The Portland daily press., 1881-12-16
[Christmas St. Nicholas.l
Deacon Green's Offer.
One Hundred New One Dollar snls

Sometimes, in the best-ordered printing OFF,
ces, it SO happens that form (which is one or
more pages of reading matter, set up in type,
and fastened in an iron frame ready for the
printing press) meets with an sceident. The
man who is carrying it trips and drops it, or he
bangs it down In such a way that 1t is loosened,
and tumble out the type, helter-skelter. 1t is
then Sin p" as the printers call it, and some one
must pick up the scattered type, and, examin-
ing each little bit Of metal, restore 1t to its
proper position. The printer who sits in the
corner busted with this pi is not in the least
like Jack Horner, but is generally for the mo
ment sad and sorely tried fellow.
Now see what has happened to us! Deacon
Green assisted by his friend Mr. Timothy
Plunkett, had prepared some instructive para
graphs concerning certain noted men OF history,
and no sooner were they put in type than
young compositor tumbled them into pi. He
at once, in the excitement OF the moment, did
his best to restore the paragraphs, out ahl
what mess he made of the work.
When the Deacon heard OF IL, he wrote, In
his hearty way:
'Never mind! The boys and girls Of St.
Nicholas shall make all straight. Print it
Just as it is call it Historical Pi, and tell the
young folks that /, Deacon Green, happen to
have by me exactly one hundred new one-dol-
lar bills, all of which shall be given as prizes
for restoring the pi, viz: one bill for each OF
the one hundred best solutions received. The
conditions are that the paragraphs are to be
restored with perfect accuracy as to historical
fact and the punctuation OF every sentence;
that the solution must be written on one side
of the paper only, and addressed to Deacon
Green, care of the Century Co., Union Square
(north) N. Y.-and that not only accuracy, but
neatness and penmanship, are 10 be considered
in deciding upon the best solutions. Every
word, every letter, every punctuation point
that was in the original paragraphs is also in
the pi, and all that is necessary is to make
sure that in the re-arrangement they all get
into the right places. The prizes will be
awarded by committee OF seven, including
the editor Of st. Nicholas, The Little School
ma am Mr.. Timothy Plunkett, and
The children's to command,
SILAs GREEN"
con returned it. Fortunately, no one word is
injured in the least; and the opening
sentence is unharmed, But look at the rest of
the paragraphsl Even the names are divided
and mixed upl
HISTORICAL PI.
We propose to mention here few Of the worlds
great generals, inventors, discoverers, poeis and
George Stephenson was born at Carthage, which
city was SO hated by Goethe that he rarely made
t5oyedr. Of other note generals, lii Whitney was
O Roman; Shakespeare was Prussian; James
Watt was O Corsican; and Hannibal is an American.
1t is believed tnat Charles Darwin invented Man;
Newton the horse Julius Caesar, the monitor; Ma
poleon the blood; Frederick the sewing machine;
Cato the circulation of the earth; that Ericsson in
vented the satellites of Jupiter; that Bucephalus
frequently discovered the Jaw Of gravitation and
Dante the r-voutios of the steamboat; Galileo the
tireat, the telegraph; William Harvey Bonaparte,
the steam engiue; Elias Howe and Blondin, the
cotton-gin of the telescope and DR.. Tanner, the
fastest If not the most fiery, naturalist OF ancient
times discovered the theory Of The Descent
Among poets the greatest in ali h story is Samuel
Morse; while Robert Fulton ranks highest in the
poetry of Germany and Ulysses 5. Grant In thar OF
Italy. John and Isaac are famous English poets of
our day.
Many men have performed special feats. Alex
ander co quered and rode the locomotive; Tenny-
sen crossed the Niagara River on the tight-rope;
and Browning claims to have lived forty days with
out eating.
Now. young folk, one and all, who of you
will belong to the fortunate one hundred who
are to receive the Deacon's dollar-bills?
Remember, the hundred prizes are for the
best hundred solutions received before anuary
10th 1882, and they shall be awarded even If
not single solution should prove to be abso-
lutely correct. A Solution" is the entire pi
properly Strengthened and written out accord
ing to the above directions.
Send your full post office address, and state
whether you are under or over fifteen years OF
age.