Monthly Newsletter of the HORATIO ALGER SOCIETY. The World's Only Publication Devot• ed to That Wonderful GUEST EDITOR World of Horatio Alger. Carl T. Hartmann Vol. 9 No. 6&7 4907 Allison Dr. Feb.-March 1971 Lansing, Mi. 48910 Founded 1961 by Forrest Campbell & Kenneth Butler
wrote for the next thrity years have become known; the stories of poor boys, most of the or• HORATIO ALGER, JR.: phaned, trying to make a living, His Influence, and Those and to become successful. They Who Influenced Him were bootblacks, newsboys, bag• gage-smashers, and match-boys. By Gilbert K. Westgard II All had in common their poverty and their dreams of success. Horatio Alger's name is today By writing about them, Horatio a synonym for a concept of Alger made himself a wealthy and industry, thrift, honesty, successful author whose name is morality, virtue, and the self• even today remembered while he made individual. But, what do himself is almost forgotten.l most people know of the man himself? Almost forgotten -- but not quite. After all, who could for- Horatio Alger was a real per• get an author whose works have sold son. The son of a Unitarian more than those of Dickens, Thackeray, clergyman, he was born on Friday, Hemingway, Faulkner and Lloyd C. the 13th of January, 1832 at Douglas, combined?2 Chelsea, (now Revere) Massach• The influence of Alger on the usetts. Like his father, he lives of generations of Americans too, became a graduate of Harvard from the mid 1860's until after the College, graduating in the dis• end of the First World War would be tinguished class of 1852. almost impossible to calculate. Even while he was still in school A few years ago in an effort to his name was becoming known to assess his influence on prominent the American public. Various men in the government I wrote to a articles and short stories number of individuals asking them if from his pen had begun to appear they had read Alger's books in their in some of the popular magazines youth, what they remembered about of the day. them, and if they felt that these books had a message for the youth of Eventually moving to New York today. Three of the answers received City, just after the Civil War, he fo~nd the material for which are as follows: over one hundred books that he Can't on page #3 NEWSBOY FEBRUARY-f'1ARCH 1971 A sheet to list your boy relatives HORATIO ALGER SOCIETY of Junior age 4-18 in case you, as a member, wish to sponsor any or all of them as Junior Alger Club member. To further the philosophy of Horatio Alger Jr. and to encourage the spirit One additional thought. Let's of Strive and Succeed that for half correspond with eachother. Select a century guided Alger's undaunted a name from the new roster. Let's heroes - lads whose struggles epit• enjoy our hobby to the utmost omized the Great American Dream and flamed hero ideals in countless PF-264, George C. Clarke millions of young Americans. ************************************* PRESIDENT'S COLUMN OFFICERS I hope to see many of you May 14, JUDSON S. BERRY PRESIDENT 15 & 16, 1971 at 3801 W. 4lst St., LEO (BOB) BENNETT VICE-PRESIDENT Sioux Falls, S.D. Any of you that DAN FULLER TREASURER have a camper can headquarter in my CARL T. HARTMANN SECRETARY yard. Lots of room but I will need KENNETH B. BUTLER DIRECTOR your space reservation ahead of time. RALPH CARDNER DIRECTOR FORREST CAMPBELL DIRECTOR So far the schedule fer the con• vention is as follows: The NEWSBOY, the official organ of the Horatio Alger Society is May 14th. Registration during the published monthly except January afternoon at my house (1/4 mile and July, and is distributed free east of Interstate 29 exit). We to Society member. Membership will have a smorgasboard in the fee for any twelve month period evening with book displays and is $5.00. visiting.
NEWSBOY recognizes Ralph D. May 15th. During the morning we Gardner's HORATIO ALGER, or the will visit the Pettigrew Museum and American Hero Era, published by various antique shops in the area. Wayside Press, 1964, as the lead• At 3 P.M. we will hold the annual ing authority on the subject. meeting at the Park Ridge Valley National Bank. Our Banquet and ~lease use membership roster for .. awards will be at 6:30 with speak• mailing address of our officers. er at the Normandy Restaurant. *********************************** May 16th. We will have a scrambled NOTES FROM GEORGE egg parting breakfast at my home and I will provide a church sche• To add to your enjoyment as a dule for all those who wish to "Par tic' lar Friend", each member of attend. HAS is invited to send a self• addressed, stamped envelope (.12¢) The hope is to keep the expense for the following. of the convention down so attending will be a minimum hardship on every• A complete list of all Algers with one's pocketbook. alternate titles. A list of available Alg~rs and Let us try in 1971 to give Carl range of prices at which offered. Hartmann his New Years wish and A list of rare Algers, valued at find a new editor for the Newsboy. $5.00 up, but not listed as "Avail• Will close with this thought attri• able." buted to my late beloved mother. An extra sheet for you to list all "Afflictions are but the shadow of your Algers. God's wings." -2- *********************************** rJEHSBOY FEBRUARY-MARCH 1971 Can't from page #1 ficant impression on me. Alger '.s books, I feel, have a message I believe I read every Horatio Al• for today's youth as well. It is ger book which was ever written only through initiative, hard and probably the one that made the work, honesty and dedication .to deepest impression and sticks with duty that our young people wiil me even now is the one that either find success in what~ver venture bore the title or belabored the they pursue. theme of sticking to your bush. Sincerely yours, It began with the story of a group J. Edgar Hoover going forth to gather wild black• Director berries and while most of the Federal Bureau of group scampered from bush to bush Investigation and finally came up with a very small quantity of berries, our References to Alger often turn up hero stuck to his business until in some surprising and unusual places. every berry was in his pail and While reading an article on Mormon• then went on to another. At the ism in a book on "cult religions," end of the day he had a real I found that "Mormonism today appeals harvest. to hundreds of thousands of con• verts for many reasons, but chief It is really too bad that the among them is its enshrinement of Horatio Alger books are not the the frontier values and Horatio vogue for the youngsters of today Alger dreams which form a basic because they could have a real part of our national heritage."3 influence on the