Horatio Alger, Jr

Horatio Alger, Jr. 1 Horatio Alger, Jr.

Horatio Alger, Jr.

Born January 13, 1832 Chelsea, Massachusetts, U.S.

Died July 18, 1899 (aged 67) Natick, Massachusetts, U.S.

Pen name Carl Cantab Arthur Hamilton Caroline F. Preston Arthur Lee Putnam Julian Starr

Occupation Author

Nationality American

Alma mater Harvard College, 1852

Genres Children's literature

Notable work(s) Ragged Dick (1868)

Horatio Alger, Jr. (January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was a prolific 19th-century American author, best known for his many juvenile novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty. His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on America during the Gilded Age. Alger's name is often invoked incorrectly as though he himself rose from rags to riches, but that arc applied to his characters, not to the author. Essentially, all of Alger's novels share the same theme: a young boy struggles through hard work to escape poverty. Critics, however, are quick to point out that it is not the hard work itself that rescues the boy from his fate, but rather some extraordinary act of bravery or honesty, which brings him into contact with a wealthy elder gentleman, who takes the boy in as a ward. The boy might return a large sum of money that was lost or rescue someone from an overturned carriage, bringing the boy—and his plight—to the attention of some wealthy individual. It has been suggested that this reflects Alger's own patronizing attitude to the boys he tried to help. Alger secured his literary niche in 1868 with the publication of his fourth book Ragged Dick, the story of a poor bootblack's rise to middle-class respectability, which was a huge success. His many books that followed were Horatio Alger, Jr. 2

essentially variations on Ragged Dick and featured a cast of stock characters: the valiant hard-working, honest youth (who knew more Latin than the villain), the noble, mysterious stranger (whom the poor boy rescued and by whom he got rewarded), the snobbish youth (cousin), and the evil squire (uncle). In the 1870s, Alger took a trip to California to gather material for future books, but the trip had little influence on his writing. In the last decades of the 19th century, boys' tastes changed, and Alger's moral tone coarsened accordingly. The Puritan ethic had loosened its grip on America, and violence, murder, and other sensational themes entered Alger's works. Public librarians questioned whether his books should be made available to the young. By the time he died in 1899, he had published around a hundred volumes.

Biography

Childhood: 1832–1847 Horatio Alger, Jr. was born in the New England coastal town of Chelsea, Massachusetts, on January 13, 1832, to Horatio Alger, a Unitarian minister, and his wife Olive Augusta Fenno.[1][2] He was the descendant of Plymouth Pilgrims Robert Cushman, Thomas Cushman, William Bassett, and the descendant of Sylvanus Lazell, a Minuteman and brigadier general in the War of 1812; and Edmund Lazell, a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1788.[3] Horatio's siblings Olive Augusta and James were born in 1833 and 1836, and an invalid sister Annie and a brother Francis in 1840 and 1842.[4] Alger was a precocious boy afflicted with nearsightedness and bronchial asthma,[5][6] but Alger, Sr. decided early that his eldest son would one day enter the ministry, and, to that end, he tutored the boy in classical studies and allowed him to observe the responsibilities of ministering to parishioners.[7] Alger began attending the Chelsea Grammar School in 1842,[8] but by December 1844 his father's financial troubles had increased considerably and, in search of a better salary, he moved his family to Marlborough, Massachusetts, an agricultural town 25 miles west of Boston. He was installed as pastor of the Second Congregational Society in January 1845 with a salary sufficient to meet his needs.[9] Horatio attended Gates Academy, a local preparatory school, and completed his studies at age fifteen. He published his earliest literary work in local newspapers.[]

Harvard and early works: 1848–1864 In July 1848 Alger passed the Harvard entrance examinations, and was admitted to the class of 1852. The fourteen-member full-time Harvard faculty included Louis Agassiz and Asa Gray (sciences), Cornelius Conway Felton (classics), James Walker (religion and philosophy), and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (belles lettres). Edward Everett served as president. Alger's classmate Joseph Choate described Harvard at this time as "provincial and local because its scope and outlook hardly extended beyond the boundaries of New England; besides which it was very denominational, being held exclusively in the hands of Unitarians".[] Horatio Alger, Jr. 3

Alger flowered in the highly disciplined and regimented Harvard environment, winning scholastic prizes and prestigious awards.[10] His genteel poverty and less-than-aristocratic heritage however barred him from membership in the Hasty Pudding and Porcellian clubs.[11] In 1849 he became a professional writer when he sold two essays and a poem to the Pictorial National Library, a Boston magazine.[12] He began reading Sir Walter Scott, James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, and other modern writers of fiction and cultivated a lifelong love for Longfellow, whose verse he sometimes employed as a model for his own. He was chosen Class Odist, and graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1852, eighth in a class of 88.[13]

Alger had no job prospects following graduation and returned home. He continued to write, submitting his work to religious and literary magazines with varying success.[14] He briefly attended Harvard Alger, July 1852 Divinity School in 1853, possibly to be reunited with a romantic interest,[15] but left in November 1853 to take a job as an assistant editor with the Boston Daily Advertiser.[16] He loathed editing and quit in 1854 to teach at The Grange, a boys' boarding school in Rhode Island. When The Grange suspended operations in 1856, Alger found employment managing the 1856 summer session at Deerfield Academy.[17][18] His poems at this time expressed a sexual ambivalence, and were sometimes written in a woman's voice.

