Two naughty, sporty Bunco Steers
Would go through country towns,
With cards and other games of chance
To fleece the Farmer Clowns.
And though the Farmers tried and tried
To win, I’ll tell you that
The harvest of those Bunco Steers
Was always mighty fat.
But one fine day, while these two Steers
Were at their naughty work,
A simple looking, rustic Fox
Addressed them with a smirk.
“Bah! What a simple lot of stunts!
They’re plain as two and two.
Come, let me show you now a trick
That neither one can do.”
Three little sticks then, side by side,
He placed upon the table.
“Now blow the _middle_ one away,
Good sirs, if you are able.”
The Steers then tried and blew and blew
Till they could blow no more,
For every time they blew, they’d blow
The _three_ sticks to the floor.
“Here’s all the money that we’ve got,”
The Steers were forced to say;
“Now, smarty Fox, perform the trick
And take the cash away.
“But if you fail, please rest assured
We’ll whip you nigh to death.
You must not trifle with us two
And make us lose our breath.”
The Fox just grinned, “I’ll take the bet.
You’ll see what I can do.”
He fixed the sticks and put his paws
Upon the outside two.
And when he blew, the _middle one_
Went sailing through the air,
And lifting up his paws he showed
The other two were there.
The Fox then quickly took the cash
Which they had posted handy,
And running off, he cried to them,
“Now wasn’t that a dandy?”
And thus it is with lots of Rogues
As through this world they strut,
Their wits are oft so keen and sharp,
It’s but themselves they cut.
=The Raised Hand.= Tell some person to pick up a coin in one hand and
hold that hand above his head while he counts twenty, aloud and slowly.
Before the person picks up the coin, you leave the room and return just
after he finishes counting, but not so soon that you can see in which
hand he had the coin. Nevertheless you tell him correctly every time,
which hand he had raised. The way this trick is done, is exceedingly
simple. On entering the room, after the person has counted twenty you
look at his hand. The one which he has raised above his head will be
white, as the blood has run down from the fingers and hand; the other
one will remain its natural color.
=Unconscious Movements.= Slit a match at the wrong end and cut another
one on the slant. Now place one within the other, so as to form an
acute angle, and set these united matches astride the blade of a dinner
knife. Impress on the experimenter to allow the phosphorus ends
lightly to touch the table, but on no account to move away from its
surface. The matches will now begin to march along the blade. In order
to render the experiment more attractive, cause the two matches to
imitate the legs of a little man by placing a painted puppet on top of
them.
Another way: Take two straws from a stiff broom. Cut one in half and
fold each piece into the shape of a hairpin. Place one astride on each
end of the long knife, which you hold steadily, and if on a level
surface they will walk towards each other until they meet in the middle.
=The Broken Match Restored.= The performer requests a member of the
audience to give him an ordinary wooden match, first marking the
same for the purpose of identification. He then wraps the match in a
handkerchief, in which condition he hands it to a spectator with the
request to break the match, still enclosed in the handkerchief, to
pieces. This is done, after which, the handkerchief is shaken out and
the marked match falls from its fold quite restored.
The secret of this trick consists in having a duplicate match concealed
in the hem of the handkerchief from the outset. The marked match is
simply lodged in the fold of the handkerchief, the one in the hem being
brought up to the centre and put into the hands of the spectator. It
is, therefore, the one in the hem that is broken, the hem serving to
retain the pieces, the marked match falling out as the handkerchief is
shaken. A silk handkerchief with a narrow hemstitched border is the
most convenient to use, for the reason that the broken match is the
more readily removed and a fresh one inserted for future occasion.
=The Cent and the Hole.= In a piece of stout paper, cut a circle
three-sixteenths of an inch less in diameter than a penny. Ask any one
to pass a penny through the hole without touching the coin or tearing
the paper. Fold the paper exactly across the centre of the hole, and
then take it in both hands and ask some one to drop the penny into
the fold. Let it rest just over the hole, its lower edge projecting
below. Bend the corners of the paper slightly upwards. This elongates
the opening, and if the movement be continued, the penny will after a
second or two fall through by the force of its own weight. The paper
remains uninjured.
=Mysterious Reading.= The performer takes a piece of paper about eight
inches square and tears a strip about two inches wide off of each side,
then tears these two strips in half. This gives four pieces of paper,
each two inches wide and four inches long. Upon these pieces of paper,
he requests different persons to write the names of persons who are
dead. Taking the remaining piece of paper, he tears into two strips and
each strip is torn in half. This again gives four pieces of paper, the
same size as the other four. Upon these pieces of paper, the performer
requests other persons to write the names of some living persons. The
holders of the pieces of paper are now requested to fold them over
twice and place them in a hat. The performer takes these pieces of
paper from the hat, one at a time, and by simply holding them upon the
top of his head, can tell whether the name is that of a live person
or a dead person, making such remarks as cause it to seem the more
mysterious.
To perform this, take any piece of writing paper, eight inches square,
and tear off both outer edges (right and left) for the first two
strips. These two pieces of paper have now one straight or smooth edge
and one (the torn edge) rough edge. Remember this. On these pieces
are to be written the names of the dead. When you feel them on top of
your head, if they have a smooth edge and a rough edge it is of course
the name of a dead person. The other piece of paper, when torn into
two strips, has both edges rough, and upon these pieces are written
the names of living persons. When you feel the paper on your head has
no smooth edge, both edges being rough, it must contain the name of a
living person.
=The Baffling Card.= Take an ordinary visiting card and bend down the
ends at right angles to the card, about a quarter of an inch, then
laying it on a smooth table, ends down, ask any person to blow it
over. This seems easy enough, but it may be tried for hours without
succeeding. It is, however, to be done by blowing sharply on the table
at some distance from the card.
=A Watch Trick.= Ask a person to think of a number on the dial of a
watch from one to twelve, but not to tell you what that number is.
Then, with a pencil, you tap various numbers on the dial and he counts
the tappings silently, beginning with the next number higher than the
one of which he thought. That is, if he thought of the number five, he
would count silently six, seven, eight, nine, etc., or if he thought
of nine, for example, he would count to himself ten, eleven, twelve,
thirteen, etc., etc. When he has counted to the number “twenty” he must
say, “Stop,” and your pencil, or whatever you are using to tap the
watch, will be on the number of which he thought but did not tell you.
There is just one point about this trick for you to remember. When you
tap the face of the watch with your pencil, you also count silently,
beginning with one and counting to yourself, one, two, three, four,
etc., etc. It does not matter what numbers you touch for the first
seven, but the eighth tap must be on the figure twelve, and then go
around the dial backward, the ninth tap on eleven, the tenth on ten,
the eleventh on nine, etc., until you reach the one selected.
=Silk From Paper.= “I have three pieces of paper—red, white, and blue.
I am going to burn them. I light them first. I find they burn better
that way.”
The conjurer has previously at least four yards of red, white, and blue
ribbons—twelve yards in all—stitched together at one end, rolled up,
and placed under the top of the right arm.
The pieces of paper are picked up with the right hand, and the ends are
twisted together tightly, otherwise the papers would burn too quickly
and scorch the conjuror’s hands. The papers are held in the flames of
the candle for a second, and while they are burning, the conjurer draws
attention to his empty left hand, and then to the fact that his right
hand contains only the burning papers. When the conjurer is going to
show that he has nothing concealed in his sleeves, he draws up the
right sleeve with the left hand, and takes the ribbon from under the
arm.
Then in order to be able to draw the left sleeve up with the right
hand, he is obliged to put the burnt papers into the left hand. He
draws up the left sleeve, closes his right hand over his left, and
then crushes the burnt papers. In doing this he gets hold of the piece
of silk with his right hand, and, bringing his right hand slightly
towards the body, and turning a little to the left, he throws his right
hand vigorously forward and the ribbons unfold.
=The Obedient Ball.= A wooden ball about two inches in diameter is
given for examination. A hole one-half inch in diameter runs through
the ball. A small cord is next passed for examination. The performer
runs the cord through the hole in the ball, and causes the ball to run
up the cord, and stop wherever he wishes it to. Again the ball and cord
are handed for inspection.
After the performer hands out the cord for inspection, he lays it on
his table, and after the ball is duly inspected, the performer picks up
the cord and with it a piece of black silk thread, and runs it through
the hole in the ball with the cord; the other end of thread passes out
behind the scenes to his assistant. Take one end of the cord in one
hand, and the other end of the cord and thread in the upper hand. Now
by pulling the thread taut, the ball will stop; when it reaches the
bottom of the cord, the assistant pulls the thread, and causes the ball
to ascend. By dropping the black thread, all can be examined once more,
to the mystification of all concerned.
=Tricks with a Pen.= Can you write your name with your left hand? It is
a good thing to know how, in case you ever hurt your right hand.
Can you write a looking-glass letter? That always amuses children; so
if you have a friend who is ill, send her a looking-glass letter to
cheer her up.
Practise by writing on a piece of paper held front of a mirror, and
soon you will find it is quite easy to do looking-glass writing.
Looking-glass writing is done backward, so that it looks all right when
it is held to the mirror.
Also see if you can write your name backward—that is, begin at the last
stroke and go back to the first—and as a last trick try to write your
name upside down. That is not at all easy, but copy your signature
upside down and you will be able to do it quite well after a little
practice.
=The Dice and Cup.= Take from the backgammon board two dice and the
dice cup or shaker. Hold the cup in your right hand by putting your
thumb and second finger around the bottom of it, at the same time
holding one of the dice with the tips of the same finger and thumb.
Next put the other die on top of the one you are holding. You will, of
course, need the aid of your left hand in arranging the dice and cup in
your right.
Now, by a quick upward movement of your right hand, send the top die
flying up into the air, and as it comes down catch it in the cup.
Now comes the real trick—to get the other die in the cup also. If you
try to do this by throwing the die upward as you threw the first one,
you may catch it in the cup all right, but at the same time you will
be pretty sure to throw the first one out of the cup. As for catching
both together as they come down, you will find that almost impossible.
The proper way to get the second die into the cup without losing the
one that is already there, is, to let your hand drop suddenly, at the
same time letting go the die which you have been holding.
The die will drop too, but not as rapidly as your hand, so that you
will have no difficulty in getting the cup under it and catching it.
=The Surprising Paper Bands.= Cut three bands of paper about
twenty-four inches long and two inches wide. In preparing the first
strip of paper, simply gum the ends together, for the second strip,
twist once and gum the ends together; for the third strip, twist twice
and then gum the ends together. Now cut each of the bands in the centre
lengthways and notice the results. In twisting the papers, it should be
done unobserved.
=Napkin-ring Trick.= While waiting for dessert at dinner, it is fun for
the family at table to exchange tricks. One is the napkin-ring trick.
Holding your napkin-ring in one hand, look from your glass tumbler to
some large object—say, the sugar-bowl,—pretending to hesitate between
the two, then pick up the glass tumbler and say: “Safer to take the
smaller article.” Then look around, and say: “Will any of you believe
me when I say that I can push this glass full of water through this
napkin-ring?” Something may be added about a newly discovered way of
compressing glass.
Then you should set the glass down solemnly, place your napkin-ring in
front of it, and, with an impressive flourish of your hand, thrust your
finger through the napkin-ring and give the glass a shove.
“There!” you may exclaim in triumph, “Haven’t I pushed the glass
through the napkin-ring?”
=The Magical Cups of Tin.= This little trick, performed in a parlor,
will make you appear quite a magician. Get beforehand two perfectly
plain tin cups, without handles and with the bottom sunk about a
quarter of an inch, and straight sides. On the sunken bottom of each
put some glue, and over it drop some birdseed, so that it looks as if
the cups were full, whereas they are really standing upside down and
the layer of seed is glued to the outside of the bottom.
When you are ready to perform the trick, have a bag of the same kind of
seed, and, standing off from your audience, hold the cups so that they
can see that they are empty, but don’t allow any one to approach you.
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.
=Drawing Matches to Win.= Take 15 matches, bunch them up so they cannot
be easily counted, lay them on a table, and tell some person that you
will allow him to start the game, by drawing from the pile one, two or
three matches—but no more. Tell him that you have the same privilege,
and that you intend that he shall draw the last match, or, at least,
that you will leave the last for him to draw.
If you watch your turns carefully you will succeed perfectly, unless,
of course, your opponent is acquainted with the system—and very few
persons are.
If he should first draw one, you draw one. If his second draw should be
three, then you draw one again. Observe now that there are six drawn.
