Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-09

part of the trick is to display the card chosen
and this l also did in three ways. / shall ex-
plain the three methods of discovery first. in
the first experiment / drew the cards back
ward one by one from the top of the pack,
until Lucy stopped me at any card she chose.
Now, l had previously noted the card on the
bottom of the pack, and after pulling down the
first one or two from the top l secretly pulled
down the bottom card also, about an inch.
Then when Lucy stopped me, drew off those
l had pulled from the top of the pack, and the
bottom card with them: Thus when held
the pack up for you to look at, it was really
noted, which you saw. AS l knew the card
perfectly, l could of course find it again, no
matter how much you shuffled the pack
The second way of discovering the card
chosen was this: When l offered the pack,
spread fanwise, and you drew card from it
l secretly pressed the card with my finger nail
as you took it. This made slight mark by
which l was able to detect the card easily
enough, after you had shuffled the pack.
The third time | could not mark another
card with my finger nail, as l would not know
which which; SO | employed another
method. After you had drawn a card | held
the rest of the pack carelessly in my hands,
and gently pressed the ends until all the cards
when you slipped the straight smooth card
back among them, the merest glance was
sufficient to detect the card. After this of
course bent all the cards back again to their
original Stra1ghtneSS. his is an especially
safe and simple method.
Now to exposing the chosen card. In
the first instance, you remember, | threw the
pack on the floor and the chosen card remained
in my hand. The way to do this is to select
the chosen card which you have already dis
covered, and place it on the top of the pack
face downward, that is to say, the back of
the pack. Now, grasp the pack firmly be-
tween the thumb and fingers of your right
hand. Hold the finger tips tightly against the
back card and the thumb loosely against the
front card. Give your hand quick jerk, and
all the cards will fly to the floor except the
back card, which will stick to your fingers. If
you choose, you may slightly moisten your
finger tips, but this must be done slightly and
secretly. A few trials of this feat will prove
to you how easy of accomplishment it is.
The second way of disclosing the card
chosen is to hold the pack as before, length
wise and face downward; but take care that
the back or chosen card projects all along
about an inch beyond the Others Dash the
cards to the floor, face down, and all will fall
on their faces except the last one, which the
resistance of the air will cause to turn over,
and which will invariably land face upward.
This is perhaps the surest and most astonishing
way of displaying the card, and after few
experiments you need never fail.
The third way is to give the pack to another
person to hold, face up, and with the chosen
card at the bottom of the pack. If the cards
are held as l instructed Lucy to hold them,
with the finger tips pretty well under, and the
thumb near the edge on top, sharp rap from
the hand of another person will make them all
fall to the floor except the bottom card, which
will be retained by the friction of the fingers.
A variation of this is to hold the cards your
self, and let some one else strike the pack
sharply for you"