a year and 15 per cent. commission. Is it a bargain?”

“It is,” said the young man, trying the trap, and smiling approvingly when it nipped a piece of flesh clean out of his finger.

WHY IS IT?

Take a long narrow strip of paper, and draw a line with pen or pencil along the whole length of its centre. Turn one of the ends round so as to give it a twist, and then gum the ends together. Now take a pair of scissors and cut the circle of paper round along the line, and you will have two circles. This is a puzzle within a puzzle, and has never been satisfactorily explained either by scientist or mathematician.

How to Read a Person’s Character.

Tell a friend to put down in figures the year in which he was born; to this add 4, then his age at last birthday provided it has not come in the present year (if it has, then his age last year); multiply this sum by 1000, and subtract 687,423. (This number is for 1899; it increases 1000 for each succeeding year.) To the remainder place corresponding letters of the alphabet. The result will be the popular name by which your friend is known.

Example: A person was born in 1860, and is now 38 years of age.

1860
4
----
1864
38 Age
----
1902
1000
--------
1902000
687423
--------------
1,2,1,4,5,7,7
a,b,a,d,e,g,g (“A bad egg.”)

122. There are 3 numbers in continued proportion--the middle number is 60, and the sum of the others is 125. Find the numbers.

123. A lends B a certain sum at the same time he insures B’s life for £737 12s. 6d., paying annual premiums of £20; at the end of three years and just before the fourth premium is to be paid, B dies, having never repaid anything. What sum must A have lent B in order that he may have just enough to recoup himself, together with 5 per cent. compound interest on the sum lent and on the premiums?

124. I met three Dutchmen--Hendrick, Claas, and Cornelius--with their wives--Gertruig, Catrün, and Anna; in answer to a question they told me they had been to market to buy pigs, and had spent between them £224 11s; Hendrick bought 23 pigs more than Catrün, and Class bought 11 more than Gertruig, each man laid out 3 guineas more than his wife. Now find out each couple--man and wife.

CURIOUS BOOK-KEEPING.

An old tradesman used to keep his accounts in a singular manner. He hung up two boots--one on each side of the chimney; into one of these he put all the money he received, and into the other all the receipts and vouchers for the money he paid. At the end of the year, or whenever he wanted to make up his accounts, he emptied the boots, and by counting their several and respective contents he was enabled to make a balance, perhaps with as much regularity and as little trouble as any book-keeper in the country.

QUICKER THAN THOUGHT.

A little boy, hearing someone remark that nothing was quicker than thought, said: “I know something that is quicker than thought.” “What is it, Johnny?” asked his pa. “Whistling,” said Johnny. “When I was in school yesterday I whistled before I thought, and got caned for it, too.”

125. The number of men in both fronts of two columns of troops A and B, when each consisted of as many ranks as it had men in front, was 84; but when the columns changed ground, and A was drawn up with the front B had, and B with the front A had; the number of ranks in both columns was 91. Required: the number of men in each column.

RUNNING THROUGH HIS FORTUNE.

126. A man inheriting money spends on the first day 19s., twice that amount on the next, and 19s. additional every day till he exhausts his fortune by spending on the last day £190 by way of having a real good time of it and treating his friends to a good “blow out.” What amount of money had he left to him at the start?

127. A shopkeeper makes on a certain article the first day a profit of 3d., the second day 4·2d., and so on, profit increasing each day by 1·2d. He had a profit of 14s. 3d. on the whole. How many days was he selling the article?

“AWFUL SACRIFICE.”

One of those generous, disinterested, self-sacrificing tradesmen, having stuck upon every other pane of glass in his window, “Selling-off,” “No reasonable offer refused,” “Must close on Saturday,” offered himself as bail, or security, in some case which was brought before a magistrate, when the following dialogue ensued:--The magistrate asking him if he was worth £200, “Yes,” he replied. “But you are about to remove, are you not?” “No.” “Why, you write up, ‘Selling-off.’” “Yes, every shopkeeper is selling off.” “You say, ‘No reasonable offer will be refused.’” “Well, I should be very unreasonable if I did refuse such offers.” “But you say, ‘Must close on Saturday.’” “To be sure; you would not have me open on Sunday, would you?”

128. A man dying left his property of £10,000 to his four children, aged respectively 6, 8, 10, and 12 years, on the understanding that each on attaining his majority shall receive the same amount of money, comp. interest at the rate of 4½ per cent. being allowed. What is the amount of the £10,000 payable to each?

A WASTE OF TIME.

A little boy spent his first day at school. “What did you learn?” was his aunt’s question. “Didn’t learn nothing.” “Well, what did you do?” “Didn’t do nothing. There was a woman wanting to know how to spell ‘cat,’ and I told her.”

An English School-boy’s Essay on Australia.

“Part of Austrailya is vague. It ust to be used by the English to keep men on that was not bad enough to be killed. Some farms would raise as much as five hundred thousand. The English long ago ust to send their prisoners there when they did anything not worth hanging.

“Austrailya is a vast Country, and the biggest Island on the surface of the Earth. It has all its bad men and they have found a great many Gold and Diamonds there, and Sidney is one of the Chief Countries in it which is in new south Wales.

“It used to be used for purposes of Exploration, but it has no interior, and you can’t explore it. Sometimes it is called Antipides, because everything is upside down there. The chief products are Wool and Gold and other Exports and the Austrailyan eleven come from there. The Climate is hot in the Summer and not so in the Winter, which causes drowts and sweeps all the sheep away and the banks break.

“It was discovered by Captain Cook who captured it from the Dutch. There are no wild Animals there except the Kangaroo, they fly through the air with great skill and then they return again right to your feet. The natives are coloured Black and they call themselves Aboriginels, they subsist on bark and other food they do no work and chop wood for a miserable living and can smell the ground like a dog. When we go there they call us new Chums. They have no form of Worship, and pray for rain, but a belief in Federashun because they want to be joined together.

“Their only amusement is Co-robbery. It is celebrated for Bushrangers and the Melbourne Cup which sticks people up and takes from them all they have got.

“Austrailya has a lot of aliasses, one is new Holland and afterwards it was called Pollynesia, and Van Demon and Oceana but sir Henry Parks called it Austrailya on his Death-bed. You can go to it in a ship but it is joined to Great Britain by a cable.”

129. I ran to a certain railway station to meet the train which was due at 3.15 p.m. When I arrived on the platform the hands of the clock made equal angles with 3 o’clock. How long had I to wait?

130. The wall of China is 1500 miles long, 20 feet high, 15 feet wide at the top and 25 at the bottom. The largest of the pyramids is said to have been 741 feet at the base, 481 feet vertical when finished. How many such pyramids could be built out of the wall of China?

GRAMMAR.

SCHOOLMASTER--“Now, boys, the word ‘with’ is a very bad word to end a sentence with.”

131. There is an arch of quadrantal form; the rise of the crown is 17 feet. What is the span?

132.
Two pairs of fives I bid you take,
And four times four and forty make.

133. A lady bought a quantity of flannel, which she distributed among some poor women; the first received 2 yards, the second 4 yards, and so on; the lot cost her £5 14s. 2½d. How many women were there, and what did the lady pay per yard?

134. A and B marry, their respective ages being in proportion to 3 and 4. Now after they have been married 14 years their ages are as 5 to 6, and the age of A is 5 times that of her youngest child, who was born when the parents’ ages were as 4 to 5. Required: the ages of A and B when they were married, and the age of the youngest child now that they have been married 14 years.

AN APPALLING “SUM.”

At a school, a short time back, the pupils were given, as a home lesson, the task of subtracting from 880,788,889 the number 629 so often till nothing remained.

The boys worked on for hours without any perceptible diminution of the figures, and at length gave up the task in despair. Some of the parents then tried their hands, with no better success. For, in order to work out the sum, the number 629 would have to be subtracted 1,400,300 times, leaving 189 as a remainder.

Working 12 hours a day, at the rate of 3 subtractions per minute, it would take over 1 year and 9 months to complete the sum which had been set the poor lads for their home lesson.

A MILITARY LUNCHEON.

135. A certain number of Volunteers--namely, Commissioned Officers, Non-commissioned Officers, and Privates had a dinner bill to pay; there were, it seemed, half as many more Non-Com. Officers as Com., one-third as many more Privates as Non-Com. Officers, and they agreed that each Commissioned Officer should pay one-third as much again as each Non-Com., and each Non-Com. one-fifth as much again as each Private; but 1 Commissioned and 2 Non-Com. Officers slipped away without paying their portion (5s.), each of the others had to pay in consequence 4d. more. What was the amount of the bill, and the number of each present?

Twice the half of 1½? Ask your friends--it bothers them.

The Problem Easily Solved.

“Do you see that row of poplars on the other bank standing apparently at equal distances apart?” asked a grave-faced man of a group of people standing by a river.

The group nodded assent.

“Well, there’s quite a story connected with those trees,” he continued. “Some years ago there lived in a house overlooking the river a very wealthy banker, whose only daughter was beloved by a young surveyor. The old man was inclined to question the professional skill of the young rod and level, and to put him to the test directed him to set out on the river shore a row of trees, no two of which should be any further apart than any other two. The trial proved the lover’s inefficiency, and forthwith he was forbidden the house, and in despair drowned himself in the river. Perhaps some of you gentlemen with keen eyes can tell me which two trees are furthest apart?”

The group took a critical view of the situation, and each member selected a different pair of trees. Finally, after much discussion, an appeal was made to the solemn-faced stranger to solve the problem.

“The first and the last,” said he, calmly, resuming his cigar and walking away with the air of a sage.

136.
Twice five of us are eight of us, and two of us are three,
And three of us are five of us--now how can all this be?
If that does not puzzle you I’ll tell you one thing more:
Eight of us are five of us and five of us are four.

“EXPRESSIONAL” MEASURES.

The table of measures says that 3 barleycorns make 1 inch--and so they do. When the standards of measures were first established 3 barleycorns, well-dried, were taken out and laid end to end, and measured an inch.

The “hairbreadth” now used indefinitely for infinitesimal space, was a regular measure, 16 hairs laid side by side equalling 1 barleycorn.

The expression “in a trice,” as everyone knows, means a very short space of time. The hour is divided into 60 minutes, the minute into 60 seconds, and the second into 60 “trices.”

A CHALLENGE.

137. A lady belonging to the W.C.T.U. was endeavouring to persuade a gentleman friend of hers to give up the drink; he replied, “I will sign the pledge if you tell me how many glasses of beer did I drink to-day if the difference between their number and the number of times the square root of their number is contained in 2 be equal to 3.”

MEMORY SYSTEM.

TEACHER--“In what year was the battle of Waterloo fought?”

PUPIL--“I don’t know.”

TEACHER--“It’s simple enough if you only would learn how to cultivate artificial memory. Remember the twelve apostles. Add half their number to them. That’s eighteen. Multiply by a hundred. That’s eighteen hundred. Take the twelve apostles again. Add a quarter of their number to them. That’s fifteen. Add to what you’ve got. That’s 1815. That’s the date. Quite simple, you see, to remember dates if you will only adopt my system.”

A GLOBE TROTTER.

138. Everyone knows that in a race on a circular track the competitor who has the “inside” running has the least ground to cover, hence the great desire of cyclists, jockeys, &c., to “hug the fence.”

Now a gentleman, six feet high, starts walking round the Earth on the equator; his feet, therefore, have the inside running. Find out how much further his head travels than his feet in performing this wonderful journey? taking the circumference of the globe at the equator to be 25,000 miles.

