THE GOLD-FISH TRICK.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3294, 12 July 1879, Page 2

THE GOLD-FISH TRICK.

' Several of the magicians who perform in public do what they call " the gold-fish trick." The juggler stands upon -the stage, throws a handkerchief over his extended arm, and produced in succession three or four shallow glass dishes filled, to the brim with water, in which live gold-fish are swimming. Of course, the dishes are concealed somehow upon the person ,of the performer. Peter Lamb had; discovered how the trick was done, and he resolved to do it now. So the folk all gathered in one end of the parlour, and in a few moments Lamb entered the door at the other end. He said, " Ladies and gentlemen, 1 you will perceive that I have nothing about me except my ordinary clothing, and yet I sha'l produce presently two dishes filled With -water and living fish. Please watch me narrowly." . Then, Peter flung the,handkerchief over '■ his hand and aim, and then we could see that he was working away vigorously ( at something beneath' "it. ! He continued for some moments, and still the gold-fish did noi appear. Then he began to grow very red in the face, and we aaW'that something was the matter. Then the perspiration began to r , stand on, Peter's forehead, and Mrs -Brown ast'eft*him) if anything serious was the matter. Then the company smiled, and. the magician grew redder; but he kept on fumbling beneath that handkerchief, and apparently trying ,to reach , around his coat-tails. Then' we heard something 1 snap, ;and the next moment a quart of w^er ran dovrn the wizard's left leg and sp'rMd out over the carpet; 'By Tthis'tiniie-he* looked as if joy had forsaken him for ever. But still he continued to „ feel around under the handkerchief.•''' 'Alt last another snap was heard, and another quart of water plunged dowu his right leg and formed a pool about his shoe. Then the necromancer hurriedly said that the , experiment: had ; failed somehow, and he darted into the diningrpom. We followed him, and found him sitting on the sofa trying to remove bis psntaloons,/'Qh^ gracious! Come here quick, and pull" these off. They're soaking wet; and I've got 15 live goldfish inside my trousers flipping around, and rasping the skin with their fins enough to set a man crazy. Ouch! Hurry that shoe off, and catch that fish thereat my left knee, or I'll hare to howl right out." Then we undressed him and picked the fishes out of his clothes, and we discovered that he had two dishes full of water and covered mitfe indiarubber tops strapped inside his trousers behind. In his struggle to get at' them he had torn the covers; tdifags* We fixed him up in a pair of- Dir Brown's trousers; Which were 6in. too shWt'for* 1 him, and then he climbed over 1 taVbaci^ fence and went home. —Max Adeler.