Alger
ALGER, A BIOGRAPHY WITHOUT A HERO.—Herbert R. Mayes—Macy-Masius ($3-50).
The Man. While Thomas Alva Edison peddled newspapers, Henry Ford polished steam engines, and John Davison Rockefeller was out of a job, Horatio Alger Jr. was writing best sellers for boys. Ragged Dick, Phil the Fiddler, and the heroes of every one of his 119 books survived adversity, invariably achieved fame and fortune at the end of the last chapter. Virtue was always triumphant. Parents who prescribed Alger for their sons, and sons who devoured him with avidity, vied with each other in adulating him for three full decades. His "fan" mail...