r with
mysterious hieroglyphics done in black paint. She asked her
visitor to "cut" them, which he reverently though daintily did,
whereupon she laid them on the table before her in four rows, and
spoke, having previously explained that she used no witchcraft
but did all her wonders by the signs of the zodiac. The
Individual concentrated his attention, and listened with all his
ears while the witch of Broome Street spoke thus:

"I will tell you first what these cards indicate, then I will
look at the lines of your hand, and then I will answer three
questions."

Here she paused, while her agitated listener sneezed a couple of
times; then she resumed, speaking with a strong foreign accent:

"You are good disposition--have excellent memory, you don't have
many enemy, but what you do is of your own sex--you are very frank
person and you was born in the sign of the Crab. You have some
lucky days which are Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, whatever
you do on these days is well, but you shall not wash your hair on
Thursdays, if so, you will wash all your luck away. You must be
very careful of fire and water, you will be in great danger of
fire and water and you must be very careful. You may die by fire
or water, I cannot say but you must certain be very careful of
fire and water. You must also be very careful of dogs, very
careful of dogs, you may die by a dog, but you must certain be
very careful of dogs."

Here she paused again, and while her visitor was meditating
on the full force of what he had heard, and was inwardly
resolving to go immediately home, shoot Juno, and drown her
as-yet-unoffending-but-in-after-days-dangerous-to-his-peace-of-
mind-and-the-happiness-of-his-life pups, she prepared for the
second portion of her discourse.

Taking the Individual's hand in hers, a proceeding which made him
feel as if he had put his fingers into a bladder of Maccoboy, she
made the following prediction: "You will be the father of five
children, two of them will be boys, who will be a great comfort
to you when you grow old."

She spoke no good of the girls, and the customer foresaw feminine
trouble in his household with those same young ladies. Having a
few moments to himself before she resumed, he worked himself into
a great passion with the ungrateful hussies who were about to
treat their kind old father in so scandalous a manner; but
presently recollecting that they were as yet in the condition of
"your sister, Betsey T