Year: 1867

A late number of the GALAXY con-
tains an exhaustive article on the sub
ject of conundrums.


A style of conundrums has become
very frequent and popular which is
founded on a transposiuon of letters or
words, giving a new and surprising
sense. have opened one package of
this class. The first one is as follows:
What is the difference between stab
bing a man and killing a swine? One
is assaulted with intent to kill, the 9TH
er is killing with intent to salt. So it
is discovered of a cat and document
that one has claws at the end of its
paws and the other has pauses at the
end of its clause; of wife and an ed
itor, that one sets articles to right and
the other writes articles to set of the
eagle and a certain kind of dog, that
one is a tarrier in the sky and the 9TH
er is Skye terrier of the permission
/ to speak and the command not to
speak, that in the one case you are al
lowed to talk and in the other you are
not to talk aloud; of pound of meat
and drummer boy, that one weighs
pound and the other pounds away of
an utterer of spurious coin and false
heir, that one issues a counterfeit and
the other counterfeits an issue; of a
church organist and the influenza, that
one knows the stops and the other
stops the nose; of a successful lover
and his rival, that one kisses his miss
and the other misses his kiss; of an
unsuccessful swain and a father of q
family, that one is a signing lover and
the other is a loving sire /; on mis-
chievous mouse and beautiful young
lady, that one harms the cheese and
he harms the he's; of II and seventy,
that one is careless and happy and the
other hairless and cappy; of the effect
of catching cold and one of the isles of
Greece, that in one case it is you cough
and in the other Corfu of au emperor
and beggar, that one issue manifes-
toes and the other msnifests toes with
out shoes: of a man boiling beets and
man hogging him, that one cooks the
beets and the other beats the cook of
tailor and siege gun, that one works
the breeches and the other breaches
the works of the Prince of Wales and
bombshell, the one is heir to the throne
and the other is thrown to the air; of
"0ld Uncle Ned" and Louis Napoleon
in the event of another French reVolu-
tion, that one had no hair on the top
of his head the place where the hair
ought to grow, and the other would
have no crown on the top of his heir,
where the crown ought to go. 1t is al
so mentioned that the difference be-
tween baby and great coat is, that
one you was and the other your wear
that perseverance is a strong will and
that obstinacy a strong won't; that
Noah's ark was a high ark, but that an
archbishop is hierarch; of gauza
dress and a drawn tooth, that one is
too thin and the other is tooth out
that the Prince of Wales is an heir ap-
parent, an orphan has ne'er parent,
a bald head has ne'er hair apparent,
and a gorilla has hairy parent.


As relief from the ingenuity of the
specimens which I have given, it is
to introduce occasionally a question
which oughtto be obvious to every one,
but which is not. For instance: what
makes more noise than pig under a
gate? two pigs; why does a traveller
who has been on a long journey, and |
come to board fence in the midst of |
a forest, try to get over il? because he
wants to get over; what is the best
thing to do in hurry? nothing; why
does miller wear a white hat? to
keep his head warm Lord Dundreary
gives one of this kind which, though |
obvious, is notwithstanding exceeding
ly logical:


''Why doth dog Eaggle hlth tail |
Give it up? 1 think motht fellath will
give it upI You thee the dog waggeth
hith tail becauth the dog'th thtwonger
than the tail. If he wantht, the tail
would waggle the dog"