Chapter VII: Part 7

Then comes the only difficult part of the trick. Ask the one who has counted the coins to hold both his hands, while you pour the money into them, and taking the plate in your left hand, pour the contents into your right, where you have already _five more palmed_ (the five the audience have not seen). Now pour the fifteen into the hands of number two, and impress upon him the importance of keeping his hands well closed over the money. This will prevent his noticing that an addition has been made. Take the five from person number one, and pretend to place them in your other hand, but instead palm them. Do your talking and command the money to pass. If you have taken proper care in palming your coins, the audience, as well as the one holding the money, will be greatly amazed by the trick.

DANGER OF REPETITION.

In almost any performance of this kind, the audience, especially if of one’s intimate friends, are anxious for the performer to try again whatever strikes them as strange or mysterious, being of course on their guard to watch certain movements, at points in the performance which they had scarcely noticed before.

So it is very unsafe to try any trick over again immediately after it has been once performed, or in fact during the same evening; although perhaps it might be safely done if a number of different ones intervened. If beseeched to try it “just once more,” make as graceful an excuse as you can, and suggest in its place something equally interesting.

THE INEXHAUSTIBLE HAT.

For this trick, seven half-dollars are required, and are concealed in the right hand by “palming,” as the five two-cent pieces were hid in the former trick.

First, borrow of one of your audience a tall silk hat, promising to return it “as good as new” at the end of the performance. Let the audience examine it to see that the owner is not in league with yourself, and then, walking to the back of the room, place it upon a table. While walking toward the table, with the back toward the audience, palm your coins, which should be held in some convenient pocket, readily accessible when the moment comes for using them.

Next, turn to your audience, having your coins well concealed in your right hand, and request some one to lend you _six_ half-dollars; but immediately, under the pretense of disliking to trouble them, step forward, and, excusing yourself for the liberty, take a coin from the folds of a lady’s dress, by simply letting one of those concealed in your hand slip to the end of your fingers. If you have had sufficient practice in “coining” you will find no difficulty in doing this, and your audience will be inclined to believe you actually found the money secreted in the fabric, although they may believe you had some hand in placing it in its hiding-place.

If you have been thus far successful, go to the hat, and, calling attention to the fact, drop the half-dollar into it; then, as if you imagined some one was doubtful whether the coin was really in the hat, make some remark to the effect that if they do not believe you dropped it you will do so again, at the same moment thrusting your hand down to the crown to take it in sight again.

At the moment the hand is in this position, carefully place the six half-dollars on the bottom, and let one remain in the palm. Pick up one of these six, and holding it high, let it drop, being careful, however, that it does not hit the other five.

The coin in your hand you proceed to take from any unusual place which may occur to you—the window curtain, portière, a gentleman’s beard, or a lady’s coiffure, are those most naturally suggested. As soon as you take a half-dollar from its hiding-place, you pretend to place it in your left hand, and from there command it to pass to the hat, but in reality you palm it in your right where it is ready for the next position from which you desire to take it. Proceed in this way until you have gathered in six half-dollars.

As these have been lying quietly in the hat during all this time, you have no anxiety about sending them there, and must simply avoid going near it while apparently filling it with the money. When the last silver piece has been sent to its destination, request the audience to select some one of its members to count the money in the hat, and see that none has been lost in its flight hence. It will, of course, be found all right, and great will be the curiosity to know how you placed it there; but do not allow yourself to be influenced into trying it a second time, for with the close watching you will undergo your secret will be discovered.

ANOTHER HAT TRICK.

The hat may well be called “inexhaustible,” for all manner of things may be made to come from its prolific crown, and in such profusion, that a receptacle of double its size would hardly contain them.

If two boys have learned the art of palming well, they may assist each other, and, if at all ingenious, invent a variety of tricks for an evening’s amusement.

The following is but a suggestion, which may be varied by different materials:

Let them borrow from the audience two tall silk hats, and place them upon chairs standing some distance from each other. Each having provided himself with a small rubber ball—the one resembling the other as nearly as possible—they are ready to proceed. The hats were of course empty when passed to the stage, but as the first boy takes his place, back of the chair which contains a hat, he should glance down into it, and with surprise, draw out a ball which he has had concealed in his right hand, show it to the audience and then pretend to put it in his left hand, but instead _palm_ it in the right; at the same time extending his left toward his partner. The second boy stretches out his right arm as if to receive the ball, and at the moment his hand touches the fingers of No. 1, he lets that which he has been palming in his right hand slip down to his fingers, as if he had just received it from his friend. Now, pretending to change it to his left, he palms it, as No. 1 has done, and finally drops his left hand, which is supposed to hold the ball, into the hat in front of him, at the same time giving the side or crown a rap with one of his fingers, to imitate the falling of the ball. This same thing may be repeated indefinitely, until you have balls enough to stock the village. When you see the audience is beginning to tire, let No. 1 say, “My hat is empty; shall I help you count the balls in yours?” No. 2 nods assent, and looks down, as if expecting the hat to be full. He must then pretend great surprise, and taking up the hat must turn it upside down, gently shake it—remembering it is borrowed—and with the audience wonder what has become of all the balls.

