132 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
cobbler's and bought a pair of boots for 
sixteen shillings. He put down a sov- 
ereign (twenty shillings), and the cobbler 
having no change, sent to a neighboring 
public house, and gave it to him. Later 
in the day, the landlord of the inn sent 
in to say that the sovereign was a bad one, 
jiud insisted upon the cobbler making it 
right; which he accordingly did. Now, 
how much did the cobbler lose by the 
whole transaction? There is no play 
upon words, or anything but a common 
sum in arithmetic." 
Why, it's the easiest thing in the 
world," ejaculated Housewife. " Of course 
the cobbler lost just — " 
*'Be quiet, sir!" cried Puzzleton very 
angrily. " Write it down, will you, if you 
can write." 
" Scratch a Professor, and you find a 
Tartar," whispered Aloes. "You had 
better do as he wishes." 
So we all wrote down what we imagined 
to be the loss which the cobbler had sus- 
tained ; and it was wonderful how opinions 
differed within such narrow limits. 
The colonel made him lose two pounds. 
Mr. Aloes made him lose just a pound 
and the boots. 
Mr. Funnidog made him lose six and 
thirty shillings. 
Mr. McPherson made him lose sixteen 
shillings and the boots, minus the profit 
he made upon the boots (which, the Pro- 
fessor said, was not necessary to take into 
consideration.) 
Mr. Scale Hill, who used to investigate 
the bills of extortionate Swiss landlords, 
set down the loss with confidence at twelve 
shillings and the boots. 
Housewife wrote :— " Why, of course, he 
lost the boots and twenty-four shillings. ' ' 
Mrs. Housewife and the ladies bit their 
pens, but declined to commit themselves. 
** They had never been taught," they said, 
"the Kuleof Three." 
"You are all wrong," said the Pro- 
fessor, quietly, " as I expected you would 
be. The way to get at the matter is to 
consider what is gained. The landlord 
and his whole story of changing the sov- 
ereign may be taken out of the question, 
since he is neither better nor worse for the 
transaction. The buyer of the boots gets 
in exchange for his bad sovereign four 
shillings and a pair of boots, and that i& 
just what the cobbler loses." 
" If one only had a room to one's self, 
and the whole day before one to do it in," 
sighed Mrs. Housewife ; " I think I could 
answer any of these questions." 
Paper Flower-Making. 
PAPEK flower-making may in some 
sense be regarded as a fancy industry 
for ladies ; inasmuch as small manuals of 
instruction in the art have been published 
for their use, and sets of necessary ap- 
pliances'prepared for sale. Nevertheless, 
this is but an offshoot from the larger 
trade occupation. The tools necessary 
are very simple. Pincers to hold the 
small piece of paper firmly, and to assist 
in preparing the petals; " ball-tools " of 
various diameters to work the petals into 
a hollow form ; or crimping or gauffering 
tools, to give the marking to leaves, etc., 
are the principal. Of the materials, the 
chief, of course, are paper, used for the 
petals, leaves, and buds; it is sold in 
sheets of almost infinite varieties of color, 
or in pieces so far shaped, crimped, and 
gauffered, as to expedite the labors of the 
flower-maker. The few other materials 
for buds, stalks, etc., are likewise sold 
distinct by the flower-material dealers. 
The ball-tools above-named, vary from 
half an inch to an inch and a quarter in 
diameter ; the smaller sizes being used in 
preparing the rose, poppy, carnation, etc., 
the largest for the cactus, dahlia, etc. 
Taking the poppy as a typical example of 
a flower to be imitated in paper— nine 
pieces of paper are cut out, with scissors 
or with some kind of stamp ; some notched 
on the edge, some indented at definite 
<3 istances apart. These pieces, intended for 
the nine petals, are gauffered one by one, 
by drawing up the edges around a finger 
placed in the middle. They are then 
j threaded together at the centre with 
a fine wire, and cemented at the proper 
I spots with gum ; the heart, bud, leaves, 
[stamens, pistil, calyx, etc., being fixed in 
I their proper places. The wire is covered 
with green paper of the proper tint for 
forming the stem, by coiling a narrow 
