A NEW WAY TO KINDLE THE FIRE.
There are many ways given for producing fire, but the following is the most unique, and at the same time convenient, of all these various methods, as it consists in simply blowing the flame from the mouth, and so igniting the camp-fire or whatever else one wishes to burn.
To all appearances you fill your mouth with raw cotton, and then, taking a fan in your right hand proceed to make the fire. First a stream of blue smoke will be seen curling from your lips, and after a moment or two a bright spark will appear in the mass of cotton in the mouth. This spark is quickly followed by others until at last a clear bright flame bursts forth.
Many of the audience may not believe that it is a genuine flame, but a paper may be lighted from it and passed around the room, which will soon convince the most skeptical that it certainly is bonâ fide fire.
To perform this trick, procure from a chemist a piece of amadon or German tinder. This is an inexpensive material, brown in color, and soft and silky to the touch. Tear off a small piece—perhaps as large as a dime—and roll it in a small bit of cotton wool, having already lighted one end of the tinder. Place this with other cotton in your hand, and you are ready to produce all the fire your audience may demand.
First place the cotton which conceals the lighted tinder in your mouth—it will not burn you—and then some of the loose cotton you have in your hand; and remember to draw the breath in through the nostrils, but breathe it out through the mouth. This will fan the tinder and in a moment light the cotton in front of it, so that the smoke will begin to pass out with the breath; then the sparks will appear, and finally the flame, as described above. While placing fresh cotton in the mouth, you may take advantage of the fact that your hand is before your mouth to let some of the burnt cotton fall out. By exercising a little tact your audience may be mystified for a long time, and, in fact, will probably be unable to guess the secret at all, unless you yourself divulge it to them.
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