Three Hundred Things a Bright Boy Can Do

by Unknown

To Tell a Card Thought of.—Take twenty-one cards of a pack, and deal them out one by one in three lots, requesting someone to think of a card, and remember in which lot it is. Having dealt out the cards, ask him in which lot the card is. Take up the lots successively, and place the lot containing the card in the middle. Deal out the cards again, and ask him to state in which lot the card is; and proceed as before, placing the lot containing the card in the middle. Deal out the cards in like manner a third time, proceeding as before. Then deal them out as usual, and the eleventh card will be the one thought of, infallibly. This is the usual way of showing the card thought of; but, as the trick may be partly discovered by the counting, it is better to hold the cards in your hand, and take out the eleventh card, counting to yourself, of course, from the left hand, but pretending to be considering the guess.

Cheating the Maid.—For this amusing trick you arrange the cards thus: Holding the pack in your hands, find all the knaves, place one of them next to your left hand, and the other three on the table. Then find a queen, which also place on the table. Then say:—“Three scamps went into a tavern, and ordered drink. Here they are—the three knaves. ‘Who’s to pay? I can’t,’ said the first. ‘I won’t,’ said the second. ‘I wish she may get it,’ said the third. ‘I’ll manage it,’ said the first, the greatest rogue of the three. ‘I say, my pretty girl, haven’t you some very old wine in your cellar?’ Here’s the barmaid thus addressed by the rogue in question (showing the queen), and she replied:—‘Oh, yes, sir, prime old wine.’ ‘Let’s have a bottle.’ Off went the barmaid. (Put the queen in your pocket.) ‘Now for it, my lads,’ said the knave in question; ’”run" is the word. Let’s be off in opposite directions, and meet to-night; you know where.’ Hereupon they decamped, taking opposite directions, which I will indicate by placing one on the top of the pack, one at the bottom, and the other in the middle.

"When the poor barmaid returned (taking out the queen from your pocket) with the wine, great was her astonishment to find the room empty. ‘Lor!’ she exclaimed, ‘why, I do declare—did you ever!—Oh! but I’m not agoing to be sarved so. I’ll catch the rogues, all of them—that I will.’ And off she went after them, as shown by placing her on or after the first.

"Now, to catch the three seems impossible; but the ladies have always smiled at impossibilities, and wonders never cease; for, if you have the goodness to cut these cards, you will find that she has caught the three rogues." When the cards are cut, proceed in the usual way after cutting; and taking up the cards, you will find the queen and three knaves together, which you take out and exhibit to the astonished audience. One of these knaves is not one of the three first exhibited, but the one which you slipped on your left hand at first. There is no chance of detection, however; simply for the reason before given—nobody suspects the trick.

Another Guessing Trick.—Lay out twenty cards of any kind, two by two, and request a friend to think of two in a line; that is, one of the ten sets formed by the twenty cards. This done you take up the sets in the order in which they lie, and place them in rows according to the letters of the following words:—

You may use a diagram like the above, but as the words are easily retained it had better be dispensed with, distributing the cards on the table just as though upon the diagram, which will make the trick more puzzling and extraordinary. Proceed as follows:—Place the cards two by two on similar letters: thus, place the two cards of the first set on the two d’s in dedit; the two cards of the second set on the two i’s of cicos and dedit; the two of the third set on the two c’s, and so on with the ten sets.

All the letters of the words being thus covered, ask the friend who has thought of the cards to tell you in which lines these cards are. If both are in the first line (cicos), they must be those on the two c’s; if they are both in the second line, they cover the d’s in dedit; both in the third line, they cover the u’s in tumus; both in the fourth, they cover the n’s in nemon.

If one be in the first line and the other in the second, they cover the i’s in cicos and dedit, and thus of the rest—the two cards thought of necessarily covering two similar letters, whilst each of the letters occurs only twice in the diagram.