INTRODUCTION
My Dear Boys: In bringing out this story, "The Putnam Hall Cadets," theinitial volume in the "Putnam Hall Series," I feel it necessary to makean explanation why it is that this tale is brought out when I havealready written so much concerning the doings of the students at PutnamHall.
Ever since I presented to the boys the first volume in the "Rover BoysSeries," I have been urged by the boys--and girls, too, for the matter ofthat--to write something concerning the doings of the students at theHall previous to the coming of the Rover boys on the scene. When theRovers arrived they found a wide-awake, jolly crowd of cadets alreadythere, some of whom had been at the academy several years. My youngfriends wished to know more about these, and it is for their benefit thatI have instituted this new series, which will tell of many things thathappened at the famous seat of learning from the time it was first openedto the present day.
Putnam Hall is an ideal boarding school for boys, located on the shore ofa beautiful lake in upper New York State. The students there are bright,manly fellows, full of vigor and fun, and bound to get the best there isout of school life. There are some keen rivalries, and in the story arerelated the particulars of a mystery which had an unlooked-for ending.
In offering this first book of the new series I wish to thank thethousands everywhere who have written to me regarding the "Rover BoysSeries." It does my heart good to know that the tales have been so wellliked. I trust sincerely that the present story meets with equalapprobation.
Affectionately and sincerely yours, Arthur M. Winfield. _July 25, 1905._
THE PUTNAM HALL CADETS