Little Lord Fauntleroy— Then and Now

About the Author—Professor Ellis Washington, J.D.—I went to Harvard Law School for 1 year (1988-89) with future POTUS Barack Hussein Obama, (b. 1960 – d. 09/29/2019), but I took the opposite path in Life—New World Order, Communism, Treason, Pedophilia & Satanic Ritual Abuse vs. Christianity, Conservatism, Protecting the Children & TRUMPism. I repeatedly refused to take the “Satan OATH” which is why I’ve been blacklisted since 1989 – for over 33 years—for my entire legal and academic career, yet I Fight on! Why? To avenge Harvard University’s original 1692 motto—Veritas pro Christo et Ecclesia {= Truth for Christ and the Church}. To escape the 150-year Rothschild Chattel Slavery systems (e.g., Birth certificates, Death certificates, Social Security numbers bought, sold & trading people’s identities like animals on Wall Street) & Rothschild Debt Slavery systems (e.g., IRS, Income Taxes, Death Taxes, Fiat/Counterfeit currency not based on Gold or Silver, but based on NOTHING!—national currencies of the world promiscuously printed at will by the Rothschild Central Bankers to fund perpetual False Flag Wars) keeping the entire world enslaved inside the Birth-School-Labor-Taxes-Debts-Retirement-Death cycle of the Rothschild Khazarian Mafia Matrix (1871-2021), then read and share the Truth of my Critical Thinking blog that has recently exceeded 21 million views @ EllisWashingtonReport.com & on Facebook— #JesusIsLord (Isaiah 9:6) #DCActof1871

 When this you see, remember me.

~ Lord Fauntleroy (poem engraving on a silver watch gift given to his best friend, the shopkeeper Mr. Hobbs)

That boy [Lord Fauntleroy] was the only human that man ever loved.

~ Lady Constance Collier (sister of the Earl of Dorincourt)

“You see, Higgins,” broke in the Earl with a fine grim smile, “you people  have been mistaken in me. Lord Fauntleroy understands me. When you want reliable information on the subject of my character, apply to him…”

~ Earl of Dorincourt to Mr. Higgins

*Dedication—To my first Little Lord Fauntleroy of the past, my ‘Dearest’ – Stone Allen Washington, and to the Little Lord Fauntleroy of the present, Sasha Johnson, my 7-year-old little cousin who is actually the same age as the protagonist in the original novel. 

A. Prologue—How Lord Fauntleroy was Introduced to me (directly and indirectly)

My first introduction to Little Lord Fauntleroy was actually my second inquiry into this masterpiece of children’s literature. I was about 8 or 9 when I first saw the famous 1936 movie of Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), arguably the best-known adaptation of this novel, directed by John Cromwell, starring Freddie Bartholomew  (Cedric); C. Aubrey Smith (The Earl); Dolores Costello (Dearest); Henry Stephenson (Mr. Havisham); Guy Kibbee (Mr. Hobbs); Mickey Rooney (Dick). I first remember watching this movie when I was a little boy which would have been around 1969 or 70. I remember that Little Lord Fauntleroy was a little boy like me, of similar age, who came from impoverished conditions and like me yet arose from poverty. But unlike me, his rise was much more meteoric than mine – ascending to the highest heights of England’s aristocracy.

I remember how utterly good Fauntleroy (or Ceddie) was, how he never complained when he was very poor, nor lorded over others when his rich grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt made him very rich and through his emissary, Lawyer Havisham, gave the little boy great sums of money as a secret test of his character and judgment. Fauntleroy was always the same, always good to others, always like his saintly mother “Dearest” taught him to always be — seeking ways that he could be a blessing to others, always being self-less, not selfish as most other little 7-year-old boys would typically be at his age.

Little Lord Fauntleroy was an Old Soul

I remember that Lord Fauntleroy had an extra hard upbringing in his young life. He was not like other little boys of his times—his father had died when Fauntleroy was very young, but through his DNA, he inherited a kind and transcendental Spirit from his father and mother that shown every day as bright as the sun into the lives of everyone that he met. I remember Fauntleroy growing up in a lower class tenement neighborhood in New York with his beloved mother whom he affectionately called “Dearest.”

