Yet from this clouded, illiterate mind a wonderful mathematical
gift shines. Just when he began to assert his powers is not
known; but his feats have been remembered for twenty years by his
neighbors. A report says:--
"Give Rube Fields the distance by rail between any two points,
and the dimensions of a car-wheel, and almost as soon as the
statement has left your lips he will tell you the number of
revolutions the wheel will make in traveling over the track. Call
four or five or any number of columns of figures down a page, and
when you have reached the bottom he will announce the sum. Given
the number of yards or pounds of articles and the price, and at
once he will return the total cost--and this he will do all day
long, without apparent effort or fatigue.
"A gentleman relates an instance of Fields' knowledge of figures.
After having called several columns of figures for addition, he
went back to the first column, saying that it was wrong, and
repeating it, purposely miscalling the next to the last figure.
At once Fields threw up his hand, exclaiming: 'You didn't call it
that way before.'
"Fields' answers come quick and sharp, seemingly by intuition.
Calculations which would require hours to perform are made in
less time than it takes to state the question.
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