youth of America in our time and generation. Having examined briefly the in• fluence of Horatio Alger on the lives Sincerely, of several prominent individuals, and Everett McKinley Dirksen having seen that even today his name Minority Leader is still used as a synonym for suc• United States Senate cess, the question of who were those who influenced him will naturally As a boy and a young man, I was arise. In some cases the influence an ardent reader of the Horatio will be obvious, while in other cases Alger books. I have repeatedly it will be pure speculation. and publicly stated that it should be a "must" with parents to have One of the most powerful influences their children, particularly boys upon the life of Horatio Alger, Jr. growing up, read the Horatio Al• was the personality of his father, ger books. I have found my read• Rev. Horatio Alger, Sr. He was the ing of these books to be most fifth in a direct line of Algers in constructive and influential in America, having descended from one my lifetime. I cannot too strong• Thomas Alger, who appears in Taunton, ly urge the youth of our country Massachusetts, about 1665. 4 .. Horatio, to read the Horatio Alger Books. Sr. was born at Bridgewater, Mass• achusetts on November 6, 1806. In Sincerely yours, 1825 he graduated from Harvard college John W. McCormack and four years later from the Divinity Speaker School at Cambridge, since become a United States House of part of Harvard University. He was Representatives the minister of the Unitarian Church at Chelsea when his son and namesake As a boy, I read with enthusiasm was born. Since the child was deli• Horatio Alger's books for boys. cate he did not attend school with While I cannot point out any other children, but was tutored by specific one of them as my favor• his father. ite, these stories made a signi- -3- Con't on page 4 NEWSBOY FEBRUARY-MARCH 1971 Con't from page 3 PF-312 Gary N. Handler Under his father's direction, 1958 Cambridge Drive young Alger learned quite rapidly. Kent, Ohio 44240 His subjects were French, Latin, Greek and the Bible. When not engaged Gary's field of interest in Alger in his studies he would read from is Bibliophilic and Cultural. He texts that his father had saved from also collects 1st Editions of late his student-days. By the age of eight 19th and early 20th century authors. he could converse with his father in ************************************* three foreign'languages, as well as PF-313 Gary V. Lemon write and sight-translate long pass• 6014 119th St. S.W. ages. Like his father he could also Tacoma, Wash. 98499 quote many parts of the Bible, giving (Judith) chapter and verse references. Both Gary and Judith have been Horatio never had any doubts about collecting Alger for a number of his future. How could he? Like his years but did not know about our father, he would be a minister.5 Society. Glad to have you both aboard. More on page 13 In December, 1844, the Alger fam• *********************************** ily moved to Marlborough. Concerning his further education undertaken in We are happy to welcome PF-252, this new location, Horatio states: Kenneth Kral back. Ken had to drop out for awhile but is once There was in this place a small again an active member. academy in successful operation, *********************************** under the superintendence of Mr.O. W. Albee, a graduate of Brown, We have just been notified that and quite a respectable scholar, Colonel Richard Gimbel has passed though his tastes inclined him away. The Yale University Library Con't on page 5 and our Society has lost a real friend. *********************************** WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS BOOK MART PF-310 R. Ted Kaphengst 15745 San Fernando Mission Blvd~ Strive & Succeed Don. F . 7 5 Granada Hills, Calif. 91344 Joe's Luck Hurst G 2.00 (Uba) T-10 Julius The Street Boy Hurst F 3. 00 Only an Irish Boy Hurst VG 3.00 Ted hopes to add to his collection Tom the Bootblack Don. G 2. 50 thru purchases and/or trades with The Young Outlaw NYB VG 2.50 other HAS members. He is interested The Young Adventurer Hurst F .75 in reading and collecting. Ted is The Young Salesman NYB F 1. 50 also active in the Masons. Adrift in N.Y. Don. VG 2.50 ************************************* Strong & Steady NYB G 2. 50 Brave & Bold NYB G 2. 00 PF-311 Herbert A. Faulkner Struggling Upward Don. G 1. 50 Box 5301 Herbert Carter's Legacy Richmond, Va. 23220 NYB F 1.50 Paul The Peddler Burt VG 3.00 Herbert is particularly interested Paul The Peddler Don. F 1. 50 in the Stratemeyer Algers. His Paul The Peddler NYB G 2.00 other hobbies include old boys and girls books, old western novels Above offered by: and breeding fancy mice. Betty Lee Johnson ************************************* 705 Palm Blvd. Isle of Palms, S.C. 29451 -4- *********************************** NEWSBOY FEBRUARY-MARCH 1971 Con't from page 4 ton in 1776, and was located within walking distance of the'college. rather to mathematics and the physical sciences than to the Writing to Alger on December 14, classics. To these my own tastes 1875, Longfellow asked about using were directly opposed: possibly some of Horatio's pieces in a col• this was of advantage to me as lection. He was informed, " I shall it tended to equalize the time be only too happy to have them used.117 which I devoted to these various In the same .letter Alger reminded branches. Though the idea had his former instructor of an incident long entertained, now for the that probably Longfellow had long first time I commenced a course since forgotten. of study preparatory to entering college. Beneath the elm trees " Years since, when at college, I in front of Gates' Academy (for remember calling upon you with so it was called) I have conned a classmate, and I shall not soon many a lesson in Latin, Greek, forget the kindness with which and mathematics. Unfortunately you received the two inexperienced for the interest of my narrative, boys whose visit might have been nothing remarkable happened to regarded by many as an intrusion." me in the three years following. "No moving incidents by fire and Louis Agassiz taught Horatio's flood" have I to relate, by re• course in geology. The distinguished citing which I might like another geologist had come to the United Othello win a second Desdemona. States in 1846, only ten years after I suppose my time was occupied in starting his research into the sub• about the same way that others ject of great glacial movements in have passed it when placed in the1past.8 His theory as to the similar circumstances. In sp~ak• vastness of time involved in the ing, therefore, of the impressions earth's past was new and not readily