THE CANTERBURY PUZZLES
" What was the length of the creature ? " asked Simon.
"Well, each piece was equal in length to three-quarters the
length of a piece added to three-quarters of a cable. There's
a little puzzle for you to work out, young gentleman. How many
cables long must that there sea-sarpint *ave been ? "
Now, it is not at all to the discredit of Mr. Simon Softleigh that
he never succeeded in working out the correct answer to that little
puzzle, for it may confidently be said that out of a thousand readers
who attempt the solution not one will get it exactly right.
105.—
The Dorcas Society.
At the close of four and a half months' hard work, the ladies of
a certain Dorcas Society were so delighted with the completion of a
beautiful silk patchwork quilt for the dear curate that everybody
kissed everybody else, except, of course, the bashful young man
himself, who only kissed his sisters, whom he had called for, to
escort home. There were just a gross of osculations altogether.
How much longer would the ladies have taken over their needle-
work task if the sisters of the curate referred to had played lawn
tennis instead of attending the meetings ? Of course we must
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