Other editions of book Only an Irish Boy

Andy Burke is as witty as he is hard-working, even if he is "only an Irish boy!"Horatio Alger was once crowned "America's bestselling author of all time." His works are back and they read like never before. E-books come alive with illustrations, commentary, author biography, study questions and more. You will fall in love with these stories of success!

"John, saddle my horse, and bring him around to the door."The speaker was a boy of fifteen, handsomely dressed, and, to judge from his air and tone, a person of considerable consequence, in his own opinion, at least. The person addressed was employed in the stable of his father, Colonel Anthony Preston, and so inferior in social condition that Master Godfrey always addressed him in imperious tones.John looked up and answered, respectfully:"Master Godfrey, your horse is sick of the disease, and your father left orders that he wasn't to go out on no account.""It's my horse," said Godfrey; "I intend to take him out.""Maybe it's yours, but your father paid for him.""None of your impudence, John," answered Godfrey, angrily. "Am I master, or are you, I should like to know!""Neither, I'm thinking," said John, with a twinkle in his eye. "It's your father that's the master.""I'm master of the horse, anyway, so saddle him at once.""The colonel would blame me," objected John."If you don't, I'll report you and get you dismissed.""I'll take the risk, Master Godfrey," said the servant, good-humoredly. "The colonel won't be so unreasonable as to send me away for obeying his own orders."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.

Andy Burke is as witty as he is hard-working, even if he is "only an Irish boy!"Horatio Alger was once crowned "America's bestselling author of all time." His works are back and they read like never before. E-books come alive with illustrations, commentary, author biography, study questions and more. You will fall in love with these stories of success!

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

"John, saddle my horse, and bring him around to the door." The speaker was a boy of fifteen, handsomely dressed, and, to judge from his air and tone, a person of considerable consequence, in his own opinion, at least. The person addressed was employed in the stable of his father, Colonel Anthony Preston, and so inferior in social condition that Master Godfrey always addressed him in imperious tones. John looked up and answered, respectfully: "Master Godfrey, your horse is sick of the disease, and your father left orders that he wasn't to go out on no account." "It's my horse," said Godfrey; "I intend to take him out." "Maybe it's yours, but your father paid for him." "None of your impudence, John," answered Godfrey, angrily. "Am I master, or are you, I should like to know!" "Neither, I'm thinking," said John, with a twinkle in his eye. "It's your father that's the master."

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Horatio Alger was a man who lived with a terrible secret -- a secret dark and troubling -- something shameful, in fact. As a young man, that secret took hold of his life, and he left the life and the life's work he had made for himself in Boston, to take up residence among the poor in New York City. Ensconced there, he worked among the poor -- and took to writing tales of their success. His novels captured the imagination of a nation bursting with a new wave of immigrants who'd come to our shores -- come to the very port of New York City that was Alger's new home. He used the wealth that came to him to help the poor folks who he loved, and took his secret to the grave.It escaped from there, of course. You can find it if you look a bit. But for the purpose of this fine novel of the rise to riches, it will remain unstated . . .