My Dear Young Friend,—I am very much gratified to hear that you are so much interested in "Winning His Way," which has been published in book form by Messrs. Fields, Osgood, & Co.
You ask if it is a true story. I will tell you about it: I knew a brave boy who went into the army and fought just as Paul fought, who was left on the field for dead, and who was taken to a rebel prison, and I had him in mind all the time I was writing the story.
That is all true about painting the pigs, and shutting the school-house door, and tying the hay in front of the old horse's nose.
So you can tell your father that the things did not happen just in the order they are given in the book, but that I tried to make the story true to life.
Your friend,
CARLETON.
"A story of a poor Western boy who, with true American grit in his composition, worked his way into a position of honorable independence, and who was among the first to rally round the flag when the day of his country's peril came. There is a sound, manly tone about the book, a freedom from nam-by-pambyism, worthy of all commendation."—Sunday School Times.
"One of the best of stories for boys."—Hartford Courant.