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The Cash Boy
Book by Alger, Horatio
Paperback
First published January 1, 1875
About the author
Horatio Alger Jr.
454 books96 followersHoratio Alger, Jr. (January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was a prolific 19th-century American author, most famous for his novels following the adventures of bootblacks, newsboys, peddlers, buskers, and other impoverished children in their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of respectable middle-class security and comfort. His novels about boys who succeed under the tutelage of older mentors were hugely popular in their day.
Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, the son of a Unitarian minister, Alger entered Harvard University at the age of sixteen. Following graduation, he briefly worked in education before touring Europe for almost a year. He then entered the Harvard Divinity School, and, in 1864, took a position at a Unitarian church in Brewster, Massachusetts. Two years later, he resigned following allegations he had sexual relations with two teenage boys.[1] He retired from the ministry and moved to New York City where he formed an association with the Newsboys Lodging House and other agencies offering aid to impoverished children. His sympathy for the working boys of the city, coupled with the moral values learned at home, were the basis of his many juvenile rags to riches novels 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. This widely held view involves Alger's characters achieving extreme wealth and the subsequent remediation of their "old ghosts." Alger is noted as a significant figure in the history of American cultural and social ideals. He died in 1899.
The first full-length Alger biography was commissioned in 1927 and published in 1928, and along with many others that borrowed from it later proved to be heavily fictionalized parodies perpetuating hoaxes and made up anecdotes that "would resemble the tell-all scandal biographies of the time."[2] Other biographies followed, sometimes citing the 1928 hoax as fact. In the last decades of the twentieth century a few more reliable biographies were published that attempt to correct the errors and fictionalizations of the past.
Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, the son of a Unitarian minister, Alger entered Harvard University at the age of sixteen. Following graduation, he briefly worked in education before touring Europe for almost a year. He then entered the Harvard Divinity School, and, in 1864, took a position at a Unitarian church in Brewster, Massachusetts. Two years later, he resigned following allegations he had sexual relations with two teenage boys.[1] He retired from the ministry and moved to New York City where he formed an association with the Newsboys Lodging House and other agencies offering aid to impoverished children. His sympathy for the working boys of the city, coupled with the moral values learned at home, were the basis of his many juvenile rags to riches novels 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. This widely held view involves Alger's characters achieving extreme wealth and the subsequent remediation of their "old ghosts." Alger is noted as a significant figure in the history of American cultural and social ideals. He died in 1899.
The first full-length Alger biography was commissioned in 1927 and published in 1928, and along with many others that borrowed from it later proved to be heavily fictionalized parodies perpetuating hoaxes and made up anecdotes that "would resemble the tell-all scandal biographies of the time."[2] Other biographies followed, sometimes citing the 1928 hoax as fact. In the last decades of the twentieth century a few more reliable biographies were published that attempt to correct the errors and fictionalizations of the past.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 16, 2015
Despite the hokey writing style, the story of poor but determined Frank Fowler questing for success in mid-19th century New York City is quite good.
June 14, 2018
This is the second of three books I am going to finish that were brought into my Mom and Dad's house when I was a teen or maybe a preteen. I always intended to read them, and now that I am 63, I am getting around to it. The story is of a young boy who becomes orphaned when his mother who adopted him dies. His personal early history is complicated as far as why he was adopted and how. But the book lets you in on it as the story plays out. The boy is of course a polite, honest, hard working, brave individual who faces the kind of things such a boy would face under circumstances like these. In these days, apparently when a boy of about 14 or 15 loses his mother, it is up to him if he goes out on his own. This boy does that. He has to care for a sister in the meantime and runs up against unfair villains who make his life temporarily harrowing. The author refers to the boy as Our Hero once the book gets under way. I have to say that I enjoyed reading the book. It was written for young boys so it is a very easy read. Danger is quickly resolved. And the boy ends up living happily ever after. It is the kind of story I used to love that came on the Lone Ranger and Lassie kind of TV shows. Unrealistic, but charming. I want to add, the book I read is extremely old, and is falling apart. There were 3 pages missing in the middle of the book, and at the very end. Not to worry folks, if this ever happens to you, there is a web site called Wikisource which actually had the whole book and I easily found the missing pages when I needed them to be able to read uninterrupted and finish the book.