His first book, a collection of short pieces called Bertha's Christmas Vision: An Autumn Sheaf, was published in 1856, and his second, a lengthy satirical poem called Nothing to Do: A Tilt at our Best Society, was published in 1857.[19] He attended the Harvard Divinity School from 1857 to 1860, and upon graduation, he did a tour of Europe.[20] In the spring of 1861, he returned to a nation in the throes of the Civil War.[21] Drafted but exempted from military service in July 1863, he wrote in support of the Union cause and hobnobbed with New England intellectuals. He was elected an officer in the New England Genealogical Society in 1863.[22] His first novel Marie Bertrand: The Felon's Daughter was serialized in the New York Weekly in 1864, and his first boys' book Frank's Campaign was published by A. K. Loring in Boston the same year.[23] Alger initially wrote for adult magazines, including Harper's Monthly and Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper; a friendship with William Taylor Adams, a boys' author, led him to write for the young.[24]

Ministry: 1864–1866 On December 8, 1864 Alger was installed as pastor with the First Unitarian Church and Society of Brewster, Massachusetts.[25] Between ministerial duties, he organized games and amusements for the boys in the parish, railed against smoking and drinking, and organized and served as president of the local chapter of the Cadets for Temperance.[26][27] He submitted stories to Student and Schoolmate, a boys' monthly magazine of moral writings edited by William Taylor Adams (Oliver Optic) and published in Boston by Joseph H. Allen.[28] In September 1865 his second boys' book Paul Prescott's Charge was published to favorable reviews.[29][30] Early in 1866, a church committee was formed to investigate sexual misconduct reports about Alger. He denied nothing, admitted he had been imprudent, considered his association with the church dissolved, and left town. Church officials reported to the hierarchy in Boston that Alger had been charged with "the crime of...unnatural familiarity with boys".[31][32] Alger sent Unitarian officials in Boston a letter of remorse, and his father assured them his son would never seek another post in the church. Officials were satisfied and decided no further action would be taken.[33] Horatio Alger, Jr. 4

New York City: 1866–1896

Alger relocated to New York City, abandoned forever any thought of a career in the church, and focused instead on his writing. He wrote "Friar Anselmo" at this time, a poem that tells of a sinning cleric's atonement through good deeds. He became interested in the welfare of the thousands of vagrant children who flooded New York City following the Civil War. He attended a children's church service at Five Points which led to "John Maynard", a ballad about an actual shipwreck on Lake Erie that brought Alger not only the respect of the literati but a letter from Longfellow. He published two poorly received adult novels, Helen Ford and Timothy Crump's Ward. He fared better with stories for boys published in Student and Schoolmate and a third boys' book Charlie Codman's Cruise.[34]

In January 1867 the first of twelve installments of Ragged Dick appeared in Student and Schoolmate. The story about a poor

bootblack's rise to middle class respectability was a huge success. It William Taylor Adams, editor of Student and [35] was expanded, and published as a novel in 1868. It proved to be his Schoolmate bestseller. After Ragged Dick he wrote almost entirely for boys,[36] and signed a contract with publisher Loring for a Ragged Dick Series.[37]

In spite of the series' success, Alger was on financially uncertain ground and tutored the five sons of international banker Joseph Seligman. He wrote serials for Young Israel,[38] and lived in the Seligman home until 1876.[39] In 1875 Alger produced the serial Shifting for Himself and Sam's Chance, a sequel to The Young Outlaw.[40] It was evident in these that Alger had grown stale. Profits suffered, and he headed West for new material at Loring's behest, arriving in California in February 1877.[41] He enjoyed a reunion with his brother James in San Francisco and returned to New York late in 1877 via a schooner around Cape Horn.[42] He wrote a few lackluster books in the following years that rehashed the formulaic Alger of old but this time the tales were played before a Western backcloth rather than an urban one.[43]

In New York, Alger continued to tutor the town's aristocratic youth and to rehabilitate its street boys.[44] He was writing both urban and Western-themed tales. In 1879, for example, he published The District [45] Ragged Dick was serialized in Student and Messenger Boy and The Young Miner. In 1877, Alger's fiction Schoolmate became a target of librarians concerned about sensational juvenile fiction. An effort was made to remove Alger's works from public collections, but the debate was only partially successful, defeated by the renewed interest in Alger's work after his death.[46]

In 1881, Alger informally adopted Charlie Davis, a street boy, and another, John Downie, in 1883; they lived in Alger's apartment. In 1881, he wrote President James A. Garfield's biography, but filled the work with contrived conversations and boyish excitements rather than facts. The book sold well. Alger was commissioned to give Abraham Lincoln a biographical treatment but again it was Alger the boys' novelist opting for thrills rather than facts.[47] Horatio Alger, Jr. 5

In 1882, Alger's father died. Alger continued to produce stories of honest boys outwitting evil, greedy squires, and malicious youths. His work appeared in hardcover and paperback, and decades-old poems were published in anthologies. He led a busy life with the street boys, his Harvard classmates, and the social elite. In Massachusetts, he was regarded with the same reverence as Harriet Beecher Stowe. He tutored with never a whisper of scandal.

