Horatio Alger Jr.
Adrift in New York
eBook
( Aug. 15, 2011)
John Linden is a very wealthy man. The people who should inherit his property are his nephew, Curtis Waring, his niece Florence Linden, and his long lost son – if alive. John thinks it would be best if Florence and Curtis were married, and makes it a requirement if Florence wishes to have any of the property.
A boy named Dodger was sent to steal one of the wills of John Linden so that Curtis would inherit all the property. But Florence prevents Dodger from stealing, and they become friends… To the shock of her uncle and cousin, she decides to leave her uncle's house with Dodger instead of marrying Curtis. And what then? Would she be able to get used to being poor? And will she be poor for ever? Adrift in New York?
This is a wonderfully moral, yet at the same time superbly entertaining story, and one worth paying any amount to read. Horatio Alger wrote to instill the principle of Strive and Succeed, Personal Growth and Achievement-to attain the American dream.
Horatio Alger was a 19th-century American author who wrote approximately 135 novels. Many of his works have been described as rags to riches stories, illustrating how down-and-out boys might be able to achieve the American Dream of wealth and success through hard work, courage, determination, and concern for others. He is noted as a significant figure in the history of American cultural and social ideals, even though his novels are rarely read these days. After attending Harvard Divinity School from 1857 to 1860, he took a ten-month tour of Europe and produced works of a patriotic nature. Alger's empathy with the young working men, coupled with the moral values he learned at home, formed the basis of the first novel in his Ragged Dick (1867). The book was an immediate success, spurring a vast collection of sequels and similar novels, including Luck and Pluck (1869) and Tattered Tom (1871). Amongst his other works are Five Hundred Dollars; or, Jacob Marlowe's Secret (1890) and The Young Acrobat of the Great North American Circus (1900).