iltvlT Volume 1 5 Number 8 Marchr 1977 Monlhly Newsletler of the HORATIO ALGER SOCIETY. The World'c Only Publicotion Devol- ed to Thoi Wonderf ul World of Horotio Alger. Fountlctl 1961 bU Forrest Cantpbell b Kenneth Butler TIMOTI1Y CRUilIP'S \YARD; TH}I NElY YEARS I,OAN, AND WHAT CAME OT' I"I. BY HORATIO ALGnIt, Jn. GTLT}ERT K. WESTGART) 764 }IOI-IDA\' I,ANE I)ES PI-;\1,\l.lS, ILL. 60018 197'7 Timo thy Crump r s WarL_the rarest of all Alger books_ is now availabfe in a high quality reprint edition. See page tlrelve for de_ tai1s. IT
Transcript
iltvlT Volume 1 5
Number 8Marchr 1977
Monlhly Newsletler ofthe HORATIO ALGERSOCIETY. The World'cOnly Publicotion Devol-ed to Thoi Wonderf ulWorld of Horotio Alger.
Fountlctl 1961 bU Forrest Cantpbell b Kenneth Butler
TIMOTI1Y CRUilIP'S \YARD;
TH}I NElY YEARS I,OAN,
AND WHAT CAME OT' I"I.
BY
HORATIO ALGnIt, Jn.
GTLT}ERT K. WESTGART)764 }IOI-IDA\' I,ANE
I)ES PI-;\1,\l.lS, ILL. 60018197'7
Timo thy Crump r s WarL_therarest of all Alger books_is now availabfe in a highquality reprint edition.See page tlrelve for de_tai1s.
IT
2 NEWSBOY
HORATIO ALGER SOCIETY
To further the philosophy of HoratioAlger, Jr., and to encourage the splritof Strive antl Succeed that for half a
century guided Algerrs undauntedheroes
- Iacls whose struggles epito-
mized the Great American D::eam anclflamed. hero ideals in countless millionsof young Americans.
OFFICERS
1977 CONYENTION NEWS
by Dick Seddon,HAS Director andConvention Chairman
By now you all knov that our annualconvention is being held at Waltham,Massachusetts, on May 12-1)-14-15t 1977.Waltham is a suburb of Boston and wehave selected a fine motel, WalthamMotor Inn, located only ten miles fromdowntown Boston on our route 128 whichis a circumferential highway encirclingBoston. AlI highways entering Bostonintersect with i 28 so it is easY tofind. Maps ancl motel registrationcards will be mailed in plenty of trmeto all convention registrants. Room
rates are fi22.O0 singte and $26.00double occupancy.
I{hile all of our conventions havebeen delightful and informative, thisone has a special attraction. It isbeing held where it al1 began andended
- in Algerts home tovzr. Horatio
Alger, Jr. was horn in Revere, Massa-chusetts, educated at Harvartl Univer-sity at Cambridge, Massachusetts, grewupr lived in, died, and vas buried inNatick, Massachusetts -
all vithin ahalf hours clrive from your mote1. Atyor all of these places may be visitedif you are interested. In facLt forthose of you r,rho will stay over forpart of Sunday the 15th, Max and IdaGotdberg are arranging a memorialservice and Alger tour, taking in manyof these historic sites. I[e suggestyou bring cameras to record thistrip in your Alger scrapbook.
A11 of the usual and necessary con-vention activities viIl be scheduled:business meeting, book sale, electionof officers, auction, awards, banquet,etc. etc. etc. Harvard University haspromisecl to have a Horatio Alger clis-play at the famous Wiclener Library.Perhaps we can persuade Gi1 I{estgardto accompany a group to see this exhib-it and to point out the actual roomsAlger Iived in whl1e attencling Harvard.Gil knows Harvarcl, having spent muchtime there researching Horatiors lifeancl works
JERRY B. FRIEDLANDBRAD}TORD S. CHASE
CARL T. HARTMANN
DALE E. THOIVIAS
RALPH D. GARDI\TER
LESL]E I. POSTE
RICHARD R. SEDDON
LEO R. BENNETT
PRESIDENTVICE_PRESIDENT
SECBETARYTREASURER
DIRECTORDIRECTORDIRECTORDIRECTOR
Ner+sboy, the official organ of theHoratio Alger Society, is publishedmonthly (bimonthly January-February andJune-July) and is distributed. to HAS
members. Memtrership fee for any twelvemonth period is $10.O0. Cost for singleissues of Newsboy is $1.0O apiece.
PIease make all remittances payable tothe Horatio Alger Society. Membershipapplications, renewals, changes of ad-dress, claims for missing issues, andorders for single copies of current orback numbers of Newsbo), should be sentto the society!s secretarv, Carl I.Hartmann, 49OT Al.lison D::ive, Lansing,Michigan 48910.
A subject ind"ex to the first ten yearsof Newsboy (Juty, 1962 - June, 1972) isavailable for $1.50 from CarI Hartmannat the above aclilress.
Manuscripts retating to HoratioAlger's life and works are solicited,but the editor reserves the right toreject submitted material.
*x*REMEMBER: Convention time wiIl soon
be here!l Donrt forget the d-atesThursdav, May 12 through SundaY, MaY
Locoted in o beoutifully londscopedsefting, the Wolthom Motor lnn is min-utes owoy from historic Lexington ondConcord ond l0 miles from downtownBoston.
* 96 air condilioned guesl roomr
rt Color TV
* Ye Olde Borton Sleak Houra
rt Enlertainmenl in Cocklail Lounge
* Seasonal Swimming Pool
* Plafform Tennis Court
rt Function Roomr
* 6uided lours available
BUS TOURS WELCOME
Former speaker of the House of Rep-resentatives in l{ashington, the Honora-ble John 1{. McCormack, an Alger buffand admirer, will be one of our featuredguests at our banquet. Also, our Gover-nor Michael Dukakis wilI proclaim t'AlgerWeekrr and- pose vith our officers for apicture rrhile presenting the proclama-tion. This will be d.one at the StateHouse in Boston, which is onty a fewblocks from the old.est antiquarian bookshop in the country, the Brattle BookShop, run by George Gloss, who isnationally famous in his field.
The complete agenda has not beenfinally frozert. To be honest, we arestill sorting out icleas and trying tofit them all in without having a toobreathless sched.uf e. Paul MiIlerrslovely wife Ruth has promised to playthe piano for an old fashioned singa1ong. This lrilI probably be Frid,ayevening or if not at this 1,ime r+ill beSaturday evening after the bancluet.