Eggs, small lemons or oranges, little china dolls, and a number of small toys may be substituted for the rubber balls above given.

THE PERAMBULATING EGG.

This trick is one of the easiest, while at the same time one of the most pleasing, of the magician’s arts. In it an egg, apparently without any impulse beyond that which resides within itself, travels over a hat, and after reconnoitering it in its every nook and corner, passes gracefully over to another, and commences its journey of discovery around the second in much the same manner it has traversed the first.

Two hats are borrowed from the audience, and a dish of eggs is placed upon the table by their side, when the performer requests the lady stationed at the piano to give some music, and the exhibition commences. The egg which is used is merely a shell, the inside having been sucked or blown out through tiny holes made at either end. A slender silken thread is tied to the upper button of the performer’s waistcoat, while attached to the other end is a small piece of wax or other sticky substance. Just before the performance commences, show the dish of eggs, and then pass away from them and back of your audience, to show that they (the eggs) are in no way attached to your person.

As the music strikes up, walk to the table, take the shell from the dish, making it appear that you had no choice, but took the first one you chanced to touch, and place it inside the hat, at the same moment pressing the bit of wax to its side.

As the egg is _in the hat_ it is necessary for it to pass out upon the outside surface. To do this the hat is slowly moved downward until the egg is even with the brim; then by careful management and a little practice, the effect is produced of the egg walking up the hat instead of the hat being lowered to the egg. You may now take the egg in your hand and, holding the hat with the crown upward in a horizontal position, place it beneath the egg, and turn it slowly away from yourself. The effect will be that the egg is traveling up hill. By placing the other hat close to the one upon which you are performing, and slowly drawing it under the egg, the latter will appear to pass over to the crown of the second hat, and very much the same movements may be repeated on this as on the first.

THE MAGIC DISPATCHER.

Borrow a quarter or half-dollar from your audience, and ask the owner to place some mark upon it by which it may be identified. Wrap this in the corner of a handkerchief, and give it to some one to hold. Next take a ball of yarn, and having placed it in a tumbler, ask some other person in your audience to hold his hand over the top of the tumbler in such a way that the ball will be kept in place, and the yarn will run smoothly through the fingers. Hold one end of the yarn some distance from the tumbler, or near where the coin is held, and inform your audience that, as your dispatcher is in good working order, you will proceed to send the coin your friend has in his hand into the very center of the ball of yarn. Take the opposite corner of the handkerchief from the one holding the money in your right hand, and having counted one, two, three, command the coin to pass, at the same instant snatching the handkerchief from your friend’s hand. Next commence to unwind the ball, being careful to keep some distance from the tumbler while so doing.

As the yarn is nearing its end, the silver piece will drop upon the bottom of the tumbler, and nothing is left for you to do but to request the owner of it to step forward and see if it is the one he lent you.

In this, as in many of the tricks you have already learned, very little preparation is required. First, a coin of the same denomination as the one borrowed is sewed in a corner of the handkerchief. The ball is wound upon a stick of a particular shape, which is drawn out when the coin is to be substituted in its place. This stick should be about two and a half inches long, one and a quarter inches wide, and an eighth of an inch thick, rounded off at one end, and scraped until it is perfectly smooth.

When winding your ball, be careful to have the rounded end of the stick in the center of the ball, and the other end projecting slightly on one side.

After you have procured your coin, palmed it, and given the handkerchief containing the other into the hands of some person to hold, go for your ball, which should be at some distance from your audience, that you may have time to draw out the stick and insert the coin in its place, while you are walking back to the table upon which is your tumbler.

The trick is now done, but the audience must be kept ignorant of the fact, while your conversation and subsequent acting should shroud it in all the mystery possible.

THE TURKISH RING TRICK.

A few years ago I had the good fortune to see a famous magician perform. Many and wonderful were the things he did, and at times it seemed as if other than human skill must be aiding him in his craft.

Among others, he gave the following trick, which was as enthusiastically applauded as many of the others. It had for me no element of strangeness, as I was already initiated into its secret. Since it has ever been a favorite in the little amateur performances we have from time to time been in the habit of giving, I hope it may gain a wider popularity in the larger circle of friends to whom I am about to disclose it.

