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How to Perform Them.
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A. B. COURTNEY,
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BOSTON, MASS.
The point of this trick consists in divining a word which is named, together with several others. Two of the players commonly agree between themselves to place it after an object that has four legs; for instance, a quadruped, a table, etc., etc.
Example.—If Emily wishes to have Henry guess the word which Susan has secretly told her, she says to him, “Susan has been shopping; she has bought a rose, a dress, some jewelry, a table, a bonnet, a shawl——” Henry, of course, will easily guess that the object in question is a bonnet, for the word “table,” which precedes it, has four legs.
Take half an ounce of camphor, dissolve it in two ounces of aqua vitæ, add to it one of quicksilver, one ounce of liquid storax, which is the droppings of myrrh, and prevents the camphor from firing; take also two ounces of hematis, which is a red stone, to be had at the druggists’; and when you buy it, let them beat it into a powder in their great mortar, for, being very hard, it cannot well be reduced in a small one; add this to the ingredients already specified, and when you purpose to walk upon the bar, anoint your feet well with it, and you may do so without the slightest danger.
Have two pieces of colored ribbon of exactly the same size and appearance, one of which, being damped, may be secured in the palm of the hand, previous to exhibiting. The other may be cut in pieces and burned in a plate by the audience. Taking now the ashes, you call for a basin of water, with which you moisten them, stating by the magical influence of the “cold water cure,” the color and form of the burned ribbon will be restored. Rubbing the damp ashes in the hand, you draw forth, at the same time, the concealed ribbon, which will appear to be the same that had been consumed.
By steeping an egg in vinegar for some time it can be made pliable enough to be stuffed into a bottle. Then restore the egg to its natural shape by pouring water into the bottle.
This requires a steady hand and smooth table. You simply set a tumbler upon a table near the edge and gently push the tumbler with your forefinger until it is very nicely balanced upon the edge of the table. Now by giving the tumbler a very gentle push again it will fall to the floor, striking upon its bottom edge, and remain standing either upon its bottom or lying upon its side perfectly sound. Be careful and have no covering upon the table, as the less friction you can get the surer you are to perform your trick.
This conjuring trick is performed thus: Procure two quarters and a half-dollar; conceal one of the quarters in the right hand; lay the other quarter and the half-dollar on a table, in full view of the audience; now ask for two handkerchiefs; then take the half-dollar up, and pretend to roll it in one of the handkerchiefs; but, in lieu thereof, roll up the quarter, which you had concealed, and retain the half-dollar; give the handkerchief to one of the company to hold; now take the quarter off the table, and pretend to roll that up in the second handkerchief; but put up the half-dollar instead; give this handkerchief to another person, and beg him to “hold it tight,” while you utter, “Presto! fly!” On opening the handkerchiefs the money will appear to have changed places. This is one of the best tricks in this book.
This is a somewhat singular trick. One of the party is placed behind a screen in an adjoining room, where he cannot possibly see the players—or may be blindfolded. One of the party must then call out, “Do you know Miss ——?” naming a lady’s name. “Yes.” “Do you know her dress?” “Yes.” “Her wreath, her slippers, her gloves and her bracelets?” “Yes.” “Her handkerchief?” “Yes.” “Her fan?” “Yes.” “Well, then, since you know her dress so well, tell me what article of her costume I am now touching?” If the one behind the screen is acquainted with the trick, he will, of course, answer directly, “her bracelet,” the only article mentioned which has the word “and” before it.
To tell in which hand of a person, having an odd number in one hand and an even number in the other, the odd or even number is. Desire the person to multiply the number in his right hand by a figure which is an odd number, and the number in his left by an even one; and to say if the products added together are odd or even. If even, the even number is in the right hand; if odd, the even number is in the left hand.
Desire any person in company to draw a card from the pack, and when he has looked at it, to return it to you with its face downward; then, pretending to weigh it nicely, take notice of any particular mark on the back of the card, which, having done, put it among the rest of the cards, and desire the person to shuffle them as much as he pleases; then, receiving the pack from his hands, you pretend to weigh each card as before, and proceed in this way until you discover, from the back of it, the particular card he selected.
