Phil, the fiddler
Horatio Alger
Hardcover
(M.A. Donohue, Sept. 3, 1872)
Rather twee and worthy tale of a young Italin boy sold to a US "padrone" and forced to earn his keep by playing the fiddle on the streets of New York for money. The boy himself is full of life and the characters he encounters are nicely drawn, just skim over the "woe for the poor beggars" asides and the rather dated view of foreign climes. Sweet and engaging all the same.