Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-09-05

| by the process OK judicious breeding. Even a
pig can be taught 10 count up 20 ten.
HIS FIGURES NEVER KNOWN To LIE
An Iliiterate Mathematical Wonder From a
Back County in Old Missouri.
From the Kansas City Times.
Although the public has heard something Of
"hube' Field, the mathematical prodigy of
Hazel Hill, what has been said and written of
him has generally been guessed at lie is the
mathematical wonder of the world, as regards
calculations. ''Rube" is as illiterate as a say
age and can instantly solve any mathematical
problem. He would not recognize his name if
1t were placed before him in type three feet
high, nor can he tell figure seven from
cipher, yet he can tell how many grains of
wheat piled upon each other would reach the
sun if You gave him the distance from tie
earth to the sun. Such problem he considers
quite simple, and will announce the answer
by the time you have concluded the question.
'Ru5e" is not easily engaged in conversation
and there is not person in the world to whom
he would confide his secrets. No more to his
mother than to you. He believes that all man
kind is in league to take from him his gift. or,
as he puts ii, his mystery He regards every
man IN the same way, and that ungovernabie
fear will no doubt keep him out of sight of the
public, as II has for the last twenty years.
Though he is mercenary to a degree in his deal
lngs. he does not seem to possess any special
desire for riches. but rather evinces the desire
to see fools, as he calls the human family
put To some expense on his account 1t makes
him feel big TO have men hire him to be inter-
viewed, and yet he will not make a public exhi-
bitlon of himself, another evidence Of his unu-
sual composition.
He cannot tell how he manipulates figures
and computes numerals as with a thought,
and this inability to explain bothers him least
OF all who are aware OF the TACT He saws he Is
aware Il he could write an arithmetic With his
system OF calculation a basis he could
make more money than ten railroads" but ne
can't do 1t and doesn't care anything aooat it,
lie is satisfied With his lot and has great plans
FOR the future. 1t is his belief that he came
into this world TO herald TO men that beyond
their vision of the science Of numbers hes the
key to all the mysteries Of life. The great
work he is TO do upon earth has not been out
lined to him by the omaiseient, but will be.
Taking him uuawares L asked:
Can you add %. $50. 49, to !, 93S, 5as to 60 =
59S, 62a.l3S TO 1S46, OBS, 0ol to Il, ga without
stopping to figure!'
THAT makes u.a73, 1856, 49," said ne on the
instant, and then he laughed at my surprise.
As called the numbers to him he added
them, having the aggregate of the tirst two be-
fore had finished the third. and of the whole
while caught my breath after enumeratiug
them. Then l read him a column of figures
ranging from tens to hundreds OF thousands
the length of u sheet of legal cap. and he had
furnished me an accurate aggregate the mo-
ment | finished.
Such an evidence of unexplained power will
astonish the most credulous, but what must one
think when such a character SAYS that be is
living, walking chronometer, and proves the
same before you can dispute it. He mistrusrs
"A financial her
with the inducements of acquaintance, is
necessary to set his tongue going. which done,
he keeps you busy listening. for he talks like
torrent rushes, syears with the fury of a
cyclone, and calculates with the rapidity of
electric pu,sations. l ernployed him to be in
terviewed for one hour, and, desiring to test
him as TO his knowledge of time without giving
him an opportunity to consult timepiece,
asked:
what is the time now, professor9" He de-
lights to be called professor"
Twenty-Five and one-quarter minutes after
3, he replied. l reached for nv watch to see
II he was right, and before l could see ne said:
Your watch is one and one-quarter fast
"How do you know" l asked.
Il can't tell you, but l am right" he said
And so be was, as the Western Union regulator
proved. l then concluded to test him further
and resolved that l would say nothing Of il
when his hour was ended and note If he knew
it. Imagine my surprise when, in the middle
L
that his time was up. Consulting my watch
found him right to a second. Previous TO that
L had asked him the time in St. Petersburg
and he stated ii correctly, saying that he was
conscious of the degrees of longitude and lati-
tude in all his calculations OF time He knows
their location and can answer any question Of
time whenever asked. Often he has been
aroused from sound sleep, aud upon being
asked the time would state il accurately while
rubbing his eyes. Reading the dial plate of
clock in Berlin, he says is no more trouble { o
him than that of the watch in my pocket and
in this he brings proof of the assertion that he
Is conscious of every correct clock tick in the
world, whether sleeping or awake. You may
take him by surprise, and after stating the
distance from Kansas City to New York and
the dimensions Of a locomotive drive wheel.
allowing stated loss for slipping of the wheel
In each mile travelled. and he will instantly tell
you how many revolutions the wheel Will make
In travelling that distance.
His memory is almost as remarkable as his
calculating genius. Having heard any state
ment he will remember il, and though he may
not understand words he hears, he will use
them in the same or a similar sense TO that IN
which they were used when he heard them.
By TINS means he has a vocabulary far in adj
vance OF other ifiiterates. Speaking of his
youth, he said he remembered no change, so
far as his knowledge OF things is concerned,
since his seventh year. at which time he came
into possession of his mystery" He is not
fond OF his relatives, who, he believes, would
make q fortune at his expense il he were not 50
smart as to prevent it. They used 10 call Hmm
q fool, and be hasn't forgiven them for that.
How to TIE . shoessring.