OLIVER OPTIC'S BOAT-BUILDER SERIES. STEM * TO * STERN. BOSTON, LEE _AND_ SHEPARD PUBLISHERS. [Illustration: "Walk Billcord rushed out from the bushes."--Page 19.] _THE BOAT-BUILDER SERIES_ STEM TO STERN OR BUILDING THE BOAT BY OLIVER OPTIC AUTHOR OF "YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD," "THE GREAT WESTERN SERIES," "THE ARMY AND NAVY SERIES," "THE WOODVILLE SERIES," "THE STARRY-FLAG SERIES," "THE BOAT-CLUB STORIES," "THE ONWARD AND UPWARD SERIES," "THE YACHT-CLUB SERIES," "THE LAKE-SHORE SERIES," "THE RIVERDALE SERIES," "ALL ADRIFT," "SNUG HARBOR," "SQUARE AND COMPASSES," ETC., ETC. With Illustrations BOSTON LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS NEW YORK CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM 1886 _Copyright, 1885_, BY WILLIAM T. ADAMS. _All Rights Reserved._ STEM TO STERN. ELECTROTYPED BY C. J. PETERS & SON, BOSTON. TO MY ADOPTED "NEVVY," JOHN S. SHRIVER OF BALTIMORE, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. The Boat-Builder Series. 1. ALL ADRIFT; OR, THE GOLDWING CLUB. 2. SNUG HARBOR; OR, THE CHAMPLAIN MECHANICS. 3. SQUARE AND COMPASSES; OR, BUILDING THE HOUSE. 4. STEM TO STERN; OR, BUILDING THE BOAT. 5. ALL TAUT; OR, RIGGING THE BOAT. 6. READY ABOUT; OR, SAILING THE BOAT. PREFACE. "STEM TO STERN" is the fourth volume of the "BOAT-BUILDER SERIES." Most of the characters connected with the Beech Hill Industrial School continue to take part in the action of the story. Like its predecessors, a considerable portion of the work is devoted to business and mechanical information. The writer finds it quite impracticable to give as minute directions for the building of a boat as a few of his young readers may desire, for the entire volume would hardly afford sufficient space for all the details of planning and constructing a yacht. But he has endeavored to impart some information in a general way in regard to shipbuilding, and has indicated in what manner the ambitious young boat-builder may obtain the amplest instruction in this difficult art. It is necessary to assure his young friends that, with all the book-knowledge it is possible to obtain on the subject, it will require a great deal of skill and not a little scientific and technical learning to enable him to construct anything more elaborate than an ordinary flatboat. Nothing but assiduous practice can procure the skill, and nothing but hard study the geometrical and technical details of the art.