Now take one cup and dip it into the bag of seed, but instead of filling it, turn it upside down, so that when you take it out the seed glued to the bottom will show, and every one will think it is full.
Place the apparently full cup of seed under a hat, but in doing so dexterously turn it so that the empty cup is upright and the glued seed at the bottom. Don’t let your audience see this turn.
Now take the other cup, which is empty, and let them see you put it under another hat, but also turn this one, so that they do not see you do it. This brings the seed to the top and shows an apparently full cup, and when you remove the hat, after pronouncing some magic words, it will look as if the cups had changed places.
Remove the cups before any one has a chance to examine them.
The Elusive Cork. Lay any bottle of fair size with an open mouth on its side, and lay in the mouth of the bottle a piece of cork about the size of a pea. Ask any of the spectators to try to blow the cork into the bottle, and, try as they may, they will find that they cannot do it, as the piece of cork will always fly back in the face of the blower.
The Three Pennies. Three pennies are placed flat on the table, two tails and one head. The two tails are together and the head penny is some inches away. The coin with the head upwards must be placed between the other two coins without the tail penny nearest the head being taken away, and the other coin must not be touched. People not in the secret will not attempt to solve the problem, as they say it cannot be done.
This seemingly impossible trick is quite simple once you have learned the secret. Throw the head penny flat with some force, striking the tail penny nearest, at the same time holding the coin. This action will shoot the second coin (which you must not touch) and throw it some distance away. All that is left to be done is to put the head penny between the two coins.
A Lesson in Gravity. Stand against the wall with the left side, the cheek, hip, and foot touching it; then try lifting the right leg without moving the body away from the wall. It is laughable to see children trying to perform this feat, for it is one of the things that are impossible to accomplish.
The Tantalizing Half-dollar. Place a boy with his back against the wall, his heels standing firmly against it. Lay a half-dollar on the floor in front of him, about a foot distant from his toes, and tell him it is his if he can pick it up without moving his heels from against the wall. In vain will he try to get the coin under the conditions prescribed, for this feat is another of the impossible ones.