585

{typed article from newspaper}

How Old Are You?

One day there came to the court of a king a gray-haired professor, who amused the king greatly. He told the monarch a number of things he never knew before, and the king was delighted. But finally he came to a point where the ruler wanted to know the age of the professor, so he thought of a mathematical problem. "Ahem!" said the king ; "I have an interesting sum for you; it is a trial in mental arithmatic. Think of the number of the month of your birth." Now the professor was sixty years old and had been born two days before Christmas so he thought of twelve, December being the twelfth month. "Yes," said the professor. "Multiply it by two," said the king. "Yes," "Add five." "Yes," answered the professor, doing so. " Now mulitply by fifty." "Yes." "Add your age." "Yes." "Subtract 365." "Yes." "Add 115." "Yes." "And now," said the king, "might I ask what the result is?" "Twelve hundred and sixty," replied the professor, wonderingly "Thank you," was the king's response. "So you wre born in December, sixty years go, eh? "Why, how in the world do you know?" replied the professor. "Why," replied the king, "from your answer 1260." "The month of your birth was the twelfth, and the last two figures give your age." "Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the professor. "Capital idea! I'll try it on the next person. It's a polite way of finding out people's ages." --Watchman.