Marcus or, The Boy-Tamer

The volumes contain about 300 pages, 16mo, each, bound in cloth, with gilt backs. Price 63 cents.

☞ Each volume is complete and independent of itself, but the series will be connected together by a partial identity of characters, localities, &c.

The first five volumes of this series are now ready. They are entitled:

In the department of juvenile literature, the ‘Aimwell Stories’ have fairly come to rival the ‘Rolla Books’ in the affections of the young people. The author when he conceived the plan of the series, struck a vein which he has since been working with rich and constantly increasing success.—[Boston Transcript.

One of the best series for the young ever written. Every family of children ought to have them.—[Chicago Congregational Herald.

They are written with great skill for the tastes and necessities of children, and they are written conscientiously, with a moral and Christian effort unobtrusively operative upon every page.—[Congregationalist.

A better series of books for children were never written. The author has studied deeply and accurately the feelings, hopes, and thoughts of youth.—[Boston Mail.

The author of the ‘Aimwell Stories’ has a happy knack at combining amusement and instruction. Under the guise of a story, he not only teaches a moral lesson, which is or ought to be a leading object of every tale for children, but he gives his readers instruction in philosophy, geography, and various other sciences. So happily are these introduced, however, that the youthful reader must learn in spite of himself.—[Boston Journal.

It is the best series of juvenile books with which we are acquainted.—[Northampton Gazette.

We have spoken repeatedly, and with unqualified commendation, of this series of juvenile volumes. It would be difficult to exaggerate their merits as a source of amusement and instruction to children.—[American Patriot.

PLYMOUTH AND THE PILGRIMS; or, Incidents of Adventures in the History of the First Settlers. With Illustrations. 16mo, cloth, 60 cts.

When once taken up it will not be laid down without regret until finished.—Courier.

An exceedingly interesting volume.—Am. Traveller.

Popular reading, particularly adapted to entertain and instruct youth.—Mercantile Journal.

Every New Englander, wherever he resides, should own this book.—Scientific Am.

An extremely interesting volume, written in a plain but vigorous style, adapted to the young, but will be read with interest by the older ones.—Ch. Freeman.

Highly attractive in style and instructive in matter.—N. Y. Com. Adv.

NOVELTIES OF THE NEW WORLD; an Account of the Adventures and Discoveries of the First Explorers of North America. With numerous Illustrations. 16mo, cloth, 60 cts.

A series of books which will serve as valuable introductions and enticements to more extended historical reading.—Am. Traveller.

It has all the interest of a romance.—Portland Transcript.

We have seen the boys bend over these pages, unwilling to leave them, either for play or sleep; and when finished, inquiring anxiously when the next would come.—Watchman and Reflector.

Neither too childish for adults, nor yet too difficult of comprehension for children. They will delight as well as instruct.—Mercantile Journal.

Interesting scenes and events in the New World are here brought together and invested with a charm that is irresistible by old as well as young.—Ch. Intelligencer.

ROMANCE OF AMERICAN HISTORY; or, an Account of the Settlement of North Carolina and Virginia, embracing the tragic Incidents connected with the Spanish Settlements, French Colonies, English Plantation at Jamestown, Captivity of Captain Smith, the Adventures of Pocahontas, etc. With Illustrations. 60 cents.

All the interest of romance, and the addition of veritable history.—Puritan Rec.

It is a most pleasing and instructive book.—Home Journal.

Interesting as a novel, and a thousand times more profitable reading.—Lit. Mes.

Every library should be furnished with this Series of American Histories.—N. E. Farmer.

Admirably fitted for family reading, and calculated to interest the young.—Trav.

Attractive series of books founded on the early history of our country; it will make a most valuable addition to all family libraries.—Arthur’s Gazette.

No more interesting and instructive reading can be put into the hands of youth.—Portland Transcript.

The series will embrace the most interesting and important events which have occurred in the United States since the settlement of the country. Each volume to be complete in itself and yet, when all are published, they will together form a regular Series of American Histories.

