eir houses, and ply them so with temptations, that
they frequently ruin them. This is the real business of most of them.
They are leagued with the keepers of houses of ill-fame. No woman is
safe who enters their doors.

The women also offer for sale "amulets," "charms," or "recipes," which
they declare will enable a person to win the love of any one of the
opposite sex, and excite the admiration of friends; or which will "give
you an influence over your enemies or rivals, moulding them to your own
will or purpose;" or which will "enable you to discover lost, stolen, or
hidden treasures," etc., etc. For each or any of these charms, from
three to five dollars is asked, "with return postage," when sent by mail.
All these, as well as "love powders," "love elixirs," and the like, are
either worthless, or are composed of dangerous chemical substances.
Strange to say, the sale of these things is large. The world is full of
fools, and the best proof of it is that two of the most noted women of
New York, who practise the arts we have described, are worth respectively
one hundred thousand dollars and eighty thousand dollars.

II. MATRIMONIAL BROKERS.

There are several women in the city who advertise to introduce strangers
into the best society, and to procure wives and husbands from the same
element for their customers. As a general rule, these women are simply
procuresses. If, however, a man desiring to marry a woman in this city,
seeks their aid, they will always find some means of assisting him. The
charge for their services is either a percentage on the lady's fortune,
or a certain specified sum. The woman, or broker, will devise some means
of making the acquaintance of the lady against whom her arts are to be
directed, and will proceed cautiously, step by step, until she has caused
her victim to meet the man for whom she is working. The arts used vary
according to circumstances, but they rarely fail of success. Men who
wish to accomplish the ruin of some innocent girl, also seek the aid of
these brokers, and frequently, through their assistance, effect their
purpose. If it is necessary, the victim, after being allured to the
broker's house, is drugged. These women are the vampires of society. It
is very difficult for the authorities to make a case against them, and
they generally go unpunished.

The offers of these wretches to procure wives for men wishing to be
married, are often accepted by simpleto