Paul Prescott's Charge
1865
Paul Prescott's Charge
1865
The dying words of Paul Prescott's father become a sacred duty: pay off the debt, uphold the family honor, no matter the cost. In this quintessential Horatio Alger novel, a young boy is thrust into the harsh realities of 19th-century America after losing his father. Sent to the Poor House when he cannot repay what his father owed, Paul makes the bold choice to escape and seek his fortune in the wider world. Through peddling, laboring, and one trial after another, he battles discouragement and temptation while holding fast to the charge his dying father gave him. What follows is the classic Alger formula: a boy's education in perseverance, integrity, and self-reliance as the only reliable currency in the American marketplace. Though written for young readers in 1865, the story captures something timeless about the hunger to prove oneself, to transform suffering into strength, to become more than the circumstances of one's birth.
