OTHER CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY AMUSEMENTS.
Perhaps one evening of this ever delightful season might not be more entertainingly spent than in witnessing an exhibition of some feats in Magic, if any lad of the company could become sufficiently expert in the art to render them with a fair amount of skill.
There are many of these mysterious tricks performed by the professional “Thaumaturgist” or “Prestidigitateur,” but as most of them require a complicated or expensive apparatus, I shall only call your attention to such as are comparatively simple, and require but few “aids” or materials for their fulfillment.
HOW TO PALM A COIN.
As it is necessary for any boy or girl who intends to become an expert sleight-of-hand performer to be a successful palmer, this is naturally the first lesson to be learned. Indeed, very few of the tricks performed by an expert prestidigitateur would be effective without its use.
To explain this art is difficult, although it is an easy matter to show how the thing is done. By the aid of an illustration may be seen, however, the final position of the coin, or how it is held while it is palmed.
If possible, balance a half-dollar on the tip of the second finger of the right hand; but if not at first easily accomplished let the coin rest on the tips of the second and third fingers, steadying it, in this position, by touching it lightly with the thumb. Close the hand quickly and the coin will rest in the palm. Then, by throwing the thumb forward, the ball of the thumb will hold the silver piece on one side, and that part of the palm which lies between the second and third fingers holds it securely on the other.
Practice this well, and be sure you can depend upon yourself to accomplish it perfectly with the left as well as the right hand, before you try any of the following tricks in the presence of a critical audience.
HOW TO PASS A COIN.
Borrow of your audience two half-dollars and lay them on your table.
Next shake your sleeves and let your friends see that you have no coins hidden about you. When they are convinced that such is the case, pick up one half-dollar with the thumb and second finger of your right hand. Palm this in your right hand while you pretend to pass it to your left, of course making a motion with the left hand as if it received and still held the coin.
The right hand will then seem to be empty, although still holding the half-dollar. Next pick up the other coin with the right hand, and place the hand behind you, being careful to keep the left well in front, and always in sight of your audience. Make some few remarks concerning the difficulty of the trick, and at last pronounce the magic word “Pass”; at the same time clink the two coins together, as if one had hit the other in the meeting. Then bring the right hand forward, and, opening it and the left at the same time, show that the coin has actually left the latter and entered the former, as you promised it should do.
HOW TO ROB PETER AND ENRICH PAUL.
Twenty pieces of money are necessary for this trick; and two-cent pieces, or quarters, are perhaps the most convenient sizes to use. Of these, borrow fifteen from your audience, the other five have at hand, but concerning which your friends are to know nothing.
Having borrowed them from the company, count out five, and give them to one of your audience, while to another you give ten, and after having seen that the latter counts his carefully, take those given to the first, mutter some cabalistic nonsense, and order them to pass into the hands of the one who has the ten pieces. Finally, request him to count them again, when, strange to relate, he will find that he has fifteen, instead of the ten pieces which he was supposed to have.
The trick is performed in this manner: Upon receiving the money, throw it upon a plate or box cover—the plate is the best—and passing it to the first person, request him to take five of the pieces away. Now give the remaining money, with the plate, to the second, and ask him to drop each coin as he counts it, on the plate, that all may know he has counted correctly.
Then comes the only difficult part of the trick. Ask the one who has counted the coins to hold both his hands, while you pour the money into them, and taking the plate in your left hand, pour the contents into your right, where you have already five more palmed (the five the audience have not seen). Now pour the fifteen into the hands of number two, and impress upon him the importance of keeping his hands well closed over the money. This will prevent his noticing that an addition has been made. Take the five from person number one, and pretend to place them in your other hand, but instead palm them. Do your talking and command the money to pass. If you have taken proper care in palming your coins, the audience, as well as the one holding the money, will be greatly amazed by the trick.
DANGER OF REPETITION.
In almost any performance of this kind, the audience, especially if of one’s intimate friends, are anxious for the performer to try again whatever strikes them as strange or mysterious, being of course on their guard to watch certain movements, at points in the performance which they had scarcely noticed before.
So it is very unsafe to try any trick over again immediately after it has been once performed, or in fact during the same evening; although perhaps it might be safely done if a number of different ones intervened. If beseeched to try it “just once more,” make as graceful an excuse as you can, and suggest in its place something equally interesting.
THE INEXHAUSTIBLE HAT.
For this trick, seven half-dollars are required, and are concealed in the right hand by “palming,” as the five two-cent pieces were hid in the former trick.
First, borrow of one of your audience a tall silk hat, promising to return it “as good as new” at the end of the performance. Let the audience examine it to see that the owner is not in league with yourself, and then, walking to the back of the room, place it upon a table. While walking toward the table, with the back toward the audience, palm your coins, which should be held in some convenient pocket, readily accessible when the moment comes for using them.
Next, turn to your audience, having your coins well concealed in your right hand, and request some one to lend you six half-dollars; but immediately, under the pretense of disliking to trouble them, step forward, and, excusing yourself for the liberty, take a coin from the folds of a lady’s dress, by simply letting one of those concealed in your hand slip to the end of your fingers. If you have had sufficient practice in “coining” you will find no difficulty in doing this, and your audience will be inclined to believe you actually found the money secreted in the fabric, although they may believe you had some hand in placing it in its hiding-place.
If you have been thus far successful, go to the hat, and, calling attention to the fact, drop the half-dollar into it; then, as if you imagined some one was doubtful whether the coin was really in the hat, make some remark to the effect that if they do not believe you dropped it you will do so again, at the same moment thrusting your hand down to the crown to take it in sight again.
At the moment the hand is in this position, carefully place the six half-dollars on the bottom, and let one remain in the palm. Pick up one of these six, and holding it high, let it drop, being careful, however, that it does not hit the other five.
The coin in your hand you proceed to take from any unusual place which may occur to you—the window curtain, portière, a gentleman’s beard, or a lady’s coiffure, are those most naturally suggested. As soon as you take a half-dollar from its hiding-place, you pretend to place it in your left hand, and from there command it to pass to the hat, but in reality you palm it in your right where it is ready for the next position from which you desire to take it. Proceed in this way until you have gathered in six half-dollars.
As these have been lying quietly in the hat during all this time, you have no anxiety about sending them there, and must simply avoid going near it while apparently filling it with the money. When the last silver piece has been sent to its destination, request the audience to select some one of its members to count the money in the hat, and see that none has been lost in its flight hence. It will, of course, be found all right, and great will be the curiosity to know how you placed it there; but do not allow yourself to be influenced into trying it a second time, for with the close watching you will undergo your secret will be discovered.
ANOTHER HAT TRICK.
The hat may well be called “inexhaustible,” for all manner of things may be made to come from its prolific crown, and in such profusion, that a receptacle of double its size would hardly contain them.
If two boys have learned the art of palming well, they may assist each other, and, if at all ingenious, invent a variety of tricks for an evening’s amusement.
The following is but a suggestion, which may be varied by different materials:
Let them borrow from the audience two tall silk hats, and place them upon chairs standing some distance from each other. Each having provided himself with a small rubber ball—the one resembling the other as nearly as possible—they are ready to proceed. The hats were of course empty when passed to the stage, but as the first boy takes his place, back of the chair which contains a hat, he should glance down into it, and with surprise, draw out a ball which he has had concealed in his right hand, show it to the audience and then pretend to put it in his left hand, but instead palm it in the right; at the same time extending his left toward his partner. The second boy stretches out his right arm as if to receive the ball, and at the moment his hand touches the fingers of No. 1, he lets that which he has been palming in his right hand slip down to his fingers, as if he had just received it from his friend. Now, pretending to change it to his left, he palms it, as No. 1 has done, and finally drops his left hand, which is supposed to hold the ball, into the hat in front of him, at the same time giving the side or crown a rap with one of his fingers, to imitate the falling of the ball. This same thing may be repeated indefinitely, until you have balls enough to stock the village. When you see the audience is beginning to tire, let No. 1 say, “My hat is empty; shall I help you count the balls in yours?” No. 2 nods assent, and looks down, as if expecting the hat to be full. He must then pretend great surprise, and taking up the hat must turn it upside down, gently shake it—remembering it is borrowed—and with the audience wonder what has become of all the balls.
