Part 5
Teacher: “Who was it that supported the world on his shoulders?” Bright Pupil: “It was Atlas, ma’am.” Teacher: “And who supported Atlas?” Bright Pupil: “The book don’t say, but I s’pose it was his wife.”
ON BOTH SIDES OF A DOOR IN A MELBOURNE OFFICE.
THE MAN WHO FORGETS THE DOOR.
Oh, there’s an individual who ev’rywhere abounds, Thro’ trains and shops and offices he makes his busy rounds, And in and out for ever he is going o’er and o’er, To keep somebody after him attending to the door!
In sultry summer, when to catch a cooling breeze we’ve tried, And carefully have opened every door and window wide, ’Tis then you may be certain as he vanishes from sight, He’ll die but that he’ll shut the door--and close it very tight!
But when the winds of winter come, with cold and biting breath, Oh, then it is the awful wretch is tickled ’most to death! His sense of pleasure reaches to a point that is sublime; He never fails to leave the door wide open every time!
80. A man agrees to work for £8 a year and a suit of clothes. He left at the end of seven months, and received £2 13s. 4d. and his clothes. What is the value of the suit?
81. A bought four horses for £120. For the second he gave £3 more than for the first, for the third £2 more than for the second, and for the fourth £6 more than the third. Find price of each.
82. With eight pieces of card of the shape of figure A, four of figure B and four of figure C, and of proportionate sizes, form a perfect square.
[Illustration]
83. Place four 5’s so that they shall express 6½.
“SHE” AGAIN.
84. The country spark that asked the charming “she” How many years of age that she might be, Again asked her to tell to him in haste How many inches she was round the waist. “My waist is such if multiplied by four, Four-fifths of product add on my age more, The square root of three-fifths of this is six: Now find my waist, and get out of this fix.”
SOME LONG WORDS.
The eight longest words in the language are philoprogenitiveness, incomprehensibleness, disproportionableness, transubstantiationalist, suticonstitutionalist, honourifibilitudinity, velocipedestrianistical, and proautionsubstantionist. The last four are not found in the best dictionaries, but that most hideous word, “Dacryocystosyringokatakleisis,” is in some of the new lexicons.
HIS OWN GRANDFATHER.
The complication of relationship brought about by marriage is the cause of many a family squabble, but it is seldom one hears of fatal results attending such matters. According to an American newspaper, a resident of Pennsylvania committed suicide a few days ago from a melancholy conviction that he was his own grandfather.
The following is a copy of a singular letter he left:--“I married a widow who had a grown-up daughter. My father visited our house very often, fell in love with my step-daughter, and married her. So my father became my son-in-law and my step-daughter my mother, because she was my father’s wife. Some time afterwards my wife had a son; he was my father’s brother-in-law and my uncle, for he was the brother of my step-mother. My father’s wife--_i.e._, my step-daughter--had also a son; he was, of course, my brother, and in the meantime my grandchild, for he was the son of my daughter. My wife was my grandmother, because she was my mother’s mother. I was my wife’s husband and grandchild at the same time. And as the husband of a person’s grandmother is his grandfather, I was my own grandfather.” Thus he died, a martyr to his own existence.
[Illustration]
85. If 100 stones are placed on the ground, in a straight line, at the distance of 1 yard from each other, how far will a person travel who will bring them all, one by one, to a basket placed one yard from the first stone?
A little boy, writing a composition on the zebra, was requested to describe the animal and to mention what it was useful for. After deep reflection, he wrote:--“The zebra is like a horse, only striped. It is chiefly useful to illustrate the letter Z.”
86. I bought a horse and sold him again at 5 per cent. on my purchase; now, if I had given 5 per cent. less for the horse, and sold him for 1s. less, I would have gained 10 per cent. What was the original cost?
87. Find three numbers such that the first with half of the other two, the second with one-third of the other two, and the third with one-fourth of the other two, shall be equal to 34?
THE FAMOUS “45” PUZZLE.
88. Take 45 from 45, and leave 45 as a remainder. There are at least two ways of doing this.
89. How can 45 be divided into 4 such parts that if you add 2 to the first part, subtract 2 from the second part, multiply the third part by 2, and divide the fourth part by 2, the sum of the addition, the remainder of the subtraction, the product of the multiplication, and the quotient of the division are equal?
90. The square of 45 is 2025, if we halve this we get 20/25 and 20 plus 25 equals 45. Find two other numbers of four figures that produce the same peculiarity.
91. A mother of a family being asked how many children she had, replied: “The joint ages of my husband and myself are at present six times the united ages of our children; two years ago their united ages were ten times less than ours, and in six years hence our joint ages will be three times theirs.” How many children had she?
WHERE THE CREEDS AGREE.
The Mahometans, Christians and Jews, with different creeds, are all striving to reach the same place--Heaven. Now, we will endeavour to show, by figures, that it is possible for them all to accomplish their purpose.