made upon me at this time I should accepted in a society accustomed to only be quoting from the exper• the belief that the world was created ience of many. Horace speaks in 4004 B.C. not unadvisedly where he says, "It is difficult to speak pro• In 1857 Horatio wrote a slim perly of the things we have in poetical volume entitled, Nothing common." My preparatory studies To Do, in which the main character, being completed a year before I Augustus Fitz-Herbert is described, actually entered college, I pass• along with a reference to Alger's ed the intervening time in read• former teacher. ing "ad libitum" several of the modern languages, which approach• He inclines, as I think, in re• ed as nearly to the famous sweet gard to the masses, idleness as could be desired.6 In a modified form to the views of Agassiz: Horatio was accepted as a student As that Adam the first had another by Harvard College in 1848. Some for w e e d i n v , of the professors with whom ~e came And other such jobs, in the gar• in contact are worthy of note. den of Eden; While Eve has a gousemaid--the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow taught wife of the latter, classes in modern languages. He Of color uncertain--perhaps a had been appointed to this position mulatto, in 1835. After his second marriage, Who lives in the kitchen, cooks, (his first wife having died in 1835), washes, and starches, he purchased the Craigie House in Cambridge. This mansion had been Con't on page 6 the headquarters of General Washing- -5- NEWSBOY FEBRUARY-MARCH 1971 was such that he earned a prize Can't from page 5 for Greek composition in 1851. Felton judged Alger's work and wrote While Eve in the parlor plays his comments at the end of the paper. waltzes and marches; And that those who perforce There are several errors in this bear the burdens of life version, partly in the use of Date their origin back to this words, and some in inflections: man and his wife, but it is, on the whole, deserv• While from Adam the first are ing of the prize, being generally descended the few correct, and showing a good deal Who are blest with long purses of attention and labor. and nothing to do.9 Political science was taught by Edward Tyrrel Channing was Charles Sumner. It was Sumner who Alger's instructor in the field in later years, as Senator from of rhetoric and oratory. His full Massachusetts, led the anti-Johnson title was Boylston Professor of forces in impeachment proceedings. Rhetoric and Oratory. He was ap- pointed in 1819. When Alger entered college he was selected to fill the office of This post he held for 32 years, President's Freshman. His function resigning it in 1851. was to perform the official errands of the President. For this service During all this time, the de• he received about forty dollars and partment of rhetoric and ora• rent of his room. The man he served tory, including the charge of was Edward Everett, Governor of Mass• all the English compositions of achusetts from 1836 to 1840, U.S. the students, and carrying Minister to England from 1841 to great influence over their 1845, and remembered by many as the reading and tastes, was filled "other speaker" on the occasion of by him with more than satisfac• the consecration of the national tion to the public of reading cemetery at Gettysburg, when and thinking men. Abraham Lincoln delivered his immor• tal address. He declared that He established and maintained Lincoln's speech would live for for the college a high reputa• generations after his own (Everett's) tion for purity and elegance of two-hour effort was forgotten.11 style in composition and elocu• He was correct. tion, and gave direction to the reading of an entire generation In his second year at Harvard of leading men in all depart• Alger met Addison Brown who had ments of intellectual labor ... taken his first year of college at He was highly esteemed for the Amherst. They were to be roommates charm of his conversation, which for the remainder of their under• was choice and pure in style, graduate days. with an occasional use of a restrained but effective humor.10 Brown's story is echoed in some of Alger's later stories of poor The influence of his former. boys who aspire to get an education. teacher is strongly in evidence in His father had gone broke only four all of Alger's writing. Alger years previously. However, the used humor, but in a restrained, younger Brown went to work in a effective manner. shoe factory to pay his expenses and to save up money for his education. Horatio studied Greek under the eminent classical scholar Cornelius Can't on page 7 Conway Felton. His scholarship -6- NEWSBOY FEBRUARY-MARCH 1971 self at Cambridge as a private tutor. Con't from page 6 In 1862 he declined a ca~tl from the He studied in his leisure time, Unitarian Society at Alton, Illinois, and recited to the head of an aca• though two years later he would ac• demy who had urged him to prepare cept the call from a Unitarian for college. After graduation from Church at Brewster, Massachusetts, Harvard, he took up the study of where h~ would remain for two years. law, and eventually became a United States Judge of the District Court During the time that he was at for the Southern District of New Brewster, Alger made a couple of York. Remembering his college days trips to New York City. Seeing the he made provision for the establish• thriving metropolis, Alger knew ment of the Addison Brown Scholar• that here was the place for him. ships both at Harvard and Amherst However, one must still earn a living, colleges.12 and the world was not yet familiar enough with his name so that he For several years after his could be certain of a living wherever graduation from Harvard, Alger did he might go. some teaching·and some writing for a few of the popular literary Through his sister, Olive Augusta magazines of the day. Always, Alger Cheney, a popular authoress though, his father urged him to of literature for children, Horatio continue his studies to fit him• came into contact with William self for the ministry. Taylor Adams, better known under the name "Oliver Optic." Entering the Harvard Divinity school in 1857, he graduated in Adams was the editor of a popular 1860. The father was pleased. juvenile publication, Student and Schoolmate. He was ten years older Soon he was off to Europe with than Horatio, and had already pub• his cousin, George Fenno, and a lished some of Olive's pieces. He classmate from his undergraduate could not use the book-length story days, who had also graduated from that Horatio presented to him, but the Harvard Divinity School. His sent the clergyman-author to see name was Charles Carroll Vinal. Aaron K. Loring.
