Page:Smith - Number Stories of Long ago (1919).djvu/86

 Number Stories, p63-illustration.png

“So you wonder how people multiplied numbers, do you?” asked the Story-Teller, as the Crowd marched into the room, and George put another log on the fire, and the Tease stood wondering how it happened that the story was coming so easily. “Well, you see they just multiplied, and that's all.”

“But how did they do it? That’s the question,” said the Tease. “How could anyone multiply with the Roman numerals, or how did anyone ever learn how to multiply, anyway?”

“When Ching was a boy no one could multiply at all,” said the Story-Teller.

“I wish I could have gone to school then,” said Fanny. 63