at cocked,
and he was dressed in a nice suit of clothes, he was as handsome and
genteel as any young man who visited at Mr. Fitzwarren's; so that Miss
Alice, who had once been so kind to him, and thought of him with pity,
now looked upon him as fit to be her sweetheart; and the more so, no
doubt, because Whittington was now always thinking what he could do to
oblige her, and making her the prettiest presents that could be.

Mr. Fitzwarren soon saw their love for each other, and proposed to
join them in marriage; and to this they both readily agreed. A day for
the wedding was soon fixed; and they were attended to church by the
Lord Mayor, the court aldermen, the sheriffs, and a great number of
the richest merchants in London, whom they afterwards treated with a
very rich feast.

History tells us that Mr. Whittington and his lady lived in great
splendor, and were very happy. They had several children. He was
Sheriff of London, also Mayor, and received the honor of knighthood by
Henry V.

The figure of Sir Richard Whittington with his cat in his arms, carved
in stone, was to be seen till the year 1780 over the archway of the
old prison of Newgate, that stood across Newgate Street.

TOM HICKATHRIFT

ADAPTED BY ERNEST RHYS

Long before William the Conqueror, there dwelt a man in the Isle of
Ely, named Thomas Hickathrift, a poor laboring man, but so strong that
he was able to do in one day the ordinary work of two. He had an only
son, whom he christened Thomas, after his own name. The old man put
his son to good learning, but he would take none, for he was none of
the wisest, but something soft, and had no docility at all in him.
God calling this good man, the father, to his rest, his mother, being
tender of him, kept him by her hard labor as well as she could;
but this was no easy matter, for Tom would sit all day in the
chimney-corner, instead of doing anything to help her, and although at
the time we were speaking of he was only ten years old, he would eat
more than four or five ordinary men, and was five feet and a half
in height, and two feet and a half broad. His hand was more like a
shoulder of mutton than a boy's hand, and he was altogether like a
little monster; but yet his great strength was not known.

Tom's strength came to be known in this manner: his mother, it seems,
as well as himself, for they lived in the days of merry old England,
slept upon straw. Now, being a tidy old creature, she must e