and seldom saw the outside, 'cause I wasn't out of my own neighborhood
very much. It was too much like a fish being out of water. Never heard
the name of God or Jesus Christ except when they were taken in vain,
and never troubled my head to find out who was God or who was Jesus
Christ.

"Before I was fifteen years old, I married a gambler. He was a
fine-looking fellow, considerably older than me, and sometimes had a
pile of money.

"Yes, he gave me what I asked for. Sometimes I spent quite a bit on
dress and treating my friends, 'cause there ain't a stingy bone in my
body. I've no use for stingy folk, have you?

"Tom wasn't a heavy drinker, but he used to 'hit the pipe.'"

"What is 'hit the pipe', Callie?" I inquired.

"Don't you know? Why, smoke opium. Also, he had the morphine habit, and
if anything, that's the worst one of the two, but, between you and me,
there's little or no choice. It wasn't long before I, too, commenced
taking morphine, and kept it up until two years ago. Look here!"

With that she stripped up the sleeves of her dress, and we were gazing
at arms which from the shoulder to wrist were one mass of tiny bluish
spots. I doubt if there was room to place a pin between them.

"Oh! Callie, what are they?"

"Shots--shots from the hypodermic needle that we used to inject the