Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1907 — FOR THE CHILDREN [ARTICLE]

FOR THE CHILDREN

Magic of Numbers. A very interesting and curious problem in the magic of numbers relates to the English System of counting money. You know that 12 pence make 1 shilling and 20 shillings 1 pound. Now put down any number of pounds not more than twelve, any number of shillings not more than twenty, and any number of pence under twelve. Under the pounds put the number of pence, under the shillings the number of shillings and under the pence the number of pounds, thus reversing the line. Then subtract, reverse the line again, add together, and the result will be £l2 18s. lid. whatever numbers you may have selected. To illustrate, suppose we take £0 16s. 7d.; reverse this and yon have £7 16a. 9d.; subtract and reverse again and add. £9 16s ?d 7 16 9 £1 19s lOd 10 19 1 £l2 18s Ud No matter what combination of figures you take, the answer will always be the same. # Passport Is a Jolly Gams. In the game of passport seat the company in the form of a hollow square, leaving one person out. The party may oecupy chairs in the middle of the room or around a table, but they must be arranged in the form of a square. Then give them a sheet and direct them to hold it up In such a way that it will be close under their chins and be stretched out as a level surface between them. In the middle of the sheet put a fluffy white feather, to represent the “passport”—a snowflake—and the players around the sheets, who represent the winds, begin to it about in every direction. One player stands opposite the square and tries to catch the feather, either on one of the players or in front of one of them. He takes advantage of the laughter of the player who cannot blow the feather away, and, having thus caught it. it becomes his “passport” to the player’s place, who then in his turn <ries his hand at feather catching. If the feather Is blown off- the sheet It must be placed back in the middle. The Quarrelsome Bcissors. "I’ll not work with you!” said Ruth. Mother looked at her two naughty children for a minute, then said: “I will tell 57)0 a story of a pair of scissors. One blade quarreled with the other. ‘l’ll not cut with your It said. Til not cut with you!’ said the other side. So they pulled and pulled until they pulled away from the rivet which held them together. What good were they then? Not a bit. They were swept up and thrown out the ash barrel.” Rtrth looked at Jack and hung her head, and Jack looked at Ruth and seemed very much ashamed of himself. "Suppose we work together and then play together,” said Ruth. "Suppose we do,” said Jack. Then they forgot all about their quarrel in helping mother pull basting threads and afterward In a merry game of hide and seek.—Our Little Ones.

Ths Word “Cigar." The word “cigar” has a curioqp origin. It may be traced back to the time in the sixteenth century when the Spaniards' Introduced tobacco Into Spain from the island of Cuba. Each man cultivated the plant in his garden and rolled the leaves up for smoking, as he had seen the Indians in the West Indies do. The Spanish for garden Is cigarral, and when a man offered a roll* of the tobacco leaves to a friend he would say, “Es de ml cigarral” (It Is from my garden). After awhile the expression came to be “Este cigarro es <fe mi cigarral” (this cigar is from my garden), and so It was that the term “cigar'’ came Into use all over the world. But the •trangest part of it all la that the cigar really gets Its name from the grasshopper, though Indirectly. The Spanish for grasshopper Is cigarra, and a garden is called cigarral because grasshoppers are very abundant In such places. Robin Hood Was a Rsal Person. There is no room for a reasonable doubt of Robin Hood’s existence. That the celebrated outlaw really operated in Sherwood forest, robbing the rich and dealing very gently with the poor, Is a well authenticated fact.