rely
recovered from his matrimonial aspirations, and had given up all
hope of a witch wife. Still, he hoped to find in the _cave_,
something more worthy the ancient and honorable name of
witchcraft than anything he had yet seen.

Alas! for the uncertainty of mortal hopes. All is vanity, bosh,
and botheration.

On arriving at the enchanted spot, it soon became evident to the
senses of our astonished friend that the "Cave" was not a cavern,
fit for the habitation of a powerful sorceress, but was merely a
mystifying cognomen applied to a drinking saloon with a billiard
room attached, which had accommodations, also, for persons who
wished to participate in other profane games.

On entering the "Cave," your deluded customer saw no toothless
hag with the expected witch-like surroundings, but observed only
a company of men, seemingly respectable, indulging in plentiful
potations of beer and certain other liquids, which appeared, at
the distance from which he observed them, to be the popular
compounds designated in the vulgar tongue as "whiskey toddies."
Addressing the nearest bystander, the gulled Individual
ascertained the habitation of Mrs. Grommer, and immediately
departed in search of that interesting female.

The way was crooked, as all Williamsburgh ways are, but after an
irregular, curvilinear journey of half an hour, the anxious
inquirer stood in front of the looked-for mansion.

The grading of the street has left at this point a gravel bank
some six or eight feet high, on the summit of which is perched
the house of Mrs. Grommer, like a contented mud-turtle on a sunny
stump. It is a one-story affair, with several irregular wings or
additions sprouting out of it at unexpected angles, and, on the
whole, it looks as if it had been originally built tall and slim
like a tallow candle, but had melted and run down into its
present indescribable shape. The architect neglected to provide
this beautiful edifice with a front door, and the inquirer was
compelled to ascend the bank by a flight of rheumatic steps, and
make a grand detour through currant bushes, chickens, washtubs,
rain-barrels, and colored children, irregular as to size, and
variegated as to hue, to the back, and only door. Here his modest
rap was unanswered, and he composedly walked in, unasked, through
the kitchen, and took a seat in the parlor, where he was
presently discovered by the lady of the house, but not until he
had time to take an accurate obser