Three years later he took a break from the profession to help his father and brother run a hotel in Boston, called the Adams House Hotel. However, life as a hotelier was not for him and in 1948 he returned to the classroom to teach at Boylston School in Boston. He became a master there before transferring to the newly founded Bowditch School, where he remained until his resignation from teaching in 1865.
As a teacher, his continuous contact with boys gave him a great insight into their interests and this served him incredibly well when he decided to start writing fiction aimed at them. He was also a well travelled man, who had an excellent knowledge of boats, farming, and mechanics, all of which turned out to be fascinating subjects to the young readers. His first published work Hatchie, the Guardian Slave (1853), was published under the pseudonym of Warren T. Ashton. This was not a massive success, but he continued to write, and in 1855 he produced the first instalment in the Boat Club series. This was hugely popular and the adoption of writing series became a bit of a trademark of his. He went on to produce many more, often in four to six volumes. Notable examples of these are: Army and Navy (1863-1866), Young America Abroad (1866-1869), Yacht Club (1872-1875), and Great Western (1875-1881). Among his best-known works were the two “Blue & Gray” series, which were set during the Civil War. Adams never wrote under his own name. His most common pseudonym was that of “Oliver Optic”, but he also used “Irving Brown,” “Clingham Hunter, M.D.,” and “Old Stager.”
Outside of the literary world, Adams served on the school boards of the town of Dorchester in Massachusetts, and later the City of Boston. He also served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, for the 5th Norfolk District, from January 6, 1869 to January 5th 1870.
Adams died on 27th March 1897.
TO
My Fellow-Voyager in the Steamship Persia
DURING A PLEASANT TRIP ACROSS THE ATLANTIC,
IN 1865,
STEPHEN S. HOE,
WHOSE NAME EVER REMINDS ME OF MY PERSONAL INDEBTEDNESS
FOR MUCH OF THE PLEASURE OF THE VOYAGE; NOT ONLY
TO MY YOUNG FRIEND WHOSE NAME I MENTION HERE,
BUT ALSO TO HIM WHO SAT OPPOSITE TO US AT
TABLE, WHOSE NAME, ASSOCIATED WITH
ONE OF THE PROUDEST ACHIEVEMENTS
OF AMERICAN INVENTIVE GENIUS,
I NEED NOT MENTION, FOR
NO WORD OF MINE
COULD HONOR
IT,
THIS VOLUME
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.
A Squall in the German Ocean.
YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD.
BY OLIVER OPTIC.
A Library of Travel and Adventure in Foreign Lands. First and Second Series; six volumes in each Series. 16mo. Illustrated.
First Series.
I. OUTWARD BOUND; or, Young America Afloat.
II. SHAMROCK AND THISTLE; or, Young America in Ireland and Scotland.
III. RED CROSS; or, Young America in England and Wales.
IV. DIKES AND DITCHES; or, Young America in Holland and Belgium.
V. PALACE AND COTTAGE; or, Young America in France and Switzerland.
VI. DOWN THE RHINE; or, Young America in Germany.
Second Series.
I. UP THE BALTIC; or, Young America in Denmark and Sweden.
II. NORTHERN LANDS; or, Young America in Prussia and Russia.
III. VINE AND OLIVE; or, Young America in Spain and Portugal.
IV. SUNNY SHORES; or, Young America in Italy and Austria.
V. CROSS AND CRESCENT; or, Young America in Greece and Turkey.
VI. ISLES OF THE SEA; or, Young America Homeward Bound.
PREFACE.
Dikes and Ditches, the fourth of the “Young America Abroad” series, is a continuation of the history of the Academy Ship and her consort in the waters of Holland and Belgium. As in its predecessors, those parts of the book which lie within the domain of history and fact are intended to be entirely reliable; and great care has been used to make them so. The author finds his notes so copious, and his recollections of the Low Countries so full of interest, that he has felt obliged to devote a considerable portion of the work to the geography and history of the country, and to the manners and customs of the people; but there is so much that is novel in the region itself, and so much that is stirring and even “sensational” in the history of the sturdy patriots of Holland, that he hopes his young friends will not complain of the proportion in which he has mingled his material. It would be a very great happiness to him to have excited a sufficient degree of interest in these countries to induce the boys and girls to read Mr. Motley’s inimitable works, “The Rise of the Dutch Republic,” and “The History of the United Netherlands.” The writer is confident that young people will find these volumes quite as attractive as the story books of the day.
Dikes and Ditches has its independent story of the adventures of the students. Though the Academy Squadron has thus far been remarkably fortunate in the character of its instructors, Professor Hamblin proves to be an exception, and the crews of the ship and her consort are unhappily plunged into sundry disciplinary tribulations by his overstrained dignity, and by his want of discretion. The young commander of the Josephine suffers from the evils of a divided authority, which brings him into conflict with the senior instructor before experience suggests the remedy. While the principal is compelled to punish the students for their misconduct in “hazing” the obnoxious professor, he also finds it necessary to abate the nuisance of a conceited, overbearing, and tyrannical pedagogue. Boys cannot be expected to be angels in school, until their instructors have soared to this sublime height.
The author of the series, more than ever encouraged by the hearty and generous favor of his readers, submits this volume to their consideration, trusting that they will at least appreciate his earnest efforts not only to please, but to instruct them.
Harrison Square, Mass.,
April 9, 1868.
CHAPTER I.
THE PROFESSOR AND THE CAPTAIN.
The Young America, with every rag of canvas set, including studding-sails alow and aloft, rolled and pitched gracefully on the long swells of the German Ocean. The wind was very light from the north-west, and there was hardly enough of it to give the ship steerage-way. A mile off, on her starboard bow, was the Josephine, beclouded in the quantity of sail she carried, but hardly leaving a wake in the blue waters behind her. The hummocks and the low land of the shores of Holland and Belgium were in sight; but,
