You then close your hand so that the dime sticks to the waxed nail.  Blow on your hand and make magic passes, and cry “Dime, begone!” Open your hand so quickly that no one will see the dime stuck to the back of your nail, and show your empty hand.  To make the dime reappear, you merely close you hand again and rub the dime into your palm.

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TO LIGHT A SNOWBALL WITH A MATCH

Roll a snowball and put it on a plate.  While rolling, contrive to slip a piece of camphor into the top of it.  The camphor must be about the size and shape of a chestnut, and it must be pushed into the soft snow so as to be invisible—­the smaller end uppermost, to which the match should be applied.

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THE DANCING PEA

For this trick, take a piece, two or three inches long, of a stem of a clay tobacco pipe, taking care that one end is quite even; with a knife or file, work the hole at the even end larger, so as to form a little cup.  Choose the roundest pea you can find, place it in the cup, and blow softly through the other end of the pipe, throwing back your head while you blow, so that you can hold the pipe in an upright position over your mouth.

The pea will rise, fall and dance in its cup, according to the degree of force you use in blowing, but you must take care not to blow too hard, or you may blow it away altogether.

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THE BALANCING SPOON

Place a half-opened penknife on the edge of the table and hang a large cooking-spoon by its hook on to the knife, just where the blade and handle join.  Place the spoon so that its inner (concave) side is facing the table and, after swinging for a little while, the knife and spoon will keep still in perfect balance.  Even if you fill the spoon with sand it will not fall, so long as the heaviest point is under the edge of the table.

The cooking-spoon is hung on to the half-opened penknife where the blade and the handle join, and you can now place the end of the knife-handle on the tip of your finger, on the edge of the table, or on the rim of a glass which is standing near the edge of the table, and your knife and spoon will balance perfectly, without falling over.

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THE FORCE OF A WATER-DROP

Get a match and make a notch in the middle of it, bend it so as to form an acute angle, and place it over the mouth of a bottle.

Now place a dime or other small coin on the match and ask any one to get the coin into the bottle without touching either the bottle or the match.

This is very easy to do.  Dip your finger in a glass of water, hold it over the place where the match is notched, and let one or two drops fall on this point.  The force of the water will cause the sides of the angle to move apart, and the opening thus become large enough to let the coin fall into the bottle.