CHRISTMAS TREE. (See p. 268.)

The Aimwell Stories By Walter Aimwell Gould & Lincoln

PREFACE.

A leading aim of this little volume is to point out to elder brothers and sisters some of the ways in which they may exert a happy influence upon the younger members of the family. It also attempts, incidentally, to set forth the idea, that the best system of government for a child is that which trains him to govern himself. But while the author hopes his pages will not be wholly unsuggestive to such parents and “children of a larger growth” as may honor them with a perusal, he trusts there will remain enough both of story and moral for his younger readers, for whom, after all, Marcus and the other volumes of this series are especially intended.

ADVERTISEMENT.

“The Aimwell Stories” are designed to portray some of the leading phases of juvenile character, and to point out their tendencies to future good and evil. This they undertake to do by describing the quiet, natural scenes and incidents of every-day life, in city and country, at home and abroad, at school and upon the play-ground, rather than by resorting to romantic adventures and startling effects. While their main object is to persuade the young to try well the foundations of their characters, to win them to the ways of virtue, and to incite them to good deeds and noble aims, the attempt is also made to mingle amusing, curious, and useful information with the moral lessons conveyed. It is hoped that the volumes will thus be made attractive and agreeable, as well as instructive, to the youthful reader.

Each volume of the “Aimwell Stories” will be complete and independent of itself, although a connecting thread will run through the whole series. The order of the volumes, so far as completed, is as follows:—

CHAPTER I. THE PAGES.

“THERE’S the stage, mother! It’s coming round the Bend,—don’t you hear it? Hark! how near it sounds! I shall see it in a minute. There it is, now! And there’s somebody on the top with Mr. Peters;—yes, there are two or three persons. I’ll bet Marcus and Oscar are there; don’t you believe they are? I’d ride outside, if I were they; wouldn’t you, mother?”

“You had better not be too jubilant, Ronald,” 20calmly replied the lady addressed. “Have you forgotten how disappointed you were last night?”

“O, well, it isn’t likely they will disappoint us again,” replied the boy. “I know they will come, this time, just as well as I want to. See! that’s Marcus himself—I know him by his straw hat, and his brown linen sack that he wore to keep the dust off his clothes. And that boy by the side of him is Cousin Oscar, isn’t it? Look! isn’t that Oscar, Aunt Fanny?”

Aunt Fanny looked towards the stage-coach, still nearly a quarter of a mile distant; but her eyes were not sharp enough to distinguish the countenance of any one upon it, and she could not relieve the impatient boy from his suspense.

“I wonder what he looks like, any way,” resumed Ronald. “I can tell, just as soon as I see him, whether I shall like him or not. Why, I should think he was as big as Sam Hapley. He looks a little like him, too, from here, doesn’t he, mother?”

“I can’t tell; he is hardly within the range of my vision, yet,” replied Mrs. Page.

“Now Marcus is pointing this way,” continued Ronald. “I’ll bet he sees me, and is telling Oscar 21who I am. Why, mother, can’t you see them now? I can almost hear them talk.”

“Yes, that is Marcus, and there is Oscar, too,” said Aunt Fanny, after gazing a few moments at the approaching coach.

“Didn’t I tell you so!” exclaimed Ronald, rubbing his hands with glee, and dancing on the green sward around the door. “Speak to them, Rover!” he added, calling to a handsome spaniel that lay in the middle of the road, beneath the shade of a tree.

The dog sprang to meet the stage-coach, which was now within a few rods of the house; and, recognizing his master, he frisked around the horses, and manifested his satisfaction by a variety of significant signs.

Mr. Peters, the driver, reined up his horses at the farm house, and a young man, about eighteen years of age, jumped off, followed by a lad some three years younger. The first of these was Marcus Page, and this was his home, from which he had been absent about ten days, on a visit to Boston, and other places in Massachusetts. The other passenger was his cousin, Oscar Prestor, whose parents resided in Boston, but who had come to 22live with the family for a season. He appeared a little embarrassed, as he extended his hand to his two aunts, Mrs. Page, and her maiden sister, Miss Lee; but the cordial welcome which they extended to him, instantly put him at his ease. Meanwhile, little Ronald was gazing earnestly at the new-comer, evidently settling in his mind the important question which was to be decided at first sight, when Marcus said—

“Here, Oscar, let me make you acquainted with Master Ronald, my protégé. Ronald, this is Cousin Oscar. You will soon be good friends, if I am not greatly mistaken.”

