Alger had served as a Unitarian minister in Brewster, Massachusetts for about a year and a half when a church committee charged him with pederasty. He denied nothing, said that he had been imprudent, and resigned from the ministry, vowing never to accept another ministerial post. Church officials were satisfied, and no further action was taken. Alger relocated to New York City, where he cultivated a humanitarian's interest in the city's many vagrant children. A prolific author, he published to great success in "Student and Schoolmate", a children's monthly magazine, and when its publisher asked him to develop a serial about street boys he wrote "Ragged Dick", a tale about