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Sat before him for their pictures:
Each in turn, as he was taken,
Volunteered his own suggestions.
     First the governor, the father:
He suggested velvet curtains
Looped about a messy Pillar;
And the corner of a table.
He would hold a scroll of something
Hold it firmly in his left hand;
He would keep his right hand buried
(Like Napoleon) in his waistcoat;
He would contemplate the distance
With a look of pensive meaning,
As of ducks that die in tempests.
Grand, heroic was the notion:
Yet, the picture failed entirely:
Failed, because he moved a little,
Moved because he couldn’t help it!
     
    Who would have ever thought of Lewis Carroll summarizing the answers to an Imponderable, while simultaneously contemplating the plight of a Sears portrait photographer?
     
    Submitted by Donald McGurk of West Springfield, Massachusetts. Thanks also to Wendy Gessel of Hudson, Ohio, and Geoff Rizzie of Cypress, California .
     

 
    Why Are Carpenter’s Pencils Square?
     
    Two reasons. Carl Reichenbach, product manager at pencil giant Dixon-Ticonderoga, told Imponderables that the square shape enables carpenters to draw thin or thick lines more easily than with conventional pencils.
    But a more pressing point: If we drop a pencil from our desk, it’s not a big deal to lean over and pick it up from the floor. However, what if we happen to drop a pencil from a beam on the thirty-fourth floor of a construction site? Or the roof of a home? As Ellen B. Carson of Empire Berol USA put it, “The carpenters’ pencils are produced in a square shape so they won’t roll off building materials.”
     
    Submitted by Nate Woodward of Seattle, Washington .
     
     
    Why Don’t Windshield Wipers in Buses Work in Tandem Like Auto Wipers?
     
    Hearing that two Imponderables readers were obsessed with this question made us feel less lonely. We’ve always wondered whether we were the only ones bugged by the infernal racket and displeasing look of two huge, awkward, asymmetrical windshield wipers churning away on rainy trips.
    The answer turns out to be simple, if technical. Most automobiles use one motor to power two windshield wipers. With bigger windshields and blades, the two bus wipers are driven by separate, independent motors, so the movement of the two blades is not coordinated.
    Isn’t there any way to get the two wipers to work together? Sure, for a cost, as Karen Finkel, executive director of the National School Transportation Association, explains:
     
         A larger motor to accommodate the larger blade and windshield could be developed. However, there isn’t a reason to synchronize the wipers so it hasn’t been done.
     
    Hmmm. Not driving us nuts, we guess, isn’t reason enough to change the status quo.
     
    Submitted by P.M. Cook of Lake Stephens, Washington. Thanks also to Karyn Heckman of Greenville, Pennsylvania .
     

 
    Why Were Athos, Porthos, and Aramis Called the Three Musketeers When They Fought with Swords Rather Than Muskets?
     
    The Three Swordsmen sounds like a decent enough title for a book, if not an inspiring name for a candy bar, so why did Dumas choose The Three Musketeers? Dumas based his novel on Memoirs of Monsieur D’Artagnan , a fictionalized account of “Captain-Lieutenant of the First Company of the King’s Musketeers.” Yes, there really was a company of musketeers in France in the seventeenth century.
    Formed in 1622, the company’s main function was to serve as bodyguard for the King (Louis XIII) during peacetime. During wars, the musketeers were dispatched to fight in the infantry or cavalry; but at the palace, they were the corps d’élite. Although they were young (mostly seventeen to twenty years of age), all had prior experience in the military and were of aristocratic ancestry.
    According to Dumas translator Lord Sudley, when the musketeers were formed, they “had just been armed with the new flintlock, muzzle-loading muskets,” a precursor to modern rifles. Unfortunately,