FAMILY FUN

New Zealand Tablet, 3 July 1913, Page 62

FAMILY FUN

TRICKS AND ILLUSIONS. (Special to the N.Z. Tablet by Mahatma.); The Tied - Pack.—This little dodge will set your audience guessing. Tie a pack of cards together with a hair, or two hairs if necessary. You may then throw the pack through the air and the cards will not scatter until the pack strikes a wall, or other hard obstacle, when the hair will break. The hair is, of course, quite invisible at a short distance. A Sell. This is a splendid sell for an evening party. The performer comes forward and gravely informs the company that he is about to give a demonstration of his wonderful thought reading powers. He asks a gentleman to take a piece of paper and a pencil and requests him to write down any name he wishes. He is then instructed to fold the paper, place it upon the floor and stand upon it. The performer, with as much gravity as he is able to command now announces that he will call out what is upon the paper. Going to the other side of the room he addresses the gentleman who is helping him, with the words ' You are upon the paper.' An Effective Card Trick.—Arrange a number of cards in the form of a capital ' Q,' or rather in the form of a circle with a tail to it. Say there are 17 cards in the circle and six in the tail. Now request one of the company to count any number he pleases, commencing at the tail end and travelling up the left hand side of the circle, touching each card, then to count back again, calling the last card touched 'one' and travelling, not down the tail again but up the opposite side of the circle and stopping at the same number. The performer must recite while this is being done. He then comes forward and picks up the card last touched. The result will be the same irrespective of the number of cards employed. The secret depends upon the fact that the card last touched will be the same number from the root of the tail as there are cards in the tail itself. If required to repeat the trick the tail of the ' Q ' is re-arranged presumably- to increase the difficulty, but really to disguise the necessity of altering the length of the tail. The reason is obvious. . ' The Balanced Coins.— particular dexterity is necessary to perforin the trick I am about to describe, although considerable care must be exercised for its successful execution. The performer having obtained the loan of three coppers from members of the audience, lays them in a row on the palm of the left hand in which position they may be inspected by all present. He then, with the thumb and second finger of .the right hand, grips the edges of the outermost coins and raises all into a perpendicular position. The trick is performed with the actual borrowed coins and the secret depends upon the use of a little accessory in the shape of a thin strip of wood, say a quarter of an inch thick, and m length about one-sixteenth of an inch longer than the combined diameter of three coppers. At the commencement this strip of wood is concealed in the left hand. The performer receives the coins in the right hand, then transfers them to the left hand, secretly placing them in the required position. The coins effectually conceal the piece of wood. Now by gripping the coins together with the piece of wood, no difficulty will be experienced .m securing the above result. In conclusion, the coins are again laid carefully in the left hand, then tossed with apparent carelessness into the right hand and forthwith handed to owner. The strip of wood is of course_ palmed in the left hand in the act of tossing the coins into the right hand.