New games and amusements for young and old alike

Contents

CHAPTER

I. A SoAP-BuBBLE Magician (Story) . , A rose inside of a soap bubble A spinning top inside of a bubble How to place three bubbles inside of one

another

Chapter I

T T HAD been an evening of continual surprises ; -■- and when Philip entered the room carrying a bowl, two long clay pipes, a bottle filled with a light-greyish fluid mixture, three cornucopias, and a mysterious-looking pasteboard box, not even the wisest among the children could imagine what this part of the programme was to be. Neither were they any nearer a solution after Phil had taken from the box a rose, two dinner plates, a htimming top, a table knife, two door keys, several marbles, and a number of nails.

Phil would have been overwhelmed with questions had he not at once eased the minds of his astonished audience by announcing that he was going to show them some new tricks with soap bubbles.

"Now watch me!" he continued, after he had about half filled the bowl with the greyish mixture. "I will just blow you some bubbles with one of these long pipes." 3

Soon it seemed that the air was full of the shining globes. Satisfied with the result of this trial — for the object in blowing these bubbles had been to test the strength of the solution — Philip took one of the cornucopias and blew a bubble so large that the children clapped their hands for joy. He tossed a bubble into the air, and as it slowly descended caught it upon the cornucopia. The next he caught upon the palm of his hand. The next he balanced upon the tip of his forefinger. Still another was caught upon a broad wad of cotton. He held one in graceful poise upon the end of a knitting needle, and proceeded to play battledore and shuttlecock with it. Ten times he tossed this bubble into the air, and ten times he caught it, before the beauty burst. With a cornucopia larger than the one he just used he blew a bubble upon a dinner plate, completely covering it; then he blew another on top of the first, but in such a manner that the two united, forming one immense sphere.

Philip thereafter directed his attention to the more striking part of his exhibition, and from this time on his performances were simply amazing. " See that white rose! " he exclaimed, pointing to a beautiful one resting upon a lacquered tray. "Well, I am going to put it 4

A SOAP-BUBBLE MAGICtAN

inside of a soap bubble"; and in a very few moments the flower was sphered over by a bubble so large and perfect that it seemed as if made of purest glass. Cries of admiration came from all sides on beholding this beautiful sight. The bubble was a gem in colour, and of great size. Carefully timed by a watch, it lasted just twelve minutes and a half!

Following this, Phil set the humming top to spinning, and amazed his audience by placing a bubble over that also.

While the top still hummed under its manyhued canopy, Philip blew another bubble, and called the attention of those present to the fact that an old adage said that a bubble would burst as soon as pricked. "But here is a case," he exclaimed triumphantly, "where this old adage, like so many others, is proved to be false." Casting the bubble into the air, Philip passed a knitting needle completely through it. To add force to his opinion concerning the old adage, the young magician blew a bubble upon a plate, and then dropped a needle through the top of the iridescent sphere without injuring it in the least.

Before the childish exclamations caused by this feat ceased, Philip dropped a pen through the film; there it lay in the plate, sure enough. 5

Then he dropped another pen through; then a small key; then a larger key; then two nails; and then concluded the remarkable exhibition by pouring some solution through, after which the bubble broke. It had stood up under this rough ordeal for a little more than three minutes. Certainly the solution was never in better condition, but the unusually long duration of the bubbles was due also, as Philip explained, to the temperature of the room.

** All put on your hats and coats," was Philip's next direction, "and I'll show you something about bubbles in a room where the temperature is below the freezing point."

It was late in November. As soon as the little ones were assembled in this room, dressed as if for a sleigh ride, Phil blew a bubble very carefully upon a small looking-glass lying on the table. Twenty pairs of eyes were eagerly fixed upon this glistening sphere, in anxious expectation of — almost anything!

At the expiration of thirty seconds its brilliancy was seen to be greatly dimmed, and by the time fifty seconds had elapsed all transparency had gone.

"There," cried Phil, "is a soap bubble which will last a year, provided the room is kept cold enough, for that soap bubble is frozen!" 6

This performance so delighted the children that Phil covered the glass with a whole array of frozen bubbles; then he broke some with a pencil, and fanned the light pieces of ice, which were like tissue paper, all about the room !

