Card

“ If the person should say, that the card he thought of is among the first shown to him, dextrously remove the four cards put at the bottom of the pack, in order that the two, one of which is the card he thought of, may be the lowermost of the pack, and you may then either show him his card, or make him draw it out himself, as above explained. ”

“ When you can make the pass in a dextrous manner, it is preferable, on many occasions, to the long card, which obliges you to change the pack frequently; for otherwise it would be observed that the same card is always drawn, and doubtless suspicion arise.
288 TO TELL THE CARDS BY THEIR WEIGHT. Ask a person to cut the pack as often as he likes, undertaking by weighing each card for a moment on your finger, not only to tell the colour, but the suit and number of spots, and, if a court card, whether it is king, queen, or knave. ”

“ Example 337.—Here is a card that is a model of dignity and of simple business-card treatment. A good word can be said in favor of using the individual’s name in the center of the card and the firm name in a less prominent position. When a card is handed to a business man, he looks at it first for the purpose of finding out who it is that wishes to see him. ”

“ A gentleman riding one day near Richmond, observed a house delightfully situated, and asking his companion to whom it belonged, was answered, "To a card-maker."—"Upon my life," he replied, "one would imagine all that man's cards must have been trumps." ”

“ Visiting cards should be kept in a small case of sealskin or black or Russia leather and carried in the inside pocket of a frock coat, or if small enough more conveniently in the waistcoat pocket. Card cases should be stamped with initials or have a silver monogram. Visiting cards should never be carried loose in the pocket. A card is left in person the day after a dinner, luncheon, or breakfast, or within a week at latest after a ball. Civility must be returned by civility, and cards must be left on every occasion on which a call is necessary. ”

“ THE CARD OF ONE COLOUR FOUND IN A PACK OF THE OTHER. Put all the red cards in one heap, and all the black cards in the other. One of these packs you conceal in your pocket. You let any person draw a card from the other pack, and while he is examining the card, substitute the pack in your pocket for the one you hold in your hand. Let him place his card in the pack you have taken from your pocket, and shuffle as much as he pleases. On receiving back the pack, you will at once recognize the card he has drawn by the difference of colour. ”

“ Fig. 15. To “Palm” a Card.—Bring the card which you desire to palm (by the pass or otherwise) to the top of the pack. Hold the pack face downwards in the left hand, covering it lengthways with the right. With the left thumb push the top card till it projects about an inch beyond the edge of the pack. With the third finger of the left hand, which is now immediately below the card, press it upwards into the right hand, which should half close over it. You must not mind about bending the card, which will lie curled up against the inside of the hand. ”

“ Take a pack of cards and let any one draw any card that they fancy best, and afterwards take and put it into the pack, but so as you know where to find it at pleasure: for by this time, I suppose you know how to shuffle the cards, and where to find any card when it is put into the pack: then take a piece of wax and put it under the thumb-nail of your hand, and there fasten a hair to the card, then spread the pick of cards open on the table, then say. "If you are a pure virgin that card will jump out of the pack," then by your words or charms seem to make it jump on the table. ”

“ Young girls use smaller cards than older ladies. A gentleman's card is long and narrow, from 2-7/8 to 3-1/4; inches long, and from 1-1/4 to 1-5/8 inches high. All visiting cards are engraved on white unglazed bristol board, which may be of medium thickness or thin, as one fancies. A few years ago there was a fad for cards as thin as writing paper, but one seldom sees them in America now. The advantage of a thin card is that a greater quantity may be carried easily. ”

“ The soldier continued as follows, if your worship observe again, you will find in the first place, there are four suits in the card, that intimate the four quarters in the year; then as there are thirteen cards in each suit, that is just as many as there are weeks in the quarter; there are also as many lunations in a year as there are cards in a suit; there are twelve court cards which intimate the twelve months of the year, and the twelve signs of the zodiack thro’ which the sun fleers its diurnal course during the spice of one whole year ”

“ Thus, by using a card which, unknown to the audience, has two faces—e.g., is an ace of hearts on the one side, and an ace of spades on the other—and placing such card in one side of the open box, you have only to close the box with that side uppermost, or to turn over the box as you place it on the table, to transform the card just shown into a different one. ”

“ Visiting cards should be engraved or handsomely written. Those printed on type are considered vulgar, simply, no doubt, because they are cheap. A gentleman's card should be of medium size, unglazed, ungilt, and perfectly plain. ”

“ You turn, and while pretending to look through the pack, you take two other cards which you must have at hand, place with them a card out of the pack, and approach those persons who have drawn cards, asking each if his card is not among the three. ”

“ If the card representing the person consulting be not among them, one must be withdrawn from the eleven useless ones placed at the right extremity of the row, where it represents the missing card, no matter what it may really be. ”

“ To turn down the corners of the card has become almost obsolete, except, perhaps, where a lady wishes it understood that she called in person. The plainer the card the better. A small, thin card for a gentleman, not glazed, with his name in small script and his address well engraved in the corner, is in good taste. A lady’s card should be larger, but not glazed or ornamented.
Style of Cards.
Ladies’ cards should be nearly square (about 21⁄2 x 3 inches) , of smooth-finished card-board, medium weight, pearl-white in color, and the engraving plain script. ”

“ The cards are well shuffled, the [Pg 147] consultant keeping his thoughts all the time fixed upon whatever wish he may have formed; the cards are cut once, and the card cut is noted; they are shuffled again and dealt out into three parcels—each of these being examined in turn, and if it is found that the card turned up next, either the one representing the dealer or the person who is consulting him—the ace of hearts or the nine of hearts, it is said that the wish will be granted. ”

