Mark the Match Boy is the third volume in Alger's "Ragged Dick Series." Between the first and third volume, Richard Hunter, or "Ragged Dick" as he was known, has found a good job and gained some education. Eventually he and a friend help a boy named Mark, who tried to earn a living selling small boxes of matches. Mark becomes Richard's ward. While this is happening, they are trying to locate the grandson of a wealthy man named Hiram Bates. It turns out that Mark is the missing grandson. Horatio Alger was a strong proponent of sound social values. He preached against smoking, drinking and wasting time and money. Two boys in the book show what happens when they don't follow Alger's advice. They have low-paying jobs, and rather than work hard to get ahead, one talks the other into stealing from his employer. Of course, he is caught and loses his job. Included in this Illustrated Edition of the 1869 version of "Mark, the Match Boy" are all three of the original illustrations, rejuvenated, and 10 additional illustrations of New York City that are unique to this edition of the book.
Mark the Match Boy is the third volume in Alger's "Ragged Dick Series." Between the first and third volume, Richard Hunter, or "Ragged Dick" as he was known, has found a good job and gained some education. Eventually he and a friend help a boy named Mark, who tried to earn a living selling small boxes of matches. Mark becomes Richard's ward. While this is happening, they are trying to locate the grandson of a wealthy man named Hiram Bates. It turns out that Mark is the missing grandson. Horatio Alger was a strong proponent of sound social values. He preached against smoking, drinking and wasting time and money. Two boys in the book show what happens when they don't follow Alger's advice. They have low-paying jobs, and rather than work hard to get ahead, one talks the other into stealing from his employer. Of course, he is caught and loses his job. Included in this Illustrated Edition of the 1869 version of "Mark, the Match Boy" are all three of the original illustrations, rejuvenated, and 10 additional illustrations of New York City that are unique to this edition of the book.
*This Book is annotated (it contains a detailed biography of the author). *An active Table of Contents has been added by the publisher for a better customer experience. *This book has been checked and corrected for spelling errors."Mark, the Match Boy," is the third volume of the "Ragged Dick Series," and, like its predecessors, aims to describe a special phase of street life in New York. While it is complete in itself, several characters are introduced who have figured conspicuously in the preceding volumes; and the curiosity as to their future history, which has been expressed by many young readers, will be found to be gratified in the present volume.The author has observed with pleasure the increased public attention which has been drawn to the condition of these little waifs of city life, by articles in our leading magazines, and in other ways; and hopes that the result will be to strengthen and assist the philanthropic efforts which are making to rescue them from their vagabond condition, and train them up to be useful members of society. That his own efforts have been received with so large a measure of public favor, not limited to the young readers for whom the series is especially written, the author desires to express his grateful thanks.
"I have two children," she said, "a daughter and a son. The son has recently graduated from college, and is now travelling in Europe. My daughter is now twenty-six years of age. She was beautiful, and our social position was such that my husband, who is a proud man, confidently anticipated that she would make a brilliant match. But at the age of nineteen Ellen fell in love with a clerk in my husband's employ. He was a young man of good appearance and character, and nothing could be said against him except that he was poor. This, however, was more than enough in Mr. Graham's eyes. When Lawrence Brent asked for the hand of our daughter, my husband drove him from the house with insult, and immediately discharged him from his employ. Ellen was high-spirited, and resented this treatment of the man she loved. He soon obtained a place quite as good as the one he had lost, and one day Ellen left the house and married him. She wrote to us, excusing her action, and I would gladly have forgiven her; but her father was obdurate. He forbade my mentioning her name to him, and from that day to this he has never referred to her. In late-nineteenth-century New York City, fifteen-year-old Frank Kavanagh's job as messenger boy brings him many adventures, new friendships, and eventually a great improvement in his fortunes. 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.
