Page:The American Boy's Handy Book edition 1.djvu/401

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Chapter XL.
The Universe in a Card-Box.
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Smoke-Rings.

A jovial-looking commercial traveller once won a wager from the landlord of a certain Detroit hotel by making over a hundred rings with one mouthful of smoke. The writer was sitting in the hotel office at the time, and becoming interested in the conversation, watched to see how the trick was done. Taking some cards from his card-case, the young man proceeded to bend up the edges in such a manner that the centre part of each formed a perfect square. Six cards he folded in this manner; then, after fishing in his pockets for some time, he produced a dime and a lead-pencil. Placing the ten-cent piece upon the centre of one card, he made a ring with the lead-pencil by following the edges of the coin. Opening a pocketknife at the file blade, with the point he cut a round hole in the card, following the circle made by the pencil. He then put the cards together, in the form of a light but strong box (Figs. 232, 233, 234, and 235), and taking a long pull at a cigar which was

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