Eggs, small lemons or oranges, little china dolls, and a number of small toys may be substituted for the rubber balls above given.
THE PERAMBULATING EGG.
This trick is one of the easiest, while at the same time one of the most pleasing, of the magician’s arts. In it an egg, apparently without any impulse beyond that which resides within itself, travels over a hat, and after reconnoitering it in its every nook and corner, passes gracefully over to another, and commences its journey of discovery around the second in much the same manner it has traversed the first.
Two hats are borrowed from the audience, and a dish of eggs is placed upon the table by their side, when the performer requests the lady stationed at the piano to give some music, and the exhibition commences. The egg which is used is merely a shell, the inside having been sucked or blown out through tiny holes made at either end. A slender silken thread is tied to the upper button of the performer’s waistcoat, while attached to the other end is a small piece of wax or other sticky substance. Just before the performance commences, show the dish of eggs, and then pass away from them and back of your audience, to show that they (the eggs) are in no way attached to your person.
As the music strikes up, walk to the table, take the shell from the dish, making it appear that you had no choice, but took the first one you chanced to touch, and place it inside the hat, at the same moment pressing the bit of wax to its side.
As the egg is in the hat it is necessary for it to pass out upon the outside surface. To do this the hat is slowly moved downward until the egg is even with the brim; then by careful management and a little practice, the effect is produced of the egg walking up the hat instead of the hat being lowered to the egg. You may now take the egg in your hand and, holding the hat with the crown upward in a horizontal position, place it beneath the egg, and turn it slowly away from yourself. The effect will be that the egg is traveling up hill. By placing the other hat close to the one upon which you are performing, and slowly drawing it under the egg, the latter will appear to pass over to the crown of the second hat, and very much the same movements may be repeated on this as on the first.
THE MAGIC DISPATCHER.
Borrow a quarter or half-dollar from your audience, and ask the owner to place some mark upon it by which it may be identified. Wrap this in the corner of a handkerchief, and give it to some one to hold. Next take a ball of yarn, and having placed it in a tumbler, ask some other person in your audience to hold his hand over the top of the tumbler in such a way that the ball will be kept in place, and the yarn will run smoothly through the fingers. Hold one end of the yarn some distance from the tumbler, or near where the coin is held, and inform your audience that, as your dispatcher is in good working order, you will proceed to send the coin your friend has in his hand into the very center of the ball of yarn. Take the opposite corner of the handkerchief from the one holding the money in your right hand, and having counted one, two, three, command the coin to pass, at the same instant snatching the handkerchief from your friend’s hand. Next commence to unwind the ball, being careful to keep some distance from the tumbler while so doing.
As the yarn is nearing its end, the silver piece will drop upon the bottom of the tumbler, and nothing is left for you to do but to request the owner of it to step forward and see if it is the one he lent you.
In this, as in many of the tricks you have already learned, very little preparation is required. First, a coin of the same denomination as the one borrowed is sewed in a corner of the handkerchief. The ball is wound upon a stick of a particular shape, which is drawn out when the coin is to be substituted in its place. This stick should be about two and a half inches long, one and a quarter inches wide, and an eighth of an inch thick, rounded off at one end, and scraped until it is perfectly smooth.
When winding your ball, be careful to have the rounded end of the stick in the center of the ball, and the other end projecting slightly on one side.
