Oliver Optic 
Desk and Debit or, The Catastrophes of a Clerk [EPUB ebook] 

DESK AND DEBIT is the third of THE UPWARD AND ONWARD SERIES, in which Phil Farringford appears as a clerk. The principal events of the story are located in Chicago and on Lake Michigan – the latter, perhaps, because the author finds it quite impossible to write a story without a boat, which also involves the necessity of a broad sheet of water, or a long river. In this, as in its predecessors, evil-minded characters are introduced, to show the contrast between vice and virtue; but the hero, in whom the sympathies of the reader are supposed to be centred, is still faithful to his Christian duties, still reads his Bible, and prays without ceasing.