Part 6
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?
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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?
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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.
[Illustration]
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.
[Illustration]
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.”