The captain soon told the story of the cat; and then he showed the
rich present which the king and queen had sent to poor Dick in payment
for her. As soon as the good gentleman heard this, he called out to
his servants,--
"Go send him in, and tell him of his fame; Pray call him Mr.
Whittington by name."
Some of the men who stood by said that so great a present ought not to
be given to a mere boy; but Mr. Fitzwarren frowned upon them.
"It is his own," he said, "and I will not hold back one penny from
him."
Dick was scouring the pots when word was brought to him that he should
go to the office.
"Oh, I am so dirty!" he said, "and my shoes are full of hob-nails."
But he was told to make haste.
Mr. Fitzwarren ordered a chair to be set for him, and then the lad
began to think that they were making fun of him.
"I beg that you won't play tricks with a poor boy like me," he said.
"Please let me go back to my work."
"Mr. Whittington," said Mr. Fitzwarren, "this is no joke at all. The
captain has sold your cat, and has brought you, in return for her,
more riches than I have in the whole world."
Then he opened the box of jewels, and showed Dick his treasures.
The poor boy did not know what to do. He begged his master to take a
part of it; but Mr. Fitzwarren said, "No, it is all your own; and I
feel sure that you will make good use of it."
Dick then offered some of his jewels to his mistress and little Alice.
They thanked him, and told him that they felt great joy at his good
luck, but wished him to keep his riches for himself.
[Illustration]
But he was too kind-heart-ed to keep everything for himself. He gave
nice presents to the cap-tain and the sailors, and to the servants in
Mr. Fitz-warren's house. He even remembered the cross old cook.
After that, Whittington's face was washed, and his hair curled, and he
was dressed in a nice suit of clothes; and then he was as handsome a
young man as ever walked the streets of London.
Some time after that, there was a fine wedding at the finest church in
London; and Miss Alice became the wife of Mr. Richard Whittington. And
the lord mayor was there, and the great judges, and the sher-iffs, and
many rich mer-chants; and everybody was very happy.
And Richard Whittington became a great merchant, and was one of the
foremost men in London. He was sheriff of the city, and thrice lord
mayor; and King Henry V. made him a knight.
He built the famous prison of New-gate in London. On the arch-way in
front of the prison was a figure, cut in stone, of Sir Richard
Whittington and his cat; and for three hundred years this figure was
shown to all who visited London.
CASABIANCA.
There was a great battle at sea. One could hear nothing but the roar
of the big guns. The air was filled with black smoke. The water was
strewn with broken masts and pieces of timber which the cannon balls
had knocked from the ships. Many men had been killed, and many more
had been wounded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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