“Austrailya has a lot of aliasses, one is new Holland and afterwards it was called Pollynesia, and Van Demon and Oceana but sir Henry Parks called it Austrailya on his Death-bed. You can go to it in a ship but it is joined to Great Britain by a cable.” 129. I ran to a certain railway station to meet the train which was due at 3.15 p.m. When I arrived on the platform the hands of the clock made equal angles with 3 o’clock. How long had I to wait? [Illustration] 130. The wall of China is 1500 miles long, 20 feet high, 15 feet wide at the top and 25 at the bottom. The largest of the pyramids is said to have been 741 feet at the base, 481 feet vertical when finished. How many such pyramids could be built out of the wall of China? GRAMMAR. SCHOOLMASTER--“Now, boys, the word ‘with’ is a very bad word to end a sentence with.” 131. There is an arch of quadrantal form; the rise of the crown is 17 feet. What is the span? 132. Two pairs of fives I bid you take, And four times four and forty make. 133. A lady bought a quantity of flannel, which she distributed among some poor women; the first received 2 yards, the second 4 yards, and so on; the lot cost her £5 14s. 2½d. How many women were there, and what did the lady pay per yard? 134. A and B marry, their respective ages being in proportion to 3 and 4. Now after they have been married 14 years their ages are as 5 to 6, and the age of A is 5 times that of her youngest child, who was born when the parents’ ages were as 4 to 5. Required: the ages of A and B when they were married, and the age of the youngest child now that they have been married 14 years. AN APPALLING “SUM.” At a school, a short time back, the pupils were given, as a home lesson, the task of subtracting from 880,788,889 the number 629 so often till nothing remained. The boys worked on for hours without any perceptible diminution of the figures, and at length gave up the task in despair. Some of the parents then tried their hands, with no better success. For, in order to work out the sum, the number 629 would have to be subtracted 1,400,300 times, leaving 189 as a remainder. Working 12 hours a day, at the rate of 3 subtractions per minute, it would take over 1 year and 9 months to complete the sum which had been set the poor lads for their home lesson. A MILITARY LUNCHEON. 135. A certain number of Volunteers--namely, Commissioned Officers, Non-commissioned Officers, and Privates had a dinner bill to pay; there were, it seemed, half as many more Non-Com. Officers as Com., one-third as many more Privates as Non-Com. Officers, and they agreed that each Commissioned Officer should pay one-third as much again as each Non-Com., and each Non-Com. one-fifth as much again as each Private; but 1 Commissioned and 2 Non-Com. Officers slipped away without paying their portion (5s.), each of the others had to pay in consequence 4d. more. What was the amount of the bill, and the number of each present?