Public-domain ebook
by Oliver Optic
Language: en5,399 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Children's Fiction·Adventure·Novels
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #23773.
The Coming Wave is a juvenile adventure set in the world of New England yachting, the fourth entry in Oliver Optic’s Yacht Club Series. It opens with a storm‑tossed brig anchored in Penobscot Bay, where the lanky steward Harvey Barth and a solitary passenger, Jacob Wallbridge, exchange a terse dialogue about a hidden diary. The narrative quickly establishes the sea‑bound setting, dense fog, sudden gales, and the looming threat of reefs, while also hinting at a parallel land‑based plot that will involve treasure and mystery. The protagonists, Leopold Bennington and “Stumpy,” are introduced as earnest working‑boys whose straightforward honesty and occasional missteps frame the moral tone of the story.
Optic’s prose reflects the straightforward, didactic style of late‑nineteenth‑century American boys’ literature, with brisk dialogue and vivid descriptions of sailing life. The voice is earnest yet lively, offering enough nautical detail to satisfy readers fascinated by ships and fog‑bound coasts, while the moral undertones appeal to those who enjoy stories of youthful integrity and modest heroism. Young readers who like seafaring escapades, treasure hunts, and clear‑cut character lessons will find this volume an engaging glimpse into a bygone era of adventure.
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PREFACE.
"THE COMING WAVE" is the fourth volume of the Yacht Club Series, and is an entirely independent story. Though the incidents are located on Penobscot Bay and relate largely to boats and yachting, the characters have not before been presented; but some of them will again be introduced in the subsequent volumes of the series. There is some breezy sailing in the story, and Penobscot Bay would not be properly described without the dense fog, upon which the turn of events depends in one of the chapters; nor is such a hurricane as that with which the story begins an unknown occurrence in these waters. Whatever interest the volume may possess, however, does not wholly depend upon the experience in fog and gale of the hero and his friends, for the plot is as much of the land as of the sea.
Leopold Bennington and Stumpy are the chief characters. They are both working boys, who earn their own living, and do nothing more surprising than other young men have done before them. They are fastidiously honest, and strictly upright, though they make mistakes like other human beings. They try to do their whole duty, sometimes under very difficult circumstances, and if other boys may not do exactly as they did in certain cases, they may imitate Leopold and Stumpy in having a high aim, and in striving to reach it. If young people only mean well, they can hardly fail to lead good and true lives, in spite of their errors of judgment, or even their occasional failures to do right.
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