Carl was doing very well. He had several new tricks, some of which he thought would please the children. One was called “Milk or Water,” and was brought out the day after Leo had the adventure just described.
“I will now show you how easy it is to change water into milk,” said the young magician as he mounted the platform in the circus ring. “Will some one kindly hand me a glass of water? I have the milk here,” and he took up a small pitcher and passed it around for inspection.
The glass of water was brought and he placed it on the table and covered it with a handkerchief. Then he tapped the glass and also the pitcher.
Removing the handkerchief, he held up the glass. Sure enough, there was the white milk, as plain as day. Taking up the pitcher, Carl turned it upside down to show it was empty.
“Now we’ll change them back,” he said. Another tap, and lo! the glass was full of water and the milk was in the pitcher again.
A burst of applause followed.
This trick was simplicity itself. The pitcher really had milk in it, and the glass was full of water all the time.
When Carl covered the glass with a handkerchief he slipped into the water a bit of white cardboard, which standing upright made the water look like milk.
While the audience were inspecting the glass as he held it up he pressed over the top of the pitcher, inside, a circular card which exactly fitted the opening. This enabled him to turn the pitcher over for a second without spilling any milk.
To turn the milk in the glass to water again, he had but to remove the card. The card in the pitcher was also removed as the receptacle was handed around for inspection after the trick was done.