pages: latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf, 214
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latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf | 214 | 198 LATEST MAGIC to change the mode of presentation altogether, and to make the illusion no longer objective, but subjec- tive. He announced that by means of his magic power he could take away the strength of the strongest man, and render him weak as a little child. The "chest" was in this case merely brought forward in a casual way, as a convenient object wherewith the assertion of the magician could be tested. The strongest man in the com- pany was invited to come forward, and try whether he could lift that little box. Of course he could, and did; a child could have done the same. "You lifted it because I permitted you to do.so," said the magician. "But I take away your strength. Try to lift it now!' Again the athlete tries his strength, but now he fails. With teeth set, and every muscle tense, he strains, and strains, but in vain, and he has to con- fess that the infidel wonder-worker has, for the time, taken away all his strength. Here was a wizard indeed! In arranging your patter, be humorous if you can, but if, like the gentleman we have all heard of, you "joke with difficulty," don't force yourself to be funny. That it is possible for a man lacking humour still to be a great conjurer is proved by the case of Hartz, who was notably deficient in this particular, but by his excellence in other directions won a place in the very first rank of his profession. But if you cannot be humorous, at any rate be |