This is a very amusing deception. You ask any one for a handkerchief, and tie the ends firmly together in a double knot, allowing him to feel it, or pull the ends as tight as he pleases. You then throw the centre of the handkerchief over the knot, and ask the person to hold it tight between his finger and thumb. You ask him if the knot is still there, to which he will answer in the affirmative. You then take hold of any part of the handkerchief, and direct the holder to drop the handkerchief at the word “three.” You count, “one, two, three,” at which word he looses his hold of the handkerchief, and there is no vestige left of the knot.
The method of managing this trick is as follows:—Take the handkerchief and tie the ends in a simple knot, keeping one end tight, and the other end loose. We will call the tight end A, and the loose one B. Keep A always in the right hand, and on the stretch horizontally, and the handkerchief will look as in the cut. Do this when you tie it the second time, and draw B tight, which will then form a double tie round A, but will not hold it firm. When you throw the handkerchief over the knot, you draw out A with the finger and thumb of the left hand, and the knot will apparently remain firm, although in reality it is nothing but a double twist of silk, which of course falls loose when the handkerchief is dropped.
16. TO PUT NUTS INTO YOUR EAR.
Take three nuts in the left hand, show them, and take out one of them between your right finger and thumb, and another between the first and third finger. This latter is not seen by the company. You then put one of them in your mouth and retain it there, unknown to the spectators, while you exhibit the second as the one that you put into your mouth. This second one you carry to your ear, as if you meant to insert it there, and on replacing it in your left hand, only two nuts will be left instead of three, the third of which appears to have gone into your ear.
17. TO CRACK WALNUTS IN YOUR ELBOW.
Conceal a very strong walnut in your right hand, and take two other walnuts out of the dish. Place one of them on the joint of your arm, and say that you are going to break it by the power of your muscles. You will now have one walnut in your arm and two in your right hand. Close your left arm, and strike it an apparently violent blow with the right hand, at the same time clenching the right hand violently, which will smash the second walnut in it, and the spectators hearing the crash will be sure to fancy that it is caused by the demolition of the walnut in your arm. Then open you arm very gently (for fear of dropping any of the fragments, you must say), and, when pretending to take out the walnut which you had placed there, you substitute for it the broken one from your right hand.
18. TO TAKE FEATHERS OUT OF AN EMPTY HANDKERCHIEF.
Procure at the military clothier’s four or five large plumes, such as are worn by officers. Take off your coat, and lay the plumes along your arms, the stem being toward your hand. Now put on your coat again, and the feathers will lie quite smoothly and unsuspected. Borrow a handkerchief from one of the spectators, and wave it about to show that it is empty. Throw it over your left hand, and with the right draw out one of the plumes from up the coat-sleeve, at the same time giving it a flourish in the air, which will loosen all the fibres of the feather, and make it appear much too large to have been concealed about the person. Wave the handkerchief again, and repeat the operation until all the plumes are gone. You can carry enough plumes under the sleeve to cover a table with, and if you prepare a board or an ornamental vase full of holes, you can place the plumes upright as you take them out.