 The Cavalcade of America, presented by Jufant, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. The Cavalcade of America presents Kenneth Del Mar in an original radio play by Robert Tolman, called The Trials and Triumphs of Horatio Alger. Horatio Alger struck an authentically American note in popular fiction, and to millions of youthful readers in this country, his writings represented a fundamental trait in the American character, the will to succeed. In support of Kenneth Del Mar as Horatio Alger are the Cavalcade players. Our orchestra and the original musical score are under the direction of Don Burley's. Jufant, maker of better things for better living through chemistry, presents Kenneth Del Mar as Horatio Alger on The Cavalcade of America. I swear to you, it was not I who took the money. It was Bertram, the bully of Bleecker Street, accompanied by a gang of armed hoodlums. The wicked Padrone snarled and raised a whip. What matters, sneered he. Julius leapt to his feet. The money is gone. Righteous anger quivering in every muscle. I commend you, sir, or did our young hero, now master of the cruel bully, whom he had caught unarmed at last. I commend you to release this lady. And resort to her the property that is heard by all of us. He is now manager of the Brooklyn Warehouse, and may, if he continues in the paths of virtue, even become rich. For the ragged tramp he had rescued was, as you may have guessed, none other than oldest Fitzsimmons Hastings, a wealthy importer, wearing a disguise. Of such is the substance of over a hundred books which thrilled American lads for generations. The books of Horatio Alger Jr. But little did the boys who read them know that the man who wrote them had his trials as well as triumphs, even as they. For though born into a prosperous home, the lad Horatio Alger knew disappointment early in life, as our listeners will shortly learn. Time to put your blocks away Horatio. Your father will be returning soon. Oh please nanny, just let me finish this tower. It's the tower of Babel and it's gonna reach to the moon. Well all right. But your father will be very cross with me if he catches us. Oh there's mommy, I wanna show it to her. Mommy! Yes Horatio, what is it? Look mommy, see what I've built. Oh, it's lovely Horatio. Miss Cunningham? Yes, Mrs. Alger. Where did these blocks come from? Oh Mrs. Alger, I know the river, Mr. Alger, for bad it, but I couldn't bear to see the little lad fretting without proper toys to play with. So I brought them in there. I'm glad you did, Miss Cunningham. I'm afraid Mr. Alger is inclined to be a little too exacting with our boy. You like the blocks very much, don't you darling? They're the best blocks in the world. I'm an engineer. Well, maybe we can induce your father to let you keep them. Good Mrs. Alger, there's the front door now. We'd better hide the blocks. No, no Miss Cunningham. This time we stand our ground. Well, good evening my dear. Good evening. Good evening governess. Good evening sir. Father! Miss Cunningham, what's the meaning of this? Why isn't the lad at his studies? Well, Mr. Alger, sir, I thought... It was my idea Horatio. The lad can't have all studies, no play. It's not human. So you call this the Tower of Babel? Do you Horatio? Yes, and it's really gonna reach to the moon, father. You'll see. Yes, shall see about that. Transit gloria mundi, thus pass away the vanities of this world. Build your mind, learning as a structure no man can demolish. Horatio, that's what it is. Why can't you let our child have any pleasure? Not foolish pleasures. He may build, but not with blocks, the cathedral of the mind, a great cathedral. This happens again, I shall forbid you to see our son. Forbid me to see my own son. Oh, you're monstrous. I can't bear it. Put your room, my dear. Most unseemly. Now, Miss Cunningham, here are Horatio's exercises for tomorrow. You'll see that he applies himself diligently. More play to home, Mr. Alger? Yes. To be memorized both in the Latin and the original Greek. Mr. Alger, I'm afraid you better get another governor's for little Horatio. I was in trouble. Aren't you well treated here? Yes, sir, I am. But I was employed to raise a child, not a pulpit. Enough of this joyless childhood. The lab's long hours of study were not entirely unrewarded, as we shall see. We next meet Horatio as a student of a great university. He's calling on a young lady in Boston, Massachusetts. Patience, sir. I couldn't wait to tell you the news. My essay has won the Harvard Contest. Oh, I'm so glad for you, Horatio. Oh, now you'll be able to go to Europe for your summer vacation, as you'd hope. Well, I may not be going this summer, Patience. Oh, but you were looking forward to it. Why, I thought that was why you were so anxious to win the prize money. Oh, I found a much better use