The complication of relationship brought about by marriage is the
cause of many a family squabble, but it is seldom one hears of fatal
results attending such matters. According to an American newspaper,
a resident of Pennsylvania committed suicide a few days ago from a
melancholy conviction that he was his own grandfather.
The following is a copy of a singular letter he left:--“I married a
widow who had a grown-up daughter. My father visited our house very
often, fell in love with my step-daughter, and married her. So my
father became my son-in-law and my step-daughter my mother, because
she was my father’s wife. Some time afterwards my wife had a son; he
was my father’s brother-in-law and my uncle, for he was the brother
of my step-mother. My father’s wife--_i.e._, my step-daughter--had
also a son; he was, of course, my brother, and in the meantime
my grandchild, for he was the son of my daughter. My wife was my
grandmother, because she was my mother’s mother. I was my wife’s
husband and grandchild at the same time. And as the husband of a
person’s grandmother is his grandfather, I was my own grandfather.”
Thus he died, a martyr to his own existence.
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85. If 100 stones are placed on the ground, in a straight line, at
the distance of 1 yard from each other, how far will a person travel
who will bring them all, one by one, to a basket placed one yard from
the first stone?
A little boy, writing a composition on the zebra, was requested to
describe the animal and to mention what it was useful for. After deep
reflection, he wrote:--“The zebra is like a horse, only striped. It
is chiefly useful to illustrate the letter Z.”
86. I bought a horse and sold him again at 5 per cent. on my
purchase; now, if I had given 5 per cent. less for the horse, and
sold him for 1s. less, I would have gained 10 per cent. What was the
original cost?
87. Find three numbers such that the first with half of the other
two, the second with one-third of the other two, and the third with
one-fourth of the other two, shall be equal to 34?