The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-06-09
CARDS TAUGHT HIM To ADD.
All Expert Accountants Recipe for
Becoming Quick Mt Figures.

Thv expert accountant said as he care
fully shuff1ed the cards:
If it had not been for a frazzled old
pack of cheap playing cards which 1
kept deliberately hidden in the bottom
drawer of the walnut washstand in my
little room in my boyhood days on the
farm, my services would not now be in
such demand by confused financiers.
The old-time prejudice against the
devils picture book was strong in my
family, but l held on to that pack with
determination. and many is the candle
| have Seen sink away in tallow drips
as l dealt out the fifty-two dirty paste
boards into one uneven pile time after
time. But l was not playing a game.
l was not even wasting my time. L was
learning TO add.
You iced not look surprised. To me
the whole thing seemed and even now
seems very simple. l wonder that more
people have o taken it up, out 1 ap-
pea to have been the only person
among my acquaintance who has eve
used playing cards for arithmetical
purposes.
To-day my eldest boy, u ~youngster
about twelve. puzzles his way through
| the same system that made a threaten
ing column of figures seem like I TWO
part sum to me. 1t is very simple. as
L have aid.
There are fifty-two cards in every
4 ,a,l- nd -IN,- - - ,,,-,lN~-1I r,.x. -
| to ten in spots. and from eleven TO
thirteen in face cards. l give the three
| face cards the remaining values above
ten; that is, the jack is eleven. the
queen twelve, and the king thirteen.
Now, the constant sum of the thir-
teen cards of each suit is ninety-one. II
can be no more or no less, no matter in
what sequence the cards are dealt out
The constant III of the four suits
therefore, must be just four times nine
ty-One or 364.
Now, with this to start on, 1 evolved
my own peculiar system Of sight count
ing. The practice Of a fortnight made
me SO expert in it in comparison with
the older pupils in the school to which
l was sent that l achieved a reputation
for quickness at figures. On exhibition
days, the teacher would invariably tro
NE Out, and have ME go through m!
addition PAGES until became one Of tn,
CuriOsities of the village academy.
But TO return 10 the system. I q,
not know what started me off on tn,
idea, but this 5 what l did: First ar
ranging the PACK in regular order o
suits. IN all the cards of zach suit il
regular sequence from ace up, I start
ed ii 20 add them as they fell.
If the sum of the thirteen made nine
ty-one I knew that no mistake had bee,
made. If the total was something els
l started all over again and worked a
Il until it came right.
This formal preparation completed,
took the whole pack, sequence by sc
ouence. Until l was able TO reach tn
correct total OF 364 without an erro,
Then l Shutfled each suit and went a
adding the cards as they fell in unex
pected and diSordered sequence until
perfected myself in that advance
branch. Then came the hardest ties
hat of adding the fifty-two cards. a
shuffied together as this pack is.
4 had many a bad half hour at tina
but at last I was 50 trained that
could deal the shuffied cards off as raj
idly as my hands could fly. and 81
] through 10 the total OF 364 without