tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148048131502110089.post1195527656769740291..comments2024-02-08T03:37:01.136-06:00Comments on Heretic, Rebel, a Thing to Flout: Rags to Riches Worked for Horatio AlgerPatrick Murfinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05191688376908660270noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5148048131502110089.post-4712022192712822172014-01-16T06:14:07.922-06:002014-01-16T06:14:07.922-06:00Excellent, informative, and sympathetic of a write...Excellent, informative, and sympathetic of a writer it is often fashionable to disparage. My attraction to the topic is personal (ordained in South Natick) but also historical: before the lad became famous, his father's poverty was bruited as an example of mistreatment by parishes who call ministers and then shirk payment. In the case of Rev. Alger, Sr, memory hints that it was the firewood which was not provided on schedule. In any case, by the end of the 19th century, it was clear that strident admonition and shaming would not, could not, induce many parishes to support a minister. This led to the policy of closing or consolidating some of the numerous small parishes that dotted the Massachusetts landscape like summer milkweed pods. (South Natick, for some reason, survived the purge to which its history contributed, and is today doing well; it is still small.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com