Horatio Alger Jr.
1) Ragged Dick
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Ragged Dick (1868) is the first in a series of six novels by American author Horatio Alger. In each, Alger uses the Protestant work ethic as a template to not only examine the harsh realities of urban poverty, but provide a hopeful, concrete moral for his young readers.
Dick is a teenage bootblack who lives and works on the streets of New York City. Despite his difficult circumstances, he never loses hope. Dick is determined to both survive and make...
2) The Cash Boy
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A group of boys was assembled in an open field to the west of the public schoolhouse in the town of Crawford. Most of them held hats in their hands, while two, stationed sixty feet distant from each other, were "having catch." Tom Pinkerton, son of Deacon Pinkerton, had just returned from Brooklyn, and while there had witnessed a match game between two professional clubs. On his return he proposed that the boys of Crawford should establish a club,...
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Herbert did not look forward with very joyful anticipations to the new engagement he had formed. He knew very well that he should not like Ebenezer Graham as an employer, but it was necessary that he should earn something, for the income was now but two dollars a week. He was sorry, too, to displace Tom Tripp, but upon this point his uneasiness was soon removed, for Tom dropped in just after Mr. Graham had left the house, and informed Herbert that...
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Horatio Alger tells the story of young boy from New York, thrust into the heart of poverty, but who makes his way up in the world through a combination of pluck and luck. Mostly luck. Although Dan does a good job of acting a gentleman and not wasting the money he comes across, fortune is practically dumped on his luck by several overly generous strangers who seem to take a liking to him out of nowhere.
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A young boy supports his family through earnest labor and honesty. Unlike most Alger novels, the plot keeps the unlikely circumstances to a minimum. The one strange event being the affair of the valuable ring, which occupies the last half of the book. This device eliminates the usual rescue by an influential rich man, but it does still require a reputable rich man to vouch for Paul honesty in circumstances that would never occur in the real world....
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The book takes the reader through the Children's Lodging House, the Bowery Theatre, and the Fulton ferry, besides giving one a description of the life of bootblacks, match boys, apple girls, Bowery B'hoys and other assorted street creatures living in New York.
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Ben Bruce, 15, lives on a farm near Boston with his mother and mean stepfather. He is not allowed to attend school past the 8th grade but his stepfather gets him a job as an apprentice shoemaker. However, Ben leaves home to seek his fortune in New York City. After several exciting and threatening experiences on the boat from Boston to New York, Ben settles in New York. After briefly selling newspapers, Ben, gets a part in a play, and does well as...
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Tom is a fifteen-year-old boy who lives in New York City with an old man named Jacob in Mrs. Flanagan's rooming house. They pose as grandfather and grandson, but, while Tom understands that they are no real relation, he knows nothing about his real family. Tom makes a living for them both as a street bootblack. Just before Jacob dies, he tells the boy that he is really Gilbert Grey, the son of a wealthy Cincinnati, OH, businessman named John Grey....
14) Facing the World
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It was a terrible night. None of the passengers ventured upon deck. Indeed, such was the motion that it would have been dangerous, as even the sailors found it difficult to keep their footing. Harry was pale and quiet, unlike his friend from Brooklyn, whose moans were heard mingled with the noise of the tempest.
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The class of boys described in the present volume was called into existence only a few years since, but they are already so numerous that one can scarcely ride down town by any conveyance without having one for a fellow-passenger. Most of them reside with their parents and have comfortable homes, but a few, like the hero of this story, are wholly dependent on their own exertions for a livelihood.
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Among our public men there is not one whose life can be studied with more interest and profit by American youth than that of Abraham Lincoln. It is not alone that, born in a humble cabin, he reached the highest position accessible to an American, but especially because in every position which he was called upon to fill, he did his duty as he understood it, and freely sacrificed personal ease and comfort in the service of the humblest. This is the...
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"Ragged Dick and Struggling Upward" by Horatio Alger is a captivating tale that resonates with young audiences through its timeless themes and compelling narrative. This classic work of juvenile fiction follows the journey of a young protagonist navigating social challenges and striving for success in 19th-century America.
Alger's story revolves around Dick Hunter, whose determination and resilience epitomize the classic rags-to-riches narrative....
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Augustus Fitz-Herbert, as all are aware, Having crossed the Atlantic, and got a moustache on, likewise being son of a known millionaire, stands of course on the very top round of the fashion. Being taught to consider himself, from his birth, as one of the privileged ones of the earth, he cherishes deep and befitting disdain for those who don't live in the Fifth Avenue, as entirely unworthy the notice or thought. Of the heir of two millions and nothing...