Chapter I: Preface

"SQUARE AND COMPASSES" is the third volume of "THE BOAT-BUILDER SERIES." All the characters connected with the Beech Hill Industrial School who were presented in the preceding story will appear in the present issue. In addition to these, the students of another educational institution, on the other side of the lake, are introduced, as well as a gang of ruffianly young marauders residing in the vicinity of the Champlain mechanics.

These additions to the acting force of the story are made, not merely for the sake of the incidents and adventures to which their appearance gives rise, but for the contrast between well-behaved mechanics and ill-behaved gentlemen, and between boys well-trained and those not trained at all, as in the example of the Topovers.

It is true that the writer regards a reasonable amount of exciting incident and adventure as necessary to hold the attention of his readers, but he has never been satisfied to present only these. While naked didactic pages covering the duties of young people are usually skipped or favored with only a hasty glance, the moral quality of the actions and speech of a favorite character may produce a deep impression on the mind and heart of the reader. What the Good Samaritan or the Unjust Steward said and did, convey lessons which simple precepts may fail to impart. The moral of the writer's stories is in the words and actions of the characters, and the contrast between the lives of the good and those of the bad.

The author adheres to the rule he has followed for the lifetime of a generation: never to present bad characters in such a light as to win the admiration and sympathy of the reader; and he still believes in the old-fashioned practice of rewarding the good and punishing the evil in the story.

As in the last volume, it is a part of the writer's purpose to interest young people in the mechanic arts, and to illustrate the results of good discipline. He is a firm believer in Industrial Schools, whether public or private, and is satisfied that our country has reached a stage in its development when more attention than ever before must be given to practical agriculture and the mechanic arts. He sincerely hopes the present series will do something to promote the cultivation of a taste in this direction, as well as to afford moral instruction and innocent amusement.

DORCHESTER, MASS., Aug. 20, 1884.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE
SOME INDICATIONS OF A REBELLION 9

CHAPTER II.

AN IMPROMPTU RACE BETWEEN THE BEECH HILL BARGES 19

CHAPTER III.

DORY DORNWOOD ARGUES THE QUESTION 29

CHAPTER IV.

THE CHESTERFIELDS HANG OUT THEIR BANNERS 39

CHAPTER V.

JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE 49

CHAPTER VI.

THE COXSWAIN OF THE WINOOSKI INDULGES IN MORE STRATEGY 59

CHAPTER VII.

AN UNSATISFACTORY CONFERENCE ON THE WAVES 69

CHAPTER VIII.

THE CHESTERFIELDS SURRENDER THEIR BANNERS 79

CHAPTER IX.

A REBELLION IN THE SCHOOL-ROOM 89

CHAPTER X.

IMPORTANT TO BOY-ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS 99

CHAPTER XI.

DORY DORNWOOD CONFRONTS THE TOPOVERS 109

CHAPTER XII.

TOM TOPOVER HAS REASON TO BE ASTONISHED 119

CHAPTER XIII.

A VICTORY FOR THE TOPOVERS 129

CHAPTER XIV.

THE PURSUIT IN THE GOLDWING 139

CHAPTER XV.

THE SKIPPER USES A NAUTICAL LASSO 149

CHAPTER XVI.

COMMODORE TOM TOPOVER VISITS THE GOLDWING 159

CHAPTER XVII.

THE CHESTERFIELDS AND THEIR ALLIES RENEW THE BATTLE 169

CHAPTER XVIII.

DORY DORNWOOD DEALS IN MORAL COURAGE 179

CHAPTER XIX.

SOMETHING MORE ABOUT THE BEECH HILL REBELLION 189

CHAPTER XX.

THE VISITING COMMITTEE AT BEECH HILL 199

CHAPTER XXI.

THE ORATOR OF THE REBELS OBTAINS A HEARING 209

CHAPTER XXII.

BOLLY EXPLAINS THE PLANS FOR THE BOAT-HOUSE AND WHARF 219

CHAPTER XXIII.

VOLLEYS OF QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED 229

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE NEW CAPTAIN OF THE SYLPH 239

CHAPTER XXV.

THE FIRST OFFICER AND PARTY IN BATTLE ARRAY 249

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE RESULT OF THE BATTLE ON THE CAISSON 259

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE TWO PRINCIPALS 269

CHAPTER XXVIII.

SOMETHING ABOUT FRAMING THE BOAT-HOUSE 279

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE STUDENTS USE THE SQUARE AND COMPASSES 289

CHAPTER XXX.

THE STUDENTS CELEBRATE THE COMPLETION OF THE
BUILDING OF THE HOUSE 299

SQUARE AND COMPASSES;

OR,

BUILDING THE HOUSE.