



Produced by David Edwards, Barry Abrahamsen and the Online
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                              TOM TEMPLE’S
                                 CAREER


                         By HORATIO ALGER, JR.

                Author of “Tom Thatcher’s Fortune,”
                “Tom Turner’s Legacy,” “The Train Boy,”
                “Ben Bruce,” Etc.


                       [Illustration: Decoration]




                     A. L. BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
                                NEW YORK




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                    Copyright, 1888. BY A. L. BURT.

                                -------

                          TOM TEMPLE’S CAREER.

                         BY HORATIO ALGER, JR.




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                          TOM TEMPLE’S CAREER.

                                -------


                               CHAPTER I

                           NATHAN MIDDLETON.


ON THE main street, in the town of Plympton, stood a two-story house,
with a narrow lawn in front. It had a stiff, staid look of decorum, as
if no children were ever allowed to create disorder within its
precincts, or interfere with its settled regularity. It appeared to be a
place of business as well as a residence, for there was a thin plate on
one side of the front door, bearing the name of

                           NATHAN MIDDLETON,

                            INSURANCE AGENT.

Some people might object to turning even a part of their dwellings into
a business office, but then it saved rent, and Mr. Middleton was one of
the saving kind. He had always been saving from the first time he
received a penny at the mature age of five, and triumphing over the
delusive pleasures of an investment in candy, put it in a tin
savings-bank to the present moment. He didn’t marry until the age of
