PACIFIC CHRISTIAN MESSENGER, FRIDAY, OCT. 1, 1880
thicket, and two or three older people,
Plum-Thioket'Sunday School.
farthing» there are in £S«».H*JW Bidder said it felt certain he was
looking
a little sheepish. But Aunt
. An English writer says: “ In 1814 right, for he had worked the question
■T M, J. TBUOKD.
Phebe made them welcome, and
George Bidder and Zerah Colburn I was reading with a private tutor in another way ; and before the pro
“ Tell yoti about the times we had taught them- All in one class. I be
were two wonderful Boys, each, at a when a Mr.. Bidder called upon him to poser found that he was wrong, and
Peggy, 11 was the best Sunday
very early age, displayed great fac'dity exhibit the calculating power of his Bidder right, the boy'told the com last summer? Why, Peggy, we had lieve,
1-
/ in the mental 'handling of numbers. little boy, then about eight years old pany that he had -ealeulated the >■ all--aortaof times 1 Everybody does, school 1 ever saw. Nobody. ..was
everywhere. Thera isn’t much differ crowded, for we had all outdoors.
In fact the digits were their play who could neither read nor write. On question by a third method.”
There were many other wonderful ence in ‘ times,’ I imagine, come to Nobody got stupjd with bad air; and
things from the time they could talk. this occasion he displayed great
The ugly twisted figures which the facility in the mental handling of feats performed by these boys that I take them in a lump. When you nobody came to show her new. hat, or _
boys and girls generally s© despise, numbers. My tutor strongly recom might give did space permit, and did have a pleasant kind, there’s com see what some other body’s was like.
wqje things of beauty to them. They mended the father not t^carry his son I think it necessary-to the main pur monly a little disagreeable mixed in, There were sunbonnets and shakers
é loved to picture them in their minds about the country, but to flhve him pose of this article, -which I do not only when you take one class of and old hats and new hats and bar©
as others picture birds and flowers, properly trained at school. ’ This ad 1 hope what I have already written pleasantnesses, you can’t get the others heads, and no tine cared. But they
listened to every word dear Aunt
and set them dancing in “ merry vice was not taken, for about two may not have a tendency to discour at the same time.”
“Cousin Sally, you think ’cause Phebe had to say to them, and we
numbers ” through the maze of the years jifter he was brought by his age any boy or girl to whom arith
most intricate combinations, to ar 1 father to Cambridge, and his faculty metic is naturally a distasteful study, you’re a grown-up woman, and I often heard of their repeating it at
range themselves at last in beautiful I of mental calculation tested by several from putting Jorth their best efforts ain’t, you’ve got to preach to me. I home.
" As to the music—O Peggy I I’v©
order, and announce the unerring able mathematical men. I was pre- to conquer their dislike and become don’t want preachments. I* want
heard
many a Sunday school sing, but
adepts
in
the
mental
handling
of
num
stories.
”
And
Peggy
put
on
a
face
solution to some obstruse problem.
■ sent at the examination, and began it
Zeran Colburn was an American ' with a sum in simple addition, two bers. But, if on the other hand^ a that was such a mixture of scolding never one as that Iowa school of un
boy, born about the year 1804; lows, with
ith twelve figures in each comparison of these boys mental and pleading that Cousin Sally taught children did, with the birds
and the squirrels around them to come
George Bidder, two years younger, row. The‘boy gave the correct ; an- powers with their own, should prove laughed:
belonged to England. They were both swer immediately. Various questions an antidote for that more dangerous , “ You shall have something, my* in on the chorus: They threw them
selves right into it, (wasn’t it all the
famous in their time, and their as then of considerable difficultyj in malady called self-conceit, with which, chick, that really did happen.”
“Last summer?” persisted Peggy. good time they had ?) and learned
tonishing i" ats were the wonder and volving large numbers, were proposed I am sorry to say, the greater number
delight of the world. Bidder is said to him, all of which he answered of boys and girls are now a days " ‘ Once on a time ’ isn’t good for any new pieces, till I was p.ut to my wits’
to have been the greater genius of the promptly and correctly. This must afflicted, the slight discouragements thing. I don’t believe there ever was end to find enough. I fished all the- -
old ones out of my memory, to add to
two, but this point is difficult to de have occupied more than an hour. given the few would be greatjy over any ‘ once on a time.”’
