| Show AMUSING PROBLEMS How To Please a Host and Keep His Guests Interested Every one will admit that the good diner out the one who knows how to tell a good story sing a song and introduce topics of conversation that shall be of general interest inter-est without being personal is a most desirable de-sirable person at a party A lady was kind enough to tell me I had saved her dinner from a fiat failure the other evening simply because 1 remembered remem-bered to repeat some paradrxes and puzzling puzz-ling problems which sot everybody talking trying to work them out They were as I old as the hills but go the rounds of the newspapers from time to time and everybody every-body might know them if they heeded I what they read AN APPARENT PARADOX It was very amusing to listen to the discussion dis-cussion which ensued when I asked How can a ship sail faster than the wind l Every yachtsman knows that a ship can sail faster than the wind that is to say if the wind Is blowing ten knots an hour a ship may be making twelve fifteen knots An hour Now It Is obvious that If the ship is sailing before the wind it cannot at tho utmost travel faster than the wind itself Is blowing as a matter of fact it will travel much more slowly If on the other hand the ship is sailing at nn angle with the wind it seems at first sight that the wind must act with less effect than before be-fore but more quickly than the wind Itself l is blowing This IB a paradox which few oven of those who Pare acquainted by experience with the fact have found themselves able to explain I didnt care to have the matter mat-ter settledI simply wished to make conversation con-versation general When they were at the point of coming to blows concerning this matter I pro propounded tIle following which gave another turn to the conversation ANOTHER PUZZLER I A train starts daily from San Francisco Fran-cisco to New York and one daily from New York to San Francisco the journey lasting last-ing seven days How many trains will a traveler meet in journeying from Saa Francisco to New York PIt P-It appears obvious at the first glance that the traveler must meet seven trains and I this is the answer that willbe given by nine people out of every ten to whom the question is new The fact is overlooked that every day during the journey a fresh train is started from the other end while there are seven on tbe way to begin with The traveler will not therefore meet seven trains but fourteen Here is another A man walks round a I pole on which is a monkey As the man I moves the monkey moves round on the top 1 I of the pole so as still to keep face to face with the man QueryWhen the man has gone round the pole has he or has he not gone round the monkey The answer that will occur at first sight to most persons is that the man has not gene round the monkey since he has never been behind It The correct answer however how-ever as decided by knowledge in the pages of which this momentous question has been argued is thpt the man has gone round the monkey in going round the pole Hera Is an old geometrical problem which may puzzle I some + do on e n 1 t j 1 m a II I1UVLUH a > vuuwvv vuvjoiu tt AUU I and one yard high and requiring more light enlargedtho window to twice its former for-mer siz > yet the window was still only one yard high and one yard wide How was I this done The window was diamond shaped in the first place and afterward made sqare The grape trick is a good one to make conversation Put three grapes upon each one of two plates and give ttem and fork to two people sitting on opposite sides of the table they are to look into each others i eyes without moving and see which one will be able to eat the grapes first I Many a one may puzzle his brain over this query If agoos9 weighs ten pounds and half its own weight what is the weight of the I goose gooseThe majority will undoubtedly answer Ten pounds at once but after giving the problem a little thought they will discover that twenty pounds is the correct answer i The following simple question will often catch the unwary How many days I would it take to cut up a piece of cloth fifty I yards long one yard being cut every day1 I Fortynine days instead of fifty is correct An impromptu toast In rhyme or jingle hitting off some well known characteristic of host or guest will create a great deal of merriment There must of course be no I malice in this nor touching of tender plans I Oranges offer much material for amusement I amuse-ment at the dinner table A queer grotesque 1 gro-tesque face may be made by taking an orange firmly between the thumbs and forefingers and gently pinching up a bit of theskin for the nose above this thrust two wax matches the sulphur end out for eye You cut a mouth and teeth without any trouble A Y Herald I j Yn15 + 9CJLLWi M kyJI ISTIAT 11 |
