Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912 Excerpt:...vague ambition," smiled Billy Burnside, "when you consider that the activities of the Great Lakes employ in addition to fifty thousand sailors, over one hundred thousand landsmen in various capacities. Do you aspire to join the crew of a freighter or steamer, or do you want to join the ranks ashore--much larger, by the way, than the United States regular army? "There is plenty of room at the top whether you start as a shipping clerk in a warehouse, or a deck hand on a whaleback! The boats of the Great Lakes, for instance, carry seven thousand captains and fifteen thousand mates--enough to make the population of the average American county seat." "It would be some months before I could get a place.on a boat, wouldn't it?" asked Bruce. "It would be difficult until the opening of the spring navigation," agreed Burnside. "To tell the truth," continued Bruce hesitatingly, "I had hoped to find work in one of the shipping offices, where I could get a knowledge of the commercial side of navigation. I expect to start at the bottom, and work hard--so hard that I'll be bound some day to get ahead. And I am used to work, sir! I have always lived on a farm, and the last two years," he added, with an almost unconscious touch of pride, "I have been able to do almost as much as a hired man. In the evenings, I have tried to pick up something of bookkeeping. I had hoped some day to take a business college course, and I am afraid that without it you won't find me very well up in office work. I know I have a whole lot to learn," he finished with a sigh. Billy Burnside surveyed the boy with a glance of instinctive approval. The straightforward, unassuming manner in which Bruce had voiced his ambition, without...