While in Europe, Horatio wrote His story was Frank's Campaign; various articles and stories which or, What Boys Can Do On the Farm for appeared later in American news• the Camp. It was a tale of a boy papers and magazines. In one left to care for the home-front article he described the funeral while his father went off to the.war. of Eugene Scribe, and then did It was accepted by Loring, and pub• quite a scholarly biography of the lished in 1864. The next year late French dramatist which appear• Loring published his story entitled, ed in the North American Review. Paul Prescott's Charge. Three more books followed in 1866 and 1867. By Upo' n their return to the United this time Horatio had given up the States in 1861, both Alger and ministry for good, moved to New Vinal accepted calls from Unitar• York City, and had at last become ian congregations in the state of an author. Massachusetts. Vinal went to North Andover, where he remained He was now his own man -- not for fourteen years, while Alger just an extension of his father. went to Dover for eight months. Con't on page 8 He still was not certain that the ministry was for him, and in December, 1861, established him- -7- FEBRUARY-MARCH 1971 NEWSBOY FOOTNOTES Can't from page 7 l Gilbert K. Westgard II, "A In 1867, his story, Ragged Dick, Synonym For Success," Newsboy, appeared in the pages of Student volume 8, number 3, October, and Schoolmate. It is the story 1969, p.8 that launched him as an all-time best-selling author of books for 2 Frank Gruber, Horatio Alger, Jr. boys.13 For the next thirty years A Biography and Bibliography, he would rewrite the basic theme of p .11 Ragged Dick more than one hundred times, become the most popular 3 Tracy Cabot {ed •)I Inside the author in the country, and would Cult~, pp. 21-22 make and spend a fortune. 4 New-England Historical and Ragged Dick brought him to the Genealogical Register, volume attention of Charles O'Connor, 36 superintendent of the Newsboys' Lodging House in New York City 5 Ralph D. Gardner, Horatio Alger, since its founding in 1853. Here or The American Hero Era, p.59 was a book that was suitable for his young charges to read, and here 6 Horatio Alger, Jr., "Nothing So was a lodging-house full of boys Difficult As The Beginning," for the young author to use as unpublished manuscript source material for further books about the "street Arabs" of New 7 --·----- "Letter to Henry York. From that time on the Wadsworth Longfellow," December Newsboys' Lodging House became 16, 1875 Alger's New York Home.14 It was years later that O'Connor, while 8 Anne Terry White, Prehistoric listening to Alger read the open• America, pp. 9-16 ing paragraphs of Adrift In New York, passed peacefully away. 9 Gilbert K. Westgard II, Alger Street The Poetry of Horatio Alger wrote the eulogy of Alger, Jr., pp. 21-22 his close friend. 10 The Americana, volume 5, article When the time came for him to on Edward Tyrrel Channing speak he forgot the lengthy encomiums he had carefully 11 The World Book Encyclopedia, p.2335 prepared. Instead he said: "Charles O'Connor was the best 12 Grace Williamson Edes, Annals of friend that man or boy could the Harvard Class of 1852, have. God was good in giving pp. 29-33 him to us. No one can say how much he meant to us. Every• 13 Gardner, op. cit., p. 450 where boys know the man Charles O'Connor was. He was the best 14 Herbert R. Mayes, Alger A Bio• friend I have ever known. He graphy Without A Hero, p.101 was the kindest and the least selfish. I loved him--all of 15 John Tebbel, From Rags to Riches us loved him. God will find a Horatio Alger, Jr., and the place for him close to His American Dream, p. 130 throne.1115 Can't on page 9 When Horatio Alger, Jr. died in 1899 there were many who could have said the same things of him. -8- NEWSBOY FEBRUARY-MARCH 1971 Con't from page 8 ------"A Synonym For Success," Newsboy, volume 8, number 3, BIBLIOGRAPHY October, 1969
Alger, Horatio, Jr., "Letter to The World Book Encycolfedia, Chicago, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow," W.F. Quarrie & Company, 1936 December 16, 1875, Harvard College, Archives, Cambridge, * * * * * * * * * Massachusetts Negative microfilm of: "The Disagreeable Woman" 5.00 ------"Nothing So Difficult As The Beginning," unpublished Offered by:. manuscript, Class Book of 1852, Gilbert K. Westgard II Harvard College, Archives, 92 North 900 East Cambridge, Massachusetts Provo, Utafu 84601
The Americana, New York, Scientific •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• "Horatio Alger or the American Hero American Compiling Dept., 1910 Era" by Ralph Gardner - 2 copies. $9.50 each post paid. Cabot, Tracy (ed.), Inside The Cults, Los Angeles, Holloway Offered by: House, 1970 Judson s. Berry Edes, Grace Williamson, Annals of 3801 West 4lst St. the Harvard Class of 1852, Souix Falls, S.D. 57106 Cambridge, Privately Printed, ************************************ 1922 Earnest Sanford,PF-032, reports Gardner, Ralph D., Horatio Alger, that PG-157, Wardney White has or The American Hero Era, passed away. Mr. White was over Mendota, Illinois, Wayside 90 and was a ardent Alger Fan. Al• though Wardney hasn't been active Press, 1964 in our Society for a few years his interest in Alger was very great. Gruber, Frank, Horatio Alger, Jr. We know that all that came in con• A Biography and Bibliography, West Los Angeles, Grover Jones tact with him will miss him greatly. ************************************ Press, 1961
