Haste and Waste

Haste and Waste

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Title: Haste and Waste
Author: Oliver Optic
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HASTE AND WASTE
OR
THE YOUNG PILOT OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN
A STORY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
BY
OLIVER OPTIC

BIOGRAPHY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
William Taylor Adams, American author, better known and loved by
boys and girls through his pseudonym "Oliver Optic," was born July 30,
1822, in the town of Medway, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, about
twenty-five miles from Boston. For twenty years he was a teacher in
the Public Schools of Boston, where he came in close contact with boy
life. These twenty years taught him how to reach the boy's heart and
interest as the popularity of his books attest.

His story writing began in 1850 when he was twenty-eight years old
and his first book was published in 1853. He also edited "The Oliver
Optic Magazine," "The Student and Schoolmate," "Our Little Ones."
Mr. Adams died at the age of seventy-five years, in Boston, March 27,
1897.
He was a prolific writer and his stories are most attractive and
unobjectionable. Most of his books were published in series. Probably
the most famous of these is "The Boat Club Series" which comprises
the following titles:
"The Boat Club," "All Aboard," "Now or Never," "Try Again," "Poor
and Proud," "Little by Little." All of these titles will be found in this
edition.
Other well-known series are his "Soldier Boy Series," "Sailor Boy
Series," "Woodville Stories." The "Woodville Stories" will also be
found in this edition.
CHAPTER I
THE SQUALL ON THE LAKE
"Stand by, Captain John!" shouted Lawry Wilford, a stout boy of
fourteen, as he stood at the helm of a sloop, which was going before the
wind up Lake Champlain.
"What's the matter, Lawry?" demanded the captain.
"We're going to have a squall," continued the young pilot, as he
glanced at the tall peaks of the Adirondacks.
There was a squall in those clouds, in the judgment of Lawry Wilford;
but having duly notified the captain of the impending danger to his
craft, he did not assume any further responsibility in the management
of the sloop. It was very quiet on the lake; the water was smooth, and
the tiny waves sparkled in the bright sunshine. There was no roll of

distant thunder to admonish the voyagers, and the youth at the helm
was so much accustomed to squalls and tempests, which are of frequent
occurrence on the lake, that they had no terrors to him. It was
dinner-time, and the young pilot, fearful that the unexpected guest
might reduce the rations to a low ebb for the second table, was more
concerned about this matter than about the squall.
Captain John, as he was familiarly called on board the Missisque,
which was the name of the sloop, was not a man to be cheated out of
any portion of his dinner by the approach of a squall; and though his
jaws may have moved more rapidly after the announcement of the
young pilot, he did not neglect even the green-apple pies, the first of
the season, prepared with care and skill by Mrs. Captain John, who
resided on board, and did "doctor's" duty at the galley. Captain John did
not abate a single mouthful of the meal, though he knew how rapidly
the mountain showers and squalls travel over the lake. The sloop did
not usually make more than four or five miles an hour, being deeply
laden with lumber, which was piled up so high on the deck that the