Then follows a characteristic example in arithmetic:
| 20)2,000,000 | hugs and kisses. |
| 60)100,000 | minutes. |
| 12)1,666 | hours. |
| 6)138 | days (at twelve hours a day). |
| 23 | weeks. |
“I couldn’t go on hugging and kissing more than 12 hours a day; and I wouldn’t like to spend Sundays that way. So you see it would take 23 weeks of hard work. Really, my dear child, I cannot spare the time.
“Why haven’t I written since my last letter? Why, how could I have written since the last time I did write? Now you just try it with kissing. Go and kiss Nellie, from me, several times, and take care to manage it so as to have kissed her since the last time you did kiss her. Now go back to your place and I’ll question you.
“‘Have you kissed her several times?’
“‘Yes, darling Uncle.’
“‘What o’clock was it when you gave her the last kiss?’
“‘Five minutes past 10, Uncle.’
“‘Very well, now, have you kissed her since?’
“‘Well—I—ahem! ahem! ahem! (excuse me, Uncle, I’ve got a bad cough) I—think—that—I—that is, you know, I—’