Communicating Authentically

But Sure, Witches are the Wicked Ones

The Horatio Alger Association has been in the news lately about its purchase of involvement with one of the U.S. Supreme Court justices, and it occurred to me that not everyone knows who Horatio Alger is.

Alger is an American author perhaps most responsible for the myth that those living in poverty can “pull themselves up by the bootstraps,” and by dint of nothing more than hard work, noble character, and honest dealing, become respectable, productive middle-class citizens. Just a few decades after the Grimms wrote tales of “wicked witches,” Alger penned a different kind of lie.

And, as I recently discovered, there are lies behind the lies: Horatio Alger was a child molester.

In 1866, young Horatio Alger, Jr. decided to follow his minister father’s footsteps and take a position as pastor at the First Unitarian Church and Society of Brewster, Massachusetts. Parishioners noted that he spent an inordinate amount of time with young boys, and an investigation ensued. He was soon accused of “the abominable and revolting crime of gross familiarity with boys.” He didn’t deny it; he fully admitted that he had been “imprudent,” and left Cape Cod and the ministry.

He moved to New York, and eager to “atone for his sins,” he became passionate about the plight of street boys: vagrant young men trapped in a system of poverty. He began writing tales of such boys, most notably the “Ragged Dick” series (I kid you not). In almost every story, a handsome street urchin is befriended by a rich older man, who helps him become a man of means.

Not coincidentally, Alger himself informally “adopted” two street boys and moved them in with him, but he largely downplayed the role of the older benefactor in his stories. Clearly Alger didn’t want to shed too much light on that particular situation, focusing more on the young boys’ efforts. The only reason Alger’s heroes appear to be “self-made” men was to hide the fact of his own exploitation of young male victims of poverty.

The other thing worth noting is that the term “pulling yourself up by the bootstraps” was originally a joke. It’s physically impossible for a prone person to pull themselves to a standing position by grasping their own footwear. Pulling yourself up by the bootstraps is a literal example of something that CAN’T BE DONE.

So, when I hear about an association named for Horatio Alger, what occurs to me is that these folks aren’t as concerned about the real problems in our society as they are in maintaining a status quo that celebrates the exploiters.

But sure, witches are the wicked ones.

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