The Knights of the White Shield, Up-the-Ladder Club Series, Round One. Play. By Edward A. Rand. New York: Phillips & Hunt. 1885.
Some Massachusetts boys start a club, go sailing, and learn good moral living.
If Seamont, in which the barn was located, was one of the best of towns in the opinion of its inhabitants, this particular barn, in Charlie’s estimate, was one of the best structures of that sort in the place. Below, on the first floor, there was a chance of a stall for Brindle, now grazing in a little pasture adjoining the garden. There was, also, a stall for a horse, and an extra stall, though empty, always gives dignity to a barn, suggesting what has been, and, while speaking of a glory departed, hints of that which may be another day.
But the chamber! What palace of gold ever had a room equal to that chamber? It had a row of barrels, behind which or in which you could safely hide. It had a ladder that would let you smartly bump your head against the highest rafter in the roof, a cross-beam, too, from which you could suspend a swing, and a window in the rear from which you could look npon the Missigatchee River (supposed to have been christened by the Indians).
Edward Augustus Rand (1837-1903) was a minister in Massachusetts. His stories are usually set by the sea, featuring boys who learn Christian morals.