Mayes, Herbert R., Alger A Bio• The following have stated that they 5 graphy Without A Hero, New will be in Sioux Falls - Will you??? York, Macy-Masius, 1928 Dan Fuller, Jack Row, Carl Hartmann, New-England Historical and Genea• Bob Bennett, Judson Berry, Ralph logical Register, Boston, Gardner, Carl Thieme. David Clapp & Son,1882 ************************************
Tebbel, John, From Rags to Riches On Jan. 13th. Max Goldberg gave Horatio Alger, Jr., and The a talk to the Revere Kiwanis Club American Dream, New York, on Alger. The talk was given on Macmillan, 1963 Alger's 139th. birthday and we hope to run it in a future issue of the Westgard, Gilbert K. II, Ai~er NEWSBOY. Street The Poetry of Horatio If Max's health holds out he is Alger, Jr., Boston, J.S. Canner, planning another Memorial service 1964 for Alger in July. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
-9- NEWSBOY FEBRUARY-MARCH 1971 ADVERTISED LEI'TERS - - IN ALGER'S DAY
In certain Alget' stories, 50 ·R;;~;;-~-ri~i;;g..~~ .. d ..~ :;~~pir.g paper; BOOK STORE. ~00 pl-;:Lt'!I J..'&pel' hangmg~; 3~.J Willow bMiketa &.c . Boo~s. 8hocs, Hal! and Cnpe, an extensive aMOtt. such as RAGGED DICK, chapter · GEORGE GOODMAN re. ment which will be sold at lower prices· thin can ho ;j spectfuUy infonn the pub. purchased in this citr. 24, page 264 in the P&C edi• lie that he hae opened u store C. L .. BRISTOL. -.::..:- on Main.st, (in NILES,) Detroit, Oct. I, 1836. tl441· tion, and in CHARLIE CODMPN1S where he intends to keep a general and complete aeeort, CRUISE, chapter23, page 202 ment of STRAYED, in the Winston edition, and ROM the subscriber, in NoYember Inst. a reel • F three year o!d s·cer. Whoc,·er w;u return sa.id BOOKS &. STATIONERY, :;:cer. or give infor:nation where he m"y he found. in other stories you may re• which he will sen at very low prices. shall be liberaly reworded. HIRAM OWEN. He hae nc-v crt hand, a vn r'ery of standard and pop, ¥...abmazoo, Jan.18, 1837. tl42t member of reading about such ular works, school books, bibles in verioue forms=-some very elegant, ulank.books, writing.paper, &:·c· &c. advertised letters. We expect in a few daya to receive a fll!ther sup)'.>!Y NOTICE. of hooks, including the lnreat pu1 I'eaucns, togctherlw.th ') all per;o:1s whom t:us may concPrn. oome elegant ANNUALS for 1637. . . T Kuow !hat on the twc~l'cth dav of Ju. Merchanto supplied with Books and Stntumeryat lib. k, E•g'ite~n Hnndr'·d Thirty Five', W::i. Here is an actual listing era! mtea, : ~142w3 "r. NJeo, 0<~ 12, 1836. Woodn1ff, of F!ourli<'ld, St. Joserh co .. '>11;•J which was printed in the ::)'ate of lHich1:;an, dirl cx.~cute a note of tw() Kalamazoo Gazette in the year LIST OF LETTERS, hundred and sixty dol!:-trs or.d twenty-3<·vcn E'l'IAINING in the Po3t Offi:e. in Kalamazoo, cents,-unto Samuel llfoKyee, of the· rlace of 1837. I a'.ovc named. That said 1wte, has endorse. R~ January 1, 1837. Persons ealli11g for the fellow, ing letters will please say ndvertired. ment on it, and is payah!e onl.l day af!er. date, Wm. Andrews Dic!csian He53 nnd that I have good lawfol ass01• sufficient Kalamazoo was still in its Truman Averill Abvu.ham Hughes Thomas J. Angol Joshua Hiska to pay sa[d note, and do forb:d all persons infancy as far as our fron• Lewis Adams Henry W. Hoague Buying said note, T. D. Austin Reaain Holmes The saicl note is in.the hands of Jercmiala tiers and national progress Jomes Anderson J\lr. Heyd~~burg Humphrey of Kafo.n'lnzoo, Joseph Allen :2 Onnnn Hunt is concerned. There were Joseph Atherton L~wis JoJinson 2 *144w3 Wm. WOODRUFF. Philaader JI!. Bucklin Gideon or Joseph 1obnaon Dated, Kalamazoo, January 7, 1837. only a few hundred people in Philander Bishop Cotton Kimball 2 Elisha Belcher 2 'I'hos Kennard the area and many of them, it Geo. C. Barclay Ann Kent NOTICE Goo. Barclay Robert Love s hereby g;ven, that so mucli of the following deacri. seems, had more important A. P. &, Horace Bush Martin Lathrop I bed Iota of lnnd, llituated in the county of Kalama.. John Dryeno Stephen Loveland zoo, Michignn, as may be· necessary to satisfy the taK• things to do besides making a Rowland Buel or Zena Loyd ea assessed thereon, for. th~ year one thousand eight Henry Chapin Albert Lawrence hundred ond"thirty.three,togl'thorwith tho intoreot an4 daily trip to the post office. John J. Barnard Clement March 5 charges will be sold at public auction, at the ~ Manassah Bixby J. R. Monroe house, ln tbe village of Ka•am3700, on the oecou,d dar Henry P. Bridge Samuel Millard of October next. .i ten o'clock in the forenoon: Mary Baldwin Samuel Millard Jr. According to the posted Luciw Bolrwood C. Mason m TUE.· TOlTI!'SlllJ' OF 11•~1'. Leonard Bronson John Meachum · \Sec. IT. ~1~~·1~ Vaine~ date, they were a bunch of •-;temtnt Diddle jr. Benjamin l\la..itin · Dola. Cta. Dola. Cta. I;
-10- NEWSBOY FEBRUARY-MARCH l971
WAS LOVE BLIND FOR HORATIO? The records show that many did not un• til it was too Lat.e , Vias liora.tio unsure 111!.'hat has got into me? I cannot of his chances of a happy successful me r= fix my mind upon my work. I am no ried life? He may have led a tormented longer on the verge of destitution, life as 8 single man. His work required or compelled to labor for a. mere of him many hours of solitude. Could he pi.t.tance ; yet my mind is less at acni.eve success as a writer s.nd be a hap• ease than when I hardly knew where pily married man at the same time? the next cay 1 s food was to come from." Other successful vr-L ters were married, to be sure; but was their marrib.ge a suc• The above quote was written by the cessful one. Th~.t was an unknown c1uan• Alger pen, and is actually a part of a tity and it may have disturbed him no cert&in Alger story. Does a writer some• end, and be the cause of many hours of times create a character in order to give torment. voice to his own feelings? The above quote was known to have been written no The above quotation which has been later than 1883. By that time many of taken out of context, deals with a love h Ls stories had been accepted and pub• aff~ir; a triar,gle, if you please, where lished and there is no reason why he the young lady rejects the suit of one, should not consider himself a successful while hopeful of gaining the attentions '~ ri ter f'Lna ncially. If he was expressing of ~nother. In rejecting the proposal his own mood why woul.d he not feel at of one suitor, the young lady gave this ease? response:
