  Four years slipped by. Let us note, briefly, the changes which they brought, and then farewell! To Helen they were years of quiet happiness, of steady improvement. There were many deficiencies in her education to be made up. With the aid of private instructors, the best of their kind, she strove earnestly to acquire the knowledge for which she had long thirsted. Her father was unwilling to send her away to school, since this must deprive him of her society, on which he had learned to depend. Nor was Helen less unwilling to leave the father who had called forth from her so rare and beautiful a devotion. Year by year her mind has expanded, while her rare loveliness has, if possible, been enhanced. Helen, at nineteen, is even more charming than at fifteen. There are some who have found this out, and Helen has had repeated offers of marriage. All these she has gently but firmly refused. Not one has succeeded in touching her heart. Among her suitors was one whom she treated with less ceremony. A young man, who had nearly run through a large fortune, paid assiduous court to Helen, whom he had met in society, and in spite of her coldness made a declaration of love. Helen looked up from the carpet on which her eyes had “At Mrs. Grosvenor’s party,” answered the young man, somewhat surprised. “You are mistaken. That was only three months since. Our first meeting dates back four years.” “Thank you for remembering it. Yet I can hardly believe you correct. Your face is not one to be forgotten. Are you quite sure?” “Yes, I remember you perfectly.” There was something in Helen’s manner which the young man could not quite fathom. It made him uneasy, for Helen’s grave tone rendered it doubtful whether the recollection was a pleasant one. “May I ask where, and under what circumstances, we met?” he inquired. “I was, at that time, singing at the —— Theatre,” returned Helen, composedly. “You followed me in the street when on my return home, and sought to force your company upon me. But for the opportune arrival of a friend, I should have been obliged to submit to the insult.” “Good heavens!” ejaculated Albert Grover, “are you the young singer who made such a sensation? I cannot understand it.” “Fortunes have changed with me,” said Helen. “Otherwise, I can well understand that you would never have honored me with your proposal of this morning. I think, Mr. Grover, you will hardly require any other answer.” She left the room with dignity, leaving her suitor crestfallen, and entirely satisfied of the hopelessness of his suit. Meanwhile, where was Herbert Coleman? Shortly after Mr. Ford’s accession to fortune, he sent for the young artist at Helen’s instigation, and questioned him delicately as to his plans and wishes. Herbert acknowledged “I have thought of that,” said Mr. Ford, “and as Providence has blessed me with abundant means I have determined to enable you to gratify your desire. I do not wish to compromise your independence, and therefore I will not offer to give you the requisite sum. I should be glad to have copies of some of the masterpieces of Italian art. I am willing to invest five thousand dollars in this way. I will give you the commission. This will enable you to spend three years abroad. Here is a check for a thousand dollars. The balance I authorize you to draw upon me for as you need it.” “Sir,” said Herbert, with joyful emotion, “your generosity overwhelms me. I cannot express to you how happy you have made me. I hope that I shall prove deserving of such kindness.” “You must thank Helen,” said Mr. Ford. “She suggested this to me; though I think she will do me the justice to acknowledge that she did not find me very difficult to persuade.” “Dear Helen,” said the young artist, turning to the young girl whose beaming face expressed how heartily she sympathized in his joy, “I am not surprised to hear this. It is so like you.” “Don’t say any more, Herbert,” said Helen, softly. “That repays me.” Herbert’s residence in Italy has been protracted somewhat beyond the three years originally intended. He has already sent home several paintings, originals, as well as copies, which prove conclusively that he has not mistaken his vocation. He has corresponded regularly with Helen, and she is eagerly expecting his return in the next steamer. They Mr. Ford has long since given up his invention as impracticable. He has gathered about him a rich library in which he spends the hours formerly given to science. A year since he laid out the plan of a large work in the department of mechanics upon which he is hard at work. It will probably require some years to complete it. Mr. Sharp still acts as the business agent of Mr. Ford, and through his influence has obtained other business, so that he is now in receipt of a very comfortable income. Justice compels me to state that in spite of his not very creditable antecedents, he serves Mr. Ford with ability and fidelity, and exhibits a good judgment in his management of money matters, which perhaps could hardly have been