The boy who never lost a chance

Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.
By ANNETTE LYSTER
AUTHOR OF KARL KRAPP'S LITTLE MAIDENS; LIFE STORY OF CLARICE EGERTON; RALPH TRULOCK'S CHRISTMAS ROSES.
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY LONDON.
56 PATERNOSTER ROW AND 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD
BUTLER & TANNER. THE SELWOOD PRINTING WORKS. FROME, AND LONDON.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
THE BOY WHO NEVER LOST A CHANCE
ONE CHANCE BY SEA, AND ONE BY LAND.
MANY years ago, when railroads were not quite so common as they are now, and when no one knew how completely they would change the face of old England and the habits and manners of her children, some workmen from Birmingham were employed in laying the rails of a line which was to connect a certain small seaport in Essex with an inland town twenty miles off, which already possessed railroad communication with London. I shall call this tiny seaport—now a considerable place, thanks to this very railway—Sandsea, and the town Kingsmore, though these are not the real names of the places.
The railway was being made for the benefit of the salt trade: there were extensive salt marshes near Sandsea, and hitherto the salt had been sent to London or other places by sea, which was a serious impediment to the trade, as the Essex coast is a very unsafe one.