ATrue Story

You might ask, Dearest One of All, if this story is true.

Yes, this story is true.

Part of it is true like two apples plus two apples is four apples-- and part of it is true like the immense dragon that lives under the ground and sometimes moves his tremendous tail so that the earth quakes-- but it is all true. 

This story of Dick Whittington and His Cat was read to me long ago when I myself was a little boy-- before I could write or read-- and I liked it so well that now I am telling it to you in the same way it was told to me, but I will add a few details which I think will make it more interesting to someone like yourself in this new age of electronic communication. 

So, as our story goes,  poor little Dick Whittington found himself somehow in the great old City of London--without parents, friends or family  to care for him or love him, probably cold, hungry and wet--sitting on the pavement in front of one of the great old houses and probably crying.

Now it happened that in this same great house there lived a rich and powerful merchant-- a man whose name has also come down to us, a certain Mr Fitzwarren.

This Mr. Fitzwarren noticed the child on the curb and saw something in this sad little outcast so he sent one of his servants to invite the boy in for some warm food.

Observing the waif eat, Mr. Fitzwarren felt pity and also a certain strange admiration for him and so told his servant to offer the child food and a warm place to sleep in exchange for work in the kitchen.

This the servant did and so Dick experienced kindness and his first stroke of good luck in the great city.

...