Last years: 1896–1899

In the last two decades of the 19th century, the quality of Alger's books deteriorated and his boys' works became nothing more than reruns of the plots and themes of his past.[48] The times had changed, boys expected more, and a streak of violence entered Alger's work. In The Young Bank Messenger, for example, a woman is throttled and threatened with death—an episode that would never have occurred in his earlier work.[49]

He attended the theater and Harvard reunions, read the literary magazines, and wrote a poem at Longfellow's death in 1892. His last novel for adults, The Disagreeable Woman, was published under the pseudonym Julian Starr.[] He took pleasure in the successes of the boys he had informally adopted over the years, retained his interest in reform, accepted speaking engagements, and read portions of Ragged Dick to boys' assemblies.

His popularity—and income—dwindled in the 1890s. In 1896, he had (what he called) a "nervous breakdown"; he relocated permanently to his sister's home in South Natick, Massachusetts.[] After suffering from bronchitis and asthma for two years, he died on July 18, 1899.[50] His death was barely noticed.

Before his death, Alger asked Edward Stratemeyer to complete his Alger gravestone, Natick, Massachusetts unfinished works.[] In 1901, Young Captain Jack was completed by Stratemeyer and promoted as Alger's last work. Alger once estimated that he earned only $100,000 between 1866 and 1896;[] at his death he had little money, leaving only small sums to family and friends. His literary work was bequeathed to his niece, to two boys he had casually adopted, and to his sister Olive Augusta, who destroyed his manuscripts and his letters at his wish.[51]

Alger's works received favorable comments and experienced a resurgence following his death; up until the advent of the Jazz Age in the 1920s, he sold about seventeen to twenty million volumes. In 1926, however, reader interest plummeted and his major publisher ceased printing the books altogether. Surveys in 1932 and 1947 revealed very few children had read or even heard of Alger. The first Alger biography was a heavily fictionalized account published in 1928 by Herbert R. Mayes, who later admitted the work was a fraud.[52][53] Horatio Alger, Jr. 6

Legacy Since 1947, the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans has bestowed an annual award on "outstanding individuals in our society who have succeeded in the face of adversity" and scholarships "to encourage young people to pursue their dreams with determination and perseverance". A 1982 musical, Shine!, was based on Alger's work, particularly Ragged Dick and Silas Snobden's Office Boy.[54]

Style and themes

Alger scholar Gary Scharnhorst describes Alger's style as "anachronistic", "often laughable", "distinctive", and "distinguished by the quality of its literary allusions". Ranging from the Bible and Shakespeare (half of Alger's books contain Shakespearean references) to John Milton and Cicero, the allusions he employed were a testament to his erudition. Scharnhorst credits these allusions for distinguishing Alger's novels from pulp fiction.[55]

Scharnhorst describes six major themes in Alger's boys' books. The first, the Rise to Respectability, he observes, is evident in both his early and late books, notably in Ragged Dick, whose young impoverished hero declares: "I mean to turn over a new leaf, and try to grow up 'spectable." His virtuous life wins him—not riches—but, more realistically, a comfortable clerical position and salary.[56] The second major theme explores Character Strengthened Through Adversity. In Strong and Steady and Shifting for Himself, for example, the affluent heroes are reduced to poverty and forced to meet the demands of their new circumstances. Alger occasionally cited the young Abe Lincoln as Cover of Chester Rand by Alger a representative of this theme for his readers. The third theme is Beauty versus Money, which became central to Alger's adult fiction. Characters fall in love and marry based on the their character, talents, or intellect rather than the size of their bank accounts. In The Train Boy, for example, a wealthy heiress chooses to marry a talented but struggling artist and in The Erie Train Boy a poor woman wins her true love despite the machinations of a rich, depraved suitor.[57]

All of Alger's novels rework the same plot: a young boy struggles to escape poverty through hard work and clean living. However, it is not always the hard work and clean living that rescue the boy from his situation, but rather a wealthy older gentleman, who admires the boy as a result of some extraordinary act of bravery or honesty that the boy has performed. For example, the boy might rescue a child from an overturned carriage or find and return the man's stolen watch. Often the older man takes the boy into his home as a ward or companion and helps him find a better job (sometimes replacing a less honest or industrious boy). According to Scharnhorst, Alger's father was "an impoverished man" who defaulted on his debts in 1844. His properties around Chelsea were seized and assigned to a local squire who held the mortgages. Scharnhorst speculates this episode in Alger's childhood accounts for the recurrent theme in his boys' books of heroes being threatened with eviction or foreclosure, and may account for Alger's "consistent espousal of environmental reform proposals". Scharnhorst writes "Financially insecure throughout his life, the younger Alger may have been active in reform organizations such as those for temperance and children's aid as a means of resolving his status-anxiety and establish his genteel credentials for leadership."[58] Alger scholar Hoyt notes that Alger's morality "coarsened" around 1880, possibly influenced by the Western tales he was writing, because "the most dreadful things were now almost casually proposed and explored". Although he continued to write for boys, Alger explored subjects like violence and "openness in the relations between the sexes Horatio Alger, Jr. 7