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Take a large apple and cut out a few pieces in the shape of candle-ends, round at the bottom and flat at the top, in fact, as much like a piece of candle as possible. Now cut some slips from a sweet almond, as near as you can to resemble a wick, and stick them into the imitation candles. Light them for an instant to make the tops black, blow them out, and they are ready for the trick. One or two should be artfully placed in a snuffer-tray, or candlestick; you then inform your friends that during your “travels in the Russian Empire,” you learned, like the Russians, to be fond of candles; at the same time lighting your artificial candles (the almonds will readily take fire and flame for a few seconds), pop them into your mouth, and swallow them one after the other.
Upon a table place three pieces of bread, or any other eatable, at a little distance from each other, and cover each with a hat, take up the first hat, and removing the bread put it into your mouth, letting the company see that you swallow it, then raise the second hat, and eat the bread which was under that, then proceed to the third hat in the same manner. Having eaten the three pieces, ask any person in the company to choose which hat he would like the three pieces of bread to be under, and when he has made his choice of one of the hats, put it on your head, and ask him if he does not think they are under it. By the way, if you are interested in tricks, let us call your attention to Prof. Roltair’s celebrated cabinet of magic. It contains twenty-five new and startling tricks with complete apparatus, so that you can easily give a two hour’s entertainment. Among the numerous tricks are: The load of articles from a borrowed hat, such as cannon balls, cabbages, boxes, etc.; the famous ink and water trick, with apparatus, so that you can instantly change a glass of ink to clear water, new and surprising card tricks including a pack of wizard’s cards, the famous dancing skeleton, true secret of ventriloquism, by means of which you can learn to throw the voice into hay-lofts, closets, trunks, etc., magic wand, and many other wonderful sleight of hand marvels are all contained in Prof. Roltair’s cabinet. The regular price is two dollars, but you can now obtain it, complete, postpaid, by sending fifty cents in stamps or money order to W. S. Everett & Co., 113 Munroe Street, Lynn, Mass., or the firm from whom you purchased this book.
“Is silver a visible or invisible thing?” What a singular question! You will reply, certainly silver is a visible thing. A good many poor creatures, however, are of a different opinion; and possibly they are not altogether wrong, as we are about to show.
Will you kindly lend me a quarter, having first marked it, that you may know it again. Very well! There is a little handkerchief which will serve for me to make the experiment I have promised you. In the middle of this handkerchief, as you will perceive, I will put the quarter, which you have marked with a small cross. I am only folding the handkerchief that the quarter may be well wrapped up in it; you can have no difficulty in recognizing its shape. However! You are suspicious! I will make an improvement. There, sir, hold the handkerchief yourself, first above the little parcel formed by the coin. You may touch it, and convince yourself that it is still in its place. Now, I take the handkerchief by the opposite corner, I draw it toward me, unfolding it entirely; I then turn it over, shake it, and wave it in the air, to convince you that the coin has disappeared. The fact is evident. But, did you see it go? No! Certainly, then, silver is sometimes an invisible body.
Which fact you may prove by the foregoing process, if you have a handkerchief in one corner of which a quarter dollar has been sewed. You appear to put the borrowed quarter in the middle of the said handkerchief; then, instead of this coin, which you retain in your hand, concealed between the fore and middle fingers, you fold the handkerchief making the little parcel in the middle with the quarter sewed in the corner, in a sort of hem, so that the coin is not seen, and cannot drop out. When you quickly pull the handkerchief out of the hand which held it, the illusion is complete.
As to the marked coin which it is easy for you to have put on the table, or in your pocket, you may make it reappear in a cup, a box, or anything else, which adds to the effect of the trick you have performed.
This is an animated figure, fourteen inches high. It represents a skeleton, miniature but lifelike in appearance. You may pass it around for examination, then stand it upon the floor and it will begin to dance without any visible motive power. Just think of it! People will imagine that ghosts or demons are near. This trick can be done in any room very easily. The skeleton will dance to music, jump, lie down, etc., just as you command. We will send the apparatus and secret of Wizard Skeleton for 6 cents in stamps. Address, A. B. Courtney & Co., 493 Washington street, Lynn, Mass., or the firm from whom you purchased this book.