“ Last summer, then, practical the only Sunday school singing book
termine. -Their minds, while pursuing Then, to test, his memory, I said to balanced by the good done to the
the samé bents were differently him, ‘ Do you remember the sum in many. Yet I hardly see why any Peggy. You know,—don’t you ?— we happened to have with us, and
moulded. ..That Bidder could deal addition I gave you ?’ To my Jsur- girl or Loy should become dishearten that in many.places which we call the I then they learned the favorite old
more /eadiljr witlFvery large numbers
* prise he repeated the twenty-four ed and imaginé* himself too dull feu West, they hold Sunday? schools in I hymns, Thesq brought out their
was admitted by Colburn himself; | figures with only one or two mistakes, anything, simply because they.,cannot barns and kitchens, in unfinished log parents, who, some of them, remem
bered singing or hearing them in their
but Colburn far surpassed him in the He did not appear burdened. by h^is as yet do what these boys have done- houses and dug-outs.” „
childhood.”
“ And io/iiif,SaHy /”
ease and rapidity with which he could mental calculations, and as soon as a Let them remember there are millions
" Dug outs. Places like outdoor
extract roots, find factors, detect question was answered he amused upon misons of people to-day in the,
“It must have been splendid f’’ '
world
as
dull
as
themselves,
if
dullness
cejlars,
which people live in. . Holes ejaculated Peggy, under her breath. _-
primes and so forthw
himself with whipping a top round
When a mere boy, (exact age not the room, and when the examination consists iff being unable to perform hollowed out in the earth- laTge
" The strangest of it is still to bo
given) Colburn extracted mentally the was over, he said to us, ‘ You have- jthe wonderful feats of Colburn and enough for a room, with the floor and told*. The highway was one of the
^cube root of 268,336,125 before the been trying to puzz’e me, 1 will now Bidder ; but happily, the world does sides ceiled and carpeted with earth, main routes of travel on to the wider
^number could be written down lie try to puzzle you. A man. found not call others dull, but these boys and daylight let in through the open west. This timbered stream was sure
was asked to name two numbers, thirteen cats in his garden. He got unusually bright, for being able to do door at the end.”
' '
" '
to be found
these emigrants, and
which, multiplied together, would his gun, fired at them, and killed the things they did. And even were
" Horrible I"
was a favorite camp ground. Though
give the number 247,483, and he im ae»en. H qw many were left!' rSix,’ ■it.otherwise, there is too much room
“ I have known children, Peggy, few of them .regarded the Sabbath
mediately named 941 and 263, which was the answer. ‘ Wrong,’ said he, in the world for the exercise of talent, who thought it delightful. But I’m enough to stop travel on that day, -
are the only two’ numbers satisfying i ‘ none were left; the rest ran away.’ ”• for the few precocious and brilliant going to tell you about still another many stopped over a few hours for
the condition. The same ’ problem ■ I don’t know whether Bidder was minds that are occasionally born into kind of Sunday school room. You I rest or repairs.
being set with respect to. the number the inventor of this now time-honored it to ever succeed ip monopolizing the know Aunt Phebe arid I spent last
“ Our children needed only a bint
171,395. he named the following pairs joke or not; but it could hardly have whole, or even any'fconsiderable parts, summer on an Iowa farm ?”
from Aunt Phebe to go early every
of .numbers:. 5 and 34,279—7 and been as well known in 1816 as now, .of those callings; dependant upon
- .? e8-
J
sunuay
Sunday morning tnrougn
through vne
the grove
24,485—59 and 2,905—S3' and 2065- else h'e would not have asked a^ooin- .mental fitness fortlieirexecution.
The great .praiiie_ruU.t‘dAll about ami invite-the children of - these.
35 and 4897—295 and 581— and lastly, i ful of persons, and them coll©¿6 fel
It may also be some consolation to us, and there were Jew people living I campers to join us for that day ; and
413 and 41.5. Still more wonderful lows, a question which some one or " dull ” children to know that uncom on r it there. But along
” a tin« streaCm. (Atcaxiy
y
viwrvivij who
w maz iiwxi
azx»' ««
many cs a young
traveler,
had been
Wa>
next feat. He was asked-to other of them would have been almost monly smart boys and girls generally half a mile off, lived a good many used to 3undfty and Bibk schools j„
name a7 number which will divide ¡ certain to have heard before. If he make very stupid men and women. settlers.”
I the Kist, came. To others it was en
34083 without remainder, and he im-. ■ really invented the puzzle, it was Neither Colburn nor Bidder accom
“ A town, Sally ?’’
tirely new. Some children of foreign
mediately Replied that there is no clever in so young a lad.
plished more^than ordinary men. The
“ N<v, they were on farms. There ers could not understand the invita
such number ; “ in other words he
It is recorded that when Bidder reason for this is very easily •- found? was no town within a dozen miles. A tion, but were sure to gather when
recognized this number as what is was ten yearsVld, he answered in two They relied too much on their natural few children, old enough to have the singing began. •>
~ -called a prime, or. a nujuber only minutes the following question • powers without making any - great learned the Sermon on the Mount,
" I remember two bright little fel
divisible by itself and unity, as | I “ What is the interest of £4,444 for effort to improve them. They thought had never been in a church ; and they
lows and their sister, on their way to
readily and quickly as most peopled 4,444 days at 41 per cent, per an- they knew enough Without .trying to had never had Sunday school.
Idaho, who entered with peculiar zest
would recognize 17, 19 or 23 as. such i . num
“ The people where we boarded had
The answer is £2,434 16s. learn more. The possession of this
into the singing one morning. It was
a number, and far more quickly than I _•
gift even rendered » Colburn a very good reading in their homes, but they
51<1-
a very warm day; and after the
probably nine persona out of ten would i A few months later, when he was impififont child and disagreeable com thought* it was not worth while to
children had scattered, Aunt and I*
. recognize 53 or 59 as such.”
not yet eleven years old, he was panion. His self-conceit and imagined bother about those ignorant folks stayed at the thicket to read.
Here is another, “ Fermat had been asked, “ How long would a eistern superiority over everybody else is down on ‘ the run.’ And so ‘ those
“ Presqptly a heavy wagon camff
led to the conclusion that the number one mile cube be filling if receiving shown in many of his rude remarks. ignorant folks ’ had hunted, gossiped,
lumbering
down the hill. I parted
4,294,967,297, which exceeds by unity from a river 120 gallons per minute Gn one occasion when asked how he, and lounged away their Sundays
the
vines
behind
which I was sitting,
!
obtained
his
results
he
blunted
out
•without one idea of what the beauti
the number 2 multiplied 15 times into without intermission T'
In two
and
(peeped
out.
A coarse-lookhig
itself, has no division. But the cele minutes he gave the correct answer ; the reply, " God put these things into ful .blessed day was meant for.
maU
in
a
red
shirt
was
hallooing and
" Aunt Phebe couldn’t endure that.
brated mathematician Euler, after 14,300 years, 283 days, 12 hours, 46 my head ; I cannot put them into
swear
ing
at
his
four
yoke
of cattle,
yours.” So if these wonderful gifts* She found, though, that there was not
much labor, succeeded in showing minutes.
while
iu
the
wagon,
in
the
midst of
that the number is divisible by 641.
A year later, he divide<fcorrectly,_MP0*l ones temper, one is better off one spare room, or even suitable room
the
driving
and
rattling,
those
three
for a Sunday school, in all the settle
The numt>er was submitted to Zerah in Ip««
K99 Al fl 5fl!I ' " ithoiit them.
less than a minute
minute, 4dR
468,592,413,563
little
ones
were
singing,
at
the
top
of
Miss
N
om
er
.
ment.
But we had found many
Colburn, who was, of course, not told by 9,076.
their
voices,
’
Oh,
how
I
love
Jesua
f
charming secluded spots in the timber
of the result of Euler’s researches into
At 12 years of age, he answered in
Pay the Minister.
As
they
came
nearer,
Aunt
Phebe
along the creek ; and aunt was not
the problem, and after the lapse of less than a minute the question, “ If a
" Tht laborer is worthy of his hire.” long in making up her mind what looked up from her book.
some weeks the boy discovered the distance of 9 j inches be passed over in
“ ‘ I’m glad,’ she said,—and her lip
one divisor which Euler had only a second of time, how many inches The true minister of the Gospel is a might be done. She had word left at
laborer,
just
as
much
as
the
man
who
trembled
a little,—‘ I’m glad they’re
every
cabin
within
four
miles
that
she
found with much greater labor.”
will be passed over in 365 days, 5
builds
your
houses
and
bams,
makes
carrying
the Gospel with them.’”—
should
like
to
sec
any
one
who
was
This last teat was perhaps the most hours, 48 minutes, 55 seconds ?"
