Passing a Card to Top of Pack. Take off the top card of the pack and show it. We will suppose it is the eight of hearts. Call attention to it and put it back on the top of the pack. Then, without exposing the face of the card, take it off the top of the pack again and put it in the centre of the pack. Do not push it fully in until you have held the pack up and shown that the card is what you said it was—the eight of hearts. Then square up the pack. Take off the top card and show it to your audience. It is the eight of hearts which has apparently jumped from the centre of the pack, where you put it, to the top.
Some one may say, “You have two eights of hearts.” Give the pack to be examined and your friends will find that the pack is quite regular.
To do this, arrange the pack in such a way that the seven of hearts is on top, and the eight of hearts above that. When you show the top card you really slide off the two top cards together. Hold them with the thumb at one end and two fingers at the other and the first finger at one side. If you bend the card slightly, there will be less chance of any one noticing that you are holding two cards. You call attention to the fact that the top card is the eight of hearts, and put the two cards, still held as one, back on the top of the pack. Then you draw off the top card, which is the seven of hearts, and slip it into the centre of the pack. Show part of the card just before you push it way in, and if you contrive to keep a finger over the index in the corner, nobody will know that the card is not the eight of hearts.
It is now in the hands of the performer to make the rest of the trick as mysterious as possible.
The Trick of “Thirty-one.” A trick often introduced by sporting men for the purpose of deceiving and making money is called “thirty-one.” It is played with the first six cards of each suit,—the aces in one row, the deuces in another, the threes in another; then the fours, fives, and sixes—all laid in rows. The object now will be to turn down cards alternately and endeavor to make thirty-one points by so turning, or as near to it as possible without overrunning it; the one who turns down a card, the spots of which make thirty-one or so near it that the other cannot turn down one without overrunning it, wins. The chief point of this trick, is, to count so as to end with the following numbers, namely 3, 10, 17, or 24. For example, we will suppose that you are to begin, you would commence with 3, your opponent would add 6, which would make 9; it would then be your policy to add 1, and make 10; then, no matter what number he adds, he cannot prevent you from counting seventeen, which number gives you the command of the trick. We will suppose he adds six, and makes sixteen; then, you make 24, then he cannot possibly add any one number to count 31, as the highest number he can add is 6, which would only count 30, so that you can easily add the remaining 1, or ace, and make 31.
SOAP-BUBBLES
Blowing Soap-bubbles. Secure a lot of clean clay pipes, and to make your bubble solution, take a preserve-jar and fill two-thirds full of boiling water, add three ounces of finely shaven Castile soap, a teaspoonful of sugar and four tablespoonfuls of glycerine, shake this mixture thoroughly and then strain it through a piece of white cloth. Your solution is now ready for use. Strawberry or cranberry juice will make pink bubbles, and orange juice will make yellow ones. Any color may be obtained by the use of aniline dyes. It is better to let the solution stand two or three hours before using. Cover the dining-room table with a soft woolen cover, place as many finger-bowls around as guests, or one large bowl, and fill with the thick soapy water. Have ready a good-sized wicket, made by bending a wire and putting each end into a bottle, so it will stand firmly. Place it in the centre of the table and request the guests to choose sides. Present each boy with a clay pipe and each girl with a fan, to which is attached a tally card. Arrange the boys and girls on opposite sides of the table. The boy nearest the head of the table takes the bowl and with his pipe blows a bubble. His partner, or the girl opposite him, fans it, endeavoring to make it go through and pass the arch without breaking. If it passes successfully, a gold star is placed on the tally; if it breaks before reaching the arch, a green star denotes the player’s failure. Each boy may blow the number of bubbles agreed upon. After receiving their stars, the boy and girl pass to the foot of the table, and the next boy and girl move up and try their skill at blowing bubbles. The game is ended in six rounds.
Fantastic Soap-bubbles. Ordinary soap-bubbles are blown with a pipe, a straw, or small horn of some sort. If a straw is used, split one end into quarters, about one half-inch long, and bend the parts back at right angles to the straw. The horn should be larger at one end, but, if you wish to obtain bubbles, as large as your head, you must have recourse to objects of quite different nature. Place around the body of a bottle a piece of common wire, and twist the ends together in order to form a handle for the ring which is thus obtained. Steep this ring in the soapy water. Take it out carefully, and you will perceive that the ring is furnished, on the inside, with a thin covering or skin of soapy water. Now hold the ring vertically before your mouth and blow gently but continuously at the centre of the soapy covering. Fashion two rings with handles out of plain wire. The ring can be about six inches in diameter. Cover one of the rings with felt. With this ring and with practice, you can send the bubbles away up into the air, and keep a half-dozen floating at one time. Then blow a big bubble, holding the empty ring with a handle in the left hand, and under the pipe. When the bubble grows large, it will stick to the ring. Now, carefully take out the pipe, dip into the soapy water and put the bowl of the pipe up inside of the ring into the big bubble, and blow a small one inside. Then, with a swing and a side movement, liberate both bubbles into the air. It may take a few failures to make a success of it. With two felt rings, “battledore and shuttlecock” can be successfully played with soap-bubbles. Take a clay pipe, fill up with cotton wadding loosely and keep in place at mouth of bowl by a wire screen. Wet cotton with gasoline. Let the bubbles float in air and light them with candle, and they will explode with a big flame. Smoke-bubbles may be made by blowing in smoke after the bubble has been well started.