Shifting for Himself

Gilbert Greyson is rich. He is finishing boarding school, readying himself for college, and his future looks bright. And why not? His father willed him $75,000. Today, 2019, that is $1.8 million! A tidy sum, for certain. But his dishonest guardian swindles Gilbert out of his inheritance and in short order, he finds himself broke, and on the street! Gilbert is not afraid of hard work, and even after being unfairly fired from a job, he buckles down and starts "Shifting for Himself."

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.