WHY "PURPOSES?"

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14325, 15 October 1910, Page 1 (Supplement)

WHY "PURPOSES?"

Some trouble has been taken by Mr T P. O'Connor to obtain in his weekly paper an elucidation of an examination blunder. In a school, a child answered very confidently. "Purposes," when the question was asked, "What do ships curryf" The most general line of explanation follows a familiar passage from Lewis Carroll, " "They were obliged to i ave him with them,' the Mock Turtle si.h! ; no wise fish would go anywhere without a porpoise.' 'Wouldn't it really r said Alice, in a tone of great surprise. "Of course not,' said the Mock Turtle; 'why, if a fish came to me and told me he was going on a journey, I n-.nild say, "With what porpoise?" Another very ingenious explanation was based on Acts xxvii., 13:—"And vheu the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor. . . ." 'i'ho wildest suggestion of all supposes the child to have been of Russian, extraction, imperfectly extracted indeed, and to have meant parcois (sails). A f tr-r this the true explanation seems a little dull. The child" thought the .hip • r.rcied purposes as its cargo because.it had been told that "ships were used for carrying purposes."