In presenting "Ben, the Luggage Boy," to the public, as the fifth of the Ragged Dick Series, Horatio Alger desires to say that it is in all essential points a true history; the particulars of the story having been communicated to him, by Ben himself, nearly two years since. In particular, the circumstances attending the boy's running away from home, and adopting the life of a street boy, are in strict accordance with Ben's own statement.