An empty carafe is brought by your confederate. This you should rinse
and drain in the presence of your audience in order to satisfy them that
there is really no mistake, that the carafe is positively empty. After
it has well drained dry it, wiping it around with the greatest care. In
the towel which your confederate brought you he also brought a bladder,
in which was a weak preparation made up of spirits of wine, sugar, and
water. In this way the carafe is filled without the audience detecting.
The glasses are already in position, and in each one has been put a drop
or two of flavoring extract, such as pineapple, lemonade, orange,
peppermint. The magician then inquires if any one would like a glass of
lemonade, and being answered in the affirmative, he pours the same from
the carafe by filling the glass in which the drops of lemonade extract
have been placed. In like manner he will give a glass of orangeade, or
whatever drink corresponds to the extract in the glasses.
THE VANISHING TEN-CENT PIECE.
Put this coin in the palm of your hand and take pains to let everybody
see it. Then state that if any one of the audience will call out
"Vanish" it will disappear.
The reason why is because the nail of your middle finger is covered with
white wax, and closing the hand forcibly the coin instantly fastens
itself to it. You must then open the hand wide and show that the
ten-cent piece has really gone.
The tricks now being over, the audience rose to congratulate their young
entertainers and also to exchange a few words with one another, and in
so doing many of them did not discover that refreshments were about to
be served until they were asked to take seats at the small tables that
had most mysteriously appeared.
[Illustration]
The refreshments were very simple, being only vanilla and strawberry
rolled wafers, and delicious tea. The tea was, of course, poured into
the prettiest of Japanese cups, and carried on richly decorated trays on
which were laid divers colored Japanese napkins, while the graceful,
cordial, Japanese-robed young girls added an indescribable charm.
And thus closed this dainty, interesting entertainment amid the pleasant
chatter of the happily seated, congenial company.
THE NORMAL EYE.
BY JNO. GILMER SPEED.
If six persons casually thrown together look at the moon when it is high
in the heavens, and each be asked how large the moon seems to be, it is
more than likely that the questioner will receive six different answers.
This probably would not be the case if the moon were near the horizon
and just rising or just setting.
The differences in the answers to the first query will be due to the
perfect or imperfect action of the various eyes. The comparative
uniformity of the answers in the second instance would be due to the
nicer adjustment of the eyes by seeing at the same time with the moon
familiar objects on the earth, such as houses and trees, which would
afford a standard of measurement.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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