Reproduction of the original.

Herbert Carr lives with his widowed mother in Wayneboro, Massachusetts and to support his ailing mother, young Herbert takes a number of odd jobs and becomes a paid companion to a wealthy but sickly young man. They survive by operating a small post office until the selfish Ebenezer Graham takes it over. Graham allows Herbert to stay on as an assistant, but when his son returns unexpectedly from Boston, he lets Herbert go.

Herbert Carr lives with his widowed mother in Wayneboro, Massachusetts and to support his ailing mother, young Herbert takes a number of odd jobs and becomes a paid companion to a wealthy but sickly young man. They survive by operating a small post office until the selfish Ebenezer Graham takes it over. Graham allows Herbert to stay on as an assistant, but when his son returns unexpectedly from Boston, he lets Herbert go.

Do and Dare - a Brave Boy's Fight for Fortune By Jr. Horatio Alger

Horatio Alger Jr. January 13, 1832 - July 18, 1899) was an American writer of young adult novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty. His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on the United States during the Gilded Age.All of Alger's juvenile novels share essentially the same theme, known as the "Horatio Alger myth" a teenage boy works hard to escape poverty. Often it is not hard work that rescues the boy from his fate but rather some extraordinary act of bravery or honesty. The boy might return a large sum of lost money or rescue someone from an overturned carriage. This brings the boy-and his plight-to the attention of a wealthy individual.Alger secured his literary niche in 1868 with the publication of his fourth book, Ragged Dick, the story of a poor bootblack's rise to middle-class respectability. This novel was a huge success. His many books that followed were essentially variations on Ragged Dick and featured casts of stock characters: the valiant hard-working, honest youth, the noble mysterious stranger, the snobbish youth, and the evil, greedy squire.In the 1870s, Alger's fiction was growing stale. His publisher suggested he tour the American West for fresh material to incorporate into his fiction. Alger took a trip to California, but the trip had little effect on his writing: he remained mired in the tired theme of "poor boy makes good." The backdrops of these novels, however, became the American West rather than the urban environments of the northeastern United States.

Hero Herbert Carr is the son of a war widow who had assumed her husband's place as postmaster of the small rural town in Waynesboro. Widow Carr is upset because Squire Walsingham is using his political influence to take the post away from the widow to put into the hands of his nephew, Ebenezer Graham, the local miser and shopkeeper. Walsingham succeeds in his efforts and the post is given to Mr. Graham. Since Mr. Graham is uncertain of how to run a post office, he offers to hire Herbert for a pittance to run things until he learns what must be done. However, Mr. Graham's son, Eben Graham, a fop/spendthrift, returns from Boston where he had been a shop clerk. Fired because of his own arrogance, he returns home seeking employment. Mr. Graham fires Herbert and hires his son. Herbert is at first dismayed, but then encounters his patron, George Melville, a young man who is incredibly wealthy (the amount of his fortune is never disclosed), who had trained to be a lawyer but was forced to abandon his practice due to consumption. He offers Herbert an extravagant amount weekly to engage him in outdoor activities to cure his illness. Henry is extremely happy with this opportunity to care for his mother and readily agrees. When Eben hears about Herbert's windfall, he is outraged, feeling that he would be the better companion. After going to Melville's hotel suite and asking him for Herbert's job (and being refused), he organizes a plot of false accusation to have Herbert arrested on charges of theft from the post office. Although Herbert is taken before the judge, his previous good behavior convinces all involved that he is innocent. Furthermore, George Melville uses his education in law to prove that Eben was the true thief in cross-examination.