Sir Franklin and the Little Mothers
Sir Franklin Ingleside is a very rich, quietly living gentleman of Berkeley Square, attended by his ever-anticipating manservant Pembroke, who reads the household's old pull-bells so precisely he can enter a room already carrying what his master is about to ask for; when the bells are briefly replaced with electric press-bells during a Scotland trip, Pembroke's skill fails until the old bells are restored. On the evening of December 18, 1907, Sir Franklin, troubled by thoughts of children who will get no Christmas presents, learns from Pembroke that the cook's brother-in-law runs a failing toy-shop in Clerkenwell. Sir Franklin resolves to buy the shop outright and use it to give local children presents on Christmas Eve. He and Pembroke drive at once to the toy-shop keeper, who willingly sells his stock and shop. Sir Franklin explains to Pembroke that he wants especially to reward "Little Mothers" — young girls who care for younger siblings and do the family marketing while their parents work. He sends Pembroke into the neighborhood to canvass schoolmistresses, butchers, publicans' wives, grocers, and doorstep gossips for the names of the district's best Little Mothers. Pembroke spends days buying things he doesn't need to get on friendly terms with shopkeepers, compiling a list of twenty-two first-class and fifty-one second-class Little Mothers. While in Clerkenwell, Pembroke overhears a decisive girl marshaling her reluctant siblings — William Kitchener Beacon, Lucy, Amy, John, and Tommy — home. He helps carry Tommy and learns the girl is Matilda Beacon, age nine, of 28 Pulvercake Buildings, who single-handedly manages the household and her five younger siblings while her mother chars daily and her father works on the line at St. Pancras. Local consensus names Matilda the best Little Mother in Clerkenwell, and Artie Gillam — a boy caring for his six siblings since his mother's death — the best "Little Father." Sir Franklin has Matilda brought to Berkeley Square for tea. Overwhelmed by the grand house, she is served tea and cake and then asked by Sir Franklin how she'd like to keep a toy-shop for one day, with her mother minding the younger children, a sovereign's salary, hours from two to eight, and Pembroke's help. Matilda hesitates only until Sir Franklin clarifies she may also play at being a little girl herself and pick a doll, work-basket, and sweets. She chooses Artie Gillam, not the buttony page boy Frederick, as her foreman at ten shillings' wages. Pembroke buys toys wholesale in Houndsditch — dolls and work-baskets for the Little Mothers, smaller toys, sweets, and oranges — and tickets are distributed to prevent crowding, since Pembroke foresees pushing and gate-crashing. Sir Franklin engages a hall where ticketed families gather and are sent to the shop in small groups, with policemen keeping back the uninvited crowd, and leftover toys given out to outside children once the ticketed ones are served. On the appointed day everything runs smoothly under Matilda's shrewd management, as she steers children toward sensible, useful gifts over duplicates. One uninvited boy sneaks in twice, then fights another boy to steal his coat and cap to disguise himself and get in a third time; Artie recognizes the coat as his cousin's, and a policeman marches the thief through the street to return it, letting him go afterward since the cousin's mother is not inclined to punish him. After the shop closes and is shuttered, Pembroke pays Matilda and Artie their wages — Matilda choosing two half-sovereigns over one whole one, having never handled gold before. Rather than going straight home, Matilda takes Pembroke and Artie shopping with her earnings: a woollen shawl and mittens for her parents, a plate-cover and pipe with tobacco for her father, a hot-water bottle for the elderly neighbor who once nursed her mother, and finally, at a small shop kept by an old maid, a scarlet-and-yellow wool-work kettle-holder, which she has Pembroke deliver to Sir Franklin himself, having noticed on her visit that he had none. Sir Franklin keeps the kettle-holder hung by his fireplace, and when asked about it, calls it the profit he made from once keeping a toy-shop.
By E.V. Lucas · First published 1911 · Genre: Children's Literature, Christmas Fiction, Philanthropic Fiction · 5,545 words
First lines
I
Once upon a time there was a very rich gentleman named Sir Franklin Ingleside, who lived all alone in a beautiful house in Berkeley Square. He was so rich that he could not possibly spend more than a little of his money, although he gave great sums away, and had horses and carriages, and bought old pictures and new books.
What this Textopian page supports
Sir Franklin and the Little Mothers is listed on Textopian as a short story by E.V. Lucas, dated 1911 CE.
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- Work type: Short story
- Author: E.V. Lucas
- Date: 1911 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Children's Literature, Christmas Fiction, Philanthropic Fiction, Social Realism, Fairy Tale
- Length: 5,545 words
- Structure: 1 section, 133 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for Sir Franklin and the Little Mothers by E.V. Lucas
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- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Children's Literature — The narrative is constructed for young readers with child protagonists and themes of childhood responsibility, Christmas wonder, and moral growth.
- Christmas Fiction — The entire plot centers on Christmas 1907, with holiday charity and gift-giving as the driving narrative force.
- Philanthropic Fiction — The core narrative revolves around Sir Franklin's charitable impulse to help disadvantaged children through a toy-shop scheme.
- Social Realism — The work addresses economic hardship and working conditions of poor London families, depicting realistic poverty and child labor.
Tags
charity · wealthy protagonist · poverty · social commentary · benevolence · British literature · short story · London · early 20th century · class disparity · philanthropy · families