expected. He is not entirely rid of his “idiosyncrasies,” but these are now of a harmless nature. He no longer runs up bills which he is unable to liquidate, and has ceased to exercise his professional sharpness on the newsboys. Martha Grey still finds a home with Helen, and is her tried and confidential friend. She is no longer obliged to labor hard for a scanty remuneration. Her “lines have fallen in pleasant places.” Privation and discomfort have been succeeded by ease and luxury. A month since she was surprised by a proposal of marriage from Mr. Sharp. She refused him gently, telling him that she should never marry. I do not think she will. She has never recovered from an early disappointment, which, without robbing her of happiness, has made it impossible for her to love again. Mr. Sharp has resigned himself to his rejection with commendable Mrs. Morton still keeps her boarding-house, and still meets with a fair share of patronage. Helen occasionally calls upon her. She has not forgotten her kindness in the days when she stood in need of a friend. M’lle Fanchette is still one of her lodgers. She does not grow old, having been twenty-seven for the last fifteen years. She brings her charms to bear upon each successive lodger whom she regards as eligible, but no one has yet had the courage to propose. There is reason to believe that she will remain Mademoiselle to the end of this chapter. Margaret and Jacob Wynne! I name Margaret first, for hers is the nobler nature. Jacob’s brief imprisonment had a most salutary influence upon him. He no longer upbraids without reason, nor arouses her quick jealousy by his neglect. Mr. Ford (after all we prefer the old name) throws considerable business into his hands, and this, with what he obtains from other quarters, gives him a comfortable support. It would be difficult to recognize in Margaret, with her quiet look, and subdued demeanor, the wild, wayward, Immediately after the division of the estate, Lewis Rand went to Europe, where he has remained ever since. His feelings are so imbittered against his cousin, that he has refused to answer a letter containing overtures of reconciliation. He makes his head-quarters at Paris, where he lives in elegant style, and receives the homage which wealth always commands. But does he find in his riches the full satisfaction which he anticipated? I answer, no. He finds, too late, that happiness must be earned; it can never be bought. To those who, like Helen, consecrate their lives to the noblest objects, and study to promote the happiness of all around them, the blessing comes unsought. For the love that stimulates to good deeds, is like mercy “twice blest; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes.” And so, reader, farewell! What remains in store for Helen Ford, whether of joy or of sorrow, it is not mine to read. Let us hope that her life may brighten continually till its close; that her years, whether few or many, may be made happy by the consciousness of duty well performed; that she may dispense liberally unto others of the good gifts with which God has crowned her, and make her life a benefaction to humanity! HORATIO ALGER, JR. The enormous sales of the books of Horatio Alger, Jr., show the greatness of his popularity among the boys, and prove that he is one of their most favored writers. I am told that more than half a million copies altogether have been sold, and that all the large circulating libraries in the country have several complete sets, of which only two or three volumes are ever on the shelves at one time. If this is true, what thousands and thousands of boys have read and are reading Mr. Alger’s books! His peculiar style of stories, often imitated but never equaled, have taken a hold upon the young people, and, despite their similarity, are eagerly read as soon as they appear. Mr. Alger became famous with the publication of that undying book, “Ragged Dick, or Street Life in New York.” It was his first book for young people, and its success was so great that he immediately devoted himself to that kind of writing. It was a new and fertile field for a writer then, and Mr. Alger’s treatment of it at once caught the fancy of the boys. “Ragged Dick” first appeared in 1868, and ever since then it has been selling steadily, until now it is estimated that about 200,000 copies of the series have been sold. —“Pleasant Hours for Boys and Girls.” A writer for boys should have an abundant sympathy with them. He should be able to enter into their plans, hopes, and aspirations. He should learn to look upon life as they do. Boys object to be written down to. A boy’s heart opens to the man or writer who understands him. —From “Writing Stories for Boys,” by Horatio Alger, Jr. RAGGED DICK SERIES.
TATTERED TOM SERIES—First Series.
TATTERED TOM SERIES—Second Series.
CAMPAIGN SERIES.
LUCK AND PLUCK SERIES—First Series.
LUCK AND PLUCK SERIES—Second Series.
BRAVE AND BOLD SERIES.
VICTORY SERIES.
FRANK AND FEARLESS SERIES.
GOOD FORTUNE LIBRARY.,
HOW TO RISE LIBRARY.