Fauntleroy’s upbringing was atypical, for unlike most little boys whose acquaintances were all other little boys of similar age in the neighborhood, Fauntleroy had few childhood friends. The majority of his serious friendships were always people 20-40-60 years older than he was. Yet not only was Fauntleroy comfortable with these senior relationships, he sought them out, he thrived in them. Moreover, the elders who were his friends were utterly delighted at his mature, precocious nature and conversations; his delightful witticisms and manly mannerisms well above his years which were always the talk of the neighborhood.

Also, like Little Lord Fauntleroy, I was dressed like him as a little boy of 4 or 5 with the dark blue velvet jacket and short pants (or knickers), the white shirt, blue bowtie and knee socks. When my son, Stone Allen Washington was age 3 he took a portrait as Little Lord Fauntleroy pictured below, therefore for over 100 years the attire illustrated in Little Lord Fauntleroy was still in vogue from 1885-2000 when Stone was 3 years old in the picture below—

Looking at that picture hanging in our living room and carefully studying it unlocked decades of cherished memories, some of which I recited above. Other memories that Stone’s Little Lord Fauntleroy picture brought to my remembrance included the fact that like Fauntleroy, I had mostly senior friends all of my life. In fact, people my age, my peers always seemed like strangers because they didn’t have the aged insights of wisdom and knowledge that I enjoyed, having spent my life hearing stories about how these seniors grew up in Life and instinctively adopting and incorporating those ‘Old Stories’ into my own Life. Likewise, my son Stone following in this tradition has me as his best friend, loves adopting the Old Stories and the Old Ways into his Life even though I am 35 years his senior. I guess that makes me, Stone, and Little Lord Fauntleroy all ‘Old Souls’.

Grandfather Ellis Washington, my Namesake therefore I am my Grandfather’s Son

Speaking of being an Old Soul, like Little Lord Fauntleroy, who we will learn in our review of this book, exceedingly loved his grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt. I was named after my grandfather, Ellis Washington and though tragically my father (Ivan Washington) and my mother (Joan) divorced when I was very young (18 months) so that I didn’t really ever know my father in a deep and familial way, my grandfather Ellis stepped into my life, visited me from time-to-time, and when I got older my mother told me that he secretly bought me all of the first things I had as a baby and a little child needs in Life—Grandfather Ellis Washington brought me my first baby’s crib, basinet, rocking chair, clothes, toys, bikes, children’s books, everything a little child would need. I even have an authentic Lionel Train set he gave me in 1967 or 1968 as a Christmas gift which I have given to Stone to have and to appraise on Ebay for it’s current value which should be significant.

To this day I remember my dear Grandfather Ellis Washington from time to time popping up over to our home in the East Village neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan (2655 Montclair) back in the 1960s to access how we were growing up, to see how my mother was doing and to always give me and my brother (Mario Lyle Green) and sister (Sonya Ann) some money as a Christmas gift or for my birthday. He would reach down in his pocket a pull out a hugest wad of money I had ever seen! (he didn’t like wallets) and count out $60-$40-$20 for each of us which back in the 1960s was a whole lot of money.

Grandfather Ellis Washington ran the numbers in his neighboring city of Hamtramck (this was an unofficial “Lottery” before the Lottery became legal in America). He also made history being one of the first Black foreman at the old Packard Automotive Plant on W. Grand Blvd. in Detroit in the 1940s and 50s.

Grandfather Ellis Washington taught me to be loving, kind and giving all the time and while I don’t always live up to his high standards of Decency and Kindness and Peacefulness and Love, I always think of my namesake, Grandfather Ellis whenever I go astray from being a good person (which is quite often). I am so joyful and honored to have been named after my Grandfather Ellis Washington for it is established for posterity like my intellectual mentor, Justice Clarence Thomas, I am my Grandfather’s Son.

B. Novel and Movie Synopsis—Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886-1936)

According to the article on Wikipedia, Little Lord Fauntleroy is a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was published as a serial in St. Nicholas Magazine from November 1885 to October 1886, then as a book by Scribner’s (the publisher of St. Nicholas) in 1886. The illustrations by Reginald B. Birch set fashion trends and the novel set a precedent in copyright law when Burnett won a lawsuit in 1888 against E. V. Seebohm over the rights to theatrical adaptations of the work.

