. The land of the pigtail : its people and customs : from a boy's point of view . er things. Acommon trick is to balance a plate on a short stick,,which rests on the end of another stick at right angleswith it, and which latter~is held between the plate is thus not only balanced, but made to spinround at a great rate. They throw up a number ofrings in the air and make them describe all sorts ofingenious evolutions: Swallowing swords, which reallygo down the throat; pretending to swallow metalballs which are made to reappear under the skin indifferent parts of the body, and many feats
. The land of the pigtail : its people and customs : from a boy's point of view . er things. Acommon trick is to balance a plate on a short stick,,which rests on the end of another stick at right angleswith it, and which latter~is held between the plate is thus not only balanced, but made to spinround at a great rate. They throw up a number ofrings in the air and make them describe all sorts ofingenious evolutions: Swallowing swords, which reallygo down the throat; pretending to swallow metalballs which are made to reappear under the skin indifferent parts of the body, and many feats of jugglerysuch are familar with, go to make up a streetexhibition. Many of the tricks practised by our ^jugglers are copied from Chinese artists, and someeven bear the name of these early professors. mentions one trick very popular with a AMUSEMENTS. 153 Chinese crowd, and one rather above most of ourstreet performers :— The juggler pretends to kill hisson, and plants a melon-seed. The spectators beholdhim apparently kill his boy with blows from a sword,. THE PUPPET SHOWMAN. cutting off his legs and arms^ He then covers up the ■ piutilated parts under a blanket placed on the ground. In a short time the corpse is gone, and is nowhere to be found, having seemingly vanished from the place. 154 THE LAND OF THE PIGTAIL. Having planted the melan-seed in a flower-pot filled■with earth, after a while, on lifting up the blanket, thereis seen a large riielon on the ground. If a spectatorexpresses a wish that the melon should Vanish also, theblanket is thrown over it. After waiting a little while,or again lifting the covering, the melon is nowhere insight. Yet, after a short time spent in waiting, and onremoving the blanket, there will beseen the lad who had apparentlybeen kUled and mutilated but alittle while previously, living andwell, without any mark of havingbeen injured. The illustration shows us a street .juggler balancing rather an tin- wieldy article, a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookidcu3192402356, bookyear1875
