Chester Rand

Chester Rand does his best to support himself and his widowed mother on three dollars a week. But, he experiences many work problems from a series of abusive employers. Finally, having had some luck as an artist, Chester leaves Pennsylvania and goes to New York City to do art full-time.

Horatio Alger, Jr. (January 13, 1832 - July 18, 1899) was a prolific 19th-century American author, best known for his many formulaic juvenile 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 America during the Gilded Age.