After you have procured your coin, palmed it, and given the handkerchief containing the other into the hands of some person to hold, go for your ball, which should be at some distance from your audience, that you may have time to draw out the stick and insert the coin in its place, while you are walking back to the table upon which is your tumbler.
The trick is now done, but the audience must be kept ignorant of the fact, while your conversation and subsequent acting should shroud it in all the mystery possible.
THE TURKISH RING TRICK.
A few years ago I had the good fortune to see a famous magician perform. Many and wonderful were the things he did, and at times it seemed as if other than human skill must be aiding him in his craft.
Among others, he gave the following trick, which was as enthusiastically applauded as many of the others. It had for me no element of strangeness, as I was already initiated into its secret. Since it has ever been a favorite in the little amateur performances we have from time to time been in the habit of giving, I hope it may gain a wider popularity in the larger circle of friends to whom I am about to disclose it.
To the public it appears as follows: A plain gold ring is borrowed, placed in a handkerchief, and given to a person to hold. A small stick is held by two others, in such a position that its center is hidden by the handkerchief; each person holds an end. The magician commands the ring to pass, at the same moment snatching the handkerchief, a corner of which he has taken, away from the one holding it—when behold! the ring, which a moment ago was in the spectator’s hand, is now whirling around the stick, which it evidently has just reached.
It is performed as follows: When the ring is taken from its owner, it is palmed, and not placed in the handkerchief, as one is led to suppose, the handkerchief being supplied, as you probably have already guessed, with a ring which is sewed in its end. In passing the stick to the holders, you have simply to pass it through the right hand, in the center of which your ring is palmed, and, of course, through the ring itself. Then, holding it until it is hidden by the handkerchief, is not difficult to do. When you first take up the stick, be sure and use your left hand, so that you will have it ready to pass through your ring without any awkward or suspicious movements. Finally, pulling the handkerchief suddenly and quickly across the stick, causes the ring to whirl upon it very much as if it had just dropped in its place. It is always well, when performing with the handkerchief, to have a second and similar one in your pocket, to show in case suspicion should be aroused concerning it.
HOW TO MELT AND RE-COIN A HALF-DOLLAR.
Supply your table with a candle in a light candlestick, and a glass of water. When ready to perform, request some one of your audience to lend you a half-dollar, suggesting at the same time, that a new bright coin would best suit your purpose. Have it marked that the owner may be sure of its identity.
If nothing but dull coins are to be found, have a small bottle of ammonia at hand, and holding the piece in your hand, pour a few drops of the liquid upon it; let it stand a few moments and then wipe with a bit of cloth. Treat both sides in the same way, and brighten up the edges in like manner. All this while you may be talking of this treatment, as if it were intended to render the metal more fusible, but be careful not to mention what the fluid is, or for what it is really intended. This treatment is, of course, not necessary in the case of new coins, in which case it can be omitted.
When the silver is bright, and presents the appearance of a new coin, take it between the thumb and forefinger of your right hand, look at it carefully, and then pretend to drop it into your left hand, but instead palm it in your right.
Now continue to move your left hand as if working the coin around in it, keeping up a continual flow of small talk during the whole performance. The difficulty of melting silver, the amount of heat required, and the comparative hardness of different metals, forming good subjects, with which you will become familiar before your public exhibition.
To render the idea of palming an apparent impossibility, take up the candle in your right hand. This will render the holding of the coin less troublesome, and appear to your audience as a conclusive evidence that the half-dollar is in your left hand.
After you have pretended to place the coin in your left hand, do not for an instant forget to appear as if it really was there, and keep that hand always in sight of your audience.
Having taken the lighted candle in your right, hold the left hand above the flame, and move the fingers as if allowing the silver to pass down, drop by drop, into the candle itself. If, just before this, previous to taking the candle, you could catch up the glass for a drink and drop a spoonful of water into the hollow of your left hand, the dropping of it into the candle-flame would add to the impression of melting silver. You can wet your hand slightly in many natural ways, as no one would imagine the water had anything to do with the trick. Continue to pretend to drop the silver, until it would naturally be gone; then, without removing your hand, open it and announce that the half-dollar is melted, and can be found in the candlestick; assuring the donor that he need not be alarmed, as you can bring it out as it was before it went in, if he will but have patience.
