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Luck and Pluck #3
Strong and Steady, Or, Paddle Your Own Canoe
Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XIII. THE ARROW AND THE PIONEER. After this Joshua was more careful about annoying Walter. Though he was older, and a little taller than our hero, he had found to his cost that he was not a match for him in strength. He had also made the unwelcome discovery that Walter did not intend to be imposed upon. So, though he ventured to sneer at times, he thought it best to stop short of open insult. There was also another motive which influenced him. His father forbade him in tones more decided than usual to interfere with Walter, whose services he was anxious to retain in the store. Mr. Drummond also had another reason for this command. He thought that Walter might be mistaken as to the state of his father's affairs, and that a few thousand dollars might be rescued by his executor from the ruin. In that case, there would be a chance of his obtaining control of Walter's property during his minority. The picnic came off on Saturday afternoon. The weather, which often throws a wet blanket upon the festivities of such occasions, was highly propitious, and several hundred persons, young and middleaged, turned out en masse. The place selected for the picnic was a field of several acres, bordering upon a pond. This had been fitted up by the proprietor with swings, and a roofed building without sides, under which were placed rough board tables for the reception of provisions. A number of oak trees with their broad branches furnished shelter. Besides these arrangements for enjoyment, there were two boats confined by iron chains, which were thrown around trees near the brink of the water. After enjoying the swing for a time, there was a proposition to go out in the boats. The boats could comfortably accommodate eight persons each. This number had been obtained, w...
154 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1871
1 person is currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Horatio Alger Jr.
488 books97 followersHoratio Alger, Jr. (January 13, 1832 – July 18, 1899) was a prolific 19th-century American author, most famous for his novels following the adventures of bootblacks, newsboys, peddlers, buskers, and other impoverished children in their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of respectable middle-class security and comfort. His novels about boys who succeed under the tutelage of older mentors were hugely popular in their day.
Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, the son of a Unitarian minister, Alger entered Harvard University at the age of sixteen. Following graduation, he briefly worked in education before touring Europe for almost a year. He then entered the Harvard Divinity School, and, in 1864, took a position at a Unitarian church in Brewster, Massachusetts. Two years later, he resigned following allegations he had sexual relations with two teenage boys.[1] He retired from the ministry and moved to New York City where he formed an association with the Newsboys Lodging House and other agencies offering aid to impoverished children. His sympathy for the working boys of the city, coupled with the moral values learned at home, were the basis of his many juvenile rags to riches novels illustrating how down-and-out boys might be able to achieve the American Dream of wealth and success through hard work, courage, determination, and concern for others. This widely held view involves Alger's characters achieving extreme wealth and the subsequent remediation of their "old ghosts." Alger is noted as a significant figure in the history of American cultural and social ideals. He died in 1899.
The first full-length Alger biography was commissioned in 1927 and published in 1928, and along with many others that borrowed from it later proved to be heavily fictionalized parodies perpetuating hoaxes and made up anecdotes that "would resemble the tell-all scandal biographies of the time."[2] Other biographies followed, sometimes citing the 1928 hoax as fact. In the last decades of the twentieth century a few more reliable biographies were published that attempt to correct the errors and fictionalizations of the past.
Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, the son of a Unitarian minister, Alger entered Harvard University at the age of sixteen. Following graduation, he briefly worked in education before touring Europe for almost a year. He then entered the Harvard Divinity School, and, in 1864, took a position at a Unitarian church in Brewster, Massachusetts. Two years later, he resigned following allegations he had sexual relations with two teenage boys.[1] He retired from the ministry and moved to New York City where he formed an association with the Newsboys Lodging House and other agencies offering aid to impoverished children. His sympathy for the working boys of the city, coupled with the moral values learned at home, were the basis of his many juvenile rags to riches novels illustrating how down-and-out boys might be able to achieve the American Dream of wealth and success through hard work, courage, determination, and concern for others. This widely held view involves Alger's characters achieving extreme wealth and the subsequent remediation of their "old ghosts." Alger is noted as a significant figure in the history of American cultural and social ideals. He died in 1899.
The first full-length Alger biography was commissioned in 1927 and published in 1928, and along with many others that borrowed from it later proved to be heavily fictionalized parodies perpetuating hoaxes and made up anecdotes that "would resemble the tell-all scandal biographies of the time."[2] Other biographies followed, sometimes citing the 1928 hoax as fact. In the last decades of the twentieth century a few more reliable biographies were published that attempt to correct the errors and fictionalizations of the past.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 9, 2023
While I whole heartedly adore Nick Offerman, and I often laughed out loud while reading this book, I also often found myself speed reading through sections that weren’t as interesting or relevant (growing a mustache) to me.
February 24, 2018
This book was really something. It's gung-ho in the pre-1960s fashion and very much an antiquated inspirational tale of success. It's still a little motivational now, but definitely dated.
January 13, 2022
At one point disenfranchised orphan Walter Conrad hears schoolchildren singing a song containing the injunction: “Paddle your own canoe.”
“That is going to be my motto,” Walter says immediately. And sure enough, periodically Walter refuses charity, insisting that he will paddle his own canoe. This is almost always clearly a metaphor.
But at one point Walter wins a boat race, and we are told afterwards that with satisfaction Walter “thought once more of the song he had heard, and hoped that he would be as successful through life in paddling his own canoe.” But…the boat race was explicitly a race of rowboats, which of course were not paddled; and Walter did not even row in the race, being rather the steersman. I understand that we are still in the realm of metaphor, but I can’t help but find it awkward to see a plucky fellow step out of a rowboat he did not even row and exclaim proudly, “I sure paddled my own canoe!”
In any event, after half a book spent toiling ignominiously for a stingy uncle, Walter becomes a book agent, like Frank Hardy, and saves up a modest amount, before paddling off into the sequel, Strive and Succeed, a book that is more enjoyable while being even less satisfying,
“That is going to be my motto,” Walter says immediately. And sure enough, periodically Walter refuses charity, insisting that he will paddle his own canoe. This is almost always clearly a metaphor.
But at one point Walter wins a boat race, and we are told afterwards that with satisfaction Walter “thought once more of the song he had heard, and hoped that he would be as successful through life in paddling his own canoe.” But…the boat race was explicitly a race of rowboats, which of course were not paddled; and Walter did not even row in the race, being rather the steersman. I understand that we are still in the realm of metaphor, but I can’t help but find it awkward to see a plucky fellow step out of a rowboat he did not even row and exclaim proudly, “I sure paddled my own canoe!”
In any event, after half a book spent toiling ignominiously for a stingy uncle, Walter becomes a book agent, like Frank Hardy, and saves up a modest amount, before paddling off into the sequel, Strive and Succeed, a book that is more enjoyable while being even less satisfying,
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews