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TRICKS WITH COMMON OBJECTS
ON RAPIDITY AND DECEPTION-MISDIRECTION-A JAPANESE SUGAR TRICK-"FLY AWAY, JACK; FLY AWAY, JOHN: COME AGAIN, JACK; COME AGAIN, JOHN "-A "RISING BLADE "-TO RESTORE A PIECE OF COTTON THAT HAS BEEN CUT UP IN SMALL PIECES--TO PASS A RING FROM A HANDKERCHIEF ON TO A WAND HELD AT EACH END-A SECOND METHOD-A THIRD METHOD.
Knives, I think I may say, are
also tolerably common articles, and some good tricks are
performed with them. Take a cheese knife and four tiny squares of
paper. Stand facing your audience, however small it may be, and,
wetting the papers separately, stick two on each side of the
blade, taking care that the positions on both sides correspond as
nearly as possible. Hold the knife before you in the fingers of
the right hand (Fig. 19), and in such a position that
only one side of the blade is visible. With the thumb and finger
of the left hand remove the piece of paper nearest the handle,
and, putting your hand behind your back, make a feint of throwing
it away, without actually doing so. Now, with a rapid movement,
cause the knife to describe a half circle in the air still with
the same side uppermost; but the position of the hand will be
slightly altered (Fig. 20), which will lead the audience to think
that the knife has been actually turned over. Barely before the
movement is completed a finger of the left hand must be upon the
spot recently occupied by the piece of paper, as if taking off a
second piece from the opposite
side. The first piece, which has all the time been in the left
hand, is thus made to do duty twice. The second time, it is
dropped on the floor in full view of the audience, accompanied by
the remark, "that makes the second piece." Now remove the other
piece of paper, and repeat the manoeuvre executed with the first
piece, taking the greatest care that only one side of the blade
is visible, and that the finger of the left hand, with
the concealed paper, is down upon the vacant spot before the
spectators' eyes can rest there. Having ostensibly removed the
fourth and last piece of paper, the knife is supposed to be
empty, which you boldly declare to be the case, making a rapid
backward and forward movement with the blank side to prove it.
You then say you will cause the papers to re-appear upon the
knife instantaneously. All you have to do is to put your hand
behind your back and reverse the position of the knife so that
the side of the blade with the two pieces of paper still remaining
upon it is uppermost. Bringing the knife again to the front, make
another quick backward and forward movement, saying, "Here are
the papers back again on both sides as before," and then, without
any further preliminaries, draw the blade through the fingers and
cause the two papers to fall upon the floor. If this final
movement is not executed, the audience will, when they have
recovered their senses, point to the two papers which you dropped
on the floor during the performance of the trick, and want to
know why they are there and not on the knife. Continued rapidity
of motion is what is required for the success of this trick,
There must be no halting in the middle or hesitation of any kind,
to avoid which practice in private will be essential, as, indeed,
it will be with every trick worth doing at all.Borrow a light penknife, and take care that it is not too sharp, and has a good deep notch at the haft. You are previously prepared with about two feet of very fine black silk, one end of which is attached to a button of your vest, the other end being furnished with a loop large enough to pass over a finger. This can either be wound round the button, or can hang loosely, with the free end looped up. I prefer the latter method, and have never found it lead to any inconvenience, which at first sight it appears extremely likely to do. Also borrow a hock or champagne bottle; pint size preferred. First send round the knife to be examined, and, whilst the examination is going on, get the loop of the silk over the end of one of the fingers of the left hand, When the knife is returned to you, and not before, give the bottle to be examined, and distract the attention of the audience by allusions to the "departed spirits" of the bottle, and admonitions to be sure and see that the bottom does not take out. By the time the bottle comes back you have slipped the loop over the blade of the knife and allowed it to catch in the notch, where cause it to remain. If the knife is a sharp one, extra caution must be observed, or the silk will be severed, This actually happened to me on one occasion, so I speak from experience. By sending the bottle away to be cleaned, I gained sufficient time to tie another loop in the silk, and went on as usual; but the incident was not a particularly cheerful one taken altogether-there was too much "glorious uncertainty" about it. Take the knife upside down, i.e., with the sharp edge of the blade uppermost, between the finger and thumb, hold the silk sufficiently taut to keep the loop in position by means of the other fingers, and drop the whole into the bottle. This must not
be done with the
bottle in a perpendicular position (in which case the loop will
probably either break or slip off the knife), but with it
inclined at an angle of about 45deg. (Fig. 21). This will allow
the knife to slide down at a safe speed and yet reach the bottom
with a good "thud." Having satisfied yourself that everything is
in order, hold the bottle perpendicularly in the left hand
between the audience and yourself, and about breast high. Make
use of any cabalistic nonsense you please, and then cause the
knife to rise from the bottle by the action of moving it from you
and towards the audience. The action of raising the bottle must be but sparsely indulged in, if at all, as it is easily noticed; not so the horizontal motion. When brought to the mouth of the bottle the knife quietly topples over on to the floor, whence allow it to be picked up by a spectator, who will not require much admonition to examine it. Also send the bottle round again; and get rid of the silk as soon as you can after the trick is done. It will be noticed that I have directed the performer to use a hock or champagne bottle. The reason for this will be obvious after once trying the experiment with a bottle having an abrupt shoulder, such as an ale bottle. The knife catches in it, and a vigorous jerk, which is as likely to cause a breakage as anything else, has to be resorted to to free it. The sides of hock and champagne bottles presenting an even surface the whole way up, that class of bottle is therefore to be preferred, By means of the foregoing three tricks I have seen a room full of intelligent people utterly bewildered.
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