Chapter I: Part 1

[Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic text is surrounded by _underscores_.]

HOME ENTERTAINING

What To Do and How To Do It

HOME ENTERTAINING

AMUSEMENTS FOR EVERY ONE

EDITED BY
WILLIAM E. CHENERY

BOSTON
LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.

PUBLISHED, AUGUST, 1912

COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.
_All Rights Reserved_
HOME ENTERTAINING

Norwood Press
Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

PREFACE

THIS collection of games, tricks, and pastimes is the result of many years’ effort to find the most clever and practical diversions and entertainments suitable for the home. Each trick has been tested by the editor, and each sport introduced has received most careful consideration in regard to ease of production, as well as the enjoyment to be gained from it.

As no refined person of any age can find amusement in coarseness, great care has been exercised in presenting only such diversions as are to be welcomed in a refined home circle. The necessity for elaborate apparatus has also been avoided, so that with dullness, difficulty, expense, and ill-taste eliminated, it is felt that this collection will supply a lack which has always existed, as the many who have sought in vain for a bright, safe, and up-to-date book of really feasible entertainments will appreciate.

While this book contains much that is original, especially in descriptive matter and ways of presentation, it has of course been necessary to draw freely from the accumulated mass of tricks and “sells” that have in some form or other come down from unknown times, and are recognized as being the common property of any who take pains to learn them. As a matter of courtesy, due acknowledgement is hereby made to all who have preceded me in this line of work.

A word of general advice to the amateur entertainer may be in order. Never tell the company what you are about to do, unless the very nature of a trick demands that its outcome be stated in advance. In this case, do it as guardedly as possible. If you state that you are to perform a certain trick, you thereby greatly increase the chance of detection, as the spectators will know what to look for, and in that way will more readily arrive at the true method of bringing about the results. Do not allow yourself to be persuaded into performing a trick twice in an evening. With the element of surprise gone, the best performance loses much of its effect. Finally, remember that a great deal depends upon the personality of the entertainer. An easy flow of pleasantries, which may or may not have to do with what is being performed, adds to the entertainment of the company, and at the same time helps much in diverting the attention of your friends from too close a scrutiny of your proceedings.

WILLIAM E. CHENERY.

FRAMINGHAM, MASS.,
May, 1912.

CONTENTS

PAGE
The Magnetic Ring 1
To Tell the Hour 2
The Spirit Calculator 3
The Square of Sixteen Numbers 5
The Square of Nine Digits 5
Making a Bird Enter a Cage 6
The Handkerchief Snake 6
To Pass Your Body Through a Postal Card 7
Silhouettes 8
Gymnastics for the Tongue 9
The Passenger to Boulogne 9
Mind-reading 10
Blowing a Card on Twine 12
Naming a Card 12
A Horse Race 14
A Jam-eating Contest 15
A Potato Race 15
Guessing Contests 16
A Phonograph Concert 17
To Lift Fifteen Matches with One 18
A Donkey Party 19
The Dwarf Exhibit 19
Stick-and-Pea Amusement 22
An Introduction to the Doll Family 22
Second Sight 24
The Blind Feeding the Blind 25
An Amateur Vaudeville 25
The Elusive Coin 25
Novel Paper-cutting 26
The Mysterious Remainder 27
Home Field-Sports 29
(a) One-yard Dash 29
(b) Tug of War 29
(c) Standing High Jump 29
(d) Hurdle Race 29
(e) Drinking Race 30
(f) Bun Race 30
(g) Cracker-eating Contest 30
(h) Rainy-Day Race 30
The Gentlemen Nurse-Maids 31
New Year’s Resolutions for Others 32
Can You Draw a Watch-face? 33
The Endless Thread 34
The Telltale Glass 35
Pairing Ten Half-dimes 37
Deceptive Heights 37
(a) Of a Hat 37
(b) Of a Barrel 37
Slang 38
Observation Contest 39
The Bargain-counter Game 39
The “Thirty-five” Trick 41
An Ink Shock 42
Reading from Folded Papers 42
Blind Man’s Buff with Dominoes 43
“My Aunt Has Arrived from Paris” 44
Surprising Strength 45
Card-passing Contest 46
A Cobweb Tangle 47
A Novel Masquerade 47
Hit the Bag 48
A Pretended Illusion 49
Dancing Fairies 49
Describing a Lady’s Costume 50
The Wonderful Hat 51
Mirror-Drawing 51
The Dancing Skeleton 53
Pitching Cards at a Hat 54
Peanut Guessing 54
Peanut Shelling 54
Peanut Rolling 55
The Peanut Hunt 55
Progressive Peanut Party 55
Your Friends in Black 57

GAMES
Packing the Trunk 59
Blowing Ping-pong Balls 60
Doing the Impossible 60
The Game of “It” 61
The Game of “Turtle” 63
The Game of “Empty Hands” 64
Simon Says 65
Passing Bean-bags 66
Buzz 67
Can You Laugh? 68
An Optical Game 68
Blowing the Feather 69
Throwing the Handkerchief 70
Going to Jerusalem 71
Find the Whistle 71
The All-around Story Game 72
An Obstacle Game 72
Impudence 73
Rolling Chase-ball 74

