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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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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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...
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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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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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The exciting story about a young boy who organizes a junior army while his father is fighting in the Civil War. A very exciting story about heroism, leadership and success. This was Alger's first novel. Courage, honesty, perseverance and application prevail. A great example of personal success story telling from the master, Horatio Alger and a real page turner too! Alger wrote to instill the principle of Strive and Succeed, Personal Growth and Achievement-to...
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Sam isn't too much of a goody-two-shoes, like some Horatio Alger heroes. He even tries to rob his roommate. Then he moves to Boston for a new start and decides to try to become respectable. He walks up Tremont Street stopping in all the stores looking for work. Sam stumbles into a great job in the usual Alger way and becomes quite successful.
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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....
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A short story, set in the USA. A young man in a private school learns that his guardian has lost his inheritance in some poor business dealing; as a result, there is no money left and he must leave the school to make his own way in the world. The story follows his adventures as he escapes being cheated, but is then accused of theft for which another is guilty. Of course, he lands on his feet and builds himself a circle of friends and makes his fortune....