Present a person with a slip of paper, a pen and a tumbler of water, and desire him to dip the pen in the tumbler, and write down whatever he pleases. When dry, the words will be invisible, but, if the paper is immersed in the contents of the tumbler, the writing will make its appearance quite distinctly. To perform this the pen should be a quill one, and new, and the water in the tumbler should have one or two crystals of sulphate of iron (green vitriol) previously dissolved in it, while the writer should be careful the pen does not get dry in use. When the writing has been executed, the tumbler should be taken away, on pretence of the water being rather dirty, and wanting changing; another similar tumbler is brought back, filled to the same height with water, in which a few drops of tincture of galls have been poured. When the paper is immersed in this, the writing will quickly appear.
To make an egg stand on one end on any polished surface seems very extraordinary, yet it can be done, even on a looking-glass. Now, from the form of an egg, nothing is more liable to roll, and on nothing more so than on a looking-glass. To accomplish this trick, let the performer take an egg in his hand, and while he keeps talking and staring in the face of his audience give it two or three hearty shakes; this will break the yolk, which will sink to one end, and consequently make it more heavy, by which when it is settled you may make it, with a steady hand, stand upon the glass; this would be impossible while it continued in its proper state.
Previously provide yourself with a piece of brass wire pointed at both ends, and bent round so as to form a ring about the size of a wedding-ring, which conceal in your hand; then commence your performance by borrowing from a gentleman a silk pocket-handkerchief, and from a lady a wedding-ring; request some person to hold two of the corners of the handkerchief, and another to hold the other two, keeping them at full stretch. You next exhibit the wedding-ring to the company, and announce to them that you will make it pass through the handkerchief. Then place your hand under the handkerchief, and substituting the false ring which you have previously concealed, press it against the centre of the handkerchief, and desire a third person to take hold of the ring through the handkerchief, and to close his finger and thumb through the middle of the ring. Hold the handkerchief in this manner to show that the ring has not been placed within a fold. Now desire the persons holding the corners of the handkerchief to let go, the person holding the ring (through the handkerchief as already described) still retaining his hold. Let another person now grasp the handkerchief as tight as he pleases three or four inches below the ring, and tell the person holding the ring to let it go, when it will be quite evident to the company that the ring is secure within the centre of the handkerchief. Then request the person who grasps the handkerchief to hold a hat over it, pass your hand underneath and open the false ring, by bending one of its points a little aside, and bring one point gently through the handkerchief, the remainder may easily be drawn out,—be careful to rub the hole you have made in the handkerchief with your finger and thumb to conceal the fracture. You then put the wedding-ring you borrowed over the outside of the handkerchief, and desiring the person who holds the hat to take it away, exhibit the ring (placed as described) to the company, and while their attention is engaged, taking the opportunity of concealing, or getting rid of the brass ring.
You request some one of the company to lend you a watch, and put it immediately into a mortar; a few moments afterward you cause it to be pounded, by another person, with a pestle; you exhibit the wheels, face, mainspring, and drum barrel broken and smashed; and finally, after a few minutes, you return the watch, whole and safe, to the proprietor, who recognizes it.
After all that we have said, it will easily be perceived that the mortar must be placed near the trap in the table of which we spoke in the last trick, and covered with a napkin, in order that the confederate may substitute another watch.
To produce a complete illusion in this case, you must take care to put in the mortar a second watch, the hands, works, and case of which should, in some degree, resemble those of the borrowed one. And this is by no means difficult; for you can either have an understanding with the person lending the watch, or you may manage to ask the loan of some one whom you have seen elsewhere, and whose watch you may have had an opportunity of examining shortly before, with a view of procuring a similar one.
After replacing the fragments in the mortar, cover them a second time with the napkin, and amuse the company with a riddle or conundrum, or by some other tricks, to give your partner time to collect all the bits, and replace the perfect watch in the mortar.
The principal actor in this trick takes his place in the center of the room armed with a long stick, with which he describes several circles, etc., on the carpet, at the same time muttering a mock incantation, after which he touches one of the company (his accomplice) on the shoulder, bidding him quit the room, preparatory to guessing on whom the magic stick would pause in its evolutions. The magician then touches several of the company, one after another, lightly, with his wand, each time saying, “The wand passes,” until he allows it to pause at one particular person, saying, “The wand rests.” His accomplice immediately names the person who has spoken last; this being the one indicated by the stick. The person leaving the room must, of course, be within hearing, and the magician must artfully encourage the company to keep up a conversation.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Punctuation has been made consistent.