Part 24

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?