A Match-Box Trick
Safety match trick
All that is required to perform this trick is a box of safety matches. Four matches are removed and three of them arranged as shown in the sketch. The performer then tells his friends that he will light the fourth match and set the cross match on fire in the center, then asks which match of the standing ones will light first. Most persons will not stop to think and guess either one or the other. As a matter of fact, after the cross match is set on fire it soon burns the wood away, and the pressure of the two side matches will cause it to spring out so that neither catches fire.—Contributed by Abner B. Shaw, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts.