Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-02-09
A Lot Of Puzzles.

"were walking together down the street,
and one of them, stopping q b certain
house, knocked at the door, observing, /
have niece here who is ILL., Thank hea-
ven, observed the other, I have got no
niece, and he walked away. Now, how
could that be?"
"Why, it's riddlef.. exclaimed Mr..
Funnidog, delightedly. 4
And one that you will not guess in
hurry, simple as It is" observed the Pro-
fessor, confidently. Come, ladies and
gentlemen, solve the problem"
a see" calculated Mrs. Housewife.
Hush whisper in my ear," cried Puz-
zleton, with all the excitement of child
with top. Don't let 'em 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 hos
tility at FunnidOg, as much as to say,
Such as he would ask YOU" Nothing
can be simpler than my question. Give
got niece that's ILL.," says one brother
Thank Heaven, 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, de-
spondingly. How very stupid in us not
10 mo IL OUT. 6tkH So
"Yes, indeed, ma'am," answered the re-
morseless saonnt. 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 varieties of nieces"
And also" observed Mr.. aAloes (who
among ordinary minds y, land also, the
attention is naturally distracted from the
point at issue by the brutality of the faith
er's remark. Now, that is in itself q
CATCH in my opinion"
Well, sir, will give you another sim
pie exercise for the understanding that has
no such distracting element" observed the
Professor, coolly. "A blind beggar had q
brother. The brother died. What rela-
ton were they to one another? 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.
mo, sir" answered the Professor, re-
garding Thunderbomb with interest as
significant type of some low order of in
telligence, "they were not brothers, or l
should scarcely have asked the question"
"They might be brothers-in-law," sug-
gested Funnidog.
Undoubtedly they might" replied
Puzzleton, with a plying smile; but
they were not" ,r
"Stop bit" said Mop herson, hurriedly,
like one who has not got his answer quite
ready, but yet doesn't wish to be antici-
pated. "The blind Seggar, you say, had
brother and the brother died. Well, of
course, if one was dead, you know they
could not be brothers any longer.
The idea is novel;" observed the Pro-
-fessor, gravely; "but you have not hit up
on the exact solution. The fact is, gentle
men and ladies, a blind beggar may be
either male or female. In this instance
she was a female. They lwere brother
and sister.
81 call that CATCH" said Aloes, gloom
lily.
"Well, at all events, it is an easy one
and you all missed it, returned the Pro-
fessor with quiet triumph. "NOw, will
give you one more example OF social arith-
metic, which will be in all respects bona
fde 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 elimination to write down the reply
on paper A man went into cobblers's
and bought pair of boots for sixteen
shillings He put down sovereign
twenty shillings), and the cobbler, having
no change sent to neighboring public
house, and gave ii to him. Later in the
day the landlord of the inn sent in to say
that the sovereign was bad one, and in
sisted upon the ccbbler making it right;
which he accordingly did. Now, how
much did the cobbler lose by the whole
transaction? There is no play upon words,
or anything but a common sum in arith-
metic." "Why it's the easiest thing in
the world" calculated Housewife. "Of
course the cobbler lost just"
BE quiet, sir" sried Puzzleton, very
sngrily. write 1t down, will you, If you
can write"
Scratch Professor, and you find Tar
tar" whispered Aloes. "You had better
do as he wishes"
So we all wrote down what we imagined
to be the loss which the cobbler had sus
tanned; and it was wonderful how opinions
differed within such narrow limits.
The Colonel made him lose two pounds.
and the boots.
Mr.. Funnidog made him lose six and
thirty shillings
Mr. Mcpherson made him lose sixteen
shillings and the boots, minus the profit
he made upon the boots (Which, said the
Professor, is not necessary to take into
cOnsideration) t
Mr.. Scale Hill, who used to investigate
the bills Of extortionate Swiss landlords,
set down the loss with confidence at
twelve shilljngs and the boots.
Housewife wrote Why, of course, he
lost the boots aud twenty -four shillings."
Mrs. Housewife and the ladies bit their
pens, but declined to commit themselves.
They had never been taught" they said,
1.-THE Rule Of Three"
You are al wrong" said the Professor
quietly, "as / expected you would be-
The way to get at the matter ID to consider
what is gained. The landlord, and the
whole story of his changing the sovereign
may be taken out of the question, since
he is neither better nor worse for the tran
saction. The buyer of the boots gets in |
exchange for his bad sovereign four shil-
lings and pair of boots, and that is just
what the cobbler loses"
eff one only had room to ones self
and the whole day before one to do it in"
sighed Mrs. Housewife, think I could
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