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thousand dollars would I have incurred the risk and torture of standing through that sultry day. There are plenty of shops in the city which are now managed on the principles of humanity, and such patronage should be given to these and withdrawn from the others as would teach the proprietors that women are entitled to a little of the consideration that is so justly associated with the work of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Mr. Bergh deserves praise for protecting even a cat from cruelty; but all the cats in the city unitedly could not suffer as much as the slight growing girl who must stand during a long hot day. I trust the reader will note carefully the Appendix at the close of this book.
It will soon be discovered that the modern opium or morphia habit has a large place in this volume. While I have tried to avoid the style of a medical treatise, which would be in poor taste in a work of fiction, I have carefully consulted the best medical works and authorities on the subject, and I have conversed with many opium slaves in all stages of the habit. I am sure I am right in fearing that in the morphia hunger and consumption one of the greatest evils of the future is looming darkly above the horizon of society. Warnings against this poison of body and soul cannot be too solemn or too strong.
So many have aided me in the collection of my material that any mention of names may appear almost invidious; but as the reader will naturally think that the varied phases of the opium habit are remote from my experience, I will say that I have been guided in my words by trustworthy physicians like Drs. E. P. Fowler, of New York; Louis Seaman, chief of staff at the Charity Hospital; Wm. H. Vail, and many others. I have also read such parts of my MS. as touched on this subject to Dr. H. K. Kane, the author of two works on the morphia habit.
This novel appeared as a serial in the "Congregationalist" of Boston, and my acknowledgments are due to the editors and publishers of this journal for their confidence in taking the story before it was written and for their uniform courtesy.
I can truly say that I have bestowed more labor on this book than upon any which have preceded it; for the favor accorded me by the public imposes the strongest obligation to be conscientious in my work.

CONTENTS
I. ONE GIRL'S IDEAL OF LIFE
II. WEAKNESS
III. CONFIDENTIAL
IV. "PITILESS WAVES"
V. THE RUDIMENTS OF A MAN
VI. ROGER DISCOVERS A NEW TYPE
VII. COMPARISONS
VIII. CHANGES
IX. NEITHER BOY NOR MAN
X. A COUNCIL
XI. A SHADOW
XII. VIEWLESS FETTERS
XIII. A SCENE BENEATH THE HEMLOCKS
XIV. THE OLD MANSION
XV. "WELCOME HOME"
XVI. BELLE AND MILDRED
XVII. BELLE LAUNCHES HERSELF
XVIII. "I BELIEVE IN YOU"
XIX. BELLE JARS THE "SYSTEM"
XX. SEVERAL QUIET FORCES AT WORK
XXI. "HE'S A MAN"
XXII. SKILLED LABOR
XXIII. THE OLD ASTRONOMER
XXIV. ROGER REAPPEARS
XXV. THE DARK SHADOW OF COMING EVENTS
XXVI. WAXING AND WANING MANHOOD
XXVII. A SLAVE
XXVIII. NEW YORK'S HUMANITY
XXIX. THE BEATITUDES OF OPIUM
XXX. THE SECRET VICE REVEALED
XXXI. AN OPIUM MANIAC'S CHRISTMAS
XXXII. A BLACK CONSPIRACY
XXXIII. MILDRED IN A PRISON CELL
XXXIV. "A WISE JUDGE"
XXXV. "I AM SO PERPLEXED"
XXXVI. A WOMAN'S HEART
XXXVII. STRONG TEMPTATION
XXXVIII. NO "DARK CORNERS"
XXXIX. "HOME, SWEET HOME"
XL. NEIGHBORS
XLI. GLINTS OF SUNSHINE
XLII. HOPES GIVEN AND SLAIN
XLIII. WAS BELLE MURDERED
XLIV. THE FINAL CONSOLATIONS OF OPIUM
XLV. MOTHER AND SON
XLVI. A FATAL ERROR
XLVII. LIGHT AT EVENTIDE
XLVIII. "GOOD ANGEL OF GOD"
XLIX. HOME
APPENDIX

WITHOUT A HOME

CHAPTER I
ONE GIRL'S IDEAL OF LIFE
It was an attractive picture that Martin Jocelyn looked upon through the open doorway of his parlor. His lively daughter Belle had invited half a score of her schoolmates to spend the evening, and a few privileged brothers had been permitted to come also. The young people were naturally selecting those dances which had some of the characteristics of a romp, for they were at an age when motion means enjoyment.
Miss Belle, eager and mettlesome, stood waiting for music that could scarcely be lighter or more devoid of moral quality than her own immature heart. Life, at that time, had for her but one great desideratum--fun; and with her especial favorites about her, with a careful selection of "nice brothers," canvassed with many pros and cons over neglected French exercises, she had the promise of plenty of it for a long evening, and her dark eyes glowed and cheeks flamed at the prospect. Impatiently tapping the floor with her foot, she looked toward her sister, who was seated at the piano.
Mildred Jocelyn knew that all were waiting for her; she instinctively felt the impatience she did not see, and yet could not resist listening to some honeyed nonsense that her "friend" was saying. Ostensibly, Vinton Arnold was at her side to turn the leaves of the