HOW TO DO THE ROPE TRICK.

Evening Post, Issue 126, 5 July 1865, Page 2

HOW TO DO THE ROPE TRICK.

The. things that appear the most difficult of performance are generally the easiest when you know how to do them. The rope trick is no exception to this rule. Although several yards of rope be knotted round you, in such a network that the coils or twists appear to be envolved in an inextricable labyrinth, yet a little practise will enable you to free yourself in a very few minutes. Now, the key to the whole mystery of detaching j'ourself from any arrangement of cords whatever, is to be found in the fact that the human body, by reason of the great flexibility of its joints and muscles, can be bent in as many different ways as to slacken the tightest rope in some place or other. For instance, supposing you are tied in the way shown in the first illustrations given in our last number, you have only to bend yourself backwards, so as to bring your hands up to the final knot of the rope. You can then untie it, and soon set your arms free. After that, if you are agile, you can jump over your hands, and untie them in front ; or if you are not active enough to do that, you can untie them behind your back, with no great difficulty. Some persons can best perform this trick by bending the body forward in the first instance. It is a harder task to detach yourself from a chair, especially if the legs are curved," or have mouldings or ornaments upon them, upon which the cords can hitch. Set any one member of your body free first — which may be done by bending the body in various directions, and thus slackening the strain of the rope, and then you will be able to loosen the others without difficulty. There is one way of slackening the cords which never fails. Kneel down and bend forward. Every cord is by this means made quite loose, and you can then slip them off without untying the knots. A little practice will show how this is done better than a page of description. When you are a proficient, you can clip the cords on again. In fact, a clever performer should always be able to tie as well as to untie himself. We have seen it done by tying the hands in front, then bringing them to the back by bending down and jumping through them ; and by dint of throwing the rope over the shoulders, or by a clever use of the teeth the knots can be retied. — Cussell's Family Illustrated Paper.