re that no one sees you do it. Then place a
dime in the palm of your hand and tell your audience that you can make
it vanish at the word of command.

You then close your hand so that the dime sticks to the waxed nail.
Blow on your hand and make magic passes, and cry "Dime, begone!" Open
your hand so quickly that no one will see the dime stuck to the back
of your nail, and show your empty hand. To make the dime reappear, you
merely close you hand again and rub the dime into your palm.

* * * * *

TO LIGHT A SNOWBALL WITH A MATCH

Roll a snowball and put it on a plate. While rolling, contrive to slip
a piece of camphor into the top of it. The camphor must be about the
size and shape of a chestnut, and it must be pushed into the soft snow
so as to be invisible--the smaller end uppermost, to which the match
should be applied.

* * * * *

THE DANCING PEA

For this trick, take a piece, two or three inches long, of a stem of
a clay tobacco pipe, taking care that one end is quite even; with a
knife or file, work the hole at the even end larger, so as to form a
little cup. Choose the roundest pea you can find, place it in the cup,
and blow softly through the other end of the pipe, throwing back
your head while you blow, so that you can hold the pipe in an upright
position over your mouth.

The pea will rise, fall and dance in its cup, according to the degree
of force you use in blowing, but you must take care not to blow too
hard, or you may blow it away altogether.

* * * * *

THE BALANCING SPOON

Place a half-opened penknife on the edge of the table and hang a large
cooking-spoon by its hook on to the knife, just where the blade and
handle join. Place the spoon so that its inner (concave) side is
facing the table and, after swinging for a little while, the knife and
spoon will keep still in perfect balance. Even if you fill the spoon
with sand it will not fall, so long as the heaviest point is under the
edge of the table.

The cooking-spoon is hung on to the half-opened penknife where the
blade and the handle join, and you can now place the end of the
knife-handle on the tip of your finger, on the edge of the table, or
on the rim of a glass which is standing near the edge of the table,
and your knife and spoon will balance perfectly, without falling over.

* * * * *

THE FORCE OF A WATE