In order to assure yourself of winning, make certain that this is the
case either at your first or second draw—get six off the board. Then
there are nine remaining. The next time you draw let it make four with
what he draws, leaving five still to be drawn. Now if he draws three,
you take one; if he draws two, you take two, and so on. You will thus
see that the last match will always be left to your opponent.
He will now surely want to try it again. This time you begin the
drawing by taking one, as he did at first, making a remark to that
effect. Whatever number he takes, it cannot make the six. But should
he follow your example and take but one, you still must be careful and
trust to luck and careful computation, taking only one more on your
second draw, which will make three off. The chances are small that he
will take the remaining three to make the six. But if he does, it is
an evidence that he is “getting on,” and he may possibly (but not
probably) beat you.
Whether he does or does not, you simply let him start out again, and
you proceed to follow according to his lead. You will defeat him nine
times in ten without your being compelled to make your play certain,
which can be done when you get your first draw, as follows: draw
two; he cannot then defeat you, for whatever he draws, he will still
leave from one to three for you, and you take the sixth off, when the
rest is easy. Better not do this until he is quite sure that he has
“discovered” your method, when this will put him all at sea again. This
game is great fun, and will puzzle all of your friends.
=Eye-Errors and Ghosts.= A few experiments with the eyes will be found
very interesting, and to the uninitiated, very queer. If you will hold
up your forefinger about a foot from your face, and look at a tree or
object beyond it, or at any tall object, you will see your finger
double. Then look directly at your finger and you will see the tree
double.
The explanation is that each eye sees separately, and when both are
looking at the finger the right eye sees the tree or object on the
right side of the finger and the left eye sees it on the left. When,
however, you look at the tree directly with both eyes, each eye sees
the finger apparently in a different place. If you will cover the one
eye and look with the other, you cannot see either the tree or the
finger double, which is the proof of the experiment.
Place two bits of white paper about a foot apart on a table. Cover
the right eye and look steadily at the right-hand piece of paper with
the left eye. By stepping backward you will reach a spot where the
left-hand piece of paper will disappear. You can make the right-hand
piece of paper disappear by looking at the left-hand piece of paper
with the right eye.
When you have made one disappear in this way, move your head ever so
slightly backward or forward, and the paper will instantly reappear.
The reason of this is that every person’s eye has a blind spot on the
retina, and when an image of the piece of paper falls on the spot it
cannot be seen.
Instead of snatching the paper away after looking at it steadily, look
up at the ceiling, and the image will be seen there. These “ghosts,”
as they are sometimes called, are caused by the action of light on the
retina of the eye.
=The Detaining Hand-clasp.= Grasp a person firmly by the wrists as if
you were about to handcuff him, and say that you can clasp his hands
in such a way that he cannot leave the room without unclasping them.
Probably he will look sharply at you for a while, trying to divine your
purpose, and if you maintain your firm hold on his wrists, he will be
led to believe that you intend to use your strength for the purpose.
Then lead him to a table and seating him on a chair by it, clasp his
hands about one of the legs. Of course, he cannot now leave the room
without unclasping them unless he overturns the table or drags it with
him.
=The Pictorial Nail.= By having in your possession an extraordinarily
strong magnet, you can perform the following very effective trick.
Prepare a large frame with a paper centre, now take a crayon and draw a
nail or a hook, then borrow a key or key-ring and make the announcement
that you will hang one of the articles on the picture. This is easy if
you have an assistant in the rear, with the magnet attached to a stick,
which he holds directly in the rear of the drawn picture, the magnet
holding the article on the front.
=Cane Trick.= Measure the length of your forearm along a cane by
placing your elbow even with its head and marking the point to which
the tip of your middle finger reaches.
Take hold of your cane with your middle finger, covering the mark,
and your little finger nearest to the head. The cane must be at right
angles to the hand and be grasped firmly so that the tips of all the
fingers are pressed tightly against the palm of the hand. It is not
“fair” to hold the cane obliquely.
Now try to put the head of the cane to your lips. If you succeed you
are an exception to the general rule, and even you will probably fail
if you hold the cane, in the same manner, at a point a little further
from the head.
But any one can do the trick easily by holding the cane at a less
distance from its head than the length of his forearm.