July 7, 2012
I really liked the book. The story kept me wanting to read more and as long as a book does that to me, i like it.
February 13, 2021
A beautiful story portraying the power of honesty and truth.
‘The Cash Boy’ features the story of Frank Fowler, an honest boy with an admirable personality who was left with no means to support him following the death of his adoptive mother. Despite learning that he was not the biological son of the family, he was determined to look after the girl he had always known as his sister. Frank was flung into the depths of struggles but he was not ready to give up. Events led him to a dark secret that he was unknowingly a part of, and backed by his determination and uncompromising character, he was led to truth and justice.
The easy-flowing story has the potential of teaching young children about the beauty of a sound character and warning them against the destruction that is attracted by falsehood and greed. The chapters are short, the style is simple, and the contents are suitable for the targeted audience.
Although the narration gets a little awkward at places, it was a good read.
Recommended for kids under the age of 12.
‘The Cash Boy’ features the story of Frank Fowler, an honest boy with an admirable personality who was left with no means to support him following the death of his adoptive mother. Despite learning that he was not the biological son of the family, he was determined to look after the girl he had always known as his sister. Frank was flung into the depths of struggles but he was not ready to give up. Events led him to a dark secret that he was unknowingly a part of, and backed by his determination and uncompromising character, he was led to truth and justice.
The easy-flowing story has the potential of teaching young children about the beauty of a sound character and warning them against the destruction that is attracted by falsehood and greed. The chapters are short, the style is simple, and the contents are suitable for the targeted audience.
Although the narration gets a little awkward at places, it was a good read.
Recommended for kids under the age of 12.
February 5, 2022
A young boy is orphaned when his adoptive mother dies, and now he has his younger sister to care for. The villainous local minister wants both of them put in the poor house, which was evidently a horrible fate. So the boy, Frank, takes off for New York, hoping to earn enough to send for his sister. He gets a job as a “cash boy” at a bank, which means he carries money back and forth. (No electronic transfers in 19th century America.) He hopes that living in New York will give him the opportunity to track down his real parents, who have always been a mystery to him. Through honesty and hard work he rises in his job, and through great good luck he makes friends with a wealthy older man who turns out to be his grandfather. Eventually he sends for his sister, who, thankfully, hasn’t had to go to the poor house. And a new wardrobe turns him into a “young gentleman,” although he has always acted the part. The Horatio Alger formula has worked again, and all the main characters end up happy and rich.
May 14, 2025
Our earnest and forthright Hero makes his way through being thrown into adulthood.
A standard hero's journey and very good boy hero but Alger lands it even though the requirements of the genre have a lot of pitfalls. I loved hearing about mid-1800s New York city as well.
A standard hero's journey and very good boy hero but Alger lands it even though the requirements of the genre have a lot of pitfalls. I loved hearing about mid-1800s New York city as well.
February 28, 2020
Great Read
This was a wonderful story. It ended well. It was concerned with a child that was orphaned at birth and by coincidence found his real family.
This was a wonderful story. It ended well. It was concerned with a child that was orphaned at birth and by coincidence found his real family.
April 1, 2020
Typical Horatio Alger but enjoyable nonetheless. I never tire of absorbing the success of hardworking, decent people.
March 30, 2025
Simple Oliver Twist like story. Dated and contrived.
November 12, 2018
The edition I have is actually one of the original editions published in 1887. The fly leaf has a handwritten note: "Robby, Christmas 1890". I have a small collection of Art Nouveau decorated hardcovers. I just found this one for $6 (I saw an edition autographed by the author on offer for $599 on the internet). I decided I should catch up on reading my collection. What a delightful surprise. I'd heard of Horatio Alger Jr. growing up but never read his books. Probably because they were geared toward young boys. Alger was famous for his books depicting poor boys who prosper by being good, honest and hard working. Some end up with good jobs, some find a benefactor, in this one Frank finds .... oops, don't want to spoil it.
The language is quaint and often clever. The insight to an era a century ago is interesting. And the HEA is satisfying.
The language is quaint and often clever. The insight to an era a century ago is interesting. And the HEA is satisfying.
