The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-03-18


 Then 1t got to singing and cooking It's head on one side so cute when went to
 feed it that really fell quite in love
 with t.
 Then when we came down here that morning and found an egg in the cage
 and you suggested we change it's name
 from Bill to Mary l got real excited over the prospect of having a lot of little birds here and raising them.
 If l had had any sense I would have
 known when you objected to my getting
 larger cage there was something wrong,
 but I did not.
 Then you know we got an egg every
 morning for three weeks. and | saved
 every one of them very carefully in cot oh well. no doubt the dear old lady
 would be plsasedi She thought the world of David Burke.
 He's really an old lady's manl" re- fiected Shirley. smiling a wan. bitter little smile.
 Youth wanted youth. Her mind de-
 spite itself, returned necessarily to Jim.
 She couldn't reconcile the two per sonalities of Jim-one lovable and charming-the other criminal
 She still cared for the lovable charming personality of him--she knew that only too we'll.
 
 dested tentatively on the glittering ring that Burke had given her.
 She wanted desperately to fling 1t Tout Of the window, and never look on it again. Its very opulence disgusted i her. symbolic as it was of the luxuri- ous. empty life that lay before her minus love,
 If only I could stay with vivian.. She twisted the ring round to catch the light. As she did so. Lucille glanced across the carriage, giving a start of | surprise as her gaze rested on the gem Burke flushed uneasily. He was afraid that Lucille would comment upon the ring, and that Shirley would tell her of her recent engagement with nimself The fat would be in the fire l then, with vengeance, Lucille opened her lips as though to address a remark to Shirley. Then ap- parently she changed her mind An immense relief enveloped Burke. i THE OPIUM DEN That evening, while the real Jim Dalton worked necessarily in his studio 1 in Chelsea, his down -and-out relation l of similar looks and name was. wend- Ing his way to the Limehouse cellar, where his much loved opiate was to be obtained. sv T It was a dirty. miserable place. Along one wall ran an erection. built of brick and popularly called a Rang" l On/this uneasy couch the opium fiends 1 dreamed happy dreams. At one end was furnace, where the cooking was achieved.
 | The floor was all of brick. varied at I spots by mud.
 1 The Chinese owner Chang Bing Ho. moved furtively among his clients. His trade was, very prosperous. The down-and-ou crept into the cen He climbed up to the Rang" Ills eyes were glittering in anticipa- ton, and his hands were trembling. Elysium was drawing near Chinaman brought the necessary paraphernalia on little tray A spirit lamp, a pipe, tiny box of opium and anfopium needle. These were the keys which flung the gates of feaven wide open.
 doWn- -and-outer took particular pleas ure in the preparation of the drug him. Eself. He would allow no other hand to touch 1t but his own \ lie 1t the spirit lamp, and. lifting up thes needle, caught a little opium on. the end of It. He held the needle in the flame Opium is material of resinous kind, and the heat began to soften 1t.
 Then the man caaght the substance In his fingers, and patiently worked away with 1t until he got 1t to the proper consistency.
 Next. he pushed the opium through the tiny aperture in the bowl of the | pipe. It was an odd shaped pipe. He took the stem of it between his lips, !, ana turning the mouth of the pipe to- wards the flame, so that the opium might fully melt, he took a long. slow pull, inhaling deeply into his lungs.
 He inhaled a dozen times.
 Ine physiological effect was curious | The face grew red. The eye was slight !, ly bloodshot-yet very clear and spark !! ling. Its radiance was so brilliant that I ' seemed to reflect everything in the i dismal den.
 Then gradually the glow faded. The l down-and -outer fell into a curious | slumber-a sleep which varies accord Ing to the quantity of opium taken.
 And he had taken much Though l young in years. he was an old, old 1 hand at this.
 Ten minutes elapsed before hs reached that heavenly dreamland | known by the ChineseI as "Tien Meng." A beautific look overspread his thin. yeiIow-tinted face, with the skin drawn | tight over the high cheek bones. Ly- | ing there so helpless, one could see that | the whole figure of this man was ema- l cfateu wasted.
 Fer opium causes malnutrition.
 Through many stages the derelict E had reached his present pitch. Not | only was his physical condition bad. Fl his mental and spiritual one was even H worse. He had lost all ethical dls- II junction between right and wrong. HIS H higher mental faculties were impaired. H Neither in word nor deed could he be I] 
 He was. in fact. down and outer. capable of almost any crime. Ha would, literally. have sold his soul for opium. There wasn't anything he Al wouldn't have sold to obtain the awful drug. Wife. honor. life itself! He was nearing the end of his to~ began. too. So Chang Bing Ho re- nected, as his narrow oriental syes took In the picture that the down-and- Fl cutter made. Chang Bing Ho would ba immensely sorry when the end came- | For financial reasons. This younaf fel- | low was . paying guest in every 5enss l of the word. But he couldn't possibly last the pace. | l That dreadful. hollow cough-it ind}- cated lung disease. He scareely ate | E hing. And he had no appetitfe at ali l | until he'd had his opium pipe
 1.-THE DEGREES or HEAVEN.
 His life had been quite clearly | against the Confucian ethics--the "De- III II