Samuel Hopkins Adams (1871–1958)

Pleasant while reading but not necessarily memorable.
A young American woman is running away from her family because she refuses to marry the man her father has picked out. She boards a ship for England and meets up with a young man after she accidentally stomps on his foot. She looks awful because she's been crying and upset. He helps her avoid pursuit and be able to stay on the ship unnoticed. Later she hears him telling a friend about her, describing her in very unflattering language and calling her "Little Miss Grouch." She's actually very pretty when she's not crying, as becomes obvious the next morning, when the young man falls in love with her (he's always called The Tyro, for some reason, although his name is actually Alexander).
Interfering acquaintances inform her father that this young man is hanging around the girl, and the captain is given authority to lock her in her room if The Tyro says one more word to her.
What follows is the story of how he tries to avoid her, and how she plays cat-and-mouse with him, and they generally both try to pretend that they don't care too much about each other. (Which manifestly isn't true.)… (más)

Something great was being made. Right in the center of New York. A great thing it was going to be, yes, the Erie Canale
was being made! From the beginning some how people knew that soon something great was going to enter into the world
of New York. Wood was plentiful there and game was hunted down all the time. Great fish were also plentiful, Sturgeons
lived in comfort in lake Ontario and bass and other fish would live there year long. Every body knew this Canal would cost
money, but no one cared the least, they wanted to have a Canal so they could sell there plentiful game. This book is
amazing and you will surely want to read it over again.… (más)

Written the early 1907, this is a maritime mystery along the style of Jules Verne in writing and subject.

The Laughing Lass, an abandoned schooner, is found off the coast of a volcanic island in the South Pacific, by the U.S. cruiser Wolverine. There is no one aboard the ship, so the Wolverine’s captain puts a crew on board with the idea of bringing it back. The following day, that crew is missing.

The naval crew find a skiff with a survivor barely alive. He is brought aboard and the tale of the ship, its missing crew and all that happens is told by the survivor.

The tale is about the man who hired the ship for its mysterious voyage, the Laughing Lass crew of cutthroats and the fantastical happenings during the long months spent on the island. It is a tall tale that is told.

The style is verbose and liberally sprinkled with nautical terms. Someone up on old sailing vessels or has read books of this topic/style will understand them.

I did enjoy it and felt I had to finish it. Sometimes reading books from another era, on subjects I don’t normally read about, can make the little grey cells work a bit more.… (más)