lustration]

They were just thinking the fray was over when David suddenly struck out
in two directions at once, upsetting three-quarters of what Bob and
Andrew had last acquired. The two latter, with the greatest difficulty,
recovered five-eighths of it in equal shares, but the three others each
carried off one-fifth of the same. Every sugar-plum was now accounted
for, and they called a truce, and divided equally amongst them the
remainder of the parcel. What is the smallest number of sugar-plums
there could have been at the start, and what proportion did each boy
obtain?

110.--THE ABBOT'S PUZZLE.

The first English puzzlist whose name has come down to us was a
Yorkshireman--no other than Alcuin, Abbot of Canterbury (A.D. 735-804).
Here is a little puzzle from his works, which is at least interesting on
account of its antiquity. "If 100 bushels of corn were distributed among
100 people in such a manner that each man received three bushels, each
woman two, and each child half a bushel, how many men, women, and
children were there?"

Now, there are six different correct answers, if we exclude a case where
there would be no women. But let us say that there were just five times
as many women as men, then what is the correct solution?

111.--REAPING THE CORN.

A farmer had a square cornfield. The corn was all ripe for reaping, and,
as he was short of men, it was arranged that he and his son should share
the work between them. The farmer first cut one rod wide all round the
square, thus leaving a smaller square of standing corn in the middle of
the field. "Now," he said to his son, "I have cut my half of the field,
and you can do your share." The son was not quite satisfied as to the
proposed division of labour, and as the village schoolmaster happened to
be passing, he appealed to that person to decide the matter. He found
the farmer was quite correct, provided there was no dispute as to the
size of the field, and on this point they were agreed. Can you tell the
area of the field, as that ingenious schoolmaster succeeded in doing?

112.--A PUZZLING LEGACY.

A man left a hundred acres of land to be divided among his three
sons--Alfred, Benjamin, and Charles--in the proportion of one-third,
one-fourth, and one-fifth respectively. But Charles died. How was the
land to be divided fairly between Alfred and Benjamin?

113.--THE TORN NUMBER.

[Illustration]

I had the other day in my possession a label bearing