TRICKS
The Sharpers Outwitted 76
The Raised Hand 78
Unconscious Movements 78
The Broken Match Restored 79
The Cent and the Hole 80
Mysterious Reading 81
The Baffling Card 83
A Watch Trick 83
Silk from Paper 84
The Obedient Ball 86
Tricks with a Pen 87
The Dice and Cup 88
The Surprising Paper Bands 89
Napkin-ring Trick 89
The Magical Cups of Tin 90
The Elusive Cork 92
The Three Pennies 92
A Lesson in Gravity 93
The Tantalizing Half-dollar 93
Drawing Matches to Win 94
Eye-errors and Ghosts 96
The Detaining Hand-clasp 98
The Pictorial Nail 99
Cane Trick 99

PANTOMIMES
General Directions 101
Aerial Figures 103
Silhouettes 105
Shadow Pictures 106
Shadow Show 106

CARD TRICKS
Calling the Cards 110
The Odd Card 114
Naming the Cards 116
A Diamond Ace of Hearts 117
A Three-card Trick 118
Detection by Smell 119
Naming a Drawn Card 121
Grouping the Kings 123
Detecting a Turned Card 124
Telling the Number of Transposed Cards 124
The Three Packets 127
A Card Found at the Second Guess 127
Pocketing a Chosen Card 128
To Pick Out a Card Thought Of 131
The Siamese Aces 133
Detection of a Drawn Card by Color 136
Mathematical Detection of Card 137
Passing a Card to Top of Pack 138
The Trick of “Thirty-one” 140

SOAP-BUBBLES
Blowing Soap-bubbles 142
Fantastic Soap-bubbles 143
Rebounding Bubbles 145

FORFEITS 146

HALLOWE’EN
Decorations 149
Invitations 150
Receiving Guests 150
The Heads of Bluebeard’s Wives 152
The Severed Head 153
Ghost Stories 154
The Unearthly Look 154
Luminous Writing 155
The Floating Candle 155
Ornamented Apples 156
Finding the Candle 156
The Full Moon 156
Cabinet Manifestations 157
Spirit Pictures 157
Parlor Magic 159
The Demon Bell 161
The Animated Skull 161
The Perilous Ring 162
Nose and Goggle Party 162
Jack-o’-lanterns 163
The Surprising Candle 163

Home Entertaining

What To Do and How To Do It

=The Magnetic Ring.= Take a gold ring,—the more massive the better. Attach the ring to a silk thread about twelve inches long; fasten the other end of the thread around the nail-joint of your right forefinger, and let the ring hang about half an inch above the surface of the table, on which you rest your elbow to steady your hand. Hold your finger horizontally, with the thumb thrown back as far as possible from the rest of the hand.

If there be nothing on the table, the ring will soon become stationary. Then place some silver (say three half-dollars) immediately below it, when the ring will begin to oscillate backwards and forwards, to you and from you. Now bring your thumb in contact with your forefinger (or else suspend the ring from your thumb), and the oscillations will become transverse to their former swing. Or this may be effected by making a lady take hold of your disengaged hand. When the transverse motion is fairly established, let a gentleman take hold of the lady’s disengaged hand, and the ring will change back to its former course. These effects are produced by the aid of animal magnetic currents given forth by the hands of the experimenters.

=To Tell the Hour of the Day or Night by a Suspended Quarter.= Sling a quarter or a dime at the end of a piece of thread by means of a loop; then, resting your elbow upon a table, hold the other end of the thread between your forefinger and thumb, and thus suspend the coin in an empty goblet. Observe, your hand must be perfectly steady; and if you find it difficult to keep it in an immovable posture, it is useless to attempt the experiment. Premising that the quarter is properly suspended, you will find that, when it has recovered its equilibrium, it will for a moment be stationary; it will then, of its own accord and without the least agency from the person holding it, assume the action of a pendulum, vibrating from side to side of the glass, and after a few seconds will strike the hour nearest to the time of day. It is necessary to observe that the thread should lie over the pulse of the thumb, and this may in some measure account for the vibration of the quarter, but to what cause its striking the precise hour is to be traced remains unexplained; for it is no less astonishing than true that when it has struck the proper number its vibration ceases, it acquires a kind of rotary motion and finally becomes stationary as before.

=The Spirit Calculator.= A piece of paper and a pencil are handed to the audience, with a request that four different persons will each write down a row of four figures, one under the other, to form an addition sum. The paper is then given to a fifth person to add up the figures, but before he can call out the result the performer writes it down on a blackboard.

The secret lies in the fact that the performer is in possession of a piece of paper exactly the same in every detail as that handed to the audience, on which, previous to the entertainment, he has had four rows of figures written in different handwritings. In the course of the entertainment, all is fair and aboveboard until it comes to adding up the sum, when the performer, in the act of giving the paper to the fifth person, changes it for that of his own, with the total of which he is already acquainted. He has now only to run to the stage and write down the answer on the blackboard.

A more startling conclusion than the prosaic one above mentioned may be obtained by the use of sympathetic ink, composed of sulphuric acid and water, one part of the former to three of the latter. Writing done with this ink will be invisible until heat be applied, which will bring out the characters in jet black.

