Endless Amusement Part 16

_The Four Confederate Cards._

A person draws four cards from the pack, and you tell him to remember one of them. He then returns them to the pack, and you dexterously place two under and two on the top of the pack. Under the bottom ones you place four cards of any sort, and then, taking eight or ten from the bottom cards, you spread them on the table, and ask the person if the card he fixed on be among them. If he say _no_, you are sure it is one of the two cards on the top. You then pa.s.s those two cards to the bottom and, drawing off the lowest of them, you ask if that is not his card. If he again say _no_, you take up that card, and bid him draw his card from the bottom of the pack. If, on the contrary, he say his cards _are_ among those you _first_ drew from the bottom, you must dexterously take up the four cards you put under them, and, placing those on the top, let the other two be the bottom cards of the pack, which you are to draw in the manner before described.

_The Numerical Cards._

Let the long card be the sixteenth in the pack of piquet cards. Take ten or twelve cards from the top of the pack, and, spreading them on the table, desire a person to think on any one of them, and to observe the number it is from the first card. Make the pa.s.s at the long card, which will then be at the bottom. Then ask the party the number his card was at, and, counting to yourself from that number to sixteen, turn the cards up, one by one, from the bottom. Then stop at the seventeenth card, and ask the person if he has seen his card, when he will say _no_. You then ask him how many more cards you shall draw before his card appears; and when he has named the number, you draw the card aside with your finger, turn up the number of cards he proposed, and throw down the card he fixed on.

_The Card found out by the Point of the Sword._

When a card has been drawn, you place it under the long card, and by shuffling them dexterously, you bring it to the top of the pack. Then lay or throw the pack on the ground, observing where the top card lies. A handkerchief is then bound round your eyes, which ought to be done by a confederate, in such a way that you can see the ground. A sword is put into your hand, with which you touch several of the cards, as if in doubt, but never losing sight of the top card, in which at last you fix the point of the sword, and present it to the party who drew it.

_The Card hit upon by the Guess._

Spread part of the pack before a person, in such way that only one court card is visible; and so arrange it, that it shall appear the most prominent and striking card. You desire him to think on one; and observe if he fix his eye on the court card. When he tells you he has determined on one, shuffle the cards, and, turning them up one by one, when you come to the court card tell him that is the one.

If he does not seem to fix his eye on the court card, you should not hazard the experiment; but frame an excuse for performing some other amus.e.m.e.nt; neither should it be attempted with those who are conversant with these sort of deceptions.

_The Card changed by Word of Command._

You must have two cards of the same sort in the pack, (say the king of spades.) Place one next the bottom card, (say seven of hearts,) and the other at top. Shuffle the cards without displacing those three, and show a person that the bottom card is the seven of hearts. This card you dexterously slip aside with your finger, which you have previously wetted, and, taking the king of spades from the bottom, which the person supposes to be the seven of hearts, lay it on the table, telling him to cover it with his hand.

Shuffle the cards again, without displacing the first and last card, and, shifting the other king of spades from the top to the bottom, show it to another person. You then draw that privately away, and, taking the bottom card, which will then be the seven of hearts, you lay that on the table, and tell the second person (who believes it to be the king of spades) to cover it with his hand.

You then command the cards to change places; and when the two parties take off their hands and turn up the cards, they will see, to their great astonishment, that your commands are obeyed.

_The Three Magical Parties._

Offer the long card to a person, that he may draw it, and replace it in any part of the pack he pleases. _Make the pa.s.s_, and bring that card to the top. Next divide the pack in three parcels, putting the long card in the middle heap. You then ask the person which of the three heaps his card shall be in. He will, probably, say the middle; in which case you immediately show it to him. But if he say either of the others, you take all the cards in your hand, placing the parcel he has named over the other two, and observing to put your little finger between that and the middle heap, at the top of which is the card he drew. You then ask at what number in that heap he will have his card appear. If, for example, he say the sixth, you tell down five cards from the top of the pack, and then, dexterously making the pa.s.s, you bring the long card to the top, and tell it down as the sixth.

_The Magic Vase._

Construct a vase of wood, or pasteboard, see Fig. 20. On the inside let there be five divisions; two of them, _c d_, to be large enough to admit a pack of cards each; and the other three, _e f g_, only large enough to contain a single card. Place this vase on a bracket, L, which is fastened to the part.i.tion M. Fix a silken thread at H, the other end of which pa.s.ses down the division _d_, and, over the pulley I, runs along the bracket L, and goes out behind the part.i.tion M.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 20.]

Take three cards from the piquet pack, and place one of them in each of the divisions _e f g_, making the silk thread or line go under each of them. In the division _c_ put the remainder of the pack.

You then get another pack of cards, at the top of which are to be three cards, the same as those in the three small divisions: and, making the pa.s.s, bring them to the middle of the pack. Let them be drawn by three persons; let them shuffle all the cards; after which place the pack in the division _d_, and tell the parties that the cards they drew will rise at their command, separately, from the vase.

A confederate behind the part.i.tion then gently drawing the line, the three cards will then gradually appear from the vase; then taking the cards from _c_, you show that those three are gone from the pack.

The vase must be placed so high that the company cannot see the inside.

