The Safety First Club

Sam Parker stepped out upon the side porch of his father’s house, closing the door behind him with a slam. There was a frown on his face, which by no means became it; and the co...

In simple fairness it should be said that Sam Parker meditated no breach of parental authority. Indeed, as he was permitted to own a little rifle, and to hunt for small game, it...

At the base of the hill crowned by the Marlow house the woods came close to the road. Years before the pines had been cut off, and in their place had come in a second growth of...

It was well after noon when Sam came up the narrow lane behind the Parker place, and scaled the back fence. Hasty observation from its top showed him that the coast was clear. H...

Almost every town has the misfortune to include among its residents a few persons perhaps best described as “undesirable citizens.” In the case of Plainville by far the most und...

Major Bates lived in a big, brick house, made gloomy and forbidding by tall evergreen trees growing close to its walls. It had been, in its day, one of the noted mansions of the...

Sam awoke to find the sunshine pouring through the window of his room. Overnight there had been a change for the better in the weather, and Sunday had dawned clear and bright.

The junior class of the Plainville High School probably was neither much better nor much worse than the classes which had preceded it, and the other classes which were following...

It was one thing, they agreed, to be joint victims of hard luck; but it was quite another thing--and a deal harder to endure--to behold the author of their misfortunes jogging a...

It is not to be supposed that Sam Parker, in spite of his exhibition of new self-control in the affair of Step and Tom Orkney, had taken on the gravity of years. There was, inde...

It was Friday evening, and the Safety First Club was in full session. Sam, Step and Poke were gossiping about school affairs, and with them was Herman Boyd, a new member and a b...

There was a long pause, and a very significant pause it was. The boys stared at the cap in Step’s hand; then they glanced from one to another. Here and there a head nodded, as i...

Sam, following his enemy at a more moderate pace, was burdened by a peculiar sense of helplessness. He was troubled by no doubts of the justice of his cause; but he was annoyed...

It was a disagreeable morning, dully lowering and overcast, with now and then a flurry of snowflakes bearing promise of a heavier fall to come, but a crowd of boys and girls lin...

The promise of the snow flurries had been borne out in full measure, and now the country about Plainville was covered by a thick, white mantle. Real winter had come at last, for...

“Wal, I dunno. Once there was an old feller that complained the eels didn’t squirm’s lively as they uster when he was a boy; but, somehow, I reckoned his memory was playin’ tric...

It was Saturday; the morning was his own. It had flashed upon him that he could not do better than investigate the matters which had first seemed to be so conclusive of Orkney’s...

Perhaps you have had the trying and distressing experience of discovering, of a sudden and without warning, that what you devoutly had hoped was a closely guarded secret appeare...

If Sam had told the whole story, including the affair in Marlow woods and Lon’s suspicions of Peter Groche, the crowd, doubtless, would have buzzed with excitement, and, inciden...

Sam, silent and preoccupied, was sitting in one corner. The Shark, in another, was somewhat skeptically regarding Step Jones, who was describing, for the benefit of the assemble...

“See that, sonny?” Lon, having captured Sam at the gate and led him to the privacy of the barn, had taken a wrench from a shelf and was displaying the implement with much compla...

There are three ways in which one may travel from Plainville to the woods about Payne Stream. One is partly by rail, involving a jolting journey over the branch line to a flag-s...

What easily might have been an embarrassing situation was dealt with capably by the Safety First Club. Hardly had the jovial Mr. Kane welcomed the belated Sam and demanded how i...

Sam had found his bunk-bed of spruce boughs amazingly comfortable and, snuggling under the blankets, had promptly dropped asleep. He was healthily tired from his day’s travels;...

The youthful adventurers were on the march, and were tramping along on their snow-shoes in high spirits. Long-legged Step led, followed in order by Poke, Herman Boyd, the Trojan...

Down the slope rushed the boys like charging troops bursting into an enemy’s stronghold. Cold and weariness were forgotten. They dashed through drifts; they broke through thicke...

“Wait a minute--fust aid treatment fust!” said he; and began to rub his face and ears. “No; lemme be! You--you can’t help me. I’m like--like an old cat--got to lick my own scrat...

The long night had dragged to an end. A pale glimmer at the windows told of the coming of a clouded dawn, while outside the old house the storm raged in unabated violence.

Imagine a winding valley, sparsely wooded, deeply banked with snow; a valley through which the gale sweeps with unchecked fury, whipping the bare limbs of the trees, catching up...

The town had been stirred by the story of the adventures of Sam and his friends, and the boys, a good deal to their surprise, had found themselves treated like heroes. Plainvill...