Page:Cyclopedia of Puzzles by Samuel Loyd.pdf/35

PROPOSITION-What is the poor little half-orphan kicking about?

ACCOMPANIED BY Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective, I dropped into Dauber's studio one morning and found that talented young artist put ting the finishing touches to a bit of canvas. He welcomed us effusively and exclaimed: You are just the fellows I want. Here is an odd thing I have just finished for the exhibition, and am so both ered for an appropriate mame that I will give a prize for the best suggestion.

'It would be like robbing you to take the money," said Sherlock. "The piece has its name written all over it, as any one with half an eye Carl see. It is a sketch from life which you have picked up on your travels. The father has just died. so, if it were not vulgar to pun, should say the child's loss was aparent. The gay young widow con- templates marrying again, and the child is neglected and objects, and that is where the trouble begins. That, as well as many other points as plain as the nose on your face, аге too simple to mention. It would be too commonplace to sug gest that the child is crying over spilled milk, for his grief is deeper rooted than that. The only question worth discussing is to tell what the kid is kicking about, so I suggest it be called the half orphan, and for the best answers to that conundrum, it might be interesting to offer some valuable prizes.

The picture carried off the honors of the exhibition of course, and is now quite noted for having brought fame and fortune to the artist. The name Half-Orphan in itself was a happy hit, which the public for some inexplicable reason seems to have interpreted as being sin- gularly appropriate. Although out side of the three persons who were present at the christening, not a living mortal knows why it was so called, the solvers who now carry off the honors of this little compe- Lition will unravel one of Sherlock Holmes' characteristic mysteries. Don't miss the point of the query: What is the poor little half orphan kicking about?

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A Message in a Bottle.

Among the specimens of flotsam and jetsam which the tides and drifting sands cast at times upon the beach, nothing compares in interest with bottled messages, sup- posed to be the farewell words of shipwrecked humanity, giving a graphic description of the fate which had befallen some long lost and almost forgotten vessel.

Such messages from the sea, in times past have told wonderful tales of shipwreck, privations and narrow escapes in a way that sug- gested the possibilities of the writers being still alive in Arctic regions or on unknown islands, which, in some instances, have been fully confirmed. In the British collec- ton of such tales as have been officially investigated and authenticated are many proven to be true, which furnish clews to the Fate of ships lost hundreds of years ago, showing that the messages cast upon the waves had drifted for cen- tumes in mid-ocean before effecting a landing.

As a rule, the modren style of the paper, to say nothing of the year 1905 shown on a champagne bottle should throw some doubts upon the genuineness of the docu- ment, nevertheless, the subject bears such a fascinating charm that the finders will not be mfluenced by such arguments as might discredit the truth of the wonderful nar- ratives.

Here, for instance, is an oddity presented in puzzle form, assumed to have been written ages ago, and, yet in these brief lines it tells so well its story that we can not only com- pute the probable number of cen- turies spent in drifting about, but we can tell the name of the writers So positive are we about these facts that such little things as the name blown in the bottle, the modern style of language, as well as unlikely- hood of a shipwrecked mariner tak- ing time to construe his last mes- sage in verse, carry no weight what- ever. All we have to consider is the paradoxical or unnatural state- ments of the writer, which from their very unreasonableness furnish "confirmation strong as holy writ:" Now, who wrote it?

A mighty ship I now command,
With cargo rare from every land.
No goods have I to trade or sell;
Each wind will serve my turn as
well;
To neither port nor harbor bound,
My greatest wish to run aground.

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What would you call a boy who eats all the green melons he can get?

He is what we call a pains-taking youngster, What is an eaves-dropper? An icicle.

Why is a neglected damsel like a fire that has gone out? Because she has not a spark left.

Why are bells used to call people to church? Because they have an inspiring influence.

What is that which goes up the hill and down the hill and yet stands still? The road.

What becomes of the chocolate cake when your only son eats it? It vanishes into the empty heir (air).

When is a bill like a gun? When it is presented and discharged.

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