CONTENTS
[PREFACE.]
[CHAPTER I. A YOUNG CARPET-BAGGER.]
[CHAPTER II. DICK RAFFERTY.]
[CHAPTER III. FRANK FINDS AN EMPLOYER.]
[CHAPTER IV. "PITY THE BLIND."]
[CHAPTER V. FRANK THROWS UP HIS SITUATION.]
[CHAPTER VI. FRANK GETS A JOB.]
[CHAPTER VII. AN INVITATION TO DINNER.]
[CHAPTER VIII. A NEWSBOY'S EXPERIENCES.]
[CHAPTER IX. VICTOR DUPONT.]
[CHAPTER X. A NEW PROSPECT.]
[CHAPTER XI. THE TELEGRAPH BOY.]
[CHAPTER XII. A WAYWARD SON.]
[CHAPTER XIII. A TIMELY RESCUE.]
[CHAPTER XIV. FRANK MAKES AN EVENING CALL.]
[CHAPTER XV. AT WALLACK'S THEATRE.]
[CHAPTER XVI. FRANK AS A DETECTIVE.]
[CHAPTER XVII. FRANK MEETS AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE.]
[CHAPTER XVIII. A RICH WOMAN'S SORROW.]
[CHAPTER XIX. A MESSENGER OF GOOD TIDINGS.]
[CHAPTER XX. A NEW JOB, AND A LETTER FROM HOME.]
[CHAPTER XXI. FRANK'S FIRST DISCOVERY.]
[CHAPTER XXII. FOLLOWING UP A CLUE.]
[CHAPTER XXIII. BROUGHT TO BAY.]
[CHAPTER XXIV. AN OPEN ENEMY.]
[CHAPTER XXV. WHAT THE OLD TRUNK CONTAINED.]
[CHAPTER XXVI. A TRAP, AND WHO FELL INTO IT.]
[CHAPTER XXVII. FRANK BECOMES A GOOD SAMARITAN.]
[CHAPTER XXVIII. A COUNTRY COUSIN.]
[CHAPTER XXIX. CONCLUSION.]
[FAMOUS ALGER BOOKS.]
[THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO.'S POPULAR JUVENILES]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
[The Merchant Surveyed with Approval.]
PREFACE.
The "Telegraph Boy" completes the series of sketches of street-life in New York inaugurated eleven years since by the publication of "Ragged Dick." The author has reason to feel gratified by the warm reception accorded by the public to these pictures of humble life in the great metropolis. He is even more gratified by the assurance that his labors have awakened a philanthropic interest in the children whose struggles and privations he has endeavored faithfully to describe. He feels it his duty to state that there is no way in which these waifs can more effectually be assisted than by contributing to the funds of "The Children's Aid Society," whose wise and comprehensive plans for the benefit of their young wards have already been crowned with abundant success.
The class of boys described in the present volume was called into existence only a few years since, but they are already so numerous that one can scarcely ride down town by any conveyance without having one for a fellow-passenger. Most of them reside with their parents and have comfortable homes, but a few, like the hero of this story, are wholly dependent on their own exertions for a livelihood. The variety of errands on which they are employed, and their curious experiences, are by no means exaggerated in the present story. In its preparation the author has been assisted by an excellent sketch published perhaps a year since in the "New York Tribune."