It has been said that a truli great ar• "I hope that time may soften what• tist does his best work in periods of de• ever disappointment you feel •. Par• pression and is inspired by his mood with don my saying that you have never ap• an urge to express his personal feelings .peared to me the one ~an with whom I through the medium of putting words into .should wish to walk through life, the mouth of a charact.er created for the e.nd this being the case, I should purpose. wrong both myself and you by ac• cepting you." Rut Horatio was not depressed or suffer• ing, at least from his fina.ncicl affairs. Could this be one of the situations If the above reasoning has any merit, then Horatio hoped to avoid? Had he ever ex• his periods of inspiration should be at a perienced r. similar situation before, low ebb, and there would be little incen• and hoped to avoid another'l tive for him to do his best work. Decisions, decisions. Wouldn't it make If Horatio's lack of inspiration did not you cautious if confronted with a similar stem from f'Lnanci.e .L problems, then what embarrassing situation? On the other else is left? Could it have been loneli• hand, what are the feelings of the young ness? Love? Yes, perhaps love. It is a lady? Again, we return to the text: definitely established fact that Horatio never married, but nothing has ever been "Just then, too, lifting her eyes established about any possible love inter• she met the gaze of ----fixed upon ests. her with an intensity which she could not fail to interpret. 'He loves me!' It would be a human natursl thing if he she thought, an:l. the thqught gave her did exoerience an occasional romance. no displeasure." Perhap~ he did. Who knows for sure? Yet & yearning for marite..l bliss did mt seem I am convinced that Horatio was re• to be uppermost in his mind; ~t least it cording his own feelings as well as some does not seem evident according to authen• of his own past experiences, but then, tic records. Would he have known the read the story for yourself in THE TRAIN real thing if it came along? BOY. (Copyright, Forrest Campbell, 1971) -11- NEWSBOY FEBRUARY-MARCH 1971 NEW YORK CITY DURING THE TIME OF Greeley immediately incurred the HORATIO ALGER JR. wrath of a great many people in the By Jack Bales northern part of the country. Thou• HORACE GREELEY (Concluded) sands of subscribers to his Tribune cancelled their subscriptions. The On December 4, 1839, Horace weekly, which had a circulation of Greeley entered politics, when he 250,000, lost about 200,000 subscrib• reported on the Whig National Con• ers. The daily suffered too, but not vention held in Harrisburg, Penn• to such a great extent as the weekly. sylvania. Later, Greeley helped "The bitterness died down, but not in the Whig presidential campaign out. Greeley lost much of his hold, for Harrison, and soon became very which he never regained, nor did the interested in politics. weekly Tribune ever come back to its former proportions in either circula• Horace Greeley's Tribune was tion or influence." famous for its hard-hitting edit• orials. Therefore, the paper's In May, 1872, Greeley relinquished large circulation gave Greeley the the editorship of the Tribune, for opportunity to deliver his politi• on May 1st of that year, the Liberal cal opinions. Party met in convention in Cincinnati, and accepted Greeley as a nominee for The question of slavery soon came President of the United States. to Greeley's attention, and by the Greeley, who ran against Grant, lost middle 1800's, he was a staunch the election, receiving 66 electoral supporter of abolition. votes to Grant's 286. In the popular vote, 2,834,125 votes were cast for In 1860, Greeley was a delegate Greeley, while Grant received to the Republican National Conven• 3,597,132. tion. He helped promote the nomination of Abraham Lincoln to Mary Greeley died on October 30, the presidency, and he supported 1872. November 5th was election day. Lincoln through the Civil War. On November 7th, Greeley resumed the editorship of the Tribune. In the A major blow came to Greeley in issue on the 7th, an editorial which May, 1867, when he and twenty was written by Greeley appeared, others signed a bail bond for which announced that from then on $100,000, which released Jefferson he would treat all parties with equal Davis from his imprisonment in favor. However, he didn't have much Fortress Monroe. Davis, former time to do any writing, for on Novem- President of the Confederacy, was ber 29, 1872, Horace Greeley succumb• suspected of being responsible ed to a sickness that had been ailing for the assassination of Abraham him for a long time. Lincoln, and was therefore captured by Michigan cavalry, on May 10, 1865. "There was an immediate and nation• wide revulsion of feeling. Horace Greeley believed that Davis should Greeley had done so much for liberty, have been tried for treason in 1865 so much for human welfare, had done when the murder occurred, not two it so tirelessly, so unselfishly, and years later, when old and violent at such sacrifice, that all the land feelings might be rekindled, which went into mourning over the man it would cause more harm than good. had lately covered with odium. There He also thought that the trial were no enemies left." would only agitate the South, and * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * would furthermore cost a gre~t deal of money. Therefore, he sign• One last remark about Horace Greeley. ed the bail bond. Although it is usually attributed to
