Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-01-30

up. He would gain the promised nought;
| and being thus promoted to 10 (while the
original of that number was degraded to
his humble position), he would have no
less than three servants.
"And which of you," asked the In
Vulnerable Nought, "has thought of q
number Del to beStpw on this "sif of the
His majesty piqued himself on the
poetical turn of his sentence.
'Please sir, have" And 1 stepped
forward with little bow and flourish.
"Well," said 0, cycling him scornfully,
80, 0 the infinite, what if he should
be fraction?"
GA what?" asked chorus of voices.
"What in the world Of numbers do you
meane"
"May I never be divided" said the
! king, "if | can understand your
No l began to explain what fraction
was, and suggested that Tommy should
be u.
"And I should not have dared to pro
pose this if it had not been that the
wretched boy had hitherto been number
less, and therefore half loaf would be
better than no bread"
The king, ever ready to encourage tai
eft by his example, and to reward it Law
ishly with smiles, held out his hand to
No. 1, who knelt and humbly kissed it.
"Your ingenuity is-as virtue ever is
its own reward. You are no longer the
| lowest in the kingdom for Tommy Spratt
-" chat young gentleman had been care.
full, in the absence of any number to
which he could lay claim, to inform
them of his name), 'for Tommy Spratt
takes his place as the slave of slaves and
dlvisor Of /.
Tommy was about to weep-he had ac-
tually gone so far as to lift his cuff for
the purpose of drying his eyes, when a
| thought struck him.
"And where's "a them He'd divide
me, and u, and 1-16, and 132, and 164?"
he went on, taking spiteful delight in
seeing the grand blank of Incompetent
| his listeners "And dare say, if the truth
yourselves I"
"Youth," said the king, in tone of the
utmost severity, "be SILENT"
| "AndI have heard" continued Tommy,
whose hitherto despised ana hated arith-
metic began to stand him in good stead,
"and have heard tell of decimals, and
| if you are innumerable, believe you're
neither more nor less than circulating
| decimal yourself"
For one moment only the king was
stunned by Tommy's unexplained audaci-
| ty; then his great mind rose to the oc-
casion.
| "He is convicted by his own mouth of
| treason" for though was ignorant of
the meaning of the word, he guessed no
compliment was intended by the term.
| 'Take him and to the battlements, and
cast them into the most"
Once more Tommy found himself the
center Of a crowd of numbers, who,
Selling on him and the hapless 1, bound
them together hand and foot, and bore
them in triumph to the battlements.
They only met with one slight Interrupt
| ton, when a wrathful number, with a
cruel laugh, fastened to them the air ball,
the faithful companion of Toms perilous
voyage to that inhospitable world.
| Thus they proceeded in a procession to
the ramparts, where large crowd was as
sembled to witness their execution. With
many taunt and jeer they tossed them
| titude, after sinking slowly for some
seconds, the air-ball began to take effect
| and, impelled by favoring breeze, they
| arose out Of reach Of their tormenters
Ere he could utter word of thankful
ness or Joy at this unexpected deliver
ance, Tommy Spratt found himself lying
in the grass under the shady tree, the gin
gerbread crumbled to nothing in his hand,
and the air-ball floating serenely above
| him.
From that day Tommy Spratt became a
changed boy, remarkable especially for
two good qualities-his persevering at
| London annual.