What the Earl saw was a graceful, childish figure in a black velvet suit, with a lace collar, and with lovelocks waving about the handsome, manly little face, whose eyes met his with a look of innocent good-fellowship.

— Little Lord Fauntleroy

There were many adaptions of Little Lord Fauntleroy (e.g., silent movies, sound movies, plays, TV), however perhaps the most famous being the 1936 movie, Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), arguably the best-known adaptation, directed by John Cromwell, starring Freddie Bartholomew (Cedric); C. Aubrey Smith (The Earl); Dolores Costello (Dearest); Henry Stephenson (Mr. Havisham); Guy Kibbee (Mr. Hobbs); Mickey Rooney (Dick).

Little Lord Fauntleroy Novel Plot

In a shabby New York City side street in the mid-1880s, young Cedric Errol lives with his mother (known to him as “Dearest”) in genteel poverty after the death of his father, Captain Cedric Errol. One day, they are visited by an English lawyer named Havisham with a message from young Cedric’s grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, a millionaire who despises the United States and was very disappointed when his youngest son married an American woman. With the deaths of his father’s elder brothers, Cedric has now inherited the title Lord Fauntleroy and is the heir to the earldom and a vast estate. Cedric’s grandfather wants him to live in England and be educated as an English aristocrat. He offers his son’s widow a house and guaranteed income, but he refuses to have anything to do with her, even after she declines his money.

However, the Earl is impressed by the appearance and intelligence of his American grandson and is charmed by his innocent nature. Cedric believes his grandfather to be an honorable man and benefactor, and the Earl cannot disappoint him. The Earl therefore becomes a benefactor to his tenants, to their delight, though he takes care to let them know that their benefactor is the child, Lord Fauntleroy.

Meanwhile, back in New York, a homeless bootblack named Dick Tipton tells Cedric’s old friend Mr. Hobbs, a New York City grocer, that a few years prior, after the death of his parents, Dick’s older brother Benjamin married an awful woman who got rid of their only child together after he was born and then left. Benjamin moved to California to open a cattle ranch while Dick ended up in the streets. At the same time, a neglected pretender to Cedric’s inheritance appears in England, the pretender’s mother claiming that he is the offspring of the Earl’s eldest son, Bevis. The claim is investigated by Dick and Benjamin, who come to England and recognize the woman as Benjamin’s former wife. She flees, and the Tipton brothers and the pretender, Benjamin’s son, do not see her again. Afterward, Benjamin goes back to his cattle ranch in California where he happily raises his son by himself. The Earl is reconciled to his American daughter-in-law, realizing that she is far superior to the impostor.

The Earl planned to teach his grandson how to be an aristocrat. Instead, Cedric teaches his grandfather that an aristocrat should practice compassion towards those dependent on him. The Earl becomes the man Cedric always innocently believed him to be. Cedric is happily reunited with his mother and with Mr. Hobbs, who decides to stay to help look after Cedric.

 

Here I will present the movie plot followed by some short analysis on my part both from the original novel and the 1936 move in order to give the reader the full and proper context of this literary children’s masterpiece.

Little Lord Fauntleroy Movie Plot (1936)

Young Cedric “Ceddie” Errol (Freddie Bartholomew) and his widowed mother, whom he calls “Dearest” (Dolores Costello), live frugally in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric’s prejudiced English grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt (C. Aubrey Smith), had long ago disowned his son for marrying an American.

