92 LOLA 



As the problems always took me longer than they 

 did her I never checked them at the time, but went over 

 them later, after she had given all her answers. I did 

 this moreover, so that she should have no oppor- 

 tunity of tapping my thoughts and thus rely on me ; 

 indeed, I really forced her to do her own thinking. 

 For even if I did begin to calculate I did it so slowly, 

 that she was rapping out her reply long before I was 

 done. I say all this to my own shame, for Lola must 

 have her due and I never had a head for arithmetic 

 myself ! 



When she knew how to calculate time, I put the 

 following question to her : " How many minutes are 

 there in an hour and a half less thirty minutes ? " 

 Answer : "60." " How many hours are there in 

 240 minutes ? " Answer : "4." By this time Lola 

 had also learnt the value of money. About the end of 

 April, 1916, she could distinguish between such coins 

 as 5 Pfennige, 10 Pfennige, 50 Pfennige ; I Mark, a 

 Mark, and 5 Mark, and could compute the value of 

 the Mark in Pfennige. When showing my friends what 

 she could do in the way of arithmetic, her money sums 

 were a special feature and delighted everybody. Here 

 is an example, the date being 31 May : I put the 

 question : "12 Mark less 4 Mark 10 Pfennige ? " 

 adding " Tell me the Mark 1 " Answer : " 7." 

 " And the Pfennige ? " " 90 " (i.e. 7 Mark 90 Pfen- 

 nige.) Question : " What coins do you know ? " 

 Answer : " 5, 10, 50 ; I, 2." " And what are they all 

 " Fenig." (i.e. Lola's mode of spelling Pfennig.) 

 " Lola, how much of a Mark are 50 Pfennige ? The 

 answer has to do with fractions." Answer : " ." 

 " How much are 225 Pfennige ? " " 2j." " And 

 20 Pfennige ? " " ." " And 60 ? " " f." " And 

 ^ Mark, how many Pfennige ? " "20." "No/ 



