186. A farmer puts a 3 lb. stone in a keg of butter worth 11d. a
pound. The merchant cheats him out of 1 lb. on the weight, and then
does him out of 1s. 11d. on calico, tobacco, and a shovel. Who is
ahead, and how much?
187. Trains leave London and Edinburgh (400 miles apart) at the same
time and meet after 5 hours; the train which leaves London travels 8
miles an hour faster than that which leaves Edinburgh. At what rate
did the former travel, and at what speed must the latter travel after
they have met, in order that they both may reach their destinations
at the same time?
“GOOD ENOUGH!”
“Will you give me a glass of beer, please?” asked a rather
seedy-looking fellow with an old but well-brushed coat and almost too
shiny a hat. It was produced by the barmaid, frothing over the edge
of the tumbler.
“Thank you,” said the recipient, as he placed it to his lips. Having
finished it in a swallow, he smacked his lips and said, “That is very
good beer--_very_! Whose is it?”
“Why, that Perkins’s----”
“Ah! Perkins’s, is it! Well, give us another glass.”
It was done; and holding it up to the light and looking through it,
the connoisseur said:--
“’Pon my word, it is grand beer--clear as Madeira! What a fine color!
I must have some more of that; give me another glass.”
The glass was filled again, but before putting it to his lips the
imbiber said:--
“_Whose_ beer did you say this was?”
“Perkins’s,” emphatically replied the barmaid.
The contents of the glass was exhausted, as also the vocabulary of
praise, and it only remained for the appreciative gentleman to say,
as he wiped his mouth and went towards the door:--
“Perkins’s beer, is it! I know Perkins very well; I shall see
him soon, and will settle with him for three long glasses of his
incomparable brew. Good morning.”
A Conspiracy.
188. Three gentlemen are going over a ferry with their three
servants, who conspire to rob them if they can get one gentleman to
two of them, or two to three, on either side of the ferry. They have
a boat that will only carry two at once, and either a gentleman or a
servant must bring back the boat each time a cargo of them goes over.
How can the gentlemen get over with all their servants so as to avoid
an attack?
189. Find two numbers whose product is equal to the difference of
their squares, and the sum of their squares equal to the difference
of their cubes?
190. Divide 1400 into such parts as shall have the same ratio as the
cubes of the first four natural numbers.
This was the tempting notice lately exhibited in the window of a
dealer in cheap shirts: “They won’t last long at this price!”