SAM'S CHANCE

Chapter Title Page

I. Sam's New Clothes. 5
II. Sam's First Day in Business 13
III. Sam Finds A Room 23
IV. First Lessons 32
V. Sam's Finances 42
VI. Sam's Luck 51
VII. Twenty-Five Dollars Reward 60
VIII. An Unexpected Obstacle 69
IX. Restoring the Ring 78
X. Sam's Investment 88
XI. Henry Becomes a Merchant 97
XII. How Sam Succeeded 106
XIII. Henry's Good Fortune 116
XIV. The Savings Bank Book 123
XV. Sam is Found Out 129
XVI. Sam Loses His Place 136
XVII. Tim is Unmasked 146
XVIII. The Fall River Boat 154
XIX. Mutual Confidences 161
XX. Too Late for the Train 165
XXI. Arrived in Boston 172
XXII. First Experiences in Boston 176
XXIII. Sam Finds a Roommate 183
XXIV. An Unpleasant Surprise 191
XXV. In Pursuit of a Place 200
XXVI. Abner Blodgett Again 208
XXVII. Sam is Initiated Into a College Society 216
XXVIII. Brown's Plan 226
XXIX. Arthur Brown 234
XXX. How It was Arranged 242
XXXI. Two Years Later 246
XXXII. Conclusion 251



PREFACE.

"Sam's Chance" is a sequel to the "Young Outlaw," and is designed to
illustrate the gradual steps by which that young man was induced to
give up his bad habits, and deserve that prosperity which he finally
attains. The writer confesses to have experienced some embarrassment
in writing this story. The story writer always has at command
expedients by which the frowns of fortune may be turned into sunshine,
and this without violating probability, or, at any rate, possibility;
for the careers of many of our most eminent and successful men attest
that truth is often-times stranger than fiction. But to cure a boy of
radical faults is almost as difficult in fiction as in real life.
Whether the influences which led to Sam's reformation were adequate to
that result, must be decided by the critical reader. The author may,
at any rate, venture to congratulate Sam's friends that he is now more
worthy of their interest and regard than in the years when he was
known as the "Young Outlaw."



SAM'S CHANCE.

CHAPTER I.

SAM'S NEW CLOTHES.

"If I'm goin' into a office I'll have to buy some new clo'es," thought
Sam Barker.

He was a boy of fifteen, who, for three years, had been drifting about
the streets of New York, getting his living as he could; now blacking
boots, now selling papers, now carrying bundles--"everything by turns,
and nothing long." He was not a model boy, as those who have read his
early history, in "The Young Outlaw," are aware; but, on the other
hand, he was not extremely bad. He liked fun, even if it involved
mischief; and he could not be called strictly truthful nor honest. But
he would not wantonly injure or tyrannize over a smaller boy, and
there was nothing mean or malicious about him. Still he was hardly the
sort of boy a merchant would be likely to select as an office boy, and
but for a lucky chance Sam would have been compelled to remain a
bootblack or newsboy. One day he found, in an uptown street, a little
boy, who had strayed away from his nurse, and, ascertaining where he
lived, restored him to his anxious parents. For this good deed he was
rewarded by a gift of five dollars and the offer of a position as
errand boy, at five dollars a week.

Sam decided that he must have some new clothes before he could enter
upon his place. At present his costume consisted of a ragged shirt,
and a pair of equally ragged pantaloons. Both were of unknown
antiquity, and had done faithful service, not only to Sam, but to a
former owner. It was quite time they were released from duty.