the arranging of apple-pie beds must view with envy the
much greater tribute of laughter and applause which is the lot of the
prestidigitator with some natural gift for legerdemain. Fortunately there
are a few simple conjuring tricks which are within the reach of us all.
With practice even the clumsiest of us can obtain sufficient dexterity in
the art of illusion to puzzle the most observant of our fellow-guests.
The few simple tricks which I am about to explain, if studied diligently
for a few days before Christmas, will make a genuine addition to the
gaiety of any gathering, and the amateur prestidigitator (if I may use
that word again) will find that he is amply repaying the hospitality of
his host and hostess by his contribution to the general festivity.

So much by way of introduction. It is a difficult style of writing to
keep up, particularly when the number of synonyms for "conjuring" is so
strictly limited. Let me now get to the tricks. I call the first

HOLDING THE LEMON

For this trick you want a lemon and a pack of ordinary playing-cards.
Cutting the lemon in two, you hand half to one member of your audience
and half to another, asking them to hold the halves up in full view of
the company. Then, taking the pack of cards in your own hands, you offer
it to a third member of the party, requesting him to select a card and
examine it carefully. When he has done this he puts it back in the pack,
and you seize this opportunity to look hurriedly at the face of it,
discovering (let us say) that it is the five of spades. Once more you
shuffle the pack; and then, going through the cards one by one, you will
have no difficulty in locating the five of spades, which you will hold up
to the company with the words "I think this is your card, sir"--whereupon
the audience will testify by its surprise and appreciation that you have
guessed correctly.

It will be noticed that, strictly speaking, the lemon is not a necessary
adjunct of this trick; but the employment of it certainly adds an air of
mystery to the initial stages of the illusion, and this air of mystery
is, after all, the chief stock-in-trade of the successful conjurer.

For my next trick, which I call

THE ILLUSORY EGG

and which is most complicated, you require a sponge, two tablecloths, a
handful of nuts, a rabbit, five yards of coloured ribbon, a top-hat with
a hole in it, a hard-boiled egg, two florins and a gentleman's watch.
Having obtained all th