Horatio Alger

“ That will explain all. I shouldn't be surprised to see her at my entertainment."
"I wonder if she'll recognize me," said Harry.
"No doubt; as soon as she learns with whom she rode, she'll be very curious to come and see me perform." ”

“ You see when I was twenty-one, with a little property which I inherited from my uncle, I went into business for myself; but I was young and inexperienced in management, and the consequence was, that in about two years I failed. I found it difficult to get employment as a clerk, business being very dull at the time. While uncertain what to do, one of my friends, to whom I had communicated my power, induced me to give me a public entertainment, combining with it a few tricks of magic, which I had been able to pick up from books. I succeeded so well my vocation in life became Professor Henderson. ”

“ Conceive his surprise, therefore, when the will came to be read, to find that the entire property was left to his Uncle Jonas, his father brother, who, for three years past, had been a member of the family. Jonas had never prospered in life, and his brother, out of pity, had offered him an asylum on his farm. He had formerly been a bookkeeper and was an accomplished penman.
"The will was so extraordinary--since Paul and his father had always been on perfectly good terms--that the young man was thunderstruck. His uncle expressed hypocritical surprise at the nature of the will. ”