PRECOCIOUS JUVENILE--“Mamma, it isn’t good grammar to say ‘after I,’ is it?”

HIS MOTHER--“No, Georgie.”

PRECOCIOUS JUVENILE--“Well, the letter J comes after I. Which is wrong--the grammar or the alphabet?”

139. There is an island in the form of a semi-circle; two persons start from a point in the diameter; one walks along the diameter, and the other at right angles to it; the former reaches the extremity of the diameter after walking 4 miles, and the latter the boundary of the island after walking 8 miles. Find the area of the island.

140. There is a certain number consisting of three figures which is equal to 36 times the sum of its digits, and 7 times the left-hand digit plus 9, equal to 5 times the sum of the remaining digits, and 8 times the second digit minus 9 is equal to the sum of the first and third. What is the number?

141. A bottle and cork costs 2½d.; the bottle costs 2d. more than the cork. What is the price of each?

A Cure for Big Words.

Here is a good story of how a father cured his son of verbal grandiloquence. The boy wrote from college, using such large words that the father replied with the following letter:--“In promulgating your esoteric cogitations, or articulating superficial sentimentalities, and philosophical or pscyhological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosity. Let your conversation possess a clarified conciseness, compacted comprehensibleness, coalescent consistency, and a concatenated cogency. Eschew all conglomerations of flatulent garrulity, jejune babblement, and asinine affectations. Let your extemporaneous descantings and unpremeditated expatiations have intelligibility, without rhodomontade or thrasonical bombast. Sedulously avoid all polysyllabical profundity, pompous prolixity, and ventriloquial vapidity. Shun double entendre and prurient jocosity, whether obscure or apparent. In other words, _speak truthfully, naturally, clearly, purely, but do not use big words_.”

142. With a pair each of four different weights, 1 lb. up to 170 lbs. can be weighed. What are the weights?

143. A man going “on the spree” spends on the first day 10s. 5d., the second 18s., the third £1 8s. 7d., the fourth £2 2s. 8d., and so on at that rate of increase until he has spent all he had--£183 6s. 8d. How many days was he on the spree?

144. Divide one shilling into two parts, so that one will be 2½d. more than the other.

COMPLIMENTARY, VERY!

EDITOR--“Did you see the notice I gave you yesterday?”

SHOPKEEPER--“Yes, and I don’t want another. The man who says I’ve got plenty of grit, and that the milk I sell is of the first water, and that my butter is the strongest in the market, may mean well, but he is not the man whose encomiums I value.”

145. A vintner draws a certain quantity of wine out of a full vessel that holds 256 gallons, and then filling the same vessel with water draws off the same quantity of liquor as before, and so on for four draughts, when only 81 gallons of pure wine is left. How much wine did he draw each time?

146. A man has 4 horses, for which he gave £80; the first horse cost as much as the second and half of the third, the second cost as much as the fourth minus the cost of the third, the third cost one-third of the first, and the fourth cost as much as the second and third together. What was the price of each horse?

The Divided Pound.

147. A father wishes to divide £1 between his four sons, giving one-third to one, one-fourth to another, one-fifth to another, and one-sixth to another; in doing so he finds he has only disbursed 19s.; the balance, 1s., is then divided in the same proportion. What amount does each receive in full in the proportion named?

RAILWAY-SHUNTING PUZZLE.

148. A locomotive is on the main line of railway; the trucks marked 1 and 2 are on sidings which meet at the points, where there is room for one truck only and not for the locomotive. It is desired to reverse the position of the trucks--that is, put 1 where 2 is, and 2 where 1 is, and yet leave the locomotive free on the main line. This must be done by means of the locomotive only, either pulling or pushing the trucks--it may be between them, thus pulling one and pushing the other--but no truck must move without the locomotive.

In working this puzzle out, it would be best to draw the diagram on an enlarged scale, and have articles to represent the trucks and locomotive.

