Image by Ken Lund via Flickr

A census clerk, in scanning over the form to see if it had been properly filled in,

noticed the figures 120 and 112 under the headings:

‘Age of Father, if living’ and   ‘Age of Mother, if living’

The astonished clerk asked:

‘’But your parents were never so old, were they?’’

‘’No,’’ was the reply.

‘’But they would have been, if living.’’