The following is a copy of a singular letter he left:—“I married a widow who had a grown-up daughter. My father visited our house very often, fell in love with my step-daughter, and married her. So my father became my son-in-law and my step-daughter my mother, because she was my father’s wife. Some time afterwards my wife had a son; he was my father’s brother-in-law and my uncle, for he was the brother of my step-mother. My father’s wife—i.e., my step-daughter—had also a son; he was, of course, my brother, and in the meantime my grandchild, for he was the son of my daughter. My wife was my grandmother, because she was my mother’s mother. I was my wife’s husband and grandchild at the same time. And as the husband of a person’s grandmother is his grandfather, I was my own grandfather.” Thus he died, a martyr to his own existence.
[85.] If 100 stones are placed on the ground, in a straight line, at the distance of 1 yard from each other, how far will a person travel who will bring them all, one by one, to a basket placed one yard from the first stone?
A little boy, writing a composition on the zebra, was requested to describe the animal and to mention what it was useful for. After deep reflection, he wrote:—“The zebra is like a horse, only striped. It is chiefly useful to illustrate the letter Z.”
[86.] I bought a horse and sold him again at 5 per cent. on my purchase; now, if I had given 5 per cent. less for the horse, and sold him for 1s. less, I would have gained 10 per cent. What was the original cost?
[87.] Find three numbers such that the first with half of the other two, the second with one-third of the other two, and the third with one-fourth of the other two, shall be equal to 34?