Two Yankee Boys

( Originally Published 1885 )

MASTER, please show me how to do this sum ? " " What is it ? Let me see it."

"Here it is, on this piece o' paper. I don't know as you can read it."

The problem read as follows : A certain man died, leaving a will which provided that if at his death he should have only a son, the son should receive two thirds of his estate and the widow one third ; but if he should leave only a daughter, the widow should receive two thirds and the daughter one third. It happened, however, that he left both a son and a daughter, by which, in equity, the widow received $2,400 less than she would have had if there had been only a daughter; how much would she have received if there had been only a son?"

"Where did you get this problem, Daniel ?"

"A fellow sent it over to me from the Quabbin district. He said that none of the boys over there could do it, and the master could not do it, either."

" Well, Daniel, I will try it when I get a few minutes' leisure."

This occurred in the old school house, in the Center district of N, Mass., in the winter of 1848-9.

For two days the master labored on the problem, and then, upon Daniel's inquiry, he said he did not believe it could be done. He had tried it in all ways, but could not make it prove ; whereupon a boy named Levi, a lad about fifteen years old, asked if he could try it.

" Yes," said the master, " you can fry it, Levi ; but you will hardly succeed, I think."

In about five minutes, Levi said, "Here, master, I have it," and modestly handed up his slate.

This was the solution : —

The daughter would have . 1 share.

The widow twice as much 2 "

The son twice the widow's share . 4 "

The whole 7 "

Now the widow received ! of the estate, but if there had been only a daughter, she would have had of it ; 2/3 of the estate minus 2/7 of it = 8/21 of it ; therefore A of the estate = $2,400. Then 1/21 will equal $300, and the estate will equal- $6,300. The question is, How much would she have received if there had been only a son ? That means, what would 1/3 of the estate be? It would be $2,100. Answer.

"It proves, too ; see here. The estate was divided this way : — Daughter received +, which is $900

Widow received 2/7, which is 1,800

Son received 4/7, which is 3,600

Whole estate $6,300

If there had been a daughter only, the widow would have 2/3, or $4,200. $4,200 - $1,800 = $2,400."

" Well done, Levi ! You are a smart boy." " Oh, that is nothin'. I can do harder sums than that."

Daniel was delighted that some one of his school-fellows had solved the problem, for now he could brag of the smartness of his school, and its superiority to the school in the Quabbin district.

In due time, therefore, the solution was forwarded to Quabbin. There it was studied carefully by teacher and pupils. The boy who had tried the hardest, and spent the most hours over it in vain, was named Calvin. He now felt decidedly chagrined at his failure to solve it. It was certainly easy enough after you knew how.

The winter passed away. Late in the spring Calvin found an opportunity to go over to the Center district one warm after-noon. He had never forgotten the problem, nor had his admiration for the boy who per-formed it weakened as time passed on. Arriving, therefore, in the village, he diligently inquired for a boy named Levi.

At last he found a man who knew him.

" Do you see that large white building over there — a shoe-shop ? "

" Yes," was the reply.

" Well, that is n't the place ; but you go around through the lane beyond that white shop, and back in the rear you will find a small, one story, wood colored building, with a basement on the back side ; down in that basement you will find Levi pegging shoes."

Calvin lost no time in following these explicit directions, and opening the door, he looked in and inquired, —

" Is your name Levi?"

" Yes, my name is Levi. What of it?" Well, did you do a sum last winter?" and he described the problem.

" Yes, I did that ; that's nothing."

And so these two boys were now introduced to each other. Their families were both poor, and though not yet sixteen, they were obliged to earn their living, — the one on a farm, the other pegging shoes.

Calvin was a well-formed boy, handsome, with a ruddy face, black hair, and black eyes.

Levi was light complexioned, with light hair, features far from regular, not hand-some, sedate looking, and generally wearing a cross scowl upon his face. When his face lighted up, however, as it would to his friends, or especially when he was particularly pleased with some success of a friend, he wore a genial, pleasant smile, which really made his features handsome and winning.

These boys, thus introduced to each other, and now to the reader, soon became firm friends, and remain so to this day. Their life brings its lesson of what a New England boy can do, if he only have courage and perseverance.

They met many times during the years between 1850 and 1860 ; and when the war of the rebellion commenced, it found them both practicing law in the city of New York. They at once gave up their business and entered the army. One raised a regiment and was appointed colonel, and the other commissioned major ; and so they went to the war. Think you, when they were bivouacking on the sands of the Old Dominion, some warm night, with the full moon shining down with its clear and calm light, reminding them of their childhood's homes in the old Bay State, the thought of the arithmetical puzzle did not come up in their remembrance, and was not the story of how they became acquainted with each other often told to their companions-in-arms ?

I have said that they were both poor ; yet after getting a good common-school education, and a few terms at an academy, they both studied law. Calvin studied with Judge Chapin, in Worcester, and in due time was admitted to the bar, and began his practice there. Afterward he went to New York, and there entered the arena, striving for legal and political distinction. He has now been for many years a distinguished judge of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. When he was studying law, he gained his livelihood by practicing in the police courts, where he achieved a distinguished success.

Levi began the study of law in Worcester, but afterward entered the then famous law school at Balston Spa, N. Y., which was soon moved to Poughkeepsie. On his graduation he was offered at once a professorship in the law school, which he refused, and going to New York he " put out his shingle " at 156 Broadway. Imagine a young man, without experience, quiet, modest, but per-severing, an entire stranger in the great city, attempting to earn a livelihood at the bar. But that livelihood he did earn the very first year, and he is now having a lucrative practice. He owns an elegant home in New Jersey, and has educated a sister, who is now a successful lady physician in New York, noted far and wide, and a younger brother who is a distinguished dentist in a neighboring state.