Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1901 — SOME “EASY SURE THINGS.” [ARTICLE]

SOME “EASY SURE THINGS.”

It Is Safe to Bet Against the Following Propositions. There are many things which at first thought appear to be easy enough of accomplishment that it is pretty safe to bet a man he cannot do. Most people know that the human hands are not strong enough to break a new laid egg it the hands are clasped and the egg laid endwise between the palms. It is said that the pressure required to break an egg in this manner amounts to tons. Among other safe bets ie a wager that man cannot rise from a chair without bending forward or putting his feet under the chair 6r outside of it Many a man will back himself to give another a start of 60 yards in a dash of 100, provided the man having the start hops all the way. But no runner, however swift, can give that amount of start to an ordinary man. For the first five yards they go at practically the same pace. Therefore the runner, to go 95 yards while the “hopper” goes 45, would have to run more than twice as fast, and it would be a weak man who could not hop 45 yards at a pace equal to 20 seconds for 100 yards, and that would mean that the runner, in order tb win, would have to beat all previous records. If a man boasts that his penknife is particularly sharp, ask him to cut, with one stroke of blade, one of those yellow ribbons, mostly of silk, which comes around bundles of cigars. In 999 cases out of 1,000 the knife is not sharp enough to do this. It will cut through all the ribbon except the last strand, and that will pull out long, and the more he tries to cut it the longer it will pull out. It is safe to bet any one except a blind man that he cannot stand without support of any kind for five minutes at a stretch, if he Is thoroughly blindfolded, without moving his feet. If he does not move his feet he is pretty sure to topple over in about a minute.