To the public it appears as follows: A plain gold ring is borrowed, placed in a handkerchief, and given to a person to hold. A small stick is held by two others, in such a position that its center is hidden by the handkerchief; each person holds an end. The magician commands the ring to pass, at the same moment snatching the handkerchief, a corner of which he has taken, away from the one holding it—when behold! the ring, which a moment ago was in the spectator’s hand, is now whirling around the stick, which it evidently has just reached.

It is performed as follows: When the ring is taken from its owner, it is palmed, and not placed in the handkerchief, as one is led to suppose, the handkerchief being supplied, as you probably have already guessed, with a ring which is sewed in its end. In passing the stick to the holders, you have simply to pass it through the right hand, in the center of which your ring is palmed, and, of course, through the ring itself. Then, holding it until it is hidden by the handkerchief, is not difficult to do. When you first take up the stick, be sure and use your left hand, so that you will have it ready to pass through your ring without any awkward or suspicious movements. Finally, pulling the handkerchief suddenly and quickly across the stick, causes the ring to whirl upon it very much as if it had just dropped in its place. It is always well, when performing with the handkerchief, to have a second and similar one in your pocket, to show in case suspicion should be aroused concerning it.

HOW TO MELT AND RE-COIN A HALF-DOLLAR.

Supply your table with a candle in a light candlestick, and a glass of water. When ready to perform, request some one of your audience to lend you a half-dollar, suggesting at the same time, that a new bright coin would best suit your purpose. Have it marked that the owner may be sure of its identity.

If nothing but dull coins are to be found, have a small bottle of ammonia at hand, and holding the piece in your hand, pour a few drops of the liquid upon it; let it stand a few moments and then wipe with a bit of cloth. Treat both sides in the same way, and brighten up the edges in like manner. All this while you may be talking of this treatment, as if it were intended to render the metal more fusible, but be careful not to mention what the fluid is, or for what it is really intended. This treatment is, of course, not necessary in the case of new coins, in which case it can be omitted.

When the silver is bright, and presents the appearance of a new coin, take it between the thumb and forefinger of your right hand, look at it carefully, and then pretend to drop it into your left hand, but instead palm it in your right.

Now continue to move your left hand as if working the coin around in it, keeping up a continual flow of small talk during the whole performance. The difficulty of melting silver, the amount of heat required, and the comparative hardness of different metals, forming good subjects, with which you will become familiar before your public exhibition.

To render the idea of palming an apparent impossibility, take up the candle in your right hand. This will render the holding of the coin less troublesome, and appear to your audience as a conclusive evidence that the half-dollar is in your left hand.

After you have pretended to place the coin in your left hand, do not for an instant forget to appear as if it really was there, and keep that hand always in sight of your audience.

Having taken the lighted candle in your right, hold the left hand above the flame, and move the fingers as if allowing the silver to pass down, drop by drop, into the candle itself. If, just before this, previous to taking the candle, you could catch up the glass for a drink and drop a spoonful of water into the hollow of your left hand, the dropping of it into the candle-flame would add to the impression of melting silver. You can wet your hand slightly in many natural ways, as no one would imagine the water had anything to do with the trick. Continue to pretend to drop the silver, until it would naturally be gone; then, without removing your hand, open it and announce that the half-dollar is melted, and can be found in the candlestick; assuring the donor that he need not be alarmed, as you can bring it out as it was before it went in, if he will but have patience.

Put the candlestick down upon the table, and pretend to pick out bits of silver from the various parts of it with the right hand, placing them as they are gathered in the palm of the left hand. At a convenient moment, when the right is exactly above the left hand, drop the half-dollar into it, and the trick is done. But it would not do to let the audience know this, so you must continue to work the left hand as if molding the coin in shape, blowing with the mouth into the palm as if cooling the heated mass; toss it from hand to hand as if to cool it more rapidly, and finally return it to the spectator from whom it was borrowed.

BURNING THE CENTER FROM A HANDKERCHIEF.

The young performer will find but little difficulty in performing this simple sleight-of-hand trick successfully. A lighted candle, a small stick, or magic wand, and a piece of thin cambric or muslin about six inches square, are the materials required.

Place the lighted candle on your table, and the wand on another table or shelf some distance from the former with the bit of cambric behind it.

Now borrow of some lady present a handkerchief, a gentleman’s being inconveniently large. Take the handkerchief by the center, pull it carefully between the fingers and thumb of left hand, and advance toward the candle.

Just as you are about to burn it, stop and say, as if in answer to some remark overheard, “Oh, no, I have not changed the handkerchief. See!” and at the same time allow another inspection of it.

