Yes, boys, real Simon-pure "magic." Just such tricks as you have seen
the "magician" do; just such tricks as some of you may have seen your
humble servant do. Many of these you can do yourselves--when you know
how; others require more practice than you ought to give to such
nonsense, and others again are too expensive. But there are some that
any boy--or girl, for that matter--can do with little rehearsing and at
slight expense. The magic sack trick, which I had the honor of
introducing to America in 1873, is as clever as it is simple.
A muslin sack large enough to contain a boy of fourteen is handed out
for examination, and after the audience are satisfied that the seams are
not only secure and perfect, but that its only opening is at the mouth,
the performer's assistant gets inside. The sack is gathered over his
head, and the mouth tied fast with a silk handkerchief, and then with a
tape, the knots of the latter being not only sealed in any way that
seems best to the audience, but the ends, which are left long, given to
some one to hold.
A screen is now placed between the audience and the boy in the sack, the
ends of the tape passing either over the top of the screen or through
holes in its side.
It would seem impossible for the person thus securely enveloped to get
out of the sack without cutting or untying the tape and handkerchief;
and yet, O mystery of mysteries! in a few seconds the screen is thrown
open, and the late occupant of the sack walks out, while the sack is
found still tied up, the knots not tampered with, and the seals
unbroken.
Surprising as this appears, there are needed but three requisites for
its successful accomplishment: first, an assistant upon whose secrecy
and faithfulness the young conjurer can rely, for he will require his
help in very many tricks; second, _two_ sacks, exactly alike, made of
very light material, so that they will fold into small compass; and
third, unlimited impudence, assurance, or whatever you may be pleased to
call it.
When about to exhibit the trick, the performer comes forward, holding a
silk handkerchief in one hand, and sack No. 1 in the other. The
assistant, who is to be tied up, has the duplicate, or sack No. 2,
concealed about him, say, inside his vest, or in some such suitable
place.
As soon as he gets fairly into No. 1, he whips out the duplicate, and
puts the mouth of it inside the mouth of No. 1. The exhibitor, who is
fumbling about as if to gather No. 1 over the assistant's head, seizes
No. 2, and drawing out about nine inches of it, at once wraps the silk
handkerchief over the two so as to cover the point where they meet.
This he does deliberately, as an appearance of haste would give rise to
suspicion among the audience. As it is now impossible for any one to
distinguish between the parts of the two sacks, the exhibitor turns to
his audience with the remark: "I have now tied up the mouth of the sack
in such a way as to make it next to impossible for the young man to get
out. But to make assurance doubly sure, I should like one of the
audience to tie it again; this time with a piece of tape." As he says
this, he produces the tape and ties it once around _the part between the
handkerchief and the mouth of No. 2_. The person selected from the
audience then draws the knots tight, seals them, and retains the ends of
the tape in his hand.
When the screen is placed in position--for home exhibition a
clothes-horse with a sheet over it makes an excellent substitute for a
screen--the assistant gently pulls on the mouth of No. 1, which is
readily drawn out from under the handkerchief, and steps out, leaving
the tape and handkerchief still closely wound around No. 2. It takes but
a second to fold up No. 1, conceal it, and then to walk out from behind
the screen to receive the applause of the audience.
This brief, but I trust clear, description can give but little idea of
the effect produced by this really surprising trick. I first saw it
exhibited by a performer calling himself Le Duc, at Stockholm, Sweden,
some twenty-five years ago, and at that time, though I knew considerable
about magic, I was completely mystified.
"THEIR GIRL."