S.
S.
Time».
your
boots
and
shoes,
or
plows
and
willing
to
come,
at
ths
plum
thicket,
wonderful of all, but the length of
No date is given in the following
tíme required for its accod^lishment case: " The question was put by Sir tills your fields. And yet it seems to the next Sunday morning, at half
was such that the evidence OOM not William Herschel to Master Bidder be very difficult for many to learn past nine o'clock, for a Sunday
A bundant H àih .—Japanese women are-
' ,
very proud of their hair, whioh is blaok
appear altogether so striking as that and answered in one minute: Light this. Our people who are asteimission school.”
“ What was the plum thicket ?” * - and luxuriant. They cultivate and arrange
afforded by the other casea But ac- travels from the sun to' the earth in never question foe a moment the
propriety
of
compensating
lawyers,
" A shady, retired spot surrounded it with great case by brushing their trees-
cording
the English source from 8 minutes, and the sun being 98,000,-
doctors,
school
teachers
and
mechan
by
wild plum trees, near the place es back from the forehead and gathering
which I raw the substance of this 000 miles off, (of course this is quite
them in a plaited topknot, oovered with
article, ev>»i the e marvelous feats of wrong, but ^t that time it was thought ics ; but the minister, no matter about where the public road formed the flowers, spangles and hairpina of gold, sil
Colbu-in- were rtUt passed by those of to l>e about the distance), if light him, be will receive his reward here pretty stream. It was known far ver, and tortoise-shell. Rich and poor are
alike proud of their Coiffure, and the Kuli
George Bidder ; yet it is safe to be would take six years and four months after. Very many seem to think he and near as the * plum thicket.’”
ought
to
manage
to
preach
for
woman in rags devotee the same attention
no-
"
Did
any
one
come
?
”
lieve tlat national prejudice and traveling at the same rate from the
to her hair as any great lady. To preserve
thing
;
others
think
he
needs
but
pride have colored the Comparison in nearest fixed star to reach the earth,
’■ The first Sunday there were about the elaborate structure from being disturb
how far is that star from the earth, littlewhilst a few approve of the a dozen. There were two Testaments ed, women during sleep rest their necks on-
favor of the latter.
idea of compensating him well. My and a McGuffey’s Third Reader a padded fork. There io no difference be
We are told that at three years of reckoning 365 days, 6 hours to each
heart has been made to ache When
age " Bi.fotr answered wonderful year, and 28 days to each month ? men who professed to love the Lord among them. Aunt explained that tween single or manned wouen in wearing
ions al out the nails in a horse The correct answer was quickly would come to me and say: " You are we would have’ only a Bible school their hair, as in China ; and their respec
questioi..
tive sooial status is indicated by the posi
four s • «but the earliest feat of given: 40,663,740,000,000 miles.”
here in our midst, and I do think you and plenty of singing. Several of the tion of the bow in whioh the waist-scarf is
re is exact evidence belongs
“ On one occasion we learn that the might afford to give us your time children bad unconmnnly good tied, girls wearing it at the hack, matrons
w. ich
proposer
was not satisfied with Bid and labor gratisand yet .should voices, and I was set to teach them in front. The latter likewise shave their
th
year,
to hi> n
Eyebrows and dye their teeth black; Girl«
der
’
s
answer
to his question. The boy those very persons be* called upon to Sunday school songs and hymns.
idy eight, years old, and en-
W...
haul me a load of wood, or render any
use rouge freely, and sometimes gild their
said
his
answer
was
right
and
re
"
Whatever
the
attraction
may
have
tirely -. i,.nt of the theory of ci pher-
service whatever, they would expect
lips. They are all fond of smoking, and
quested the proposer to work bis sum me to pay them well. Oh, what in been, the. next Sunday found thirty wear their embroidered tobacco pouches as
>nM. 1 • „aw ried almost instantly and :
over
again. During the operation consistencies.”— Rev. W. H. Pruett.
children and young folks at the belt ornaments. — Air.
quite correctly, when asked how many
Wonderful Boys.
I
<