Let them borrow from the audience two tall silk hats, and place them upon chairs standing some distance from each other. Each having provided himself with a small rubber ball—the one resembling the other as nearly as possible—they are ready to proceed. The hats were of course empty when passed to the stage, but as the first boy takes his place, back of the chair which contains a hat, he should glance down into it, and with surprise, draw out a ball which he has had concealed in his right hand, show it to the audience and then pretend to put it in his left hand, but instead _palm_ it in the right; at the same time extending his left toward his partner. The second boy stretches out his right arm as if to receive the ball, and at the moment his hand touches the fingers of No. 1, he lets that which he has been palming in his right hand slip down to his fingers, as if he had just received it from his friend. Now, pretending to change it to his left, he palms it, as No. 1 has done, and finally drops his left hand, which is supposed to hold the ball, into the hat in front of him, at the same time giving the side or crown a rap with one of his fingers, to imitate the falling of the ball. This same thing may be repeated indefinitely, until you have balls enough to stock the village. When you see the audience is beginning to tire, let No. 1 say, “My hat is empty; shall I help you count the balls in yours?” No. 2 nods assent, and looks down, as if expecting the hat to be full. He must then pretend great surprise, and taking up the hat must turn it upside down, gently shake it—remembering it is borrowed—and with the audience wonder what has become of all the balls.
Eggs, small lemons or oranges, little china dolls, and a number of small toys may be substituted for the rubber balls above given.
This trick is one of the easiest, while at the same time one of the most pleasing, of the magician’s arts. In it an egg, apparently without any impulse beyond that which resides within itself, travels over a hat, and after reconnoitering it in its every nook and corner, passes gracefully over to another, and commences its journey of discovery around the second in much the same manner it has traversed the first.