Take a pack of cards, and paint the backs of one half of the pack with
what figures you think fit, as men, birds, women, flowers, &c. Also,
paint the faces of the other half of the cards in the same manner; thus,
you will have a complete pack of odd pictures, and may—by showing the
faces of that part of the pack whose backs only have been painted, and
then by a momentary shuffle, apparently transforming them into a set of
grotesque figures—produce much amusement.
There is another manner of making the pack; it is as follows:—Take a
dozen cards or more, and draw a line from the right-hand upper corner,
to the left-hand lower corner of the face of each of them; they will
thus be all equally divided. Then paint part of some odd figure on the
right division of each card, leaving the left untouched. By a little
dexterity, you may now seem to transform a set of common cards into a
painted pack.