+-------------+ | 2 5 2 | | | | | | 5 5 | | | | | | 2 5 2 | +-------------+ FATHER--“You are very backward in your arithmetic. When I was your age I was doing cube roots.” BOY--“What’s them?” FATHER--“What! You don’t know what they are? My! my! that’s terrible! There, give me your pencil. Now, we take, say, 28764289, and find the cube root. First, you divide--no, you point off--no--let me see?--um--yes--no--don’t stand there grinning like a Cheshire cat; go upstairs and stay in your bedroom for an hour.” A “TAKE-DOWN” WITH CARDS. This is a card trick which depends upon a certain “key,” the possessor of which will always have the advantage over his uninstructed adversary. It is played with the first six of each suit--the four aces in one row, next row the deuces, threes, fours, fives and sixes. The object now will be to turn down cards alternately, and endeavour to make thirty-one points by so turning without over-running that number. The chief point is to count so as to end with the following numbers: 3, 10, 17 or 24. For instance, we will suppose it your privilege to commence the count; you would commence with 3, and your adversary would add 6, which would make 9; it would be then your policy to add 1 and make 10; then, no matter what number he adds he cannot prevent you making 17, which gives you the command of the trick. We will suppose he adds 6 and make 16; then you add 1 and make 17; then he to add 6 and make 23, you add 1 and make 24; then he cannot add any number to make 31, as the highest number he can add is 6, which would only count 30, so that you can easily add the remaining 1 and make 31. If your adversary is not wary, you may safely turn indifferent numbers at the beginning, trusting to his ignorance to let you count 17 or 24; but, as his knowledge increases, he will soon learn that 24 is a critical number, and to play for it accordingly. If both players know the trick, the first to play must be the winner, as he is sure to begin with a 3, which commands the game. ON AN OFFICE DOOR IN GOULBURN. A baptism in Hades’ depths, As hot as boiling tar, Awaits the man who quits this room And leaves the door ajar. But he who softly shuts the door Shall dwell among the blest-- Where the wicked cease from troubling And the weary are at rest. 47. There are 5 eggs on a dish; divide them amongst 5 persons so that each will get 1 egg and yet 1 still remain on the dish. 48. If a goose weighs 10 lbs. and a half of its own weight, what is the weight of the goose? THE GEOMETRICAL WONDER AND ARITHMETICAL ABSURDITY.