for the money. Well, tell me about it. Well, you know old Thurstone, who keeps the house where I lodge. You didn't let him weedle the money out of you. Oh, you're so trusting Horatio. Can't you see he's a ne'er-do-well? Patience, you don't understand him. He needed the money more than I do. But this was your chance, Horatio, to prove to your father that you're meant to be a writer and not a minister. Oh, I can prove that right here at home. I'm working on a book now. And what's more, a publisher in New York has agreed to buy it. Oh, well, you didn't tell me you were writing a book, Horatio. Well, I, uh... Well, it's a book for boys. It's not exactly literature, Patience. Oh. Oh, I see. But I'm not doing it just for the money. It teaches a fine lesson, I think. It's about a boy who, though he was cruelly driven from home, endured his hardships with fortitude and won through in the end. Well, that doesn't sound very original, Horatio. Oh, I need to learn more to be a really good writer, of course. But in the meantime, I can pick up a living writing these stories for boys. Would you be willing to marry a struggling writer, Patience? I... Why, yes, Horatio. Yes, darling. Of course I would if it's you. Why, absolutely forbid it. It won't do you any good to forbid it, Father. Patience and I both want to be married, and I'm not suited to be a clergyman anyway. You don't know what you'll shoot it for. As for young Miss Steyer's, I'll see to it that her parents take action to restrain her from this folly as well. She won't listen if they do. No matter. She's underage. Marriage can be prevented at any rate. Father, you wouldn't do that. You see whether I would. Very well. Then I'm through with trying to please you any longer. From now on, I'm on my own. I shall devote my life to becoming a great author. Patience will wait for me. I know. You, a great author. You who can't open your mouth without uttering some nonsensical preditude. I suppose you call this rubbish, the young miner, or Tom Nelson out west. I suppose you call this the work of a future great author. Well, at least it states certain eternal moral truths, how honesty and perseverance were rewarded with success. Style is something that can be learned. I'll go to Paris and study with the masters. Victor Hugo and all the great men of the Bohemian school. Ah, now we learn your true motive. You hope by becoming a Bohemian, by emulating the sinful lives of those who have succeeded in the shameful modern school, you too can gain distinction. Well, you can't. Throwing away your soul won't give you a clever mind. I should know better than anyone. I tried to educate you. But even as a child, you preferred to play with blocks. Do you think the reception is huge? Oh, yes, very much. I haven't had a chance to meet many people. See, I'm all alone in Paris. Alone in Paris? I did not think it possible. Ah, yes. I suppose loneliness is a penalty one must pay if one is striving to master an art. Oh, you're an artist then, eh? Oh, but of course, I might have known the goatee in the Cordroy suit. Yes, artist of course. Well, I hope to be a writer someday. Ah, then we are colleagues. I too am a writer. Perhaps you have read me. I am Victor Hugo. Victor Hugo? Why, I've hoped, I've prayed I might meet you, the master of modern literature. Let us not fatigue ourselves with acknowledgment, eh? Well, perhaps I might be of assistance to you, who knows? Tell me what work you are engaged in. Well, it's still in the formative stage. I mean to construct a large canvas, as large as life. It will be a trilogy, the three sections titled Past, Present, and Future. Mm, yes. That will require a very large canvas. Yes. Tell me, you're an American? Yes, how did you know? Because you have big ideas. Europe is too small for such grandiose notions. Go home to America, monsieur. Write just what you see and know and feel about it. It may not be great, but you will never have cause to feel ashamed of it. For your work will be the measure of your audience. Get home to America. Just a few days ago, I came straight here, Mrs. Dyer's. How is patience? She's ill, Mr. Alger. Better you. Come, I'll take you to her. You? But what is it? It was a fever. It came Saturday. She kept asking for you. Why didn't someone write me? Well, it's all right now. Don't stay too long, Mr. Alger. She must save her strength. Yes, yes, I know. Thank you. Thank you, Miss. Patience. Is you at last? I'm home for good, dear. You must get well quickly. I'm not sure if I shouldn't get well. What are you talking about? Well, I might not. You never can tell. I mean, your father said. What did father say? Oh, it doesn't matter now. You're here. Tell me about Paris and are you a writer yet? Not yet, dear. No, not yet. I have to make a living, you know. I signed a contract with a publisher to