Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 22

Juan Lewis's "The Boy Robinson Crusoe," serialized in Beadle's Half-Dime Library, follows fifteen-year-old Julian Adams, an orphan recently bereaved of his mother. Determined to find his estranged uncle, Captain James Kidd, a wealthy sea captain supposedly settled in India, Julian leaves his cottage with two hundred dollars saved in his family Bible. When Squire Lawson attempts to assert guardianship, Julian asserts his right to choose his own guardian—selecting his father's elderly sailor friend, Benny Haven, instead. At Haven's seaside cabin, Julian bids farewell to Maggie Lawson, the squire's daughter and Julian's childhood companion, before confiding his search plans to Uncle Benny, who approves of the venture and offers both financial support and willingness to guard Julian's property during his absence abroad.