The performer, then, being provided with a piece of paper bearing the answer written with the invisible ink, gives a plate containing a little alcohol to the person adding up the sum, and asks him to set fire to the alcohol, first, however, taking careful note of the total. The prepared piece of paper is now held over the flames caused by igniting the alcohol on the plate, when the heat will bring out the answer, which is proved to be correct. The greatest care should always be exercised in producing any kind of flame.

=The Square of Sixteen Numbers.= Arrange the numbers from 1 to 16 in a square, so that the sum of the figures in any row, vertical, horizontal, or diagonal, will be 34.

16 3 2 13
5 10 11 8
9 6 7 12
4 15 14 1

=The Square of Nine Digits.= How may nine digits be arranged in a rectangular form so that the sum of any row, whether horizontal, vertical, or diagonal, shall equal 15?

4 9 2
3 5 7
8 1 6

=Making a Bird Enter a Cage.= Draw upon a sheet of paper an empty bird-cage and then very near the cage at the right draw a bird. The problem is to make this bird enter the cage.

Place a visiting-card between the two figures, holding the card perpendicularly on the paper. Press the end of your nose on the border of the card and look at the cage and the bird. You will thus see the cage with your left eye and the bird with your right. But in a moment the bird will seem to move, then enter the cage.

=The Handkerchief Snake.= A fine black-silk thread is stretched across the stage from one side to the other, the ends being in the hands of two assistants. Having obtained the loan of a handkerchief, the performer, standing behind the thread, takes it diagonally by two corners and twists it up rope fashion. He then ties three knots in it, one a little below the centre, one a little above the centre, and the third at one end. While this is being done, the assistants raise the thread, around which the last knot, forming the head of a snake, is actually tied; but owing to the thread being invisible, this will pass unobserved.

Having made the last knot, the performer drops the handkerchief on the floor, when its imitation of a live snake will depend entirely on the adroit manner in which the assistants manipulate the thread.

Finally, it should be made to jump into the hand of the performer, who should at once hand it with the knots still tied to the owner. This is managed by the assistant at one end dropping the thread and the other one pulling it clear of the handkerchief. Other tricks may be invented.

=To Pass your Body through a Postal Card.= Fold the card once lengthwise in the middle so that there will be two equal flaps. Now commence at the folded edge and cut almost to the straight edge, double thickness, then commence at the straight edge and cut almost to the folded edge, and so on alternately, until there have been about twenty-five or thirty cuts made, leaving a very small margin between each cut. Then cut each loop on the folded edge except the two outside loops, and open.

=Silhouettes.= Choose a part of the room where there is a clear wall space. Attach a piece of silhouette paper to the wall with thumb tacks or pins (or against a broad board if you fear that the tacks may injure the wall), the white side of the paper being out.

A lamp, or better a candle, having been placed so that it will throw a strong light on the sheet of paper, turn off all the other lights in the room. Each one then takes his place between the lamp and the wall so that a clear shadow of his profile may be thrown on the paper. Now draw a firm, strong line carefully around this shadow. The sitter must sit perfectly still, during the drawing. If possible have a head-rest, the shadow of which must not be seen upon the paper. Having thus outlined the shadow, take the paper from the wall and cut out the silhouette neatly or pass it to another to do the same.

=Gymnastics for the Tongue.= Say these several times as rapidly and distinctly as you can: “She sells sea shells at the sea shore,” and these also: “John sawed six sleek, slim, slender saplings.” “There was an old woman and she was a thistle sifter. She had a sieve of sifted thistles, and a sieve of unsifted thistles, and she was a thistle sifter.” “Mixed biscuits.” “Gig whip.” “Six thick thistle sticks.” “She stood at the door welcoming him in.” “Shoes and socks shock Susan.”

=The Passenger to Boulogne.= The requirements for this touching picture are an orange, a pocket-handkerchief or soft table-napkin, and a wine-glass. The orange is first prepared by cutting in the rind with a pen-knife the best ears, nose, and mouth which the skill of the artist can compass, a couple of raisins supplying the place of eyes. A pocket-handkerchief is stretched lightly over the glass, and the prepared orange laid thereon.

The pocket-handkerchief is then moved gently backwards and forwards over the top of the glass, imparting to the orange a rolling motion, and affording a laughable but striking caricature of the agonies of a sea-sick Channel passenger.

The performance terminates by draping the pocket-handkerchief hood-fashion over the supposed head, and squeezing the orange into the glass. The last scene, however, is disagreeably realistic.

=Mind-Reading.= Before appearing to the audience, fasten a fine black thread to the thumb (or any part desired). The other end is retained by an assistant seated back to the audience, and in back from the performer, so that the thread will not be noticed. While the performer is promising a mind-reading exhibition, the assistant will have time to make the thread tight, and it must be kept so during the performance. Show a small blackboard, or some other similar arrangement, that can be held in one arm, and ask any one to secretly suggest figures, which are put down in columns, for the purpose of addition. The figures must be large enough for every one to see, and it is advisable not to have too many, as experience will show it takes too long for the trick. The performer then mentally adds the right column of figures, after which he secretly pulls the thread, fastened to the thumb, as many times as necessary to make the correct number. The assistant counts the little jerks, and then announces the number, which proves to be the correct number to set down. This is continued until all the figures are added. If the sum of a column is a “zero” no pull should be made. The details must be plainly understood between the performer and assistant, and with a little ingenuity the trick will seem quite puzzling.