Suggest now to its owner, if, in case her handkerchief is burned, she would like it restored again to its proper condition; and, upon her answering in the affirmative, announce the necessity of the magic wand for that purpose. Walk to the spot where the wand is lying, and take it up, managing to pick up at the same time between the left thumb and forefinger the bit of cambric; the center of this piece should be pointed outward so that it may be readily pulled out at the desired moment, the remainder being neatly rolled up and palmed under the thumb. This piece should have been rolled up with the central point slightly projecting when first placed on the shelf, and the performer should manage to turn his back toward the audience for a few moments when taking up the wand.

Place the wand in one of your coat pockets as you advance toward your candle, and again take the handkerchief, putting it this time into the left hand, and pull up the small piece of material, completely hiding the center of the real handkerchief between the second and third fingers and the palm of the hand.

The portion of the cambric extending beyond the thumb and forefinger may now be safely burned, and the audience may be sure the handkerchief is burned, as you can make some display of rolling it up in a ball, taking care, however, to separate the burned piece from the real article. Now take the wand from the pocket, and at the same time manage to drop the small semi-burned piece of muslin unperceived into the pocket; touch the handkerchief with the wand, and, after some magic word or words, return the handkerchief to the owner to be examined, remarking that you hope not even an odor of smoke is noticeable about it.

Whenever displaying feats in magic, it is better for the performer to go forward among the audience if he has anything to show or have examined, than to allow the latter to come to his portion of the room. His table has often some things upon it which if seen near by would do much toward dispelling the mystery connected with his works.

A wide space should be left between his table and the front row of spectators, as he often has occasion to step between the two in some of his feats.

The lights also should be judiciously arranged, so as not to shine too directly upon his hands or person, or even upon his table. Always have everything you can possibly need in some easily accessible place, and in just the position most convenient to be taken.

Decide beforehand what tricks you will perform, and in just what order they are to be given. Of course, all the materials are not to be spread on the table at the commencement of the entertainment, as they would be in the way, and confuse you in your first acts; but they should all be at hand, and while articles are being examined which have passed through the various vicissitudes in a former trick, you can utilize the time when the attention is thus carried away from yourself to gather together and properly place the materials for your next feat.

Never be induced to perform a trick a second time, unless nearly a whole evening’s performance intervenes. Even then it is pretty sure to be detected.

THE MAGIC ROPE.

Take a piece of clothes-line, six or seven yards long, and pass it among your audience for inspection. While it is going its rounds, have your hands securely tied with a handkerchief, which should be passed around the wrists and knotted on one side.

When the rope is returned to you, drop one end between your arms, or inside the handkerchief, and request some one to take both ends of the rope and pull, to make sure your hands are firmly tied. It would now seem impossible to get the rope off, unless the hands were untied or the ends released. After two or three rapid motions, however, the rope drops to the floor, while your hands remain tied as at first.

First, do not have your hands tied so tightly that you cannot move them; this can be arranged by holding them slightly apart while they are being tied. After the rope has been pulled by the holder, it is somewhat relaxed; and then, by rubbing it between the wrists a loop may be formed, into which the second finger may be slipped. The whole hand is now readily thrust through, and only a jerk is necessary to send the rope upon the floor. In performing this trick, work as quickly as possible, that your movements may not be easily followed.

A CAMPING-OUT COOKING-STOVE.

Although the winter season is now well upon us, and its reigning king, Jack Frost, jealous if we but mention the “camp-fire,” has covered its very site with ice and snow, we need not fear incurring his displeasure by the following exhibition.

Procure an old silk hat if possible, and pass it among your audience for inspection. Have upon the stage, or at your end of the room, a table, with a drawer open at the back. In this drawer have a small cake in the tin in which it was baked. Let it be made in a patty-pan if convenient. Beside this cake have a small tin cup, which will fit rather tightly into the mouth of a china jar you have also provided. On the top of the table have an unlighted candle, the jar, which should be porcelain if possible, a basket containing a few eggs, a pitcher of water, some flour, and a box marked sugar. The hat, after having been examined, is returned to you; and the cake, along with the cup which is to receive the eggs and flour, are put into it. This is effected as follows: Take the cake and cup in your left hand, keeping it down behind the table, and your hat in the right hand; bring the cake and cup up to the edge, and immediately cover it with the hat, which you begin brushing with your right. Keep up a running discourse all the time, so that the movement will seem natural, and not be suspected. In a moment or two partly withdraw the left hand, and grasping the brim of the hat, turn it upside down upon the table. If the tin is not in a good position to catch the eggs and flour which you are to drop into it, palm a penny and pretend to find it in the hat, chiding your audience for carelessly overlooking it, remarking that although a useful thing to have, it is not exactly a proper ingredient for cake. Of course, while pretending to pick up the coin, you can arrange the tin cup on top of your cake in the middle of the hat. Be sure that it stands firm.

