NED NEWTON by Horatio Alger 

The Fortunes of a New York Bootblack

ILLUSTRATED -   A poor New York City shoeshine boy is snubbed by his wealthy relatives but a gift from a benefactor starts him up the ladder of success.  A wealthy elderly woman, Eunice Simmons, has for years shunned her niece, Hester, because she had married an actor, Richard Newton. Through the years, the elderly woman loses track of Hester and regrets her hasty actions. Eunice has a nephew, a Mr. Simmons, who tells her that Hester Newton and her son had drowned years earlier, so that he alone can inherit the aunt's fortune.  Ned Newton is the sole support of his widowed mother, Hester Newton. Her cousin, the conniving Mr. Simmons, the nephew of Eunice Simmons, runs a furnishing store. He hires Ned at six dollars a week as a clerk and errand boy. Conspiring to get rid of Ned and his mother, Mr. Simmons attempts unsuccessfully to frame Ned for theft.  However, back on his feet, Ned must trust fortune to reunite his family and hand him his inheritance

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