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The Gnomes.


"Day's dazzling light annoys,
Night's darkness only joys,
The cunning gnomes, who dwell
Deep underneath earth's shell."

From the German.

Repair we to the home of the Gnomes—to the stalactite cavern, where Fancy may revel and Imagination soar! Where every hue of the rainbow, every sparkle of the gem, and every metal's sheen shall be reflected in the light of the torch we bear in our hands!

Before us, a perspective of brilliancy; a crystalline canopy overhead, which, in the torch flame, sparkles with a myriad diamond rays, and upon whose surface multitudes of sparry globules rival the charms of burnished gold.

Beauty and grace displayed everywhere: in the architecture of the stalactite columns which support the roof; in the simulated forms of altars, trees, and stony organ-barrels which meet our gaze on every side; and in the grouping of the transparent tubes which depend from the ceiling, now hanging