=Blowing a Card on Twine.= Procure some of the nicest twine, that is hard, smooth, and very slippery, and cut into lengths of fifteen or twenty feet, according to room available, fastening both ends to something stationary. The number of these lines may be optional, but not less than two. On each line, near the end, place a card four inches square, with a hole exactly in the centre, about three times the diameter of the twine. Care must be taken that the hole is large enough to allow the card to move properly but not too freely. At a given signal the card is blown the length of the line. The one arriving at the end first, wins.

=Naming a Card.= This trick can be shown at any time and at any place where two performers are together and desire to show a little skill to amuse their friends. The idea in the trick is to announce that you can tell the name of a card written on a sheet of paper, the paper folded and placed on the table, all being done while you are out of the room. After you have announced the trick and have left the room, your assistant (who of course acts as if he were disinterested) takes a pencil, and when some one names the card he writes it on the paper and folds it up. For example, we will say that the four of diamonds was named. When he has finished writing the name of the card, he, in an offhand way, places the pencil on the table, so that the point would indicate four in an imaginary clock, he of course sitting opposite to six. The paper is then folded and placed in a casual way on the opposite side on the table, in a section which we will designate as diamonds. These sections may be like this: diamonds at the top of the imaginary clock, hearts at the right, clubs at the bottom, and spades at the left. The face of the clock can be imagined to be about a foot or so round. You may now be called in by anybody, and upon entering, you must, to make the trick effective, take up the paper, and hold it to your forehead as if in deep thought. Of course you have taken in at a glance the entire situation, and in a most mysterious way, name the card. In case a court card is named you will understand that a jack is eleven, a queen twelve, and if a king is named, the pencil is not laid down, the paper only being left to indicate the suit. Now some are bound to name the joker. In that case your assistant simply places the paper on top of the pencil or uses some other arrangement agreed upon.

=A Horse Race.= Each man in the party receives a little bag containing one hundred beans. Each woman adopts the name of some horse. Strips of tape or paper are fastened at one end of the room farthest away from where the races are to begin. All attached ends are on the same line. The loose ends are held by the women on the other side of the room, armed with scissors. The men bet their beans on the outcome of the race. At a given signal, each woman begins to cut the tape, the one to reach the end of her strand quickest being the winner. The narrowness of the tape obliges the women to work with extreme care, as well as quickly, for if the strand is cut before reaching the end, the “horse” is disqualified. When the first entries have been raced, if there are more women than strips, more come forward for another “heat,” and so on until all have competed. The man winning the most beans in all the races wins the prize, and each lady who comes out ahead receives something in appreciation of her dexterity.

=A Jam-eating Contest.= For this, thin slices of bread are spread with jelly or jam and placed upon a small plate at the edge of the table. Those who enter the contest must have their hands tied behind them, so that they are obliged to eat their bread and jam without touching it with a hand. The one who succeeds in disposing of his slice first receives a prize.

=A Potato Race.= Use peach-baskets for the goals. Potatoes, apples, or oranges are laid three feet apart in rows for the gathering contest. Each one must be picked up and carried on a spoon to the basket at the end of the row.

=Guessing Contests.= A pumpkin, a large ear of yellow field-corn, a pint of peanuts in the shell, a pound of pecans in the shell, a basket of apples, one chrysanthemum, a large bunch of Malaga grapes, and a bough of oak leaves are the requisites for this entertainment. These same articles may serve as decorations for the room during the evening. The game is to guess the number of parts of each one of the list, for instance:

How many grains on the ear of corn?

How many seeds in the pumpkin?

How many grapes in the bunch?

How many pecans in a pound?

How many petals on the chrysanthemum?

How many peanuts in a pint?

How many leaves on the oak bough?

How many apples in the basket?

Of course, the answers have actually been obtained beforehand, except in the case of the chrysanthemum, which is counted after the company have guessed.

=A Phonograph Concert.= The removal of a large screen exposes a most extraordinary contrast. It consists of a large square packing-box, the open side being set across a doorway leading into another room. On top of the box is fastened a clothes-wringer and a megaphone, while a curtain conceals the part of the doorway not hidden by the box. The record is a narrow slip of paper, yards in length, which is inserted between the rollers. The crank is turned and the record announced amidst a grating noise peculiar to phonographs. A person behind the scenes, with his head in the box, drawls out the subjects of the records, making the scraping noise by rubbing something rough against a tin can. The people who are to do the feats on the phonograph are in the room behind the curtain and, as their turns come, stick their heads into the box and shout through the megaphone, which is sticking out of the hole bored through the box.

=To Lift Fifteen Matches with One.= On a match place fourteen other matches so that one third of the match, with its phosphorus tip, will be in the air and the other end resting on the table. These ends should point alternately right and left. If one is asked to lift them, holding only one extremity of the lower match, it seems clear that the fourteen matches on top will fall to the table by the force of gravity. Here is a way to render the operation feasible. Above the matches and along the angle formed by the interlacement, place one last match. They can now be lifted safely by the extremity of the under match. The matches will take an oblique position, embracing the upper one within their angle as though they were possessed of jaws, and will remain without further support just as long as you wish. By preference, employ the largest matches you can find.

=A Donkey Party.= Each one tries, blindfolded, to pin a tail to a donkey drawn on a sheet. The prize is given to the one who comes nearest to pinning it in the right position.

=The Dwarf Exhibit= affords one of the most amusing entertainments, and will cause wonder to your friends as to where you got “him.”

Two persons play the dwarf, a third acting as the exhibitor, who should prepare beforehand a humorous speech, setting forth the history and accomplishments of the dwarf, which will be told later.

To arrange and dress the dwarf, place a table in a doorway between two rooms, and cover it with a cloth or a curtain that will reach to the floor on the side farthest from the audience. Or the table may be placed entirely in the room next to that in which the audience is seated, the edge of it reaching to the doorway, so that the curtains between may act as a screen while you are getting the dwarf ready.

One person stands behind the table and places his hands on it. These, with his arms, form the feet and legs of the dwarf. Over his arms should be drawn a pair of boy’s trousers, and on his hands should be a pair of shoes. The trousers should be drawn down until they reach the heels, like a man’s. This completes the lower part of the dwarf.

The second person stands behind the first and passes his arms around his shoulders. By putting a coat over the arms and buttoning it down the figure of the first impersonator and then throwing a cape around his neck so arranged as to cover the head of the person behind, you will complete the dwarf’s dress.

Of course, you may have to improvise a jacket to fit, or you may dress the dwarf fantastically, as a Turk, or woman, for instance, but the means of doing so will suggest themselves readily.

The hands of the second person act as the hands of the dwarf, and as the latter makes his appearance they raise his hat when he bows to the audience. The exhibitor then begins his history, which can be made very ludicrous; and he should recite the various accomplishments of the dwarf, including dancing, and even his ability to suspend himself in the air without support.

The dwarf should then be invited to entertain the audience, and he should begin by making a little speech, in either a thin falsetto or a heavy bass voice, assumed, of course, to add to the grotesque effect. The second player makes gestures to the speech, which in themselves will create a laugh.

Then the dwarf should begin to dance. The hands of the first performer do this, and all of a sudden, in the middle of a quickstep, they both are lifted from the table and remain suspended in the air for a quarter of a minute. Then they drop to the table again, and the dwarf appears to be exhausted with this unusual effort.

In making his parting salute to the audience the dwarf astonishes them all by putting both feet to his mouth and throwing kisses with his toes.

=Stick-and-Pea Amusement.= A box of toothpicks and a pint of dried peas will furnish excellent amusement for children on a rainy day. Soak the peas until they can be pierced with a toothpick. Tables, chairs, boxes, figures, letters, etc., can be made by sticking the toothpicks into the peas.

=An Introduction to the Doll Family.= If you straighten a hairpin, then bend one end of it until it resembles a shepherd’s crook, and hang it on the edge of a table, it will swing back and forth many times like the pendulum of a clock. The slightest touch sets it in motion, and if you have just the right angle to the crook it will sway back and forth many times.

Suppose you fix several hairpins in this fashion and set them all to swinging at once. It will much resemble a lot of very slender gentlemen bobbing up and down in stately, graceful bows. Very well; suppose we have some real gentlemen to bow to us. Get two or three old magazines and look through the advertising sections. You will find lots and lots of figures of all kinds, men, women, and animals; some of them just the size you want. Cut out some of these very carefully, selecting those just a little longer than your bent hairpins.

Now thrust a hairpin through one of the figures and hang the bent end of the hairpin on the edge of a table; or, better still, a big book whose cover overlaps the leaves inside. Blow gently at the figure and it will answer by bowing most politely, bobbing back and forth in the funniest way you can imagine. Now fix the rest of the figures in the same way and you will have one of the most amusing collections of dolls that ever was. Whenever you blow at them, they all will nod and bow at once, but no two will move alike, for the shapes of their figures will all be different, and the different ways in which their weight or centre of gravity inclines them will cause the various motions.

Just try it with some of your little friends and see what fun these odd little actors will make for you.

=Second Sight.= This cannot fail to make a hit, providing the rule is not generally known by the audience.

Take a piece of paper and write on it the figures 1,089. Fold this paper and ask one of your spectators to place it in his pocket without looking at it. Now ask another spectator to think of three figures (_a_). He having done so, get him to write them upon another piece of paper. Now ask him to write the same figures under the first row, only in reverse (_b_) order. Subtract the smaller from the larger (_c_). Now reverse the remainder (_d_) and your total will be the answer on the piece of paper in the first spectator’s pocket. For instance:

(_a_) Number thought of 621
(_b_) Result of reversion 126
———
(_c_) “ “ subtraction 495
(_d_) “ “ second reversion 594
———
(_e_) “ “ addition 1,089

=The Blind Feeding the Blind.= Spread a sheet on the floor, and having blindfolded two players, seat them on the floor facing each other. Give to each a spoon and saucer containing some dry food such as ground pop-corn or wheat grains and let each attempt to feed the other.

