Part 18 (1/2)
Rochester University--”Waxico, waxico, waxico, wax! Waxico, waxico, waxico, wax! Brek-k-ks--Brek-k-ks, ah-h-ah! ROCHESTER!”
University of Was.h.i.+ngton--”U. of W.! Hiah! Hiah! U. of W.! U. of W.!
Siah! Siah! Shooken' Shookem! WAs.h.i.+NGTON!”
Hobart College--”Hip-ho-bart! Hip-ho-bart! Hip-ho, hip-ho, HIP-HO- BART!”
Syracuse University--”Srah--Srah--Srah Sy-ra-cuse!”
This list by no means comprises all the college cries, but it will serve to ill.u.s.trate the most striking of them.
Even the women's colleges have their own distinctive cries, and for oddness they quite equal those of the men. And now the high schools, and even the separate cla.s.ses and school societies are indulging in original cries. But so long as these things keep up the cla.s.s spirit and make for sound lungs and high spirits, why should old fogies object?
CHAPTER XXVI
CLEVER TRICKS WORTH KNOWING
THE VANIs.h.i.+NG KNOTS
For this trick you must use a silk handkerchief. Twisting it, rope- fas.h.i.+on, and grasping it by the middle with both hands. You must request one of the spectators to tie the two ends together. He does so, but you tell him he has not tied them half tight enough, and you yourself pull them still tighter. A second and a third knot are made in the same manner, the handkerchief being drawn tighter by yourself after each knot is made. Finally, take the handkerchief, and covering the knots with the loose part, you hand it to some one to hold.
Breathing on it, you request him to shake out the handkerchief, when all the knots are found to have disappeared.
When the performer apparently tightens the knot, he in reality only strains one end of the handkerchief, grasping it above and below the knot. This pulls that end of the handkerchief out of its twisted condition and into a straight line, round which the other end of the handkerchief remains twisted; in other words, converts the knot into a slip-knot. After each successive knot he still straightens this same end of the handkerchief. This end, being thus made straight, would naturally be left longer than the other, which is twisted round and round it. This tendency the performer counteracts by drawing it partially back through the slip-knot at each pretended tightening.
When he finally covers over the knots, which he does with the left hand, he holds the straightened portion of the handkerchief, immediately behind the knots, between the first finger and thumb of the right hand, and therewith, in the act of covering over the knots, draws this straightened portion completely out of the slipknot.
THE DANCING SAILOR
The Dancing Sailor is a figure cut out of cardboard, eight or nine inches in height, and with its arms and legs cut out separately, and attached to the trunk with thread in such a manner as to hang perfectly free. The mode of exhibiting it is as follows: The performer, taking a seat facing the company, with his legs slightly apart, places the figure on the ground between them. As might be expected, it falls flat and lifeless, but after a few mesmeric pa.s.ses it is induced to stand upright, though without visible support, and, on a lively piece of music being played, dances to it, keeping time, and ceasing as soon as the music ceases.
The secret lies in the fact that, from leg to leg of the performer, at about the height of the figure from the ground, is fixed (generally by means of a couple of bent pins), a fine black silk thread, of eighteen or twenty inches in length. This allows him to move about without any hindrance. On each side of the head of the figure is a little slanting cut, tending in a perpendicular direction, and about half an inch in length. The divided portions of the cardboard are bent back a little, thus forming two ”hooks,” so to speak, at the sides of the head. When the performer takes his seat, as before mentioned, the separation of his legs draws the silk comparatively taut, though, against a moderately dark background, it remains wholly invisible. When he first places the figure on the ground, he does so simply, and the figure naturally falls. He makes a few sham mesmeric pa.s.ses over it, but still it falls. At the third and fourth attempt, however, he places it so that the little hooks already mentioned just catch the thread, and the figure is thus kept upright. When the music commences, the smallest motion, or pretence of keeping time with the feet is enough to start the sailor in a vigorous hornpipe.
CONJURING WITH COINS
Coin-conjuring has its own peculiar sleights, which it will be necessary for the student to practice diligently before he can hope to attain much success in this direction.
The first faculty which the novice must seek to acquire is that of ”palming”--_i.e._, secretly holding an object in the open hand by the contraction of the palm. To acquire this power, take a half-crown, florin, or quarter (these being the most convenient in point of size), and lay it on the palm of the open hand. Now close the hand very slightly, and if you have placed the coin on the right spot (which a few trials will quickly indicate), the contraction of the palm around its edges will hold it securely, and you may move the hand and arm in any direction without fear of dropping it. You should next accustom yourself to use the hand and fingers easily and naturally, while still holding the coin as described. A very little practice will enable you to do this. You must bear in mind while practicing always to keep the inside of the palm either downward or toward your own body, as any reverse movement would expose the concealed coin.
Pa.s.sES
Being thoroughly master of this first lesson, you may proceed to the study of the various ”pa.s.ses.” All of the pa.s.ses have the same object --viz., the apparent transfer of an article from one hand to the other, though such article really remains in the hand which it has apparently just quitted. As the same movement frequently repeated would cause suspicion, and possibly detection, it is desirable to acquire different ways of effecting this object. It should be here mentioned that the term ”palming” which we have so far used as meaning simply the act of holding any article, is also employed to signify the act of placing any article in the palm by one or the other of various pa.s.ses.
The context will readily indicate in which of the two senses the term is used in any given pa.s.sage.
Pa.s.s I.--Take the coin in the right hand, between the second and third fingers and the thumb, letting it, however, really be supported by the fingers, and only steadied by the thumb. Now move the thumb out of the way, and close the second and third fingers, with the coin balanced on them, into the palm. If the coin was rightly placed in the first instance, you will find that this motion puts it precisely in the position above described as the proper one for palming; and on again extending the fingers the coin is left palmed. When you can do this easily with the hand at rest, you must practice doing the same thing with the right hand in motion toward the left, which should meet it open, but should close the moment that the fingers of the right hand touch its palm, as though upon the coin which you have by this movement feigned to transfer to it. The left hand must thenceforward remain closed, as if holding the coin, and the right hand hang loosely open, as if empty.
PALMING
In the motion of ”palming,” the two hands must work in harmony, as in the genuine act of pa.s.sing an article from the one hand to the other.
The left hand must therefore rise to meet the right, but should not begin its journey until the right hand begins its own. Nothing looks more awkward or unnatural than to see the left hand extended, with open palm, before the right hand has begun to move toward it.