At any rate, we promise a fine timewith lots of good Alger talk and thechance to pick up a few rare titles, asrsell as to meet all of your old- friend.sand make some new ones. You can helpus in several rdays. Send in your regis-tration early, donate some interesting
1977 d
item to our auction (proceeds helpkeep us in the black)r.and above all,plan to be r.v'ith us. If you haved.uplicates or collectible memorabiliathat is interesting to Alger collectors,bring it to sell to those of us whohave tired feet from hunting for it.
xxJ(BOOK MART
The listing of Alger books in thisdepartment is free to HAS members.PIease Iist title, publisher, condi-tion, and price.
0ffered by Robert E. Kasper, Box8525, Clemson, South Carolina 29632,
Mark, The Matchboy Loring G $15.O0Risen from the Ranks Loring Yg 25.00Try and Trust Loring F-g 17.50Ragged Dick Loring G 35.00The Young Acrobat S&S Yg 7.5OFrom Farm Boy to Sen. McKay Yg 1O.OOFacing the Workl HTC Yg 1O.OOThe Young Explorer HTC G T.jOThe Young Miner HTC G 7.5OBen Loganrs Triumph G&D Yg 10.00Lost at Sea G&D G T.5OJerry, Backwood.s Boy G&D G 7.jA'R. Ral.rnondrs Heir Lupton G 1I.OOOut for Business Mershon F 15.00Risen from the Ranks P&C G 8.OO
(ti-tfe page loose but intact)Ben Bruce Burt Vg 8.00
(earIy edition)A Debt of Honor Burt
(early ed"ition)Tom Turnerrs Legacy Burt
(first edition)Tom Thatcherrs FortuneBurt G 8.OO
(deluxe ed".-cover worn-pageboy headin diamond)
The Train Boy Burt
G-vg 7.50
G-vg1 5 . OO
Yg 10.00in diamonrl)
Vg 1 5.OO
(d.etuxe ed".-pageboy headTom Templets Career Burt
(d.e1uxe ed.-pageboy head in diamond)Horatio Alger, Jr.: A Biography and
Bibliography, by Frank Gruber t 1961,Grover Jones Press, very good, $1O.OO.
Struggling Upward and Other Works, alsoincludes Jed, The Poorhouse Boy, Rag-ged Dick, and Phil, The Fictdler, 19+5with dust jacket, Bonantza, Yg, $1O.OO.
Mr. Gllbert K. Westgard II1433 North HoffmanPark Ridge, Illlnois 60068
Dear Hr. Westgard:
As a boy and a young lnanr I rrae an ardent reader ofthe HoratLo Alger books. I have rePeatedly and publlcly statedthat lt should be a "uust" wtth Parents to have thelr chtldren,partlcularly boya growlng up, reed the lloratlo Alger books. Ihave found my readlng of these books to be rnost constructlveand lnfluentlal ln my llfetime. I cannot too strongly urge theyouth of our country to read the Horatio Alger books.
SlncereLy yours,
Some years ago, Gilbert K. l{estgard If vrote a number of prominentAmericans ancl asked. them to comment on the impact Horatio Algerrs books
hacl on their lives. Above is one rep1y. John 1{. McCormack will be afeatured speaker at rrBookerl in Bostonrrr the 13th annual convention ofthe Horatio A1ger Society, held from May 12-15, 1977, i-n Waltham, Massa-
Jack also has some l{inston LibraryEdition volumes in good condition,priced. at $4.O0 each. Has some H. T.Coates in the Tattered Tom Series, GF
or better at $4.00 apiece. Also manycheap reprints).
Offered by Edward T. LeBlanc, 87School Street, Fall River, Mass. O272O.
The following four books are Algerfirst editiorrs - bicls invitecl on each.Phil, The Firltller Loring YgSlow and Sure Loring VgJulius, Street Boy Loring YgCanal Boy to Pres. And. YgTattered Tom Loring
(early edition, not first. Att showsSecond Tattered Tom Series inpreparati on )
Abbreviations used. in this monthrsB00K MART: Ex = Excellent, G - Good,Yg = Yery good, F = Fair, Gt (Good.plus) signifies that condition is alittte bit better than just rrgoocl.r' G-(Gooa minus) shows that cond.ition is alittle bit worse than rrgood..rr G-Yg =Good to very good, F-g = Falr to good,S&S = Street and Smith, HTC = Henry T.Coates, P&C = Portei ancl Coatesl G&D =Grosset ancl Dunlap, JCW = John C.Winston, and And. = Anderson.
***CarI Thieme is looking for early
Altshelers and Heyligers, both pub-lished by Applefon. Condition must bevery good or better. Carlrs aclclress is3216 S. 56th St., Milwaukee, Wis. 53219.
***
P. Prescottrs Charge P&C(inside hinge split)
The following 8 Porter & Coatesare the smafl brown editions.Trv and Trust P&C G+
Luck and Pluck P&C G+
Bound to Bise P&C G+
Young Outlaw P&C G+
Fame and Fortune P&C G+
Strive and Succeed P&C G+
Ben, Luggage Boy P&C G-Strong and Stead.y P&C G
The following 5 Porter and Coatesbooks are gray and ye11ov.
G-Yg
$1 5 .0015.OO10. oo
15.0015.0015.0O15.00
12.OO
15.O07.OO
7. OO
5.OO
7.5O
7.50stick)
7.50
5.OO
7 .50
7.50
7 .50
7.505 .00
books
7. oo7.007.OO7. OO
T.OO7.OO5.OO,.o0
7. OO
7.OO7 .OO
7 .007 .00
Try and TrustBound to RiseRisen from the RanksLuck ancl P1uckBound to Rise
1977
P&C
P&C
P&C
P&C
P&C
G+
G+
GIG+
G+
NEWSBOY
NE TSBOY BOOK REVIEWby Jack Bales
McFarlane, Leslie. Ghost of the HardlrBoys. Lawrence, Massachusetts: TwoContinents Publishing Group, 1976,Introcluction by the author. 211pages . Harrlbound.. $8 .95 .
rrProfanity, it went without saying,'h/'as a no-no. A Hardy boy or a Hardychum might cut loose with a rgoshr oreven rgollyr und.er extreme provocation,but that v'as as far as he went. Eventhe villains, vhen duly captursfl-analthey were alvays duly captuvsd-nsvs1curseal their lot. Not even a d...n or ah..1, such as one might find in theracier adult novels of the clay. Usual-ly, they just grumbletl that they woulclhave escaped scot-free if it hadnrt beenfor f those confounded Hard.y boysr r
rrhich rras mighty strong talk one had toad,mit.
ItAs f or booze ancl tobacco, if a HarcLyBoys I vil-Iain ever took a snort or brokeopen a pack of fags he did it on the slybetween chapters. This probably created"no end of puzzlement for young reaalersrrho attencled" movies, where the bad guysalrrays clici their plotting in smoke-fillerl clives and drank rotgut straight,using the empty bottle to smash someoneover the head, and where even the good,guys rolled their ovn ancl bellied upto the bar like everyone else. Liter-ature these books were not but, by Gotl,they were Moral! You could fault themon any grouncls you liked., but never onturpituile !rr
-lsslis McFarlane, p. 178,
Ghost of the Hardy Bolrs
f grev up on a steady diet of theHardy Boys books. fn my veins flovednot blood, but water from Barmet Bay.To me anrl my twin brother, an excursionrrorth remembering was a trip rrith ourparents to all the used book stores inChicago (forty miles from our home inAurora, Iltinois), searching for thosefamiliar tan colored harclbouncl volumes.
Ahh!! Frank and Joe Harrly! ! Thosetwo intrepicl teenagers who successfully
fought evildoers in the city of Bayportancl who consistently mad.e buffoons outof Chief CoIIig, Detective Smuff, andConstable Riley. I{ho need.ed todayrsIan Fleming and James Bond, or JohnMacDona1d and Travis McGee? Ve had ourown Franklin W. Dixon, and r,re felt surethat J. Edgar Hoover conferred r,rith himnightly on his toughest cases.
Although I eventually relegated theHardy Boys books to boxes in my familytsatLic, the question of their authorshipcontinued to intrigue me. A fer+ yearsago I learned. that the series was aproperty of the Stratemeyer S;rnd.icate,yet still I rronderecl-just rrho ruasFranklin \r. Dixon?
I{ell, now comes the answer in Ghostof the Hard.y Boys, the wryly humorous,irreverent, and iconoclastic autobi-ography of Leslie McFar1ane, the manwho contributed over two million worclsin this series from 1926-1946. Thewriter commenced his association withEd.r+ard Stratemeyer and the Slmdicate asRoy Rockwood, author of the Dave Fear-less Series, and he rrrote several ofthese books until he grev tired of thetravel stories. Fortunately forMcFarlane, Stratemeyer had. other plansfor him-he wished the ghost writer tobegin a detective series involving tr+ohigh school boys who solved mysteries.Stratemeyer sent along a plot outlineof The Tower Treasure, ancl thus begant r,
"-na rE[Ii-3ffi
" .i
" " .
McFarlane d"etails much about Strate-meyer and. his literary house. ChapterFive, trA Book is a Book is a Buckrrrtells the uninitiated" about the Syndi-safs-tr6rir Stratemeyer sent plot out-lines of books to authors r.rho r,rouklrsrite the stories und"er house pseurlo-nJrms. rrThe Motor Boysrr and rrThe RoverBoysrr were all Stratemeyer Series.McFarlane relates the famed Eclrrard.Stratemeyer-Franklin K. Mathiews feucl,which resulted in the notorious (andrather absurd, in the opinion of thiswriter) article entitled., 'rBlowing Outthe Boyt s Brains.rr (See elser+here inthis issue of Newsbo.y for the text ofthis r.;ork).
v
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March
NEWSBOY
Other chapters deat vith McFarlane I s
personal reflections on the books and
authors with which he was familiar.Frank Merriwell-1ifu6 never failed tohit a home run vhen the bases wereloaded in the last of the ninth and Yalewas losing 4-1 r+ith trro men out; ElsieDinsmore-a heroine of sickly sacchar-inity; ancl of course, Horatio Alger,J1 .-e11s of American historyrs biggestproponents of the Great American Dream.
But besides offering reaalers his per-sonal reminiscences about his life as attghostt' for the Stratemeyer SSrncIicate,McFarlane wearres rrith remarkable transi-tion throughout the volume his experi-ences as a journalist on small miningtown newspapers in Canada. Anecdotesabounil! He relates how he once talkedto a reporter on the Toronto Starlleekly-rta bright young fellow namedErnest Hemingvaytt-about a story. He
discusses (on personal authority) theconsequences of violating a sacrealum,ritten law of nevspaper v61k-11s\rs1tell the truth about an amateur theatri-cal show.
McFar1ane has been a rrriter for fiftyyea.rs and has published four novels,one hundreil novelettes, two hr:ndreclshort stories, anal numerous articles. He
has written seventy-five televisionplays ancl fifty movie scripts. Some
reaclers, perhaps, may find his re-flections in @Sl of the Hqrdy Boys asbeing to o rraE r-rt4p""t r;;a'l"i ""r-lous. I disagree. I regaril the entirebook to be refreshingtr-y honest ancl
canilid. Humorous? In sections ittshysterically funny, and I envy him hisI'riting style. Though at times hersclelightfulty satiric and someuhatblunt, in no place he he rrrobbing-lfus-hancl*that-feed.s-himr? as he gives hisimpressions of the writing field as itexisted in the 192Ot s-1940rs. In fact,in several chapters he acknowledgesdebts he owes other authors.
Ghost of the Hardy Boys is one oflthose books that is simPlY @ toreacl. There is no message, moral, orhidden srrmbolism. The book is thereonly to fascinate you, to amuse you, ancl
1 977
to transcencl you back tc an era whenex-Polish sailor Joseph Conracl hacl notyet cut his teeth on Lord,;l![1 and whenpla5rwrights Eugene 0rNeil antl GeorgeBernarcl Shaw were men of which notheater critic had yet heard.
Every stuclent of late nineteenth ancl
early trnrentieth century series booksshoukl 1'satl-and probably wiIl heartilyrelish-Ghost of the Harcly Bolrs. f t I s
a heckuva entertaining book. Iril loveto meet the author.
Thanks go to the Two Continents Pub-lishing Group (5 Souttr Union Street,Larrrence, Massachusetts 01843) forsending me a revie'hr copy of this book.AIso, thanks go to HAS member "DashinlDaverr Kanarr for telling me about thevolume in the first place. Also, toDave goes the credit for the rrAlgerheacilt on page 1 1 of this Newsboy.
* JilC
Corning up
bigger than ever
Horatio Alger Society ConventionChairman Dick Sed.d.sn is hard at workmaking plans for rrBooked in Bostonrilthe thirteenth annual convention ofthe Societv, Plan now to attend! Thedates are May 12-13-14-15, 1977, in\faltham, Massachusetts, a suburb ofBo ston.
NEWSBOY
BLOWING OUT 1'HE BOY'S BRAINS
:1, " ::* ),T:-,1T J*Y::*,:.Y"'
(naitorts preface: As manv collectorsof boysI books knov, educators (pri-marily librarians) regarcl these volumesas the bane of all youth. As both aboysr books aficionado and a librarirn,I regard this notion as deplorable.
