EXAMINATIONS
An instructor in a church school where much attention was paid to sacred
history, dwelt particularly on the phrase "And Enoch was not, for God
took him." So many times was this repeated in connection with the death
of Enoch that he thought even the dullest pupil would answer correctly
when asked in examination: State in the exact language of the Bible what
is said of Enoch's death.
But this was the answer
"Enoch was not what God took him for."
A member of the faculty of the University of Wisconsin tells of some
amusing replies made by a pupil undergoing an examination in English.
The candidate had been instructed to write out examples of the
indicative, the subjunctive, the potential and the exclamatory moods.
His efforts resulted as follows:
"I am endeavoring to pass an English examination. If I answer twenty
questions I shall pass. If I answer twelve questions I may pass. God
help me!"
The following selection of mistakes in examinations may convince almost
any one that there are some peaks of ignorance which he has yet to
climb:
Magna Charta said that the King had no right to bring soldiers into a
lady's house and tell her to mind them.
Panama is a town of Colombo, where they are trying to make an isthmus.
The three highest mountains in Scotland are Ben Nevis, Ben Lomond and
Ben Jonson.
Wolsey saved his life by dying on the way from York to London.
Bigamy is when a man tries to serve two masters.
"Those melodious bursts that fill the spacious days of great Elizabeth"
refers to the songs that Queen Elizabeth used to write in her spare
time.
Tennyson wrote a poem called Grave's Energy.
The Rump Parliament consisted entirely of Cromwell's stalactites.
The plural of spouse is spice.
Queen Elizabeth rode a white horse from Kenilworth through Coventry with
nothing on, and Raleigh offered her his cloak.
The law allowing only one wife is called monotony.
When England was placed under an Interdict the Pope stopped all births,
marriages and deaths for a year.
The Pyramids are a range of mountains between France and Spain.
The gods of the Indians are chiefly Mahommed and Buddha, and in their
spare time they do lots of carving.
Every one needs a holiday from one year's end to another.
The Seven Great Powers of Europe are gravity, electricity, steam, gas,
fly-wheels, and motors, and Mr. Lloyd George.
The hydra was married to Henry VIII. When he cut off her head another
sprung up.
Liberty of conscience means doing wrong and not worrying about it
afterward.
The Habeas Corpus act was that no one need stay in prison longer than he
liked.
Becket put on a camel-air shirt and his life at once became dangerous.
The two races living in the north of Europe are Esquimaux and
Archangels.
Skeleton is what you have left when you take a man's insides out and his
outsides off.
Ellipsis is when you forget to kiss.
A bishop without a diocese is called a suffragette.
Artificial perspiration is the way to make a person alive when they are
only just dead.
A night watchman is a man employed to sleep in the open air.
The tides are caused by the sun drawing the water out and the moon
drawing it in again.
The liver is an infernal organ of the body.
A circle is a line which meets its other end without ending.
Triangles are of three kinds, the equilateral or three-sided, the
quadrilateral or four-sided, and the multilateral or polyglot.
General Braddock was killed in the Revolutionary War. He had three
horses shot under him and a fourth went through his clothes.
A buttress is the wife of a butler.
The young Pretender was so called because it was pretended that he was
born in a frying-pan.
A verb is a word which is used in order to make an exertion.
A Passive Verb is when the subject is the sufferer, e.g., I am loved.
Lord Raleigh was the first man to see the invisible Armada.
A schoolmaster is called a pedigree.
The South of the U. S. A. grows oranges, figs, melons and a great
quantity of preserved fruits, especially tinned meats.
The wife of a Prime Minister is called a Primate.
The Greeks were too thickly populated to be comfortable.
The American war was started because the people would persist in sending
their parcels thru the post without stamps.
Prince William was drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine; he never laughed
again.
The heart is located on the west side of the body.
Richard II is said to have been murdered by some historians; his real
fate is uncertain.
Subjects have a right to partition the king.
A kaiser is a stream of hot water springin' up an' distubin' the earth.
He had nothing left to live for but to die.
Franklin's education was got by himself. He worked himself up to be a
great literal man. He was also able to invent electricity. Franklin's
father was a tallow chandelier.
Monastery is the place for monsters.
Sir Walter Raleigh was put out once when his servant found him with fire
in his head. And one day after there had been a lot of rain, he threw
his cloak in a puddle and the queen stepped dryly over.