The figures 4, 5, 6, at the angles of the large triangle, represent respectively the above mentioned sects. They are very distant from each other, but we will induce them to meet half-way. Thus, the Mahometans and Jews meet at 10, the Mahometans and Christians at 9, and the Jews and Christians at 11; and by joining these totals to the opposite numbers we see they all meet at last in Heaven (15). It should be mentioned that any numbers whatever may be used to represent the sects, but the result will always be the same.
[Illustration]
“SHE” ONCE MORE.
92. The country spark again addressed the charming “she.” This time he wished to know her height. She replied, “My height (in inches) if divided by the product of its digits, gives as quotient 2, and the digits are inverted by adding 27.”
“You have a bright look, my boy,” said the visitor at the school. “Yes, sir,” replied the candid youth; “that’s because I forgot to rinse the soap off my face this morning.”
HIS LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT.
93. A father on his death-bed gave orders in his will that if his wife, who was then pregnant, brought forth a son, he should inherit two-thirds of his property, and the mother the remainder; but if she brought forth a daughter the latter should have only one-third, and the mother two-thirds. The widow, however, was delivered of twins,--a boy and a girl. What share ought each to have of the property left by the father, who had his life insured in the Australian Mutual Provident Society for £7,000.
[Illustration]
94. Money lent at 6 per cent To those who choose to borrow; How long before I’m worth a pound If I lend a crown to-morrow?
A KEEN EYE TO BUSINESS.
Upon the death of the senior partner of an Australian firm a notice of the sad event was sent to, amongst others, a German lithographic establishment. The clerk in this German house, who was instructed to answer the communication, wrote the following letter of condolence:--
“We are greatly pained to hear of the loss sustained by your firm, and extend to you our heartiest sympathy. We notice the circular you sent us announcing Mr. S----’s death is lithographed by Messrs.----. We regret that you did not see your way to let us estimate for the printing of the same. The next time there is a bereavement in your house we will be glad to quote you for the lithographic circulars, and are confident that we can give you better work at less cost than anybody else in the business. Trusting that we may soon have an opportunity of quoting you our prices, we remain, with profound sympathy, yours truly,----.”
An American journal, describing a new counterfeit bank-note, says the vignette is “cattle and hogs, with a church far in the distance”--a good illustration of the world.
95. On a square piece of paper mark 12 circles as shown in diagram. The puzzle is to divide the figure into four pieces of equal size, each piece to be of the same shape, and to contain three circles, without getting into any of them.
[Illustration]
THE ORIGIN OF THE “STONE.”
Measurement of weight by the “stone” arose from the old custom farmers had of weighing wool with a stone. Every farmer kept a large stone at his farm for this purpose. When a dealer came along he balanced a plank on top of a wall, and put the stone on one end of it and the bags of wool on the other, until the weights were equal. At first the stones were of all sorts and sizes and weights, with the result that dealers who wished to make a living had to be remarkably knowing in their estimates of them. The many inconveniences involved by this inequality resulted in all stones being made of a uniform weight as far as wool was concerned. The weight of a stone of potatoes, meat, glass, cheese, &c., all differ.
A little boy was reading in his Scottish history an account of the battle of Bannockburn. He read as follows: “And when the English army saw the new army on the hill behind, their spirits became damped.”
The teacher asked him what was meant by “damping their spirits,” and the boy, not comprehending the meaning, simply answered, “Putting water in their whisky.”
THUNDER AND LIGHTNING CALCULATION.
96. Between the earth and a thundercloud there are four currents of air, having a temperature of 87, 57, 47, and 37 degrees respectively. The first current is half the depth of the second, the second half the third, and the third half the fourth. If a peal of thunder is heard 2-3251/4256 seconds after the lightning flash, find the depth of the fourth current and the time occupied by the sound in passing through it.
97. First cut out, with a pen-knife, in paste-board or card, The designs numbered 1, 2 and 3, Four of each; after which, as the puzzle is hard, You had better be guided by me To a certain extent; for, in fixing, take care That each portion is fitted in tight, Or they will not produce such a neat little square As they otherwise would if done right.
[Illustration]
QUITE PROPER.
“What is a propaganda,” inquired the teacher. The boy looked at the ceiling, wrinkled his forehead, wrestled with the question a minute or two, and then answered that it was the brother of a proper goose.
DECEMBER AND MAY.
98. An old man married a young woman; their united ages amounted to 100; the man’s age, multiplied by 4 and divided by 9 gives the woman’s age. What were their respective ages?
99. A and B set out on a walking expedition at the same time--A from Melbourne to Geelong, and B from Geelong to Melbourne. On reaching Geelong A immediately starts again for Melbourne. Now, A arrives at Geelong four hours after meeting B, but he reaches Melbourne three hours after their second meeting. In what time did each perform the journey?
100. What two numbers are those of which the square of the first plus the second equals 11, and the square of the second plus the first equals 7?
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration]
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.
[Illustration]
Here are two triangles. Which is the one whose centre is the better indicated? (It looks like A, but it is B).
[Illustration]
Again: Out of the two straight lines C and D which is the longer? (By measurement we see they are both the same).
[Illustration]
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.
[Illustration]
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.
[Illustration]
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.
[Illustration]
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?