The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1886-07-23
ANCIENT '~CuESgNUTS.''

y young man ia Milwaukee fires the
following old problem at Tie SIN:
"a lady and gentleman enter a room.
4 portrait hangs On the wall. The lady
asks aho it is a likeness Of The gentle
man answers Brother nor sister have ]
none, but the father OF that picture is nay
fathers SON The matter in dispute is
that one Of Ms claims the portrait is Of the
gentleman himself. while the other says it
is Of his son. Which is right"
This question may not be as old as
MetIuselah, but il is very ancient indeed,
though not expressed in precisely the same
words. The picture is a portrait Of the
speaker son, Of course. or else he lied
about having no brother or sister. II is
one Of those ingenious old b~ack-number
puzzles which used 10 be trotted Out in the
evening with apples, cider and hickory nuts
at social gatherings around the fire place.
Any middle aged or Did m@n with a fairly
good memory will recognize the problem
and many others somewhat similar, when
they hear them. For Instance
"A man had six children and had never
seen one of them
There was a poor blind begear who
had a brother; the brother died. bnt the
man who died had no brother"
Two brothers were walking down the
street, and one stopped at a door, remark
ing, i have a neice here who is i'll Thank
heaven, said the other, / have no neice
How could that be-"
How many hairs are there in a dogs
tail? None" How do You make that
OUT They are All On the outside.
"A man Endorsed his companion, who
wanted To get trusted fol a bottle of wine,
saying If he refuses TO pay for it, l will"
The man did refuse to pay. and 50 did the
endorser, as he said lac would
How many legs las a calf got, calling
his tail one ?" This is an old interrogative
chestnut, the answer to which from the
thoughtless is Five, Of course Bnt
when the gigantic intellect of the wise and
thoughtful gets down to the question, the
calm answer comes Only four, because
calling a calf tail leg doesn't make it
ONE
y sheriff had a writ against a Quaker,
and asked the Quaker's wife il he was at
home. Yes, she replied. he viii see thee
in a moment. The sheriff waited a long
time, and finally suggested to the lady that
time was precious and she had promised
that he might see her husband No.
friend, replied the dame, ! only promised
that he would see thee. He has seen thee,
and not liking thy looks has avoided thee
and left the house"
With these and similar catches the
boys and girls (and their fathers and moth
ers also) used to pass many long winter
evenings. and the one who could PROFOUND
the hest things al these sociablcs was the
best fellow. Riddles and puzzles are as
old as history. and no doubt Noah and his
family whiled away many otherwis Use tedious
hour, at the p%astime, p%ropounding comm
drums and puzzles, some Of which appear
every few years, have a run, and are then
laid aside for a certain cycle, when like the
ghost of FTamlet's father. they are again
doomed 10 walk the earth.
The people Of India and China have been
d~evotces of the art. Confneins. the learned
man Of China, was 4 good puzzler. In the
bible We read about the riddle for which
Samson at the marriage feast offered a
prize. The student of scripture will re-
call where the giant met the lion, and
roY4 liz, .u4n,1ar IL ~ 4lfaf ttn,a fastp1
in the lion a swarm Of bees and honey and
put forth this riddle:
And Samson said unto them. ! viii
now put forth a riddle unto you: II ye can
certainly declare ii me within the seven
days Of the feast, and find it out; then l
will give you thirty sheets and thirty
changes Of garments. And he said unto
them, Ont of the eater eame firth meat,
and out Of the strong cane forth sweet
ness And they could moi in three lays
expound the riddle
At the end Of the seven days feast, sam
sons wife had teascd the answer from her
husband, and She gave it away.
solomon in all his glory was a puzzler.
The queen OF SheDa came 10 prove solomon
with hard questions, and he gave her a
| complete list of answers. And the queen
of Sheba gave the king one hnadred and
twenty talents of gold and an abundance of
spices.
Some OF the finest puzzles ever pro
pounded may be found in the bible. Read
it. For sale at all bookstore s.-Ptck's
Sun.