The Water Waif

This is a catalog of Beadle and Adams dime publications, followed by the opening chapters of The Water-Waif: A Tale of Ancient New York by Charles P. Sumner.

The first section advertises instructional handbooks across multiple series: the Standard School Series includes numerous elocution and debate guides (Dime Speakers, Dime Dialogues); the Young People's Series covers etiquette, letter-writing, fortune-telling, dancing, games, and chess; the Family Series offers cookbooks and household manuals. Each volume costs ten cents.

The Water-Waif is set in 1706 New York and centers on Griffin's Wharf near Pine Street on the East River. The narrative introduces a fifteen-year-old orphan girl, slight and sallow-faced but with striking dark eyes, who sings an archaic Norse-like lullaby while splitting kindling wood for fuel. The story then shifts to Martin Dale, a dying misanthropic miser confined to a decrepit room in the wharf house. Though appearing impoverished, Dale is secretly wealthy, hoarding riches in locked iron boxes while refusing human companionship. He plans to alter his will to cheat his heirs in revenge.