I (29) am soft and spongy because I haven't had time to dry. Some people doubt my existence. But that doubt is easily dispelled, for everybody on earth has seen me many times. I always float and have funny marks on me. I live in the cold and travel much. Good to eat? Yes,—and no.
I (30) am thin and thick; a liquid and a solid. I am long—very long, and I am short. I have written epic poems and doggerel rhymes. I have overturned nations, and carried news of deaths and births. I am several colors, but most people prefer me black. Everybody uses me.
Millions of dollars have been spent to find me (31). So have many lives. And yet everybody knows where I am. Fame awaits any man I touch, and yet I don't exist, and wouldn't be a particle of use to anybody if I did.
Above these words were real birds, perched on cross-arms and carried high in air. One was the bird (32) that might be expected always to carry a knife—to stab the candidate, maybe—as the politicians say. Another was the bird (33) that came from the backwoods. A third (34), one that would never do for a campaign torch, and a fourth (35), one that would make a good out-fielder in a base-ball nine if it didn't talk so much.
As I write you this the cannons boom, the adherents of the great Frenchman are jubilant, and the sound of his inspiring hymn is everywhere heard.
In this fanciful story are mentioned some famous people, either persons or classes, some birds and some other things which you may give the names of. All are described by a sufficient clue, it may be an act, or a peculiarity of their names. In sending answers, do not write out the story. Number names as numbered here, write one below another in the proper order, and put your name and address at the top of your first sheet of answers. Mail answers not later than December 27, 1896, to Harper's Round Table, New York—no street number required—and put in the lower left-hand corner of your envelope "Puzzle Answer." Correct answers, with names of winners, will be published in Harper's Round Table as early after the close of the contest as possible, probably within about two weeks.
The prizes, which will be awarded by the Messrs. Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York, are: $40, divided among the ten best solvers according to merit. If one solver stands conspicuously ahead of the rest he or she will be given from $10 to $25, as the comparative excellence of the answer warrants. Persons of any age may help find the answers, but only those who have not passed their 18th birthday, and who are members of households in which Harper's Round Table is regularly read, may send them in. Merit signifies correctness and neatness, and has no reference to the solution reaching the office of Harper's Round Table first in point of time. Elaborate decoration of answers is not encouraged. Use common stationery, note size, and do not roll. Write on one side of the paper only. Everything comes to those who—try!