Franklin K. Mathierus, Chief ScoutLibrarian during the early part of thetrrentieth Century, vas d.i-sgusted. atthe proliferation and" popularity ofrrseriesrr books, and- persuad.ed Grossetancl Dunlap Publishers to reprintItacceptablerr juveniles which nould. besolcl at the same price as the rrtrashyt'volumes. His next blow against theboys I books ind.ustry (and especi.allyagainst Ednard Stratemeyer and hisS5mdicate) was to write I'Bloi.ing Outthe Boyrs Brainsrr for Outlook Magazine(November 18, 1914), *iSlFirrirrg u.
premise that reacling series booksiloverstimulates the boyts imagination.rl
As they said in the old. days,poppycock! ! I ask anyone to show me aStratemeyer volume which is vile andforoffensive. None of Mathiewrs otherslams hold rrater either. Among others,he makes the absurd implication that awriter using pseudon5rms protluces sub-stanclard. literature.
The article was published. duringItSafety First Book I{eektt-anqthsl efIdathiewsr gimmicks-apfl was reprintedin pamphlet form. I{riter Les}ieMcFarlane in Ghost of the Harrly Boys(pp. 55-56) *ifT"",
rrMr. Mathierss vas no slouch when itcame to mounting a nationruide campaign.The Safety First Book Week got a lot ofnewspaper space when the nerv series wasIaunched in a blizzard af pamphlets.rBlowing Out the Boyr s Brainsr was theheaclliner, of course, but a Safety Firstbooklet explaining how to recognize andcope with brain-blowing literature w'as
issued to every Boy Scout. He was
required. to read this, probably on painof being deprived of his toggle.
ItAs Mr. Mathiews was ardare, nothingupsets a Boy Scout more than havinghis toggle lifteri.
ItThousands of volunteer helpers raI-lied to the cause. Souncl the tocsin ofnational peril ancl horrles of well-meaning folk with nothing much to d.o
alvays materiali ze from no.where. Theyitch to med.d.le in great matters of whichtheir comprehension is usually prettydim, and have no objection to gettingtheir names and pictures in the papers.A good organizer can alrrays conjurethem up in svarms.
rrFor a while the Stratemeyer productssuffered. a loss of sa1es, but only fora while. Eventually, as the volunteersdrifted off into other causes (ttreirind.ignation span being notoriouslyshort), sales recovered. It only proveclthat you can leacl a kicl to an approved.book but you canrt make him read it.Especially if you tell him it is gootlfor him.tl
For more material on this same topic,I refer you to trFor It Was Indeed. Herrrthe infamous (and completely asinine)article in Fortune, April, 1934i and" toAnthony io*Illiffi rraps ior the Youns,introduction by Robert Bremner, Cam-bridge, Mass., Belknap Press of Harvard.University Press, 1967, originally pub-Iished by Funk and Wagnalls in 1883. Ananalysis of this latter work appeared inthe January-February, 1976, issue ofNqvsboy.
For a velf written study of the For-tune and 0utlook articles, readttlg.lg and the Slmd.icaterrr Parts I andII, in the FaIl, 1970, and Winter, 197'l ,issues of The Bo)rs I Boo,k Collector. Itbrings up more points than f can here).
Y
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March
NEWSBOY 9
any kind of a story that ma1' be needed.In almost all of tnis " mile-a-minute fiction "
some infl ammable tale of improbabie advcntureis told. Boys move about in aeroplanes as
easily as though on bic.vcles r crin.rinals arecaptured b1'them with a facility that matchesthe ability of Sherlock Holmes l and when itcomes to getting on in the world. the clever-ness of these hustling hys is comparableonly to those captains of industrv and Napt'leons of finance s'ho have made millions in a
minute. Insuperable difEculties and crush-ing circumstances are as easilv overcome andconquered as in fairy tales. Indeed, nopopular character of history or legend ormythological story was ever more rvise.more brave, more resourceful. than someof these up-to-the-minute boy heroes aremade to appear in the Sundal supplementjuvenile stories.
I have just been reading a book of thistype in rvhich the captain of a nerr sub-marine craft is represented to be a boy ofsixteen ; " though so )'oung. he had," so theaurhor sa1 s. " after a stern apprenticeshilr,actually succeeded 'in making himself a
world-i<norun expert in the handling of sub-marine torpedo-boats." ContiRuing, we are
told that rvith this brilliant young geniusthere are trvo other sixteen-vear old boys.and .it is (here I quote from the book) " ru-mored. and nearly as often believcd. thatthese.three sea-bred young Americans knowas much as any one in the flnited States on
the speciai subject of submarine boat build-ing." In a previous r'<jlurne of the serics.
" these three 1'oung friends secured theprize rnedal at Annapolis, where {or a bricftimr' they served as instructors in submarinervork to the 1r:ung midshipmen at the NavalAcatlemr'. ''
" Never rnind horv big a rascrl he nray be,livery feilorv is auother entitr' !
'l-here's a good man and a bad,Ilrrth a s:rne ntan and a nrad,
I.il 'nrosr every human being that \1e see.',
. I will leave my readers to decide rvlretherit lvas " a good man " or ., a batl," ., a sanem;rrr " or' " a rnad." rvho rvrote rlte book fromwlrich I lrave raken these extracts.
llrcruse these cheap books drr not developcrirninais or ir:ad bovs, ga6.r, \er]' occasion-ali.v. tu sr'('k thc \\'ild \\ esr. parcirts rvlro bul.such brroks think the-r' do their bovs no harnr.'l'ire fact is. horvever, that the harm done issrrnph'incalculable. I rvisir I could labeleachone of thcse books : ., Explosives I Guar-anteetl to I']lorv Your Iloy's Brains Out."
t )ne of thc most valuable assers a boy hasis his im.isination. In proportit'n1 as this isnurtrrred ;i bov develops initiative and re-sourcefulncss.'l'he greatest possible servicethat cdu(atr()n can render is to train the bo-t,t() gritsp r.trrci :nristt-r nervsituations as the)'con-stuntil' rrrt,scnt. thcnrselves to liirn ; and whatht.lps nr,rrt, to nrake such adjustmell[ than a
vf{.'\'l' 1,500 School Children I)idbetrveen Irriday and the l'oilorv-ing iVlondal'" and " 'I'he Hob-
bies of 933 Roys " were the captions of tu'ocharts that attracted universal attention atthe Rochester, New York, Child \\:elfareFlxhibit recently held. In both cases readingclaimed the largest percentage of time. 'l'hatis most gratifying; bul it must be understoodthat practically in all surve)'s of children'sreading made by librarians and teachersalmost rvithout exception the unrvelcome factis disclosed that the books of the " under-ground librarl'" are as influential as thosecirculated by public means.
