The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1871-12-19
How Much and Why?

NEW Ohh BeHulelndn dC u ulnner
IN on board Cunard steamer laid a wa
ger with the captain that he could not give
him a correct answer, within minute, to
the following question GA Yankee rush
ed into boot-maker's store, in Broadway.
" Here, look sharpv' cried he, " just off for
California-ship sails in half an honr-
want pair of boots-look alive ~ Down
tumbled the boots off the shelves from
which he was soon fitted. " How much 2"
" Five dollars" "Give me change for this
fifty-dollar bill, sharp, quick" The boot
maker not having change, rushed to a mon
ey changer. "Quick, give me change for
this fifty-dollar bill-passenger just off to
California ~ and in few minutes away
ran the Yankee with boots and change, off
to California, of course. In about an hour
afterwards the money-changer came down
to the boot-maker. "Halloo see," quoth
he, this is a bad bill; pay me down fifty
dollars at once" which the poor fellow,
much disgusted, had to do. Now how
much did the boot-malSer lose?"
"Come, captain, answer quick-no think
ing about it. Ell, sir, how much did the
bootmaker lose?"
"Why, one hundred dollars of course.''
There was a shout of laughter round the
table and cries of "right, "wrong," in all
directions.
"Why, you forgot" cried one, "that
the boots were paid for" "What's that to
do with it?'' said another; "didn't the
Yankee carry them off, and wasn't the bill
bad ?" "Of course it was," said the
neighbor, "the captains right "Bet
you sovereign he's wrong. "Done; what
do you say it is?"
"Why fifty dollars and the boots. Am I
right sir!'
But the New Yorker only laughed and
the chorus with him became louder. The
question spread from table, right down
round the stern, and up the port side.-
"What did the bootmaker lose ?" until our
ears were deafened with the answers and
bets.
At length it reached big Boston man,
who had set up among us a sort Of oracle,
for he wore long straight black clothes of
a clerical cut and, above his gray head and
huge tapping ears, monstrous shovel hat.
We had all taken him for a superanuated
bishop, until his friends let out that he was
head of great insurance office all his life,
deep in all the mysteries of policy and pre-
MUM so that verify it was thought assu-
rance indeed, when a pert ensign said
"Now, I'll tell you what, old buck, bet you
that you don't tell right oif-what did the
bootmaker lose ?"
"Sir," said the big man with much grav-
ity, " | decline the bet, but shall be happy
to answer your question if you put it."
So he was told and then the pert ensign
again said, "Now tell as quick, old boy
what did the bootmaker lose?" "What did
he lose, sir? Why, he lost, of course, fifty
dollars on the one hand, which he returned
to the money changer, and the forty-five he
| gave the rOgue-he lost, sir, of course,
ninety-five dollars and the boots" But,
| alas! for the bishop-looking brother, a ludi-
crous shout of derision from some one who
had found it out greeted his reply, upon
which he rose with a heavy frown and
went ON deck. Then rose the cry "What
/ did the bootmaker lose?" from all parts of
the table. 'Fifty-fve dollars" cried aven-
turesome guess. "Forty-live," cried an
other, equally confident of his reasons
! But the New Yorker smiled and laughed
withal, telling us to give reasons for our
answers. The very walters carried it into
! the pantry, bake-house and galleys, whence
it went to the second-class passengers and
the forecastle, until all round the ship in
circle from the red-hot funnel where most
ly we did congregate, was heard the fa-
miliar cry: what did the bootmaker
lose?" Reader, how much was it, and
why?