Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 137

This Beadle dime novel from June 1881 features "Happy Harry, the Wild Boy of the Woods" by Oll Coomes. The narrative follows sixteen-year-old Happy Harry, a skilled woodsman living along Lake St. Clair, who communicates with birds through expert mimicry and roams the forest with his massive mastiff, Belshazzar. When the dog discovers blood, Harry investigates and unearths an injured Ottawa Indian girl named Eeleelah, hidden beneath leaves with a severe head wound. Harry tenderly nurses her back to consciousness, bathing and bandaging her injury despite her initial fearful withdrawal. As she slowly recovers, a suspicious stranger approaches—a white man disguised as an Indian. The opening establishes a frontier adventure narrative combining wilderness survival skills, unexpected encounters, and hints of dangerous intrigue in the isolated forest setting.