write a few books for boys. When I get that money, I'll be able to start my real novel. Oh, it'll be great. I know it will. What do you wish, dear? Or I just wish. You're tired, aren't you? No, no, don't go, not yet. I'll just sit here with me for a while. Listen to me, my dear. I must leave you for a short time. Duty calls me to New York, but I shall be back. And you'll be proud of me. And then I'll never leave you again. Say that again. He's just a chick. We're hazing shinks today. But why? Why? I don't know. We just don't. Get that snow off him and bring him here to me. Hey, you're not a roll man. We don't have to do what you say. Yes, you do. Here, you come along with me, sonny. Where were you born? Well, then you're not Chinese at all. You're an American just like these other boys. They're going to get you thawed out. Where's your home? Well, then you come along with me, Wing. You're going to walk with your head high from now on, Wing. Now then, tell me about this news boy's lodging house. I'm too old to see. If Mr. O'Connor will let me, I'll stay and teach you boys. That's a promise. No, no, I really mean it. I'll tell you a secret, Wing. I've always wanted a son of my own. But, well, I guess I never will have one now. Why? Well, the lady I love, she went away, you see. Mother of Wing, she'd go away, too. Wing have no father. Well, Wing, if you'd like it, I'll be your father. Like rich boy's father, buy me shoes. Shoes and anything else you want, Wing. I think we're both going to be a lot happier from now on. Talk a lot because I know you're all waiting to get at that ice cream. I just want to remind you of some of the things I've been telling you right along. There's no telling how far you boys may go. But you have to work hard. You want to be respectable citizens and you want comfort in your old age. When the going gets too hard, just keep thinking ahead for the future. Now get busy on that ice cream. Nice to be home again, are you? Oh, grand. But where's Wing? I don't see him around. Why, send him on a little errand. He'll hurry back all right to see you. Hey, fellas, listen. It's a fire right there. Hey, come on. Let's go. Why does it happen like this? It wouldn't have happened that way. In your book, would it? Would it, Miss Alger? All this meeting to consider the books of Horatio Alger. Of course, we know he's insane. He's even moved into a newsboy's lodging house as a York bag and baggage. Shocking. I never heard of such a thing. Yes, but, ladies, ladies, what has all this to do with the literary merit of Alger's books? Well, ladies, I must agree with our dear minister. Mr. Alger's personal eccentricities had nothing to do with the question. But what of the literary merit, Mr. Smith? Surely you agree that his style is atrocious. Atrocious? Well, that's an unkind word. Mr. Alger doesn't write for you and me. He writes for schoolboys. Is it necessary to have a bad style in order to write for schoolboys? Well, apparently some adults find it readable. In fact, Mr. Elbridge Gary of New York told me that Alger's book, Fill the Fiddler, was an important influence in the founding of a society for the prevention of cruelty of children. Seems to me that alone would entitle Alger to a place on our library shelves. Well, ladies, we have heard from both sides now. Shall we take a vote? Yes, I think we should. Very well. All in favor of removing the works of Horatio Alger from the public library of Worcester? Aye. Opposed? No. The motion is carried. To a publisher, I can assure you it doesn't mean a thing. Now, when can we expect the last chapters of Sink or Swing? I'm not going to finish it. Alger, have you gone mad? Bookshops are clamoring for it all over the country. The suppression of the libraries has increased the demand. Why, this book will make you rich, Alger. I don't care, Rich. I'm working on a serious book. On a grand scale, like Tolstoy. A real work of art. Well, that's fine, Alger. I'm sure it will be a real work of art, but you've got your young readers to think of, you know? Why, sure. They're begging for a new Alger book. You can't let them down now. For this one, you've got to let me alone. You've got to let me prove that I have talent for another kind of writing. Absolutely, Mr. Alger. It's a promise. Shake. Very well, then. I'll have the rest of Sink or Swing in by the end of the week. Good day, gentlemen. Good day, Alger. Good day. Phew. That was a close one. It certainly was. And make out a contract for his next one before he changes. Funny thing how these popular writers have delusions about their own work. For his sake, I hope you'll never find the time to write that great novel he's always talking about. One minute, ma'am. He's old and tired. Yes. Yes, I'll remember. I've brought you a few books, Horatio. Thank you. It was good of you to