Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 September 1901 — Puzzling Letters. [ARTICLE]

Puzzling Letters.

The confusion sometimes wrought in well-regulated minds by the simple game of “Anagrams” is an amusing thing to witness. A brilliant literary man Joined a group of young people who were playing the game, and was promptly provided with the letters d, r, o* s, e, 1. The word was not suitable for an anagram, he was told, but was considered a good catch. “You don’t rate my powers very high, I see. as you give me only six letters,” ■aid the literary man, good naturedly, and then he set to work arranging and rearranging the little squares. Ten minutes later he glanced up at the young man who was watching him. “I believe I am beaten,” he said, with a rueful smile. “It seems to me I’ve arranged the letters in every possible combination, with no result but failure.” “What have you there now?” asked the young man. “S-o-l-d-e-r,” was the reply. “It’s the nearest I’ve come to a word. I keep trying to make soldier out of it, but I find it can’t be done.” “Have you never seen a tin pail or a teakettle, or anything of that sort?” asked the young man, with a face of suspicious gravity. And then, after one bewildering glance at the table, “solder” was swept Into a heap, and the literary light started the laugh at his own expense.