Now proceed to break one or more eggs, and drop the contents into the hat, taking especial care that they drop into the cup. Next throw in a spoonful of sugar, and then pour a few drops of water and one or two spoonfuls of flour into the jar, and stir well with a spoon. Pour the contents of the jar into the cup, and then, under pretense of draining the last drop into the hat, force the jar down over the cup, and work it around until the cup is well pushed up into the mouth of the jar. It is needless to add that you must pretend all the while that you are scraping or shaking out the mixture. The jar can now be taken out and carelessly placed behind the sugar-pail or any other object, to prevent the edge of the tin cup from being seen.

The trick is now completed, the only necessary thing to do is to keep up the acting until the cake is supposed to be finished.

First, stir it well by moving the spoon around quite actively in the hat; then light the candle, and, informing your audience that the cake is ready for baking, take the hat in one hand and hold it over the candle for a minute or two, occasionally glancing in to see if it is doing well.

In a short time announce that it is baked; and after blowing out the candle, take the cake from the hat, turn it out upon a plate, and placing a knife by its side, pass it to some one to cut, and politely request your friends to try it, and judge upon the efficacy of your camp-stove. If the hat was borrowed, return it with thanks to its owner, and congratulate him upon having such a useful article always on hand.

NECESSITY OF A SOBER COUNTENANCE.

In most, in fact all, of these exhibitions, it is absolutely necessary that one should keep a sober countenance while performing. No matter how hard your audience laugh, do not allow the shadow of a smile to flit across your face. If you do it will take away much of the effectiveness and half the mystery, from whatever you are doing.

I once had a young friend, a quick bright boy, who was very successful in palming, and in many of the other elements in sleight-of-hand tricks, but he had a ridiculous and unconquerable habit of laughing whenever his audience laughed, and, in fact, of sometimes anticipating the laugh, and commencing before his friends saw anything worth laughing about.

He was of course not successful, and was never watched with as much interest as his brother, who, although not as clever, was as sober as a judge from the beginning to the end of the performance. No amount of hilarity in the audience affected him in the least. If he found it was impossible to make himself heard, he stood still and waited; but always with the same quiet, calm countenance he would have worn had he been walking up the aisle of a church. Learn to command your countenance, as one of the most important requisites of a successful magician.

THE GREAT CHINESE ROPE FEAT.

Many years ago this trick was exhibited in a show-window on Broadway, but as probably most of the people who then saw it have long since forgotten how it was performed, I give the following account:

Two ropes, each about three yards in length, are given to the audience to examine, which of course are pronounced perfect; then they are passed through the sleeves of a coat, in such a way as to suspend it; the ends are then given to two boys to hold. The performer then places his hand inside the coat, and having requested those who are holding the ends of the rope to pull, the coat falls to the floor, having in some mysterious manner worked off the ropes.

Of course, the whole secret of this trick depends upon the arrangement of the ropes, which are of themselves perfect. After they have been examined, and are returned to the performer, he pretends to measure them, and while so doing manages to bend each rope double; that is, he brings the two ends of each together; while still holding them he contrives to slip a small elastic band over the center of one, and bringing the middle of the other alongside of it, he slips the band over both, thus tying them together, as shown in the illustration.

Now holding this juncture carelessly in his left hand, over which arm a coil or two of the rope is thrown, he passes the ends marked _A_ through one sleeve of the coat, and the end marked _B_ through the other, and these are the ends he gives to the two persons to hold.

If he now slips off the rubber band, the coat will fall; but each person will have both ends of the same rope in his hand, and the mystery would be easily solved. To remedy this, however, the performer, under pretense of making the trick still more difficult, takes an end from each of the holders, and proceeds to tie a single loop, as seen in the illustration, thus reversing the ends, which he then returns to them.

Of course, when the band is taken off, each person has but one end of either rope in his hand.

TO PULL A STRING THROUGH A BUTTON-HOLE.

Tie together the ends of a piece of string about two feet long; pass it thus tied through a button-hole of your coat. Hitch the two ends on your thumbs, and catch up with each little finger the upper string on the thumb of the opposite hand; then, stretching the hands apart, the string will appear in a very complicated tangle. If the hold of the right thumb and left little finger, or _vice versâ_, be then loosed, and the hands quickly separated, the string will come away from, and appear as if it had passed through, the outside edge of the button-hole.

TO UNITE A PARTED STRING.

Take a piece of string about four feet long; hold the ends, pointed upward, between the first and second finger and thumb of the left hand, and the first finger and thumb of the right hand, letting the remainder of the string hang down in a loop. Now bring the right hand close to the left, crossing at right angles that end of the cord held in the left hand, and continue to pull until half the length of the string has passed the left hand, at the same time slipping the third finger of the left hand between the two parts of the string.

