Horatio Alger (1832-1899) was the American author of prodigiously popular and influential juvenile novels and biographies.

Horatio Alger was born in Revere, Mass., the son of a Unitarian minister. The fervent father so rigorously supervised his son's early training that at 9 the boy was known as "Holy Horatio." Soon he was doing superior work at Gates Academy and, later, at Harvard, from which he graduated at 19. After a few years as a tutor and journalist, he acceded to his father's wishes and enrolled in the Harvard Divinity School; he received his diploma in 1860. But instead of entering the ministry, thanks to an unexpected inheritance he was enabled to go abroad, and free from parental supervision he enjoyed 7 months of bohemian travel. Returning home, he served as a Unitarian minister until 1866, when he moved to New York to make it his home until his very last years.

Having already...