Some of this background information about young Cedric has already been discussed in the Prologue section, however, allow me to go deeper by adding that the historical background of the 1880s was a time filled with Romanticism, the Victorian Era, and what the precursor German literary movement called Strum und Drang (Storm and Stress) 1760s-80s—was characterized by great emotionalism and existential societal upheaval. Some may ask why I included the German literary movement Strum und Drang in my analysis of an children’s novel largely set in the castle of an English aristocrat? Look at the meaning of the major literary period called – Strum und Drang and see if you can see the two main characters outlined in bold relief—

“The German literary movement Strum und Drang occurred between the late 1760s and early 1780s. Within the movement, individual subjectivity and, in particular, extremes of emotion [= Little Lord Fauntleroy] were given free expression in reaction to the perceived constraints of rationalism imposed by the Enlightenment and associated aesthetic movements.” [= Earl of Dorincourt]

It was the Victorian Age, but it was also the Age of Romanticism in literature, art and music, but most importantly it was the proto-Age of Modernity—the advent of the Second Industrial Revolution (1870-1914) where there was much social upheaval, perpetual wars, economic recession, depression and hardships both in America, in England and all over the world. These were the times that Little Lord Fauntleroy were born into.

The Age of the Robber Barons and the Ascendancy of the Rothschild Khazarian Mafia

In hindsight we now know that the previous decade 1870s was the time that a Machiavellian plot was created by the three secret powers of the world—The City of Rome (The Vatican) in control of the Religious and Education Powers; The City of London (The Center of Financial Control and The City of Washington, D.C. (The Center of World Military Power and Terrorism). The plot which was to secretly steal and cede power and control over America to the Rothschild Khazarian Mafia (aka the Satanic NEW WORLD ORDER including the Illuminati and the Freemasons and all major secret societies.

A literary theme or leitmotif in both the novel and the movie is the utter prejudice that the Earl of Dorincourt had against America in general, but especially an irrational venal hatred against the American mother who married the youngest of his 3 sons. To us Americans it seems bizarre, bordering on obsession why this English aristocrat could have such strong, negative emotions about a lady that he’s never met before based solely on his own preconceived notions about the so-called boorish Americans. However, we have to understand that this was the Victorian Age and as the Earl of Dorincourt, he lived alone in a giant castle on many square miles of land that he owned with dozens or hundreds of tenants who rented the land from him in order that he reap more profits due to their ceaseless toil on his land. This system is called Serfdom or Feudalism.

The Earl sends his lawyer Havisham (Henry Stephenson) to bring Ceddie to England. As the Earl’s sons are all dead, Ceddie is the only remaining heir to the title. Mrs. Errol accompanies her son to England, but is not allowed to live at Dorincourt castle. For Cedric’s happiness, she does not tell him it is because of his grandfather’s bigotry. The Earl’s lawyer is impressed with the young widow’s wisdom. However, the Earl expresses skepticism when Mr. Havisham informs him that Cedric’s mother will not accept an allowance from him.

Lawyer Havisham is an interesting character in the novel. He appears near the beginning of the story and is sent as an emissary of the Earl of Dorincourt to do two things—(1) to critically observe the young boy’s physical statute and intellectual character, and if his mother approves (through buying her off) (2) bring the boy back to England to be educated as an aristocrat and future Earl of Dorincourt. However, the Earl’s plan is thwarted by the saintly and kind nature of the mother who will allow the Earl to have her only begotten son to be raised as an aristocrat, but she refuses to take any money from the Earl and will be content to live in a cottage on his vast estate due to the Earls’ irrational hatred of Americans. Secondly, lawyer Havisham is amazed that the boy has none of the pre-conceived Americanisms that the Earl expected him to have—boorishness, greed, intemperance, vulgarity, uncouthness, etc. On the contrary, young Ceddie was in the opinion of lawyer Havisham to be utterly bereft of these ill-mannerable qualities, but instead being in  possession of the most admirable human characteristics imaginable for a boy of 7 to possess… and much more.

However, the Earl is impressed by the appearance and intelligence of his American grandson and is charmed by his innocent nature. Cedric believes his grandfather to be an honorable man and benefactor, and the Earl cannot disappoint him. The Earl therefore becomes a benefactor to his tenants, to their delight, though he takes care to let them know that their benefactor is the child, Lord Fauntleroy.

In order to properly evaluate and test the character of the little boy, the Earl allows a number of gifts to be given to the little boy who immediately has the predilection to give them to his closet older friends like Dick, Mr. Hobbs, his nanny’s sister with the very large family whose children are always cold and hungry), and the “apple lady” – an elderly woman who has a rickety apple cart who loudly yells out when she sells apples on Fauntleroy’s street.

