Chapter I: Preface

"MAKE OR BREAK," is the fifth of the serial stories published in "OUR BOYS AND GIRLS"--a magazine which has become so much the pet of the author, that he never sits down to write a story for it without being impressed by a very peculiar responsibility. Twenty thousand youthful faces seem to surround him, crying out for something that will excite their minds, and thrill their very souls, while a calmer, holier voice, speaking in the tones of divine command, breathes gently forth, "Feed my lambs."

The lambs will not eat dry husks; they loathe the tasteless morsel which well-meaning sectarians offer them, and hunger for that which will warm their hearts and stir their blood. The heart may be warmed, and the blood may be stirred, without corrupting the moral nature. The writer has endeavored to meet this demand in this way, and he is quite sure that the patient, striving, toiling Leo, and the gentle, self-sacrificing, and devoted Maggie, do nothing in the story which will defile the mind or the heart of the young people. The Bible teaches what they sought to practise. He is satisfied that none of his readers will like Mr. Fitzherbert Wittleworth well enough to make him their model.

The author is willing the story should pass for what it is worth; and there is no danger that it will be over or undervalued, for the young people are even more critical than their elders. But the favor already bestowed upon it has added to the weight of the writer's obligation to the juvenile reading public; and in giving them the story in its present permanent form, he trusts that it will continue to be not only a source of pleasure, but a stimulus to higher aims, and a more resolute striving for what is worth having both in the moral and material world.

WILLIAM T. ADAMS.

HARRISON SQUARE, MASS., July 28, 1868.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

CHAPTER I.

MR. WITTLEWORTH GETS SHAVED 11

CHAPTER II.

BOY WANTED 22

CHAPTER III.

MR. CHECKYNSHAW IS VIOLENT 34

CHAPTER IV.

MR. CHECKYNSHAW RUSHES 46

CHAPTER V.

LEO MAGGIMORE 57

CHAPTER VI.

LEO'S WORKSHOP 69

CHAPTER VII.

MON PERE 81

CHAPTER VIII.

MAKE OR BREAK 94

CHAPTER IX.

MR. CHECKYNSHAW AND FAMILY 105

CHAPTER X.

THE WITTLEWORTH FAMILY 117

CHAPTER XI.

THE MOUSE BUSINESS 129

CHAPTER XII.

LEO'S WONDERFUL PERFORMERS 141

CHAPTER XIII.

WITTLEWORTH _VS._ CHECKYNSHAW 153

CHAPTER XIV.

MR. CHECKYNSHAW IS LIBERAL 166

CHAPTER XV.

A SUCCESS IN THE MOUSE BUSINESS 179

CHAPTER XVI.

THE LETTER FROM MARGUERITE 192

CHAPTER XVII.

THE LETTER FROM FRANCE 204

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE QUITCLAIM DEED 217

CHAPTER XIX.

FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD 229

CHAPTER XX.

AN AVALANCHE OF GOOD FORTUNE 241

CHAPTER XXI.

MR. WITTLEWORTH'S WRONGS 254

CHAPTER XXII.

THE TWO MARGUERITES 266

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE GOLD LOCKET 279

CHAPTER XXIV.

ME AND CHOATE 291

CHAPTER XXV.

THE ELEGANT YOUNG LADY 303

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE RICH MAN'S DAUGHTER 315

MAKE OR BREAK;

OR,

THE RICH MAN'S DAUGHTER.