"Ragged Dick" was contributed as a serial story to the pages of the
Schoolmate, a well-known juvenile magazine, during the year 1867.
While in course of publication, it was received with so many
evidences of favor that it has been rewritten and considerably
enlarged, and is now presented to the public as the first volume
of a series intended to illustrate the life and experiences of the
friendless and vagrant children who are now numbered by thousands
in New York and other cities.

Several characters in the story are sketched from life. The
necessary information has been gathered mainly from personal
observation and conversations with the boys themselves. The author
is indebted also to the excellent Superintendent of the Newsboys'
Lodging House, in Fulton Street, for some facts of which he has been
able to make use. Some anachronisms may be noted. Wherever they
occur, they have been admitted, as aiding in the development of the
story, and will probably be considered as of little importance in
an unpretending volume, which does not aspire to strict historical
accuracy.

The author hopes that, while the volumes in this series may prove
interesting stories, they may also have the effect of enlisting the
sympathies of his readers in behalf of the unfortunate children whose
life is described, and of leading them to co-operate with the
praiseworthy efforts now making by the Children's Aid Society and
other organizations to ameliorate their condition.

New York, April, 1868