“What, only three inches? it’s more than that, I know,” said Ronald.
“I doubt whether you have any idea how much three inches of rain is,” replied Marcus. “After tea we will go into a little calculation about it.”
When the tea table was cleared away, Marcus proposed that all the children should provide themselves with paper or slates, and see if they could ascertain how much water had fallen in Highburg that day.
“We will assume,” he said, “that three inches of rain has fallen, on a level, which I think may be very near the true quantity. The town contains about thirty square miles. Now, the first question is, how many hogsheads of water have fallen on this surface, to-day?”
For a few moments nothing was heard but the clicking and scratching of pencils, and the rustling of the leaves of the arithmetic, by those who were not quite sure they knew the “tables.” Those who finished the work first were requested to keep silent till the others had got through. When all were ready, the answers were read off. The solutions of Marcus, Oscar and Kate agreed, and were assumed to be correct; while those of Ronald and Otis were different, and were voted incorrect. Marcus then proposed several other questions in regard to the rain, which led to a series of calculations. The children soon became quite interested in the problems, and were not a little surprised at the facts brought out. Marcus noted down the several answers, on a clean sheet of paper, and the following is a copy of the record:—
“WHAT THE CLOUDS DID IN HALF A DAY.
“The water that has fallen this afternoon and evening, in this town alone, would fill 24,826,775 hogsheads.
“It would measure 209,088,000 cubic feet.
“Its weight is 5,833,928 tons.
“Were this water all in a pond, thirty feet deep, it would be sufficient to float 3,484 vessels, allowing 2,000 square feet to each, or about one-sixth of all the steam and sailing vessels of every class in the United States.