A rainy day is a good time to practice various tricks and puzzles so as to perfect yourself in performing them.
Balancing Tricks
There are a number of balancing tricks which are easy and ingenious. The secret of most such tricks is in keeping the centre of gravity low, and when this idea is once mastered you can invent tricks to suit yourself. For instance a tea-cup can be balanced on the point of a pencil thus: put a cork through the handle of the cup (it should be just large enough to be pushed in firmly) and stick a fork into it, with two prongs on each side of the handle, and with the handle under the bottom of the cup. (Fig. 1.) The centre of gravity is thus made low, and if you experiment a little and have a little skill, and a steady hand you can balance the whole on a pencil's point.
Or you can balance a coin edgeway on a needle's point. The needle is stuck firmly into the cork of a bottle, and the coin is fixed in a slit cut in a cork, in which two forks are stuck. (Fig. 2.)
The simplest of these tricks is to balance a pencil on the tip of your finger by sticking two pen-knives in it, one on each side. (Fig. 3.)
A cork with two forks stuck in it can be made to balance almost anywhere—on the neck of a bottle from which the contents are being poured for instance. (See fig. 4.)
Amusing toys can be constructed on this principle. Tumbling dolls are made of light wood or cork, glued to the flat side of a half bullet. No matter how often they are knocked flat, they rise again at once.
The Dancing Egg
Another good trick that needs a little practice is to make an egg dance. Boil an egg hard, keeping it in an upright position (between cups set in the water or in some other way). Then turn a plate bottom side up and put the egg on it. Turn the plate around, more and more quickly, always holding it flat and level, and the egg will rise on its end and stand quite straight while it spins about.