Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-02
HELPING THE MAGICIAN
What the Assistant Has to. Do. Looks
Fine on the Stage, bat Between Per-
formances Has to Work Hard.

When the magician appeared on the stage
Jimmy Green got sudden inspiration. A
lad in crimson velvet and gold lace waited
on the master of magic, handing him
plates. balls. bird cages, ETC., and carrying
them away again. Here was job after
1immy's own heart. 1t beat the foundry
hollow.
When the curtain fell Jimmy slid around
TO the stage door and waited for the APP
nearance of the magician's assistant. He
had to wait patiently. 1t was near mid
night before he made his appearance.
Master Don Mercedes as he was billed on
the program-John CHARITY in real life
glanced al Jimmy with sleepy eyes,
Amt YOU got troubles enough of your
own now?'' he asked when Jimmy told him
what he wanted Come over to the S'perba
lunch room-Tm dead hungry-an we II
talk
session of all the facts regarding his COM
panion's work in the foundry and his grieV-
ances. but gave forth very little informa-
ton in return. AS they rose IFoii thei'
homely meal he said:
'I'u tell We. kid, come around to the the
alter tomorrow morning about o'clock, an
I'll give ye a lesson. BY this time tomof-
row night, if you stay by me, you'll know
Next morning Jimmy followed John
O'Harrity through a low, brick-Walled III
smelling entrance into the theater. Inc
palace in which the magician had perform
ed his tricks the night before piled
against the wall, and in the dressing-room
the red velvet suit was covered with
shceting. and John hung beside this his
street clothes, after donnlnS oNtTallS ana d
blue jumper.
Then he unrolled a package that he had
carried under his arm. 1t was green stun
lettuce cabbage leaves, carrot tops, ana
parsley-for the animals. 1t had not seem
ed to Jimmy as if there We're many animals
the night before, but now he discovered
there were fifty in all.
He wanted to stop and fondle them, ana
the magicianS assistant gave MN q nan
humorous glance.
Great Scott! If I stopped to fool with
EN- I'd never get DONE" said he.
He had gathered the night before all the
equipment of the magician's act, from big
brass urns to tiny scraps of paper, and
passed Jimmy one of the gay balls that
had appeared as if by magic in the great
glass box on the stage the night before.
Now came the task of 1attening them into
mere squares of gaily colOred cotton cloth
and packing them into the false bottom.
That night, when his master twirled his
ieweled baton and said 'Presto!' John
would touch cord releasing the false bot
tom, so that each layer of cloth would pop
up like a ball, until the great glass box
would be filled with many-colored spheres.
Jimmy worked earnestly, but every time
he got his little spring down fiat it would
slip from his fingers, and presto! it was a
ball again. 1t had looked so easy, but 1t
was harder than tending a lathe.
He could hardly believe his eyes and ears
when he found that John had packed half
hundred balls into the glass box, and Sc
cured them snugly under the trap.
Next they tackled the gay paper flowers
which the magician had poured so lavishly
from a big paper cone. The flowers had TO
be folded, one by one, into the proper fiat
shape, and then made up in packages OF
fifty, to be slipped up the magician's sleeve
or i,,fn pE.f
the stage.
1t seemed to Jimmy as if there were
more than a million flowers, but John
proved to him that there were only three
hundred.
Then there were tiny flags to be packed,
and silk scarfs and handkerchiefs had to be
folded to a fiatness that seemed to Jimmy
nothing short of marvellous.
When that was done Jimmy found HIM
self armed with wooden cloths and chamois
skin, polishing the brass urns, the nickel
tables. and a huge square of glass; from
which every mark had TO be carefully
cleaned with a chamois skin. Jimmy said
that he had not noticed it on the stage the
night before, and John replied, with
laugh:
smudgeS on it. It's got to be so clear that
nobody can see it from the front, and you
bet I'd hear from the boss If l didn't have
il up to the scratch
He swung some velvet curtains over
ok.
Now you brush 'em while I run around
to the cleaners. Mr.. Hallcr's awful fussy
about his lace sleeve ruf1les Keeps three
pair goin' and me chasin to the cleaners
most every day. And when you get
through with the curtains | wish you'd take
down my suit and give it turn
Jimmy had often cleaned his fathers Sun
day suit and his own, but never before had
he tackled anything like velvet. 1t seemed
to him before he got through as if he
would have to take his fingers and pick the
white specks off the velvet curtains and
O'Harrity'S costume.
The worst of it was that the rabbits and
the pigeons and even the canaries had left
bits of hair aSd down on the costume, and
the brush could not remove these. John
was back before he had finished his task.
This done, OHarrity suggested lunch.