Helen Ford - a Story for Girls by Horatio Alger Jr.

This book is an oddity for a number of reasons.  First, I'm not really a fan of Horatio Alger Jr - the only books I have by him are the series of "Ragged Dick" books that I purchased from Nancy Axelrad a few years back when she was selling her collection, and quite frankly, I haven't read any of those.  Second, it is a stand-alone book, not a part of any series, and other than the Whitman and Goldsmith books, I don't usually buy books that are not a part of a series. And third, it is one of Alger's few books that has a female protagonist - most of his books feature boys as the main characters.  In fact, from the listing of Alger books I was able to find on line, it appears this is one of only two or possibly three books that feature women (or girls) as the lead characters!  And what's even more interesting is that this book is said to have been marketed as an "adult" novel, but it met with limited success.  I'm not sure how much truth there is to that, as the book definitely reads much like the children's books of the early 20th Century and not at all like an adult story.

Helen Ford was first published in 1866 - the copy I have, published by The John C. Winston Company, does not have any other publication date, so I can't exactly say when my copy was published.  All I do know is based on the condition, it was definitely the latter part of the 19th Century or very early part of the 20th Century.  In any event, I came across this book through my father, who called me from a used book store in Campbellsville, Kentucky where he lives.  Via the joys of FaceTime, he was showing me the vintage books they had on their shelves, and I saw that title with the name Alger on the spine, so I asked him to show me more.  I was intrigued by the fact the title was a female's name, yet the cover showed a young boy with a suitcase, with the Statue of Liberty in the background.  The price was cheap enough, so even though the book showed considerable wear, I told him to buy it, as I was curious to read it.  It was months before I actually got the book (as I didn't want him to ship it, based on the age and condition), and now that I have it, I read it VERY CAREFULLY to avoid causing any more damage to the book than what already existed.

The story centers around a young girl in her early teens by the name of Helen Ford.  Like Nancy Drew, her mother died was she was young, and her only family was her father.  Unlike our intrepid sleuth, Helen Ford and her father, Robert, are extremely poor.  The story begins with them moving into a boarding house in New York City.  Helen basically takes care of her father, who she believes is a genius working on an invention that will eventually reward them with riches once he is able to complete it (they never actually come right out and say what the invention is, but the descriptions all seem to lead to the idea of an airplane conveyance of some sort).  As such, Helen manages the finances, and when money begins to run out, she must find a means to support herself and her father.  Through the aid of a friendly neighbor, she ends up getting a job in the theater, where her singing talent wows the audiences and earns her a contact with the theater to perform regularly for a weekly wage. She and her father befriend another neighbor boy, who is a struggling artist hoping to eventually sell his paintings in order to make a name for himself, and Helen's caring, mature nature also wins over the woman who runs the boarding house (but not the older woman who lives downstairs and thinks herself to be above all others in the building!). 

The most interesting aspects of this tale come from the unscrupulous relative who Alger brings into the picture - a cousin, one Lewis Rand, who has been caring for Robert Ford (actually, Robert Rand)'s father since Robert and he became estranged (due to Robert marring a woman beneath the family's station, causing Mr. Rand to disown his son). Lewis was intent on becoming Mr. Rand's only heir, but as fate would have it, they also resided in New York City, and a chance sighting of Robert and Helen walking down the street stirred up the ill Mr. Rand's hopes that he might be reconciled with his son!  Lewis, however, had already hatched a plan to make Mr. Rand think his son had died years ago in Chicago, and this unfortunate sighting was apt to rob him of his chance to inherit a fortune.  Lewis goes to great lengths (and engages in several illegal activities) to keep his father and cousin apart and ensure that he inherits his uncle's vast fortune - in fact, the story is very much soap opera-worthy, as the elements will likely seem familiar to anyone who has watched General Hospital, Days of Our Lives, The Young and the Restless, or any other soap for any length of time.  Of course, just as the soap opera stories show, these lies and machinations have a way of unraveling, and Alger's story is no different.

 

The story has a number of characters, both good and bad, that I enjoyed reading.  Helen's neighbor, Martha Grey, who was always encouraging  Helen, and for whom Helen developed an almost mother/daughter relationship with, was so sweet.  And her other neighbor, Herbert Coleman (the young artist), becomes very much a protective older brother to our young heroine.  Yet, in both instances, it turns out to be Helen who takes on the more adult role in caring for both of these characters, and it is ultimately Helen who provides the way for both Martha and Herbert to lead betters lives.  Then there is Mr. Sharp, the lawyer, who at the beginning of the story appears to be unscrupulous and willing to do anything to make a dollar, but who, by the end of the tale, has changed his colors and becomes a friend to Helen and her father, becoming the tool by which the Fords (a/k/a the Rands) obtain their rightful inheritance. There is also Margaret Wynne, the wife of the forger, who discovers more than she bargains for when she witnesses her husband's transaction with Lewis Rand to forge the will of his dying uncle.  Like a good soap opera, one secret after another spills out as lies upon lies are uncovered, and she finds herself holding the all-important secret that will affect so many lives - that of her husband, his client, his client's uncle, and poor young Helen and her father!

The writing of this book is a bit different than the standard children's mystery fare that I'm used to reading. Alger has no problem changing points-of-view, alternating quite often between Helen, Lewis, and even some of Lewis' ne'er-do-wells that are helping him with his scheme.  Thus, the reader is able to see into the minds of both the good guys and the bad guys in this story, and in a couple of instances, we are able to see how Lewis' actions affect more than simply his own family (such as the wife of the man Lewis hires to forge a new will that bequeaths him everything from his uncle's estate).  Additionally, as the narrator, Alger has no problem inserting his own personal comments and observations into the story.  His commentary on Helen's innocence, the ultimate consequences of Lewis' actions, and even the attitudes and personalities of the various characters adds a little something extra to the story that I found myself enjoying - almost like an omniscient being that is watching the story is giving us (the readers) commentary to go along with our reading.

Ultimately, all works out in favor of young Helen and her father, and she even is able to help out her two neighbors at the boarding house who had been so kind to them.  Surprisingly, the last chapter gives readers an epilogue of sorts, as Alger jumps again four years to show us the lives of Helen, her father, and her neighbors (Martha Grey and Herbert Coleman) and how they have vastly improved from their impoverished circumstances just years before.  There's a clear moral that honesty and integrity will ultimately be rewarded in the end, and the reader is left with feeling of joy and satisfaction for young Helen.

Admittedly, I went online to see if I could find a copy of the book with a dust jacket, but I was not able to even locate an image of any dust jacket (if this book even came with one).  I did, however, discover several variations of the cover for this book, and one odd thing they all had in common - every cover featured a young boy - whether it be a young boy carrying newspapers, seeming to jump off the cover, or a young boy carrying what appears to be a letter to be mailed, or even a young newspaper boy hawking his wares.  At the same time, I discovered the cover for the book I own was also used on other Alger books (such as Do and Dare, which features the same exact boy in front of the Statue of Liberty, only a different color board).  This leads me to believe that the publishers apparently used the same cover boards for a variety of titles, and the covers had absolutely no relation to the story inside.  Odd, though, that they did not at least use a cover board that featured a girl for a story that is all about a young girl, eh?

 

One last thing I noticed in this book is the strange numbering that appeared at the bottom of certain pages throughout the book.  For example, at the bottom of page 13 was the number "2, while at the bottom of page 25 was the number "3."  Page 37 has the number "4" at the bottom, while page 49 had the number "5" at the bottom; and so the numbers increased as the book continued.  Interspersed among these, I found increasing numbers with an asterisk after them (such as "4*").  Both the numbering and the asterisk-numbering ended with "25" in the last chapters of the book.  I had no idea what this was, so I did some digging around online and discovered these are "signature marks," which were used back in the day to ensure book-binders could put the books together in the correct order when printing and binding the books.  Learn something new every day!

RATING:  9 paintings of old farmhouses out of 10 for an enjoyable tale of perseverance and overcoming adversity, where right most assuredly wins over wrong every time!