Happily, though, the volumes of the dimeor the nickel novel are fast disappear-ing from this private circulating exchange.'I'hrough the good influences of the publicIibraries and schools and the successful com-petition of the " movies " the " yellorv-back "is being hard hit. But, alas I the modern" penny dreadful " has not been banishedquite so completell'as at first appears. Itslatest appearance is in the disguise of thebound book, and sometimes so attractivelybound that it takes its piace on the retailbook-store shelf alongside the best juvenilepublications.
In making a surve-\' of children'q readingin a certain Southern city recently, in the verlbest book-store I found the famous FrankMerriwell nickel novel series bound in cloth\, ffiff '|i?? ii: T};;?:i d1"."',H1'J.::another name, is writing other books for thesame publishing house. The fact of thebusiness is that the passing of the half-dimenovel has meant lean tirires for the auth<-rrs ofthis type of reading. I have it uyron verygood authoritl' that the circulation of theleading nickel novel has been reduced from200,000 to 50,000 a week. Consequentll'these writers must find a new market fortheir output ; and this is supplied for themost part by sorne of those publisherswhose books are written by authors whosemotives and methods are similar to thoseof the original producers of slot-machineiuveniles.
1'he public will, I am sure, be interestedin knolving just how most o[ the books thatsell from trventr'-fir.e to fiftl' ceilts .rr(-. nLrtrvritten, but manufactured. 'lherc is usuall5,one ntan n'ho is as resourceful as a I.ialzacsofar as ideas and plots for stories are c()n-cerned. He cannct, though, develol-, thent ail.so he empla.vs a number of rnen l'iro r.ritefor him. I knorv of one man rvho has a cr,n-tract to furnish his publisher each l'ear rvitlrtrventy-fir,e books manufactured irr tl'is uar'.Another author manufactured last rear nt(r;rthan fiftr', Ily such methods frorn lear to l'car
. the ptrprrlar-priced series are kr,pt g,,irig.\u the mana[jer of the rvriting s1'ndi,:ete ireirg
able to furnish the publisher t,pon detnarrd
1 977
10
hvel1, irnaqrnation i Storv books of the rightsort stimulate and conserve this noble facultl',while those of the viler and cheaper sort, byoverstimulation. debauch and vitiate, as brainand bodl' are debauched and destroyed bystrong drink.
If 1'ou take gasoline and feed it to an auto-mobile a drop at a time, ] ou get splendid re-sults, because rou have confined and directedit with inrL'iligent care and caution. 'l'akethe same quantity of gasoline and iust pourit out and 1'ou either don't get anywhere oryou get somervhere you don't care to go.Ilere is an apt illustration of the proper useof the elements that must enter in to makegood books for boys. For, let it be under-stood. the good book for the average boymust be ()ne that, as the " Century l{agazine "sa1's, is " rvholesomely perilous." And lvhatis nreant is this : the red-blooded boy, the bo1'
in his early teens, must have his thrill; hecraves excitement, has a passion for action," sonrething nrust be doing " all the time ; andin nothing is this more true than in hisreading.
' 'l'he difference betrveen a " TreasureIslancl " and a modem " thriller " in itsmanl' editions is not a difference in the ele-
mcnts so much as the use each author makeslof them. A Stevenson rvprks with combusti-bles, but, as in thecase ofusing the gasoline,he con6nes them, directs them with care andcaution, always thinking of how he may use
them in a way that will be of advantageto the boy. In the case of the modern" thriller " the author works with the samematerials, but with no moral purpose, withno real intelligence. No effort is made toconfine or direct or control these highly ex'plosive elernents. The result is that, as someboys read such books, their imaginations areliterally " blown out," and they go into life as
terribly crippled as though by some matf,rialexplosion they had lost a hand or foot. Fornot only will the boy be greatly handicappedin business, but the whole world of art in itsevery form almost is closed to him, Why arethere so few men readers of the really goodbooks, or even of the passing novels, some-times of real worth ? Largely,I think, be'.cause the imagination of so many men as
boys received such brutal treatment at thehands of those authors and publishers whogive no concern as to what they write orpublish $o long as it returns constantly theexpected financial gain.
The natural thing would be for me to tellyou the titles of these books. Space will notpermit. It would take pages to give the
iitles even of those that have been published
in the last three months, which, with scores
of others, will make up the annual supply forthe holiday season, when these books are
sold by the million. And the very fact thatso many are used for Christmas gifts makes
all our children liable to this pernicious influ-ence. Indeed, at that time tens of thousands
of them will be distributed through Sunday-
schools at the annual children's Christmas
festival, and it is very possible that you will
l,ourseli purchase them for )'our.own chil-
iren, sinci they are on sale evcrywhere, even
rnany of the denominational publishing houses
listirre them in their catalogues'Hirv shall we find a way out ? It cannot
be said too emphatically that, if supervision
be given, it is comparatively easy to $ln.chll-
dren from auy form of these sensatronal
books. Boys iead these books becnuse'they'
t"r" in them just those elements that appeal
so much to 6o1's' But that is not to say
ih"t boys will not read better and the best
books.I discovered a striking instance of this as
told by a bookseller in South Carolina' Ifound'in his store a table of nickel novels'
IIe said that the sale of these had in tlte lastferv months fallen off ninety-five per cent, andhe also told me, rvith considCrable pleisure,the cause, 'fhe sale of the rnoderll " pennydreadful " had been made among the millboys of his town, but recetrtly the miil-ownerhad engaged a Young tr{en's Christian Asso-
ciation secretary to work among his bo1'
employees. This rvelfare worker, recoguiz-ing'the worth of bo1:s' 1""61n*, has promoteda system of traveling libraries through theseviral mills, with tlie result that the nickelnovel has become a thing of the past. Andit is always so. A rnultitude of as successful
experiences might be cited.What about the bookseller. then I I rvould
answer with confidence that the areragebookseller is not disposed to promote the
sale of pernicious or wicked books. In a
number of instances booksellers have toidme that they would remove from their stqck
any book I thought objectionable. l'{ot long
ago the manager of the book section of a
dipartment store in a New England- tolnreid
"n article condernning cheap and poor
children's bool<s. I{e realized that it lvas
exactly the kind of books that he rvas seliingmostly, 'l'hrough a friend he sbnt s<lme ofthese books to the local children's librarian,rvhose report, of course, confirmed his fearthat they were not rvholesome. Since thenhe has not pushed so hard the sales of such
books, and has paid more attention to tltebetter books for chilriren'
So we must look furtlier, but not far-onlyto the other side of the counter. 'Ihe chiefreason why so many of these trashy booksare circulated through the retail trade jq be-
cause thel' are so cheap. 'l'he " weakness "
is not with the boy's taste, but rvith theparent's pocketbool< l the fault lies not so
rnuch behind the counter as in front of it.But help is near to nteet this weakncss andcorrect this fault. \Iany of the reputablcpublishers are placing irr cr:mpetition n-ith thetrashy books reprint editions of some of theirvery best jqveniles, all of them written b-v
those modern autltors rvhose books are so
NEWSBOY
March
NEWSBOY 11
to the t'hereabouts o[ (iu1' Arthur i'l:inisei,s'ho left his hornr- in Lansing, Nlichisan, on
September 2, 1914," etc. In the lettcr rlf[he scoutillastL'r I find these significantwords : " I'rotn the itrlormation I here re-ceived there seems to be tto ieasr,tr f,tr ltisleaving home oi liis orr-tt accord. Ilt has agood home, anti ltis irarents seenr tluiet btttthriftl'. 'l'itc ,rulr- possible cltre I ear.r finci is
'cheap reacling.' "Of course not every boy rr'ho indulgi's him-
self in " cheap reading '' vriil be so affected,but who of us is rvise enough to knorv rvhichone it is that will be so influenced ?
