Untitled

Hokitika Guardian, 25 July 1928, Page 4

A GENEALOGICAL PROBLEM. Here is the letter which an Auckland school teacher received the other day : “Dear Madam,—l want Stanley Rto come home at two o’clock, as his grandmother is getting married and wants Stanley at the wedding. She is 49 years old. and this is three times in life she gets married. Her daughter is Stanley’s mother, and she is my daughter. I myself am G 4 this month, and I am Stanley’s great-grandmother. She is my only daughter, and she had eight children by her first husband, and the eldest son is 25 years. He is on the stage. He'is very clever valitain (presumably “ventriloquist”), the young man that throws his voice through a hole, and .sneaks to two dolls. He" is travelling at presont. Stanley’s mother is 22 years. I hope you will send the hoy home early, as I will have to get him ready, as I am sick,myself in bed.—Airs grandmother.” At first glimpse this appears somewhat of a puzzle, but the three ages, 64, 40 and 22 make things clear. After all, it would have been within tho bounds of possibility for Stanley to have had a great-great-grandmother.