Chapter I: Preface

"NELSON THE NEWSBOY" relates the adventures of a wide-awake lad in the great metropolis. The youth is of unknown parentage and is thrown out upon his own resources at a tender age. He becomes at first a newsboy, and from that gradually works up to something better. He is often tempted to do wrong--the temptation becoming particularly hard on account of his extreme poverty--but there is that in his make-up which keeps him in the right path, and in the end he becomes a victor in more ways than one.

So much for the seamy side of life in New York, which, alas! is by far the greater side. On the other hand, there are those who are well-to-do and aristocratic who are interested in learning what has become of the boy, and these furnish a view of life in the upper society of the metropolis. How the youthful hero fares in the end is told in the pages which follow.

In its original form Mr. Alger intended this story of New York life for a semi-juvenile drama. But it was not used in that shape, and when the gifted author of so many interesting stories for young people had laid aside his pen forever, this manuscript, with others, was placed in the hands of the present writer, to be made over into such a volume as might have met with the noted author's approval. The other books having proved successful, my one wish is that this may follow in their footsteps.

ARTHUR M. WINFIELD.

_June 15, 1901._

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCING THE HERO, 1

II. A QUARREL OVER A DOLLAR, 9

III. SAM PEPPER'S RESORT, 17

IV. DOWN AT THE FERRY, 25

V. NELSON SPEAKS HIS MIND, 35

VI. A BOOK AGENT'S TRIALS, 43

VII. A HARSH ALTERNATIVE, 55

VIII. THE COMBINATION OF THE SAFE, 63

IX. A PAIR WELL MATCHED, 69

X. GERTRUDE LEAVES HER HOME, 77

XI. AFLOAT IN NEW YORK, 85

XII. NELSON RECOVERS SOME MONEY, 94

XIII. A QUESTION OF BUSINESS, 102

XIV. BULSON RECEIVES A SETBACK, 111

XV. BUYING OUT A NEWS STAND, 119

XVI. NELSON AND PEPPER PART, 127

XVII. A BOLD MOVE, 134

XVIII. IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY, 140

XIX. NELSON TO THE RESCUE, 147

XX. THE HOME IN THE TENEMENT, 155

XXI. NELSON MAKES A PRESENT, 162

XXII. A DISAPPOINTMENT, 170

XXIII. AN UNSUCCESSFUL QUEST, 176

XXIV. A DECOY LETTER, 183

XXV. MARK HORTON RELENTS, 190

XXVI. NELSON ON SHIPBOARD, 198

XXVII. DOWN THE JERSEY COAST, 206

XXVIII. GERTRUDE HAS AN ADVENTURE, 215

XXIX. A SURPRISE ON THE ROAD, 224

XXX. COMPARING NOTES, 233

XXXI. BULSON GROWS DESPERATE, 240

XXXII. SOMEBODY WAITS IN VAIN, 248

XXXIII. QUESTIONS OF IMPORTANCE, 257

XXXIV. FATHER AND SON--CONCLUSION, 266

NELSON THE NEWSBOY.