



Produced by Taavi Kalju, Woodie4, Joseph Cooper and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images generously made
available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)





Transcriber's notes:

Captions have been added to the illustration markers
for the convenience of some readers. These have been
indicated by an asterisk.

A list of some of the author's other books has been moved from the front
papers to the end of the book.


 [Illustration: Front cover]*

 [Illustration: Title page:
 RAGGED DICK SERIES BY HORATIO ALGER JR.
 BEN THE LUGGAGE BOY]


  BEN, THE LUGGAGE BOY;

  OR,

  AMONG THE WHARVES.

  BY

  HORATIO ALGER, JR.,

  AUTHOR OF "RAGGED DICK," "FAME AND FORTUNE," "MARK, THE MATCH
  BOY," "ROUGH AND READY," "CAMPAIGN SERIES,"
  "LUCK AND PLUCK SERIES," ETC.

  THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO.,

  PHILADELPHIA,
  CHICAGO, TORONTO.


  TO

  ANNIE,

  THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED

  In Tender Remembrance,

  BY HER

 _AFFECTIONATE BROTHER_




PREFACE.


In presenting "Ben, the Luggage Boy," to the public, as the fifth of the
Ragged Dick Series, the author desires to say that it is in all
essential points a true history; the particulars of the story having
been communicated to him, by Ben himself, nearly two years since. In
particular, the circumstances attending the boy's running away from
home, and adopting the life of a street boy, are in strict accordance
with Ben's own statement. While some of the street incidents are
borrowed from the writer's own observation, those who are really
familiar with the different phases which street life assumes in New
York, will readily recognize their fidelity. The chapter entitled "The
Room under the Wharf" will recall to many readers of the daily