The Greeks planted colonists for their food supplies.
Nicotine is so deadly a poison that a drop on the end of a dog's tail
will kill a man.
A mosquito is the child of black and white parents.
An author is a queer animal because his tales (tails) come from his
head.
Wind is air in a hurry.
The people that come to America found Indians, but no people.
Shadows are rays of darkness.
Lincoln wrote the address while riding from Washington to Gettysburg on
an envelope.
Queen Elizabeth was tall and thin, but she was a stout protestant.
An equinox is a man who lives near the north pole.
An abstract noun is something we can think of but cannot feel--as a red
hot poker.
The population of New England is too dry for farming.
Anatomy is the human body, which consists of three parts, the head, the
chist, and the stummick. The head contains the eyes and brains, if any.
The chist contains the lungs and a piece of the liver. The stummick is
devoted to the bowels, of which there are five, a, e, i, o, u, and
sometimes w and y.
Filigree means a list of your descendants.
"The Complete Angler" was written by Euclid because he knew all about
angles.
The imperfect tense in French is used to express a future action in past
time which does not take place at all.
Arabia has many syphoons and very bad ones; It gets into your hair even
with your mouth shut.
The modern name for Gaul is vinegar.
Some of the West India Islands are subject to torpedoes.
The Crusaders were a wild and savage people until Peter the Hermit
preached to them.
On the low coast plains of Mexico yellow fever is very popular.
Louis XVI was gelatined during the French Revolution.
Gender shows whether a man is masculine, feminine, or neuter.
An angle is a triangle with only two sides.
Geometry teaches us how to bisex angels.
Gravitation is that which if there were none we should all fly away.
A vacuum is a large empty space where the Pope lives.
A deacon is the lowest kind of Christian.
Vapor is dried water.
The Salic law is that you must take everything with a grain of salt.
The Zodiac is the Zoo of the sky, where lions, goats and other animals
go after they are dead.
The Pharisees were people who like to show off their goodness by praying
in synonyms.
An abstract noun is something you can't see when you are looking at it.
More
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DIVORCE
"When a woman marries and then divorces her husband inside of a week what would you call it?" "Taking his name in vain."--_Princeton Tiger_. ... DOGS
LADY (to tramp who had been commissioned to find her lost poodle)--"The poor little darling, where did you find him?" TRAMP--"Oh, a man 'ad 'im, miss, tied to a pole, and was cleaning the windows wiv 'im!" A family moved from the city to a ... DOMESTIC FINANCE
"Talk about Napoleon! That fellow Wombat is something of a strategist himself." "As to how?" "Got his salary raised six months ago, and his wife hasn't found it out yet."--_Washington Herald_. A Lakewood woman was recently reading to her... DOMESTIC RELATIONS
There was a young man of Dunbar, Who playfully poisoned his Ma; When he'd finished his work, He remarked with a smirk, "This will cause quite a family jar." _See also_ Families; Marriage. ... DRAMA
The average modern play calls in the first act for all our faith, in the second for all our hope, and in the last for all our charity.--_Eugene Walter_. The young man in the third row of seats looked bored. He wasn't having a good time. He ca... DRAMATIC CRITICISM
Theodore Dreiser, the novelist, was talking about criticism. "I like pointed criticism," he said, "criticism such as I heard in the lobby of a theater the other night at the end of the play." "The critic was an old gentleman. His criticism, wh... DRAMATISTS
"I hear Scribbler finally got one of his plays on the boards." "Yes, the property man tore up his manuscript and used it in the snow storm scene." "So you think the author of this play will live, do you?" remarked the tourist. "Yes," rep... DRESSMAKERS
WIFE--"Wretch! Show me that letter." HUSBAND--"What letter?" WIFE--"That one in your hand. It's from a woman, I can see by the writing, and you turned pale when you saw it." HUSBAND--"Yes. Here it is. It's your dressmaker's bill." ... DRINKING
He who goes to bed, and goes to bed sober, Falls as the leaves do, and dies in October; But he who goes to bed, and does so mellow, Lives as he ought to, and dies a good fellow. --_Parody on Fletcher_. I drink when I have occas... DROUGHTS
Governor Glasscock of West Virginia, while traveling through Arizona, noticed the dry, dusty appearance of the country. "Doesn't it ever rain around here?" he asked one of the natives. "Rain?" The native spat. "Rain? Why say pardner, there's b... DRUNKARDS
