Horatio Alger

Phil the Fiddler Horatio Alger

Horatio Alger wrote 135 dime novels in the latter part of the 19th century. His stories were rags to riches stories illustrating how down-and-out boys might be able to achieve the American Dream. Alger's stories empathize the need for hard work and honesty as a way to get ahead. Phil, the Fiddler is the story of a 12-year-old boy from Southern Italy who is enslaved and forced to work in America as a street musician. He escapes his cruel master and meets a kind doctor and his wife.