TO REWARD THE FAVOURITES, AND SHOW NO FAVOURITISM.
The proprietor of a ladies' school once received an invitation for one-half of her pupils to attend a flower show, but was a long time before she could decide how to pick out those who ought to be rewarded without hurting the feelings of those left behind. There were thirty pupils in the school, and fifteen were to be taken and the like number left at home. The following plan was the one hit upon:—The pupils were arranged in a row, four intended to go were placed first, five not intended next, and so on, as shown below, the letter A denoting those it was intended should partake of the offered pleasure, the letter B denoting those it was wished to leave out, and they were told when so arranged that the ninth girl, and each succeeding ninth, would be left at home.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| A | A | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | A | A | B | A | A | A | B | A | B | B | A | A | B | B | B | A | B | B | A | A | B |
The counting commenced with No. 1, and went round and round consecutively, each ninth pupil being dropped out, as designated to stay at home. It will be seen that those to be left were dropped out in the following order:—9th, 18th, 27th, 6th, 16th, 26th, 7th, 19th, 30th, 12th, 24th, 8th, 22nd, 5th, 23rd, thus leaving fifteen only.