149. In a public square there is a fountain containing a quantity of water; around it stand a group of people with pitchers and buckets. They draw water at the following rate: The first draws 100 quarts and one-thirteenth of the remainder, the second 200 quarts and one-thirteenth of the remainder, the third 300 quarts and one-thirteenth, and so on, until the fountain was emptied. How many quarts were there in the fountain?

ENGLISH FROM A GERMAN MASTER.

PROF. GOLDBURGMANN--“Herr Kannstnicht, you will the declensions give in the sentence, “I have a gold mine.”

HERR KANNSTNICHT--“I have a gold mine; thou hast a gold thine; he has a gold his; we, you, they have a gold ours, yours, or theirs, as the case may be.”

PROF. GOLDBURGMANN--“You right are; up head proceed. Should I what a time pleasant have if all Herr Kannstnicht like were!”

SPENDING THEIR “ALL.”

150. Three men going “on the spree” decide to spend all their money. The first, A, “shouts” for the company and then gives his balance to B, who also in turn pays for 3 drinks and gives his balance to C, who can then just manage to pay for drinks once more at 6d. each. How much money had each?

151. There is a regiment of 7300 soldiers, which is to be divided into 4 companies--half of the first company, two-thirds of the second, three-quarters of the third, and four-fifths of the fourth--to be composed of the same number of men. How many soldiers are there in each company?

A GRAVE MISTAKE.

A Scotch tradesman, who had amassed, as he believed, £4000, was surprised at his old clerk’s showing by a balance-sheet his fortune to be £6000. “It canna be--count again,” said the old man. The clerk did count again, and again declared the balance to be £6000. Time after time he cast up the columns--it was still a 6, and not a 4, that rewarded his labours. So the old merchant, on the strength of his good fortune, modernised his house, and put money in the purse of the carpenter, the painter, and the upholsterer. Still, however, he had a lurking doubt of the existence of the extra £2000; so one winter’s night he sat down to give the columns “one count more.” At the close of his task he jumped up as though he had been galvanised, and rushed out in a shower of rain to the house of the clerk, who, capped and drowsy, put out his head from an attic window at the sound of the knocker, mumbling, “Who’s there, and what d’ye want?” “It’s me, ye scoundrel!” exclaimed his employer. “Ye’ve added up the year of our Lord amang the poons!”

PROBLEM FOR PRINTERS.

152. A book is printed in such a manner that each page contains a certain number of lines, and each line a certain number of letters. If each page contains 3 lines more, and each line 4 letters more, the number of letters in each page will be 224 more than before; but if each page contains 2 lines less, and each line 3 letters less, the number of letters in each page would be 145 less than before. Find the number of lines in each page, and the number of letters in each line.

THE INCOME TAX.

153. The charge on a major income is the same in amount as that on a minor one, which is 2½ per cent. of their mutual difference, but the rate imposed on the overplus of a major income is 4 per cent., so that on a composite income of the major and minor the charge would be £3 8s. Required the major and minor incomes.

“Your Money or Your Life!”

154. Two gentlemen, A and B, with £100 and £48 respectively, having to perform a long journey through a lonely part of the country, agree to travel together for purposes of safety; they are, however, taken unawares by a gang of bushrangers who, calling upon them to “bail up,” ease them of some of their cash. The leader of the gang was satisfied with taking twice as much from A as from B, and left to A three times as much as to B. How much was taken from each?

GEOMETRICAL MUSIC.

· A point, my boys, is that which has no length, breadth,
or dimension.
-- A line has length, and yet is but a point drawn in extension.
All lines have names expressing some distinguishing particular.
As: horizontal, parallel, oblique, and perpendicular.
_Chorus of Pupils._ Oh! dear! oh!
A pretty science mathematics is to know.

