The St. Ives Puzzle Contest.
The St. Ives story excited much interest. To new readers we must explain that it was a tale of the man who came from St. Ives, related to the famous person bound for that place. There were four riddles in it, and the rest of the questions were double meanings of names, chiefly geographical. On the journey the man of wives said he saw "an island of Greece that wouldn't hold water"—Poros; and speaking of the character of his many children, the man said not one was "an island off the Mexican coast"—Angel.
A great many solvers wrote to ask if a mistake had not been made in Question No. 2, "because there were not one hundred words in the paragraph." No mistake was made. The "99th" word is the one preceding the c—100. Here are the answers:
1, Wake; 2, Be just before you are generous; 3, Fife; 4, Tietar; 5, Vilaine; 6, Wigtown; 7, Bureau; 8, Poros; 9, Net and Racquet; 10, Fad; 11, There is no wisdom like frankness; 12, Oka; 13. Mercury (quicksilver); 14, Gull: 15, Yule; 16, Sasa; 17, Angel; 18, Faro and Fortune; 19, Lard; 20, Book; 21, Clinch; 22, Palm; 23, Box-car.
Of the twenty-three questions in the story, twenty-one were correctly answered by William C. Thayer, aged 13, Michigan, and Pearl A. Coyle, aged 13, Pennsylvania. The former missed Nos. 13 and 23, and the latter Nos. 2 and 23. We divide the $10 prize between them, giving $5 to each. The other $15 of the $25 offered is divided among other high solvers thus: Frederic W. Darling and Joslyn Z. Smith, New York (Buffalo); Royal J. Davis. Indiana; Edward L. Lyon, New York; J. M. Espey and Nora B. Tucker, Pennsylvania, $2 each; and Ethel Ruth Sherman, New York; Mabel Josephine Frye, District of Columbia; and Amy Erickson, Wisconsin, $1 each. The money has been forwarded, and reached most of the winners by Christmas day.