Episode 14 - Beautiful Joe - Marshall Saunders

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Chapter twenty seven, A neglected Stable. I had not been on the ground
more than a few seconds before Iturned my eyes from Miss Laura to the
log hut. It was deathly quiet. There was not a sound coming from
it, but the air was fullof queer smells, and I was so

(00:24):
uneasy that I could not lie steel. There was something the matter with fleet
Foot too. He was pawing theground and winning and looking not after mister
Harry, but toward the log building. Joe said, Miss Laura, what
is the matter with you and Fleetfoot? Why don't you stand still? Is

(00:48):
there any stranger about? And shepeered out of the buggy. I knew
there was something wrong somewhere, butI didn't know what it was. So
I stretched myself up on the stepof the buggy and lit her hand,
and barking to ask her to excuseme. I ran off to the other

(01:10):
side of the log hood. Therewas a door there, but it was
closed and propped firmly up by aplank that I could not move scratch.
As hard as I liked, Iwas determined to get in, so I
jumped against the door and tore inbed at the plank till missus Lora came
to help me. You won't findanything but rats in that ramshackle old place.

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Beautiful Joe, she said, asshe pulled the plank away, And
as you don't hurt them, Idon't see what you want to get in
for. However, you're a sensibledog and usually have a reason for having
your own way, so I amgoing to let you have it. The
plank fell down as she spoke,and she hold opened the rough door and

(02:00):
looked in. There was no windowinside, only the light that streamed through
the door, so for an instantshe could see nothing. Is anyone in
here? She asked in her clear, sweet voice. There was no answer

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except a low moaning sound. Whysome poor creature is in trouble, Joe,
said Miss Laura cheerfully. Let ussee what it is, and she
stepped inside. I shall never forgetseeing my dear Laura going into that wet
and filthy log house, holding upher white dress in her hands, her

(02:46):
face a picture of pain and horror. There were two rough stalls in it,
and in the first one was tieda cow with a calf lying beside
her. I could never have believedif I had not seen it, with
my own eyes that an animal couldget so thin as that cow was.

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Her backbone rose up high and sharp, her hipbone stood way out, and
all her body seemed shrunken in.There were sores on her sides, and
the smell from her stall was terrible. Miss Laura gave one cry of pity.

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Then, with a very pale face, she dropped her dress, and,
seizing a little pen knife from herpocket, she hacked at the rope
that tied the cow to the mangerand cut it so the cow could lie
down. The first thing the poorcow did was to lick her calf,

(03:50):
but it was quite dead. Iused to think Jenkins cows were thin enough,
but he never had one that lookedlike this. Her head was like
the head of a skeleton, andher eyes had such a famished look that
I turned away, sick at heartto think she had suffered. So when

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the cow laid down, the moaningnoise stopped, for she had been making
it. Miss Laura ran outdoors,snatched a handful of grass and took it
into her The cow ate it gratefully, but slowly, for her strength seemed
all gone. Miss Laura then wentinto the other stall to see if there

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was any creature there, There hadbeen a horse. There was nail,
a lean, gaunt looking animal lyingon the ground that seemed as if he
was dead. There was a heavyrope knotted round his neck and fastened to
his empty rack. Miss Laura steppedcarefully between his feet, cut the rope,

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and, going outside the stall,spoke kindly to him. He moved
his ears, slightly, raised hishead, tried to get up, fell
back again, tried again, andsucceeded in staggering outdoors after Miss Laura,
who kept encouraging him, and thenhe fell down on the grass. Fleet

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foot stared at the miserable looking creatureas if he did not know what it
was. The horse had no soreson his body as the cow had,
nor was he quite so lean,But he was the weakest, most distressed
looking animal that I ever saw.The flies settled on him, and Miss

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Laura had to keep driving them away. He was a white horse with some
kind of pale colored eyes, andwhenever he turned them on Miss Laura she
would look away. She did notcry, as she often did over the
sick and suffering animals. This seemedtoo bad for tears. She just hovered

