OCR Text |
Show Vacation Puzzles for School Bo'js. hen an American .school boy faces his summer vacation vaca-tion ne usually has no school problems on his mind. Not so at an exclusive English school for boys between the ages of s ami 11 years. Ihey receive a list of questions at the begin-mn;r begin-mn;r ot then- school holidays, to be answered during vacation. vaca-tion. Since there is no time limit set on the completion of tlie answers, it is more like an outlined course of summer study than a strict examinaion or an intelligence test. One question of such an examination asks for "the heig.it of Fiui-yama, Everest, Ben Nevis, the top board, the Hag statt, the class room, the stumps." Another inquires why a horse gets up forelegs first and a cow hind legs first? Another asks whether freezing is colder than boiling hot is hot; whether shrimps make good mothers, and when Good f- ruby tell on Tuesday. Again the boys are asked to find out who said or shouted, and why, "Eureka," "oyez, oyez," "a yell that rent the firmament," "a horse, a horse," "on Stanley, Stan-ley, on," "Thalassa, Thalassa," and "a great shout of laughter." Other questions encourage a little sauntering in woods and fields, for they ask how to tell whether one has found the nest of a thrush or the nest of a blackbird, and require sketches of an oak leaf, an elm leaf and a maple leaf. There are 16 of these searching questions and the last calls for an original poem of not less than five nor more than 15 lines. A good encyclopedia, a good memory, keen observation and an alert mind would help any intelligent boy to pass this examination. It is probably more useful than cross-word puzzles, and might be no less interesting. |