All of these people received unexpected gifts from Fauntleroy (through the Earl). Dick got a new shoeshine stand and sign and his business officially incorporated to be his own. His nanny’s sister got lots of clothes, food and medicine for her 12 children who were always hungry, cold and sick. The apple lady got a nice new apple cart that was effortless to roll down the street and beautiful sign to sell her apples on, and Fauntleroy’s best friend, Mr. Hobbs got the most expensive gift of all—a silver watch and chain with an inscription on the back—a poem written by Ceddie himself stating—“When this you see, remember me.” Of course, like me and most others who viewed this scene including, old man Mr. Hobbs, teared up a little after that little boy read his own poem inscribed on that silver watch in the beautiful soprano voice of his. . . But we all cried when watching this scene in the movie.

Little Lord Fauntleroy meets the Earl of Dorincourt

One of my favorite scenes of the movie is the big day that Little Lord Fauntleroy arrives at the vast estate and grand castle of his grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt. The Earl is alone with a very giant mastiff dog in his study sitting by a roaring fire with his leg (afflicted by gout) propped up on an ottoman. The little boy without hesitation and head held high, slowly walks into this huge room with utter amazement that one man could own such a gargantuan castle. Immediately the dog (who barks at all of the servants and only seemingly likes the Earl) comes up to the little boy and ushers him in to meet his grandfather as if he’s known the little boy since he was a puppy. The boy is not at all frightened of the intimidating dog who almost looks at him eye-to-eye, and accepts the dogs solicitude. This scene, and many others in this movie, always makes me to cry. In fact, I can’t watch this movie without having a box of tissue to dry my tears; so is the overwhelming emotional impact that this movie has on me, of which no other film has ever had on me that I can remember.

The Earl is very impressed by the first meeting of his grandson, but puts him through his paces nonetheless to test the boy’s intellect, judgment, and character apart from his mother’s interference. When the conversation shifts to a report by his agent Mr. Newick regarding a frequently delinquent tenant on his estate (Mr. Higgins), the Earl inquisitively asks the boy what would he do to address the problem of this tenant who is always behind on his rent for one reason or another? Ceddie immediately says that his rent should be suspended until the sickness (Scarlet fever) of Mr. Higgin’s children could be remedied which would then allow the tenant to farm the land without worrying about his children’s sickness and pay the Earl his rent for farming the land.

Astonished and intrigued at his grandson’s mature and wise business sense, the Earl asks young Ceddie to draw up a contract suspending Mr. Higgins payments of rent for his cottage and farmland until his children’s physical illness had improved, addressing the letter to the Earl’s agent (Mr. Newick) and signing the new contract terms with his own name. Here is the first draft Fauntleroy wrote (at age 7!) which after discussions with his grandfather he quickly revised the letter correcting all spelling, grammatical and syntax errors, but I prefer to cite his original contract letter here—

 “Dear mr. Newik if you pleas mr. higins is not to be inturfeared with for the present and oblige

                        “yours rispecferly

                                    “FAUNTLEROY”

Little Lord Fauntleroy goes to Church and meets a panic-stricken and grateful Mr. Higgins

Later in a Sunday morning scene at the church on the Earl’s estate, after the sermon a very humbled and contrite Mr. Higgins comes up to meet the little boy in person, but is astonished and speechless that such a young boy could have the moral foresight, the intellectual and legal acumen to show such mercy and solicitude on his behalf being a stranger from another country! After church, the silence is broken by the booming voice of a triumphant Earl of Dorincourt as his apotheosis reaches its apex…

“Well, Higgins! said the Earl [what have you got to say about me now?]. . . “Yes, my lord,” said the man, his sunburned face reddening. “Mr. Newick told me his young lordship was kind enough to speak for me, and I thought I’d like to say a word of thanks,” if I might be allowed.”

   Perhaps he felt some wonder when he saw what a little fellow it was who had innocently done so much for him, and who stood there looking up just as one of his own less fortunate children might have done—apparently not realizing his own importance in the least.

   “I’ve a great deal to thank your lordship for,” he said; “a great deal. I—”

   “Oh,” said Fauntleroy; “I only wrote the letter. It was my grandfather who did it. But you know how he is about always being good to everybody. Is Mrs. Higgins well now?”

