E. Hershey Sneath

The Story of Richard Whittington

Do you remember the story of Richard Whittington? Poor Dick was a country lad, and he had been told that the streets of London were paved with gold. He trudged up to the busy city, but, amid the crowds of merchants and citizens and soldiers, Dick was un noticed, and there was no golden roadway. When at last he found employment, he was badly treated by his master and ran away from the workshop.

Carrying his bundle of clothes on a stick across his shoulder, Dick wearily left London behind him, climbed Highgate Hill, and sat down to rest.

Then his ear caught the chime of the far-off bells of Bow Church in the City; and they seemed to ring a happy song, which said: "Turn back again, Whittington, thrice Mayor of London."

It does not matter if (as people say) this story is not true. We know that boys and girls, who have sound, brave hearts, do often sit on hills, in meadows, or at firesides, or at school desks, and listen to the bells, or the wind, or the kettle singing, or the bees humming, and they hear songs of the good things they will do by and by.

But the song is not really in the bells, the wind, the kettle, or the bee; it is in their own hearts, in their own brave purpose.

So Whittington went back to London (and this part of the story is true), did his honest daily work at a silk mercer's shop, rose to be a business man on his own account, was looked upon as one of the most honorable citizens, and was three times chosen Mayor of London.