THE FOUR ASSOCIATES.
Let a person draw four cards from the pack, and tell him to think of one of them. When he returns you the four cards, dextrously place two of them under the pack, and two on the top. Under those at the bottom you place four cards of any sort, and then, taking eight or ten from the bottom cards, you spread them on the table, and ask the person if the card he fixed on be among them. If he say no, you are sure it is one of the two cards on the top. You then pass these two cards to the bottom, and drawing off the lowest of them, you ask if that be not his card. If he again say no, you take that card up, and bid him draw his card from the bottom of the pack. If the person say his card is among those you first drew from the bottom, you must dextrously take up the four cards that you put under them, and placing those on the top, let the other two be the bottom cards of the pack, which draw in the manner before described.
HOW TO CHANGE CARDS TO PICTURES.
Take a pack of cards, and paint the backs of one half of the pack with what figures you think fit, as men, birds, women, flowers, &c. Also, paint the faces of the other half of the cards in the same manner; thus, you will have a complete pack of odd pictures, and may—by showing the faces of that part of the pack whose backs only have been painted, and then by a momentary shuffle, apparently transforming them into a set of grotesque figures—produce much amusement.
There is another manner of making the pack; it is as follows:—Take a dozen cards or more, and draw a line from the right-hand upper corner, to the left-hand lower corner of the face of each of them; they will thus be all equally divided. Then paint part of some odd figure on the right division of each card, leaving the left untouched. By a little dexterity, you may now seem to transform a set of common cards into a painted pack.
MAGIC DISAPPEARANCE.
Divide the pack, placing one half in the palm of the left hand, with the face of the cards downwards; then take the balance of the pack in the right hand, holding them between the thumb and three first fingers, and place the cards upright, so that the edges of the cards in your right hand will rest upon the back of those lying in the palm of the left hand perpendicularly, and forming a right angle with them, by which means you will perceive that the four fingers of the left hand touch the last card of the upright cards in your right hand. Be sure you get this position correctly, for the rest of the trick is very simple. You now request any one of your audience to examine the top card of the half pack that rests in the palm of your left hand, and to replace it again. Having done this, you request him to look at it again, and to his amazement it will have disappeared, and another card will appear in its place.
To perform this trick after you have assumed the position already described, you must dampen the tips of the four fingers that rest against the last card of the upright cards in your right hand. You must now raise the upright cards in your right hand very quickly, and the last card, No. 1, will adhere to the dampened fingers of your left hand.
As you raise the upright cards you must close your left hand skilfully, and you will thereby place the last card of the upright cards—which adheres to the fingers of your left hand—upon the top of the cards in the palm of your left hand, and when you request the person who examined the top card in your hand to look at it once more, he will see the card you have just placed there, instead of the card he first examined.