r of a field is seen a milkmaid milking a cow, and on the
other side of the field is the dairy where the extract has to be
deposited. But it has been noticed that the young woman always goes down
to the river with her pail before returning to the dairy. Here the
suspicious reader will perhaps ask why she pays these visits to the
river. I can only reply that it is no business of ours. The alleged milk
is entirely for local consumption.

"Where are you going to, my pretty maid?"
"Down to the river, sir," she said.
"I'll _not_ choose your dairy, my pretty maid."
"Nobody axed you, sir," she said.

If one had any curiosity in the matter, such an independent spirit would
entirely disarm one. So we will pass from the point of commercial
morality to the subject of the puzzle.

Draw a line from the milking-stool down to the river and thence to the
door of the dairy, which shall indicate the shortest possible route for
the milkmaid. That is all. It is quite easy to indicate the exact spot
on the bank of the river to which she should direct her steps if she
wants as short a walk as possible. Can you find that spot?

188.--THE BALL PROBLEM.

[Illustration]

A stonemason was engaged the other day in cutting out a round ball for
the purpose of some architectural decoration, when a smart schoolboy
came upon the scene.

"Look here," said the mason, "you seem to be a sharp youngster, can you
tell me this? If I placed this ball on the level ground, how many other
balls of the same size could I lay around it (also on the ground) so
that every ball should touch this one?"

The boy at once gave the correct answer, and then put this little
question to the mason:--

"If the surface of that ball contained just as many square feet as its
volume contained cubic feet, what would be the length of its diameter?"

The stonemason could not give an answer. Could you have replied
correctly to the mason's and the boy's questions?

189.--THE YORKSHIRE ESTATES.

[Illustration]

I was on a visit to one of the large towns of Yorkshire. While walking
to the railway station on the day of my departure a man thrust a
hand-bill upon me, and I took this into the railway carriage and read it
at my leisure. It informed me that three Yorkshire neighbouring estates
were to be offered for sale. Each estate was square in shape, and they
joined one another at their corners, just as shown in the diagram.
Estate A contains exactly 370