Our young magician now resumed his wonderful entertainment in the warmer apartment. He began by blowing a large bubble upon the lacquered tray; then he blew another bubble inside of this first one. "Two," he called out; and next, as if to amaze his audience completely, he blew another bubble inside of this second one, filling it, as he did so, with smoke.

"Three!" shouted the children in unison.

It would be hard to imagine anything more lovely than these three beautiful bubbles, perfect in form, and glistening with all the colours of the rainbow.

Philip was certainly outdoing himself. He had given his friends many pretty surprises, but none of them had ever come near equalling this one. For a while, after this feat, he just simply tossed bubbles into the air, as if thinking of what he should show next. Even this "intermission," as he called it, was not without some strikingly original features; for as one of the 7 bubbles came sailing down the performer pierced it through with a large table knife, without inflicting the least injury upon it. He was evidently thinking of the old adage again, for as the next bubble came near to him he pierced it not only with a knife, but with a fork also. Then, holding another bubble upon the cornucopia, he cut through it in all directions; yet still the bubble remained unbroken.

Phil then, apparently having decided on the next feat, requested, that the lights be turned out. When the room was in total darkness, he took a candle from the pasteboard box and lighted it.

"I am about to show you what I think is the prettiest experiment of all," he said, and began to blow a large bubble upon the plate. The interest, however, was immediately awakened when he placed the lighted candle within a lanip chimney; and there was a burst of genuine enthusiasm as he slowly thrust the chimney that held the candle down into the middle of the great bubble.

This made a wonderfully pretty sight, and as the rays of the candle light came glinting through the chimney, Philip's face was seen by all to be wreathed in smiles. 8

Fig. 2. GRADUALLY LIFT THE FUNNEL

Fig. 3. RELEASING THE BUBBLE FROM THE FUNNEL

A SPINNING TOP INCLOSED WITHIN A BUBBLE

"I must confess," he modestly said, "this performance is all very simple — so simple that any child here may perform all the pretty experiments I have shown you this evening. Some other time I will take pleasure in explaining to you exactly how it is all done."

Although Philip had told the children that the candle-light effect was probably the best of his experiments, his crowning triumph was yet to come.

Amid a hushed excitement, he took a tumbler and half filled it with the solution ; then he drew from the pasteboard box a small American flag, which he fastened on a stick supported by a bit of wire so that it floated over the tumbler. Then, putting a long clay pipe into the glass, he called to his uncle, who had been asked in especially for this purpose, to blow plenty of smoke through the pipe.

The moment Phil's uncle blew into the pipe there issued from the tumbler an opal stream of wondrous beauty. It consisted of hundreds and hundreds of pure white bubbles, which poured down the sides of the tumbler and upon the looking-glass on which it had been placed. Faster and faster the bubbles rushed out, and higher too they mounted now, until, suddenly, 9 it seemed, there burst into view an arch of the most exquisite loveHness.

When the pipe was withdrawn the children went into raptures over the fairy-Uke scene; but the prettiest feature was to come.

In a few moments one of the httle bubbles broke. A puff of smoke shot forth, forming as it did so a dainty, tiny ring; then another bubble broke, and another ring appeared; then the bubbles began to explode in such rapid succession that it became impossible to count the tiny wreaths. This was the crown of the evening's entertainment. " Hurrah for the United States!" shouted Philip. "This is our salute to the flag. Let us all sing 'America,' " And as the little ones raised their voices in joyous chorus, they one and all felt that this was the most surprising evening entertainment they had ever seen.

A few days afterward Philip sent me the following account of how he performed his soap-bubble tricks:

Before attempting to perform any of these tricks though, read carefully "How to Blow a Soap Bubble," page 38; "How to Make a Cornucopia," page 39; and how to make the perfect solution which enabled Phil to perform his marvellous tricks, page 35. 10

A SALUTE TO THE FLAG

KEREOfTHJlJG[[\!T

A FROZEN BUBBLE

A ROSE INSIDE OF A SOAP BUBBLE

First pour some of the solution into a plate or tin dish until the bottom of it is covered to the depth of one-eighth of an inch. Then with your fingers thoroughly wet the rim of the plate with the same mixture. Place a rich coloured rose in the centre of the plate and cover it with a small tin funnel. Then begin to blow very gently through the funnel, and at the same time slowly lift it (see Fig. i, page ^S), Continue blowing while gradually lifting the funnel higher, until you have made a fine large film (see Fig. 2). Then, still blowing carefully, turn the funnel at right angles, and release it from the film with a quick upward movement (see Fig. 3).