(06:10):
over that poor horse, with herface as white as her dress and an
expression of fright in her eyes.Oh how dirty he was. I would
never have imagined that a horse couldget in such a condition. All this
had only taken a few minutes,and just after she got the horse out,

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mister Harry appeared. He came outof the house with a slow step
that quickened to a run when hesaw Miss Laura. Laura, he exclaimed,
what are you doing? Then hestopped and looked at the horse,
not in amazement, but very sorrowfully. Baron is gone, he said,

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and crumpling up a piece of paper, he put it in his pocket.
What is to be done for theseanimals? There is a cow, isn't
there? He stepped to the doorof the log hut, glanced in and
said, quickly, do you feelable to drive home? Yes, said
Miss Laura. You sure, andhe eyed her anxiously. Yes, yes,

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she returned, What shall I get? Just tell father that Baron has
run away and left a starving pig, cow and horse. There's not a
thing to eat here. He'll knowwhat to do. I'll drive you to
the road. Miss Laura got intothe buggy and mister Harry jumped in after
her. He drove her to theroad and put down the bars. Then

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he said, go straight on.You'll be on the open road and there's
nothing to harm you. Joe willlook after you. Meanwhile, I'll go
back to the house and eat somewater. Miss Laura let Fleetfoot go as
fast as he liked on the wayhome, And it seemed only minutes before
we drove into the yard. ADale came to meet us. Where's uncle,

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asked Miss Laura. Gone to thebig meadow, said a Dale,
and Auntie. She hadded the coldsand chills and entered into the bed to
keep warm. She lose herself insleep. Now you not go near her.
Are there none of the men about, asked Miss Laura. No,

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mademoiselle, they all occupied way off. Didn't you help me? Adele like
a good girl, said Miss Laura, hurrying into the house. We found
a sick horse and cow. Whatshall I take them? Nearly all animals
like a debred mash, said Adale. Good cried Miss Laura. That is

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the very thing. Put in thethings to make it, will you please?
And I would like some vegetables forthe cow, carrots, turnips,
anything you have take some of thoseyou have prepared for dinner tomorrow, and
please run up to the barn aDale and get some hay and corn and
oats. Not much for we'll begoing back again, but a hurry for

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the poor things are starving. Andhave you any milk for the pig?
Put it in one of those tincattles with covers. For a few minutes,
Miss Laura and a Dale flew aboutthe kitchen, then we set off
again. Miss Laura took me inthe buggy, for I was out of
breath and wheezing greatly. I hadto sit on the seat beside her,

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for the bottom of the buggy andthe back we're full of eatables for the
poor sick animal. Just as wedrove into the road we met mister Wood.
Are you running away with the farm? He said, with a laugh,
pointing to the carrot tops that weregaily waving over the dash forward.

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Miss Laura said a few words tohim, and with a very grave face,
he got in beside her. Ina short time we were back on
the lonely road. Mister Harry waswaiting at the gate for us, and
when he saw Miss Laura, hesaid, why did you come back?

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Again, you'll be tired out.This isn't a place for a sensitive girl
like you. I thought I mightbe of some use, said she gently.
So you can, said mister Wood. You go into the house and
sit down, and Harry and Iwill come to you when we want cheering
up. What have you been doing, Harry, I've watered them a little.

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I got a good fire going.I scarcely think the cow will pull
through. I think we'll save thehorse. I tried to get the cow
outdoors, but she can't move.Let her alone, said mister Wood.
Give her some food and her strengthwill come to her. What have you
got here? And he began totake the things out of the buggy.

