ll make 52). Ask him to double
this number (giving 104), and to subtract 1 (leaving 103); to
multiply this remainder by 5 (giving 515), and to add to this
product the third number (4) or that standing for the finger
(which will give 519). Next ask him to add 5 (giving 524), and
from the double of the sum (1048) to subtract 1; to multiply this
remainder by 5 (giving 5235), and to add to this 1, standing for
the joint. In the last place, ask him to again add 5, equalling
5241. The figures of this number will indicate, in order, the
number expressing the person who holds the ring, and the hand,
finger, and the joint on which it was placed.

With a little practice you will be able to successfully gull your
audience, having first given each person a pencil and paper
wherewith to make the calculations.

VINCENT V. M. BEEDE, R.T.F.

A Prize-Puzzle Story.

When I was going to St. Ives, you know about my meeting with that man
who had seven wives. Well, the man, wives, sacks, cats, kits, and the
rest were coming from St. Ives, and, being interested, I sat down by the
road-side and asked the party about their journey thither. And this is
what the man told me:

"It's a roundabout journey, this one from St. Ives, and queer things are
to be seen on the way. Why, we came through a county in North Carolina
(1) where nobody ever slept, and we saw on a sign-board this:

"'Be cordial to all your fellow-beings. Just cordial, and no more.
Before counting them as friends, be sure you can trust them, and are
certain of their true and generous confidence.'

"Notice.--Take every ninety-ninth word in the foregoing, arrange them in
the order in which they are written, and you will have a good maxim (2).

"We crossed a lake in Michigan (3) that belongs to a drum corps; a river
of Spain (4) that school-children play on astride a fence; a river of
France (5) that ought to be a prison; through a county in Scotland (6)
that bald-headed people should go to; and through another county in
Illinois (7) that one could use to furnish his house with.

"We saw an island of Greece (8) that would not hold water, and a lake in
Minnesota (9) that would not either, but you could play tennis with the
latter. Beside a lake in Scotland (10) that is always the latest style,
we saw another sign board bearing this:

"'I will not go there. I don't care where it is. If he asks me, I'll s