Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-05-04
MICKEY FINN.s PUZZLE.
How COOney Islands Hero Won an
Apple.
Boston Globe.

The supper dishes were cleared away.
Mr.. Finn sat beside the stove smoking,
and his son Mickey leaned over the
table, with his hands in his hair and an
intent look on his freckled face. Before
him on the table lay slip cut from a
newspaper, upon which was printed the
following:
If the B m put but if the B. putting:
If this is thought difficult, what is said
70 the following
How can l put: where there is such
a-dert
''Shure I can't make anything Of it at
all, " said Mickey.
Make anything OF phwat?" queried
his father.
"Of this puzzle Tn schoOlmaster
has big red apple for tn by as'll bring
tn answer on his slate in tn mornin'."
Mr.. Finn laid his pipe on the mantel
and looked over his sons shoulder.
Solving puzzles was not in Mr.. Firms
line. He was cOal-heaver.
"Shure that things all nonsense"
said he, after a careful survey of the
difficulty, adding, whats thin little
dotS?"
Trims colOns, said Mickey.
Mrs. Finn, who was washing the
dishes, overheard the last remark, and
miSinterpretiug the meaning, said:
"Ye'd betther stop foolin' wild them
prntin' things, an put some coal in tn
stove"
Mickey's face lit up with the glad
light of discovery. Il have it," said
he. That's what tn puzzle names
put coal on"
Aye, by, right you are" remarked
the elder Finn, while the fire burned
low for lack of fuel, and even Mrs. Finn
became interested and looked at the fur
Their attempts Of the boy with intense
admiration of his genius.
Its a great head We hav', me by"
said Mr.. Finn fondly;"but phawt is thin
two little lettherS there be themselves
m t?''
Empty, is it2" said Mrs. Finn.
"Shure that's tn short way of tellin' We
tn stove is IMPLY" and she put two
ShOvelfuS of coal upon the fire.
"It'S brains ye hav' as we'll as beauty,
Biddy," said Mr. Finn, looking at his
boy anxiouSly, as though expecting
contradiction which did not come, for
Mickey wrote the words out after sort
of wOrm-fence fashion: Empty put coal
on"
To say that the Films were pleased
would be drawing it mild. They were
hilarious. Mike gave his wife playful
dig in the ribs, to which she replied;
There's no fool like an Ould fool" but
her manner belied her words.
There was silence for 10 minutes
after this in the Finn shanty. Three
heads touched each other over the slip
of paper, and three pairs Of lips NUT
tered inarticulate sentences, but with
no definite result. At last the silence
was broken by little Mike, who said:
"Well, it's all about stove an coal,
anyway"
1T can't be tn stove-lid," remarked
Mrs. Finn.
Nor tn dure," said the head of the
house.
There's tn CRATE" suggested little
Mike, land that's it, as sure as there's
eyes in the goat"
"How is it?" inquired his parents in
unison.
The boy looked at his progenitors
pityingly, and assumed dictatorial at
titude, which his mother resented by
saying;
Eye needn't be putin on airs t yer
mother me gOsSoom, or I'll knock yer
head agin tn wall
Mickey ducked his head in anticipa-
ton of the customary cuff; but, as his
mother withheld her hand, he went on:
"WeH, we see, that BIS bigger'n any o
thin other letters. That names it's a
great b; dye see? So tn puzzle so far'll
rade like this:
III tn great be Imply, put coal on;
but if tn CRATE be"
s'Is It stuck ye are?" said the father.
The boy was so absorbed in his calcu-
lations that he paid no attention to his
father, but repeated to himself: period
putting coal on. That's not right"
What's bOthering ye now, Mickey"
said his mother.
THAT little dot after the B." was the
reply.
Speck."
But the boy knew that the dirt had a
meaning of its own, and was not the re-
suit of outside circumstances, so he in
sisted on considering it.
Then he got his spelling-boOk and
hunted up the punctuation marks. He
found, what he had never known be-
fore. that each one of these little marks
indicated a time duration; that the
comma was used as a brief pause, the
semi-colon a little longer, the colon
longer still and the period was full
Stop-a place where the reader could
get a full breath before going on. He
applied this theory to the puzzle, and
moment later threw his cap against the
wall and shouted:
"Th' apples minel Tn apples
miuew
IL was long time before the elder
Finn could take in the length and
breadth of their boys analysis. No
woman on COOney Island could drive
closer bargain with fish peddler than
Mrs. Finn, but when il came To under
standing the value of little black dots
ON paper. she found herself at sea with
out a rudder or compass, and so she &C
cepted her sons solution OF the puzzle,
and he wrote it out carefully so that she
could exhibit il TO admiring neighborS
on the morrow.
III tn CRATE be Imply, put coal on;
but IL tn CRATE be full stop putting coal
on"
"WeH, that's very well so far as it
goes" said Mr.. Finn, reSuming his pipe