The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-03-28
WILLIAM 7. ADAMS DEAD
WRITER KNOWN TO ALMOST EVERY
BOY As "OLIvER OPTIC
Author of Many interesting stories
age and Patriotism Of the Young.

BOSTON. March 27.-wm. T. Adams. the
~well-known writer. who under the pen
name of oliver Optic has entertained boy
readers for more than a generation, died
at his home i'm this city to-day. He was
seventy-hve years of age, He had been ill
for some time with fatty degeneration of
the heart.
Boat on the weather bow. sir!' shouted
the lookout on the topgallant forecastle of
the Young America.
.Starboard! replied Judson, the officer
Of the deck. as he discovered the boat.
which was dropping into the track of the
ship.
"'Starboard. sir responded the quarter
master in charge of the wheel.
STEADY. added the officer.
Steady. sir, replied the quartermaster.
What recoilections of boyhood days the
above paragraphs recalls, says a writer in
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Some may
puzzle over them for a few minutes, at a
loss to recall the author; others will recall
at once the name and few Will read them
without turning back in memory TO the
days when there was school to attend and
long vacations TO look forward to. The au-
thor of those lines and of hundreds of
thousands more that charmed the men of
to-day when they were boys is now num-
bered with the great majority. Oliver Optic
is dead. In his house in Boston the man
known to the boys of the land by that nom
de plume, but to his intimates as VIM. II.
Adams, has fought his last battle with dis
ease.
The paragraphs mentioned above are
quoted from up the Baltic; or, Young
America in Norway. Sweden and Den
mark Nearly everybody remembers that
series. the stories of the boys who manned
q navy Of their own, and, under direction
of the principal of the academy, sailed 10
Europe. Only a few old salts were along,
Just enough of them to instruct the lads in
their duties. The boys were the officers and
the sailors, and to wear gold lace was a
reward for good work at the books. There
were bad boys on the Young America, who
were confined in the brig, as all bad sailors
are; there was a mutiny: there were res
cues at sea. and there was frequently lively
work during a gale. Those who followed
the fortunes of these youngsters when the
books were first issued are now business
men and have sons and daughters of their
own, but when they hear that Oliver Optic
who conJured up those pleasant scenes, is
dead, there is no one but will look back and
think OF the pleasant moments the books
or, who will forget 1.-THE Young Boat
Builder Don't you remember Donald
c carried fa ON ais ~n9; When of ofs y laiher b uifd.
ing so successfully that he soon made the
fastest boats ahoat in the vicinity? And
A@lhd SdN iQlS III lucdH " VI tile
neighhood, who endeavored to get Ramsay
into trouble over that mysterious tin box?
Then there was Captain Shivernock. at
lie Patterdale, whom Laud sought TO cap
ture with his money. but who cared more
yacht race. when Maud the boat built by
Ramsay. won. Who can forget that?
hd pro6 "a 8,, no author 1n t eyer yer appealed to the
10 the patriotism. the budding manhood
and to the ima gination of the lads of this
nation he never wrote a sea story but
the stars and stripes were floating at the
gaff of his ships, no matter what hap
pened. In all his yarns honesty wins over
roguery, no matter how the latter may tri-
umph for a time. If there Is a heroine in
his yarns she is a sweet little miss. like
Nellie Patterdale. who reminds one of the
girls YOU once took home from school or
from meeting and who played tag with you
during recess.
One would think that no father would
wish TO have better light reading In the
hands of his boys than these same tales
OF Oliver Optic, yet, strange to say. they
are legislated against by the library boards
OF Inc principal cities of this country.
are to adorn the shelves aver that Oliver
Optic is too light for them TO handle and
they do not feel justified in placing the
books within the reach of the youth of to-
day. one might ask on what meat this
that it should be denied these wholesome
yarns OF the sea and land. The question
Was put to the assistant librarian of st.
lNObASs anu Ie SdIu. we'll, YOU must un-
derstand that we are in a measure the
guardians of the public morals
surely, you cannot mean that Oliver
he is too trivial"
That is the reason that but four of this
popular authors works can be found on the
shelves at the St. Louis library. And the
poys or Yesterday. who are old boys to-
day, can congratulate themselves that they
were young at a time when these "guardi-
ans We're few and far between.
William, L; Adams was born on the sea
coast and had lived nearly all his life
within sound of the breakers. He ALWAYS
had a fondness for the ocean and the ships
rhat sailed In and out the harbors. He was
compass and call out the names of sheets
and spars as well as any old salt. Then,
~ years he aught the boys in Boston. So
what wonder, with the boys on one side
and the ocean on the other. that he led his
pupils to the oceans side and spun them
yarns of that everchanging. heaving. paIpi-
tating deep. But his were not all sea
stories. Just glance over a few of these
titles, then close your eyes and let the past
come back: Onward and Upward" The
seriasy Flag lag se weo.dv,i The Boat Club
Great Western Series THE Yacht Club
Mass, on July 80, 1922. Oliver Optic was
born in 1850. for it was tina year the first
book was issued bearing that non de plume.
the Heir of Bellevue" About this time the
author edited Student and Schoolmate. a
few years later his name appeared in con-
nection with Little Ones, and at last there
appeared that well-known magazine Oliver
Optics Magazine for Boys and Girls. With
his school duties and his connections with
magazines considered ii is marvellous the
number of books that he wrote. In twenty
years he had published over one hundred
of these popula volumes, and he con-
tributed thousands of articles to newspa-
pers. Oliver Optic contributed but two
books to older persons. Way of the
World and Living Too Fast" were his
only novels for elder persons, and neither
Now the flag is at half-mast and the
minute guns of memory are booming a
salute, for the writer who entertained so
Gen. William Cutting.
NEW YORK, March q. Gen. William
Cutting, a member of the well-known Cut
ting family. died in this city last night.
He was a member of the Union Club and
the founder of the Knickerbocker Club.
General Cuttings name was most promi-
nently before the public about ten years
ago. when he was involved in a long liri-
cation over his management, as one of
the executors. of his fathers estate and
that of his brother Hayward. The father
of General Cutting was Francis Il. Cutting,
in his time one of the most prominent law
yers of this city. Francis b. Cutting died