



Produced by Charles Keller.  HTML version by Al Haines.









POOR AND PROUD


OR

THE FORTUNES OF KATY REDBURN


A STORY FOR YOUNG FOLKS


BY

OLIVER OPTIC






  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