# Bound to be an Electrician

Second volume in the Working Upwards series
WORKING UPWARD SERIES
BOUND TO BE AN ELECTRICIAN
OR
FRANKLIN BELL'S SUCCESS
BY
EDWARD STRATEMEYER
AUTHOR OF "SHORTHAND TOM, THE REPORTER," "THE YOUNG AUCTIONEER," "OLD GLORY SERIES," "COLONIAL SERIES," ETC.
ILLUSTRATED
BOSTON
LEE AND SHEPARD
1903
The young electrician was thoroughly interestedPage 46
PREFACE.
"Bound to be an Electrician" forms the second volume of a line of juvenile stories called "The Working Upward Series."
The tale is complete in itself, and tells of the numerous adventures of a manly youth who determines to become an electrician. Franklin Bell finds his road no easy one to travel, but he is full of pluck and quiet determination. His pluck gains for him the opening he seeks, and from that time on his advancement is steady if not rapid.
In this work I have, for the first time, taken my readers into the great factory life of our country, to show them how thousands of our boys, with scarcely any schooling, have to toil for their daily living. The hero is cast among both the good and the bad, the tender-hearted and the vicious, and he is made to understand only too well that he must either fight his way through or go down in that pitiless struggle which never ceases.
​Again thanking my young readers for their cordial reception of former works, I place this story in their hands, in the earnest hope that its perusal will do them much good.
Edward Stratemeyer.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | CHAPTER | PAGE |
| I. | The Young Electrician | 5 |
| II. | Franklin Finds Employment | 13 |
| III. | Franklin Gets Into Difficulty | 23 |
| IV. | Franklin Makes a Friend | 30 |
| V. | Franklin Visits Edison's Works | 39 |
| VI. | A Moment of Peril | 47 |
| VII. | A Lively Pursuit | 55 |
| VIII. | At Close Quarters | 63 |
| IX. | Enemies | 69 |
| X. | A Hard Place to Fill | 75 |
| XI. | Franklin Shows His Grit | 82 |
| XII. | A Plot Against Franklin | 90 |
| XIII. | The Broken Machine | 97 |
| XIV. | Harry LeClair's Statement | 104 |
| XV. | A Midnight Mystery | 112 |
| XVI. | Belden Brice Says Something | 120 |
| XVII. | Clues and a Confession | 129 |
| XVIII. | Franklin Makes a New Move | 136 |
| XIX. | The Meeting in the Cottage | 145 |
| XX. | Andy Gresson is Astonished | 152 |
| XXI. | Franklin Bell's Mission | 159 ​ |
| XXII. | Franklin Shows His Courage | 167 |
| XXIII. | Franklin Makes a New Friend | 175 |
| XXIV. | A Surprising Statement | 183 |
| XXV. | An Interesting Conversation | 190 |
| XXVI. | On Lake Michigan | 197 |
| XXVII. | A Meeting in a Strange City | 204 |
| XXVIII. | An Interesting Meeting | 211 |
| XXIX. | Franklin Decided to Act | 218 |
| XXX. | Franklin Shows His Pluck | 225 |
| XXXI. | A Battery Turns the Tables | 232 |
| XXXII. | The Dead Alive | 238 |
| XXXIII. | Conclusion | 244 |
ILLUSTRATIONS
| | Page |
| The young electrician was thoroughly interested (Frontispiece) | 46 |
| The girls shrieked and the boys laughed | 11 |
| Franklin sprang over the fence at a bound | 55 |
| "Bell, come here and explain this at once" | 96 |
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1931, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 92 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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