Sing a song of sick gents, Pockets full of rye, Four and twenty highballs, We wish that we might die. Two booze-fiends were ambling homeward at an early hour, after being out nearly all night. "Don't your wife miss you on these oc... DYSPEPSIA
"Ah," she sighed "for many years I've suffered from dyspepsia." "And don't you take anything for it?" her friend asked. "You look healthy enough." "Oh," she replied, "I haven't indigestion: my husband has." ... ECHOES
An American and a Scotsman were walking one day near the foot of one of the Scotch mountains. The Scotsman, wishing to impress the visitor, produced a famous echo to be heard in that place. When the echo returned clearly after nearly four minutes,... ECONOMY
An economist is usually a man who can save money by cutting down some other person's expenses. Economy is going without something you do want in case you should, some day, want something which you probably won't want.--_Anthony Hope_. Eco... EDITORS
Recipe for an editor: Take a personal hatred of authors, Mix this with a fiendish delight In refusing all efforts of genius And maiming all poets on sight. --_Life_. The city editor of a great New York daily was known in t... EDUCATION
Along in the sixties Pat Casey pushed a wheelbarrow across the plains from St. Joseph, Mo., to Georgetown, Colo., and shortly after that he "struck it rich"; in fact, he was credited with having more wealth than any one else in Colorado. A man of ... EFFICIENCY
An American motorist went to Germany in his car to the army maneuvers. He was especially impressed with the German motor ambulances. As the tourist watched the maneuvers from a seat under a tree, the axle of one of the motor ambulances broke. Inst... EGOTISM
In the Chicago schools a boy refused to sew, thinking it below the dignity of a man of ten years. "Why," said the teacher, "George Washington did his own sewing in the wars, and do you think you are better than George Washington?" "I don't kn... ELECTIONS
In St. Louis there is one ward that is full of breweries and Germans. In a recent election a local option question was up. After the election some Germans were counting the votes. One German was calling off and another taking down the option vot... ELECTRICITY
In school a boy was asked this question in physics: "What is the difference between lightning and electricity?" And he answered: "Well, you don't have to pay for lightning." ... EMBARRASSING SITUATIONS
A young gentleman was spending the week-end at little Willie's cottage at Atlantic City, and on Sunday evening after dinner, there being a scarcity of chairs on the crowded piazza, the young gentleman took Willie on his lap. Then, during a paus... EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES
"You want more money? Why, my boy, I worked three years for $11 a month right in this establishment, and now I'm owner of it." "Well, you see what happened to your boss. No man who treats his help that way can hang on to his business." EARN... ENEMIES
An old man who had led a sinful life was dying, and his wife sent for a near-by preacher to pray with him. The preacher spent some time praying and talking, and finally the old man said: "What do you want me to do, Parson?" "Renounce the Devi... ENGLAND
_See_ Great Britain. ... ENGLISH LANGUAGE
A popular hotel in Rome has a sign in the elevator reading: "Please do not touch the Lift at your own risk." The class at Heidelberg was studying English conjugations, and each verb considered was used in a model sentence, so that the students... ENGLISHMEN
He who laughs last is an Englishman.--_Princeton Tiger_. Nat Goodwill was at the club with an English friend and became the center of an appreciative group. A cigar man offered the comedian a cigar, saying that it was a new production. "Wit... ENTHUSIASM
Theodore Watts, says Charles Rowley in his book "Fifty Years of Work Without Wages," tells a good story against himself. A nature enthusiast, he was climbing Snowdon, and overtook an old gypsy woman. He began to dilate upon the sublimity of the sc... EPITAPHS
LITTLE CLARENCE--"Pa!" HIS FATHER--"Well, my son?" LITTLE CLARENCE--"I took a walk through the cemetery to-day and read the inscriptions on the tombstones." HIS FATHER--"And what were your thoughts after you had done so?" LITTLE CLARENCE... EPITHETS
John Fiske, the historian, was once interrupted by his wife, who complained that their son had been very disrespectful to some neighbors. Mr. Fiske called the youngster into his study. "My boy, is it true that you called Mrs. Jones a fool?" T... EQUALITY