February 15, 2015
A classic of Alger's transition into the pulp style where fully described and believable plots are a liability; you can see his first faltering steps into his late style in how the morality of the hero is assumed rather than spelled out, the plot relies fully upon miraculous coincidences, and the hero is instantly recognizable by the alliteration in his name.
Simply described, these are the adventures of Frank Fowler who leaves his small town home shortly after the death of the only mother he has ever known to make his fortune in New York. These small town adventures are fully loaded with stock Alger characters, the pious mother, the innocent sister he is pledged to protect, the sauntering son of the local petite bourgeois, the loyal background of lifelong chums, and adults who appear to lack the moral clarity of the children. All of this is mere background to the scenes in New York, and occupy only a few dozen pages in the book, which requires these characters and situations to be hurried through with such speed that their essential cartoonishness is emphasized.
The New York sections are equally thin, but more prolonged. Short statements on virtue replace the pages long and repeated sermons of earlier Alger novels, and this works to the benefit of pacing, while also satisfying the requirement that the books promote good morals. In their place we are treated to a byzantine conspiracy plot that is resolved only by key people arriving against all odds at the precise moment to move the plot along. Just as in the country chapters and in the case of the moral sermons, Alger is remarkably willing in this volume to dispose of exactly the same characters that he used to dwell upon for entire books. Redeemable roommates, boot blacks, baggage smashers, poor house supervisors, and swaggering peers are quickly introduced and then pushed off scene with remarkable speed and are allowed only the smallest of speaking parts. Instead of these expected Alger stock characters we are treated to a lonely old man with a housekeeper and nephew plotting after his wealth. For no reasons other than a kind act, a resemblance to a lost son, and an immediate (mystical) familial sympathy, Frank is immediately offered too much money for a low effort job and a rent-free home. Like most late Alger novels, the resolution of the plot is mechanical and requires no effort or especial act of virtue from the hero except his continued breathing.
If you are a fan of 19th century Chums Novels then this is a fun and effortless read that will complete a perfect summer afternoon.
Simply described, these are the adventures of Frank Fowler who leaves his small town home shortly after the death of the only mother he has ever known to make his fortune in New York. These small town adventures are fully loaded with stock Alger characters, the pious mother, the innocent sister he is pledged to protect, the sauntering son of the local petite bourgeois, the loyal background of lifelong chums, and adults who appear to lack the moral clarity of the children. All of this is mere background to the scenes in New York, and occupy only a few dozen pages in the book, which requires these characters and situations to be hurried through with such speed that their essential cartoonishness is emphasized.
The New York sections are equally thin, but more prolonged. Short statements on virtue replace the pages long and repeated sermons of earlier Alger novels, and this works to the benefit of pacing, while also satisfying the requirement that the books promote good morals. In their place we are treated to a byzantine conspiracy plot that is resolved only by key people arriving against all odds at the precise moment to move the plot along. Just as in the country chapters and in the case of the moral sermons, Alger is remarkably willing in this volume to dispose of exactly the same characters that he used to dwell upon for entire books. Redeemable roommates, boot blacks, baggage smashers, poor house supervisors, and swaggering peers are quickly introduced and then pushed off scene with remarkable speed and are allowed only the smallest of speaking parts. Instead of these expected Alger stock characters we are treated to a lonely old man with a housekeeper and nephew plotting after his wealth. For no reasons other than a kind act, a resemblance to a lost son, and an immediate (mystical) familial sympathy, Frank is immediately offered too much money for a low effort job and a rent-free home. Like most late Alger novels, the resolution of the plot is mechanical and requires no effort or especial act of virtue from the hero except his continued breathing.
If you are a fan of 19th century Chums Novels then this is a fun and effortless read that will complete a perfect summer afternoon.
August 9, 2017
If you've read two Horatio Alger books, you've basically read them all.
April 12, 2015
This is a book for an early reader. It is written blandly and has a very basic plot. Half way through the book, you know how it will end. But it was an interesting read.
March 31, 2013
meh
kinda cute, kind of a waste of time
the ending was cheesy
... the whole thing was kinda cheesy
kinda cute, kind of a waste of time
the ending was cheesy
... the whole thing was kinda cheesy
January 4, 2016
Fun, easy read.
November 11, 2016
The essence of pulp. Whatever made me think I needed to know something about Horatio Alger?
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews