Dick and His Cat and Other Tales   By: Edith [Editor] Carrington

EDITED BY EDITH CARRINGTON AND ERNEST BELL

WITH PICTURES BY HARRISON WEIR AND OTHERS

DICK AND HIS CAT AND OTHER TALES

[Illustration]

DICK AND HIS CAT AND OTHER TALES

ADAPTED BY EDITH CARRINGTON

AUTHOR OF "WORKERS WITHOUT WAGE," "A NARROW, NARROW WORLD," "A STORY OF WINGS," ETC., ETC.

WITH PICTURES BY F. M. COOPER

LONDON GEORGE BELL AND SONS YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN 1895

This Series is published by Messrs. Bell for the Humanitarian League.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

DICK AND HIS CAT 1

TRUSTY. By Roger Quiddam 29

OUT IN THE COLD. By Roger Quiddam 50

THE STORY OF A FLY. By Maria Jacob 67

BETTY AND SNOWDROP 106

PREFACE.

In the Section of the Code for 1894 5, dealing with Reading Books, occur the words "Passages impressing on the children the duty of gentleness and consideration for others, and that of the humane treatment of animals may also be widely introduced."

It is in the hope of encouraging that humane treatment of animals, which in the hands of a sympathetic teacher may so easily and naturally be made the first step towards the "gentleness and consideration for others," that this series has been prepared. It is hoped now that the teaching of humanity has received official recognition, that those who have charge of the young will recognize its importance, and will realise that unless the cultivation of the heart runs pari passu with that of the head, the spread of education may become a curse instead of a blessing.

The Editors are much indebted to the R.S.P.C.C. for permission to reprint "Trusty" and "Out in the Cold."

[Illustration]

DICK AND HIS CAT.

1. UP TO LONDON.

1. In the reign of the famous king Edward the Third, there was a little boy named Dick Whitt ing ton, whose father and mother died when he was very young.

2. He knew nothing about them, and he was left, a poor little ragged, dirty fellow, to run about the streets of a small country village.

3. As poor Dick was not old enough to work, he was in a sad state; he got but little for his dinner, and often had nothing at all for his supper. For all the people in the village were very poor.

4. They could often spare him nothing more than an old crust of bread, or some scraps that even a dog would not have liked. One day a man who was driving a waggon came through the village.

5. He had eight fine large horses to pull it, and, as he walked by their side, he spoke kindly to them, and never whipped them. This made Dick think that he must be a good man.

6. "If he is kind to the horses," said Dick to himself, "perhaps he will be kind to a poor lad like me." So Dick went up to speak to the carter and asked him to let him walk along by the side of his waggon.

7. The two began to talk, and the man, hearing from poor Dick that he had no parents, and seeing how ragged his clothes were, took pity on him. He told Dick that he was going with the waggon to London town. "And," added the man, "you may come with me if you like.

8. "I do not think that you can be much worse off there than you are here; and perhaps you may be better off in the great city. You may ride in the waggon if you please."

9. Dick was glad enough to do this, and the good driver took care to share his food with him on the way. He took as much care of the horses and of Dick as he did of himself. Dick got safe to London.

[Illustration: SETTING OFF.]

10. Now before he had seen the streets of London, Dick had thought that they were made of gold, for an old man in the village at home had told him so. But the old man had only been in joke. He meant that folks often became rich there.