Youth
Across Texas
Across Texas By Edward Sylvester Ellis Edward Sylvester Ellis was born in Geneva, Ohio, in 1840. He attended the State Normal School of New Jersey, and while he was just a boy, he began teaching. He would later become a school principal and superintendent of schools in Trenton. In 1860 he published his most successful book, Seth Jones, or the Captive of the Frontier. Its sudden and immense success caused him to abandon teaching and pursue a writing career. Edward Ellis specialized in boys' stories, inspirational biography, and history for both children and adults. He was a major author during the "dime novel" era of inexpensive fiction of the nineteenth century. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.
Adrift in the City; Or, Oliver Conrad’s Plucky Fight.
Horatio Alger Jr. January 13, 1832 - July 18, 1899) was an American writer, best known for his many young adult novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty. His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on the United States during the Gilded Age.All of Alger's juvenile novels share essentially the same theme, known as the "Horatio Alger myth" a teenage boy works hard to escape poverty. Often it is not hard work that rescues the boy from his fate but rather some extraordinary act of bravery or honesty. The boy might return a large sum of lost money or rescue someone from an overturned carriage. This brings the boy-and his plight-to the attention of a wealthy individual.Alger secured his literary niche in 1868 with the publication of his fourth book, Ragged Dick, the story of a poor bootblack's rise to middle-class respectability. This novel was a huge success. His many books that followed were essentially variations on Ragged Dick and featured casts of stock characters: the valiant hard-working, honest youth, the noble mysterious stranger, the snobbish youth, and the evil, greedy squire.
Among the Esquimaux; Or, Adventures Under the Arctic Circle (1894 )
Edward Sylvester Ellis (April 11, 1840 - June 20, 1916) was an American author who was born in Ohio and died at Cliff Island, Maine.Ellis was a teacher, school administrator, journalist, and the author of hundreds of books and magazine articles that he produced by his name and by a number of noms de plume. Notable fiction stories by Ellis include The Steam Man of the Prairies and Seth Jones, or the Captives of the Frontier.Internationally, Edward S. Ellis is probably known best for his Deerfoot novels read widely by young boys until the 1950s.Dime novelsSeth Jones was the most significant of early dime novels of publishers Beadle and Adams. It is said that Seth Jones was one of Abraham Lincoln's favorite stories. During the mid-1880s, after a fiction-writing career of some thirty years, Ellis eventually began composing more serious works of biography, history, and persuasive writing. Of note was "The Life of Colonel David Crockett," which had the story of Davy Crockett giving a speech usually called "Not Yours To Give." It was a speech in opposition to awarding money to a Navy widow on the grounds that Congress had no Constitutional mandate to give charity. It was said to have been inspired by Crockett's meeting with a Horatio Bunce, a much quoted man in Libertarian circles, but one for whom historical evidence is non-existent.PseudonymsBesides the one hundred fifty-nine books published by his own name, Ellis' work was published under various pseudonyms, including: "James Fenimore Cooper Adams" or "Captain Bruin Adams" (68 titles)"Boynton M. Belknap" (9 titles)"J. G. Bethune" (1 title)"Captain Latham C. Carleton" (2 titles)"Frank Faulkner" (1 title)"Capt. R. M. Hawthorne" (4 titles)"Lieut. Ned Hunter" (5 titles)"Lieut. R. H. Jayne" (at least 2 titles in the War Whoop series)[8]"Charles E. Lasalle" (16 titles)"H. R. Millbank" (3 titles)"Billex Muller" (3 titles)"Lieut. J. H. Randolph" (8 titles)"Emerson Rodman" (10 titles)"E. A. St. Mox" (2 titles)"Seelin Robins" (19 titles)He was a major author during the era of inexpensive fiction of the nineteenth century (dime novels). Because he wrote under dozens of pseudonyms, as well as under his own name, it is virtually impossible to know exactly how many books he wrote, but it is believed to be in the hundreds. Notable works include: The Lost Trail (1884), The Land of Mystery (1889), Through Forest and Fire (1891), Two Boys in Wyoming (1898), Thomas Jefferson (1898/1903), The Jungle Fugitives (1903) and Oonomoo: The Huron (1911).
Bernard Brooks’ Adventures: The Experiences of a Plucky Boy
1903. Alger is the original rags-to-riches guy, often credited with inventing the strive-and-succeed spirit that inspired boys to work hard and advance themselves in order to achieve the American Dream. This theme resonates throughout his numerous writings. In this book Alger tells the tale of Bernard Brooks, a fifteen year old orphan, who is sent to Ezekiel Snowdon's rural boarding school by his New York guardian, Cornelius McCracken, who has secretly appropriated money from the young man. To escape being beaten Bernard runs away from the school. After leaving the school he meets many characters along his travels who he helps with their troubles. Bernard attempts a reconciliation with his guardian, but is rebuffed. Now he must overcome the obstacles thrown in his path by his guardian and others to reclaim what is rightly his. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.
Betty Leicester’s Christmas
A follow-up to the earlier novel for younger readers, Betty Leicester, this charming holiday tale visits our young heroine as she returns to London with mixed feelings. Though she missed her adopted city when staying with relatives in a quaint coastal town in New England, after her return to the U.K., she finds herself pining for America. To ease her mind, she throws herself into enjoying the elegant holiday celebrations she attends.
Connecticut Boys in the Western Reserve: A Tale of the Moravian Massacre
This is a reproduction of the original artefact. Generally these books are created from careful scans of the original. This allows us to preserve the book accurately and present it in the way the author intended. Since the original versions are generally quite old, there may occasionally be certain imperfections within these reproductions. We're happy to make these classics available again for future generations to enjoy!