Horatio Alger wrote 135 dime novels in the latter part of the 19th century. His stories were rags to riches stories illustrating how down-and-out boys might be able to achieve the American Dream. Alger's stories empathize the need for hard work and honesty as a way to get ahead. Alger describes young men in the city trying to get a head as newsboys, match boys, peddlers, street musicians, and many others From Canal Boy to President: Or the Boyhood and Manhood of James A. Garfield (1831 -1881). He was the 20th President of the United States. Garfield was born of Welsh ancestry in a log cabin in Orange Township, Ohio. His father, Abram Garfield, died in 1833, when James Abram was 17 months old. He was brought up by his mother, Eliza Ballou, sisters, and an uncle. Garfield was a preacher and teacher before entering law. His death, two months after being shot and six months after his inauguration, made his tenure, at 199 days, the second shortest (after William Henry Harrison) in United States history.