The Project Gutenberg EBook of Driven From Home, by Horatio Alger

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Title: Driven From Home
Carl Crawford's Experience

Author: Horatio Alger

Release Date: January 21, 2006 [EBook #530]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DRIVEN FROM HOME ***

Produced by Charles Keller and David Widger

DRIVEN FROM HOME

OR

CARL CRAWFORD'S EXPERIENCE

BY HORATIO ALGER, JR.

Author of "Erie Train Boy," "Young Acrobat," "Only an Irish Boy," "Bound
to Rise," "The Young Outlaw," "Hector's Inheritance," etc.

DRIVEN FROM HOME.

CHAPTER I

DRIVEN FROM HOME.

A boy of sixteen, with a small gripsack in his hand, trudged along the
country road. He was of good height for his age, strongly built, and had
a frank, attractive face. He was naturally of a cheerful temperament,
but at present his face was grave, and not without a shade of anxiety.
This can hardly be a matter of surprise when we consider that he was
thrown upon his own resources, and that his available capital consisted
of thirty-seven cents in money, in addition to a good education and a
rather unusual amount of physical strength. These last two items
were certainly valuable, but they cannot always be exchanged for the
necessaries and comforts of life.

For some time his steps had been lagging, and from time to time he had
to wipe the moisture from his brow with a fine linen handkerchief, which
latter seemed hardly compatible with his almost destitute condition.

I hasten to introduce my hero, for such he is to be, as Carl Crawford,
son of Dr. Paul Crawford, of Edgewood Center. Why he had set out to
conquer fortune single-handed will soon appear.

A few rods ahead Carl's attention was drawn to a wide-spreading oak
tree, with a carpet of verdure under its sturdy boughs.

"I will rest here for a little while," he said to himself, and suiting
the action to the word, threw down his gripsack and flung himself on the
turf.

"This is refreshing," he murmured, as, lying upon his back, he looked up
through the leafy rifts to the sky above. "I don't know when I have ever
been so tired. It's no joke walking a dozen mi