Dontt lose your head.over last minute pre-parations ! PIan N01{
to attend. the comingconvention of theHoratio Alger Socie-ty. Sen<I registrationfee of $1 5.00 peradult (inc lud.es ban-quet
The Convention datesare May 12-13-14-15,1977, in l{altham,Massachusetts (a sub-urb of Boston) at thel{altham Motor Inn.The Boston area ispure rrAlger countryr rr
so this is one meetingno Alger buff willwant to miss.
U
popular rvith all boys. fhese retril fol' 1ii't'cents, Printecl from the original piares. thel'are in every \\'a]: practicalli' eqiral ttr the
editions which sold on first publicari,-rn
at prices ranging from one dollar to one
dollar and fifty cents. So widell' have thl'sereprint books been distributed throuqh thtr
retail trade that they ma1' be found rvircreverbooks are sold.
-Iust as I am closing this arricle thc: e
comes to m1' desk a letter from a s,-'c[tt'
master in Lansing. llichigan. 'lo the lettera postal card is attached signed by the sheritlstating that " intoimation is rvanted relativc
h6]Grj\r;'- ,
+._--
i' .1-v1 977
About a year ago the NEWSBOY asked,t'Timothy Crump, where are you?"
The answer now comes, ttlt* here in DesPlaines, I1linois, preparing for publica-tion by Gilbert K. Westgard II."
Just like the recently released copiesof The New Schoolmafam and Number 9L,fi*otf,yT"*pG W"ra will be p"blished ina limited edition of 200 copies that willbe numbered and signed by the publisher.These volumes will have sewn bindings,genuine cloth covers, headbands at thetop and bottorn of the spine and goldstamped lettering on the spine.
This is the one title that has beeneagerly sought after by all Alger enthus-iasts with but little success for manyyears. A11 previous efforts to make somecopies available were makeshift affairswith all right pages on the left and theleft ones on the right. The originalbinding gutter had become the outer edgeof a holl-oh, page and the outer edges werenow the binding gutter. Anyone who hasone of these productions knows what ismeant by this description. Everyone nowhas the opportunity to take advantage ofGi1 Westgardr s pre-publication offer ofthe first republication of TlmothyCrumpts Ward since its origiiaffrintingin 1866.
Until March 31, L977 tine cost will bejust $16.00 per volume. After this datethe price will be $24.00. Now is theopportunity to save 1/3.
Gil also offers a real bargain by mak-ing available all three of his rare Algerreprints for only $39.00. If you everintended to have these rare titles inyour collection, no\^/ is the time to act.This is a savings of $21.50 off theregular price.
The high quality of the Westgard booksis well known to those who have alreadypurchased his previous productions. Tim-othy Crump t s Ward is in good handsand it can soon be in yoursl
SEND FOR YOUR COPY TODAY!
aor 1o
oo ao
ooo
oa
a'a
a
?II tt
ffiEREMOVING? Cut out the corner of YourNEWSBOY envelope, write Your new
address below your label and send iL toour Secretary: Carl T. Hartmann
4907 AllisonLansing, MI 48910
WE DON'T WANT ANY PLACETO COME BETWEEN US.
UhcnYou'vo Oot lt,@, tlounr lr
,,';,;';,:,:,1
Ma.rch
NEl{SBOY 13
v
v
A COLI,ECTORIS FIND
(faitorfs note: The following is aletter to me from Bob Fertig, PT-374. Iam reprinting it in its entirety sothat HAS members will realize that, thereare Algers still available and thatthat dream of finding "a long lostsupplyrr in somebodyts attic can indeedbecome a. reality).
January 3, 1977
Dear Jack,
I am vriting to report a bit of Algercollecting luck which may be of inter-est to felIow members of the HAS.Nothing on the order of find.ing TimothyCrumprs Ward" or IEg Disagreeable \{oman,but to me, nevertheless, quite unusual.
A few veeks ago a friend of mine whoknor+s that I collect rare jazz and blues78 RPM phonograph records from the 2Orsand 3ors callecl me to say that he hadbought a house that included the fur-nishings and that lt was fuII of booksand- records vhich lvere for disposal. Iagreed to look at the records ancl wentto see them. When I arrived I was as-tonished to see approximately 3rOOOrecords and perhaps 2,OOO to 3rOOO boyslbooks.
Before I looked at the records flooked through the books. Within min-utes I hatl found at least ten Algerfirsts. Some of the more interestingones were firsts of Luke Walton, BobBurton, Struggling Upward, Tom TurnerrsLegacy, Adrift in the City, and Frankand Fearless, the latter with the rare1 897 d.ate on the title page as describedby Ralph Gardner. There roere alsoanother thirty or forty Algers includinga Loring Ragged Dick, a nice Lovell edi-tion of The Young Acrobat, and a Fennedition of Finding a Fortune.
These were nice to find,, but the bestwas yet to come. My frlend asked me ifI were interested in old bound magazinesas there were several piles of them. Isaid. yes and vas really stunnecl when heprod.uced a complete, bound- set of the
1 977
Golclen Argosy and Alg.ry,. Tventy-twovolumes from Volume I, number 1, 1882(with Do and Dare), to Yolume XXII,number 6 (inctuiting A Cousinrs Con-spiracy). The set, of course, inclucled.Cast Upon the Breakers, Silas SnobilenrsOffice Boy, Number 9j_r and others. In-cidentally, Yolume VIf, number 4, issue#316 nas that nice steel engraving ofAlger as a supplement that is used onthe society envelope. AIl of the vol-umes were in quite good cond.ition.