The lines called parallel are those which, drawn in one direction,
Continued to infinity, will never make bisection.
The thing perhaps sounds odd, but if you entertain a doubt, boys,
I’ll draw the lines, ====== now take your slates, and work the
problem out, boys.

_Chorus of Pupils._ Oh! dear! no!
We readily believe it, Sir! since _you_ say so!

155. In this figure rub out eight lines, and leave two squares. No side nor angle of any square must be left, otherwise that will be counted as a square.

156. A and B travelled by the same road, and at the same rate from Tamworth to Sydney. A overtook a flock of sheep, which travelled at the rate of three miles in two hours, and two hours after he met a mail coach, which travelled at the rate of nine miles in four hours. B overtook the flock 45 miles from Sydney, and met the coach 40 minutes before he came to the 31-mile post from the Metropolis. Where was B when A reached Sydney?

ENGLISH HISTORY.

A school examination paper contained the question:--“Write down all you know about Henry VIII,” and one of the small boys answered as follows:--

“King Henry 8 was the greatest widower that ever lived. He was born at Anne Domini in the year 1066. He had 510 wives besides children. The first was beheaded and afterwards executed, and the second was revoked. She never smiled again. But she said the word ‘Calais’ would be found on her heart after death. The greatest man in this reign was Lord Sir Garret Wolsey--named the Boy Bachelor. He was born at the age of fifteen unmarried. Henry 8 was succeeded on the throne by his great-grandmother, the beautiful Mary, Queen of Scots, sometimes called Lady of the Lake or the Lay of the Last Minstrel.”

157. Two boys, A and B, run round a ring in opposite directions till they meet at the starting point, their last meeting place before this having been 990 yards from it. If A’s rate to B’s be as 5 to 3, find the distance they have travelled.

THE VALUE OF HOME LESSONS.

Two teachers of languages were discussing matters and things relative to their profession.

“Do your pupils pay up regularly on the first of each month?” asked one of them.

“No, they do not,” was the reply; “I often have to wait weeks and weeks before I get my pay, and sometimes I don’t get it at all. You can’t well dun the parents for the money.”

“Why don’t you do as I do? I always get my money regularly.”

“How do you manage it?”

“It is very simple. For instance, I am teaching a boy French, and on the first day of the month his folks don’t send the amount due for the previous month. In that case I give the boy the following exercise to translate and write out at home:--‘I have no money. The month is up. Hast thou any money? Have not thy parents any money? I need money very much. Why hast thou brought no money this morning? Did thy father not give thee any money? Has he no money in the pocket-book of his uncle’s great aunt?’ This fetches them. Next morning that boy brings the money.”

158. There is a number half of which divided by 6, one-third of it divided by 4, and one-fourth of it divided by 3, each quotient will be 9. What is the number?

QUIBBLE.

159.
Two-thirds of six is nine, one-half of twelve is seven,
The half of five is four, and six is half of eleven.

SOMETHING EASY.

160. Find a sum of £ s. d. (no farthings) in which the figures, in their order, represent the amount reduced to farthings.

161. Three persons won a “consultation” worth £1,320. If J were to take £6, M ought to take £4, and B £2. What is each person’s share?

“ON THE JOB.”

162. Six masons, four bricklayers and five labourers were working together at a building, but being obliged to leave off one day by the rain, they went to a public-house and drank to the value of 45s., which was paid by each party in the following manner: Four-fifths of what the bricklayers paid was equal to three-fifths of what the masons paid, and the labourers paid two-sevenths of what the masons and bricklayers paid. What did each party of men pay?

163. In a certain speculation I gained £4 19s. 11¾d. for each pound I expended, and by a curious coincidence I found that £4 19s. 11¾d. was the exact amount I had ventured. Required the amount of capital and profit together.

HIS MAJORITY.

164. “I am not a man, I suppose, till I am 21. How long have I to wait yet, if the cube root of my age eight years hence, added to the cube root of my age eleven years ago would make 5?”

DRAUGHT-BOARD PUZZLE.

