Tom the Telephone Boy by Frank V. Webster - HTML preview

TO THE READER

Now that you have finished reading this story, we desire to call your attention to all the other volumes in this remarkable series for boys.

We feel that we have made a distinct find in Mr. Frank V. Webster, who is under contract to write exclusively for the Cupples & Leon Company. Mr. Webster’s style is very much like that of the late-lamented Mr. Alger, but his tales are all thoroughly up-to-date. This author, though still young, has been a great traveler, and therefore he knows exactly what he is writing about, be it a story of city or country life, a tale of the far west, or of the frozen north.

“How can you write such fine stories?” a boy once asked Mr. Webster.

“Oh, I guess it comes natural,” answered the author. “I have been through so much and seen so much, it seems as if I could go on telling stories forever.”

On the following pages we give the outlines of some of Mr. Webster’s stories. Read them—they will interest you.

THE BOY FROM THE RANCH

Did you ever stop to think how strange life in a big city must appear to a boy who has never been anywhere but on the boundless plains?

“I simply had to write that story—I couldn’t help it,” said Mr. Webster, in telling us how “The Boy from the Ranch; or, Roy Bradner’s City Experiences,” came to be penned. “Some years ago I was on a ranch, and there I met a lad just like Roy, who told me of all the things that had happened to him when he went to Chicago for his uncle on business.”

In this story of life on the plains and in New York, Roy is a clever lad who knows how to take his own part, no matter what happens. His father being sick, he is sent to the great metropolis to transact some business. Everything is new and strange to him and he makes some queer mistakes which make very funny reading. He falls into the hands of a sharper who has been cheating Mr. Bradner out of the income of some valuable property. The sharper and his tools try to get the ranch boy out of the way. But—well, Roy turns the tables, and makes things mighty warm for the fellows.

A splendid volume, bound in cloth, and well illustrated. Published by the Cupples & Leon Company, at thirty-five cents. Sent postpaid if you can not get it from your bookseller.

THE YOUNG TREASURE HUNTER

Do you like stories of the frozen north? of great hardships amid ice and snow? and of thrilling encounters with wild beasts and with thieving Indians? If you do you will not want to miss Frank V. Webster’s book entitled: “The Young Treasure Hunter; or, Fred Stanley’s Trip to Alaska.”

“The most interesting story of the Alaskan gold fields I ever read,” one boy has written to us. “My father was one of the first men to go to Alaska, and he says the pictures of life there are true. I guess Mr. Webster must have been there himself.”

This story tells of how a poor boy joined a party in search of a golden treasure, and of how, after the treasure was discovered, a bad man, aided by some Alaskan Indians, tried to get the wealth away. Fred proved himself a hero on more than one occasion, and we know all boys will like him for that. On one occasion the youth brings down a fine moose, and on another he and his chum suffer from snow blindness and become lost in the dazzling whiteness.

This book might easily have been issued at one dollar or one dollar and a half, but Mr. Webster insisted that the price be made the same as on all his other volumes, namely, thirty-five cents. Issued by the Cupples & Leon Company, New York, and for sale by booksellers everywhere.

BOB THE CASTAWAY

One day Mr. Webster came into our office and placed a manuscript on the desk of our editor.

“Did you ever take a sea voyage when you were a boy?” he asked as he dropped into a chair.

The editor said he had never had that pleasure.

“Well, I did—and I was wrecked, too,” went on the author. “And I was sent to sea for the same reason that Bob Henderson had to go.”

Then we got very curious and read the story, which had for its title: “Bob the Castaway; or, The Wreck of the Eagle.” We had to laugh when we read that yarn. Bob was such a fun-loving fellow, and he played such awful jokes. He tried to play a joke on an old sea captain at a church donation party, but, to the boy’s horror, the minister got the benefit (?) of the fun. Then Bob’s parents sent him to sea to cure him, and the boy was wrecked on an island in the Pacific, and had many thrilling adventures. It’s a true-to-life story, for it contains many pages out of Mr. Webster’s own experiences. A very nervous passenger on the ship makes a lot of unconscious fun. There is a great hurricane, and an encounter with South Sea natives.

A fine volume, bound in cloth, and well illustrated, and the price is thirty-five cents. Buy it from your bookseller, or send to the Cupples & Leon Company, New York, for it.

THE YOUNG FIREMEN OF LAKEVILLE

“Fire! fire! fire!”

That is the cry that sometimes thrills us, ringing out during the day or in the silent hours of the night. And who is it whose heart does not jump within him when he sees the devouring flames leaping skyward, and sees the engines, hose-carts and long hook-and-ladder trucks dashing through the streets to put out the conflagration?

The life of the fireman is one full of excitement and often of peril. This Mr. Frank V. Webster fully realized when he wrote, “The Young Firemen of Lakeville; or, Herbert Dare’s Pluck.” How the boys became dissatisfied with the old “bucket brigade” and organized a real fire company, and how they worked at more than one fire, is told with great fidelity to life. And then there is the secret of the old mansion, and that is worked up in Mr. Webster’s best style.

“The mystery in this story is taken from life,” Mr. Webster wrote us. “It surrounded an old man and a fortune worth nearly half a million dollars. A good-for-nothing grandson wanted to get it away from him.”

Published, as are all the Frank V. Webster books, by the Cupples & Leon Company, New York. Bound in cloth, illustrated, and for sale everywhere at thirty-five cents.

THE NEWSBOY PARTNERS

“Say, what’s the matter with you, anyhow?”

That was the question that Jimmy Small, a New York newsboy, asked when first he met Dick, in a dark alleyway, where Jimmy had gone to sleep because he didn’t have the price of a bed at the lodging-house.

Dick was a well-dressed boy, and lay there with a nasty cut on the head. He couldn’t tell how he had got into the alleyway or where he had come from. All he could remember was his first name—and as he was found in a box, Jimmy called him Dick Box.

The poor newsboy befriended Dick, and the two became partners. Dick could not remember his past, but he remembered how to read and write, and he taught Jimmy, and the two worked their way upward. Then one day something happened—something truly wonderful—and Dick—well, he didn’t remain poor, unknown Dick Box for a great while longer.

This story, issued under the title of “The Newsboy Partners; or, Who Was Dick Box?” is a fascinating tale, told in Mr. Webster’s best style. Splendidly illustrated, bound in cloth, price thirty-five cents. Published by the Cupples & Leon Co., New York. Ask your bookseller to show you this volume.