The Golden Dalrs volumes with two Algerfirst printings (lnay Gordon and TheYounA Musician) and the nine differentcopies of the Bolrrs Home Weekly withAlger stories were almost an anti cli-max. It isntt often that one findsover fifty first printings ancl firsteditions of A1ger aII at once.
I tlid also fincl one duplicate bound.volume of the Golclen Argosy running fromYolume V, number tventy-seven, issue#235, June 4, '1887, to Yolume YI, numbertr+enty-six, issue #286, l{ay 26, 1 888.A11 in excellent condition. This vol-ume contains. Luke Walton complete,Walter Griffith complete, N94 Ner+tonChapter ICV to end, The Young AcrobatChapter XVII to end., and. A New YorkBoy Chapter I to Chapter XVI. I wouldbe delighted to trade this volume forA1ger firsts f donrt have.
Along rrlth the Algers, I aciried to my
Castlemon collection. I have all thetitles but I pickecl up seven or eightfirsts anfl very nice copies of thequestionable but probable Castlemons:Luke Bennettrs Hide Out ancl GilbertThe Trapper. Both of these were alsoin first printings in the Argosy. Ialso add.ed 117 Henty titles, mostlyBlackie, Scribner-Welford, and GriffithFerran firsts. There are a lot of boyslbooks left and I would be glad to searchfor other authors for anyone dropping me
a line. Irm going back again next weekto make sure I didnrt miss anythingr thoI did.nrt find too many records I need.ed.
Sincerely yours,
Bob Fertig\,
14 NE1,{SBOY
1977 CON\TENTION AUCTION TI{E BOOTBLACKbv Dick SecldonConvention Chairman Here yts,1,s-? Black your boots, boss,
Do it for jest five cents i vOne of the popular features of our Shine rem up in a minute-
recent conventions has been the auction, That is rf nothint prevents.held after the banquet, d.uring which ourgenial and witty auctioneer Ralph Gard- Set your right foot on there, sirlner serls to the highest bidder items The morninrs kinder coral-donated to the Society by members. Sorter rough on a fellerEveryone enters into the fun, bidd.ing is When his coatrs gettint old.brisk, and many fine collectibles areacquired. l.{ell, yes-call it coaL , sir,
Though rtainrt much morern a tearlThe auction serves another purpose Cantt get myself an6fhsr-
too. As you all know, costs go up con- Ainrt got the stamps to spare.stantly. Printing, envelopes, postage,etc. are spiraling, and our dues bare- Make as much as most on I em?ly covers the cost of the Nevsbo;r the Thatrs soi but then, yer see,Membership Roster and otheiE-*s fur- Theytve only got one to do forlnished. the members. Until the auction Therets two on us, Jack and me.came along there was actually a d.eficitin our balance sheet. Even though our Him? Why-that little fellerofficers and ed,itor serve without pay With a d.oubted-up sorter back,and our Secretary and Treasurer are Sittinr there on the gratinlwond.erful managers, money is alvays Sunnint hisself-thatrs Jack.tight. The proceed-s from the auctionhave helpecl greatly. Used. to be rourd. sellinr papers,
The cars ther was his lay,Those members vho appreciate the Soci- But he got shovect off the platform, \r
ety and rsatch each month eagerly for Uncler the wheels, one day.the Newsboy but vho for one reason oranother cannot attenil our convention Yes, the cond.uctor did it-should. not be deprived of the chance to Gave him a regtlar throvlhelp out, so this is an invitation to He d-idntt care if he killed him;all members to contribute some item to Some onrem is just so.our auction. A1ger books and Alger re-lated items are fine, but many other Hets never been all right since, sir,things are good too. Almost anybhing Sorter quiet and queer-that is collectible or has some histor- Him and me go together,ical or novelty interest is more than Hets what they call cashier.velcome. I{e aII have things of thissort that we no longer need. and that Trouble? I guess not much, sir,some one else wants. Sometimes when biz gets slack
I d.onrt knor.r how lrd stand itAs a donation to a non profit organi- If rtwasnrt for little Jack.
zaLion, it is tax deductible too. Youwill be furnished. a thank you letter Why, bossr you ought to hear him;showing the amount it sold for to prove He says ve neednrt careyour donation. How rough luck is d,own here, sir,
ff some ilay we git up there.Look around and if you have something
you can spare, send it to the Convention A11 done n61s-fu61rrs that, sir?Chairman before the meeting and feel Shine like a pair of lamps.that you have helped. Many thanks!! Mornint-give it to Jack, sir, v
* * x He looks af|er the stamps.
March
NEWSBOY
The prececling poem appeared anon),rynous-in Emma Lurnnr" TE Speakerrs Library(aate of public"ti""
".f.."*")l-i *isf,to thank Dave Kanarr, PF-314, for send-ing it to me.
)C
Jan. 28, 1977
*
Jacksonville Courhr, Jacksonvlllc' lll''
\y
Nlancy Drerv followsHardy hoys onto TY
NEW YORK (UPI ) - Slnethings bridge the generationgap like it rvasn't there -pizza, ice creanr and Nanc1,Drew and the Hardl' Ilovs.
That's the theory over iltABC. which begins Jan. .J0 toalternate hour-long Hard5,Buys and Nancy, f)rew mvs-teries from 7-tl p.m. (Easterntime) on Sundal's, u'ith a"Brady Buuch Ilour" throrvnin every five weeks.
They had good reason.Since 1!X6 the Ilardy lloys
and Nancv Drerv mvsterieshave been rewritten'ancl up-dated for today's youngstersand have a whole new follow-ing of 9-to 14-year-old readem.That took care of the outdatedflavor of the originals for thewith-it generatiron. But whatabout the older audience?
Arlene Sidaris, who with.Ioyce Brotman co-producesthe series, expluined in au in-terview:
"We grew up 0n Nanc.vDrew. lt was probahly my'first reading. Nanc5r Drswjust brought back memoriesof this terrific girl who got intoall thesc wonder{ull1' cxcitingsituations and fotight herselfout of tlrem. There also wasthe matter of woruen's rolemodels but that really cametup later. Our firsl thought ivasnostalgia."
