, 1880-07-12
A Mathematical Mystery.

A Mathematical Mystery.
Every man who has ntrusted to a
woman the work of mA. a"turing a
shirt has had painful exp. rience of her
inability to comprehend the importance
of accurate measurement. Mr.. Sn til,
for example, permits Mrs. Smi,n to
make new shirt, to be modelled pre-
cisely after an old one, which measures,
say, fifteen inches around the neck.
When the new garment is completed
Mr.. Smith finds that it chokes him, and
he calls his wife's attention to the fact.
She declares that it measures precisely
the same as the model, and appealing
to tape measure in proof of the asser-
ton, finds that the new shirt measures
only thirteen inches around the neck.
In these circumstances male shirt
maker would confess that he had made
a mistake. Not so Mrs. Smith. She
exclaims, with every appearance of
triumph, "There; what did tell you!
One is almost exactly the same size as
the other. There isn't two inches diff
ference between them" Nothing could
more forcibly illustrate woman's total
incapacity to grasp the importance of
accurate measurements. A being who
believes that thirteen-inch band will
tit fifteen-inch neck with as much ac-
curacy as if the band were two inches
longer, is born without any sense of the
value of linear measure. AS rule,
women decline to recognize the author
ity of yard-stick, measuring-tapes, and
other standards. and place pathetic
faith in their personal fingers and
thumbs. They have constructed for
heir own use certain tables whica pre-
tend that the upper joint OF the
thumb is exactly an inch in length, and
that the width of three fingers is an
inch and half. These are the only
measures which they will use when
seeking to ascertain the length of a
piece of piping cord or the width of a
skirt. breadth. It is needless to say
that they are thus led into constant
error. The female fingers and thumbs
are not constant quantities, SO far as
their length and breadth are concerned,
and to make them standards of meas
urement is as absurd as it would be to
assume that the human foot is always
twelve inches in length, whether it be
the New York or the Chicago foot.
What is very odd is the fact that in the
department of cookery women make IN
elaborate pretense OF their regard for
careful measurement. They have rules
for finding the exact quantity of each
article that enters into the composition
of any particular dish. For instance,
their cooking hturgies prescribe that
in making cake one must take cup of
-four, six cups of butter, two dozen
eggs, three cups of salt. teaspoonful
of indigo, tablespoonful of starch,
and three cups of molasses. But do
they ever follow this rule 1t is noto-
rious that they pay no attention to it.
When a woman undertakes to make
cake she takes what she calls "enough"
-four, and to this she adds ''a little
iadigo, starch, and salt, and stirs into
it about as much butter and molasses
'as is needed" OF course, the result
is always unforeseen. 1t may turn out
that the compound thus made is cake,
and it may prove to be rice pudding.
idea what it will be. With the printed
rule for cake manufacture lying before
her, one would suppose that it would
be impossible for her to produce any
thing but cake, but in actual practice
she utterly scouts the rule, and makes
her mysterious compound by the light
of nature, and humbly trusts that it
will not come out of the oven as sau-
sage or boiled ham.-Neu York Times.
Richard Kinkre, arralgned on the
charge of drunkenness in police court
to-day, hoped to escape punishment by
playing what is called the deaf dodge.
He said: I'm hard of hearing, your
honor" Judge Donahue comprehend
ed tbs situation, and remarked, in an
ordinary tone of voice, Will you take
drink, Dick?" An intelligent look
lighted up the ruby countenance of the
prisoner, his lips parted, and he was
about to reply in the affirmative, when he
suddenly recollected that he was an ac-
tor. and, winking to the reporters, said,
81 can't hear you, Judge" Richard
was thereupon cast for the part of re-
cluse, and transferred to the Ferry
street play-hoys.-Troy Times.
The WHITE HoUsE.-Comparatively
few persons know how the White House
at Washington got its name. 1t was
given to it because of its color. The
building is constructed of freestone,
and after the British burned the in
terror in 1914. the walls were SO black
ened that when it was rebuilt it was
found necessary to paint them. Ever
since, at intervals of few years, the
whole structure receives fresh coat
of white paint. The cumbrous title of
Executive Mansion was very naturally