   Higgins looked a trifle taken aback. He also was somewhat startled at hearing his noble landlord presented in the character of a benevolent being, full of engaging qualities. . .

   Higgins was on the verge of being panic-stricken. He felt it would be the safer and more discreet plan not to look at the Earl. . . “You see, Higgins,” broke in the Earl with a fine grim smile, “you people  have been mistaken in me. Lord Fauntleroy understands me. When you want reliable information on the subject of my character, apply to him. . .” (pp. 137-38)

Thanks to Ceddie’s mother not spewing her dislike (as deserved as she would be) regarding the original and malevolent nature of the Earl to her impressionable young son, for if she had, the good relationship between the Earl and the little boy would have frankly been impossible. Thus, the author Frances Hodgson Burnett writes of this apotheosis of the Earl of Dorincourt in this manner (p. 123)

Ceddie to the Earl: “I think you must be the best person in the world,” he burst forth at last. “you are always doing good, aren’t you?—and thinking about other people. Dearest says that is the best kind of goodness; not to think about yourself, but to think about other people. That is just the way you are, isn’t it?”

“His lordship was so dumfounded to find himself presented in such agreeable colors, that he needed time for reflection. To see each of his ugly, selfish motives changed into a good and generous one by the simplicity of a child was a singular experience.”

Joint Protagonists—Lord Fauntleroy and the Earl of Dorincourt

As much as I loved the character of Little Lord Fauntleroy, I equally loved the character transformation of the Earl of Dorincourt—from a grumpy, hateful, bullying, biased, bitter old man who used his money, position and power to brow beat, control, and intimidate others, to after meeting his grandson Fauntleroy, transforming in every scene into a very kind, generous, loving, and merciful benefactor for the entire village of Dorincourt which in the novel [cut out by the movie version] he rebuilt the worst and slummy part where the crippled boy was forced to live in, transforming that slum of Dorincourt into a modern neighborhood of beautiful cottages for his grateful tenants, therefore a good subtitle for Little Lord Fauntleroy novel would been—The Apotheosis of the Earl of Dorincourt.

The Earl throws a big party to introduce Lord Fauntleroy to British Society

Cedric soon wins the hearts of his stern grandfather and everyone else. The Earl hosts a grand party to proudly introduce his grandson to British society, notably his sister Lady Constantia Lorridaile (Constance Collier).

At this grand party put on by the Earl to introduce his grandson to England’s high society, of course Little Lord Fauntleroy was the center of attention. One scene I especially loved was his first meeting of the Earl’s only sibling, a younger sister, Lady Constantia Lorridaile, his great aunt who knew Ceddie’s father as a young man of 18 just before his father sent him away to America so that he would not become a disappointment as his two elder brothers had become to their father. Lady Lorridaile loved Fauntleroy from the beginning and saw in that little boy the character traits of his father that the little boy regrettably did not remember much of, for his father had died while he was a very young boy. Lady Lorridaile also was of strong temperament like her elder brother, the Earl, and the two had clashed in years past causing her to stay away from Dorincourt Castle for 35 years until this grand ball. Later after the party she declared to her husband regarding her brother’s unbounded affection for his newly found grandson—“That boy [Lord Fauntleroy] was the only human that man ever loved.”

Evil Omens from an American Witch—Fauntleroy will not become the Earl of Dorincourt

After the party, Havisham informs the Earl that Cedric is not the heir apparent after all. American Minna Tipton (Helen Flint) insists her son Tom (Jackie Searl) is the offspring of her late husband, the Earl’s eldest son (Bevis). Heartbroken, the Earl accepts her apparently valid claim, though Tom proves to be a rather obnoxious lad.

Although the lying, bitter daughter-in-law, Minna Tipton had a small, but critical role in the movie, I found the acting of Helen Hunt to be very compelling. I’m not sure if it was because she was a naturally gifted actor, or that she was “character acting” and the hatred and venom expressed in her two scenes against the Earl could have been done by any (or most) women due to their capricious, combative, and hateful nature. These negative scenes taught me that this world is still a very bad place filled with very bad people of ill intent, nevertheless Fauntleroy was kept from hearing the slander and lies of this would-be pretender who tried to have her elder son (fathered by another man) to claim to be the son of the elder son of the Earl of Dorincourt in order to remove Little Lord Fauntleroy’s claim as the future Earl of Dorincourt.

