The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1871-12-28
A CHAPTER OF PUZZLES.

down the-street, and one of them,
stopping at a certain house, knocked
at the door, observing, 4 have a
niece who is ILL., 'Thank heaven,
observed the other; Il have got no
niece and he walked away. Now,
how could that be?"
"Why, it's a riddIep' exclaimed
Mr.. FunnidOg, delightedly.
"Andone that you will not, guess
in hurry, simple as it is" observed
the Professor, confidently. "Comei
ladies and gentlemen, solve the prob
lem."
81 see," calculated Mrs. House.
wife.
"HushI whisper in my ear, " cried
Puzzleton with all the excitement of
q chiId-with new 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" said the Professor. "'I've
got a niece that IS ILL., says one
brother. Thank heaven, 1 have not
got a niece says the other. How
can that be? You all give it up ?
Well, the invalid was his daughter. p"
"Oh, I see," said Mrs. Housewife,
despondingly. elbow very stupid
in US not to find it out"
eyes, indeed, ma'am," answered
the remorseless savant. mThat fail
ure only shows how difficult it is for
ordinary minds 10 grasp more than
one idea at the same time. The at
tention is solely fixed on the different
varieties, of nieces."
"And also," observed Mr.. Aloes,
(who was much displeased at being
classed among "ordinary minds''l
"the attention is naturally distracted
from the point at issue by the bru-
tality Of the fathers remark. Now,
that is in itself a catch, in my
opinion.
"Well; sir, I will give you anoth-
er simple exercise for the under
standing, that has no such distract
ing clements" observed the Profes-
sor, coolly. GA blind beggar had a
brother. The brother died. What
relation were they to one another ?
Come, tell me that"
"Why, they were brothers," ex-
claimed the Colonel, with the rapid
ity of a small boy at the bottom OF
his class, who hopes to gain promo
ton:
"No, sir" answered the Professor,
regarding Thunderbomb with inter
est, as significant type of some low
order of intelligence; "they were
not brothers, or I should scarcely
have asked the question:"
"Phey might be brothers-in-law, "
suggested FunnidOg.
Undoubtedly they might" re-
piled Puzzleton, with a pitying
smile; "but they were not"
"stop a bit, said Mcpherson, hur.
riedIy, like one. who has not got his
answer quite ready, but yet doesn't
wish to be anticipated. "The blind
beggar, you say, had a brother, and
the brother died. Well, of course,
if one was dead, you know, they
could not be brothers any longer"
1.-THE idea is novel," observed the
Professor, gravely, "but you have
not hit on the exact ISOLATION. The
fact is, ladies and gentlemen, a blind
beggar may be either male or female,
They were brother and sister,"
81 call that CATCH" said Aloes,
gIoomily.
"Well, at all events, it was an easy
one, and you all missed it," returned
the Professor, with quiet triumph.
.,Now, 1 will give you one more ex-
ample of social arithmetic, which
will be in all respects bona tide. It
is a simple question in subtraction,
and all I ask of you is-since two or
three guesses would arrive at the
truth by mere elimination-tO write
down the reply on a paper. A man
went into cObbler's and bought a
pair of boots for sixteen shillings.
He put down sovereign (twenty
shillings), and the cobbler having no
change went to a neighboring pub
-lfc house for it, and gave it to him.
Later in the day the landlord of the
inn sent in to say that the sovereign
was a bad one, and insisted upon the
cobbler 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 arithmetic"
"Why, it is the easiest thing in
the world" calculated Mrs. House
wife. "Of course the cobbler lost
just"
-"Be quite sure ~ cried PuzzIetOn,
very angrily. "Write it down, will
yeu-if you can write"
"Scratch a Professor and you will
find a tartar" whispered AlOes.
aYou had better do as he wishes"
So we all wrote down what we
imagined to be the loss which the
.cnbbler sustained, and it's wonderful
how opinions differed, within such