Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-07-23
RIDDLES uF ANCIENT TIMES.
AnaSrams and Acrostics Have Been Know
 Since the Days of the Psaimist.

Anasrams and Acrostics Have Been Known
 Since the Days of tIc Psalmist.
 It seems ridiculous that the people who lived hundreds and hundreds of years ago were more interested in pug zlcs than you and I arc today. This is true nevertheless The puzzles I refer to are those in writing, although the an clients probably occupied some of their spare time with strange and puZzling devices of wood and metal, as we do. What n pleasure it is to solve the prob lems ill our favorite magazines or news papcrsi It is very good exercise for ones brains, too, and where n prize is offered to the fortunate boy or girl who first solves the puzzles of different kinds the work is more pleasant still ill the an ticipation of proving oneself little clevercr than the others and of rcceiv- ing the gift. We find that the acrostic is the most ancient form of puzzling mankind. AcruStic is Greek for a num- Der of verses, the first letters of which form q word-sometimes a name and sometimes q sentence. The final letter may form a word, or, as Addison tells us, tho letters will even run down the center of the verses as n seam. The He brew poets often made their verses run over the entire alphabet. Twelve of the psalms arc written on this plan, the most notable being tho one hundred and nineteenth. This has 22 divisions of stanzas, corresponding to tho 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each stanza is formed of eight couplets, and tho first line of each couplot in tho first stanZa in the original Hebrew begins with the letter aleph, tho second commences with beth, the third with Gimel and so on through the alphabet. The English di- visions of tho psalms arc called after tho Hebrew letter that began tho coup lets. It was also customary to compose verses on sacred subjects after the fash ion of Hebrew acrostics. This was done with view to aid memory, and such pieces were called abccdarian hymns.
 Tho riddle is also of ancient origin. The Proverbs of tho Bible, or sayings attributed to Solomon, are often in the form of riddles Was it not the Queen of Sheba who proposed riddles to Solo, mon? The Koran, the scriptural book of the Mohammedans, also contains rid dles. as do some books now in existence, written in Arabic and Persian. The an cient Egyptians also propounded rid dies, and one of the seven wise men of Greece, who lived in the sixth century B. C., was celebrated for his riddles in verse. Homer, the Greek poet, accord ing to q statement in Plutarch, died of vcxation at not being able to solve q ri1 I'm ltn Yi1 encouraged for amusement on winter nights in the baronial hall and also ill the monastery. In later days some of the most brilliant men of letters contrib. uted to the list of riddles.
 The anagram, or transposition of the letters in words or sentences, was much in vogue in Greece in the olden times. The Cabalists, or Jewish doctors, thought that the anagram always point ed out a mans destiny, and if his name written backward or transposed in any way spelled n word with meaning they firmly believed it revelation. The flat. terers of James of England proved hi: right to the British monarchy as the de scendant of the mythical King Arthur from his name Charles James Stuart, which becomes "claims Arthur's seat. ' The best anagrams nro those which hay, in the new order of letters some signifi cation appropriate to that from which they are formed. When Pilate asked, "Quid est veritas?" (what is truthD, he probably had no idea that his ques ton answered itself But it did. Int transposition made it, Est vir qui adest" (It is the man who is herel An agrams were written as early as 250 B. C., and their name comes from thu Greek words ana, backward. and gram ma, writing. g.-Philadelphia Press.