Wait and Hope

Or, A Plucky Boy's Luck

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Pages: 163

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About this book

Ben Bradford comes home from the Milltown factories with news that threatens his family's small income. Dull business has cost him his job, and his aunt's sewing earns little beside the wages he has brought home. His friend James Watson has a comfortable household to fall back on, while Ben starts thinking about another way to earn. The contrast gives Horatio Alger's children's novel a clear concern: how a boy meets uncertainty when other people depend on him.

Ben's motto, "Wait and Hope," reflects the cheerful attitude he tries to share with his worried aunt and young cousin Tony. A later scene turns from money troubles to Emma, a little girl drawn away by a kindly woman who mistakes her for her own child and locks her in a bedroom. Family responsibility, trust and caution give the story its interest for readers of older fiction about young people's choices.

About the author

Horatio Alger

Horatio Alger Jr. was an American author who wrote young adult novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to middle-class security and comfort through good works. His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on the United States from 1868 through to his death in 1899.