Poor and Proud, or The Fortunes of Katy Redburn

by Oliver Optic
A STORY FOR YOUNG FOLKS

TO
ALICE MARIE ADAMS,

This Book
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

BY HER FATHER.
Poor and Proud.

PREFACE. ----
Bobby Bright and Harry West, whose histories were contained in

the last two volumes of the "Library for Young Folks," were both
smart boys. The author, very grateful for the genial welcome

extended to these young gentlemen, begs leave to introduce to his
juvenile friends a smart girl,--Miss Katy Redburn,-- whose

fortunes, he hopes, will prove sufficiently interesting to secure
their attention.

If any of my adult readers are disposed to accuse me of being a
little extravagant, I fear I shall have to let the case go by

default; but I shall plead, in extenuation, that I have tried to
be reasonable, even where a few grains of the romantic element

were introduced; for Baron Munchausen and Sindbad the Sailor were
standard works on my shelf in boyhood, and I may possibly have

imbibed some of their peculiar spirit. But I feel a lively
satisfaction in the reflection that, whatever exaggerations the

critic may decide I have perpetrated in this volume, I have made
the success of Katy Redburn depend upon her good principles, her

politeness, her determined perseverance, and her overcoming that
foolish pride which is a snare to the feet. In these respects she

is a worthy exemplar for the young.
Pride and poverty do not seem to agree with each other; but there

is a pride which is not irreconcilable with the humblest station.
This pride of character finds an illustration in the life of my

heroine.
Thanking my young friends again for the pleasant reception given

to my former books I submit this volume in the hope that Katy
Redburn will prove to be a worthy and agreeablecompanion for

their leisure hours. WILLIAM T. ADAMS.
DORCHESTER, Sept. 29, 1858.

CONTENTS. ---- CHAPTER.
I. Katy Redburn and Others Are Introduced

II. The History of the Silver Watch
III. Katy and Master Simon Sneed Visit the Pawnbroker's Shop

IV. Katy Matures a Magnificent Scheme
V. Katy Visits Mrs. Gordon, and Gets Rid of Dr. Flynch

VI. Katy Prepares a Stock of Merchandise
VII. Katy Makes a Large Sale

VIII. Katy Sells Out, and Visits the Mayor
IX. Katy talks with the Mayor, and Recovers the Watch

X. Katy, in Distress, finds a Champion
XI. Katy Meets with Extraordinary Success

XII. Katy Pays Her Debts, and Tommy Goes to Sea
XIII. Katy Employs an Assistant

XIV. Master Simon Sneed Makes a Mistake
XV. Katy Gets a Letter from Liverpool

XVI. Ann Grippen Plays Tricks upon Travelers
XVII. The Sun Sets, and the Night Comes On

XVIII. Katy Struggles Bravely through a Series of Trials
XIX. Katy Resorts to a Loan

XX. Mrs. Gordon Feels Faint, and Katy Enters a New Sphere
XXI. Katy Goes to Church, and Has a Birthday Party

POOR AND PROUD; OR, THE FORTUNES OF KATY REDBURN.
----

CHAPTER I.
KATY REDBURN AND OTHERS ARE INTRODUCED.

"Give me a flounder, Johnny?" said a little girl of eleven,
dressed in coarse and ragged garments, as she stooped down and

looked into the basket of the dirty young fisherman, who sat with
his legs hanging over the edge of the pier.

"I'll bet I won't," replied Johnny, gruffly, as he drew the
basket out of the reach of the supplicant. "You needn't come

round here tryin' to hook my fish."
"You hooked 'em," said another juvenile angler who sat on the

capsill of the pier by Johnny's side.
"Who says I hooked 'em?" blustered Johnny, whose little dirty

paws involuntarily assumed the form of a pair of fists,
scientifically disposed and ready to be the instruments of the

owner's vengeance upon the traducer of his character.
"I say so," added Tommy Howard, who did not seem to be at all

alarmed at the warlike attitude of his fellow-angler.
"Say it again, and I'll smash your head," continued Johnny,

jumping up from his seat.
"Didn't you hear me? Once is enough."

Tommy coolly hauled up a large flounder at that moment, and threw
the fish into his basket. It was rather refreshing to see how

regardless he was of that pair of menacing fists.
"Jest you say that once more, and see what I'll do," persisted

Johnny.
"I won't do it."

"You dasn't say it again."
"Perhaps I dasn't; at any rate, I shan't."

"Do you mean to say I hooked them fish?" exclaimed Johnny,
desperately, for it seemed as though he must do something to

vindicate his injured honor.
"That's just what I did say."

But Tommy was so confoundedly cool that his fellow-angler had
some doubts about the expediency of "pitching into him." Probably

a vision of defeat flashed through his excited brain and
discretion seemed the better part of valor. Yet he was not

disposed to abandon his position, and advanced a pace or two
toward his provoking companion; a movement which, to an

unpracticed eye, would indicate a purpose to do something.
"Don't fight, Tommy," said the little ragged girl.

"I don't mean to fight, Katy,"--Johnny, at these words, assumed
an artistic attitude, ready to strike the first blow,--"only if

Johnny hits me, I shall knock him into the middle of next week."
Johnny did not strike. He was a prudent young man.

"Don't fight, Johnny," repeated the girl, turning to the excited
aspirant for the honors of the ring.

"Do you suppose I'll let him tell me I hooked them fish?"
blustered Johnny.

"He didn't mean anything."
"Yes, I did," interposed Tommy. "He caught 'em on a hook; so of

course he hooked em. I hooked mine too."
"Is that what you meant?" asked Johnny, a broad grin

overspreading his dirty face, and his fists suddenly expanding
into dirty paws again.

"That's just what I meant; and your skull is as thick as a
two-inch plank, or you would have seen what I meant."

"I see now."
Johnny was not disposed to resent this last insinuation about the

solidity of his cranium. He was evidently too glad to get out of
the scrape without a broken head or a bloody nose. Johnny was a

bully, and he had a bully's reputation to maintain; but he never
fought when the odds were against him; and he had a congressman's