Put the candlestick down upon the table, and pretend to pick out bits of silver from the various parts of it with the right hand, placing them as they are gathered in the palm of the left hand. At a convenient moment, when the right is exactly above the left hand, drop the half-dollar into it, and the trick is done. But it would not do to let the audience know this, so you must continue to work the left hand as if molding the coin in shape, blowing with the mouth into the palm as if cooling the heated mass; toss it from hand to hand as if to cool it more rapidly, and finally return it to the spectator from whom it was borrowed.
BURNING THE CENTER FROM A HANDKERCHIEF.
The young performer will find but little difficulty in performing this simple sleight-of-hand trick successfully. A lighted candle, a small stick, or magic wand, and a piece of thin cambric or muslin about six inches square, are the materials required.
Place the lighted candle on your table, and the wand on another table or shelf some distance from the former with the bit of cambric behind it.
Now borrow of some lady present a handkerchief, a gentleman’s being inconveniently large. Take the handkerchief by the center, pull it carefully between the fingers and thumb of left hand, and advance toward the candle.
Just as you are about to burn it, stop and say, as if in answer to some remark overheard, “Oh, no, I have not changed the handkerchief. See!” and at the same time allow another inspection of it.
Suggest now to its owner, if, in case her handkerchief is burned, she would like it restored again to its proper condition; and, upon her answering in the affirmative, announce the necessity of the magic wand for that purpose. Walk to the spot where the wand is lying, and take it up, managing to pick up at the same time between the left thumb and forefinger the bit of cambric; the center of this piece should be pointed outward so that it may be readily pulled out at the desired moment, the remainder being neatly rolled up and palmed under the thumb. This piece should have been rolled up with the central point slightly projecting when first placed on the shelf, and the performer should manage to turn his back toward the audience for a few moments when taking up the wand.
Place the wand in one of your coat pockets as you advance toward your candle, and again take the handkerchief, putting it this time into the left hand, and pull up the small piece of material, completely hiding the center of the real handkerchief between the second and third fingers and the palm of the hand.
The portion of the cambric extending beyond the thumb and forefinger may now be safely burned, and the audience may be sure the handkerchief is burned, as you can make some display of rolling it up in a ball, taking care, however, to separate the burned piece from the real article. Now take the wand from the pocket, and at the same time manage to drop the small semi-burned piece of muslin unperceived into the pocket; touch the handkerchief with the wand, and, after some magic word or words, return the handkerchief to the owner to be examined, remarking that you hope not even an odor of smoke is noticeable about it.
Whenever displaying feats in magic, it is better for the performer to go forward among the audience if he has anything to show or have examined, than to allow the latter to come to his portion of the room. His table has often some things upon it which if seen near by would do much toward dispelling the mystery connected with his works.
A wide space should be left between his table and the front row of spectators, as he often has occasion to step between the two in some of his feats.
The lights also should be judiciously arranged, so as not to shine too directly upon his hands or person, or even upon his table. Always have everything you can possibly need in some easily accessible place, and in just the position most convenient to be taken.
Decide beforehand what tricks you will perform, and in just what order they are to be given. Of course, all the materials are not to be spread on the table at the commencement of the entertainment, as they would be in the way, and confuse you in your first acts; but they should all be at hand, and while articles are being examined which have passed through the various vicissitudes in a former trick, you can utilize the time when the attention is thus carried away from yourself to gather together and properly place the materials for your next feat.
Never be induced to perform a trick a second time, unless nearly a whole evening’s performance intervenes. Even then it is pretty sure to be detected.
THE MAGIC ROPE.