As one of the White Star steamships came up New York harbor the other day, a grimy coal barge floated immediately in front of her. "Clear out of the way with that old mud scow!" shouted an officer on the bridge. A round, sun-browned face appeare... ERMINE
Said an envious, erudite ermine: "There's one thing I cannot determine: When a man wears my coat, He's a person of note, While I'm but a species of vermin!" ... ESCAPES
There was once a chap who went skating too early and all of a sudden that afternoon loud cries for help began to echo among the bleak hills that surrounded the skating pond. A farmer, cobbling his boots before his kitchen fire heard the shouts ... ETHICS
My ethical state, Were I wealthy and great, Is a subject you wish I'd reply on. Now who can foresee What his morals _might_ be? What would yours be if you were a lion? --_Martial; tr. by Paul Nixon_. ... ETIQUET
A Boston girl the other day said to a southern friend who was visiting her, as two men rose in a car to give them seats: "Oh, I wish they would not do it." "Why not? I think it is very nice of them," said her friend, settling herself comfortabl... EUROPEAN WAR
OFFICER (as Private Atkins worms his way toward the enemy)--"You fool! Come back at once!" TOMMY--"No bally fear, sir! There's a hornet in the trench."--_Punch_. "You can tell an Englishman nowadays by the way he holds his head up." "Prid... EVIDENCE
From a crowd of rah-rah college boys celebrating a crew victory, a policeman had managed to extract two prisoners. "What is the charge against these young men?" asked the magistrate before whom they were arraigned. "Disturbin' the peace, yer ... EXAMINATIONS
An instructor in a church school where much attention was paid to sacred history, dwelt particularly on the phrase "And Enoch was not, for God took him." So many times was this repeated in connection with the death of Enoch that he thought even th... EXCUSES
The children had been reminded that they must not appear at school the following week without their application blanks properly filled out as to names of parents, addresses, dates and place of birth. On Monday morning Katie Barnes arrived, the tea... EXPOSURE
TRAMP--"Lady, I'm dying from exposure." WOMAN--"Are you a tramp, politician or financier?"--_Judge_. ... EXTORTION
_See_ Dressmakers. ... EXTRAVAGANCE
There was a young girl named O'Neill, Who went up in the great Ferris wheel; But when half way around She looked at the ground, And it cost her an eighty-cent meal. Everybody knew that John Polkinhorn was the carelessest man in t... FAILURES
Little Ikey came up to his father with a very solemn face. "Is it true, father," he asked, "that marriage is a failure?" His father surveyed him thoughtfully for a moment. "Well, Ikey," he finally replied, "If you get a rich wife, it's almost as... FAITH
Faith is that quality which leads a man to expect that his flowers and garden will resemble the views shown on the seed packets.--_Country Life in America_. "What is faith, Johnny?" asks the Sunday school teacher. "Pa says," answers Johnny,... FAITHFULNESS
A wizened little Irishman applied for a job loading a ship. At first they said he was too small, but he finally persuaded them to give him a trial. He seemed to be making good, and they gradually increased the size of his load until on the last tr... FAME
Fame is the feeling that you are the constant subject of admiration on the part of people who are not thinking of you. Many a man thinks he has become famous when he has merely happened to meet an editor who was hard up for material. Were... FAMILIES
"Yes, sir, our household represents the United Kingdom of Great Britain," said the proud father of number one to the rector. "I am English, my wife's Irish, the nurse is Scotch and the baby wails." Mrs. O'Flarity is a scrub lady, and she had b... FAREWELLS
Happy are we met, Happy have we been, Happy may we part, and Happy meet again. A dear old citizen went to the cars the other day to see his daughter off on a journey. Securing her a seat he passed out of the car and went around to the car... FASHION
There are two kinds of women: The fashionable ones and those who are comfortable.--_Tom P. Morgan_. There had been a dressmaker in the house and Minnie had listened to long discussions about the very latest fashions. That night when she said h... FATE
Fate hit me very hard one day. I cried: "What is my fault? What have I done? What causes, pray, This unprovoked assault?" She paused, then said: "Darned if I know; I really can't explain." Then just before she turned to go She ... FATHERS