“ To do this, however, I must ask this gentleman on my left to give me one card from his pocket that the others may learn the road they are to follow."
Taking this card, he gives it to the assistant on his right to put into his pocket. "Now," he proceeds, "one, two, three, four, pass! Count your cards, sir"—to the paper horn—"and see if you have not twenty-three, as you certainly ought to have, since nineteen which you had and the four which have passed make exactly that number." ”

“ In the case of a lady, the key card is the queen of the suit shown by the card which she picked from the pack at the outset. When it is a man who is seeking his fortune, the key card is the king of the suit indicated by the card he picked originally.
Having found the key card in the lay-out, count nine, eighteen, twenty-seven, thirty-six and forty-five spaces from it, and pick up the cards so placed. Remember that in counting, a line must be always begun from the right; also that it may be necessary to revert to the first or subsequent rows in order to obtain the full set of four cards. ”

“ TO GUESS THE SPOTS ON A CARD. Take a whole pack, consisting of 52 cards, and desire some person in company to draw out any card, at pleasure, without showing it. Having assigned to the different cards their usual value, according to their spots, call the knave 11, the queen 12, and the king 13. Then add the spots of the first card to those of the second; the last sum to the third; and so on, always rejecting 13, and keeping the remainder to add to the following card. It may be readily seen that it is needless to reckon the kings, which are counted 13. ”

“ Speak by the card, to speak with elegance and to the point; Throw up the cards, to give in: to confess defeat. [Fr. carte—L. charta, Gr. chartēs, paper. Carte is a doublet.]
Card, kärd, n. an instrument for combing wool or flax.—v.t. to comb wool, &c.—n. Card′er, one who has to do with carding wool. [Fr. carde—L. carduus, a thistle.]
Cardamine, kär′da-mīn, n. a genus of cress, including the cuckoo-flower or lady's smock, &c. [Gr. kardaminē—kardamon, cress.] ”

“ THE CLASSIFICATION OF PACKS OF CARDS INTO SUITS. EVER since the fifteenth century evidences of the existence and popularity of cards have been found in Italy, Spain, Germany, and France.
The names, colours, emblems, number, and form change with the countries or caprices of the card-makers; but what are termed Cartes Tarots or Cartes Françaises are always the original cards which came from the East, and which are in a greater or less degree faithful imitations of the still more ancient game of Chess. ”

“ The trick of dealing the second card is very easily learned. Take a pack of cards in your left hand, in the manner usually adopted in dealing, with the thumb lying across the middle of the pack. Then with the thumb advance the two top cards slightly to the right. ”

“ An illegible card loses all its intended effect. A poorly executed card makes people notice that it is not well done. A fancy card calls attention to the card itself and induces the reader to forget what the card says. ”

“ If the first of the four cards be a club, the first card you call will be the six of clubs; if the next be the heart, the next card called will be the two of hearts, and so on throughout the thirteen made up from every row, as before given, and the suits of each card will be indicated successively by the suit of each of your four indicator cards; thus, as the case may be, clubs, hearts, diamonds, spades; clubs, hearts, diamonds, spades, and so on. ”

“ Of course, the beginning is set for any individual by reception of the card.
A married woman finds frequent use for a card in combination with her husband, though this by no means takes the place of her individual cards, and, while it bears the address in the lower right-hand corner, does not usually give the at-home day. ”

“ Take the whole pack of fifty-two cards, and let them be well shuffled by as many persons as care to do so. Explain that if during your absence any one present will deal out the cards, faces downwards, into packs made up according to instructions, you will upon your return tell the aggregate number of pips shown on the bottom cards of the packs, the court cards being considered as equal to ten pips and the ace as equal to one pip. ”

“ After he has well regarded the cards, you take them from him, and putting them into different parts of the pack, shuffle them, or give them to him to shuffle. During which you recollect by the foregoing line all the cards he took out; and as you lay them down, one by one, you name each card.
THE CARD IN THE MIRROR. Provide a mirror, either round or oval, the frame of which must be at least as wide as a card. The glass in the middle must be made to move in the two grooves, and so much of the quicksilver must be scraped off as is equal to the size of a common card. ”

“ TO TELL THE SPOTS ON SELECTED CARDS. Having presented the pack, that the person may choose several succeeding cards at pleasure, privately observe the card which is above those he has chosen, and how many he has drawn from the pack; it will then be easy to count how many spots they ought to contain. ”

“ As American schoolgirls often have a card with the prefix "Miss," the débutante may use this among her girl friends.
To write anything on an engraved card except "Condolences," "Congratulations," "P. p. c.," is not considered good style, although a lady may use her visiting card with [100] "Five o'clock tea," "Music," or a special date written upon it as an informal invitation to a musical or "At Home."
A business or professional woman may have, in addition to her society card, a card with her own name for business purposes. ”

“ Card′-board, a stiff, finely finished pasteboard; Card′-case, a case for carrying visiting-cards; Card′-sharp′er, one who cheats at cards; Card′-tā′ble, a table for playing cards on.—A knowing card (slang) , one who is wide awake; A sure card, an undertaking which will be sure to succeed.—Have the cards in one's hands, to have everything under one's control; House of cards, something flimsy or unsubstantial; On the cards, likely to turn up; Play one's cards well, or badly, to make, or not to make, the best of one's chances; Show one's cards, to expose one's secrets or designs ”