THE GEM PUZZLE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 94, 20 July 1880, Page 2

THE GEM PUZZLE.

« The following description of the gem puzzle, taken from an American paper, has been sent to us by a correspondent : — The puzzle consists of fifteen blocks, numbered from 1 to 15, placed in a box, with one vacant place, and the mystery of the game is to place them in the box, irregularly and then work them into regular order by moving them round. They may be , shifted in any way except by lifting them up. It looks very easy, and is » easy, in almost any way but one. The one way in which they may be placed so as to defy solution is by changing the last fine so as it shall run 18, 15, 14. Commencing as a simple toy, some time ago, this little puzzle at first attracted so little t notice that the inventor (if any body ' ever did invent it, and supposing it - is not what it seems to be, a device of the adversary), didn't even take the pains to have it patented. It soon began to be better known. Parents who had kindly offered to ■ show their children how it was done suddenly found out their mistake. School teachers who seized it in the hands of misguided children and fain had scoffed at its silliness, remained at " recess " to pray and weep over it. Church members, simple of soul, and pure of heart, took it up, toyed with it, smiled, frowned, grew serious gloomy, profane, and ceased to be J, Church members. Divorce and deso- W lution have marked its track. * * * Designing lobbyists placed the seductive cubes within reach of fliral legislators, and then calmly proceeded t6 get &eir bills rushed through, well knowing that unpaired members would never answer to the call of the S.ergeant-at-Arms. THE EXPLANATION. It is ludicrously pitiable to see how grave scientists have expounded on it, quarrelled pver it, and buried it in a mystery more profound than ever. And yet it is not a very difficult problem. It i* neither an abstruse mathematical conundrum nor yet a clever trick. Anyone who takes the trouble to follow the simple rule niVL work it out every time, and may, if wordly-minded, make something out of his less sophisticated neighbours. I have given the " 18, 15, 14 " combination, because it is confessedly the

most difficult one to get around, and fl"> ouegenerally coaeideredi impos/^^HwOTSolutic n . Riile. — The blocks, th<n, being placed in regular order, all but the 18, 15, 14, as aforesaid, let the experimenter proceed upon this principle — I hate to waste half a column of matter, especially matter which has cost rue a great deal of trouble in preparation : therefore I leave the foregoing remarks, which so far as they go are quite incontrovertible, jn_t as I wtofe thebi a week ago for my regular Free^iSress letter. It was J then my intentioti to givea cfear fihfl j simple solution of the ( great toysterjf, i precisely as I, worked; it out. Oh,\it was a beau%lly lucid and. palpable explanation r I knew that I could dp • it over again, with my eyes shutl , EXPLANATOBY OF THB EXPLANATION.' I tried it wit_» my eyes open. It didn't come #ut right the first time. Indeed, it Mcd to come fe\i£ ri^ht" the second time, and when I crawled - to bed, about daybreak; and the w.stward mail bore no letter tb^t week, the result of the- one .hundred jtwi fourteenth attempt danced before my" eyes with the same exasperating quotient," 1846-14. Can it bextone ? T-I know I did it. I make the assertion with the calm conviction that it will for ever blast my reputation as a veracious man and correspondent ;< tmt let it stand, I know I can't do it. again, and, furthermore, I would not do it if I could. The deaf mute knew what he was about when he launched the accursed pmrele,upon a peaceable world. " He can* hear what folks say of him and his invention, and no amount of sign, language could convey the explosive profanity that it has awakened. 18_15_U! He sat and gazed with a placid mien, And a cheerful and confident smile, At the little square box with the "gem fifteen." And he aaid he'd bet his pile That he could figure it out right tbar : So he jumbled the blcobs about, ABd then ho remarked, " Its simple, I swfcr, And I reckon I'll work it out." 8o he taokled it 6barp for an hour or more. And bis hanefo he ran through his hair, As he jumped right up end fearfully swore, (And his eyes had a maniac's glare), That he'd " be dashed if the dash-dashed fool, That invented this game was here, , He'd smash bis dash, dash, dashed Bkull, And chaw off an end of his car." But after another hot hour had flown, The bead drops down 'gan to roll, And he raved in a way that, that the people „ allaay, P^ - Struck terror to each watching soul. 1 For-13— 16— 14— alas ! Were oil that he got for his pains, So he frantically swallowed of poison a glnss. •*-And with. a bullet he bored out his brains.

A Hindoo baker in Calcutta, proud of the English he has acquired, displays the sign; • European Loafer" over the door. Why is ice in thaw like philanthropy ?— Because it gires in all directions. After long coaxing, with do little U6eofthe whip, we have seen a balky horse started by putting a lump of earth in its mouth. The mind of the animal seems to be set on not going, and the point to be gained is to divert it from the idea entertained, and this the earth in tb.9 mOuth does effectually. So soon a 9 the horse gives its attention to getting the earth, out of its mouth, if forgets its balkiness and can be star tied. .-■*