wretches she was pestered to take care of.  At one time there were in this den of wretchedness fifteen girls from seven to eleven years old, and seven boys under eleven-all being initiated into the by-ways of vice and crime.  Among the girls were Italians, Germans, Irish, and-shall I say it?-Americans!  It was curious to see what means the old hag would resort to for the purpose of improving their features after they had arrived at a certain age.  She had a purpose in this; and that purpose sprang from that traffic in depravity caused by the demands of a depraved society, a theme on her lips continually.”

CHAPTER X.

A continuation of George Mullholland’s history.

“Having served well the offices of felons and impostors, Hag Zogbaum would instruct her girls in the mysteries of licentiousness.  When they reached a certain age, their personal appearance was improved, and one by one they were passed into the hands of splendidly-dressed ladies, as we then took them to be, who paid a sum for them to Hag Zogbaum, and took them away; and that was the last we saw of them.  They had no desire to remain in their miserable abode, and were only too glad to get away from it.  In most cases they were homeless and neglected orphans; and knowing no better condition, fell easy victims to the snares set for them.

“It was in this dark, cavern-like den—­in this mysterious caldron of precocious depravity, rioting unheeded in the very centre of a great city, whose boasted wealth and civilization it might put to shame, if indeed it were capable of shame, I first met the child of beauty, Anna Bonard.  Yes!—­the Anna Bonard you now see at the house of Madame Flamingo.  At that time she was but seven years old—­a child of uncommon beauty and aptness, of delicate but well-proportioned features, of middle stature, and a face that care might have made charming beyond comparison.  But vice hardens, corrodes, and gives a false hue to the features.  Anna said she was an orphan.  How far this was true I know not.  A mystery shrouded the way in which she fell into the hands of Hag Zogbaum.  Hag Zogbaum said she got her of an apple-woman; and the apple-woman kept a stand in West street, but never would disclose how she came by Anna.  And Mr. Tom Toddleworth, who was the chronicle of the Points, and used to look into ’Scorpion Cove’ now and then, and inquire about Anna, as if he had a sort of interest in her, they said knew all about her.  But if he did, he always kept it a secret between himself and Hag Zogbaum.