The first finger and thumb of the right hand should then seize the string at a point just below the little finger of the left hand, the third finger of that hand at the same time drawing back the string toward the palm of the hand.

The part of the string now held horizontally between the two hands is only the continuation of the end held in the left hand, though it will appear to be the middle of the string.

This piece of the string some one of the audience should be invited to cut, and thus apparently divide the string in halves, although in fact he only cuts off two or three inches.

Place all the ends of the string between the teeth, withdraw the short piece with the tongue, and show the remainder, apparently as the string was at the commencement.

Of course, the string must not be measured, or the trick will be detected.

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A MINERAL GARDEN.

Fill a clear glass jar—a fruit jar will answer the purpose—with sand, to the depth of two or three inches; insert a few pieces of sulphate of iron, sulphate of copper, and sulphate of aluminum, so that they will be barely covered with the sand.

Now fill the jar to within about three inches of the top with a solution of silicate of soda, commonly known as “water-glass,” which can be procured at most large city drug stores. This should be diluted with three times its bulk of water before it is poured in; and care should be taken not to stir up the sand and disarrange the chemicals.

After standing about a week, the silicates of the various bases will appear in a luxuriant and variously colored growth, resembling vegetation.

Now the silicate solution may be displaced with clear water, which should be poured in very carefully, so as not to break or disturb the vegetation. This permanent miniature forest will be found to present a very attractive appearance, and as no pruning or weeding are required, the young gardener will probably feel that his trouble is well repaid. Its development from day to day will be watched with interest by all the members of the household, although it will be of especial value to the invalid, to whom any new and interesting object to watch is a blessing indeed.

Another pleasing and ingenious device I insert for the benefit of this class of my readers, wishing, in the meantime, that it might be in my power to make their in-door life so bright and full of interest, that they would forget the more active sports of their sturdy brothers and sisters, or at least cease to regret their enforced confinement. This little affair I shall call

THE CRYSTAL VASE.

This sparkling ornament will almost make itself, so little trouble is required.

You have only to half fill a tall glass tumbler with water, and put in half a teacupful of table salt, then let it stand.

As the water dries out, put in a little more, adding salt also in due proportion; and keep this up for five or six months.

By degrees an incrustation of crystals will fill the tumbler, and spread gradually down the outside; extending and thickening till the whole vessel is covered with an irregular glittering mass, which might well be the work of the ice-sprites in the kingdom of Jack Frost.

As the crystals approach the bottom of the tumbler, the latter should be set in a saucer; when the tiny stalactites have enveloped this also, the vase is complete.

Should it be desired to enhance still further the decorative effect of this by the use of color, a blue tint can be communicated by adding a little indigo blueing to the salt and water. Should other colors be desired, almost all of those employed in coloring alum crystals (see page 25) may be used with equal success in this case. By adding different colors at different times, a variegated effect may be produced.

The gradual growth of the crystals, and enlargement of the mass, is a very interesting spectacle.

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THREE CHRISTMAS OR BIRTHDAY GIFTS.

When speaking of Christmas presents in an earlier portion of this book, I unintentionally omitted three quite interesting and easily made puzzles, which are always pleasing sources of amusement to the young folks, and sure to while away many half-hours on stormy days. Such presents are always valuable additions to the nursery closet, and in an indirect way are as gratifying to mamma and nurse as to the little recipient himself. The first of these is called the

OCTAGON PUZZLE.

This puzzle consists of twelve irregular pieces of stiff pasteboard or wood, which are to be arranged in the form of an octagon.

Although these pieces can be cut from pasteboard, they are more lasting, stronger, and better every way if made of wood. White holly, such as is employed for brackets, is a nice material to use.

With a jig-saw cut four pieces in shape like that represented in Fig. 1, four like Fig. 2, and four more like Fig. 3; rub the edges down with sand-paper, and, if you like, paint each set a different color. When the paint is dry, varnish them.

Pack them in a small pasteboard box, which you can neatly cover with paper—any fancy color will do—and you will find your little brother or sister will be as well pleased with them as with many toys which have come direct from the store.

Another puzzle of the same character as this is

THE CROSS PUZZLE.

In this, as in the Octagon, the pieces composing the cross may be made of pasteboard, but are better and stronger if made of the white holly or other thin “bracket wood.”

Cut three pieces—with the jig-saw, of course—in shape like Fig. 1, one piece like Fig. 2, and one like Fig. 3.

These pieces may be of any size, but relatively each one must correspond with the sizes and shapes indicated in the diagram.

Paint as fancy may dictate, after smoothing the edges off with sand-paper. Pack in a box treated like that used for the “Octagon Puzzle.”

The last of these interesting puzzles is known as the

SQUARE PUZZLE.

