Breaking Away; or, The Fortunes of a Student

by Oliver Optic

  Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file wasproduced from scans of public domain material produced byMicrosoft for their Live Search Books site.)

  BREAKING AWAY AMERICAN BOYS SERIES]

  THE STARRY FLAG SERIES,

  BY OLIVER OPTIC.

  * * * * *

  I. THE STARRY FLAG; OR, THE YOUNG FISHERMAN OF CAPE ANN.

  II. FREAKS OF FORTUNE; OR, HALF ROUND THE WORLD.

  III. BREAKING AWAY; OR, THE FORTUNES OF A STUDENT.

  IV. SEEK AND FIND; OR, THE ADVENTURES OF A SMART BOY.

  V. MAKE OR BREAK; OR, THE RICH MAN'S DAUGHTER.

  VI. DOWN THE RIVER; OR, BUCK BRADFORD AND HIS TYRANTS.

  THE REBELLION IN THE PARKVILLE LITERARYINSTITUTE.--Page 30.]

  BREAKING AWAY;

  OR,

  THE FORTUNES OF A STUDENT.

  BY

  OLIVER OPTIC,

  AUTHOR OF "YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD," "THE ARMY AND NAVY STORIES," "THE WOODVILLE STORIES," "THE BOAT-CLUB STORIES," "THE RIVERDALE STORIES," ETC.

  * * * * *

  BOSTON: LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.

  Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by WILLIAM T. ADAMS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

  * * * * *

  COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY WILLIAM T. ADAMS. _All rights reserved._

  * * * * *

  BREAKING AWAY.

  TO

  MY YOUNG FRIEND,

  _HARLAN H. BALLARD_,

  This Book

  IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.

  PREFACE.

  * * * * *

  "BREAKING AWAY" is the second of the series of stories published in"OUR BOYS AND GIRLS," and the author had no reason to complain of thereception accorded to it by his young friends, as it appeared in theweekly issues of the Magazine; but, on the contrary, he finds renewedoccasion cordially to thank them for their continued appreciation ofhis earnest efforts to please them.

  After an experience of more than twenty years as a teacher, the writerdid not expect his young friends to sympathize with the schoolmasterof this story, for doubtless many of them have known and despised asimilar creature in real life. Mr. Parasyte is not a myth; but we aregrateful that an enlightened public sentiment is every year renderingmore and more odious the petty tyrant of the school-room, and we aretoo happy to give this retreating personage a parting blow as heretires from the scene of his fading glories.

  Rebellions, either in the school or in the state, are always dangerousand demoralizing; but while we unequivocally condemn the tyrant inour story, we cannot always approve the conduct of his pupils. Oneevil gives birth to another; but even a righteous end cannot justifyimmoral means, and we beg to remind our young and enthusiastic readersthat Ernest Thornton and his friends were compelled to acknowledgethat they had done wrong in many things, and that "Breaking Away" wasdeemed a very doubtful expedient for the redress even of a real wrong.

  As it was impossible for Ernest to relate the whole of his eventfulhistory in one volume, Breaking Away will be immediately followed by asequel,--"Seek and Find,"--in which the hero will narrate hisadventures in seeking and finding his mother, of whose tender care hewas deprived from his earliest childhood.

  HARRISON SQUARE, MASS., September 23, 1867.