PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION.
“Reuben Stone’s Discovery” forms the second volume in the “Ship and Shore” Series. It tells, in a matter-of-fact way, of the exploits of a young miller who is left in charge of his father’s property while the parent goes West to seek a more promising field for business. A great number of things happen while the youth is thus left to himself, and he is made to believe several stories concerning his absent parent and the mill property which cause him great uneasiness in mind. Suspicious at last that all is not right, Reuben starts out on a tour of investigation which places him in more than one position of peril. But the lad never falters, knowing he is doing what is right, and his triumph at the end is fairly earned.
Reuben tells his own story, and does it in his own peculiar way. Perhaps this method may not be altogether satisfactory to older heads; but the success of the first edition of the book had demonstrated the fact that it is satisfactory to the boys, and it was for these that the story was set to paper. If Reuben does someastonishing things throughout the course of the story, it must be remembered that the lad was acting largely in his father’s place, and that the world moves and boys of to-day are full of energy.
EDWARD STRATEMEYER.
Newark, N.J.,June 1, 1899.