and generations"; Hoyt attributes this shift to the decline of Puritan ethics in America.[59] Scholar John Geck notes that Alger relied on "formulas for experience rather than shrewd analysis of human behavior", and that these formulas were "culturally centered" and "strongly didactic". Although the frontier society was a thing of the past during Alger's career, Geck contends that "the idea of the frontier, even in urban slums, provides a kind of fairy tale orientation in which a Jack mentality can be both celebrated and critiqued". He claims that Alger's intended audience were youths whose "motivations for action are effectively shaped by the lessons they learn". Geck notes that perception of the "pluck" characteristic of an Alger hero has changed over the decades. During the Jazz Age and the Great Depression, "the Horatio Alger plot was viewed from the perspective of the Progressive movement as a staunch defense of laissez-faire capitalism, yet at the same time criticizing the cutthroat business techniques and offering hope to a suffering young generation during the Great Depression". By the Atomic Age, however "Alger's hero was no longer a poor boy who, through determination and providence rose to middle-class respectability. He was instead the crafty street urchin who through quick wits and luck rose from impoverishment to riches". Geck observes that Alger's themes have been transformed in modern America from their original meanings into a Male Cinderella myth, and are an Americanization of the traditional Jack tales. Each story has its clever hero, its "fairy godmother", and obstacles and hindrances to the hero's rise. "However", he writes, "[T]he true Americanization of this fairy tale occurs in its subversion of this claiming of nobility; rather, the Alger hero achieves the American Dream in its nascent form, he gains a position of middle-class respectability that promises to lead wherever his motivation may take him". The reader may speculate what Cinderella achieved as Queen and what an Alger hero attained once his middle class status was stabilized and "[i]t is this commonality that fixes Horatio Alger firmly in the ranks of modern adaptors of the Cinderella myth".

Personal life Scharnhorst writes that Alger "exercised a certain discretion in discussing his probable homosexuality" and was known to have mentioned his sexuality only once after the Brewster incident. In 1870 the elder Henry James wrote that Alger "talks freely about his own late insanity—which he in fact appears to enjoy as a subject of conversation". Although Alger was willing to speak to James, his sexuality was a closely guarded secret. According to Scharnhorst, Alger made veiled references to homosexuality in his boys' books and these references, Scharnhorst speculates, indicate Alger was "insecure with his sexual orientation". Alger wrote, for example, that it was difficult to distinguish whether Tattered Tom was a boy or a girl and in other instances he introduces foppish, effeminate, lisping "stereotypical homosexuals" who are treated with scorn and pity by others. In Silas Snobden's Office Boy, a kidnapped boy disguised as a girl is threatened with the "insane asylum" if he should reveal his actual sex. Scharnhorst believes Alger's desire to atone for his "secret sin" may have "spurred him to identify his own charitable acts of writing didactic books for boys with the acts of the charitable patrons in his books who wish to atone for a secret sin in their past by aiding the hero". Scharnhorst points out that the patron in Try and Trust, for example, conceals a "sad secret" from which he is redeemed only after saving the hero's life.[60] Alan Trachtenberg of Yale University points out in his introduction to the Signet Classic edition of Ragged Dick (1990) that Alger had tremendous sympathy for boys and discovered a calling for himself in the composition of boys' books. "He learned to consult the boy in himself", Trachtenberg writes, "[T]o transmute and recast himself—his genteel culture, his liberal patrician sympathy for underdogs, his shaky economic status as an author, and not least, his dangerous erotic attraction to boys—into his juvenile fiction".[61] He observes that it is impossible to know whether Alger lived the life of a secret homosexual, "[b]ut there are hints that the male companionship he describes as a refuge from the streets—the cozy domestic arrangements between Dick and Fosdick, for example—may also be an erotic relationship". Trachtenberg observes that nothing prurient occurs in Ragged Dick but believes the few instances in Alger's work of two boys touching or a man and a boy touching "might arouse erotic wishes in readers Horatio Alger, Jr. 8

prepared to entertain such fantasies". Such images, Trachtenberg believes, may imply "a positive view of homoeroticism as an alternative way of life, of living by sympathy rather than aggression". Trachtenberg concludes "[I]n Ragged Dick we see Alger plotting domestic romance, complete with a surrogate marriage of two homeless boys, as the setting for his formulaic metamorphosis of an outcast street boy into a self-respecting citizen".[62] These two critiques are not necessarily evidence of Alger's intentions in his works or of his personal life.

Works Alger published about 100 poems and odes, most written by 1875. In 1853–54, he published short stories with Gleason's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion and The Flag of Our Nation. Other Gleason publications printed about 100 stories before he began writing for Student and Schoolmate.[63] Alger had many publishers over the decades. His first was A. K. Loring of Boston, and when Loring declared bankruptcy in 1881, Porter & Coates became his second and Henry T. Coates and Company his third. Other publishers include G. W. Carleton, J. S. Oglivie, John Anderson who published the biographies, A. L. Burt, Frank Munsey, Penn Publishing, and Street & Smith. M. A. Donahue and the New York Book Company published inexpensive paperback reprints by the thousands. It is believed there were at least 60 publishers releasing Alger.[64]

Title Date Genre Publication Synopsis/Notes

"Voices of the Past" June Poem. Published in the Boston monthly 1849 magazine Pictorial National Library.

Fair Harvard 1852

"A Welcome to May" 1853 Poem.

Bertha's Christmas Vision: An 1856 Poems and Published by Brown, Bazin and Alger's first book. Autumn Sheaf Short Company of Boston. Stories.

Nothing to Do: A Tilt at Our 1857 Poem. Published anonymously by James Satire about the idle upper classes. Best Society French & Company.

Nothing To Eat 1857

He Has Gone, and I Have Sent 1862 Poem. Published in Harper's Weekly Civil War poem. Him! Nov. 1862

Marie Bertrand 1864 Adult Novel. Serialized by Street & Smith in A kidnapped young woman is reunited with her the New York Weekly. mother, a French countess.

Frank's Campaign; or, What 1864 Juvenile Published by A. K. Loring. First volume of the Campaign Series. Frank Frost Boys Can Do on the Farm for Novel. manages the family farm when his father goes to war. [65] the Camp Alger's first boys' book. Online at Gutenberg

Paul Prescott's Charge: A 1865 Juvenile Published by Loring. Second volume of the Campaign Series. A youth pays Story for Boys Novel. off his deceased father's debts. Online at Gutenberg [66]

Charlie Codman's Cruise: A 1866 Juvenile Published by Loring. Third and final volume of the Campaign Series. A Story for Boys Novel. youth is shanghaied but restored to his home after adventures at sea.

Helen Ford 1866 Adult Novel. Published by Loring. The tribulations of a young woman in NYC before she falls in love with a promising artist.

Timothy Crump's Ward; or, 1866 Adult Novel. Published anonymously by Later reworked as Sam's Ward for the juvenile market. The New Years Loan, And Loring. What Became of It Horatio Alger, Jr. 9

John Maynard: A Ballad of 1868 Poem. Published in Student and A helmsman perishes at the wheel while the ship Lake Erie Schoolmate in January 1868 and burns. Based on an actual incident. then in various publications.

Ragged Dick; or, Street Life in 1868 Juvenile First serialized in twelve First volume of the Ragged Dick Series. A New York New York with the Bootblacks Novel. installments in Student and City bootblack rises to middle class respectability Schoolmate in 1867. Published by through hard work, honesty, and determination. [67] Loring in book format in 1868. Alger's all-time bestseller. Online at Gutenberg

Fame and Fortune; or, The 1868 Juvenile First serialized in twelve Second volume of the Ragged Dick Series. Continues Progress of Richard Hunter Novel. installments in Student and the story of Ragged Dick and his experiences after Schoolmate. Novelization leaving bootblacking for an office job. Online at [68] published by Loring. Gutenberg .

Struggling Upward; or, Luke 1868 Juvenile Published by Loring. Small town boy helps solve bank robbery. Online at [69] Larkin's Luck Novel. Gutenberg

Luck and Pluck; or, John 1869 Juvenile Published by Loring. First volume in the Luck and Pluck Series. Oakley's Inheritance Novel.

Mark the Match Boy; or, 1869 Juvenile Published by Loring. Third volume in the Ragged Dick Series. Richard Hunter's Ward Novel.

Rough and Ready; or, Life 1869 Juvenile Published by Loring. Fourth volume in the Ragged Dick Series. Among the New York Newsboys Novel.

Ralph Raymond's Heir; or, The 1869 Short Story. Published under the pseudonym Merchant's Crime "Arthur Hamilton" for Gleason's Literary Companion.

Ben The Luggage Boy; or, 1870 Juvenile Published by Loring. Fifth volume in the Ragged Dick Series. Boy runs Among the Wharves Novel. away from home and struggles as a luggage carrier in [70] New York. Online at Gutenberg .

Rufus and Rose; or, The 1870 Juvenile Published by Loring. Sixth and final volume in the Ragged Dick Series. Fortunes of Rough and Ready Novel. Sequel to Rough and Ready. Rufus and Rose try to [71] avoid their evil stepfather. Online at Gutenberg

Sink or Swim; or, Harry 1870 Juvenile Published by Loring. Second volume in the Luck and Pluck Series. Raymond's Resolve Novel.

Paul the Peddler; or the 1871 Juvenile Serialized in Student and Second volume in the Tattered Tom Series. Young Fortunes of a Young Street Novel. Schoolmate. Novelization entrepreneur goes from selling candy to owning a [72] Merchant published by Loring. necktie stand. Online at Gutenberg

Strong and Steady; or, Paddle 1871 Juvenile Published by Loring. Third volume in the Luck and Pluck Series. Your Own Canoe Novel.

