Magic tricks -- Juvenile literature; Scientific recreations -- Juvenile literature
You now commence your operations, by borrowing a shilling, desiring the
lender to mark it, that it may not be changed. Take this shilling in
your right hand, and the handkerchief in your left, pretending to place
the shilling in the centre of the handkerchief; instead of which, you
put the corner of the handkerchief in which a shilling was sewed, as
previously described, concealing the borrowed shilling in your right
hand. You then desire the person to feel that the shilling is there,
and tell him to hold it tight.
You now go to the drawer, and placing the borrowed shilling in the
smallest of the boxes, you put on all the covers, by taking them in the
centre between the fore-finger and thumb, to prevent their separation,
and fit them on, by carefully sliding them along, and then pressing
them down.
Having thus closed your boxes, you produce what appears to be a single
box, and lay it on the table. You now ask the person, who still retains
his hold of the shilling in the handkerchief, if he is sure that it is
there. He will reply in the affirmative; you then request him to allow
you to take the handkerchief, and having done so, you strike that part
of the handkerchief containing the shilling on the box, and immediately
shake out the handkerchief, holding it by two corners, and shifting it
round so as to get the shilling within your grasp: it will thus appear
that the shilling is no longer there. You desire the person to open the
box, and hand it round, till the shilling be found; and when the last
box is opened, and the shilling taken out, you ask the lender to state
whether it is the one which he marked; to which he must, of course,
reply in the affirmative.
THE LOCOMOTIVE SHILLING.
Privately place a shilling, which you previously mark on the head side
with a cross, under a candlestick, or in any other out-of-the-way
situation, where it is not likely to be discovered. You next borrow a
shilling of one of the company, and say: “Now I am going to show you a
trick with this shilling, but that you may know it again, I will mark
it.” Then take your penknife, and cross it in the same manner as the
one you have concealed; show it to the person who lent it to you, and
ask him if he will know it again. He will reply: “Yes; it is marked
with a cross.” Knock under the table, and say “Presto! fly quickly!” at
the same time, adroitly conveying the shilling into your pocket. You
then tell the spectators that it is gone; but you have a strong notion
that if they look they will find it under the candlestick, (or whatever
other place you may have concealed it in,) where the first shilling
you marked will of course be found, and having the same marks as the
genuine one will be mistaken for it.
THE PENETRATIVE SIXPENCE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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