The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1892-11-10
FIGURE 1T OUT,
A COMPLICATED RELATION
SHIP PUZZLE.

The Gift Of a Grewsome Tramp
to an Arkansas Town Which
, Nearly Run all the Inhabitants
. Crazy.
| 1t was at the hour when the shades
of night begin to fall and the curses
wander homeward to roost. The
weary wayfarer gave last gulp and
said
! 81 cannot repay you in scudi for
I your kindness, madame. But here is
la little puzzle which may serve to
while away an idle hour. My father,
left a widower at the age of AZ, mar
ried maiden of II, and upon the
following day my brother Lyman
welded her mother, then widow of
| 36. In due time a son was born to
each couple. 1t may afford you some
little amusement in estimating the
various relationships my father now
bears to Lyman, to Lyman's wife aud
/ Lyman's child /; also to. himself and
his own wife and child. You might
also calculate the relationship Lyman
bears to his own wife and child and to
his father and the latter's wife and
child. But l must be on my way.
Good evening! And he was gone.
When Isham G.. Hicks, the husband
of the benevolent lady, returned home
somewhat later he found the wife of
his bosom suffering from a violent
headache, the result of an hours Crap
pling with the puzzle. She repeated
it to him, Ind retired much earlier
than was her wont. And Isham G..
laughed aloud and declared that
woman had no head, anyhow, and sat
him down to work out the puzzle in
fourteen minutes.
When Mrs. Hicks awoke in the gray
of the morning her husband was not
by her side. As she stepped quietly
i, to the sitting room door she heard
him say in dreary monotone:
! "Lyman's Observation-Disclosures
of-his- father r's-stepmother-who is-also-
his-fathar' Observation-Disclosures
s-daugheer- r-and-oh- dear -me-how-my-
head-aches.''
The leaves of a huge scratch tablet
lay about him like a drift of show all
covered with figures and diagrams,
and before him was sheet setting
forth IA propositions of which the fol-
lowing is fair sample:
"The older man is the father-in-law
of his mother-i n-law and the husband
of his grandson's half sister, who is
also the child's step grandmother
Wisps of auburn hair lay about on
the table.
Hicks remainded in bed all fore
noon with ice on his brow and NUT
tered drearily sentences like these:
"His wife is his baby's half brothers
mothers son-in-law-no, that isn't it
! His sons wife is his own mother-in-
law and mother of his grandson's half
sister-um! UNI! His mother in law is
oh, dear me -
In the afternoon he went down to
the lumber yard and told the puzzle
to the men there assembled and they
all laughed him to scorn and then
figured on the smooth side of thirty
six square feet of lumber and had
three fights without getting as far as
Hicks had gone in the still wa tches of
the night. A husbsndman who drifted
in to trade horses became involved
and beat his steed all the way home.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Hicks sprung the
puzzle at the sewing circle that after
noon, and the minister ran up against
it and fell, and thus it was spread all
over town. The children took it to
school and hoored the teacher,
and there was a grand strapping
carnival all one afternoon. Gus
TONERS sprung it in the stores. The
barber sprung it on a patient and
cut off his ear in the controversy
that ensued. A gentlen,anand
book agent tore their clothes over
it. Young Walter Sapsmith ran up
against it when ne called upon Miss
Begad, and after an hours wrangle
the engagement which had existed
between them for eight months was
declared off amid sobs and contumely.
1t got into Jail, and four prisoners
escaped while the sheri f and three
more prisoners were graphing with it.
The malefactors stopped iT the woods
and tackled the puzzle and were cap
tured half day later, still entang'ed
in the snare. A merchant sntroduCed
it to drummer and won the sample
trunk and head of the latter, both Of
which he had wagered orz his ability
to solve the puzzle inside Of IL min
utes. The Rev Mr.. Har ps worked on
the puzzle all Saturday might when he
should have been writing his sermon,
and electrified his congregation next
day by saying:
"And now, four.hly, my brethren,
Lyman's father was his wife's sonin
law, and-er-him We will stand and
receive the benediction -
And unwonted clanor proceeded
from the w. c. T. U. hall eighteen
different shades OF hair ble9 osat of the
window. Sing Yek, late Of Hong
Kong, received the puzzle from his
Sabbath school teacher, neglected his
work all day, broke his adding
machine, and in his frenzy figured on
the flags of sixteen white shirts with
| indelible ink, and then laid the whole
matter before his Joss, and because
| the latter would not work it out whip
ped him all the following forenoon
and then in desperation renounced
Christianity as snare and returned to
Paganism.-