FAMILY FUN

New Zealand Tablet, 25 September 1913, Page 62

FAMILY FUN

TRICKS AND ILLUSIONS. (Special to the N.Z. Tablet by Mahatma.) A. Knot That is Not a Knot.—Tie an ordinary knot in a silk handkerchief and give the end, which you are ' holding in your right hand, •to a member of the com* pany to hold. Tell him to pull hard and sharp when * you count three. Just as he pulls slip your left fore- 1 finger and thumb under the handkerchief and grasp the underneath part of the knot. If the assistant pulls hard enough the handkerchief will be pulled out quite straight without any knot in it at all. to Drive One Tumbler Through Another. This trick requires some practice or its performance will *• result in a considerable destruction of glass. It would be well to practise with two tin goblets, with wide mouths, until competent. When a certain amount of success has been met with select two glass tumblers of the same size and pattern. The mouths should be fairly wide also. Sit on a chair so that the falling tumbler I will land in your lap. Hold one tumbler between the thumb and second finger of the left hand. Then play * the other tumbler, with the right hand, several times in and out of the left hand tumbler, and during this play contrive at the same instant to retain the right ■ hand tumbler between the thumb and first finger of •the left hand, while the other or lower glass drops into the lap. Well done, this trick has few superiors, and it is worth any amount of practice to achieve it. The 1 illusion is as perfect as one could well wish for. The Wandering Sixpence.—Have ready two sixpences, each slightly, waxed on one side. Borrow a sixpence, and secretly exchange it for one of the waxed ones, laying the latter, waxed side uppermost, on the table. Let anyone draw two cards from an ordinary pack. Take them in the left hand and, transferring them to the right, press the second waxed sixpence against the centre of the undermost, to which it will adhere. Lay this card (which we will call A) on the table, about 18 inches from the sixpence which is already there, and cover that sixpence with the card B. Lift both cards a little way from the table, to show that the sixpence is under card A, and that there is ■ apparently nothing under card B. As you replace them press lightly on the centre of card A. You may now make the sixpence appear under whichever card you like, remembering that, if you wish the sixpence not to aahere, you must bend the card slightly upwards in taking it from the table. If otherwise take it up without bending. This is a first-class trick for the drawing-room. To Pass a Ring Through a Pocket Handkerchief.— This trick is performed by the aid of a piece of wire, sharpened to a point at each end and bent into the shape of a ring. The performer, having this palmed in his right hand, borrows a wedding ring from a lady in the company, and also a pocket handkerchief (silk for preference). Holding the borrowed ring between the fingers of his right hand, he throws the handerchief over it, and immediately seizes with the left hand, through the handkerchief, apparently the borrowed ring, but really the sham one, which he adroitly substitutes. He now requests one of the spectators to take hold of the ring in like manner, taking care to make him hold it in such a way that he may not be able to feel the opening between the points, which would betray the secret. The ring being thus held, and the handkerchief hanging down around it, a second spectator is requested, for. greater security, to tie a* piece of tape or string tightly round the handkerchief an inch or two below the ring. The performer then... X takes the handkerchief into his own hands, and throwing the loose part over his right hand, so as to conceal his mode of operation, slightly straightens the sham ring, and - works one of the points through the handkerchief, so getting it out, and rubbing the''handkerchief with his finger and thumb in order -to obliterate the hole made by the wire in its passage. He now palmsthe sham ring, and produces the real one, which has all along remained in his right hand, requesting the person who tied the knot to ascertain for himself that it has not been tampered with. \