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THE NEW YEAR REVELLERS.
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The Garter Inn, a small tavern In the heart of London, was once a favourite rendezvous
for ladies and gentlemen of not too opulent circumstances. The food was good, the surround-
ings were jolly, and the ale was simply marvlous.
So it was not surprising that many of the regular customers would choose to see the
old year out and the new year in at the good old darter Inn. They would not gather in
large parties, as the fashionable folk did at swankier establishments, but they would drift
in atone or in couples as the midnight hour drew near.
lt happens that not long ago we, In the course of our never-endlng,hlstorlcal research,
came across the worn, old, dog-eared ledger of this very Garter Inn, The proprietor, one
Tlmpklns, seems to have had a penchant for mathematics, a rare quality'in his time.
He had calculated very painstakingly the amounts that his customers, who, being
English bourgeoisie, were otocklike in their habits, would spend from day to day, and had
made up an exhaustive table of averages. He figured out, for Instance, that on the average
an unaccompanied lady who dropped in for refreshments spent exactly eighteen pence. A
man who came In alone would spend half, a crown. ' When a gentleman brought his lady
with him he would spend half a guinea.
Now, according to Timpklns's very exact records, on December 31, 1806, the Garter
Inn served New Year's Eve suppers to twenty-five persons. Some were ladles dining alone,
some single gentlemen and some couples. And the next morning Tlmplnks calculated that
he had taken in just five pounds.
Assuming that the innkeeper's averages held good in every case, how was his company
made up that New Year's Eve? How many of his guests were unaccompanied ladies, how
many unaccompanied gentlemen and how many were men and women In pairs?
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