“That reminds me,” said Marcus, “of an anecdote that I read in a newspaper the other day. I treasured it up, intending to relate it in school some day, to illustrate the importance of understanding arithmetic. It seems two carpenters took a job for one hundred and fifty dollars. One of them, whom we will call A, worked one day more than the other, B. The wages of a carpenter were two dollars per day. When the work was finished, they divided the money, each taking seventy-five dollars. Then A wished B to give him two dollars more for the extra day, but B refused, as he saw that if he did so, A would have four dollars more than he, which was evidently unjust. A insisted, and B insisted, and finally they quarrelled. Some of the bystanders took the part of A, and some of B; and yet the paper adds that all the parties were Americans, and had attended the common schools six or eight years, where I suppose they studied arithmetic, just as I suppose a good many other children do, without troubling themselves to understand it.”
“How should you have settled that dispute, Otis?” inquired Mrs. Page.
“I should have told them to give A two dollars for his extra day, and divide the rest equally,” replied Otis.
“Or if B had given A one dollar, it would have amounted to the same thing,” said Mrs. Page.
“Your story,” said Aunt Fanny, “reminds me of an anecdote of a very rich miser who lived in England, in the time of Cromwell. His name was Audley. He had a wonderful knack of getting and keeping money, and was not at all particular how he obtained it, if he did not make himself liable to the law. He once heard of a poor tradesman who had been sued by a merchant for two hundred pounds. The debtor could not meet the demand, and was declared insolvent. Audley then went to the merchant, and offered him forty pounds for the debt, which was gladly accepted. He next went to the tradesman, and offered to release him from the debt for fifty pounds, on condition that he would enter into a bond to pay for the accommodation. The debtor was delighted with the offer, especially as the terms of the bond were so easy. He was only required to pay to Audley, sometime within twenty years of that time, one penny progressively doubled, on the first day of twenty consecutive months; and in case he failed to fulfil these easy terms, he was to forfeit five hundred pounds. Thus relieved of his debt, he again commenced business, and flourished more than ever. Two or three years after, Audley walked into his shop one morning, and demanded his first payment. The tradesman paid him his penny, and thanked him for the favor he had done him. On the first day of the next month, Audley again called, and received his two pence; a month later, he received four pence; and so on for several months, doubling the sum each time. But at last the tradesman’s suspicions were aroused, and he entered into a calculation of his subsequent payments. I do not remember the sum which it amounted to—”
“Wait a minute—let me figure it up,” interrupted Kate, and she at once set her pencil in motion. The calculation employed her and the others several minutes. It was ascertained that the tradesman’s last payment would have amounted to two thousand one hundred and eighty-six pounds, and that the total sum of all the payments would have been four thousand three hundred and sixty-nine pounds, omitting odd shillings and pence!
“I suppose the man paid the forfeit, when he found that out,” said Ellen.
“Yes, he paid the miser five hundred pounds for his kindness,” replied Aunt Fanny.
“I don’t see how any one can dislike arithmetic—I think it is a very interesting study,” remarked Kate.
“How curious it is about the figure 9,” said Oscar; “you may multiply any number you please by 9, and the figures in the product, added together, will make 9, or a series of 9’s. As—