Horatio Alger

"Ragged Dick" was contributed as a serial story to the pages of the Schoolmate, a well-known juvenile magazine, during the year 1867. While in course of publication, it was received with so many evidences of favor that it has been rewritten and considerably enlarged, and is now presented to the public as the first volume of a series intended to illustrate the life and experiences of the friendless and vagrant children who are now numbered by thousands in New York and other cities. Several characters in the story are sketched from life. The necessary information has been gathered mainly from personal observation and conversations with the boys themselves. The author is indebted also to the excellent Superintendent of the Newsboys' Lodging House, in Fulton Street, for some facts of which he has been able to make use. Some anachronisms may be noted. Wherever they occur, they have been admitted, as aiding in the development of the story, and will probably be considered as of little importance in an unpretending volume, which does not aspire to strict historical accuracy.

Born and raised in Northeast Ohio, James A. Garfield became the twentieth President of the United States in 1881. His time as President was brief: he served only four months before he was shot in a railroad station by a man who was angry because Garfield would not give him a job. The wound became infected, and Garfield died several months later. In response, From Canal Boy to President was published to immediate success. It was often reprinted and widely read, well into the twentieth century. This biography provides only the basic details of Garfield's life, avoiding nuance, controversy, and partisan politics. But many generations of young Americans read it, and so it remains important today as a record of what late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Americans believed and wanted to believe about their nation, the potential of its public institutions, and how the political process can work to promote distinguished leaders to our highest office. The book illustrates Garfield's growth and character to support ideas about life in America that have long been cherished. For example, From Canal Boy to President describes Garfield's capacity for hard work through a series of humble jobs--he worked on farms and on the canal as a boy, and he worked as a carpenter and as a janitor to get through college. It also describes how his love of learning, his great study habits, and his development of public speaking skills led to success as a teacher, professor, college president, military commander, lawyer, and statesman.

"Here's a letter for you, Doctor Mack," said the housekeeper, as she entered the plain room used as a library and sitting-room by her employer, Doctor Ezekiel Mack. "It's from Walter, I surmise." This was a favorite word with Miss Nancy Sprague, who, though a housekeeper, prided herself on having been a schoolmistress in her earlier days. "Indeed, Nancy. Let me see it. Walter is really getting attentive. His last letter came to hand only two days since. He hasn't forgotten his old guardian." "Oh, no, sir. He'll never do that. He has a predilection for his old home. His heart is in the right place." "Just so. I wish I felt as sure about his head." Doctor Mack adjusted his spectacles, for he was rising sixty, and his eyes required assistance, and opened the letter. As he read it his forehead contracted, and he looked disturbed. A perusal of the letter may help us to understand why. It ran as follows: "DEAR GUARDIAN: You will be surprised at hearing from me so soon again, but I am really forced to write. I find college life much more expensive than I supposed it would be. A fellow is expected to join two or three societies, and each costs money. I know you wouldn't have me appear mean. Then the students have been asked to contribute to a fund for the enlargement of the library, and almost every day there is a demand for money for one object or another. As it is nearly the end of the term, I calculate that with a check for an extra hundred dollars I can get along. I am awfully sorry to ask for it, but it will come out of the money father left me, and I am sure he would wish me to keep up appearances, and not fall behind the rest of the boys.

Ernest Ray is a young boy who sets out to reclaim the inheritance that was unjustly with held from his father and given to a cousin. He must fight bank robbers and befriends Indians during his adventure. Horatio Alger, Jr. authored about seventy books. He was the son of a clergyman, graduated from Harvard. His stories are pure, inspiring and as endearing today as they were when first published.