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There is a modern jaundiced view of goodness in the literary world. Certain books from the past, which were beloved for years after their publication, are now looked at dismissively and sometimes assigned an undeserved sarcastic nickname, which keeps the vast majority of people from ever reading them and benefiting from them. For instance, Pollyanna, by Eleanor Porter, is a wonderful story, soundly based in Biblical truth, about a little girl who tries to rejoice in all circumstances, whose testimony changes the lives around her. Today we call a person who has an unrealistic view of life, who is cloyingly sweet and a little bit nauseous, who conjures up fake happiness, a “pollyanna.” The hero of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Julia Beecher Stowe, is an African-American slave named Uncle Tom who exhibits the clearest Christian character and life I have ever seen in literature. The epithet “uncle tom” is now applied to a person who exhibits false humility and cringing subservience to get favors from a more powerful class of people.
Little Lord Fauntleroy, by Frances Hodgson Burnett, has been treated no differently than has Pollyanna: a wonderful story has been denigrated as unrealistic, saccharine, and not worth reading by a modern child. Yes, the book does read like a fairy tale, with a rags-to-riches theme, but the foundation of the book is real Christian character exhibited in all circumstances. The hero and heroine of the novel, Cedric Errol and his widowed mother, Mrs. Errol, are truly good, following the Lord’s commands to love other people as themselves. They live in a poor but well-kept little house in New York City. Cedric’s father, Captain Cedric Errol, was the third son of a great Earl in England, who had been disinherited by his father for marrying an American. The oldest and middle sons were of poor character and had died with no children. Captain Errol had died a few years before the story starts. The Earl now sends for little Cedric, since he is the heir to the Earldom, and makes him Lord Fauntleroy. The confrontation between Cedric’s innocent goodness and American notions and the Earl’s wealth and nasty character provides amusement and often touching moments. There is in fact much humor in the book, coupled with dramatic plot twists. However, the best part of the story, at least for me, is how Cedric and his mother’s goodness, which are based on the truth of the Bible, gradually softens cold, worldly hearts and affects change all around them. Little Lord Fauntleroy is suitable for middle school and higher and is a wonderful book to be read aloud in a family setting, since even younger children can follow the story.
Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849 to 1924) was born and raised in England then emigrated to Tennessee as a 16-year-old girl after her father had died. She started writing to help support her family, who were not well-off. She was moderately successful but she became famous with the 1886 publication of Little Lord Fauntleroy. My favorite novels of hers are Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, and The Lost Prince. All are worth reading.