The Anti-Gravitation Ball.—The performer produces a solid wooden ball, having a thick cord passing through it, and this he allows the company to examine. It is seen that the cord passes freely through the hole. Placing one end of the cord under his foot, he holds the other end at arm's length, so that the cord is perpendicular. With the disengaged hand, the ball is raised up to the other, and, on being released, of course falls to the ground; when, however, the performer gives the word for it to remain at the top of the cord, instead of descending, it obeys. He then points with the wand to a part of the cord a foot or so down, and the ball at once descends so far, and then stops dead. To any place on the cord that is indicated by the performer or any of the company the ball will stop and remain.
The secret of this is, that the hole is not drilled straight through the ball, but has an angle, or bend, in it. The result is, that when the cord is pulled tight the ball is held, but when it is slackened the ball falls, a sudden tightening being sufficient to arrest it in its career.
A very good form of ball is that now generally sold. It has a very large hole indeed, quite a dozen times larger than the cord passing through it. This hole is slightly tapered, and the cord is passed through a small plug fitting into the hole. This plug is concealed in the performer's hand as he holds the cord, at one end of which is a big knot, or tassel. The plug has a crooked hole drilled through it, and when the ball is run down the cord, so as to get the plug inside it, the two become one, and the ball behaves precisely as it would were it itself prepared. As the spectators, however, fancy the ball to be strung on a cord that is many times smaller than the opening, the force which causes the object to remain wherever it is ordered, in defiance of the laws of gravitation, is quite inexplicable. I once saw a Chinaman with a doll which went both up and down a cord. This was very ingenious and diverting, but was too obviously mechanical.
A neat way of performing this trick, and one which I recommend for drawing-room use, is to take a ball of worsted and thread it with cotton or thread, the threading not being done straight through the ball, but crookedly. This ball will then be found quite amenable to discipline, and, of course, not the least suspicion can attach to it, the worsted being borrowed from the hostess's work-basket, and the threading done before the company's eyes. In any form, this trick is not sufficiently important for the stage, there being no variety or change in it.
To Cause a Stick or Poker to Stand on End.—For this feat the performer must be provided with 2ft. or so of fine black cotton or silk, with a black pin at each end, securely tied on. The pins may be either bent or straight, and must be fixed in the trousers at the calf, one in each leg, which will enable the operator to walk about without any fear of the thread getting him into trouble. The performer first takes a stick or poker (if a poker, it should be a light one), and, after having had it examined, proceeds to mesmerise it, as he will call it. This mesmerism should be conducted with the greatest seriousness imaginable. When the magnetic influence has been properly aroused by rubbing, &c., the performer should sit down and open his legs, so causing the cotton or silk to become stretched. He then takes the stick or poker, and stands it upon the floor in front of him. On being left to itself, it, of course, falls to the ground, but after three or four failures, the performer brings it against the thread, and then, making several mesmeric passes with the hands, relinquishes all hold. The stick or poker will, of course, be supported by the thread, but during the whole time it is so sustained the hands must be waved over and around it, as though exercising some influence over it. Do not prolong this trick more than can possibly be avoided, but get out of sight and remove the pins and thread with all despatch. (See also [The Dancing Sailor].)
[CHAPTER XVI.]
THE CORNUCOPIAN HAT.
ON SKILL—CANNON-BALLS—CAULIFLOWERS—THE DISTRIBUTION—BONBONS AND FLOWERS—SHOWER OF CUPS—MULTIPLYING BALLS: HOW TO MAKE AND HOW TO PRODUCE THEM—BUNDLE OF FIREWOOD—RETICULES AND DOLLS: HOW TO MAKE THEM—BIRDCAGES—A FEAST OF LANTERNS—AN UNFORTUNATE CLIMAX: HOW TO GET OUT OF IT—THE FLYING HAT.
One of the most taking of all the tricks performed by the many public exhibitors is that in which a hat is borrowed from the audience, and at once from its interior are produced a quantity of heterogeneous articles, the nature and number of which cause, not only the greatest merriment, but also the most unbounded astonishment that they should ever have found lodgment in so unsuitable a receptacle as an ordinary "chimney-pot" hat. The reader will hardly require to be told that every article which is produced from the hat has first to be introduced into it by the performer, and on the skill with which this is done will the success of the trick depend. It must be understood that there is no middle degree of perfection allowed in performing this trick. No one must be able to say, "Yes; he got them in pretty well that time—I hardly noticed him." The motion which accompanies the introduction of any article or articles into a hat must be absolutely unobserved by anyone of the audience. No extraordinary degree of speed is required, for success will depend more upon the completeness of the arrangements made by the performer for the accomplishment of his designs than upon mere rapidity of movement, which, as I have often explained, is by itself of no use whatever, it being impossible for the human hand to make any movement openly so rapidly that it cannot be followed by the human eye. The object of the performer being to introduce certain articles into a hat without detection, anything falling below this accomplishment is imperfect; but, at the same time, anything which goes beyond this in a striving to obtain an ideal perfection is useless, and results in a mere waste of energy.