  The reason why February has only 28 days, while the other months have 30 and 31 is attributable to the vanity of the Emperor Augustus. His uncle and predecessor corrected the calendar, arranging the year almost as we have it now; he gave to the year 12 months, or 365¼ days. The months were—March (the first month), April, May, June, Quintilis, Sextiles, September, October, November, December, January, and February (the latter being the last month of the year, which among the Romans had consisted originally of 10 months). CÆsar ordered that the year should begin with January, and divided the days among them thus: January, March, May, Quintilis, September, and November each had 31 days; April, June, Sextiles, October and December had 30 days each; and February (the last month added to the year) had 29 days regularly and a 30th day every fourth year. After Julius CÆsar’s death, Mark Antony changed the name of Quintilis to July as we have it now. Augustus wanted a month for himself, and wanted it as long as his uncle’s month, so he took Sextiles for his and changed the name to August. Then he took February’s 29th day and added it to August, so that it might have 31 days; and, to avoid having 3 months of 31 days each in succession, September and November were reduced to 30 days, and October and December increased to 31 days each. Previous to the year 1752, the legal year in England commenced on the 25th March. In that year it was enacted that the legal year should begin on 1st January. The change brought the calendar into unison with the actual state of the solar year. It is curious that in Scotland the change which made the legal year begin on January 1st was effected in 1600. For some time after the change in England, legal documents contained two dates for the period intervening between 1st January and 25th March—that of the old year and that of the new. During the time of Oliver Cromwell, Christmas Day was described as a superstitious festival, and put down in England by the strong hand of the law. There has been a superstitious notion that Fools’ Day dated back to the time of Noah’s Ark. The dove that was sent forth from the Ark is supposed to have returned on April 1st. The Most Remarkable Month was February, 1866. It had no full moon. January had two full moons, and so had March, but February had none. This had not occurred since the creation of the world, and it will not occur again, so scientists tell us. All Fools’ Day had it’s origin in France, before the time of the Reformed Calendar. When the year commenced on March 25th, the French frequently paid their New Year’s visits and bestowed their gifts on April 1st, as March 25th occurred in Passion Week. After the adoption of the new calendar, however, these New Year’s observances took place on January 1st, and it was a common thing for people to forget the change of date. Pretended presents and mock ceremonial visits became common, and the persons thus imposed on were known as April fish, i.e., a mackerel, which, like a fool, is easily caught. Hence, All Fools’ Day. 54. Being at the summit of a tower 400 ft. high, I dropped a cricket ball from my hand, causing it to alight on a ledge 260 ft. from the base, over which it rolled and fell to the earth: supposing that 1½ seconds were occupied by the rolling of the ball over the ledge, how many seconds elapsed from the ball leaving my hand till it touched the earth, and what was the acquired velocity at the moment of contact? PRACTICAL ILLUSTRATION. _ In one of our great public schools a master known to successive generations of his pupils for fifty years as “old Buggus” delighted in surprising his boys with strange sayings and doings. On one occasion, desirous of illustrating a question in the arithmetic lesson, he said to a boy, “I am a tripe merchant, and this platform is my shop. You will come here and buy a pound of tripe. Now, begin.” “Please, I want a pound of tripe,” said a boy, sauntering up. “Where’s your money?” demanded old Buggus, hoping to put the boy out of countenance. “Where’s your tripe?” was the ready retort; but it gained for its unfortunate author four hours’ detention on the next holiday. 55. A syphon would empty a cistern in 48 minutes, a tap would fill it in 36. How long will it take to fill the cistern when both taps are in action? Born to rule—a book-keeper. “MORE HASTE LESS SPEED.” _ 56. A compositor, hurrying whilst setting up type for an arithmetic book—“How to Become Quick at Figures”—accidentally dropped the work of a problem; unfortunately he mislaid the copy, and all that he remembered was that both multiplicand and multiplier consisted of two figures. The scattered type represented the following figures:—1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9. With the aid of a pencil and a piece of paper the compositor managed after a while to rearrange the figures in their proper place. What was the problem? PROFITABLE CARELESSNESS. A