St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-04-13
MAGNETIC GIRLS.


fhssr Triehs Can Ne PesSsr.eA BY Any.
one distracted In Then.
There are many trick in the roper
toire of the so-called electric or mag
netic girl, all of which seem, ut first
sight, to involve either the possession
of superhuman strength, or else some
occult power. As q matter OF fact.
however. they involve neither. Tho
strangest part of them is that they are
all within tine ability of anyone to per-
form. Furthermore, it will be found
that the very mechanical laws which
these tricks appear to set at defiance
are the ones upon which they depend
for their success, and the chief reason
why they have remained mysterious to
those who have witnessed them is that
they have not tried to repeat them
upon the first opportunity
afforded.
Let us take the first trick men,
toned, namely, that of lifting q heavy
person in the chair. Tell him to sit
down and hold the chair against all
your efforts. He will plant his feet
firmly upon the floor, thus throwing
his weight chiefly on his feet instead
of ON the chair. rs he thinks he is do
ing. II yon are in doubt Of this, try it
yourself, and you will realize that it il
a fact. To move the person. NIL that
the girl has to do is to get behind and
push. In the STOPPING position which
she assumes, she ill obtain q consid-
cradle purchase by bracing her arms on
her knees, and will thus have no diff
fculty in raising the chair slightly.
As the sitter assumes a new position.
SO as to more successfully resist this
effort on the part of the girl. she sud-
denly relaxes her push, directing the
chair of to one side or the other.
Before the sitter has recovered him
self she has raised the chair again,
and so on; the stronger he il or
the more he opposes or strives to
oppose her, the worse he is on, and
the more successful she will be. The
trick is more effective if three men try
to hold the chair down, because of
their divided effort and the tendency,
where more than one is apposing her,
tor they really to oppose each other
powerless, however. should even . sin
gle person sit listlessly in the chair.
with no thought of opposition.
While in Chicago saw the announce.
ment of IN electric girl, who included
in her repertoire . new trick, or, at
least, one that had not yet seen. A
stick. about four feet long and as thick
n1r I'D \
and another gentleman were requested
to hold it in . vertical position before
us while grasping it firmly in both
hands The girl, standing in front of
US and facing us. placed the palm of
her open hand against the lower por-
tiOn of the stick, resting it ON the side
nearest us and furthest from her
SELF After rubbing her hand up
and down for . few moments, in
tact" as we were informed. and after
enjoining us to hold the stick perfect
~ vertical, we were told to press down
on it rs hard rs we could. This we
did until the veins seemed to stand out
on our foreheads; but, exert ourselves
as hard rs we could. we, two strong
men, were unable to press down hard
enough to make the stick slip past the
open palm of her hand. Had the girl
grasped the stick with her two hands,
l am sure she could not have withstOOd
my downward pressure alone. Iwould
have borne her, stick and all. to the
floor. But there she stood, with but
one open hand bearing against the side
of the stick, and both of MS could not,
by our united efforts, force the stick
past that wonderful hand. Surely
there seemed something uncanny about
this. But it is very simply explained.
upon the men holding the stick in q
vertical position. When the girls open
hand is first placed against the lower
portion of the stick she moves IL two or
three times up and down. pulling grad
ually more and more against it Az
this tends to pull the stick away from
the vertical, she insists that the men
keep it straight. Thus cautioned, they
will exert more and more effort until,
when she feels that the pressure against
her hand is sufficient, she instrucA
them to push down with all their might.
They do 50, and imagine they are ex-
erting q tremendous vertical thrust,
whereas their vertical effort is actually
very slight-insufIicient even to over
come the friction of the stick against
her moist hand. The men are, really,
exerting q tremendous effort, but are
deceived as to its direction. With their
hands tightly grasping the upper end
Of the stick, they are really trying to
force the other end of the stick against
the palm Of her hand.-Cassier's Maya
zine.