165. Place eight men on a draught-board in such a way that no two will be in a line either crossways or diagonally. Of course the two colours on the board must be used.

166. A gentleman, dying, left his property thus: To his wife, three-fifths of his son’s and youngest daughter’s shares; to his son, four-fifths of his wife’s and eldest daughter’s shares; to his eldest daughter, two-sevenths of his wife’s and son’s shares, and to his youngest daughter one-sixth of his son’s and eldest daughter’s shares. The wife’s share was £4,650. What did the gentleman leave, and what did each receive?

SAMSON OUTDONE.

A man boasted that he carried off an entire timber yard in his left hand. It turned out that the timber-yard was a three-foot rule.

Domino Puzzle.

167. Arrange the 28 dominoes in such a manner as to have two squares of each number; there are eight half-squares of each number in the complete set--eight sixes, eight fives, &c.--so that four of the one number comprise a square. The whole, when finished, will form a figure like a square, resembling a wide letter =I=.

168. A sum of money is divided among a number of persons; the second gets 8d. more than the first, the third gets 1s. 4d. more than the second, the fourth 2s. more than the third, and so on. If the first gets 6d. and the last £5 2s. 6d., how many persons were there?

IT COULDN’T BE EXPECTED.

Teacher: “Johnny, where is the North Pole?”

Johnny: “I don’t know.”

Teacher: “Don’t know where the North Pole is?”

Johnny: “When Franklin, Nansen and Captain Andrée hunted for it and couldn’t find it, how am I to know where it is?”

169. For a loan of 2,500,000, 4½ per cent. per annum is paid by a mining company whose capital is £4,900,000. The working expenses constitute 52 per cent. of the gross receipts, which amount in the year to £965,000, and the directors set apart £44,450 as a reserve fund. What yearly dividend do the shareholders receive?

170. If a monkey climbs a greasy pole 10 ft. high, ascending 1 ft. with each movement of his arms, and slipping back 6 in. after each advance; how many movements would he have to make, to touch the top, and what height would he have climbed in all?

171. Find two numbers whose G.C.M. is 179, L.C.M. 56385, and difference 10382.

172. What is the difference between twenty four-quart bottles, and four and twenty quart bottles?

THE G.C.M.

The Greatest Common Measure--A “long pint.”

173. There are two casks, one of which holds thirty gallons more than the other. The larger is filled with wine, the smaller with water. Ten gallons are taken out of each: that from the first is poured into the second; the operation is repeated, and it is now found that the larger cask contains 13 gallons of water. Find the contents of each cask.

174.
In the midst of a paddock well stored with grass,
I engaged just an acre to tether my ass;
What length must that cord be, in grazing all round
That he may graze over just one acre of ground?

175. If three first-class cost as much as five second-class tickets for a journey of 100 miles, the total cost of the eight tickets being £3 2s. 6d., find the charge per mile for each first-class and second-class ticket.

HUMILITY.

In a certain street are three tailors. The first to set up shop hung out this sign--“Here is the best tailor in the town.” The next put up--“Here is the best tailor in the world.” The third simply had this--“Here is the best tailor in this street.”

“On the Wallaby.”

176. Four sundowners called at a station and asked for rations. “Well,” said the manager, “I have a job that will take 200 hours to complete; if you want to do it, you can divide the work and the money among yourselves as you see fit.” The sundowners agreed to do the work on these conditions. “Now, mates,” said the laziest of them, “it’s no good all of us doing the same amount of work. Let’s toss up to see who shall work the most hours a day, and who the fewest. Then let each man work as many days as he does hours a day.” This was agreed to; but the proposer took good care that chance should designate him to do the least number of hours of work. How were the 200 hours put in so that each man should work as many hours as days, and yet no two men work the same number of hours?

177. On multiplying a certain number by 517 a result is obtained greater by 7,303,535 than if the same number had been multiplied by 312. How much greater still would be the result if 811 were the multiplier instead of 312?

A “CATCH.”

178. Six ears of corn are in a hollow stump. How long will it take a squirrel to carry them all out if he takes but three ears a day?

NUMBER 7.

The number 7 has always been considered the most sacred of all our figures. Its prominence in the Scriptures is very remarkable, from Genesis--where we read that the seventh day was consecrated as a day of rest and repose--to Revelations--where we find the seven churches of Asia; seven golden candlesticks; the book with seven seals; the seven angels with seven trumpets; seven kings; seven thunders; seven plagues, &c., &c., its frequent occurrence is most striking.

The Ancients paid great respect to the seven mouths of the Nile. The seven rivers of Vedic India; seven wonders of the world; seven precious stones; seven notes of music; seven colours of the rainbow, &c., &c. The “Lampads seven that watch the Throne of Heaven” led the Chaldeans to esteem the unit 7 as the holiest of all numbers, thereupon they established the week of seven days, and built their temples in seven stages. The temples and palaces of Burma and China are seven-roofed.

In modern times this number has kept up its reputation. Shakespeare paid special regard to it; the “seven ages” and every multiple of it is supposed to be a critical or important period in one’s life.

A modern philosopher as follows apportions--

MAN’S FULL EXTREME.

7 years in childhood, sport and play, (7)
7 years in school from day to day, (14)
7 years at trade or college life, (21)
7 years to find a place and wife, (28)
7 years to pleasure’s follies given, (35)
7 years to business hardly driven, (42)
7 years for some wild-goose chase, (49)
7 years for wealth, a bootless race, (56)
7 years of hoarding for your heir, (63)
7 years in weakness spent and care, (70)
And then you die and go--you know not where.

Very many superstitious and curious ideas have been and still are connected with all our figures. For those interested in this subject see page 146--“How To Become Quick At Figures” (Student’s Edition).

“What’s the difference,” asked a teacher in arithmetic, “between one yard and two yards?” “A fence,” said Tommy Yates. Then Tommy sat on the ruler 14 times.

179. What relation is a woman to me who is my mother’s only child’s wife’s daughter?

THE ADVANTAGES OF SKILFUL BOOK-KEEPING.

If a merchant wishes to get pretty deeply in debt, and then get rid of his liabilities by bankruptcy--if, in fact, he proposes to himself to go systematically into the swindling business, and engage in wholesale pecuniary transactions without a shilling of his own, the first thing he should take care to learn would be the whole art of book-keeping.

From what may occasionally be seen of the reports of the proceedings in bankruptcy, it is found that _well kept books_ are regarded as quite a test of honesty, and though assets may have disappeared or never have existed, though large liabilities may have been incurred without any prospect of payment, the bankrupt will be complimented on the straight look of his dealings, if he has shown himself a good book-keeper.

To common apprehension it would seem that well kept books would only help to show a reckless trader the ruinous result of his proceedings, and that while the man _without_ books might flatter himself that all would come out right at last, the man with exact accounts would only get into hot water with his eyes open. If a man may trade on the capital of others without any of his own, and get excused on the ground that he has kept his books correctly, it is difficult to see why a thief who steals purses, &c., may not plead in mitigation of punishment that he has carefully booked the whole of his transactions.

It would be interesting to know the effect of producing a ledger on a trial for felony, as well as curious to observe whether a burglar would be leniently dealt with on the ground that his house-breaking accounts gave proof of his experience in the science of “double-entry.”

Therefore it would be well for those interested to procure copies of “RE ACCOUNTS” and “ADVANCED THOUGHT ON ACCOUNTS.”

THE FIRM HE REPRESENTED.

A commercial traveller handed a merchant upon whom he had called a portrait of his sweetheart in mistake for his business card, saying that he represented that establishment. The merchant examined it carefully, remarked that it was a fine establishment, and returned it to the astonished and blushing traveller with the hope that he would soon be admitted into partnership.