"The past is a foreign country," says the first line of
The Go-Between. "They do things differently there." In the case of Gilbert Dyer's
Most General School-Assistant, do they ever. On page 182, question 7, we have
this amazing scenario:
- Hodge, to inherit, must marry.
- That is, he must marry a specific person.
- His first cousin.
- And gets more money the more kids she has.
- She has 24 boys.
- In 12 years.
Now, I think everyone expects algebra problems to be a bit contrived, possibly to abstract out some real life detail for the sake of the simplicity of the solution. Dyer certainly does this. But something about the little details he
does include, makes me find this hilarious. Hodge is honest, Polly is pretty, and they start having kids "
honestly, one Year after Marriage."
There are several questions in here that say a lot about the differences we have with those in the 18th century. The next question is about a four-day family beer party and the one after that concerns, as far as I can tell, a patent medicine seller who, for some reason, is operating at a loss.
