Part 9

30. A farmer has a triangular paddock, the sides of which are 900, 750, and 600 links; he requires to cut off 3 roods and 28 perches therefrom by a straight fence parallel to its least side. What distance must be taken on the largest and intermediate sides?

THE SOVEREIGNS OF ENGLAND.

By the aid of the following, the order of the kings and queens of England may be easily remembered:--

First William the Norman, then William, his son; Henry, Stephen, and Henry, then Richard and John. Next Henry the Third, Edwards, one, two, and three; And again after Richard three Henrys we see. Two Edwards, third Richard, if rightly I guess, Two Henrys, sixth Edward, Queens Mary and Bess; Then Jamie the Scot, then Charles, whom they slew; Then followed Cromwell, another Charles, too. Next James, called the Second, ascended the Throne, Then William and Mary together came on. Then Anne, four Georges, and fourth William past, Succeeded Victoria, the youngest and last.

31. Take from 33 the fourth, fifth, and tenth parts of a certain number, and the remainder is 0. What is the number?

A WALKING MATCH.

32. T bets D he can walk 7 miles to his 6 for any time or distance; so they agree to walk a certain distance, starting from opposite points. T starts from point M to walk to N. D starts from N and walks to M. They both started at the same moment, and met at a spot 10 miles nearer to N than M. T arrives at N in 8 hours, and D arrives at M in 12½ hours after meeting. Who wins the wager? How far from M to N? And find the pace at which each walked?

THE ALPHABET.

The total number of different combinations of the 26 letters of the alphabet is 403291461126605635584000000. All the inhabitants on the globe could not together, in a thousand million years, write out all the combinations, supposing that each wrote 40 pages daily, each page containing 40 different combinations of the letters.

“10 INTO 9 MUST GO.”

33. Ten weary footsore travellers, all in a woeful plight, Sought shelter at a wayside inn one dark and stormy night.

“Nine rooms-no more,” the landlord said, “have I to offer you; To each of eight a single bed, but the ninth must serve for two.”

A din arose; the troubled host could only scratch his head, For of those tired men no two would occupy one bed.

The puzzled host was soon at ease (he was a clever man), And so, to please his guests, devised this most ingenious plan.

BOBBY (just from school)--“Mamma, I’ve got through the promisecue-us examples, an’ I’m into dismal fractures.”

34. Find the expense of flooring a circular skating rink 30 feet in diameter at 2s. 3d. per square foot, leaving in the centre a space for a band kiosk in the shape of a regular hexagon, each side of which measures 24 inches.

35. Gold can be hammered so thin that a grain will make 56 square inches for leaf gilding. How many such leaves will make an inch thick if the weight of a cubic foot of gold is 12 cwt. 95 lbs.?

School Inspector: “What part of speech is the word “am”?

Smart Cockney Youth: “What? the ‘’am’ what you eat, sir, or the ’am‘ what you is?”

MIND-READING WITH CARDS.

Hand the pack (a full one) to be shuffled by as many spectators as wish; then propose that someone takes the pack in his hand and secretly chooses a card, not removing it, but noticing at what number it stands counting from the bottom; he then returns the pack to you.

Now you have to tell what number the card is from the top. You ask any one of the spectators to choose any number between 40 and 50, and whatever number is chosen the card will appear at that number in the pack. Let us suppose the number chosen is 48.

You then say that it is not necessary for you to even see the cards, which will give you a good excuse for holding them under the table, or behind your back. Now subtract the number chosen, 48, from 52, which gives remainder 4, count off that many cards from the top, and place them at the bottom. You next say to the gentleman who chooses the card, that “it is now number 48, according to the general desire, would you please let us know at what number it originally stood?” Suppose he answers 7. Then, in order to save time, you commence counting from the top at that number, dealing off the cards one by one, calling the first card 7, the next 8, and so on. When you reach 48, it will be the card the gentleman had chosen. It is not necessary to limit the choice of position to between 40 and 50, but it is better for two reasons.

First, that the number chosen be higher than that at which the card first stood, also the higher the number chosen, the fewer cards are there to slip from the top to the bottom.

36. Divide a St. George cross, by two straight cuts, into four pieces, so that the pieces, when put together, will form a square.

PARSING.

“What part of speech is ‘kiss’?” asked the High School teacher.

“A conjunction,” replied one of the smart girls.