Morning journal and courier., 1885-05-04
Eastern Magicians.
from the Philadelphia Times

From the fhnaQSlpnla Hines
"It's rather curious fact" said a gentle
man and unprofessional prestidigitateur,
'sthat none of the shows and circuses that
use SO many adjsctives in describing what
they hevs got do not bring to this country
really fine troupe of magicians. 1t may be
possible that they will not come, but it GER
tainly would be paying investment, as the
people in the United States have no adequate
idea of the tricks that are executed by some
of the jugglers of the East. We are oeca-
sionally dosed with the talking head and the
accompanying looking glasses or the auto
matte chess player that anybody with any
sense at all knows must contain dwarf, but
beyond these we have not seen the master
pieces of the black artists. Where have you
The magician who will step out upon the
stage naked, with the exception of strip of
cloth about the loins, and allow himself to
be perfectly examined, and then produce all
the tricks with fishes, Sc, that are their
stock on hand. 1t can't be done, or, rather,
they can't do it. You would find in side
pockets the glass covered with rubber that
he'd the fish, and in other pockets here and
there the various objects of his trade, so that
the sole wonderful part of the performance
would consist in taxing these things out
without being seen. Now, with the best ma
giciaus that have seen in the East, all this
is done ava with, and they even court scro-
tiny, close st that.
GAS an example," said the speaker, "di-
rect your eyes upon my thumb" and this
member was held up in the air within foot
of the listeners face.
ssYou see nothing? Nos Don't remove
your eyes from the nail, f" continued the own
er of the thumb "Now what do you see?"
The observer, who had not changed his
glance, read an Arabic word. An instant
later it was gone.
tsYou saw ita" asked the gentleman.
"Well, didn't paint it there or slip it from
nv sleeve. It was done before your eyes,
and that is the way it should be if it is called
magic"
1.-THE finest exhibition I ever witnessed"
resumed the speaker, twas in Anau. was
tray cling through the country with party
of German officials, when we stopped one
night at an inn where it CHANGED that num-
ber of magicians were resting. There were
six of them, four men and two women, all
very small except one, who was hsshy giant
resembling the typical wrestlers. | soon
made their acquaintance, as 1 was then great
ly interested in legerdemain, and soon wen
their good will. They were very eager for
me to give them an exhibition of my skill.
1 did so, but in every case they caught me
and laughed at my efforts, excepting once.
At that time. though it is not known, of
course, to the public, was the equal of any
prestidigitateur in this country, and had tried
points with them all. I mention this to
show you how skilltul these natives were, as
L tried some OF our DeSG EFickS upon tu0ihy
and, curiously enough, the most stupid one
of all fooled them.
''It was this You remember the old Pha-
ros serpents that were much in vogue some
years ago They look like peas, but when
touched with a match begin to grow and
squirm out into snakes six or ten inches long.
had lot of these made of a iargs size, SO
that when they developed they were OF the
exact size of my fingers and OF the same col,
or, which was then a dark brown. l had
little cups OF, the end of each finger to CON
oeal them. and when tried the trick, which
was in the evening, in the public room, I
stepped over to the candle that stood on the
floor and deliberately put my fingers into the
flame This caused stir among all assem-
bled, as they expected to see them burn; but
I said as heat made the plants grow, SO it
would my fingers. Then each finger began
to lengthen, slowly squirming out inch by
inch, crossing each other and twisting in the
mysterious way these objects do until finally
they were all fully ten inches long, present.
ing such horrible appearance that the en-