Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1871-05-17
4 Lot of Puzzles.

Two brothers, began the Professor, i'm
I pressiyely addressing the hosteess, " were walk
ing together down the street, and one of them
stopping at certain house, knocked at til,
door, observing have niece here who Il
| ILL.,. Thank heaven, observed the other,
have got no niece, and he walked away Now
how could that be 2"
Why, its riddle :" exclaimed Mr.. Fun.
nidog, delightedly.
And one that you will not guess in a
hurry, simple as it is, :" observed the Professor
confidently. "Come, ladies and gentlemen
solve the problem
sec calculated Mrs. Housewife
Hush whisper it in my ear" cried Puz
zeton, with all the excitement OF child with
top. Don't let EN- hear it. Niece by
marriage. Stuff and nonsense. The thing is
not any foolish kind Of catch at all :" and
once more he glanced with hostility at Funni-
dog as much as to say, Such as he would
ask you" Nothing can be simpler than my
question. I've got a niece that's i'll, says
one brother. Thank heaven, l have not got
niece says the other How can that be ?
You all give it up? Well, the invalid was
his daughter"
oh, | see, said Mrs Housewife despon.
dinghy. " How very stupid in US not to find
it out"
" Yes, indeed, ma am" answered the re-.
morseless savant, That failure only shows
how difficult it is for ordinary minds to grasp
more than one idea at the same time. The
attention is solely fixed on the different yarie-
ties of nieces"
And also" observed Mr.. Aloes (who was
much pleased at being classed among ord.
nary minds And also the attention is
naturally distracted from the point at issue
by the brutality Of the fathers remark. "Now,
that is in itself the catch, in my opinion. -
" Well, sir will give you another simple
exercise for the understanding that has no
such dlstracting element" observed the Pro-
fessor cody. A blind beggar had brother.
The brother died. What relation were they
to one another2 Come, tell me that"
Why, they were brothers" exclaimed the
Colonel, with the rapidity of small boy at
the bottom of his class who hopes to gain
promotion. "No, sir" answered the Profes.
sor, regarding Thunderbomb with interest as
significant type Of some low order of in
telligence. They were not brothers, or
could scarcely have asked the question"
They might be brotbers.in.law, suggest
ed Funnidog'
Undoubtedly they might" replied Puz.
zleton, with pitying smile; +" but they were
not"
Stop a Bit" said Mcpherson, hurriedly,
like one who has not got his answer quite
ready, but yet doesn't wish to be anticipated.
'' The blind beggar you say, had brother,
and the brother died. Well, of course, if one
was dead, you know they could not be broth.
ers any longer"
grayely; but you have not hit upon the ex.
act solution. The fact is, gentlemen and la.
dies, blind beggar may be either male or fe-
male, In this instance she was a female.
They were brother and sister,"
call that CATCH" said Aloes, gloomily.
Well, at all events, it was an easy one,
and you all missed it," returned the Professor
with quiet triumph. Now, will give you
one more example of social arithmetic, which
will be in all respects bona tide. 1t is a
simple question in subtraction, and all | shall
ask of you is-since two or three guesses
would arrive at the truth by mere elimina-
Wv" w "ii'V uoNn thc reply on paper.
man went into cobblers and bought pair
Of boots for sixteen shillings. He put down
a sovereign, twenty shillings) and the cob.
bier, having no change, sent to a neighborine
public house, and gave it to him. Later in
the day the landlord of the inn sent in to say
the sovereign was bad one, and insisted
upon the cobbler making it right, which he
accordingly did. Now, how much did the
'obbler lose by the whole transaction There
$ no play upon words, or anything but a CON-
non sum in arithmetic" "Why it's the easi-
'st thing in the world" calculated Housewife.
VI course the cobbler lost just"
6 BE quiet, sir !" cried Puzzleton, very an.
,rily. Write it down. will you--if you can
write"
Scratch a Professor, and you find Tar
ar" whispered Aloes you had better do
Is he wishes"
So we all wrote down what we imagined to
% the loss which the cobbler had sustained
md it was wonderful how opinions differed
within such narrow limits.
The Colonel made him lose two pounds
Mr. Aloes made him lose just pound and
he boots.
Mr. Funnidog made him lose six aud thirty
billings l.