Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1870-07-07
VERBAL ANTIQUITIES.

4
the occasion Of numerous misapprchen
sions. puzzles. and absurdities in current
literature. few examples Of which ma,
be entertaining.
Referring first 70 pussles, We may men.
ton the case Of the man who had six chill.
dren. and had never seen one of them
The mind is misled here, BY supposing
that lone Of them." means any Of them
and If it hsd been said, never saw . sin.
gle one Of them, il would have been still
more likely to be misunderstood. The
answer to this pussle il. that ono Of them
had been born while the man was on Z
journey. and he had not seen it.
There is puss'e well known to the
rising generation "There was . poor
blind beggar who had a brother; th,
brother died. bat the man who died had
no brother. What relation was the beg.
gar to the man who died I" Here We arc
misled BY taking It for granted that the
beggar must have been man, but the
olew being given that the bssgar was .
girl, it becomes quite plain that thc, beg.
gar was sister of the man who died.
There are number Of these riddles on
the subject Of relationships. We are told
OF two men who met at an inn, aud gree.
ted each other afEectionately. The inn.
keeper asked ono Of them il the other wa.
kin Of his, and received the following
enigmasical reply:
brother and sister hare ! none
Yet this mans father was my iather's son. !"
Now this is q perfectly plain rroposi.
ticn, aad yet have known . company
delve at il for an hour, and finally give
it up. only to marvel At their own stupid
isy in not seeing that this form Of v words
wa. but an ambie uous way Of saying tha,
"this man" was the speakers son. Again.
two brothers were walking down che
street. and one stopped at adoor. rems-k-
ing: II have n,ece here who is in. "
Thank Heaven" !" said the other. ''T have
no niece" How ccuh that be The
only difficulty in gue sing thi, Is the ten.
aency Of the mind to move in . rut.-
Having got the idea Of uiese Gxsd. the
mind refuses 10 think Of any thing elst
bu. different kinds Of nicccs. and ueves
once looks 10 one side sufficiently 70 81
that the uck girl was the daughter Of the
man who said he lad no niece. i Il
very true that the expression ''Thanl
Heaven 7" seems some what rncalled fcl
when the true fact appears, bat thea ,
riddle must not Be made too easy.
There u something quite fascinating b
the Juvenile mind in thst peculiar sllee
in words which il called czsch. Thu.
. youngsssr with very serious faes en-
tiers the room With . piece Of pews.-
"Beecher,s says he. ''got shot to-day, .
els that sor' says one aud, "Whcre ?
asks another. HE got shot in . hard.
ware store down town" " says the young.
sssr. HE vas going hunting" In ths
same way. With little falsifcaticn Of sc
cent aud the omission Of the hypaen, he
-ays that he has seen horss ~. . gar
deu walk, a kettle drum, . hat box, etc
lie is deligh:sd to annoy the eompan,
with tho question. ''Hov usaay Eairs ars
there in q dogs tail = ami 10 assure then
With much nonehalascs q hist thas ther,
are soos. the hairs being I'll % the out
side. ..-.s
In the same spirit ms. isaorssi hi
eomp,niSn who wanted to "a Trusted fc
bottle Of wine. With the remark. III b.
refuses 10 pay for il, l will." The ma.
refassd 10 pay for il. aud 9" did his friend
e he said he vsuli. For sech persos
| have no sympathy. bat must saeis
lurking admirstica q thss dilaridased stu
dent Of the subtle dissincticos % vcr3e
who. when trying 10 es5ses ire sasrase
to theatre. vssrosgaiy MD By shsdeos
hesyer. "Hsfs. ean's psas yoa.s 90
vho replied With digoisy - hs v.lked IN