Wichita eagle., 1889-07-28
VICTIM OF THE PUZZLE.
AN INSCRIPTION THAT WILL BE ON
THE TOMB OF THE FUTURE.

A Strange Fascination for the 1ndolent
Mantle Sees, BE Tries, He Conquers.
His Final Days Spent in the InSane
AsyIum-The Greatest Puzzle.
When man gets ready to go crazy one
reason may be assigned as well as another.
He has simply to let go his hold on the sensi-
BILE things of life, and the first CROCHET OF his
wandering fancy is liable to be the method
Of his mania throughout. Industrious men
seldom lose their reason. The majority Of
imbeciles were formerly incidents.
There is something about puzzle which
has a peculiar attraction for an idle man.
He has found mental effort irksome, and
bodily activity quite out Of the question, but
be sees some other wreck busy with a crcu-
lar box, in which pasteboard fences and
cheap marbles alone engross attention, and
he gives it a passing, half contemptuous
glance.
THE BLASTED THING"
Little things Like that oughtn't to stall a
man. He could do it in four minutes Not
finding a puzzle unused he buys one, and
walks along-tipping, turning, gazing-jos-
ting against people, running into wagons at
crossings, disturbing the street. He has just
about solved it. The last pug is nearing the
door of the pen; a little turn, a tilt, dexter
GUS movement-there, four came out again.
He was interested before; he is engrossed
now. He does humanity the favor to step
aside and find quiet nook under a stairway,
where he devotes himself to the thing for a
moment. He knows it will not take long. A
full grown man ought to master that blasted
thing" He gets impatient, almost profane.
He fails once or twice, and then, feeling that
in some way his ability is challenged, that
here is foeman worthy Of his steel, he lays
down the package he was taking home, finds
a seat on door step. pushes back his hat and
swears he will conquer the thing.
When he has done SO, he feels bis pride APP
pealed to- The pesky thing worried him
while, but he has learned the sleight now and
can do it without any trouble Instead of
throwing the thing into the lake as too trivial
for use, he conceives a violent aversion to
being ''downed by any such fool thing as
that"
Once at it, he loses interest in the reason
able requirements of existence, and can only
be occupied with puzzles. He feels strong
dislike for a man who mentions a new puzzle;
knows he could solve that; looks at it, tries it
once or twice, fails, and then falls a victim.
He is just as far gone on the second as he was
on the first. When he hears any one talk
about the first puzzle he flies into a passion.
ANY one can solve that, " he says, contemptu-
ously. Sometimes ii is marbles in box; at
others it is lot of square blocks on a plane
surface which he must push this way and
that. Then it is cluster of bent wires on a
ring, and at last it is anything which will
challenge solution. However, no problem in
business, no question of what he shall eat or
what he shall drink, or wherewithal he shall
be clothed, can fix bis wandering mind for a
moment
WORKING TEE CHARM
Down on La Sale street, just below Mon
roe, stands tall and bearded individual in
tensely busy with handful Of wire puzzles,
which are stated to be on sale. He bends
over them with great hands that could SO
easily earn ''bread and cheese and kisses"
and works away. A boy happens along,
bearing a message in haste, stops to see if the
riddle is solved. Another boysees the halted
and stands beside him. A couple
of men drift along and pause a moment, and
q woman with baby carriage pushes up to
SCt IL bhc WHcS hdSC Dtcil SSliiuClCl ~
crowd has gathered; the large handed man
has not looked up. Suddenly he starts from
deep abstraction into joyful life. He has
solved it. "a wonderful puzzle, ladies and
gentlemen" he ANNOUNCES. ''The pigs in
clover are nothing compared to it. The fif-
Observation-Disclosures puzzle isatoy. Capa-
bic of infinite variations and warranted
never to tire. Only ten cents. Simple enough
to charm the child; profound enough TO oc-
cupy the aged. Buy one, sir" And he has
sold his stock in four minutes, for the spell
Of some ridiculous genius is upon them. The
bow goes on with bis errand, and
works out the wire intricacy before he
reaches his destination. The woman pushes
her baby cab with one hand and conquers
the puzzle with the other. The young men
from the country work it out over and over
again, and wonder why on earth they
bought it.
The jargon of puzzle fiends is a language of
its own.
"Did you work that new French contriv-
ance?"
Yes; it's nothing. That Brown scheme
with seven blocks beats the French business"
II have new thing in brass rings that no
man on earth can down unless you tell him
how
'|rll bet dollar I can down it. Let's see
her."
''Where did you get that rolla-bolla bust
ness saw you trying to sell?'
"Oh, that's made here in town, and it's
seller Fellow thinks he can do it every time
until he buys it and tries it Then he finds it
don't do as he thought it would
Pm going TO spring my breastpin puzzle
on the train some day. sold one TO old -
the other day, and be laughed himself hoarse
over it. "
And so they go. Anything to avoid hard
work. Yet they exhaust more brain tissue
studying their valueless schemes than would
be required in earning weeks salary. Little
by little the victim gets wilder and less of an
to society. Little by little his
mental forces fail, until be leaps from irrita-
ton TO maudlin rage, and goes galloping of
to an insane asylum, the widest, most hope
less of inbeciles.
1t puzzles fellow to know why puzzles
were made.-Chicago Herald.