Tattered Tom; or, The Story of 1871 Juvenile Published by Loring. First volume in the Tattered Tom Series. Jane Lindsay a Street Arab Novel. is a child streetsweeper.

"Friar Anselmo" 1872 Poem. A sinning cleric finds redemption in ministering to the sick.

Phil the Fiddler; or, The Story 1872 Juvenile Published by Loring. Third volume in the Tattered Tom Series. Phil is an of a Young Street Musician Novel. Italian boy enslaved by a padrone.

Slow and Sure; The Story of 1872 Juvenile Published by Loring. Fourth volume in the Tattered Tom Series. Sequel to Paul Hoffman the Young Novel. Paul the Peddler. Paul moves from his street stall to a [73] Street-Merchant retail store. Online at Gutenberg

Strive and Succeed; or, The 1872 Juvenile Published by Loring. Fourth volume in the Luck and Pluck Series. Online at [74] Progress of Walter Conrad Novel. University of Florida Horatio Alger, Jr. 10

Bound to Rise; or, Up the 1873 Juvenile Published by Loring. Seventh volume in the Luck and Pluck Series. Ladder Novel.

Try and Trust; or, The Story of 1873 Juvenile Published by Loring. Fifth volume in the Luck and Pluck Series. a Bound Boy Novel.

Brave and Bold; or, The 1874 Juvenile Published by Loring. First in the Brave and Bold Series. A youth searches Fortunes of Robert Rushton Novel. for his sea captain father.

Julius; or, The Street Boy Out 1874 Juvenile Published by Loring. Fifth volume in the Tattered Tom Series. A boy is West Novel. resettled in the west through the agency of the Children's Aid Society.

Risen from the Ranks; or, 1874 Juvenile Published by Loring. Sixth volume in the Luck and Pluck Series. Harry Walton's Success Novel.

Grand'ther Baldwin's 1875 Poems. Thanksgiving

Herbert Carter's Legacy; or, 1875 Juvenile Published by Loring. Eighth and last volume in the Luck and Pluck Series. The Inventor's Son Novel. A boy and his mother thwart a Squire foreclosing on their cottage.

Jack's Ward; or, The Boy 1875 Juvenile Published by Loring. Second volume in the Brave and Bold Series. Guardian Novel. Reworking of Timothy Crump's Ward.

Seeking His Fortune, And 1875 Other Dialogues

St. Nicholas 1875

The Young Outlaw; or, Adrift 1875 Juvenile Published by Loring. Sixth volume in the Tattered Tom Series. Sam Barlow In The Streets Novel. resists reform.

Sam's Chance; and How He 1876 Juvenile Published by Loring. Seventh volume in the Tattered Tom Series. Sequel to Improved It Novel. The Young Outlaw. Sam improves and finds an office job.

Shifting for Himself; or, Gilbert 1876 Juvenile Published by Loring. Third volume in the Brave and Bold Series. A rich Greyson's Fortunes Novel. youth loses his fortune.

Life of Edwin Forrest 1877 Biography

The New Schoolma'am; or, A 1877 Adult Published anonymously. A privileged young woman changes her name to teach Summer in North Sparta Novella. school in New Hampshire.

Wait and Hope; or, Ben 1877 Juvenile Published by Loring. Fourth and last volume in the Brave and Bold Series. Bradford's Motto Novel. A mill boy is laid off but remains optimistic about his future.

The Western Boy; or, The Road 1878 to Success

The Young Adventurer; or, 1878 Juvenile Published by Loring. First volume of the Pacific series. Western setting. A Tom's Trip Across the Plains novel. boy head west to find gold and help pay the mortgage.

The Telegraph Boy 1879 Juvenile Published by Loring. Eighth and last volume in the Tattered Tom Series. A Novel. penniless boy finds a job as a telegram messenger boy. Last of the fourteen social reform novels begun with [75] Ragged Dick. Online at University of Florida

The Young Miner; or, Tom 1879 Juvenile Published by Loring. Western theme. Second volume of the Pacific series. Nelson in California Novel.

Tony the Hero 1880

The Young Explorer; or, 1880 Juvenile Published by Loring. Western theme. Third volume in the Pacific series Among the Sierras novel. Horatio Alger, Jr. 11

From Canal Boy to President; 1881 Biography Published by John R. Anderson or, The Boyhood and Manhood of James A. Garfield

Ben's Nugget; or, A Boy's 1882 Juvenile Published by Porter & Coates Western theme. Fourth and final volume in the Pacific Search for Fortune novel. after Loring declares bankruptcy. series.

