, it touched a point
just three inches above the floor, and the wall was four feet from the
rope when it hung at rest. How long was the rope from floor to ceiling?

180.--THE FOUR SONS.

Readers will recognize the diagram as a familiar friend of their youth.
A man possessed a square-shaped estate. He bequeathed to his widow the
quarter of it that is shaded off. The remainder was to be divided
equitably amongst his four sons, so that each should receive land of
exactly the same area and exactly similar in shape. We are shown how
this was done. But the remainder of the story is not so generally known.
In the centre of the estate was a well, indicated by the dark spot, and
Benjamin, Charles, and David complained that the division was not
"equitable," since Alfred had access to this well, while they could not
reach it without trespassing on somebody else's land. The puzzle is to
show how the estate is to be apportioned so that each son shall have
land of the same shape and area, and each have access to the well
without going off his own land.

[Illustration]

181.--THE THREE RAILWAY STATIONS.

As I sat in a railway carriage I noticed at the other end of the
compartment a worthy squire, whom I knew by sight, engaged in
conversation with another passenger, who was evidently a friend of his.

"How far have you to drive to your place from the railway station?"
asked the stranger.

"Well," replied the squire, "if I get out at Appleford, it is just the
same distance as if I go to Bridgefield, another fifteen miles farther
on; and if I changed at Appleford and went thirteen miles from there to
Carterton, it would still be the same distance. You see, I am
equidistant from the three stations, so I get a good choice of trains."

Now I happened to know that Bridgefield is just fourteen miles from
Carterton, so I amused myself in working out the exact distance that the
squire had to drive home whichever station he got out at. What was the
distance?

182.--THE GARDEN PUZZLE.

Professor Rackbrain tells me that he was recently smoking a friendly
pipe under a tree in the garden of a country acquaintance. The garden
was enclosed by four straight walls, and his friend informed him that he
had measured these and found the lengths to be 80, 45, 100, and 63 yards
respectively. "Then," said the professor, "we can calculate the exact
area of the garden." "Impossible," his host replied, "because you can
get an infinite number of