CHARLES AUGUSTUS FORTESCUE
WHO ALWAYS DID WHAT WAS RIGHT, AND SO ACCUMULATED AN IMMENSE FORTUNE
by: Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953)
- he nicest child I ever knew
- Was Charles Augustus Fortescue.
- He never lost his cap, or tore
- His stockings or his pinafore:
- In eating Bread he made no Crumbs,
- He was extremely fond of sums,
- To which, however, he preferred
- The Parsing of a Latin Word
- He sought, when it was in his power,
- For information twice an hour,
- And as for finding Mutton-Fat
- Unappetising, far from that!
- He often, at his Father’s Board,
- Would beg them, of his own accord,
- To give him, if they did not mind,
- The Greasiest Morsels they could find
- His Later Years did not belie
- The Promise of his Infancy.
- In Public Life he always tried
- To take a judgment Broad and Wide;
- In Private, none was more than he
- Renowned for quiet courtesy.
- He rose at once in his Career,
- And long before his Fortieth Year
- Had wedded Fifi, Only Child
- Of Bunyan, First Lord Aberfylde.
- He thus became immensely Rich,
- And built the Splendid Mansion which
- Is called The Cedars, Muswell Hill,
- Where he resides in affluence still,
- To show what everybody might
- Become by SIMPLY DOING RIGHT.
"Charles Augustus Fortescue" is reprinted from Cautionary Tales for Children. Hilaire Belloc. 1907. |
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