Rensselaer Union, Volume 2, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1869 — Paradoxes. [ARTICLE]

Paradoxes.

The word oblige is subject to paradoxical, construction. When you oblige a man to' do a thing which he does not want to de-,' you may disoblige him at the same tipje. It has bebn rdtfiarked thkt'-there'is a very great difference between wIrCM the gospel is dispensed, and one Where it is dispensed with. • We have often heard thi- eHry of how the captain of a canal boat cried “ Look out 1 ”to his passengers when they were going uhdfera wMfoi. and howa-Frenehmiftf Ipokoiout accordingly and received a bump on his head; but te has nevei 1 btfen deoafed 1 ' that the Frenchman took any incorrect- orwtysual [signification from the words. It has never been decided whether a house burns up or down. The question whether a man who falls from a-baat and. is rescued from primarily of she water ur the boat. Borne one has noticed that people say 1 hey 1 shbff '• peas when they ttnsheli them; that they, husk corn whtmthey unhuskjt; that they; skin a buffalo when they unskin it; that 4 they scale fishes when they unscalq them,: and thdr gardens Wtweeding when they, are weedy enough already.'

These paradoxes in words are tho foundation of the puzzles in logic which are so common. For instance, the. trite syllogism to the effect that because ho cat has two tails, and because a ca| } has one tai| more than no mt, therefore a cat has three tails, the trotibfe arises in the paradoxical use of the phrase “no oak’’ White iCjs quite true in one sense that no cat has two tails, ft is not true in the sense m winch it is employed, in the syllogism, because a “nocat" being a nonenity has no tail. Similar it is argued that Oxford must, flrosnall antlqoity r ha we been either somewhere or nowhere. Where was it at the t|me of TarquTnius Prisons ? It whi nowhero, thtm it surely must have been somewhere.; Where was it ? Aristotle and Philetus, and I don't know how ihany others, are said to have bothered themselves very’ much with a proposition something like thia If you say of yourself, “I" ’He/’ and in sAytag'So tell the truth, thaUdt is quite, evident, that.you, but it you say “I lie,” and. you tell a lie in saying ’11, then you also veil' the- truth: in- saving it. In either .cases you lie and tell, the truth at the same time.

I have heard somebody make the fafy lowing proposition. Suppose, for example, that a man 35 years old marties'a gin 5 years old. He is seven times as old e.v she. They live together fiveyears and the girl is 10 years old. Then the man is 40 ycaftf old, or only four times ak old as the girl. They live together five years more and she is 15. The **A then',is 45. or only three times qa old. They lite uptil sht is 30 and the man 30. He is then Ohly tqico as old. Nbw, how long will they have to live so make the girl as old as the man ? Although, in thiscase, the girl is catching the matt very fast, the reasoning is similar to that by which jt was long ago argued that a man never could catch a tortoise which Kaffa mile thestart. While |he’ man ranka mQe the tortoise goes one-tenih pfa mile; while the man runs one-hundfotb of a mde, the tort Oise goWone-thousandth of a mile; while the man rims, one-thou-sandth of, a mile, the tortoise goes ope tenth thousandth of a mile, and so on to any extent of which;ths decimal notation is capable—the tortoise always being some infinitesimal fraction of space ahead of the Twill give only one illustration more; of' this character. Roe wishes to.Wdy law with Doe, and offers to pay theteustomary fee when h« shall have won bra first suit at law. To this Doe agrees and Roe beCdrites a student. Doe gets tired of wafting for his fee and determineah) sub'BOc for tho amount. .Poe rqasons; fl If A he Will have to payme by the ■condition of our contract, as Ift will have won bls first lawsuit.” But Boa. also reasons: 1 *’ If ImUMrt SS J£|K Court la

in my favor, of coursd<k‘lahall>h«« Aave ito/BWh/hfl npMr f [decides against me I shall not have to pay it, a'cccrdm# to tUe toroiswf ourOontMM, for Buit Tire Wnibarilyper Which tlie ehrth,«gMt! *heir principal.fud in too-.diffewiU/SWf of ryf.ordp apd phrase*. I will ’not moralize eXtfetlsiviilyon. thft 'VtojtoritiroV, - tifough I deem illustration more chtertainincr than ' A Hhkutlftl SoN at I 1 l<-JnAwbtf«uiii>d On die nlkhVoif'Eidx v -iiW; a 'baby Of thelftmlnlrte gfmdeh'aUeut' six weeks W, ; wahfound,PP the,front, doorstep of the glass warehouse of Messrs. Wm. FtouK fy FMttburgtonfHto -little be ma4fe'6rfltNf.Th6hffiiir>wa»-soOr>noised sassE cralftr’ei'telh fo/the fafnhfJ' Htoh and poor, old and young, mate .ami female, married and single people, all became interested m the little WAif( aM All were btttallVCriy Ahrithri’ to ttrtd'Wielpabitlon »fifatherrp>mpfter. l im»e,.lptorprt being so great, it was finally determined by the temporary tb pfrt' the little one 'npat tha-highest bidder. This plan will be acted upon, and the terms are caslMlHb' money • to : be a bonus fbr-her benefit, to.be in the bank at cqmpoupd. interest, and to be drkwh when the girl arrives at the age of eighteen-years.-, An interustirtg time was anticipated at the sale-, .and the. beautiftil foundllhg MrnMoubtWffl bring k -fabulous -price.-*-AacZkMfte. - „iitoiix-I& -