Of the pasteboard or white holly cut out eight squares of whatever size desired; divide four of them into halves by cutting them from corner to corner, so there are in all twelve pieces.

The puzzle is to form a square of these twelve pieces. The illustration shows how this is done.

When these puzzles are given to the little folks, no “key” should accompany them, but the children should try to put them together without help. If, however, you find they begin to lose interest, show them the first step, and encourage them to try to finish it by themselves.

There are great differences in children in this respect; some persevering and unwilling to be helped at all, while others become discouraged at the smallest obstacles and refuse to try. The latter should be encouraged by a little help, care being taken, however, that they do a considerable portion of the work themselves.

No doubt this “indolence,” as it is sometimes erroneously called, is generally due to a weak physical condition, rather than to inferior mental powers. A child of this temperament, instead of being ridiculed by his more vigorous companions, should be encouraged and stimulated to action; and such games or puzzles as those contained in this book are just the things to accomplish this end.

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A SIMPLE FOUNTAIN.

Take a bottle holding eight or ten ounces, and insert a tube in the cork. A fine glass tube or even a pipe-stem will answer.

The tube should reach nearly but not quite to the bottom of the bottle, and should fit air-tight in the cork.

Fill the bottle about three-fourths full of water, and blow with considerable force down the tube. Upon removing the mouth, the water will spurt out, forming a miniature fountain; which will continue to play as long as any water remains in the bottle.

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THE FAN FROM NAGASAKI.

A few months ago, a friend who had been for several years a resident of Japan, came home to America for a visit, and brought with her a bright little son and daughter, neither of whom had ever set foot on our American shores before. The children were delighted with their American cousins; and evidently could not find words strong enough to sound the praises of the new games and sports which they were constantly learning.

Their lives had been spent with Chinese or Japanese nurses; and although kind-hearted and devoted as my friend assured me these people were, the little exiles must have had a sorry time of it in their foreign play-room, when compared with our own boys and girls. The respect and almost reverence with which they regarded Jack, the most daring scapegrace in our family, would have been very amusing had it not been pathetic. What Jack did was always marvelous in their eyes, and into many an unsuspected trap they were beguiled by his mischievous pranks. They were what most of you boys and girls would call very green, when they first reached us, but under Jack’s tuition, I fear that next winter—in fact, at the very time you are reading this—perhaps they will be trying the same tricks upon their innocent Japanese nurse that Jack tried upon them.

It will not be strange if that long-suffering personage does not in his secret heart have less respect for this illustrious nation than he has been wont to have before.

But if so ignorant in most things, these children were very ingenious and uncommonly happy in making things of paper.

One rainy morning, about a week after they came to us, I had occasion to go into the nursery for something, and was quite surprised to find the children busily engaged in folding paper. Edith had brought down some rice-paper from her trunk, and with the help of her brother, was fashioning all sorts of odd things from it; while the younger members of my own family were looking on with intense interest.

I left the room, after watching them for a few minutes, but an hour later, upon entering it again, found them still employed in the same amusement.

It seems that their nurse had been in the habit of teaching them many Japanese arts to keep them still while under his charge. Their nurse was a man, strange to say, as very few female servants are employed in either China or Japan, and now they in their turn were teaching these to us. I confess the graceful, pretty things they were making had quite a fascination for me, and I even left off what I had been doing, and became a pupil with the youngsters. I took up the article which they were just beginning to learn, and, following my little teacher’s directions, I made what I have styled “The Fan from Nagasaki,” because my little instructress was born and lived in that city, and learned her art from a native Jap, and not because the fan itself, if it can strictly be called a fan, came from that region.

The children called it by a delightfully odd Japanese name, which you would find it hard to pronounce even if I should invent a way of spelling it.

Edith used Japanese or rice paper for those she made; but we found a stout quality of brown wrapping-paper, not too stiff, answers nearly as well.

If brown paper is used, a rectangular piece about two feet long, by one and a half feet wide, is a good-shaped piece to use.

Mark off each of the edges which measure eighteen inches into six equal parts, each division being of course three inches long (see Fig. 1). Now double the paper on the line at _x_, and you have a shape like Fig. 2. Fold the uppermost half under at the line _a a_, and again outward at the line _b b_; then fold the under half in precisely the same manner, and your paper is like Fig. 3.