From Farm Boy to Senator: 1882 Biography Published by J. S. Ogilvie and Originally published in serialization by Street & Being the History of the Company. Smith, 1860s. Boyhood and Manhood of Daniel Webster

Abraham Lincoln: the 1883 Biography Published by John R. Anderson. Backwoods Boy; or, How A Young Rail-Splitter Became President

The Train Boy 1883

The Young Circus Rider; or, 1883 The Mystery of Robert Rudd

Dan, the Detective 1884

Do and Dare; or A Brave Boy's 1884 Fight for Fortune

Hector's Inheritance; or, The 1885 Boys of Smith Institute

[76] Helping Himself; or, Grant 1886 Online at UFL Thornton's Ambition

Frank Fowler, the Cash Boy 1887

Number 91; or, The Adventures 1887 of a New York Telegraph Boy

The Store Boy; or, The 1887 [77] Fortunes of Ben Barclay

Bob Burton; or, The Young 1888 Published by The World Ranchman of the Missouri Syndicate Publishing Co., Cleveland, O./NY, NY

The Errand Boy; or, How Phil 1888 Brent Won Success

Tom Temple's Career 1888

Tom Thatcher's Fortune 1888

Tom Tracy 1888

The Young Acrobat of the 1888 Juvenile Circus theme suggested by P. T. Barnum. First Great North American Circus novel. serialized in The Golden Argosy.

Luke Walton; or, The Chicago 1889 Newsboy

The Erie Train Boy 1890

Five Hundred Dollars; or, 1890 Jacob Marlowe's Secret

Mark Stanton 1890

Ned Newton; or, The Fortunes 1890 Juvenile First serialized in The Golden Argosy. of a New York Bootblack novel. Horatio Alger, Jr. 12

A New York Boy 1890

The Odds Against Him; or, 1890 Carl Crawford's Experience

Dean Dunham; or, The 1891 Waterford Mystery

Digging for Gold. A Story of 1892 California

The Young Boatman of Pine 1892 Point

Cast Upon the Breakers 1893

Facing the World; or, The 1893 Haps and Mishaps of Harry Vane

In a New World; or, Among the 1893 Gold-Fields of Australia

Only an Irish Boy; Or, Andy 1894 Burke's Fortunes and Misfortunes

Victor Vane, The Young 1894 Secretary

The Disagreeable Woman; A 1895 Adult Novel G. W. Carleton Alger's last adult novel. Only one copy is known and Social Mystery held in the Library of Congress.

Frank Hunter's Peril 1896

The Young Salesman 1896

Frank and Fearless; or, The 1897 Fortunes of Jasper Kent

Walter Sherwood's Probation 1897

A Boy's Fortune; or, The 1898 Strange Adventures of Ben Baker

[78] The Young Bank Messenger 1898 Online at Gutenberg .

Jed the Poorhouse Boy 1899 Juvenile A poorhouse boy is discovered to be an English novel. baronet.

Mark Mason's Victory; or, The 1899 Trials and Triumphs of a Telegraph Boy

Rupert's Ambition 1899

Silas Snobden's Office Boy 1899 Doubleday Originally serialized by Argosy under the pseudonym Arthur Lee Putnam.

A Debt of Honor. The Story of 1900 Gerald Lane's Success in the Far West

Falling in With Fortune; or, 1900 The Experiences of a Young Secretary

Out for Business; or, Robert 1900 Frost's Strange Career Horatio Alger, Jr. 13

Ben Bruce. Scenes in the Life of 1901 a Bowery Newsboy

Lester's Luck 1901

Nelson the Newsboy; or, Afloat 1901 in New York

Tom Brace: Who He Was and 1901 How He Fared

Young Captain Jack; or, The 1901 Juvenile Originally serialized in Golden Hours. Promoted as Son of a Soldier Novel Alger's last work. Completed by Edward Stratemeyer as Arthur M. Winfield.

Adrift in the City; or, Oliver 1902 Conrad's Plucky Fight

Andy Grant's Pluck 1902

A Rolling Stone; or, The 1902 Adventures of a Wanderer

Striving for Fortune; or, Walter 1902 Griffith's Trials and Successes

Tom Turner's Legacy 1902

The World Before Him 1902

Bernard Brooks' Adventures. 1903 The Story of a Brave Boy's Trials

Chester Rand; or, A New Path 1903 to Fortune

Forging Ahead 1903

Adrift in New York; or, Tom 1904 and Florence Braving the World

Finding a Fortune 1904

Jerry the Backwoods Boy; or, 1904 The Parkhurst Treasure

Lost at Sea; or, Robert 1904 Roscoe's Strange Cruise

From Farm to Fortune; or Nat 1905 Nason's Strange Experience

Making His Mark 1905

Mark Manning's Mission. The 1905 Story of a Shoe Factory Boy

The Young Book Agent; or, 1905 Frank Hardy's Road to Success

Joe the Hotel Boy, or Winning 1906 Out by Pluck

Randy of the River; or, The 1906 Adventures of a Young Deckhand

The Young Musician; or, 1906 Fighting His Way Horatio Alger, Jr. 14

Ben Logan's Triumph; or, The 1908 Boys of Boxwood Academy

Wait and Win. The Story of 1908 Jack Drummond's Pluck

Robert Coverdale's Struggle; 1910 or, On the Wave of Success

Joe's Luck; or Always Wide 1913 Awake

The Cousin's Conspiracy

In Search of Treasure. The Story of Guy's Eventful Voyage

Notes [1] Hoyt 1974, pp. 7,9 [2] Scharnhorst 1980, p. 17-8 [3] Scharnhorst 1985, pp. 5–6 [4] Alger 2008, p. 277

