Larry Barlow's ambition : or, The adventures of a young fireman by Stratemeyer
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"Larry Barlow's Ambition" by Edward Stratemeyer is an adventure novel written in the early 20th century. It follows Larry Barlow, a plucky orphaned machinist and volunteer fireman whose dream is to join the New York City Fire Department, balancing daring rescues with an invention of a powerful extension ladder and a budding mystery tied to his late father’s lost elevator patent and a girl he saves, Mary Vern. Expect brisk firefighting action,
urban scrapes, and an undercurrent of intrigue as Larry tries to turn ambition into honorable service. At the start, Larry builds a model for a steel extension ladder, loses his machinist job after a run‑in with a bully, and makes a brief trip to New York where he’s thrilled by a fire run and overhears two men hinting at exploiting his missing father’s elevator invention. Back home he leads volunteers at a hotel blaze, rescues Mary Vern from a smoke-choked upper floor, and survives a dramatic leap into a net; her grateful father gives him an introduction to a fire commissioner. In the city, Larry is nearly drowned during a warehouse flood before being pulled out, secures entry into the fire department’s school of instruction, and finds a modest flat for himself and his sister. Meanwhile he defends a newsboy from a street bully, eavesdrops on a schemer (Martin Pollox) plotting around the elevator patent and name-drops Richard Vern—who is then reported killed—endures a waterfront ambush by local toughs, escapes a misguided arrest, and finally begins formal training before unexpectedly meeting Mary again in New York. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Stratemeyer, Edward, 1862-1930 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Fry, W. H. |
| Title | Larry Barlow's ambition : or, The adventures of a young fireman |
| Original Publication | Akron: Saalfield Publishing Company, 1907. |
| Credits | Aaron Adrignola, Brian Wilsden, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres |
| Subject | Detective and mystery stories |
| Subject | Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | New York (N.Y.) -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Fire fighters -- Juvenile fiction |
| Subject | Young men -- Juvenile fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 77209 |
| ISBN (HTML) | 979-8-238-77209-7 |
| Release Date | Nov 10, 2025 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 400 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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