'I'm big enough to protect my Mother, and I'll do it.'
NOW OR NEVER
NOW OR NEVER
OR
THE ADVENTURES OF BOBBY BRIGHT
OLIVER OPTIC
NOW OR NEVER.
PREFACE
The story contained in this volume is a record of youthfulstruggles, not only in the world without, but in the world within;and the success of the little hero is not merely a gathering up ofwealth and honors, but a triumph over the temptations that besetthe pilgrim on the plain of life. The attainment of worldlyprosperity is not the truest victory; and the author has endeavoredto make the interest of his story depend more on the hero'sdevotion to principles than on his success in business.
Bobby Bright is a smart boy; perhaps the reader will think he isaltogether too smart for one of his years. This is a progressiveage, and anything which young America may do need not surprise anyperson. That little gentleman is older than his father, knows morethan his mother, can talk politics, smoke cigars, and drive a 2:40horse. He orders "one stew" with as much ease as a man of forty,and can even pronounce correctly the villanous names of sundryFrench and German wines and liqueurs. One would suppose, to hearhim talk, that he had been intimate with Socrates and Solon, withNapoleon and Noah Webster; in short, that whatever he did not knowwas not worth knowing.
In the face of these manifestations of exuberant genius, itwould be absurd to accuse the author of making his hero do toomuch. All he has done is to give this genius a right direction; andfor politics, cigars, 2:40 horses, and "one stew," he hassubstituted the duties of a rational and accountable being,regarding them as better fitted to develop the young gentleman'smind, heart, and soul.
Bobby Bright is something more than a smart boy. He is a goodboy, and makes a true man. His daily life is the moral of thestory, a