A director of one of the great transcontinental railroads was showing his three-year-old daughter the pictures in a work on natural history. Pointing to a picture of a zebra, he asked the baby to tell him what it represented. Baby answered "Coty."... FAULTS
Women's faults are many, Men have only two-- Everything they say, And everything they do. --_Le Crabbe_. ... FEES
_See_ Tips. ... FEET
BIG MAN (with a grouch)--"Will you be so kind as to get off my feet?" LITTLE MAN (with a bundle)--"I'll try, sir. Is it much of a walk?" ... FIGHTING
"Who gave ye th' black eye, Jim?" "Nobody give it t' me; I had t' fight fer it."--_Life_. "There! You have a black eye, and your nose is bruised, and your coat is torn to bits," said Mamma, as her youngest appeared at the door. "How many ti... FINANCE
Willie had a savings bank; 'Twas made of painted tin. He passed it 'round among the boys, Who put their pennies in. Then Willie wrecked that bank and bought Sweetmeats and chewing gum. And to the other envious lads He never o... FINGERBOWLS
MISTRESS (to new servant)--"Why, Bridget, this is the third time I've had to tell you about the finger-bowls. Didn't the lady you last worked for have them on the table?" BRIDGET--"No, mum; her friends always washed their hands before they came... FIRE DEPARTMENTS
Clang, clatter, bang! Down the street came the fire engines. Driving along ahead, oblivious of any danger, was a farmer in a ramshackle old buggy. A policeman yelled at him: "Hi there, look out! The fire department's coming." Turning in by th... FIRE ESCAPES
Fire escape: A steel stairway on the exterior of a building, erected after a FIRE to ESCAPE the law. ... FIRES
"Ikey, I hear you had a fire last Thursday." "Sh! Next Thursday." ... FIRST AID IN ILLNESS AND INJURY
The father of the family hurried to the telephone and called up the family physician. "Our little boy is sick, Doctor," he said, "so please come at once." "I can't get over much under an hour," said the doctor. "Oh please do, Doctor. You see,... FISH
A man went into a restaurant recently and said, "Give me a half dozen fried oysters." "Sorry, sah," answered the waiter, "but we's all out o' shell fish, sah, 'ceptin' eggs." Little Elizabeth and her mother were having luncheon together, an... FISHERMEN
At the birth of President Cleveland's second child no scales could be found to weigh the baby. Finally the scales that the President always used to weigh the fish he caught on his trips were brought up from the cellar, and the child was found to w... FISHING
A man was telling some friends about a proposed fishing trip to a lake in Colorado which he had in contemplation. "Are there any trout out there?" asked one friend. "Thousands of 'em," replied Mr. Wharry. "Will they bite easily?" asked anot... FLATS
"Hello, Tom, old man, got your new flat fitted up yet?" "Not quite," answered the friend. "Say, do you know where I can buy a folding toothbrush?" She hadn't told her mother yet of their first quarrel, but she took refuge in a flood of tear... FLATTERY
With a sigh she laid down the magazine article upon Daniel O'Connell. "The day of great men," she said, "is gone forever." "But the day of beautiful women is not," he responded. She smiled and blushed. "I was only joking," she explained, hurri... FLIES
_See_ Pure food. ... FLIRTATION
It sometimes takes a girl a long time to learn that a flirtation is attention without intention. "There's a belief that summer girls are always fickle." "Yes, I got engaged on that theory, but it looks as if I'm in for a wedding or a breach... FLOWERS
Lulu was watching her mother working among the flowers. "Mama, I know why flowers grow," she said; "they want to get out of the dirt." ... FOOD
A man went into a southern restaurant not long ago and asked for a piece of old-fashioned Washington pie. The waiter, not understanding and yet unwilling to concede his lack of knowledge, brought the customer a piece of chocolate cake. "No, no,... FOOTBALL
His SISTER--"His nose seems broken." His FIANCEE--"And he's lost his front teeth." His MOTHER--"But he didn't drop the ball!"--_Life_. ... FORDS
A boy stood with one foot on the sidewalk and the other on the step of a Ford automobile. A playmate passed him, looked at his position, then sang out: "Hey, Bobbie, have you lost your other skate?" A farmer noticing a man in automobile garb s... FORECASTING
A lady in a southern town was approached by her colored maid. "Well, Jenny?" she asked, seeing that something was in the air. "Please, Mis' Mary, might I have the aft'noon off three weeks frum Wednesday?" Then, noticing an undecided look in he...