Now or Never; Or, The Adventures of Bobby Bright by Oliver Optic (best novels to read for students TXT) ๐
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- Author: Oliver Optic
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Bobby enjoyed himself to the utmost of his capacity during these few days of respite from labor. He spent a liberal share of his time at Squire Lee's, where he was almost as much at home as in his mother's house. Annie read Moore's Poems to him, till he began to have quite a taste for poetry himself.
In connection with Tom Spicer's continued absence, which had to be explained, Bobby's trials in the eastern country leaked out, and the consequence was, that he became a lion in Riverdale. The minister invited him to tea, as well as other prominent persons, for the sake of hearing his story; but Bobby declined the polite invitations from sheer bashfulness. He had not brass enough to make himself a hero; besides, the remembrance of his journey was anything but pleasant to him.
On Monday morning he took the early train for Boston, and assumed the duties of his situation in Mr. Bayard's store. But as I have carried my hero through the eventful period of his life, I cannot dwell upon his subsequent career. He applied himself with all the energy of his nature to the discharge of his duties. Early in the morning and late in the evening he was at his post. Mr. Bigelow was his friend from the first, and gave him all the instruction he required. His intelligence and quick perception soon enabled him to master the details of the business, and by the time he was fifteen, he was competent to perform any service required of him.
By the advice of Mr. Bayard, he attended an evening school for six months in the year, to acquire a knowledge of book keeping, and to compensate for the opportunities of which he had been necessarily deprived in his earlier youth. He took Dr. Franklin for his model, and used all his spare time in reading good books, and in obtaining such information and such mental culture as would fit him to be, not only a good merchant, but a good and true man.
Every Saturday night he went home to Riverdale to spend the Sabbath with his mother. The little black house no longer existed, for it had become the little paradise of which he had dreamed, only that the house seemed whiter, the blinds greener, and the fence more attractive than his fancy had pictured them. His mother, after a couple of years, at Bobby's earnest pleadings, ceased to close shoes and take in washing; but she had enough and to spare, for her son's salary was now six hundred dollars. His kind employer boarded him for nothing (much against Bobby's will, I must say), so that every month he carried to his mother thirty dollars, which more than paid her expenses.
Eight years have passed by since Bobbyโwe beg his pardon, he is now Mr. Robert Brightโentered the store of Mr. Bayard. He has passed from the boy to the man. Over the street door a new sign has taken the place of the old one, and the passer-by reads,โ
BAYARD & BRIGHT,
BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS.
The senior partner resorts to his counting room every morning from the force of habit; but he takes no active part in the business. Mr. Bright has frequent occasion to ask his advice, though everything is directly managed by him; and the junior is accounted one of the ablest, but at the same time one of the most honest, business men in the city. His integrity has never been sacrificed, even to the emergencies of trade. The man is what the boy was; and we can best sum up the results of his life by saying that he has been true to himself, true to his friends, and true to his God.
Mrs. Bright is still living at the little white cottage, happy in herself and happy in her children. Bobbyโwe mean Mr. Brightโhas hardly missed going to Riverdale on a Saturday night since he left home, eight years before. He has the same partiality for those famous apple pies, and his mother would as soon think of being without bread as being without apple pies when he comes home.
Of course Squire Lee and Annie were always glad to see him when he came to Riverdale; and for two years it had been common talk in Riverdale that our hero did not go home on Sunday evening when the clock struck nine. But as this is a forbidden topic, we will ask the reader to go with us to Mr. Bayard's house in Chestnut Street.
What! Annie Lee here?
No; but as you are here, allow me to introduce Mrs. Robert Bright.
They were married a few months before, and Mr. Bayard insisted that the happy couple should make their home at his house.
But where is Ellen Bayard?
O, she is Mrs. Bigelow now, and her husband is at the head of a large book establishment in New York.
Bobby's dream had been realized, and he was the happiest man in the worldโat least he thought so, which is just the same thing. He had been successful in business; his wifeโthe friend and companion of his youth, the brightest filament of the bright vision his fancy had wovenโhad been won, and the future glowed with brilliant promises.
He had been successful; but neither nor all of the things we have mentioned constituted his highest and truest successโnot his business prosperity, not the bright promise of wealth in store for him, not his good name among men, not even the beautiful and loving wife who had cast her lot with his to the end of time. These were successes, great and worthy, but not the highest success.
He had made himself a man,โthis was his real success,โa true, a Christian man. He had lived a noble life. He had reared the lofty structure of his manhood upon a solid foundationโprinciple. It is the rock which the winds of temptation and the rains of selfishness cannot move.
Robert Bright is happy because he is good. Tom Spicer, now in the state prison, is unhappy,โnot because he is in the state prison, but because the evil passions of his nature are at war with the peace of his soul. He has fed the good that was within him upon straw and husks, and starved it out. He is a body only; the soul is dead in trespasses and sin. He loves no one, and no one loves him.
During the past summer, Mr. Bright and his lady took a journey "down east." Annie insisted upon visiting the State Reform School; and her husband drove through the forest by which he had made his escape on that eventful night. Afterwards they called upon Sam Ray, who had been "dead sure that Bobby would one day be a great man." He was about the same person, and was astonished and delighted when our hero introduced himself.
They spent a couple of hours in talking over the past, and at his departure, Mr. Bright made him a handsome present in such a delicate manner that he could not help accepting it.
Squire Lee is still as hale and hearty as ever, and is never so happy as when Annie and her husband come to Riverdale to spend the Sabbath. He is fully of the opinion that Mr. Bright is the greatest man on the western continent, and he would not be in the least surprised if he should be elected President of the United States one of these days.
The little merchant is a great merchant now. But more than this, he is a good man. He has formed his character, and he will probably die as he has lived.
Reader, if you have any good work to do, do it now; for with you it may be "Now or Never."
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G. A. Henty has long held the field as the most popular boys' author. Age after age of heroic deeds has been the subject of his pen, and the knights of old seem very real in his pages. Always wholesome and manly, always heroic and of high ideals, his books are more than popular wherever the English language is spoken.
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A Final Reckoning
A Tale of Bush Life in Australia
By England's Aid
The Freeing of the Netherlands
By Right of Conquest
A Tale of Cortez in Mexico
Bravest of the Brave
A Tale of Peterborough in Spain
By Pike and Dyke
The Rise of the Dutch Republic
By Sheer Pluck
A Tale of the Ashantee War
Bonnie Prince Charlie
A Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden
Captain Bayley's Heir
A Tale of the Gold Fields of California
Cat of Bubastes
A Story of Ancient Egypt
Cornet of Horse
A Tale of Marlborough's Wars
Facing Death
A Tale of the Coal Mines
Friends, though Divided
A Tale of the Civil War in England
For Name and Fame
A Tale of Afghan Warfare
For the Temple
A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem
In Freedom's Cause
A Story of Wallace and Bruce
In the Reign of Terror
The Adventures of a Westminster Boy
In Times of Peril
A Tale of India
Jack Archer
A Tale of the Crimea
Lion of St. Mark
A Tale of Venice in the XIV. Century
Lion of the North
A Tale of Gustavus Adolphus
Maori and Settler
A Tale of the New Zealand War
Orange and Green
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One of the 28th
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Out on the Pampas
A Tale of South America
St. George for England
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True to the Old Flag
A Tale of the Revolution
The Young Colonists
A Tale of the Zulu and Boer Wars
The Dragon and the Raven
A Tale of King Alfred
The Boy Knight
A Tale of the Crusades
Through the Fray
A Story of the Luddite Riots
Under Drake's Flag
A Tale of the Spanish Main
With Wolfe in Canada
The Tale of Winning a Continent
With Clive in India
The Beginning of an Empire
With Lee in Virginia
A Story of the American Civil War
Young Carthaginian
A story of the Times of Hannibal
Young Buglers
A Tale of the Peninsular War
Young Franc-Tireurs
A Tale of the Franco-Prussian War
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Rahway, N. J.
FLAG OF FREEDOM SERIES By CAPTAIN RALPH BONEHILL Three Volumes, Illustrated, Bound in Cloth, with a very Attractive Cover, Price $1.00 Per Volume WHEN SANTIAGO FELL; or, The War Adventures of Two Chums
Captain Bonehill has never penned a better tale than this stirring story of adventures in Cuba. Two boys, an American and his Cuban chum, leave New York to join their parents in the interior of Cuba. The war between Spain and the Cubans is on, and the boys are detained at Santiago de Cuba, but escape by crossing the bay at night. Many adventures between the lines follow, and a good pen picture of General Garcia is given. The American lad, with others, is captured and cast into a dungeon in Santiago; and then follows the never-to-be-forgotten campaign in Cuba under General Shafter. How the hero finally escapes makes reading no wide-awake boy will want to miss.
A SAILOR BOY WITH DEWEY; or, Afloat in the PhilippinesThe story of Dewey's victory in Manila Bay will never grow old, but here we have it told in a new formโnot as those in command witnessed the contest, but as it appeared to a real, live American youth who was in the navy at the time. Many adventures in Manila and in the interior follow, giving true-to-life scenes from this remote portion of the globe. A book that should be in every boy's library.
OFF FOR HAWAII; or, The Mystery of a Great VolcanoHere we have fact and romance cleverly interwoven. Several boys start on a tour of the Hawaiian Islands. They have heard that there is a treasure located in the vicinity of Kilauea, the largest active volcano in the world, and go in search of it. Their numerous adventures will be followed with much interest.
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