The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1895-04-05

| headed. Open-eyed,
| Till the train stood still with shudder and
| he went down with the slide.
Saved? Yes. saved; Ninety people snatchetl
from an awful grave:
had. he gave.
Man. to the last, inch. Hero? Nob!est Of
Worthy the shaft and the tablet, worthy the
song and the bay!
James Buckham.
Fretl's Fairy Tale.
1t was near the middle of n hot Satur-
day in June. Fred sat in the shade of
a big apple tree in the orchard, his slate
on his knee and an arithmetic in his hand.
1t was not very favorable time for
study. Bees were droning in clover
blossoms around him and lazy flies buzzed
in the golden bars of sunlight that fell
to the ground through the openings in
the leaf-screen overhead.
Fred felt tired and sleepy. The book
fell from his hand and he did not pick
it up; his chin dropped upon his breast:
his cyelids closed. But just as he thought
himself falling asleep he heard loud
voice quite close to him.
"Hcy, my lad!' it said. "What are
you doing hereY'
Fred sprang up in amazement. Before
| on long staff and dressed in q purple
robe covered with little silver figures.
| lilo was very tall and had q loud voice.
but his face, old and wrinkled as it was,
wore pleasant smile, which soon allayed
| F'rcd'S fears.
,. IF you please" said Fred, Il don't
know how came here, or where / am.
| was trying to study my lessons in our
orchard at home, but it was very warm
and l was so tired, and"
| II understand" the old man inter-
rupted; you needn't go any further.
am glad to see you, Fred. You see I
know your name. Mine is Arithmetic
h.nE Arithmetic. I am king of all this
Fred looked about him, wondering
whether he was awake or dreaming They
| were standing in pleasant meadow Dor
dered on one side by high hills and on the
other side by a forest Of beautiful trees.
| Sit down here on the grass with me-"
said the King. before Fred had a chance
to speak. "and I will show you some of
my subjects. can summon any of
them by merely waving my staff in the
air. thusv'
| He waved the staff, and in an instant q
| little old man, not more than half as tall
rs Fred, but very erect and stiff, stood be-
| lore Lncln.
1'This is one,'' said King Arithmetic
HE is my prime minister and one of my
greatest subjects. One, let me introduce
you to Fred.
One stepped gravcly up to Fred and
shook hands with him.
One and one" he said, putting his
finger first on Fred's head and then on
| his own, make two"
AS he said 1.-TWO" another little old man
| 1nno1rQ1 He fooo rocouoh1ol nnoSo hut
his head was bowed, his neck bent, and he
walked on his knees. Fred easily recog-
nized in the shape of his body the figure 2.
Bring up the rest and show them to
! Fred" said the King addressing One; and
soon the prime minister had summoned
Th ns and Gs So1eb Five ssyen hEsht
name from his shape.
These form my. cabinet" the King ex-
planned, land rule through them. They
are a great help to me"
II hope you won't think me rude," said
| Fred timidly, ''but I'd like to know why
| they look so old and yellow"
"Well," answered the King, "they look
| old because they are old. Not one of
| them was born less than 1000 years ago.
| As for their dark skins, you will learn
when You get older that they were born
you know all those people are dark. Now,
| if you will call out few numbers you
| will see little of how these useful sub
jects of mine work."
| "Eighteen-ninety-fo four" cried Fred; and
instantly One, Eight, Nine and -Four
stood in line before him.
'How nice it would be-" said Fred,
study arithmetic if every teacher could
have staff that would call up the figures
as yours does"
EYES," answered the King, ut would
be q good way; but some teachers use
another kind Of staff, which answers the
same purpose. Now, shall dismiss
these subjects and show you a few
more"
He clapped his hands, and One, Two
Three and the rest vanished. Then he
waved his staff again, and figure more
interesting to Fred than any of the others
appeared. 1t was that Of another queer
looking old man, who stood before them
on the grass and tried, apparently, to
with one of his bare feet and several
of his toes flew off; then he disjointed
one of his arms and threw it down, and
next he took off one of his ears
''This," said the King, lis Common
Fraction. Do you recognize him? You
II
doubtfully, but this old gentleman
doesn't seem to show his name US plainly
as Two and Eight and One"
| Yes, | do" said Common Fraction,
who had, by this time, made himself
nearly whole again. You watch me now.
| When I shake off four fingers, thus, I
| represent six-tenths, because whole
Or, counting fingers and toes, l have
sixteenth-twentieths of what ! ought to
have"
II see," said Fred. "Snce you have
| lost four fingers, which are one-fifth of
the number of fingers and toes, you have
teen-twentieths."
'.Right! exclaimed Common Fraction.
| BETTER
Have you children?' asked Fred,
"Oh, several" answered Common
Fraction: "They are not young, though.
Two of them are out there in the meadow
now"
Fred looked and saw two little men
who seemed to be engaged in some atf-
letic exercise, which he did not under
stand.
''Thcy are Dividend and Divisor," said
Common Fraction. do you know how
"Invert the divisor and multiply an
| swercd Fred.
Eyes; and that is what they are doing
now You see DivisDr is standing on
his head-hc is inverted and the rest
of their work will lie easy
Fred looked again; one of the little
men was surely standing on his head.
1t was very curious and Fred wished to
see more of Common Fraction and his
children, but at sign from King Arith-
metic they disappeared.
''The Fraction family is n large, one"
remarked the King. Common has a
brother named Decimal, and both have
many relatives All! here come Ayoirdu-
pois."
Fred saw approaching them round
faced little figure, which bowed to them
very politely. It was not more than
eight inches in height;
."Avoird1,pois varies IL size according to
him now he represents pound. Some
times he shrinks to an ounce or a dram
the little figure grew SO small that it
could scarcely be Sin his usual form
he represents hundred weight, the