Speaking t0 rnen, thel' gottlre sarne kind of fc'erlback onthe Hardy Bovs stories. Thc.result is the serics of adl'en-tures, with the Ilardy Bovsleading off in "The Ilystery oftlte Ilarurted IIouse ," to he fol-
Iowrrtl a week later tr\' Nrrtr'-vl)rcw's doings irt "'l)rt' Ill s-tcrl' ol Piruie's Cove." GIcnA. l,arsen is executivc llro-ducer and rvriter of the initialcrpisodes.-"We're hoping to get fullfamily vieu'ing," Nliss Sidarissaid.'"We think the kids uhoare reading the booksnolr willwatch, that &e format is funand exciting for yotmger chil-dren and that the older mem-bers of the fanrily will be at-tracted by nostalgia. Cer-tainlv thev''ll view the firstshows to stfu what we'v€ dotte,and we hooe thev'll br'ettler-tained bv them.'r
The iirtrepid a(lventurersmay be nrodernized, butthere's plenty for ttostalgiafreaks to latch onto. Neithtrrthe Hardy Boys nor NancyDrew have emigrated toSouthern Califonria. The bovsstill live in Bayport, Nlirss..rvith Aunt (iertrutle, Callie'and Chet verv mttch irt evi-dence, as is th-eir fathcr. Fett-ton Hardy, a retired New YorkCity detec'tive turned prit'iltcinvestigator.
Nancy still livcs with lrer at-torney father, Catrxrn f)retr',in Rii'er Heights, a sttburlr tlfNew Yot*. Citl', and she t'e-mains friendly with ()eorgeFayne and Ned Nickerson.
-see top of pager
second column, forcomment.
15
RANDOM REPORTS FROM ALGERLANDby Jack Bales
As most of you HAS members knowby noro', the Hard.y Boys and NancyDrew books are currently rrrrttenby Stratemeyer Synd.icate copartnerHarriet Stratemeyer Aclams - honor-ary member of the Alger Society andclaughter of Edr^rard Stratemeyer, theman who completed some of Algerrsnovels after the author died in1 899.
Keeping on the same subject asthe Sl,nclicate, I have one otheritem to mention. After you haveread rrBlowing Out the Boyr sBrainsrtt ftm sure some readers arewond.ering why I printeci it in thefirst p1ace, especially since fgave no favorable comments, onlynegative criticism. WeIl-, I feelthat the Newsboy shoulcl not be one-sided, and that although I clisagreewith someone, his/her opinion isworth stating. Besides, this arti-cIe has achieved. such an enormousdegee of notoriety, I vanted allHAS members to read it forthemselves.
Ed.win Gross, 529 Carolina St.,Charleston, West Virginia, has manyAlgers for sale at various prices.Drop him a line if you are inter-ested. In his letter to me, Edwinenclosed a photocopy of an albumpage that had belonged to hisfather. In 1887, the manrs teach-er had written on it his ilefinitionof success. It was: ttYou arestarting out upon lifers journey -a journey the scenes of which and.the end of which no human power canforete11. But to be thoroughlyequipped for all emergencies thatmay arise you should first, whileyou have such abundant opportuni-ties, learn a gooil education. Thenarm yourself with an honest heart,true manliness, a cheerful dispo-sition and be a gentleman at alftimes and you will be certain tocommand the respect and friendshipof all good people. This issuccess.lt
\,
1977
16 NEWSBOY
AIChicago Tribune
manac t /1)/rT
On this date:
On Jan. 13, 1419, lhe English caP'tured the French city of Rouen.
In 1730, James OglethorPe and 130
English colonists arrived at Charles-ton. S. C,, to settle in what is nowthe ;rtbte of Ge.rrgia.
In 1813, the British blockaded Ches-apeale and Delaware Bays in the
Canada's Vancouver Islandrryas acquired by Hudson's Bay Com,pany.
In 18&t, the Amelican eomposer':tephen Forster died penniless in New York's Bellevue'Hospital.
In 1868, the United States Senate refused to accept President AndrewJohnson's ouster of war secretary Edwin Stanton, and acting secretaryUlysses S. Grant resigned.
In 1915, an earthquake in central Italy killed 30,000 persons.In 1935, the Saar voted to return to Germany after being administered
by France under League of Nations supervision.Ii 1967, military leaders in the African. country of Togo seized power
in a bloodless coup.In 1972, army officers overthrew the civilian government in Ghana.[1 19761 Japan indicated it was ready to sign a \{orld lVar II peace
treaty with mainland China.
Note above clipping with the referenceto A1ger I s birthday. Unfortr,urately, thecompiler of this r?Almanacrt mad"e the com-mon mistake of stating that 1834 .was
Horatiors vear of birth. As we allknow', the correct year r,ras 1832.
Herbert F.. Mayes -
author of the fic-titious Alger rrbiographytr published in1928
- was the subject of the January-
February, 1974 Ner'rsboy which told thestory of his Alger: A Biography I{ithottta Hero. Last year he autographed my copyof his book as fol-lor'rs: rrFor JackBafes, with affectionate regards, fromthe man rrho should have written thisbook in invisible ink. Herb Mayes.rr
Herb 'was made an honorary member ofthe Horatio Alger Society in 1974, andlast year joined. the society as a regu-lar member and as a subscriber to theNewsbolr. In a recent letter to me hesaid that he would be attendirrg the up-coming HAS convention and r.oulcl be pre-sent on Friday and Saturd.ay, May 13thand 14th. So. to all of you who owrr
copies of Herbrs book, bring them i,o
rssN oo18-4918rssN o02B-9396
I'Bookecl in Bostonr' (the socialevent of the season!fto thatthey can be autographed.
A1ger Society member GaryScharnhorst had a.n article ap-pear in the summer, 1976,issue of the Journal of PopularCulture. Entitleti rrThe BoudoirTales of Horatio Alger , Jr. ,t'the work studies the authorrsnovels that were written pri-marl1y for adults.
Trving P. Leif, PF-359, hasrecently had a book published.Child.renr s Literature: A, IIi"-torical and Contggryggg Bibli-
New York 12181 -l is a referencehandbook containing a listingof all the scholarly researchthat has been published on allaspects of childrenrs litera-ture. It contains chapters onhistorical and author studiesof child,renls books, sections on
the vriting and publishing of them, and-
more. Naturatly, part of the $15.00volume deals r+ith Horatio Alger.
Jack Schorr rrrites: rrl went to a sl/apmeet and noticed an old metal badge withtrNewsboy No.
-tI on it. It .was star
shapecl, heavy, and brightly nickelplatecl. f guess some newspaper gavethem to their boys for prestige andid.entification. I wanted it for thesociety but vhen f vent back I coul-dnrtfind the booth (rshich so often happens).f thought other HAS members might keeptheir eyes peeled for other old nevsboybadges and pick them up. f am surethere are others.rt Thanks very much,Jack, for sencling me this informationof interesting and historical value.
For those interested in the writingsof James Willard Schultz, there is asociety named after hin. Its news-Ietter is titled I'The Piegan Storytel-ler.rt For more information write thesocietyr s eclitor, David C. Andrevs,Box 53, Andes, New York 13731.
