Part 28

“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?