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THE BOAT CLUB OLIVER OPTIC]
Tim seized an Oar. _P._ 217.]
THE BOAT CLUBORTHE BUNKERS OF RIPPLETON
By
OLIVER OPTIC
_NEW EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED_
NEW YORKTHE MERSHON COMPANYPUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1896,By LEE AND SHEPARD
IN MEMORY OF_MY NEPHEW_,WILLIAM PARKER JEWETTWho Died January 4, 1884,TO WHOMThis BookWAS ORIGINALLY DEDICATED
AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION
"THE BOAT CLUB" was written and published more than forty years ago,and was the first juvenile book the author had ever presented to thepublic. Young people who read it at the age of eighteen have nowreached threescore, and those who read it at ten have passed theirhalf-century of life. The electrotype plates from which it has beenprinted for more than a generation of human life have suffered so muchfrom severe wear that new ones have become necessary, and they must bereplaced. This condition affords the author the opportunity to revisethe work, in fact, to make a new book of it; and the old boat must bereconstructed and launched again. The author has something to say onwhat suggests itself as a memorial occasion when something historicalmay be said. First, it is proper that old things should be respectedand honored, and therefore is presented the--
ORIGINAL PREFACE
OF "THE BOAT CLUB."
The author of the following story pleads guilty of being more than half a boy himself; and in writing a book to meet the wants and the tastes of "Young America," he has had no difficulty in stepping back over the weary waste of years that separates youth from maturity, and entering fully into the spirit of the scenes he describes. He has endeavored to combine healthy moral lessons with a sufficient amount of exciting interest to render the story attractive to the young; and he hopes he has not mingled these elements of a good juvenile book in disproportionate quantities.
Thus was laid the foundation of the writer's life-work for youngpeople, after an initiation of over twenty years as a teacher in theschools of Boston, in all grades from usher to principal. Even then hehad not the remotest idea of becoming an author; he never definitelyprepared himself for such a profession; and, as he has often stated it,he "blundered into the business of writing books for the young," thoughhe had had considerable experience in story-writing for magazines andnewspapers.
This beginning has been followed by ninety-six volumes in sets of sixvolumes or more, and two others, the whole of the ninety-eight booksbeing for young people. To these may be added the number of boundyearly volumes of magazines for juveniles of which the writer has beenthe editor for thirty-two years, making one hundred and thirty volumesof this kind, besides half a dozen or more for adults, to say nothingof nine hundred stories, long and short, for periodicals. This is theliterary record of the author in the seventy-fifth year of his age; andbeing still in fair physical condition, it is possible that more may beadded to the number.
This is an introduction to the republication of "The Boat Club," andthis book suggested what has been written so far. It occurs to me thatsome venerable person who read the book in childhood may have a desireto know how it happened to be written, and possibly some others maywish to know something of the motives which have animated the writerfor the long term in which he has been engaged in producing books forjuvenile readers. In a speech made by the author in 1875, at thededication of a branch of the Boston Public Library in Dorchester,which had become a part of the city, the desire of the venerablepersonage and the wishes of the other inquirers were fully answered;and perhaps they cannot be better satisfied than in reading a portionof this address, given after the writer had been introduced by theMayor of Boston:--
Though not to the manner born, Mr. Mayor, I have resided in Dorchester during the greater portion of my life; and this church has been my "religious home" for more than twenty-five years. I confess that it seems very strange to me to be introduced to an audience gathered within these walls by the Mayor of Boston. In presenting me to this large audience, you have called me by a name by which, perhaps, I am better known than by my real name. I am willing to acknowledge that I have written a great many stories for young people. And here I wish to say--what may perhaps surprise some of this audience--that I fully approve of and indorse all that Mr. Greenough, the President of the Board of Trustees of the Library, has said in his very able and instructive address, in regard to a proper supervision of the reading of the girls and boys. It was only the other day that one of the ablest and most successful masters of the public schools in this part of the city told me that he did not regard the establishment of public libraries in our towns and cities as wholly a benefit and a blessing to the communities, for the reason that some of them supply the young with books of doubtful tendency. I am glad, therefore, to know that the management of our public libraries and the selection of the books are in the hands of those who are fully awake to the responsibilities of their important positions.
Mr. Mayor, the mention by you of the name under which I have been in the habit of writing suggests that I may say now what I had on my mind, but did not intend to utter on this occasion. In one of the wall pews which were on my left before this church was remodelled, as a teacher in the Sunday-school connected with this parish, I had a class of boys. It was more than twenty-five years ago, and some of those boys have passed away from earth; but the others are now, as men of middle age, engaged in the active duties of life. I well remember how I looked into their faces, Sunday after Sunday, and how I endeavored to give them the good word that would help them along safely in their career of existence. I gave them the best I had to give, for I was interested in them. My interest made me desire to do more for them; and I thought I might write a story that would influence and benefit them. I had it in my mind to print a small pamphlet of sixty pages, and dedicate it to the boys of my Sunday-school class, putting all their names upon the page. The plot and plan of the story were clear in my mind; and the moral of it, which was not to be paraded in set terms, was even more clearly defined than the plot and plan.