-12- NEWSBOY FEBRUARY-MARCH 1971 Greeley, it was not he who coined Jack Bales has had the honor of the expression, "Go West young being the first person in the history man." Actually, a man named John of the Phi Alpha Literary Society Soule originated it. Soule was to win its Award twic& for the best publisher of the Terre Haute declamation of the semester. Then Express, and first used the expres• all the men's literary societies sion in an 1851 editorial. gave a literary program before the * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * whole school and Jack, representing Phi Alpha with another declamation, Horatio Alger would sometimes took first plaee. He was also mention Horace Greeley in his books elected alumni secretary by unan• In Ragged Dick, Dick Hunter twice imous vote~ Jack attends Illinois' spoke of the famous man: "'In College. course they are. (I.e., Baxter *********************************** Street tailors are fashionable) Me and Horace Greeley always go I would like to take this oppor• there for clothes. When Horace tunity to thank Jack Bales for bring• gets a new suit, I always have one ing the ·By-laws up to date and Ken made just like it; but I can't go Butler for his history of the Alger the white hat. It ain't becomin' Society both of which appeared in to my style of beauty.'" Also, the 1971 Roster. "'Sometimes I was a newsboy, and * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * diffused intelligence among the masses, as I heard somebody say once in a big speech he made in DO YOU HAVE A FLARE FOR WRITTING? the Park. Them was the times WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE YOUR NAME IN when Horace Greeley ... made money.'" PRINT? HOW ABOUT A BY-LINE OR BETTER YET "EDITOR" AFTER YOUR NAME. WE NEED SOURCE: Seitz, Don. Horace Greeley. A NEW ED I TOR. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED DROP A NOTE TO PRESIDENT STEVE PRESS NEXT: Wickedness and depravaty OR SECRETARY CARL HARTMANN. NOW IS in New York. The Five Points, THE TIME TO ACT. DON'T BE BASHFUL, prostitution, and baby killing WRITE NOW AND MAYBE THE JOB CAN BE are all touched upon. YOURS. MATERIAL NEEDED! ! ! We need research material on Alger. If PF-314 David K. Kanarr you have information you would I ike to 1032 14th. St. share with our members write it up now and Bellingham, Wash. 98225 send to ye old secretary Carl Hartmann. If you would like to do some research here David is a "stalwart Alger are some suggestions. 1st edition titles - admirer and collector. He learned date and pub I isher. Ralph Gardners book, of us thru Herb Risteen. "He~b HORATIO ALGER or THE AMERICAN HERO ERA, was more than kind to me which gives us 1st edition pub I ishers and dates speaks well both of him and your but does not include the reprint titles. Society" Glad to have you with , If you have a copy of ALGER STREET, The us David. Poetry of Horatio Alger Jr. edited and * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * arranged by PF-024, Gi lber K. Westgard, you wi 11 find most of Alger's poetry, but * * * how about the obscure poems in newspapers When an optimist gets up in the morning, he says: "Good morning, Lord." and magazines. If you know of any write When a pessimist gets up in the morning, he says: it up for the NEWSBOY. Many of our new "Good Lord' Morning!" members and quite a few of our older members do not have as much information as they would I ike, so whatever you have - share. -13- f·JEWSBOY FEBRUARY-MARCH 1971 FEBRUARY, 1970 other local-colorists we frequently read about. They too, were contemporaries of Alger and all had the same general charac• VICE PRESIDENT'S COLUMN teristics of crudeness and ornamentality-• by Bob Bennett, PF 265 stock metaphors applied to Alger's works.
Still another local-color writer of LET'S GIVE HORATIO HIS DUE this period, Mark Twain, gained fame because of his colloquialisms and lifelike characters. We have all heard the cliches con• Although Alger also employed the prevalent cerning Alger's books--that they are all slang expressions used by the boys of his alike and if you have read one, you have time, he is not remembered for it. read them all. Others say his stories are shapeless and filled with contra• Other Alger contemporaries, Henry James dictions, that his plots are clumsily and Hamlin Garland are remembered because constructed, are didactic and moralizing. of their ability to precisely depict social environments and give attention to details. Now that Horatio has been laid at Many of Alger's books, among them, the rest some 70 years, and his works for• "Tattered Tom" series, properly describe gotten or neglected by his severest the New York Street environment. Others critics, let's take a fresh look at his such as Bob Burton are typically Alger in accomplishments in the field of American their minuscule accounting of his heros' literature. money-saving ventures.
