In the latter year he settled in New York and began drawing
public attention to the condition and needs of street boys.  He
mingled with them, gained their confidence showed a personal
concern in their affairs, and stimulated them to honest and
useful living.  With his first story he won the hearts of all
red-blooded boys everywhere, and of the seventy or more that
followed over a million copies were sold during the author's
lifetime. 

In his later life he was in appearance a short, stout,
bald-headed man, with cordial manners and whimsical views of
things that amused all who met him.  He died at Natick, Mass.,
July 18, 1899. 

Mr.  Alger's stories are as popular now as when first published,
because they treat of real live boys who were always up and
about-just like the boys found everywhere to-day.  They are pure
in tone and inspiring in influence, and many reforms in the
juvenile life of New York may be traced to them.  Among the best
known are: