pages: latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf, 220
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latestmagicbeing00hoff.pdf | 220 | 204 LATEST MAGIC the first difficulties of the novice, as he comes for- ward to introduce himself to his audience, is to know what to do with his hands. He can hardly advance with hand on heart, within his vest, à la Pecksniff. Held open, with arms hanging down by the sides, the hands look too stiff, and to advance with them in his pockets would hardly be good form. By coming forward wand in hand, he avoids these difficulties. The hand holding it auto- matically assumes an easy and natural position, and he ceases to think about the other. With the wand held in the right hand across the body, its free end resting on the palm of the opposite hand, he is in an ideal attitude for delivering his intro- ductory patter. Later on, by holding the wand in the hand, he effectually disguises the fact that he has some object, a card, a coin, or a watch con- cealed therein. If he has occasion to call atten- tion directly to any object, the wand forms the most natural pointer. If he finds it necessary, for some reason connected with the trick in hand, to make a turn or half-turn away from the spectators, the fact that he has left his wand upon the table affords him the needful opportunity. Lastly, if the wand is habitually used as the pro- fessed instrument of a desired transposition or transformation, a certain portion of an average audience gradually becomes impressed with the idea that there really must be some occult connec- tion between the touch of the wand and the effect |