Chapter I: Preface

The best story for boys is the one that will help them most and give them the greatest pleasure--the story that will make them more manly, more self reliant, more generous, more noble and sweeter in disposition. Such a story I have aimed to make THE BOY BROKER. The moral or lesson it contains could be put into a very short lecture, but as a lecture I am confident that it would prove valueless. Boys are benefited little by advice. They seldom listen to it and less frequently make any practical application of it. Imitative by nature, they are easily influenced by those with whom they associate, and no associate, in my opinion, has so strong a grasp upon them as the hero of some much prized book. He becomes a real being to their young, healthy imagination--their ideal of manliness, bravery, generosity, and nobility. He enters into their lives, their sports, their adventures, their kind acts, a companion, a model so much idealized and admired that unconsciously they grow to be like him in so far as their surroundings will permit. In a good story plot and action are but the setting to the gem--the means of conveying a lesson in disguise in such a way that the reader will not suspect he is being taught. Let it once occur to him that he is reading a lecture and the book will at once be quietly but most effectually packed away. Many authors, it seems to me, fail in their purpose by devoting too much time to the gem and too little to the setting. Others go too far the other way and write stories that give young readers a wrong idea of life--stories whose heroes do improbable and unnatural acts. While my purpose has been to make THE BOY BROKER interesting I have aimed to give a true idea of life in a great city. So much nonsense of a misleading character has been written about benevolent old gentlemen who help poor boys from the country that I have sought to turn the light of fact on the subject and picture a little real life--about such life as a boy may expect to find if he comes to New York friendless and alone. He might find it much worse; he could not wisely hope to find it better.

FRANK A. MUNSEY.
NEW YORK, _September, 1888_.

CONTENTS

PAGE
I An Introduction to the Great City 11
II An Effort to Obtain Employment 20
III An Evening with Bob Hunter 26
IV At Mr. Goldwin's Office 34
V The Contest Between Herbert and Felix 41
VI A Ray of Sunshine 50
VII Bob Hunter Thoroughly Aroused 57
VIII Felix Mortimer at the Bank 65
IX Bob Assumes a Disguise 75
X Something About Herbert Randolph 83
XI Imprisoned at the Fence 87
XII Bob's Brilliant Move 94
XIII A Terrible Fear 102
XIV Bob Outwits the Old Fence 108
XV Bob and Herbert Meet 113
XVI The Old Fence in a Trap 120
XVII Bob Goes for an Officer 126
XVIII Tom Flannery is Hungry 133
XIX The Rivals at the Bank 138
XX Felix Mortimer Discomfited 142
XXI Two Young Capitalists 154
XXII The Great Banquet 161
XXIII Bob Hunter's Ambition 178
XXIV A Visit to the Banker's House 182
XXV Tom Flannery's Sickness 191
XXVI A Crash in Wall Street 196
XXVII Dark Days 201
XXVIII In Business for Himself 210
XXIX Tom Flannery's Funeral 218
XXX In a New Home 224
XXXI The Boy Broker 228
XXXII The Conspirators' Fate 233
XXXIII A Glimpse at the Future 236

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

_Herbert Randolph emerges from the cellar in which he
has been kept a prisoner_, _Frontispiece_.

_The Great City_, _Page_ 10

_"You evidently know all about propriety, so here is
my hand," said Herbert_, " 13

_Herbert Randolph in the Post Office_, " 17

_Memories of country life--The greeting by the way_, " 23

_The benevolent old gentleman presses money on the
country boy_, " 27

_The country boy finds a well filled pocket book_, " 29

_The country boy to the rescue_, " 31

_At the Boss Tweed Restaurant_, " 33

_A Glimpse of Wall Street_, " 35

_Herbert Randolph finds himself among a mob of rival
applicants_, " 37

_Gunwagner and Felix agree upon a plan_, " 48

_Young Randolph handed Ray into the carriage with
just enough embarrassment in his manner to interest
her_, " 51

_Bob Hunter, alone in his room, wonders what has
become of his new friend_, " 59

_Tom Flannery_, " 64

_Bob Hunter speaks up for Herbert_, " 71

_Bob Hunter plays the detective_, " 77

_A surprise for Felix Mortimer_, " 85

_Young Randolph at last falls asleep exhausted_, " 92

_Suddenly realizing his horrible situation, Herbert
sprang upon the bench with a pitiful cry of
terror_, " 105

_Gunwagner pursuing the boys_, " 111

_Gunwagner bursts into the room in a furious mood_, " 121

_Gunwagner in the hands of the police_, " 130

_Young Randolph and Bob Hunter confront Felix
Mortimer and charge him with his villainy_, " 147

_"Tom," said Bob, "here's a five for you."_ " 155

_The great banquet_, " 163

_Bob and Tom coming out of the bank_, " 179

_Herbert's first visit to the banker's house_, " 185

_"You embarrass me," said Herbert, blushing_, " 187

_Tom Flannery in delirium_, " 194

_Young Randolph again in the ranks of the unemployed_, " 200

_Herbert Randolph shoveling snow_, " 203

_Herbert Randolph working on the hoist_, " 206

_Tom Flannery's deathbed_, " 216

_Tom Flannery's funeral_, " 221

_Ray reading to Mrs. Flannery_, " 222

_Mrs. Flannery and the two boys in their new home_, " 225

_Gunwagner in prison_, " 234

_Bob Hunter, the student and young business man_, " 239

* * * * *

THE BOY BROKER.