come, sister. We never saw much of each other in our lives. For brother and sister, did we, Horatio? And I... I guess now... And now I'm dying. No, I can't die now. I still haven't written my book. There's still time, maybe. I write fast, you know. If I could just... Don't. Don't fret yourself, brother. Just try to read. There's still little time. That's the trouble there wasn't enough time. Over a hundred books. Not time for the one book I really wanted to write. Taking shape already in my mind. Roy can still write it. They'd only bring me pencil and paper. So I could really write. Oh dear. There, Horatio, don't take on so, darling. You've written enough. Half enough for the boys who read his books. And to the arguments of those who condemned him, history has a ready rebuttal. Against the charge that his rags to riches formula was not true to life. There stands a scroll of immortal biographies in the American scene. For while Horatio Alger wrote, Thomas A. Edison was selling newspapers. Charles M. Schwab was driving a hack. And the late, great John D. Rockefeller was out of the job. Yes, Horatio Alger was simply telling the old American story. That is forever new. America, thanks Kenneth Delmar and the Cavalcade players for their performance of the story of Horatio Alger. And now DuPont brings you news of chemistry at work in our world. Chemistry may be thought of as a shortcut. Much of the research undertaken in DuPont laboratories is a search for quicker, more efficient ways of doing something or making something. For example, the winds and weathers of nature, that wait long enough, will keep a farmer's fields in good condition. Lightning will manufacture nitrogen and rain will carry it into the topsoil. But because the chemist has learned a shortcut, the farmer can give his land the nitrogen it needs by buying a bag of DuPont Uraman fertilizer compound without waiting a million years. A million years is too long a time to wait. Or take another example. Nature gives us linseed oil. On exposure to the air, linseed oil forms a tough film, and it's good for mixing paint because of this film. It dries reasonably well in three or four days. But three or four days is a long time too. Can't we invent another film that will dry faster as the DuPont paint chemist? And today, thanks to paint liquids created by man, we have du-co-lackers and dulux enamels that dry in a few hours, even in some cases a few minutes. Sometimes we shortcut our way to something that isn't or attractive, or if we're fortunate, beautiful. The compounds we call plastics have long been known in nature. Nature gave us amber. Resin from the bark of trees hardened through the centuries was gathered carefully and sold for high prices as a semi-precious stone, although it often contained dirt, pine needles, even insects locked away in its transparent prison. The modern chemist gives us pyriline, and lusite plastics. More beautiful than natural resins can ever be. Pyriline, ranging in effects all the way from tortoise shell to mother of pearl. Lusite, looking as cool and clear as the water of a mountain spring. The rich, flashing colors of plasticine. Here are jewels more brilliant, more lustrous than jewels in nature. And anyone can afford to buy beauty in plastics thanks to a chemical shortcut. Then again, a chemical shortcut that whisks away almost overnight, the drudgery of centuries. The wearisome business of carding and spinning yarn out of wool used to keep the pioneer women in their log cabins up half the night. The fleece had to be washed and carded by hand, and the fibers laboriously twisted together on a wheel. Today, the chemist makes nylon yarn from coal, water, and air, and rayon yarn from cellulose by liquefying it and forcing it through jets in cups called spinnerettes. The finished yarn can be made shining and lustrous or dull. It can be given any desired thickness, any number of filaments. Chemical shortcuts that improve on nature give us, in the words of the DuPont pledge, better things for better living through chemistry. And now the Star of Next Weeks program, Anne Starrett of the Cavalcade Players. I had rather not live than not be the daughter of such a man. We're listening to the words of Theodosia, the daughter of Aaron Burr, whose growing story we bring you next week. Aaron Burr was an erratic genius whose mad dream of empire rocks the foundations of our young republic. But beneath its faithful folly, the tender devotion of his daughter Theodosia is one of the great stories of loyalty in our history. That story will bring you our next week's Cavalcade of America. Our Cavalcade play was based on the book Algir, a biography without a hero at Armaise, published by the Vanguard Press. On the Cavalcade of America, your announcer is Clayton Collier, sending best wishes from DuPont.