Ceddie’s friend Dick Tipton (Mickey Rooney) recognizes Minna from her newspaper picture. He takes his brother Ben, Tom’s real father, to England and disproves Minna’s claim. The earl apologizes to Ceddie’s mother and invites her to live with the delighted Ceddie on his estate.

Minna’s evil plot to steal the title of Earl from Fauntleroy and give it to her dimwitted son was eventually exposed by people who knew her personally from America, who saw the vile and vicious libel of her illegitimate claim as the Earl’s heir published in the American newspapers and contacted the Earl’s lawyer Havisham through a young American lawyer that Dick had as a regular shoeshine customer. The look of utter astonishment, contrived anger and finally defeat that Minna expressed when Dick, Mr. Hobbs and Tom’s real father, Ben walked into the room to expose Minna; that was another favorite scene of mine in this movie. (See movie excerpt: 01:20-01:37)

This scene demonstrates to me the answer of the age-old question–Why is it that evil people often prosper? PSALM 37- Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Don’t worry yourself over the wicked and why they get away with the evil they do.

Epilogue: Stone Washington – Lessons Learned for Little Lord Fauntleroy—Year 2000-2022

As I stated earlier in this essay, my son Stone in 2000 at about age 3 his mother had a portrait made of him dressed like Little Lord Fauntleroy. Beyond the picture, I am very grateful to have my own son and best friend express the temperament and character of a character from a literary fiction. First, Stone has a pure heart. He always thinks positively about a person or situation no matter how much treachery or evil intent that person has. Like Lord Fauntleroy, Stone loves people, especially older people and I have introduced Stone to many of my senior friends even as a very young boy and without exception they welcomed him as a fully fledged friend.

One story I recall is my then Pastor Havious Green of Antioch Church of God in Christ (Detroit, Michigan) who had first met Stone when he was about 21/2-years-old. After church, near the altar Rev. Green immediately lifted Stone aloft high in the air and exclaimed—“Now I have a SON!” Of course, I was stunned at his words and actions, but like Mary in the Bible, the mother of Jesus when told by the prophet the baby that was in her womb, she “…hid these things in her heart.” I never told that story to anyone until now. A second story was with one of my mother’s first friends when she moved up north from Arkansas to Detroit in the early 1950s, a man named Professor Cloyzelle “Cal” Jones. At about 2 ½-years-old, I took Stone to meet Dr. Jones who was a polymath and knew more about multiple subjects than anyone I have ever met to this day. Stone was in his vast living room filled with beautiful and interesting artifacts he collected over many decades from his travels to Africa, Europe, and the Orient.

I was nervous that Stone would break something, but Dr. Jones  interjected—’It’s alright, I want to see what artifacts Stone will find interesting.’ I later discovered that he stated this because as a trained psychologist, it would demonstrate how advanced Stone’s intellectual development was and would become as he got older. Sadly, Dr. Jones would pass away a few months after this first encounter with Stone, but the impression he made on Professor Jones I found evidence of in an old book I inherited from Dr. Jones by the father of Analytic Psychiatry, Carl Jung which I still have in my library and will bequeath that opus to Stone.

A third a final senior friend I introduced Stone to was my mentor and friend, Professor Arthur R. LaBrew (1930-2015), the famous (but unknown) classical pianist, musicologist, music historian and polymath. Stone studied with Professor LaBrew for several months and learned many useful techniques in notetaking, accumulating and cataloging primary resources, using a computer and reading voluminous works quickly and with comprehension, among other academic techniques.

These are just a few examples of how I had the pleasure and honor to raise a real-life Little Lord Fauntleroy we call Stone Allen Washington. Stone is now age 25 and coming to the end of acquiring his PhD degree in Policy Studies at Clemson University of which I have no doubt he will use this expertise for the benefit and enrichment of all Humanity.

Tags: america, England, featured, lord fauntleroy, money supply, serfdom

Category: Commentary