| Show ERA eba ORDINARY FEAT OF MAGIC dickens all the year round hound relates the following among other wonderful feats of an eastern magician of which he was an eye witness the conjuror next spread a piece ie ce of matting squatted and produced produce pd from his shih shawl shia a bag and emptied it on a stone in front of him the contents were a quantity of little bits of wood some straight each a few inches long besides these there were some fifteen or twenty little painted wooded birds about half an inch long the old man choose one of the straight estand and thickest odthe of the ohe bits anu and turning his air poised it on the tip of his nose the little e boy who sat by him henceforth handed him whatever he called calle d for first two or three more pieces of wood which he poised on the piece already there then a forked piece to which he fallt gradually ra dually made until he had built bulit upon his nose a tree with two branches he always kept it balanced holding a piece in each hand and never once taking his eyes of the fabric soon the two branches became four the four eight and so on until a skeleton of a tree was formed about two feet high and branching out so as to overshadow his whole face he could just reach with his hands to put the topmost branches on it was waa a wonderful structure and we held our breath as he hk added the last bits W but ft it was not done yet the boy now handed him the little birds and an two at a time one in each hand he stuck them all over the tree the complete immobile immobility imm ty of his head and neck while he was balancing this structure on the tip of his nose was somewhat wonderful and I 1 think think he must have breathed through his ears for there was not the slightest perceptible motion about his iise nose and mouth after putting all the birds on he paused and we thinking the trick was finished began to applaud but he held up his his forefinger for silence there was more to come the boy ono one of his hands a short hollow reed and into the other some dried peas he ile then put a pea in his bis mouth and using a th the e freedas reed as a pea shooter tool took took aim and idt coffone the tho breath was so gentle and well calculated that it gave no perceptible motion to his hia face ajust sent the pea far enough to hit a particular bird with a perfect vim and knock it over not another thing on the tree moved another pea was fired in the same way and another bird brought down and so until all the birds birda were bagged the fire was then di erected at the branches and limbs of the t tree e e and beginning at the topmost the whole ho ae of this astonishing structure was wag demolished piecemeal even marer won derf tilly than its manner of construction two miles of ironclad iron clad sh ships aps dfwar of war are stored away in the back channel at league island philadelphia |
