Horatio Alger — American Author born on January 13, 1832, died on July 18, 1899

Horatio Alger, Jr. was a prolific 19th-century American author, best known for his many juvenile novels about impoverished boys and their rise from humble backgrounds to lives of middle-class security and comfort through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty. His writings were characterized by the "rags-to-riches" narrative, which had a formative effect on America during the Gilded Age... (wikipedia)

The institution of chivalry forms one of the most remarkable features in the history of the Middle Ages.
The candidate was required to prepare himself by confession, fasting, and passing the night in prayer.
Thus the castle of each feudal chieftain became a school of chivalry, into which any noble youth, whose parents were from poverty unable to educate him to the art of war, was readily received.
No period of my life has been one of such unmixed happiness as the four years which have been spent within college walls.