Circumstances prevented the carrying out of this purpose, and the story was not written at that time. Several years afterwards, my publishers, after the issue of a tolerably successful book of mine for grown-up people,--for I had written a great many stories, though none for young people,--asked me to write a juvenile book. I assured them I could not do it; I had never attempted anything of the kind. The publishers insisted, and finally I promised to see what I could do. I had but little faith in my ability in this direction; but the plot and plan of the story I had arranged for my Sunday-school class came back to me, and I went to work upon it. The result of my efforts was "The Boat Club."
When I began to write stories for the young I had a distinct purpose in my mind. How well I remember the books I read, unknown to my parents, when I was a boy! They were "The Three Spaniards," "Alonzo and Melissa," "The Mysteries of Udolpho," "Rinaldo Rinaldini," "Freemantle the Privateersman," and similar works, not often found at the present time on the shelves of the booksellers, though I am sorry to say that their places have been filled with books hardly less pernicious. The hero of these stories was a pirate, a highwayman, a smuggler, or a bandit. He was painted in glowing colors; and in admiring his boldness, my sympathies were with this outcast and outlaw. These b
ooks were bad, very bad; because they brought the reader into sympathy with evil and wicked men. It seemed to me that stories just as interesting, just as exciting if you please, could be written, without any of the evil tendencies of these harmful books. I have tried to do this in the stories I have written for young people. I have never written a story which could excite the love, admiration, and sympathy of the reader for an evil-minded person, a bad character. This has been my standard; and however others may regard it, I still deem it a safe one. I am willing to admit that I have sometimes been rather more "sensational" than I now wish I had been; but I have never made a hero whose moral character, or whose lack of high aims and purposes, could mislead the reader.
But, Mr. Mayor, I hope you will pardon the egotism of these remarks; for I did not prepare myself to say what I have said, and I was rather surprised into it by your mention of my book name.
With the same apology to my readers of the present day for reproducingthis speech, and for saying so much about myself, I wish to allow ayoung gentleman to state the influence upon himself of these books. Heis the son of a distinguished literary man whose works live after him,and who was for several years United States Consul at Glasgow andEdinburgh. I insert here the young man's letter, which I received inFlorence, Italy, in 1870.
BOSTON, _Sept._ 9, 1870.
MR. ADAMS:
_Dear Sir_,--I heard some one remark the other day, that, however high a man might stand in the estimation of his fellow-men, there would be times when it would be pleasant for him to know that he had been of some especial benefit to one or more individuals. The remark reminded me of you, and of the immense advantage which your writings had been to me; and I thought that possibly it might give you pleasure to know that to you--together with a good mother's judicious management--I owe all my taste for reading.
Until I was about ten years of age, I perfectly detested the idea of taking a book into my hands. At about this time my mother procured "Poor and Proud," which she commenced reading to me; and finding me a good deal interested, she contrived to stop reading at one of the most interesting points in the story, when, giving me the book, she said that perhaps I would like to read on and see what came next. And I read on and on, becoming more and more interested in the story, until I had finished the book. Seeing me interested in your works, others were procured for me; and in reading those I often met with something which would rouse in me a desire to read history, until at last a taste for reading was formed, which a lifetime will not gratify. Thus you see I have especial reason for gratitude that you should ever have written stories for boys. Not that I believe myself to be the only one, but one of the many who have been benefited in the same way.
Hoping that you may find your visit to the Old World both pleasant and profitable, and wishing you a safe return, I remain, sir,
Yours truly,
G. FRANK UNDERWOOD.
G. F. RANK.
I have received hundreds of similar letters, containing substantiallythe same testimony. In December of the year this letter came to me, Iwas confined to my hotel in England by a London fog one day; and in thefirst daily paper I picked up in the reading-room I was surprised tofind myself "written up" in terms that made me blush; but the articlepleased me because it contained the same idea my young friend hadembodied in his letter.
Gratefully remembering my friends of over forty years' standing, andwith a hearty recognition of those of more recent years, I return tothem all my most sincere thanks for their generous appreciation of thework of my lifetime, and for their continued kindness to me from thefirst appearance of "The Boat Club" to the present time. I heartilywish them all continued health, prosperity, and happiness; and I do soin the sincere belief that I have never morally harmed any of myreaders, but have added pleasure as well as moral and intellectualprofit to their lives.
WILLIAM T. ADAMS"Oliver Optic"
DORCHESTER, _October_ 9, 1896