[5] http:/ / www. online-literature. com/ horatio-alger/ [6] Scharnhorst 1985, pp. 10– [7] Hoyt 1974, pp. 10–1 [8] Hoyt 1974, p. 14 [9] Scharnhorst 1985, pp. 11–3 [10] Scharnhorst 1985, p. 17 [11] Scharnhorst 1985, p. 21 [12] Hoyt 1974, p. 18 [13] Scharnhorst 1985, p. 18-23 [14] Scharnhorst 1985, pp. 26–7 [15] Scharnhorst 1985, pp. 27–8 [16] Scharnhorst 1985, p. 29 [17] Hoyt 1974, pp. 24,28 [18] Scharnhorst 1985, p. 33 [19] Hoyt 1974, pp. 27–8,30–3 [20] Scharnhorst 1980, p. "Chronology" [21] Scharnhorst 1985, p. 54 [22] Scharnhorst 1980, p. 26 [23] Hoyt 1974, pp. 40–8 [24] Hoyt 1974, pp. 49–50 [25] Scharnhorst 1985, p. 64 [26] Scharnhorst 1980, p. 33 [27] Hoyt 1974, p. 4 [28] Scharnhorst 1985, p. 65 [29] Alger 2008, p. 278 [30] Scharnhorst 1980, p. 28 [31] Hoyt 1974, pp. 1–6,60–3 [32] Scharnhorst 1980, pp. 29–30 [33] Scharnhorst 1985, p. 3 [34] Scharnhorst 1980, pp. 30–34 [35] Scharnhorst 1980, p. 34 [36] Scharnhorst 1980, p. 48 [37] Scharnhorst 1980, p. 35 [38] Scharnhorst 1980, p. 35-6 [39] Alger 2008, p. 279 [40] Hoyt 1974, pp. 184–6 [41] Hoyt 1974, p. 187 Horatio Alger, Jr. 15

[42] Hoyt 1974, pp. 187–8 [43] Hoyt 1974, p. 190 [44] Hoyt 1974, p. 199 [45] Hoyt 1974, p. 201 [46] Nackenoff 1994, pp. 250–7 [47] Hoyt 1974, pp. 207–10 [48] Scharnhorst 1980, pp. 44–5 [49] Hoyt 1974, p. 231 [50] Hoyt 1974, p. 232 [51] Hoyt 1974, pp. 19,252 [52] Scharnhorst 1980, p. 141 [53] Hoyt 1974, p. 251

[54] Shine! The Horatio Alger Musical (http:/ / www. shinethemusical. com) [55] Scharnhorst 1980, pp. 73–74 [56] Scharnhorst 1980, pp. 75–6 [57] Scharnhorst 1980, pp. 76–8 [58] Scharnhorst 1980, p. 18 [59] Hoyt 1974, p. 207 [60] Scharnhorst 1980, pp. 37–8 [61] Alger 1990, p. ix [62] Trachtenberg 1990, pp. ix–x [63] Hoyt 1974, p. 243 [64] Hoyt 1974, pp. 247–8

[65] http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ ebooks/ 1573

[66] http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ ebooks/ 293

[67] http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ ebooks/ 20689

[68] http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ files/ 21632/ 21632-h/ 21632-h. htm

[69] http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ cache/ epub/ 5417/ pg5417. html

[70] http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ files/ 28381/ 28381-h/ 28381-h. htm

[71] http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ files/ 25967/ 25967-h/ 25967-h. htm

[72] http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ files/ 659/ 659-h/ 659-h. htm

[73] http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ files/ 25151/ 25151-h/ 25151-h. htm

[74] http:/ / web. uflib. ufl. edu/ ufdc/ ?c=juv& b=UF00026288& v=00001

[75] http:/ / web. uflib. ufl. edu/ ufdc/ ?c=juv& b=UF00047771

[76] http:/ / web. uflib. ufl. edu/ ufdc/ ?c=juv& b=UF00054405& v=00001

[77] http:/ / web. uflib. ufl. edu/ ufdc/ ?c=juv& b=UF00055305& v=00001

[78] http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ files/ 25150/ 25150-h/ 25150-h. htm

References • Alger, Horatio, Jr.; Hoeller, Hildegard (Ed.) (2008). Ragged Dick. Norton Critical Editions. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-92589-0. • Alger, Horatio, Jr.; Trachtenberg, Alan (1990). Ragged Dick. Signet Classic. ISBN 0-451-52480-2. • Hoyt, Edwin P. (1974). Horatio's Boys. Chilton Book Company. ISBN 0-8019-5966-7. • Nackenoff, Carol (1994). The Fictional Republic. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507923-X. • Scharnhorst, Gary (1980). Horatio Alger, Jr. Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0-8057-7252-9. • Scharnhorst, Gary; Bales, Jack (1985). The Lost Life of Horatio Alger, Jr. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-14915-2. Horatio Alger, Jr. 16