The boys shook hands, and then Ronald, proffering his services, helped Oscar to carry his trunk into the house. By the time the travellers had removed the dust from their persons and clothing, supper was ready, and the family sat down to the table. Much of the conversation, during the meal, was addressed to Oscar, and many inquiries were made concerning his parents, sisters, and brothers. He sustained his part with the ease and freedom of one who is accustomed to society, his first shyness having quite disappeared. Ronald watched 23him with much interest, and seemed still in doubt whether to like him or not. After tea, when Oscar had gone out with Marcus to the barn, Miss Lee, remembering Ronald’s remark, inquired—

“Well, Ronald, what do you think of Oscar?”

“I think he feels pretty smart; and I never saw a city chap but what did,” replied Ronald.

“Why, what makes you think so?” inquired Miss Lee.

“I don’t know—I can’t tell,” said the boy, hesitatingly.

“But if you do really think so, you ought to be able to give a reason for it,” added Miss Lee.

“Well,” continued Ronald, “I suppose it’s because he speaks up so smart, and eats so genteelly, and wears such nice clothes, and—and is so good-looking,” he added, laughing at the idea.

“I think you are mistaken in him,” replied Miss Lee. “His dress is such as boys in the city, of his age and class, usually wear; and his manners are those of a boy who is familiar with good society. Perhaps he is a trifle too forward, for one of his age,—I think a little bashfulness becomes a boy, sometimes; but I never saw anything like pride in 24him. He has been about the world a good deal, for one so young, and that, I suppose, has worn off his bashfulness.”

“Then I guess I shall like him, if he isn’t proud,” said Ronald, and away he ran, to join Marcus and Oscar, who were taking a general survey of the farm.

Mrs. Page’s farm is situated in one of the pleasant mountain towns in Vermont, which, if it does not bear the name of Highburg on the map, will not, we trust, resent the act, if we venture to give it that designation, in this volume. It is located at the foot and on the sides of the Green Mountains, and within sight of one of their highest peaks, the Camel’s Hump. Mr. Page was a sea captain, who, thinking it more pleasant to plough the land than the wave, purchased this farm in his native State, intending to make it his residence. When the new house and barns were completed, and the farm stocked with herds and flocks, and everything ready for occupancy, Capt. Page found that his money was all spent. Not having confidence enough in his agricultural skill to enter upon his new sphere of life without something in hand for 25an emergency, he determined to make one more voyage before he abandoned the sea. So he engaged a man to manage the farm during his absence, and, removing Mrs. Page and Marcus to their new home, he sailed on a whaling cruise, expecting

to be gone about three years. It proved his last voyage in a sadder sense than he intended, for he never returned from it. Three, five, ten years passed away, but the missing ship was never heard from, and the owner of the farm never came back to enjoy the pleasant home he had prepared for himself. Mr. Burr, whom Capt. Page employed to oversee the farm, had managed its out-door affairs during all this period, although Marcus, within a few years, had taken a good share of the burden upon himself. During the winter months, indeed, Marcus now undertook the whole management of the farm. At this time the stock consisted of two horses, six or eight head of cattle, about seventy-five sheep, and a quantity of poultry.

When Oscar returned to the house, he found a boy and girl seated at the supper table, who were introduced to them as Katharine and Otis Sedgwick. They were brother and sister, and were 26pupils of the village academy, a mile or more distant. Katharine was about fourteen years old, and Otis some two years younger. They boarded at Mrs. Page’s, and, with the persons already named, constituted the entire family.

Ronald, who called Mrs. Page mother, was a boy about twelve years old, whom she had undertaken to bring up. His parents were French Canadians, who had emigrated to the vicinity of Highburg, where they both died within a short time, leaving the poor child without friends or money. He was then about eight years old. Some of the kind people of the town wished to prevent his becoming a pauper, and tried to find a home for him; but, although he was a bright and interesting child, he could not speak English very plain, and was, moreover, very strange and wild in his manners and appearance, so that no one was willing to take him. Pitying his friendless lot, Mrs. Page at length offered to keep him a few weeks, till other arrangements could be made in his behalf. A month sped by, and no door opened for the little orphan but that of the poor-house. Wild, ignorant, unused to restraints, full of mischief, incapable of speaking 27or understanding the language of the family, and, in fact, almost as uncivilized as an Indian child, Mrs. Page found the new care a burden too great,

and concluded that she must give up her charge to the town authorities.

When Marcus heard of this decision, he felt very badly. There was something about the little stranger, and his pitiable condition, that won upon his heart. So he put in a plea with his mother and Aunt Fanny in his behalf, and by way of further inducement, volunteered his own assistance in educating and training the child! Such an offer, from a boy who had but just passed his fourteenth birth-day, might provoke a smile from some people, and very properly, too. But neither Mrs. Page nor her sister thought of laughing at the suggestion. Marcus was not only a good scholar and a good boy, but he was more manly and mature, both in mind and body, than many youth of his age. As Ronald was more than six years his junior, it seemed plausible that Marcus might assist very much in making a man of him, and thus relieve his mother of a portion of the care. It was decided to try the experiment, and the result was so successful, 28that Mr. Upton, the principal of the academy, gave Marcus the title of “The Boy-Tamer.” The boys soon became greatly attached to each other, and

Marcus, by his example, influence and teachings, assisted very much in reclaiming the little savage. After a year or two, he was able to take upon himself almost the entire management of Ronald, directing his studies, imposing upon him his daily tasks about the farm, and generally exercising over him the authority and discipline of a father. Ronald, indeed, used sometimes to speak of him sportively as his “adopted father,” and no doubt he seemed somewhat like a parent to the fatherless boy. His name, originally, was Ronald Doucette; but his new friends had given him their own name of Page, retaining Doucette as a middle name.

“How do you think Oscar appears, mother?” inquired Marcus, as soon as the withdrawal of the young folks to their bed-rooms left him alone with his mother and aunt.

“Very well,” replied Mrs. Page. “He is a boy that can make a good appearance, if he chooses to. How does he seem pleased with his new home?”

29“He doesn’t say much about it,” replied Marcus. “But he said, before we left Boston, that he was determined to be contented, whether or no. He is glad enough to come here, and I think he means to behave well. I told him this was probably his last chance, and that if he did not do well here, he would have to go back to the Reform School, and serve his full sentence out. But I don’t think we shall have much trouble with him. He has behaved well in the institution, and he says he is determined to reform.”

“And yet I am afraid he will find more difficulties in the way than he imagines,” interposed Mrs. Page.

“But the difficulties here are nothing to what they would be in the city,” added Marcus. “Nobody need know anything about his past life, here, and besides, he will be out of the way of his old associates and temptations.”

“I think we ought to be very careful,” said Aunt Fanny, “never to say anything about his past bad conduct, even to him. Nothing would discourage him so much as to have it known here that he had been a bad boy.”

30“I told him,” replied Marcus, “that nobody here but we three knew anything about that,—not even Ronald; and I promised that it should be kept a secret, so long as he behaved well. He seemed very glad to hear it.”

“He certainly has a favorable opportunity to make a new start in life, and I hope he will improve it,” said Mrs. Page.

“We shall have to take a little time to study his character, before we can tell exactly how to manage him,” continued Marcus. “I found out everything I could about him from his mother, and I think I begin to understand his disposition. The great lesson he has got to learn, is, to govern himself. Now that he has found, by experience, that if he does not put himself under restraint, others will do it for him, I think he is in a good state to learn this lesson.”