Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1910-07-12

Father Told Him, and the Lad Start
ed Out to Verify the Statement-The
practical Examples He Dug Up.
Was education more practical gen
Grafton ago. or did Johns father study
his books more thoroughly than John
does? John is seventh grade student
in the public schools. He asked his
father to help him solve the following
problem:
"A, asked how much money he has
In the bank. replied, Ii | had SIC
more | would have 81 900 more thar
half what now have How much
money had Az a
Such fool problem" said the IA
ther TELL that teacher to ask the
cashier. You have been Fostering me
with problems like that for week
Suppose your teacher asked you how
old you are. Would you tell her If
were ten times as old as | am, dimin
ished by forty-two. | would be thirty
years older than dad. and If dad were
one fourth as old as be now Is BIZ
would be my age! What would your
teacher do If you answered In such {
manner? In my day we had practica
problems in our arithmetic"
In order to Investigate his fathers
statement John went TO the public II
brary and asked for an old arithmetic
The librarian gave him Richards
Natural Arithmetic. He turned to The
page marked practical Exercises
and read:
"A. puts his whole flock of sheep into
three pastures. Half so into one pas
ture. one-third into another and thirty
two into a third How many in the
| f1ock?'
That's queer" said John. ''Prac
teal exercises too. Here is man who
wants TO find how many sheep be has
| He counts them so he will know wheI
| he has half OF them. This half ht
puts into a pasture. Then he counts
out third and puts 1t In another pen
| Next he counts what's left and find:
he has thirty-two. After a little fgur
ing he finds how many in the whole
flock. Very practical guess dao
| didn't study that book"
The next book he examined was
Mines lnductiye Arithmetic. edition
Of 1870. Ia miscellaneous examples he
found the following:
1.-Two ladders will together just react
the top of building seventy-fve feet
high. If the shorter ladder is two
thirds the length of the other. what /:
the length Of each?''
"Why didn't he measure each ladder
separately 2" John asked himself. That
problem is not practica. | guess dad
is older than thought | want ar
older book"
The text written In 1868 was handed
to him. The book was evidently inhu
enced by the civil war; for IT was filled
with problems dealing with batterinl
down Notifications and the sustenancs
of soldiers. One problem was:
IF twelve pieces of cannon eight
cen poundersl can batter down a for
tress in three hours, how long will !
take for nineteen twenty-four pound
ers to batter down the same fortress?
That's fine for a general" John re
fected. "but dad says that | am going
| to beNa captain Of industry"
Another arithmetic Of the same dat
had the famous fish problem will
which Johns teacher had troubled bin
o.. ~ x,roaic hafaro ha hitnsolf final
explained 1t to the class. The 6sl
| problem is:
THE head Of fish is ten inches
long. Its tail is as long as its head am
one-half the body. The body is as loni
as the head and tail both. How long !
| the fish,
| Very handy problem for butcher
John turned 10 the Common Schoc
Arithmetic. edition of 1858. Her
I'm sure to find something good" b
! reflected and read:
"A hare starts up twelve rods before
| bound. but she il not perceived BY hlI
/ till she has been up one and one-fourtl
/ minutes She runs at the rate Of thir
| ty-six rods minute. and the boun
runs at the rate of forty rods min
ute. How long will the race last. an
what will be the distance the houD'
! runs:''
What difference does ii make hoy
| far the hound runsF John asked as b
| turned 10 The Scholars Arithmetic
| edition of 1907. The present high cos
L - TIT In no I'm
| practical for present day purposes
John concluded. The problem was a
| follows:
IF | give eighty bushels Of potatoe
at q cents bushel and 240 pounds Q
fax at Is cents pound for sixty-fou
bushels of salt. what is the salt wort
bushel!"
Another problem was:
"A good man driving bis guest {
market was met by another, who SAID
Good morrow. master. with your 10
geese Says he in reply. ] have n1
100 geese. but IL had half as man
as | now have and two and one-hal
geese besides the number ! now hav
already | should have 100 How
many geese had the man"
How long would you permit a ma
to live IL he made such an answer {
you?
a'Pheww John sighed as be wiped hl
forehead and handed the book back
the librarian. Dad must have skippe
these practical problems" = Kansa
City Star.