COMPLETE CATALOG OF BEST BOOKS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS MAILED ON APPLICATION TO THE PUBLISHERS THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO., PHILADELPHIA J. T. TROWBRIDGE. Neither as a writer does he stand apart from the great currents of life and select some exceptional phase or odd combination of circumstances. He stands on the common level and appeals to the universal heart, and all that he suggests or achieves is on the plane and in the line of march of the great body of humanity. The Jack Hazard series of stories, published in the late Our Young Folks, and continued in the first volume of St. Nicholas, under the title of “Fast Friends,” is no doubt destined to hold a high place in this class of literature. The delight of the boys in them (and of their seniors, too) is well founded. They go to the right spot every time. Trowbridge knows the heart of a boy like a book, and the heart of a man, too, and he has laid them both open in these books in a most successful manner. Apart from the qualities that render the series so attractive to all young readers, they have great value on account of their portraitures of American country life and character. The drawing is wonderfully accurate, and as spirited as it is true. The constable, Sellick, is an original character, and as minor figures where will, we find anything better than Miss Wansey, and Mr. P. Pipkin, Esq. The picture of Mr. Dink’s school, too, is capital, and where else in fiction is there a better nick-name than that the boys gave to poor little Stephen Treadwell, “Step Hen,” as he himself pronounced his name in an unfortunate moment when he saw it in print for the first time in his lesson in school. On the whole, these books are very satisfactory, and afford the critical reader the rare pleasure of the works that are just adequate, that easily fulfill themselves and accomplish all they set out to do.—Scribner’s Monthly. THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO.’S POPULAR JUVENILES. JACK HAZARD SERIES.
CHARLES ASBURY STEPHENS. This author wrote his “Camping Out Series” at the very height of his mental and physical powers. “We do not wonder at the popularity of these books; there is a freshness and variety about them, and an enthusiasm in the description of sport and adventure, which even the older folk can hardly fail to share.”—Worcester Spy. “The author of the Camping Out Series is entitled to rank as decidedly at the head of what may be called boys’ literature.”—Buffalo Courier. CAMPING OUT SERIES. By C. A. STEPHENS. All books in this series are 12mo. with eight full page illustrations. Cloth, extra, 75 cents. Camping Out. As Recorded by “Kit.” “This book is bright, breezy, wholesome, instructive, and stands above the ordinary boys’ books of the day by a whole head and shoulders.”—The Christian Register, Boston. Left on Labrador; or, The Cruise of the Schooner Yacht “Curlew.” As Recorded by “Wash.” “The perils of the voyagers, the narrow escapes, their strange expedients, and the fun and jollity when danger had passed, will make boys even unconscious of hunger.”—New Bedford Mercury. Off to the Geysers; or The Young Yachters in Iceland. As Recorded by “Wade.” “It is difficult, to believe that Wade and Read and Kit and Wash were not live boys, sailing up Hudson Straits, and reigning temporarily over an Esquimaux tribe.”—The Independent, New York. Lynx Hunting: From Notes by the Author of “Camping Out.” “Of first quality as a boys’ book, and fit to take its place beside the best.”—Richmond Enquirer. Fox Hunting. As Recorded by “Read.” “The most spirited and entertaining book that has as yet appeared. It overflows with incident, and is characterized by dash and brilliancy throughout.”—Boston Gazette. On the Amazon; or, the Cruise of the “Rambler.” As Recorded by “Wash.” “Gives vivid pictures of Brazilian adventure and scenery.”—Buffalo Courier. THE RENOWNED STANDARD JUVENILES BY EDWARD S. ELLIS Edward S. Ellis is regarded as the later day Cooper. His books will always be read for the accurate pen pictures of pioneer life they portray. LIST OF TITLES DEERFOOT SERIES
LOG CABIN SERIES
BOY PIONEER SERIES
THE NORTHWEST SERIES
BOONE AND KENTON SERIES
WAR CHIEF SERIES
THE NEW DEERFOOT SERIES
TRUE GRIT SERIES
GREAT AMERICAN SERIES
COLONIAL SERIES
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PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE SERIES
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Complete Catalogue of Famous Alger Books, Celebrated Castlemon Books and Renowned Ellis Books mailed on application. THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO. PHILADELPHIA, PA. |
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