Upon examining the edge _a a a_, two openings between the folds will be seen; whereas at the edge _b b b_, three openings will be found. The hand has next to be placed in the middle of these three openings, and the paper spread out toward the right and toward the left; that middle fold lying flat or unfolded for the time being. Another figure is now made like Fig. 4. Now commencing at one end of this long strip, crinkle it the whole length as you would a lamplighter top, making the folds even, about a quarter or half an inch wide. Be careful not to make these folds wider than this, as the fan does not work as well when they are wide. Yon have now a figure like that seen in Fig. 5; and if your folds have been carefully and firmly creased, your paper is prepared to make all sorts of strange shapes. I think Edith told me her nurse could make sixty-five different forms from a similarly folded bit, and most of these she was able to reproduce; but as it is some time since the children left us to visit other friends, and I have not given the subject a second thought till now, I find I have forgotten how many of the more intricate ones were formed. Perhaps with the directions for these my readers will catch the _knack_, as we Yankees call it, and can improvise some forms unlike any of these, for themselves. Whatever you succeed in making, you may be quite certain that the Nagasakian nurse, away off on the other side of the earth, is ahead of you, and has made the same form before; for his sixty-five must include about everything one could possibly fashion from its folds.

In Fig. 6, the lower edge of Fig. 5 is held between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, while the top is spread out like a fan. For Fig. 7, take Fig. 6, insert the fingers at _a_, and pass them round to _b_, raising the paper outward. Fig. 8 is a continuation of 6 and 7, as the upper layer of the overhanging edge in Fig. 7 is raised by passing the finger under it at _c_, and bringing it out at _d_.

Fig. 9 is a reverse of Fig. 8. Catch the paper by the part now uppermost, pinch that part well together, and loosen the part which was confined in Fig. 8.

It must be remembered that every time the fan is changed, the paper must be pinched into its original form, Fig. 5. It will now be necessary to make that change. After creasing the folds firmly in place (Fig. 5), lift up the upper part _a_, bring the lower plaits _b_ well together, and hold them for the handle. With the disengaged hand, arrange the upper part in the form of a sunshade. Another form may be got by raising the upper layer of the sunshade cover, a species of cup or goblet. By drawing out _b_ until it is at right angles with the upright, the goblet form is nearer correct.

Now reverse the paper, and spread out the lower part so that it may represent the body of a wine-glass; that which in Fig. 10 was the top of the sunshade, is now the foot of the glass, as seen in Fig. 11.

The Chinese lantern (Fig. 12) is as easily made. Open out all the paper, and twist it around; catch it now by the central part, and by compressing the central folds well together, these wheels are produced (Fig. 13).

The hat, or cup and saucer (Fig. 14), is readily made by opening the paper out again, and catching it at the two ends.

We now come to a new form of subjects, so the original form (Fig. 5), must once more be reverted to. If the paper is caught at both ends, it can easily be folded so as to form Fig. 15, and a table-mat may be made by drawing it out like Fig. 16.

A “nappie” dish, oval in form, and resembling Fig. 17, may be made from Fig. 16, by simply raising up the sides _a_ and _b_. By pressing the paper inward, Fig. 18 is obtained. Fig. 19 is made by drawing the paper out again, and letting it loose at the end. Thus you see, by pulling out some parts and drawing in others, a quantity of things could be made other than these I have shown. It would be quite interesting if every boy and girl who reads this, would try on some rainy day to see how near to the sixty-five he or she could come. If two or three friends in the same neighborhood should unite their forces, and count all which are unlike, without reference to the maker, they might not fall so far short of the illustrious Japanese—I wish I could remember his name—after all.

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THE MINIATURE YACHT AND HOW TO RIG HER.

Boat making and sailing are most fascinating pursuits, and we do not know but the old saying, “When a man has taken to boat-sailing, he is a sailor to the end of his days,” is to a certain degree applicable to the boy who intelligently fits out his tiny craft, and sends her on little voyages across the neighboring pond.

If the sailing is to be done on water of any depth, there is one caution we should like to give at the very outset: _Learn to swim before you sail her_. No mere pleasure is worth risking one’s life for, and accidents will happen even to the most careful boys.

After this, you may play on or near the water with as much safety as on the land.

Aside from the pleasure, one learns an extremely useful lesson in making a miniature model yacht, and in sailing her. A certain familiarity with the rigging, and the looks of the thing, will thus be obtained, and if your fingers have patiently set up shrouds and stays, and rove the mimic halyards, they will be less at sea with the ropes and stays of a real vessel.

Many boys living near the sea, and accustomed every day to see vessels lying at anchor, or sailing in and out of the harbor, have very hazy ideas concerning the rigging of any kind of craft. Well I remember in my early days of being obliged to run down to the wharf to see where to attach my topmast. Whether it belonged forward or aft of my mast I had not the slightest remembrance, and yet scarcely a day went by without my seeing a vessel in some form or other.

Boys are not the only persons, however, who look at things and do not see them. The power of minute and careful observation is a rare quality, and the majority of people go through life without forming the habit, or indeed dreaming they have not made the best use of their sight.

For the benefit of the boys who belong to this class, and those less fortunate ones living inland where yachts are unknown, I write this chapter.