I submit that Horatio Alger did as Alger certainly carried this writing much, if not more, than any other author style to the west in his "Pacific" series. of his period in ushering in the age of His true-to-life descriptions of the frontier realism in American literature. It is parallel the accuracy of Garland and Harte. disturbing to find him so completely rejected or ignored by our literary Upton Sinclair and Ernest Poole are historians. ranked leaders in the realistic school of writers devoted to the literature of protest. The local-color movement is generally Here, too, Alger is overlooked as his Phil, thought of in connection with the birth The Fiddler, was a major determinant in of realism in American literature. Local• effectively bringing about social change by color fiction is that which concerns itself aiding in the elimination of the "padrone with everyday occurences in a particular system." locality and is characterized by the use of local dialects and sectional interests Perhaps Alger's works are not classified and con.duct. Bret Harte's "Luck of Roaring with those of the so-called "giants" of Camp" (1870), is generally given plaudits literature, but their significance and wide as the first of the well-received local• appeal cannot be denied. Alger did make a color stories. contribution and deserves recognition for this impact in his time. I cannot help but However, comparing Harte's story with think, that although few will admit it, the Alger's Ragged Dick, I find that both, "Alger fonnula" is often still at work today. from a purely literary point of view, have Let's give credit where credit is due. the same general deficiencies. The two stories each rely on stock situations and ************************ both suffer from weak sentence construction which results in a similar type of inco• Alger is also overlooked as a poet, herency. Interestingly enough, Alger's although on few occasions, his poem, "John story, a true local-color story of .the Maynard" is considered by some to have merit. contemporary New York scene, not only pre• The poem does appear in The Family Book of ceded Harte's by two years, but outsold it Best Loved Poems, Doubleday, 1952, and is by a wide margin. listed among the selections in the section entitled "Favorite Poems of Adventure on Edward Eggleston, Joel Chandler Harris, Land and Sea." George W. Cable and Sarah Orne Jewett are -14- FEBRUARY-MARCH 1971 ~~EWSBOY STRUGGLING UPWARD Here is one of my favorite Alger poems, 5y "Little Charlie," which is a part of the Herb L. Risteer: collection of short stories and poems that make up Alger's first book, Bertha's l 2 3 4 6 8 9 Christmas Vision. H I D A w N s 10 LITTLE CHARLIE c A N 0 R A I 12 A Violet grew by the river-side, 0 R A And gladdened all hearts with it's bloom; While over the fields, on the scented air, R N It breathed a rich perfume. But the clouds grew dark in the angry sky, And its portals were opened wide; And the heavy rain beat down the flower s T E That grew by the river-side. E L Not far away, in a pleasant home, H R u There lived a little boy, Whose cheerful face and childish grace 0 R s E R 0 0 K Filled every heart with joy. 34 He wandered one day to the river's verge, I s L E s A p s E With no one near to save; 36 And the heart that we loved with a boundless M E D E s s M E E love Was stilled in the restless wave.
The sky grew dark to our tearful eyes, NOTES FROM MEMBERS And we bade farewell to joy; For our hearts were bound by a sorrowful tie Ed Levy is spending his 47th To the grave of the little boy. " successive winter in Florida and The birds still sing in the leafy tree would be pleased to hear from That shadows the open door: any HAS PF who will be his way. we heed them not; for we think of the voice His Address in Florida is: That we shall hear no more. Ed Levy 100 Sunrise Ave. we think of him at eventide, Palm Beach, Florida 33480 And gaze on his vacant chair with a longing heart, that will scarce believe Ed has over 78,000, that's right, That Charlie is not there. 78,000 Dime Novels and has started we seem to hear his ringing laugh, to break them down into categories, And his bounding step at the door; such as Circus, Feminine Writer, But, alas! there comes the sorrowful thought, Reporter & Journalist, Etc .. we shall never hear them more! He gave the STREETS OF NEW YORK CITY COLLECTION, which is unique we shall walk sometimes to his little grave, as it includes only Dime Novels In the pleasant summer hours; which have the name of N.Y. City we will speak his name in a softened voice, Street in its title or sub-title, And cover his grave with flowers; to the New York Historical Society We will think of him in his heavenly home, last year. There were more than His heavenly home so fair; " 1000 such Dime novels in it. And we will trust with a hopeful trust ************************************ That we shall meet him there. Ralph Gardner will be giving a ************************ series of Alger lectures at the
-15- NEHSBOY FEBRUARY-MARCH 1971
University of Wyoming in May. The University would like some reading There will be three sponsors of the copies before Ralph's lecture. If statewide movement, namely the Kiwanis you have any that you would like to Club of Revere, of which William Di donate drop Ralph a line and he Carlo, a member of the city council will make all arrangements so they and a 1970 candidate for the mayoralty, will be put to good use. is 1970-1971 president, with Clarke *********************************** as the club's secretary; the Mass• achusetts State Chamber of Commerce, Edwin M. Gross, PF-283, has just Inc. now in its 8lst year; and our added 12 Porter & Coates in nice Society as co-sponsors. condition and one "Western Boy" by Thompson & Thomas. He now has 91 Our objective is to "Close the different titles. Ed works in a Generation Gap." Two-colored "ALGER department store - printing and REVIVAL" posters will be used in signs. He has printed his own every classroom in Massachusetts from stationary and it is terrific. An Grade 4 to Grade 9 featuring a blown• Alger display was featured in the up picture of Alger; that of the late window of his store from his Former President Dwight David Eisen• collection. hower and Roger Babson both of the ************************************ later having long since acknowledged the very great influence of Alger in What do the words Large, Regal, their lives. Glare & Lager have in common? Answer - next issue. (If you don't Slogans will be sent to all Mass• know we may drum you out of the achusetts newspapers, daily, weekly and Society). Ralph Gardner Sunday, s UC h as "GET SMART, READ ALGER II, ************************************ etc.
PF-000, Forest Campbell and his In Revere, on Alger's birthday, wife Rachel are now vacationing in visits will be arranged in groups to Alabama. His address is: the Alger Birthplace under teacher Forrest Campbell guidance and each child will be given 355 S. Mobile Ave. Apt. 4 a well-typed, mimeograph brochure on Fairhope, Alabama 36532 "Alger, His Works and His Influence". ************************************ An essay contest will follow on "My Impressions of Alger, Revere Native." WRITE FOR IT And much more.
The formation of Junior Alger Two junior clubs are already started Clubs in all 50 states and in the with Joseph A. Festa and William Dominion of Canada is well under- Di Carlo as Alger Councillors. way under 1970 Convention authority, *************************************** delegated to George C. Clarke of Massachusetts by the Board of Direct• REMINDER ors at its October 24th session in Mendota, Ill.
Revere, birthplace of Horatio Because of the nature of the Alger Jr., has been chosen as the material used in this issue we prototype community with an imme• decided to combine the Febr~ary diate goal of 300 juniors, sponsored and March NEWSBOYS. Any material by HAS members. for the April (Convention issue) should be in by March 15th.
-16-