SPIRIT SLATES.
The writing was done in advance; but upon the written side of the slate, A, there had been placed a thin sheet of black cardboard which hid the characters written with chalk. The two sides of this slate thus appeared absolutely clean.
The slate B is first given out for examination, and after it has been returned to him, the operator says: “Do you want to examine the other one also?” And then, without any haste, he makes a pass analogous to that employed in shuffling cards. The slate A being held by the thumb and forefinger of the left hand and the slate B between the fore and middle finger of the right hand ([Fig. 1]), the two hands are brought together. But at the moment at which the slates are superposed, the thumb and forefinger of the right hand grasp the slate A, while at the same time the fore and middle finger of the left hand take the slate B. Then the two hands separate anew, and the slate that has already been examined, instead of the second one, is put into the hands of the spectator. This shifting, done with deliberation, is entirely invisible.
During the second examination the slate A is laid flat upon a table, the written face turned upward and covered with black cardboard. The slate having been sufficiently examined, and been returned to the operator, the latter lays it upon the first, and both are then surrounded by the rubber band.
It is then that the operator holds up the slates with the left hand, of which one sees but the thumb, while upon the posterior face of the second slate the nail of his middle finger makes a sound resembling that produced by chalk when written with. When the operator judges that this little comedy has lasted quite long enough, he lays the two slates horizontally upon his table, taking care this time that the non-prepared slate shall be beneath ([Fig. 2]). It is upon it that the black cardboard rests; and the other slate, on being raised, shows the characters that it bears, and that are stated to have been written by an invisible spirit that slipped in between the two slates.
SECOND SIGHT.
“The trick is performed as follows,” says Judge James Bartlett in the Popular Science News: “Each person in the audience is presented with a slip of paper, upon which to write anything he or she may choose. The paper written upon is immediately secreted by the writer, as much care as possible being taken that no one else sees what is written upon it. The performer, who has been absent from the room while this is being done, is brought in and led, as if in a state of trance, to a chair within full view of every one present. A light piece of drapery is thrown over him so that he is completely covered by it, and yet it is thin enough to be translucent, and it can be seen he has not gone down through the floor or ascended up through the ceiling. The audience is told the drapery prevents the sphere or influence or spell that surrounds him from being dissipated. He now begins and repeats, word for word, the sentences written upon any or all the slips of paper. Nothing can be more astonishing; the paper has not left the possession of the writers; it is equally certain that it is impossible that another person could have seen what was thereon written, and yet the trick is as simple as it is surprising, and that is certainly saying a great deal.
“The explanation is as follows: In order to write anything upon the slip of paper given out, one must have something firm and flat upon which to place it, and for this purpose bits of pasteboard of a convenient size are handed about the audience. The pasteboard, however, is not solid, as it seems to be; the uppermost layer of paper can be separated at one of the edges from the layers beneath it, and into this slip white paper introduced. The uppermost layer of paper is blacked with crayon or soft pencil on its under side, and whatever is written upon the paper resting upon it is faithfully stenciled or traced upon the white paper inserted. The pasteboards, being collected, are taken out of the room and given to the performer by his assistant, who may or may not be a confederate. That is, if the performer is very skillful, he may dupe his assistant as well as his audience. He may tell him, for instance, it is necessary for him to have these pasteboard rests and pass his fingers over them so that he can become en rapport with the person with whom they were in contact. It is better, however, at least at first, to have a confederate. The rest is easy enough. The inserted slips of tell-tale papers are collected and carried with him by the performer, who manages to read them either through a hole in the drapery or by the light that sifts through it as he sits covered up in his chair with his back to the audience. It is well, sometimes, not to have enough pasteboard cards to go round the audience, and give apparently at haphazard a book, an atlas or portfolio, which, of course, has been neatly covered with paper or cloth and supplied with blackened and with white paper as are the pasteboard cards.
“If anything should happen that would prevent reading any particular strip of paper, the performer may at once say that he does not pretend to be able to read all, but only such sentences as appear to his mental vision. This will add to the effect and make the trick appear all the more mysterious. In supplying pencils to your audience be sure to give them good, hard ones, that will require some pressure to make the writing legible; be careful, too, that the paper with which you furnish them is rather thin, so that you will get a good tracing on that you have inserted in the pasteboard rest. As each slip is read by the performer the assistant should ask if any one in the audience wrote that sentence and if it is correctly repeated, and then, stepping to the writer and taking the slip from him or her, he should himself read it aloud and show it to any one desirous of seeing it; this enhances the wonder and interest of the performance, and also gives the performer time to decipher the next slip. It is well to have the sentences take the form of questions which the performer can read, comment upon, and answer in an oracular way, especially as this takes up time, and consequently gives fewer selected slips to read during the period allotted to the trick; for to read a few is quite as wonderful as to read many.