_The Divining Perspective Gla.s.s._

Procure a small perspective-gla.s.s, wide enough, where the object-gla.s.s is placed, to hold the following table:

+-------+--------+--------+ 1,131 10,132 19,133 2,231 11,232 20,233 3,331 12,332 21,333 +-------+--------+--------+ 4,121 13,122 22,123 5,221 14,222 23,223 6,321 15,322 24,323 +-------+--------+--------+ 7,111 16,112 25,113 8,211 17,212 26,213 9,311 18,312 27,313 +-------+--------+--------+

Take a pack of twenty-seven cards; give them to a person, bid him fix, on one, shuffle them, and return them to you. Arrange the twenty-seven cards in three parcels, by laying one down, alternately, on each parcel; but before you lay each card down, show it to the person, without seeing it yourself. When you have completed the three parcels, ask him at what number, from one to twenty-seven, he will have his card appear, and in which heap it then is. You then look at the heap through your gla.s.s; and if the first of the three numbers, which stands against the number it is to appear at, be one, put that heap at top; if the number be at two, put it in the middle; and if it be three, put it at the bottom. Next divide the cards into three heaps, in the same manner, a second and third time, and his card will be at the number he chose.

_Example._--Suppose the person wishes his card to be the twentieth from the top; and the first time of making the heaps, he says it is in the third heap; you then look at the table in the perspective, and you see that the first figure is two; you, therefore, put that heap in the middle of the pack. The second and third times, you in like manner put the heap in which he says it is, at bottom; the number each time being three. Then looking at the pack with your gla.s.s, as if to discover which the card was, you lay the cards down, one by one, and the twentieth will be the card fixed on.

_The Card in the Ring._

Get a ring, made of any metal, in which is set a large transparent stone or piece of gla.s.s, to the bottom of which is fastened a small piece of black silk; under the silk is to be the figure of a small card; and the silk must be so constructed that it may be either drawn aside or spread, by turning the stone round.

You then cause a person to draw the same sort of card as that at the bottom of the ring; and tell him to burn it in the candle. Now, the ring being so constructed that the silk conceals the card underneath it, you first show him the ring, that he may see it is not there, and tell him you will make it appear; then rubbing the ashes of the card on the ring, you manage to turn the stone or gla.s.s dexterously round, and exhibit to him the small card at the bottom.

_The Card in the Mirror._

Provide a mirror, either round or oval, the frame of which must be at least as wide as a card, and the gla.s.s must be wider than the distance between the frame, by at least the width of a card. The gla.s.s in the middle must be made to move in two grooves, and so much of the quicksilver must be sc.r.a.ped off, as is equal to the size of a common card. You then paste over the part where the quicksilver is rubbed off, a piece of pasteboard, on which is a cord, that must exactly fit the s.p.a.ce, which must at first be placed behind the frame.

Fix this mirror against a part.i.tion, through which two strings are to go, by which an a.s.sistant in an adjoining room can easily move the gla.s.s in the grooves, and make the card appear or disappear at pleasure. Or it may be done without an a.s.sistant, if a table be placed against the part.i.tion, and a string from the gla.s.s be made to pa.s.s through a leg of it, and communicate with a small trigger, which you may easily push down with your foot, and at the same time wiping the gla.s.s with your handkerchief, under the pretence that the card may appear more conspicuous; which will also serve most effectually to disguise the operation.

Having every thing thus arranged, you contrive to make a person draw the same sort of card as that fixed to the mirror; if you do not succeed in this with a stranger, make some pretence for shuffling the cards again, and present the pack to a confederate, who, of course, will draw the card you wish, and who is to show it to two or three persons next to him, under the pretence that it might slip his memory.

This card you place in the middle of the pack, then _make the pa.s.s_, and bring it to the bottom. Direct the person to look for his card in the mirror, which the confederate behind the part.i.tion is to draw slowly forward; or if you perform the operation yourself, press the trigger with your foot, and the card will appear as if placed between the gla.s.s and the quicksilver. While the gla.s.s is drawing forward, you slide off the card from the bottom of the pack, and convey it away.

_The Card in the Opera Gla.s.s._

Procure an opera-gla.s.s, two inches and a half long; the tube to be made of ivory, so thin that it may appear transparent. Place it in a magnifying gla.s.s, of such a power, and at such a distance, that a card, three-quarters of an inch long, may appear like a common-sized card. At the bottom of the tube lay a circle of black pasteboard, to which fasten a small card, with the pips, or figures, on both sides, and in such a manner, that by turning the table, either side of the gla.s.s may be visible.

You then offer two cards to two persons, similar to the double card in the gla.s.s. You put them in the pack again, or convey them to your pocket; and after a few flourishing motions you tell the persons you have conveyed their cards into the gla.s.s; then you show each person his card in the gla.s.s, by turning it in the proper position.

You may easily induce the parties to draw the two cards you wish, by placing them first on the top of the pack, and then, by making the pa.s.s, bringing them to the middle.

When you can make the pa.s.s in a dexterous manner, it is preferable to the long card, which obliges the operator to change the pack frequently, as, if the same card is always drawn, it may excite suspicion.

_To separate the two Colours of a Pack of Cards by one Cut._

To perform this amus.e.m.e.nt, all the cards of one colour must be cut something narrower at one end than the other. You show the cards, and give them to any one, that he may shuffle them; then holding them between your hands, one hand being at each extremity, with one motion you separate the hearts and diamonds from the spades and clubs.

_The Metamorphosed Cards._

In the middle of a pack place a card that is something wider than the rest, which we will suppose to be the knave of spades, under which place the seven of diamonds, and under that the ten of clubs. On the top of the pack put cards similar to these, and others on which are painted different objects, _viz._: