"A RUBBING STONE FOR ASSES."
"About the middle of the seventeenth century there stood an inn at the corner of the old Chester road in Lower Bebington (near Birkenhead). The loafers of the neighbourhood used to hang about the corner and loll against the wall of this inn, which very much annoyed the innkeeper. Being an ingenious man, he hit upon the following way of ridding himself of the annoyance. He put a tablet in the wall (right-hand side of photo.), of which none of them could understand the meaning for some time. At last one of the sharpest found that by running the letters together a sentence was formed, reading, 'A Rubbing Stone for Asses.' Of course, this effectually cleared the loafers. The puzzle on the middle stone is solved thus:—
| 987654321 | (=45) | |
| minus | 123456789 | (=45) |
| —————————— | ||
| = | 864197532 | (=45) |
The worthy innkeeper's name (see third stone) was Mark Noble, and his sign was 'The Two Crowns,' the thirty shillings being made up by—
| Mark | = | 13s. | 4d. |
| Noble | = | 6s. | 8d. |
| Two Crowns | = | 10s. | 0d. |
| ———— | |||
| 30s. | 0d. | ||
| ———— | |||
The lettering of the stones has been recut lately to preserve it."—Mr. T. H. Lee, 122, St. Domingo Vale, Liverpool.
