Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 126

This 1879 Beadle and Adams pulp weekly contains the serialized adventure "Picayune Pete; Nicodemus, the Dog Detective" by Charles Morris. The opening installment introduces Pete, a cynical, ragged fifteen-year-old orphan fishing alone on the Maumee River near Toledo, Ohio. Annoyed by girls from a nearby picnic party, he throws an eel at them. When a steamboat nearly collides with their canoe, Pete overcomes his misanthropic reluctance and rescues the golden-haired girl swept overboard, swimming her to shore despite the steamer's crew. The captain questions the defiant boy, learning his name is "Picayune Pete" with no last name or family. Pete immediately returns to his fish and flees. Chapter II shifts to Madame Lucon's Select School for Young Ladies in Toledo, where the rescued child, Minnie Ellis, faces stern discipline rather than praise, the headmistress refusing to excuse the breach of rules despite the near-tragedy.