This beautiful trick is so easy to perform that I have seen any number of children succeed at the very first attempt.

A SPINNING TOP INSIDE OF A BUBBLE

Pour the solution into a plate, and thoroughly wet the rim of this as in the rose tricks Then in the centre of the plate invert a small butter plate. Spin your humming top on this inverted butter plate, lower a funnel over it, and then proceed to sphere the "hummer" over with a bubble in the same manner as in the rose trick. The larger and noisier the humming top used the more strikingly effective will be the trick.

HOW TO PLACE THREE BUBBLES INSIDE OF ONE ANOTHER

Invert a dinner plate upon the table, and wet the surface of it well with the solution. Then dip a cornucopia into the mixture and blow a bubble upon the inverted plate. After this, take a straw, dip it well into the solution so that it will be thoroughly wet for half its length, and then thrust this through into the bubble until it rests on the centre of the plate. Then blow through the straw very carefully, and you will have made a second bubble. Withdraw the straw, quickly dip it into the solution again, and this time thrust it through both bubbles. As soon as it rests on the centre of the plate once more, gently blow, and you will have three bubbles inside of one another.

By blowing smoke through the straw as the last bubble is being made, the effect of this trick is greatly heightened. Five, six and seven bubbles may be easily placed inside of one another, and practice will enable you to perform the beautiful trick pictured on page 54, which contains just one dozen bubbles.

CUTTING THROUGH A BUBBLE WITH A KNIFE

THREE BUBBLES, ONE INSIDE ANOTHER, AND THE SMALLEST FILLED WITH SMOKE

HOW TO PLACE A LIGHTED CANDLE INSIDE OF A BUBBLE

Wet a short, straight lamp chimney in the mixture, and after a bubble has been blown on a dinner plate in the same manner as in the rose trick, press the chimney slowly down through the sphere until the bottom of it rests in the solution. Keep the palm of your hand tightly pressed over the top of the chimney while lowering it through the bubble. When the chimney is in position place a piece of lighted candle inside.

HOW TO FREEZE A BUBBLE

This trick is performed in a room where the temperature is below the freezing point (32° F.). The more intense the cold is the better. The bubble is blown with a cornucopia upon an inverted plate or sheet of glass (glass is preferable) which has been well wetted with the solution. If the temperature is low enough and the air perfectly still, the bubble will in a very few seconds begin to lose its brilliancy, and within a few seconds more will become perfectly opaque. Then you may enjoy the absurd nonsense of breaking a soap bubble into pieces and fanning the tissue-like pieces of bubble about the room with a fan. Great care must 13 be taken not to jar the bubble in the least until it is frozen. The plate, too, should be allowed to get icy cold before it is wetted with the solution. Use the No. 2 solution for this trick.

HOW TO THRUST A KNIFE THROUGH A BUBBLE WITHOUT BREAKING THE BUBBLE

This very surprising trick is exceedingly easy to perform, and never fails to arouse the enthusiasm of the onlookers.

First dip the knife blade well into the solution — a long narrow-bladed knife is preferable and then slowly pierce the bubble right through as shown in the picture on page 12. The most effective manner of exhibiting this trick is to first toss a bubble into the air from a cornucopia, and then as the beauty slowly descends to catch it on the blade's tip as though you were performing some marvellous feat of magic.

HOW "the salute to the flag" was

PREPARED

A tumbler was half filled with the solution, and the little flagstaff fastened in place with a piece of wire. Then the stem end of a clay pipe was placed in the tumbler, and Phil's uncle blew smoke through the bowl end. The result of this was that hundreds of pretty smoke 14

DROPPING OBJECTS THROUGH A BUBBLE WITHOUT BREAKING IT

A CANDLE WITH A BUBBLE FOR A GLOBE rbubbles poured out over the sides of the tumbler, and down on to the looking-glass upon which it was standing. In a few minutes the bubbles began to burst, and as each did so it shot forth a perfect wreath of smoke.

HOW TO DROP OBJECTS THROUGH BUBBLES

Any small object after it has been well wetted with the solution may be dropped through a bubble, as shown in the picture.

IS