Tom Baldwin is a 15 year old boy living in Boston with his mother and aunt. Due to the death of his father several years ago Tom is the main financial provider for his family. As the book starts out Tom has just gotten a job at a bookstore, his last job being at a firm that recently closed down. However it is only for the Christmas rush and after the holiday Tom will need to find other employment.
Tom is a dutiful employee and while working he ends up meeting a regular customer named Dr. Spidderkins. The doctor is a nice elderly man that is obsessed with books, buying multiple ones from various bookstores everyday. He can easily afford rare copies since he is very wealthy. After he orders several heavy books Tom is tasked with delivering them to his house that evening where he meets Mrs. Sandow. Mrs. Sandow was married to the doctors brother but after his passing she remarried to Mr. Sandow. Both of them live with the doctor and treat him rather rudely, which Tom is audience to on several more trips to the doctor's house.
Once Christmas is over Tom finds himself out of a job and struggles terribly to find a new one. His friend, Charley Grove, suggest Tom look for a job as a telephone operator because it pays $10 a week, much higher than most other jobs offer. Charley has Tom come up to his work after hours and teaches him how to run a telephone switchboard so he will have a better opportunity to secure a job in the field. And he does just that when Charley gets word that a law office needs an operator.
Tom excels at his job and the head lawyer, Mr. Boise, admires his work ethic. However the junior lawyer, Mr. Cutter, seems to have a grudge against Tom and tries several times to have him fired.
As Tom settles in to his new job he beings seeing Mr. Sandow in various places including Mr. Cutters office after hours. He also overhears Sandow's conversations with the lawyer which leaves him worried the two are scheme to steal Dr. Spidderkin's fortune.
Tom is hesitant to tell anyone his suspicions due to lack of evidence but after Mr. Cutter leaks private business affairs to a rival law firm and blaming it on Tom he decides it's time to tell Mr. Boise.
Mr. Boise has been suspicious of Mr. Cutter already and urges Tom to head to the doctor's house and have him secure his legal papers pertaining to his financial holdings. At the house Mrs. Sandow catches word that Tom has caught on to their sinister plot and once out of sight she and her husband flee. However they are caught once authorities are notified and let go after returning the doctor's property and promising to leave Boston at once.
When the doctor visits Tom that evening he is surprised to find that Tom's mother and aunt are his childhood neighbors. After reconnecting he asks the women to move into his house as housekeepers and companions and sponsors Tom's scholarship to law school. The book ends giving us a glimpse into Toms future as a law partner at Mr. Boise's firm and married to Minnie, a telephone operator who helped defend Tom from Mr. Cutters earlier accusations.
I discovered this book years ago when browsing books on eBay. It was published in 1909 so I was sure it would be available for free on Project Gutenberg. Unfortunately it wasn't so after several years I finally went ahead and purchased a copy. Well turns out just a month before my purchase it had been uploaded to Gutenberg, heck!
I enjoyed the story. I'm fascinated by early telephone technology and I've watch some documentaries on early operators and even training videos from the 1970's. If ever a switchboard appears on screen during an old movie or TV show my eyes are glued to it, watching how it's being used. So this book was right up my alley.
Tom is a very likeable character. I was worried he might have some undesirable views about women just because the Hardy Boys made me a little jaded with that kind of stuff but that wasn't the case at all with this.
I also really liked how relaxed the book was. Whenever Tom was falsely accused of something it was almost immediately cleared up. It didn't leave you hanging on for chapters hoping Tom can clear his name. And best of all Tom never gets fired over false accusations which is something I was dreading.
Overall it's a very enjoyable book.
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