FAMILY FUN

New Zealand Tablet, 15 May 1913, Page 62

FAMILY FUN

TRICKS AND ILLUSIONS. V (Special to the A' .Z. Tablet by Mahatma.) -.: A Coin Trick.—-Take a piece of paper about four inches by five, and place a penny in the centre of it*, .b'old the top part ox paper down over coin to within an inch of trio bottom. -Then fold right hand side of paper under coin and 1 the left, hand'side in the same way. You must now fold the bottom inch of the paper under the coin, and you will have apparently wrapped it up securely. * The coin is,, however, really in a Kind of pocket and will readily slip into either hand at pleasure. .Allow some of the company to feel the coin through the : paper and then in the act of transferring it from the left hand to the' right allow the penny to drop into the palm of the left hand. This hand at once picks up a dinner plate'from the table. The piece of paper wnich the audience believes to still contain the coin is now burnt and tiie ashes * dropped on to the plate. The coin can then be produced at the performer's pleasure. ' The Mysterious Rings of Paper.ln this trick the performer produces three rings of paper about two or three feet in circumference and a couple of inches "wide. He takes a pair of scissors and cuts one ring down the centre and thus makes two rings of about an inch in width. He remarks that there is nothing mysterious about that. ' But wait,' he says. He takes the second ring of paper and cuts this down the centre also, but instead of the result being two separate rings as before, the audience is astonished to see that a ring twice the length of the original one is formed. The conjuror passes this for examination and takes the third ring. Upon this being cut down two \ rings are found, but this time they are linked together. The explanation is very simple. The rings are prepared as follows: The first strip of paper is joined to form a ring in the ordinary way. In making the second ring, however, the strip of paper .is twisted once before the ends are gummed. The third strip receives two twists before being joined, and thus the mystifying results are obtained. Spirit Calculation.A piece of paper and a pencil are handed to four different members of the company, each of the four writing down a row of four figures. These rows of-figures are placed one under the other in the form of an addition sum. The paper is then handed to a fifth person with the request that he add up the rows. Before he has fairly "got hold of the paper, however, the performer announces the total. The conjuror need not havo.even glanced at the paper' onco during the trick. In order to'perform this seemingly wonderful illusion. the performer must, before commencing, have secreted a second piece of paper in the palm of his hand. Upon this paper he has written four rows of figures, untotalled. All is fair and above board until the conjuror is about to hand the paper to the fifth person, when he dexterously changes the two papers. As he is already acquainted with the total he simply calls it out, and thus brings the startling illusion to an end.

A Tape-tying Trick.—This is very effective. The conjuror takes a piece of cord and requests a member of the company to tie his wrists together behind his back. He then borrows a ring and invites another member of the company to name the finger upon which he would like the ring to appear. The ring is then placed between the performer’s teeth./ The conjuror steps behind a door or screen for a, few seconds, and upon facing the audience again the ring is found to have, made its way to the finger chosen. The secret is simple enough. When the performer retires behind the screen he drops the ring from between his teeth on to a chair or table, from whence it is easy enough to work it on to any finger.