very amusing story is told of a harness-maker who lived some years ago in London. He had a handsome saddle in his shop, occupying a conspicuous position therein. On his return from luncheon one day he observed that the saddle was gone. Calling to his foreman, he said: “John, who has bought the saddle?” “I’m sure I don’t know, sir,” said the foreman, scratching his head as if he were trying to think. “I cannot tell, and the worst part of it is, it hasn’t been paid for. While I was at work in the back of the shop a gentleman came in, priced it, decided to take it, told me to charge it, and throwing it into his trap, drove off, before I could think to ask his name.” “That was very stupid of you,” said the harness-maker, disposed to be angry at the man’s carelessness. “Very likely we have been robbed.” “I don’t think that sir,” said the foreman, “for I’m very sure that the gentleman has traded here before.” “Well, I can’t afford to lose the money,” said the harness-maker. “We’ll have to find out who took it and send him the bill. Ah!” he added, with a smile, after a moment’s reflection, “I have it. We’ll charge it up to the account of every one of our customers who keep open accounts here. Those who didn’t get it will refuse to pay, so we shall be all right.” “The book-keeper was instructed to do this, and the bills in due course of time went out. Some weeks later the harness-maker asked the book-keeper if he had succeeded in discovering who the customer was. “No, sir,” he replied, “and we never shall, I fear, sir, for about 40 people have paid for it already without saying a word.” A CYCLE CATCH. _ Tie a cord to the pedal of a bicycle, such pedal to be the one that is the nearer to the ground, and, standing behind the back wheel, pull the cord, when, strange as it appears, the machine will come towards you, although everyone would first imagine that the bicycle would move forward. How is this? One ought to have dates at one’s finger ends seeing they grow upon the palms. TO TELL THE SPOTS ON THE Allow anyone to choose six cards from a full pack. Tell him the court cards count 10, and the other cards according to their pips. Having made his selection, tell him to lay the chosen cards upon the table face downwards, without allowing you to see them, and to place upon each as many cards as pips are required to make 12. Whilst he is doing so, you should be out of the room or blindfolded. On your return he hands you the cards left over, and you have to tell the total number of spots on the six bottom cards. Suppose he had chosen 10, 6, 1, K, 3 and 7, which totals 37, now on the 10, he would place two cards to make 12; on the 6, he would place 6; and on the 1, 11 would be placed, and so on. On receiving the remaining cards from him you pretend to be looking through them carefully, but you simply want to know how many he has given you, which in the above example would be 11. To this number you add 26, which gives 37, the total spots required. Should there not be enough cards left on hand to complete the six heaps, you can ask him how many cards he is short of, and this number, subtracted from 25, will give the total. It is better not to allow the person to choose six cards right off at the beginning, but for him to shuffle and cut the pack as he pleases, and to take the cards as they come. BOOK-KEEPING COMMANDMENTS. By Ledger laws, what I receive Is Debtor made to those who give. Stock for my debts must Debtor be, and Creditor by Property. Profit and Loss accounts are plain, I Debit loss and Credit gain. 57. How far does a man walk while planting a field of corn 285 feet square, the rows being 3 ft apart from the fence? _ A MATTER OF OPINION. A man walks round a pole on the top of which is a monkey. As the man moves, the monkey turns on the top of the pole, so as still to keep face to face with the man. Now, when the man has gone round the pole, has he or has he not gone round the monkey? TRY IT. Take the number 15, multiply it by itself, and you have 225; now multiply 225 by itself, then multiply that product by itself, and so on until 15 products have been multiplied by themselves in turn. The final product called for contains 38,539 figures (the first of which is 1412). Allowing three figures to an inch, the answer would be over 1070 feet long. To perform the operation would require about 50,000,000 figures. If they can be made at the rate of 100 a minute, a person working 10 hours a day for 300 days in each year would be 28 years on the job. PATHETIC ADVERTISING. “Died, on the 11th ultimo., at his shop in Fleet-street, Mr. Edward Jones much regretted by all who knew and dealt with him. As a man, he was amiable; as a hatter, upright and moderate. His virtues were beyond all price, and his beaver hats were only £1 4s each. He has left a widow to deplore his loss, and a large stock to be sold cheap for the benefit of his family. He was snatched to the other world in the prime of life, and just as he had concluded an extensive purchase of felt, which he got so cheap that the widow can supply hats at a more moderate charge than any house in London. His disconsolate family will carry on his business with punctuality.” 