Ragged Dick: Or, Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks
In this classic rags-to-riches tale, discover the exhilarating story of one boy’s metamorphosis from a street urchin in New York City to a handsome, self-respecting gentlemen.
Part coming of age tale and part adventure novel, Ragged Dick is the story of a fast-talking, plucky street boy who gambles, smokes, and has no formal education. But Dick is also hardworking, striving not for wealth and status, but for a steady job, a decent place to sleep, and respectability.
Set amidst the drama and perils of growing up as an outcast in the gritty underbelly of NYC, this novel illustrates the courage, tenacity, and resilience of one young boy who, in the face of adversity, aims to pull himself up…
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July 1, 2014Horatio Alger, Jr. was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1832, the son of a Unitarian minister. He received a strict upbringing and was educated for a life in the church, graduating from Harvard in 1852. After leaving Harvard, Alger, to his father's disappointment, took a job as a historian in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and later worked as a teacher at a boys' boarding school in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. He traveled in Europe for a year, and then returned to the United States in 1857 to complete his studies at the Harvard Divinity School. In 1864, Alger was ordained a minister at the First Parish Unitarian Church of Brewster on Cape Cod. Sixteen months later, however, he was dismissed from the pulpit after being…