=An Amateur Vaudeville.= For the entertainment of a large number of people, an amateur vaudeville program meets every requirement, and does so in a unique manner.

If you go over your list of friends and acquaintances, you will find among them many a clever person who has some talent which can be utilized in preparing the program; this one can dance, that recite, another sings coon songs, some do “cake-walks,” some play, others sing, one can tell an Irish story or a Dutch one, or perhaps perform a feat of legerdemain, and so on, until your program is filled.

=The Elusive Coin.= Set a coin upon the edge of a table, and, closing one eye by the opposite hand (that is, the left eye closed by the right hand and vice-versa); attempt to knock it off with the forefinger of the disengaged hand.

You will find that your judgment is at fault, and that, in nine cases out of ten you are dabbing away at nothing but thin air.

To do this effectively, you should stand at arm’s length from the coin, and you will be surprised at your apparent bad judgment.

=Novel Paper-Cutting.= A long strip of paper is shown to the audience; it is then rolled up into cylindrical form, a few cuts are made with a scissors, or if the paper is not too thick, it may be torn with the fingers. You make a twist or two, and the audience are surprised to see what a good resemblance to a “fir tree,” five or more feet in length, makes its appearance in the performer’s hands. This is managed in the following way: Cut a strip of paper about nine feet long and eight inches wide; to increase the effect, the strip of paper can be made up of three or four short lengths of different colored papers pasted together. Roll the paper up into a cylinder of about 1¼ inches in diameter, then with a pair of scissors make cuts through the cylinder from one end, to halfway down its length. These cuts should be at small, equal distances from each other around the roll. Then bend over into horizontal position each piece of loose paper to form the branches of the tree, pull out from the centre of the top in the same way as for the familiar barber’s pole; the tree will then be complete.

To thoroughly grasp the idea, the instruction should be carefully followed with scissors and paper in hand.

=The Mysterious Remainder.= A mother of several children amused them frequently by the following simple puzzle. It was a never-failing source of entertainment and a delightful mystery. She never told the secret. Had she done so, much of the charm would have been lost.

“Think of a number.”

Perhaps some one would think of four.

“Double it.”

The child thought, but did not say eight.

Perhaps she would say, “Add six to it.”

“Divide it by two.”

“Take away the first number you thought of and the remainder will be three.”

Sure enough, four from seven does leave three; the children were much puzzled to know how mother knew. The next thing was always a request to try it again.

Suppose 1000 was chosen.

“Double it,” was the order.

“Add ten to it,” was the next command.

“Divide by two.”

“Take away the first number thought of and the remainder will be five.”

One might think of six, another of eleven, another of twenty. The result was the same. Mother could always guess right.

When the children grew older they were surprised to learn that mother did not know the number thought of at all. They learned for themselves that the remainder was always half of the number added.

=Home Field-Sports.= (_a_) ONE-YARD DASH. This race consists in the attempt to push a penny a distance of one yard across the floor by means of the nose.

(_b_) TUG OF WAR. A raisin is tied firmly in the middle of a long piece of twine, and each contestant takes a firm hold of one end of the twine in his mouth, and begins to chew this string for the raisin. No one is allowed to use his hands.

(_c_) STANDING HIGH JUMP. Three doughnuts are suspended in a doorway about four inches above the mouths of the jumpers. The contestants with hands tied attempt to take a bite. One bite from the doughnut wins a prize.

(_d_) HURDLE RACE. The contestants take seats and thread six needles. The one who gets through first is the winner.

(_e_) DRINKING RACE. Each contestant is given a glass of water, which is to be absorbed by means of a spoon.

(_f_) BUN RACE. Two poles are set up at a good distance apart, connected with a clothesline, from which are suspended strings of different lengths, according to the height of each boy, and a bun is tied to each string. The boys line up, hands tied behind their backs, and at the signal each tries to eat his bun. The constant moving of the line caused by their efforts makes it almost impossible to get a bite. Soon a boy gets a hold with his teeth, gets his bun on the ground, and, with his hands still behind, finishes the bun and gets the prize.

(_g_) CRACKER-EATING CONTEST (for girls only). Girls choose sides and line up facing each other. Each girl has a cracker which she is to chew and swallow as quickly as possible. The side which has a girl able to whistle first wins the prize.

(_h_) RAINY-DAY RACE. This race is run by several girls. They stand in a line with a closed satchel in front of each one, in which is a pair of rubbers, a pair of gloves, and also an umbrella. When “three” is counted, they open the satchels, take out the rubbers, put them on, take out the gloves, put them on, open their umbrellas, take the satchels and walk (not run) about one hundred feet to a line. Here they lower the umbrellas, take off their gloves and rubbers, put them in the satchels, close them and return, carrying the satchels and having the umbrellas closed. The first one back to the starting point wins. Other additions may be made.

=The Gentlemen Nurse-maids.= It is best to have several ladies, who know the trick, to dress the dummies, as it is too long a task for one.

When the gentlemen are seated, carefully blindfold each one, and request him to double up his right fist. Upon the back of the fist mark the eyes, nose, and mouth of a face with a burnt match or a little water-color. Tie around this a doll’s cap, or a lace frill or muslin ruffle, and fasten around the wrist a full white apron or skirt. Bend the left arm to lie across the waist, and put the right fist into the inner bend of the elbow, drawing the apron down over the right arm, and each of the blindfolded gentlemen will appear to be tenderly nursing a young baby. Have blindfolds removed.

=New Year’s Resolutions for Others.= The simplest entertainments are often the most successful. The literary efforts are sometimes desirable, but for a really enjoyable, social time, the following is sure to be a success. This should be arranged on New Year’s eve. Resolutions for improvement in conduct for the coming year are then in order. Supply your guests with pencil and paper. A party invited to see the old year out is quite sure to be an intimate one. For the resolutions, have each guest write a set of them for some one else in the party. This may be decided by inviting each one to write of his neighbor or by writing the names on paper and letting each one draw his subject. They are to be collected and read to the company. The writer is at liberty to sign any name to his resolutions.

=Can You Draw a Watch-face?= Some people have the happy faculty of seeing what they look at, others go through the world blindly. We may look at a familiar object numberless times, and yet be ignorant of many of its striking characteristics. An amusing little test of this faculty can be arranged. There is no object with which we should be more familiar than the face of a watch, yet when we attempt to reproduce it, we will be astonished at our ignorance.

Have prepared squares of cardboard with pencil attached. If it is designed to use them as souvenirs, one side may be decorated, and the date and occasion written on it.

Provide one of these for each guest, and when you are ready for your entertainment request each of the company to draw on the blank side, the face of a watch as he can remember it. It is well to furnish something to use as a guide for the first circle, as that has very little to do with the memory of detail, and only rarely is one able to draw even an imperfect circle. Allow all the time required, and when the papers are collected, a committee can judge on the merits, if it is designed to give a prize.

=The Endless Thread.= The joker is seen walking about, until some one observes a piece of white cotton thread sticking on the back of his coat. Of course, the unfortunate individual is asked whether he has been sewing his buttons on, etc., being generally laughed at, until some one attempts to remove the piece of cotton. Then the laugh is turned, for, as the obliging gentleman pulls the cotton away from the joker’s coat, so does it become longer until some hundreds of feet have been extracted. The amusement is then brought to a climax by the gentleman turning round and drily remarking, “Well, I never! You had better start putting that back now!”

Before entering the room, the party that is going to play the joke should provide himself with a reel of white cotton. Without breaking the cotton, two or three feet must be unwound and threaded through a needle, which must be passed through the centre of the back of his coat. Then the reel should be deposited in his inside breast pocket, and the coat put on; afterwards pulling a little of the cotton through the garment to see that the reel works properly; the needle, of course, being removed, and the cotton being cut until only two or three inches project through the coat at the back. Now it will appear that the cotton is only sticking to the nap of the coat, but as soon as any one pulls, the reel will revolve and allow the thread to be dragged out until the supply is exhausted.

=The Telltale Glass.= Procure an ordinary glass tumbler, and invert it on the table. Then request anybody present to lend you a penny. Placing the coin on the top of the glass, you leave the room, telling the company at the same time, that if a person will take the penny and conceal it, you will tell them, when you return, which person has it.

Some one having concealed the coin, you make your appearance, and request each one round the table to place his first finger on the glass, one after another, and not all at once. This done, you take up the glass, and place it to your ear, remarking at the same time that, by the aid of the sound which you hear, you will be able to tell which person has the coin. Then you listen for a second or two, put down the glass, and turning to the person who has the coin, make some remark, such as “Mr. —--, please give me the penny.” Whereupon the person addressed produces the coin and hands it to you.

How you got to know who possesses the coin will seem remarkable to the company, you having been out of the room when the coin was taken off the glass and concealed.

This is how it is done: when you tell the persons to place their fingers upon the glass, your confederate, who is one of them, must place his on after the person who has the coin.

=Pairing Ten Half-dimes.= Place ten half-dimes in a row upon a table. Then taking up any one of the series, place it upon some other, with this proviso, that you pass over just ten cents. Repeat this till there are no single half-dimes left.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 half-dimes.

Place 4 upon 1, 7 upon 3, 5 upon 9, 2 upon 6, and 8 upon 10.

=Deceptive Heights.= (_a_) Ask a person, or several persons, to point out with a finger or walking-cane, on a wall, above a table, about what he supposes to be the height of an ordinary hat. You will find he will place his mark about a foot above the table. Place the hat under it, and he will find, to his surprise, that the space indicated is more than double the height of the hat.

(_b_) The height of a common flour-barrel is just the length of a horse’s face, and much merriment may be made by asking the company to mark their idea of the height of a flour-barrel upon the wall. In nine cases out of ten the mark will be several inches, or even a foot, too high.

=Slang.= The players may be young or old and of both sexes. They are given pencils and paper and asked to write down all the slang words they can think of in five minutes. When the time limit is reached the hostess collects the papers, and reads the names and the list of slang words aloud.

