135. A certain number of Volunteers--namely, Commissioned Officers,
Non-commissioned Officers, and Privates had a dinner bill to pay;
there were, it seemed, half as many more Non-Com. Officers as Com.,
one-third as many more Privates as Non-Com. Officers, and they agreed
that each Commissioned Officer should pay one-third as much again
as each Non-Com., and each Non-Com. one-fifth as much again as each
Private; but 1 Commissioned and 2 Non-Com. Officers slipped away
without paying their portion (5s.), each of the others had to pay in
consequence 4d. more. What was the amount of the bill, and the number
of each present?
Twice the half of 1½? Ask your friends--it bothers them.
The Problem Easily Solved.
“Do you see that row of poplars on the other bank standing apparently
at equal distances apart?” asked a grave-faced man of a group of
people standing by a river.
The group nodded assent.
“Well, there’s quite a story connected with those trees,” he
continued. “Some years ago there lived in a house overlooking the
river a very wealthy banker, whose only daughter was beloved by a
young surveyor. The old man was inclined to question the professional
skill of the young rod and level, and to put him to the test directed
him to set out on the river shore a row of trees, no two of which
should be any further apart than any other two. The trial proved
the lover’s inefficiency, and forthwith he was forbidden the house,
and in despair drowned himself in the river. Perhaps some of you
gentlemen with keen eyes can tell me which two trees are furthest
apart?”
The group took a critical view of the situation, and each member
selected a different pair of trees. Finally, after much discussion,
an appeal was made to the solemn-faced stranger to solve the problem.
“The first and the last,” said he, calmly, resuming his cigar and
walking away with the air of a sage.
136.
Twice five of us are eight of us, and two of us are three,
And three of us are five of us--now how can all this be?
If that does not puzzle you I’ll tell you one thing more:
Eight of us are five of us and five of us are four.
“EXPRESSIONAL” MEASURES.
The table of measures says that 3 barleycorns make 1 inch--and so
they do. When the standards of measures were first established 3
barleycorns, well-dried, were taken out and laid end to end, and
measured an inch.
The “hairbreadth” now used indefinitely for infinitesimal space, was
a regular measure, 16 hairs laid side by side equalling 1 barleycorn.
The expression “in a trice,” as everyone knows, means a very short
space of time. The hour is divided into 60 minutes, the minute into
60 seconds, and the second into 60 “trices.”