West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1880-03-27
The Gem Puzzle.

The gem puzzle or the boss puzzle, or the
Doss nuisance, whichever II Is, has played a
serious part in the history of my family and
oi my friends. In nm unfortunate moment,
some days ago (malcdiciion be ON I'D | in.
vested ten cents i'm the Fifteen" puzzle.
thought had obtained my moneys worth,
but alas had purchased ten nights wake.
fulness and fifteen times more family feud
than had rcckoned on. | thought as
carried the wrctchcd little instrument of
torture home In my pocket how happy |
was To have 1t, and instead Of that, / have
not known what it is TO be happy since ite
shadow darkened my doors. On the first
night worked hard over IL until A. ~.
although the hardest work / had was Ia
keep my wife and eldest daughter from
sclzng II. went TO bed with headache.
disappointed and mad, but determined. !
awoko in the morning with headache and
found my daughter Of fifteen at Fifteen. "
She was late at school that day, and reach
ed my office two hours behind time. II
was the 10th Of the month, but dated all
my letters 18TH, and one Of them after the
old style. "l3-l5-l4.. =" That evening /
was forced 10 usc pa,ernal and marital auth.
ority to Keep the peaces, | may add. II
never occurred to us 10 by another puzzle.
! worked all the evening hard, and got
pretty mad not because / couldn't do IT,,
but because that busybody Of wife per.
sisted in telling me how to move the blOsks
AS If she knew any better than | did!
Tho next evening my mOlhcr-in-law
came 10 tea with us. She said she had done
the fifteen puzzle several times. ''Not
with Ito, "nor with BID" "Ob.
yes. she replied. "Wcll, there must have
been some Of the other numbers out Of Sc
quenco, too. / said. "No," she still in
sisted, "nOthing but 15--l4" 'And YOU
are sure you didn't lift one out z" continued
!, skcptcally. "Of course / didn't" she
rctorted with nspcrity; edo you think I
cheat and tell falsehOods z" Whcrcupon /
gulpcd down my sneaking suspicious on
that subject and replied very blandly DE
cause ehc has money and my wife, Fannie,
has only one sister,, Certainly not, mother
dear but then | thought perhaps il was
accidental "Well. Mr. g., she said cx-
Ciedly, and rising from The table. "You
must take me for an idiot 20 think that /
could lift n block by accident "Can you
de- the puzzle againf' ! asked, moved by a
satanic instinct toprovct 10 her that shc was
wrong and utterly unmindful of her limit
less bank account 81 don't know" che
replied curtiy, as she swept out OF the room
with that dignity which is born alone Of
the consciousness Of possessing cords Of L..
:. registered ~ or other truck OF a similar
nature. Fanny came down very cross and
said, Edward, ! think you were extreme
ly rude Possibly said t. "but cant
do l5--l4, ] was. Nothing more was
said, and Fanny went of 10 bed carly. ]
did not
Truihtulncss runs IN my wife's family
and consequently / was tortured with tic
belief that my mOiberin-law had done "15
IA and " she had done II, IL was posi-
BILE, and II il was possible, I would do a..
20 ] worked until halfpast twelve. when
] went u2 stairs Fanny was awake. but an
awkward silence rcigncd supreme. That
was the first night for sixteen years that !
had failed 10 Kiss her good night, except
when we were not together The next
evening my daughter declared she could do
"ll-lO--" OF l5-l4," ~ after tea we
went at Il ~ Fl 0rHljs, or In other words.
determined TO vie without arms. She fool
ed around over those blocks for an hour un-
til got 80 nervous and ~ provoked with
the stupid way she moved them that would
have slapped her had abe only been young