Take a piece of clothes-line, six or seven yards long, and pass it among your audience for inspection. While it is going its rounds, have your hands securely tied with a handkerchief, which should be passed around the wrists and knotted on one side.
When the rope is returned to you, drop one end between your arms, or inside the handkerchief, and request some one to take both ends of the rope and pull, to make sure your hands are firmly tied. It would now seem impossible to get the rope off, unless the hands were untied or the ends released. After two or three rapid motions, however, the rope drops to the floor, while your hands remain tied as at first.
First, do not have your hands tied so tightly that you cannot move them; this can be arranged by holding them slightly apart while they are being tied. After the rope has been pulled by the holder, it is somewhat relaxed; and then, by rubbing it between the wrists a loop may be formed, into which the second finger may be slipped. The whole hand is now readily thrust through, and only a jerk is necessary to send the rope upon the floor. In performing this trick, work as quickly as possible, that your movements may not be easily followed.
A CAMPING-OUT COOKING-STOVE.
Although the winter season is now well upon us, and its reigning king, Jack Frost, jealous if we but mention the “camp-fire,” has covered its very site with ice and snow, we need not fear incurring his displeasure by the following exhibition.
Procure an old silk hat if possible, and pass it among your audience for inspection. Have upon the stage, or at your end of the room, a table, with a drawer open at the back. In this drawer have a small cake in the tin in which it was baked. Let it be made in a patty-pan if convenient. Beside this cake have a small tin cup, which will fit rather tightly into the mouth of a china jar you have also provided. On the top of the table have an unlighted candle, the jar, which should be porcelain if possible, a basket containing a few eggs, a pitcher of water, some flour, and a box marked sugar. The hat, after having been examined, is returned to you; and the cake, along with the cup which is to receive the eggs and flour, are put into it. This is effected as follows: Take the cake and cup in your left hand, keeping it down behind the table, and your hat in the right hand; bring the cake and cup up to the edge, and immediately cover it with the hat, which you begin brushing with your right. Keep up a running discourse all the time, so that the movement will seem natural, and not be suspected. In a moment or two partly withdraw the left hand, and grasping the brim of the hat, turn it upside down upon the table. If the tin is not in a good position to catch the eggs and flour which you are to drop into it, palm a penny and pretend to find it in the hat, chiding your audience for carelessly overlooking it, remarking that although a useful thing to have, it is not exactly a proper ingredient for cake. Of course, while pretending to pick up the coin, you can arrange the tin cup on top of your cake in the middle of the hat. Be sure that it stands firm.
Now proceed to break one or more eggs, and drop the contents into the hat, taking especial care that they drop into the cup. Next throw in a spoonful of sugar, and then pour a few drops of water and one or two spoonfuls of flour into the jar, and stir well with a spoon. Pour the contents of the jar into the cup, and then, under pretense of draining the last drop into the hat, force the jar down over the cup, and work it around until the cup is well pushed up into the mouth of the jar. It is needless to add that you must pretend all the while that you are scraping or shaking out the mixture. The jar can now be taken out and carelessly placed behind the sugar-pail or any other object, to prevent the edge of the tin cup from being seen.
The trick is now completed, the only necessary thing to do is to keep up the acting until the cake is supposed to be finished.
First, stir it well by moving the spoon around quite actively in the hat; then light the candle, and, informing your audience that the cake is ready for baking, take the hat in one hand and hold it over the candle for a minute or two, occasionally glancing in to see if it is doing well.
In a short time announce that it is baked; and after blowing out the candle, take the cake from the hat, turn it out upon a plate, and placing a knife by its side, pass it to some one to cut, and politely request your friends to try it, and judge upon the efficacy of your camp-stove. If the hat was borrowed, return it with thanks to its owner, and congratulate him upon having such a useful article always on hand.
NECESSITY OF A SOBER COUNTENANCE.