58. In one corner of a hexagonal grass paddock each of the sides of which is 40 yards long, a horse is tethered with a rope 50 yards long. How many square yards can he graze over? 59. A and B start together from the same point on a circular path, and walk till they both arrive together at the starting point. If A performs the circuit in 224 seconds and B in 364 seconds, how many times do they each walk round? “IF.” If you could sell the sea at 1d. per 10,000 gallons, it would bring in 155 billion pounds. If you were to try and pump it dry, at the rate of 1,000 gallons per second, it would take 12,000 million years. There is always an “if” in these things! _ 60. A lady met a gentleman in the street. The gentleman said “I think I know you.” The lady said he ought, as his mother was her mother’s only daughter. What relation was he? A CRICKET “CATCH.” 61. In an eleven, when the ninth batsman goes in, how many wickets have to fall before all are out? 62. A boat’s crew can row eight miles an hour in still water; what is the speed of a river’s current if it takes them 2 hours and 40 minutes to row 8 miles up and 8 miles down? BAD WRITING. In a well-known firm in Sydney the clerks are presided over by a rather impetuous manager, whose violent fits of temper very often dominate his reason. For instance, the other day he was wiring into one of them about his bad work. “Look here, Jones,” he thundered, “this won’t do. These figures are a perfect disgrace to a clerk! I could get an office boy to make better figures than those, and I tell you I won’t have it! Now, look at that five, it looks just like a three. What do you mean, sir, by making such beastly figures? Explain!” “I—er beg your pardon, sir,” suggested the trembling clerk, his heart fluttering terribly, “but—er well, you see, sir, it is three.” “A three?” roared the manager; “why, it looks just like a five!” 63. Write 24 with three equal figures, neither of them being 8. THE WRONG COLUMN. 64. A clerk, while posting from day book to ledger, transposed an amount by placing the pence in the shilling column and the shillings in the pence column, thereby causing an error of 9s. 2d. With what amount could he make such a mistake? EDUCATIONAL VAGARIES. Extracts from Reports of Country Provisional Schools. School No. 1: On roll, 1 boy, 1 girl; total, 2. Average attendance, 0·6 boy, 0·6 girl; total, 1·2. School No. 2: On roll, 2 boys, 2 girls; total 4. Average attendance, 1·6 boys, 1·3 girls; total, 2·9. School No. 3: On roll, 2 boys, no girls. Average attendance, 0·8 boys. By the above we see the public are paying for a teacher to provide education for eight-tenths of a boy! Three-fourths of a cross, and a circle complete, Two semi-circles at a perpendicular meet; Next add a triangle which stands on two feet, Two semi-circles and a circle complete. A DISPUTE. _ 66. Two men have an equal interest in a grindstone, which is 5 ft. 6 in. in diameter. The centre of the stone, to the extent of a diameter of 18 in., is useless, and not to be taken into account. Required to find the depth to which the first partner may be allowed to grind away from the stone in order to leave an equal share of the stone to the second partner. BANK NOTE VERSE. On the backs of bank notes one sometimes meets with strange and peculiar sentiments. “Go, poor devil, get thee gone,” is the kind of parting salutation most in favour; but the following is chiefly notable as a rare instance of the bank-note rhymester parting with his money in a Christian spirit: Farewell, my note, and wheresoe’er ye wend, Shun gaudy scenes, and be the poor man’s friend; You’ve left a poor one—go to one as poor; And drive despair and hunger from his door. An Irish merchant, who felt annoyed at a complaining letter he received from a customer, wrote back:—“We decline to acknowledge the receipt of yours of the 15th.” If to-day is the to-morrow of yesterday, is to-day the yesterday of to-morrow? _ 67. Suppose that four poor men build their houses around a pond, and that afterwards four evil-disposed rich men build houses at the back of the poor people—as shown in illustration—and wish to have a monopoly of the water: how can they erect a fence so as to shut the poor people off from the pond? SOME TRADE SIGNS AND MOTTOES. Many curious inscriptions are to be found displayed on shop windows, office doors, etc. Here are a few:— A Pawnbroker.—“Mine is a business of the greatest interest.” A Flourishing Bootmaker.—“Don’t you wish you were in my shoes?” A Publican.—“Good beer sold here, but don’t take my word for it.” A Hairdresser.—“Two heads are better than one.” A Carter.—“Excelsior—hire and hire.” A Baker.—“The staff of life I do supply, by it you live and so must I.” A Butcher.—“We kill to dress, not dress to kill.” A Builder.—“I send innocent men to the ‘scaffold.’” A Clerk.—“I possess more pens than pounds.” A Dentist.—“I look ‘down in the mouth’ and am happy.” A Doctor.—“I take pains to remove pains.” A Hatter.—“I shelter ‘the heir apparent’ and protect ‘the crown.’“ A Photographer.—“Mine is a developing business and mounting rapidly.” A Solicitor.—“I study the law—and the profits.” An Undertaker.—“No complaints from our customers.” RIVAL BUTCHERS. T. Jones.—“Sausages, 3d. per lb.—to pay more is to be robbed.” J. Smith.—“Sausages, 4d. per lb.—to pay less is to be poisoned.” A French confectioner, proud of his English, and wishing to let his customers know that their wants would be attended to without delay, put out the notice, “Short weights here.” A shopkeeper in the old country had printed under his name “The little rascal.” When asked the meaning of this strange sign, he replied, “It distinguishes me from the rest of my trade, who are all great rascals.” On an Office Door.—“Shut this door, and as soon as you have done talking on business, serve your mouth the same way.” “SHE.” _ A country spark addressed a charming “she,” In whom all lovely features did agree; But being void of numbers, as doth show, Desirous was the lady’s age to know. “My age is such that if multiplied by three, Two-sevenths of the product triple be: The square root of two-ninths of that is four;— Tell me my age or never see me more.” RUNNING SHORT. 69. A vessel on a 3 months’ trip has provisions for 4 months, but the stores are served out as if the voyage had to be completed in 3 months. At the end of 2 months, it is discovered that the voyage will take 3½ months. To what proportion must the rations be reduced for the remaining time? In a certain town in the North of Queensland, a class of young men was formed to receive lessons in short methods of business arithmetic. The teacher was endeavouring to knock into the head of a young man that the cost of a dozen articles is the same number of shillings that a single article costs in pence. To illustrate the rule, he gave the following example:— “If I buy 1 dozen apples at 1d each, then the dozen will cost 1 shilling; and if I buy 1 dozen oranges at 2 pence each, the dozen will cost 2 shillings. Now, supposing I buy 1 dozen at 3 pence each, how much will the dozen cost?” Young Man (after two minutes’ reflection)—“Are they apples or oranges?” A DRAUGHTS PUZZLE. 70. Ten draughtsmen are placed in a row. The puzzle is to lift one up and passing over two at a time (neither more nor less) to place it on the top, or to “crown” the next one, continuing in this fashion until all are crowned. In passing over a piece already crowned, it is to be reckoned as two pieces. 71. In the centre of a pond 20 feet square there is a small island, on which is growing a tree. Two boys notice there is a bird’s nest on the top of the tree, but the difficulty is to reach the island, as they have 2 short planks that only measure 8 feet each. After a little while they hit on an ingenious plan, and, without nailing the planks together, manage to place them so they can reach the tree in safety. How did they do it? Teacher—“Now, I want all the children to look at Tommy’s hands, and see how clean they are, and see if all of you cannot come to school with cleaner hands. Tommy, perhaps, will tell us how he keeps them so nice?” Tommy—“Yes ’m; mother makes me wash the breakfast things every morning.” BRAIN-BEWILDERERS. An amusing periodical got up by the boys of a certain college gives a capital skit on the style of examination-papers frequently presented for the torture of pupils. Here are a few examples:— Supposing the River Murray to be three cubits in breadth—which it isn’t—what is the average height of the Alps, stocks being at nineteen and a-half? If in autumn apples cost fourpence per pound in Melbourne, and potatoes a shilling a score in spring, when will greengages be sold in Brisbane at three-halfpence each, Sydney oranges being at a discount of five per cent.? If two men can kill twelve kangaroos in going up the right side of a rectangular turnip-field, how many would be killed by five men and a terrier pup in going down the other side? If a milkmaid four feet ten inches in height, while sitting on a three-legged stool, took four pints of milk out of every fifteen cows, what was the size of the field in which the animals grazed, and what was the girl’s name, age, and the occupation of her grandfather? If thirty thousand millions of human beings have lived since the beginning of the world, how many may we safely say will die before the end of it? N.B.—This example to be worked out by simple subtraction, algebra, and the rule of three. Compare results. 72. Find two numbers in the proportion of 9 to 7 such as the square of their sum shall be equal to the cube of their difference. |
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