OCR Text |
Show A SHREWD RAILWAY CONDUCTOR, who understands the temptation of passengers to lie about the ages of their children in order to obtain half-fare passage for them, says: "I never ask the age of children; I look at ‘em, and fix the fare by guessing." Unless the census-takers wish to become responsible for a terrific amount of lying, they will do well when interrogating the female part of the population to adopt the policy of "looking at ‘em." and omit inquiries as to the age of the fair ones whom no consideration can induce to admit that they are also forty. In fact, the females of the nation are convinced that this census taking has been invented for the express purpose of compelling them to tell their ages, and they are resolved not to do it. Besides, a woman of forty considers it no lie to say she is twenty-seven, for has she not been twenty-seven these thirteen years? If the census takers persist in asking women their ages, and write down the replies as given, it is evident that the twenty million adult females of the United States will be shown to have attained but about half the average age of the eighteen million adult males, and that will be proof that there is somewhere in the figures a very big lie. The census-takers have much to tax their patience and ingenuity during the next two weeks, but their chief perplexity will be how to obtain ages correctly without encouraging lying. - N. Y. Mast |