In most, in fact all, of these exhibitions, it is absolutely necessary that one should keep a sober countenance while performing. No matter how hard your audience laugh, do not allow the shadow of a smile to flit across your face. If you do it will take away much of the effectiveness and half the mystery, from whatever you are doing.
I once had a young friend, a quick bright boy, who was very successful in palming, and in many of the other elements in sleight-of-hand tricks, but he had a ridiculous and unconquerable habit of laughing whenever his audience laughed, and, in fact, of sometimes anticipating the laugh, and commencing before his friends saw anything worth laughing about.
He was of course not successful, and was never watched with as much interest as his brother, who, although not as clever, was as sober as a judge from the beginning to the end of the performance. No amount of hilarity in the audience affected him in the least. If he found it was impossible to make himself heard, he stood still and waited; but always with the same quiet, calm countenance he would have worn had he been walking up the aisle of a church. Learn to command your countenance, as one of the most important requisites of a successful magician.
THE GREAT CHINESE ROPE FEAT.
Many years ago this trick was exhibited in a show-window on Broadway, but as probably most of the people who then saw it have long since forgotten how it was performed, I give the following account:
Two ropes, each about three yards in length, are given to the audience to examine, which of course are pronounced perfect; then they are passed through the sleeves of a coat, in such a way as to suspend it; the ends are then given to two boys to hold. The performer then places his hand inside the coat, and having requested those who are holding the ends of the rope to pull, the coat falls to the floor, having in some mysterious manner worked off the ropes.
Of course, the whole secret of this trick depends upon the arrangement of the ropes, which are of themselves perfect. After they have been examined, and are returned to the performer, he pretends to measure them, and while so doing manages to bend each rope double; that is, he brings the two ends of each together; while still holding them he contrives to slip a small elastic band over the center of one, and bringing the middle of the other alongside of it, he slips the band over both, thus tying them together, as shown in the illustration.
Now holding this juncture carelessly in his left hand, over which arm a coil or two of the rope is thrown, he passes the ends marked A through one sleeve of the coat, and the end marked B through the other, and these are the ends he gives to the two persons to hold.
If he now slips off the rubber band, the coat will fall; but each person will have both ends of the same rope in his hand, and the mystery would be easily solved. To remedy this, however, the performer, under pretense of making the trick still more difficult, takes an end from each of the holders, and proceeds to tie a single loop, as seen in the illustration, thus reversing the ends, which he then returns to them.
Of course, when the band is taken off, each person has but one end of either rope in his hand.
TO PULL A STRING THROUGH A BUTTON-HOLE.
Tie together the ends of a piece of string about two feet long; pass it thus tied through a button-hole of your coat. Hitch the two ends on your thumbs, and catch up with each little finger the upper string on the thumb of the opposite hand; then, stretching the hands apart, the string will appear in a very complicated tangle. If the hold of the right thumb and left little finger, or vice versâ, be then loosed, and the hands quickly separated, the string will come away from, and appear as if it had passed through, the outside edge of the button-hole.
TO UNITE A PARTED STRING.
Take a piece of string about four feet long; hold the ends, pointed upward, between the first and second finger and thumb of the left hand, and the first finger and thumb of the right hand, letting the remainder of the string hang down in a loop. Now bring the right hand close to the left, crossing at right angles that end of the cord held in the left hand, and continue to pull until half the length of the string has passed the left hand, at the same time slipping the third finger of the left hand between the two parts of the string.
The first finger and thumb of the right hand should then seize the string at a point just below the little finger of the left hand, the third finger of that hand at the same time drawing back the string toward the palm of the hand.
The part of the string now held horizontally between the two hands is only the continuation of the end held in the left hand, though it will appear to be the middle of the string.
This piece of the string some one of the audience should be invited to cut, and thus apparently divide the string in halves, although in fact he only cuts off two or three inches.
Place all the ends of the string between the teeth, withdraw the short piece with the tongue, and show the remainder, apparently as the string was at the commencement.
Of course, the string must not be measured, or the trick will be detected.
—————◀▶—————