It is performed as follows:—You must procure beforehand a long hair from a lady’s head. One end of this must be fastened by means of a bent pin, or in any other way you find most convenient, to the front of your waistcoat, which should be a dark one. At the other end of the hair fix a little round ball (about half the size of a pepper-corn) of bees’-wax. Press this little ball lightly against the lowest button of your waistcoat, to which it will adhere. You will thus always be able to find it at a moment’s notice, without groping or looking down for it, which would be likely to draw the eyes of the spectator in the same direction.
Request the audience to examine the cards, that they may be sure that there is no preparation about them, and as a further proof get two or three persons to shuffle them in succession. When the cards are returned to you, invite some person to draw one, and, while he is examining it, drop your right hand carelessly to your waistband, and remove the little ball of wax to the tip of your right thumb, to which it will adhere without interfering with the movements of the hand. When the card is returned, make the pass to bring it to the top of the pack, and press the little ball of wax upon the back of the card, as near the edge as possible. Then shuffle the cards. The shuffle may be a genuine one, but you must take care to keep the lower edge of the chosen card half an inch or so below the remaining cards, that the little ball of wax may not be disturbed. The chosen card will, after the shuffle, be in the middle of the pack, but attached to your waistcoat by the hair. Spread the cards face upwards on the table (by which means the wax, being on the back of the card, will be out of sight), taking care not to detach the hair. You then address your audience to the following or some similar effect:—“In the old style of conjuring, I should merely have picked out your card, and handed it to you; and there was a time when people would have thought that a very good trick, but nowadays we should regard that as a very lame conclusion. I can assure you that I have not the smallest idea what your card was. How do you suppose I intend to find out?” Various guesses are hazarded, but you shake your head at each. “No,” you continue, “my process is much simpler than any you have suggested. I shall merely order the card you chose to walk out of the pack, and come to me.” Pronounce any magic formula you like, at the same time beckoning to the cards, and gradually withdrawing yourself away from the table, when the card must needs follow you. As it reaches the edge of the table, receive it in the left hand, and then take it in the right, drawing off with the first finger and thumb of the left hand the wax at the back. Ask the person who drew whether that was his card, and again hand the card and the rest of the pack for examination. This little trick, though simple, will require a good deal of practice to enable you to perform it neatly, but the effect produced by it will well repay your trouble.
It may be well to mention, once for all, as bees’-wax is an article of frequent use in magical operations, that if, as sometimes happens, the pure wax is found too hard, or not sufficiently adhesive, the addition of a small quantity (say an eighth part) of Venice turpentine, mixed with it in a melted condition, will make it all that can be desired.
The Whist Trick.H Improved Method. To deal yourself all the Trumps, the three other Players holding the usual mixed Hands.—Having decided which suit (suppose diamonds) is to be the trump suit, arrange the pack in such manner that every fourth card shall be of that suit, the intervening cards being taken haphazard. When about to perform the trick, secretly exchange the pack you have hitherto been using for the prepared pack. Make the bridge (see page 39), and then a false shuffle by the third method (see page 24). Invite some one to cut, and make the pass at the bridge, thus restoring the cards to their original condition. Deal in the usual manner, when you will be found to hold all the trumps, the remaining suits being distributed in the ordinary way among the other three players.
H For an inferior form of this trick, in which sleight-of-hand is not employed, see page 51.
Where in this or any other trick it is found necessary to change one pack for another, the following will be found the neatest way of effecting that object. Have the prepared pack in the pochette on the left side. Hold the ordinary pack in the right hand, and in moving from the audience to your table, drop the left hand to the pochette, seize the prepared pack, bring the hands together, and make the pass with the two packs, when they will have changed hands. Drop the left hand, and get rid of the ordinary pack into the profonde, the prepared pack being left in the right hand. Any little clumsiness in making the pass is of small consequence, the hands being covered by the body. If, however, you find it impossible to make the pass with so large a bulk of cards, the prepared pack may be placed under the waistband, held in position by a strap of half-inch-wide elastic, stitched to the inside of the vest; the right hand in this case, at the moment of the turn to the table, transferring the ordinary pack to the left, and immediately drawing down the prepared pack, while the left hand, as in the former case, drops the ordinary pack into the profonde.
E The different drawers should be persons tolerably far apart, as it is essential that they should not discover that they have all drawn the same card.
F It will be observed that this trick is terminated after the manner described at page 45, to which the reader is recommended to refer, as the above description will be more clearly intelligible by the aid of the further explanations there given.
G The reader should specially note this expedient, as it is of constant use in conjuring.
CHAPTER V.
Card Tricks Requiring Special Apparatus.
We propose to describe in this chapter such card tricks as require the aid of some mechanical appliance or apparatus, but are still appropriate for a drawing-room performance. There are some few tricks performed with cards (such as the Fairy Star, the Demon’s Head, and the like) which necessitate the use of a mechanical table, or other apparatus of an elaborate and costly character. These will not be here noticed, but will be given, at the close of the work, in the portion devoted to Stage Tricks.
We may here anticipate a not unlikely question on the part of the student—viz., “How can I best obtain the necessary apparatus?” In some instances, an amateur with a mechanical turn may be able to manufacture his appliances for himself; and where this is the case, we would by no means discourage his doing so, as he will thereby derive a double amusement from his study of the magic art. But where the student has not the ability or inclination to do this, we should strongly advise him not to attempt to have his apparatus made to order by persons unaccustomed to this class of work, but to go direct to one or other of the regular depôts. Magical apparatus requires so much precision in its details, and so much attention to apparent trifles, that the first attempt of any workman, however skilful, is almost sure to be a failure; and by the time the defects are rectified, the purchaser will find that he has paid more for a clumsy makeshift than he would have done for a thoroughly good article had he gone to the right quarter. Experience will quickly prove that inferior apparatus is dear at any price.
Peck & Snyder, 124 Nassau Street, New York City, are the largest manufacturers, importers, and dealers in sports, pastimes, and trick materials. They will forward illustrated catalogues on application, giving details of an infinite variety of Optical, Chemical, Mechanical, Magnetical, and Magical Experiments,