This is where the fun commences. Imagine a quiet little mouse of a woman having the following expressions to her credit: “Soak him,” “Chase yourself,” etc. Imagine a dignified old gentleman writing the following: “Put out his lamps,” “Me for the dreamy eyes,” etc. In one case, a lawyer seemed to be right at home, and at the end of the five minutes had a list of thirty expressions. But the prize unexpectedly went to a little lady who could think of only one word of slang. In presenting it, the hostess said, “You have used the best English, and the best slang.”

The lawyer, whose list of slang was the longest, received a booby prize. The point, of course, is that the least slang is the best.

=Observation Contest.= Have on tables and pinned on curtains, etc., quantities of small objects. Provide pads for all and let each have three minutes to observe each table, each part of the room, etc., and then five minutes to note down in another room all that she remembers to have seen. This is great fun. The prize should be given to the one with the keenest power of observation.

=The Bargain-Counter Game.= The Christmas bargain-counter is a charming fireside game for Christmas night that will amuse and at the same time instruct the nursery children. The bargain-counter may be the nursery table set in front of the fireplace or hearth. On the counter are laid as many as one likes of the toys which the children received from tree and Christmas stockings. One child is chosen to take charge of this play toy shop, and a second child leaves the room after looking carefully first at all the toys on the counter to determine their names. While this child is absent from the room a third child selects and hides one of the toys. When the second child returns he must try at one guess to say which of the toys was sold during his absence. If he guesses successfully he may be the next toyman. To make the game more difficult two or more toys may be hidden. Another and slightly more difficult way of playing the bargain-counter game is to have the toyman change the positions of the toys while the child is out of the room. The child on returning must rearrange them, if he can, in exactly the same positions. They may be scraps of color instead of toys. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet ribbons, balls or Christmas tree candles may be laid out in the order of the rainbow colors. While one child is either blindfolded or outside the room, the child in charge of the colors removes one from sight or alters the color order, and the other child must guess the hidden color or restore the rainbow order on his return.

=The “Thirty-five” Trick.= An envelope, handed to any person in the company at the outset, contains a slip of paper, bearing the number 35. This is kept in the person’s pocket until the close of the trick; or the number 35 can be written on the inside of a trick slate, or elsewhere, for production in due course.

The performer now goes around with a slip of paper, which he hands to some one, with a request to place any single figure thereon. This done, he gives the paper to a second person to place another figure under the first, and so on to as many persons in succession as necessary. As each figure is written, he secretly adds all together until the total reaches 26 or over; when this is the case, he stops calling for more figures and, retaining the paper, remarks, “That will do, thank you, but I would like to place this gentleman’s initials on the paper for the purpose of identification.” The initials are given and written on the paper by the performer, who at the same time takes the opportunity thus afforded of placing another figure, to make the sum total 35, at the foot of those already written. This done, the paper may be handed to any person to add up the sum, for the simple reason that the trick cannot now fail. Of course no one ever thinks of checking the number of figures on the paper with the number of persons who wrote them. The envelope containing the slip of paper is now opened, and the two amounts compared.

=An Ink Shock.= Cut a piece of black paper to imitate spilled ink. Lay it flat on a white table cover. Beside it, place an upset dry ink bottle. This will shock the mistress of the house.

=Reading from Folded Papers.= For this trick, you enlist the service of a friend. Each one is given a slip of paper and told to write on it a question. Fold up well and drop into a hat. Mix them up, and, holding the hat over your head, pick out any paper, and without unfolding it, answer the question, doing the same with the rest.

In order to do this, you must know your friend’s question, and as you collect the papers, slip it under the band inside the hat. When performing, take any slip, but answer your friend’s question first. Now open, to prove yourself right, and thereby see another question. This is answered while the next is held, and so on until the last, when all and the one in the hat are mixed and left for the audience for investigation.

=Blind Man’s Buff with Dominoes.= Sit opposite another player, each placing his right foot on the other’s left. Turn the dominoes face down and the game now begins. Of course each one must look at his domino before he plays it, but he does not show it to the other. The pressure of your foot on his shows the number with which you begin, without the possibility of a blunder, although playing the dominoes face downward. He now counts the movements of your foot, which indicate the number he is to match. He then presses your foot with the number you are to match. This is continued until all the dominoes are played. When the game is finished, turn the dominoes over to show that the numbers have been played with perfect exactness.

“=My Aunt Has Arrived from Paris.=” A circle is formed, all kneeling on the floor. The leader says to the one on his right side, “My aunt has arrived from Paris,” and the one addressed, asks the question, “What did she bring you?” The leader answers, “A pair of scissors,” and at once imitates the opening and shutting of the scissors with two fingers. This same question is asked, answered, and imitated by each one around the circle.

The leader again says, “My aunt has arrived from Paris,” and the one addressed asks, “What did she bring you?” The leader, still keeping up the scissors motion, says, “A fan,” and at once imitates fanning with the other hand. This goes around the circle as before.

The leader then announces in the same way, “A Japanese doll,” and imitates by bowing his head backward and forward, which goes around the circle. Then a rocking-horse is announced by the leader, and is imitated by moving the body up and down, all the while remaining on the knees. This also goes around the circle.