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Bless the child, She thought ofeverything, even the salt. Bring those
things into the house, Harry,and we'll make a bran mash. For
more than an hour they were fussingover the animals. Then they came in
and sat down. The inside ofthe Englishman's house was as untidy as the

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outside. There was no upstairs toit, only one large room with a
dirty curtain stretched across it. Onone side was a low bed with a
heap of clothes on it, achair and a washstand. On the other
was a stove, a table,a shaky rocking chair that Miss Laura was

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sitting in, a few hanging shelveswith some dishes and books on them him,
and two or three small boxes thathad evidently been used. Four seats
on the walls were tacked some picturesof grand houses and ladies and gentlemen in
fine clothes, and Miss Laura saidthat some of them were noble people.

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Well, I'm glad this particular noblemanhas left us, said mister Wood,
seating himself on one of the boxes. If nobleman he is, I should
call him in plain English a scoundrel. Did Harry show you his note?
No, uncle, said Miss Laura. Read it aloud, said mister Wood.

(12:56):
I'd like to hear it again,Miss Laura Rayan jay Wood. Dear
sir, it is a matter ofgreat regret to me that I am suddenly
called away from my place at Penhallow, and will therefore not be able to
do myself the pleasure of calling youand settling my little account. I sincerely

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hope that the possession of my livestock, which I make entirely over to
you, will more than reimburse youfor any trifling expense which you have incurred
on my account. If it isany gratification to you to know that you
have rendered a slight assistance to theson of one of England's noblest noblemen,

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you have it with expressions of thedeepest respect, and hoping that my stock
may be in good condition when youtake possession. I am, dear sir,
ever devotedly yours. Howard Algernon leduc Baron. Miss Laura rocked the
paper, uncle? Did he leavethose animals to starve? Didn't you notice,

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said mister Wood crimly, that therewasn't a wisp of hay inside that
chanty, and that where the poorbeasts were tied up, the wood was
gnawed and bitten by them and theirtorture for food. Wouldn't he have sent
me that note instead of leaving ithere on the table if he'd wanted me
to know? The note isn't dated. But I judge he's been gone five

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or six days. He has hada spite against me ever since I lent
him that one hundred dollars. Idon't know why, for I've stood up
for him when others would have runhim out of the place. He intended
me to come here and find everyanimal line dead. He even had a
rope around the pig's neck. Harry, my boy, let us go and

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look after them again. I lovea dumb brute too well to let it
suffer. But in this case I'dgive two hundred dollars is more if I
could make them live and have Baronknow it. They left the room,
and Miss Laura sat turning the sheetof paper over and over with a kind
of horror in her face. Itwas a very dirty piece of paper,

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and by and by she made adiscovery. She took it in her hand
and went outdoors. I am surethat the poor horse lying on the grass
knew her. He lifted his head, and what a different expression he had,
now that his hunger had been partlysatisfied. Miss Laura stroked and patted

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him. Then she called to hercousin, Harry, will you look at
this. He took the paper fromher and said, that is a crest
shining through the different strata of dustand grime, probably that of his own
family. Will have it cleaned andit will enable us to track the villain.

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You want him punished, don't you, he said, with a little
sly laugh at Miss Laura. Shemade a gesture in the direction of the
suffering horse and said frankly, yes, I do well, my dear girl.
He said, Father and I arewith you. If we can hunt
bearing down, we'll do it.Then he muttered to himself as she turned

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away, she is a real Puritan, gentle and sweet and good, and
yet severe rewards for the virtuous,punishments for the vicious, And he repeated
some poetry. She was so charitableand so piteous. She would weep if

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that she saw a mouse caught ina trap, if it were dead or
bled. Miss Laura saw that misterWood and mister Harry were doing all that
could be done for the cow andthe horse, so she wandered down to
the hollow at the back of thehouse where the Englishman had kept his pig.

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Just now he looked more like agreyhound than a pig. His legs
were so long, his nose sosharp, and hunger, instead of making
him stupid like the horse and cow, had made him more lively. I
think he had probably not suffered somuch as they had, or perhaps he

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had a greater store of fat tonourish him. Mister Harry said that if
he had been a girl, hewould have laughed and cried at the same
time when he discovered that pig.He must have been asleep or exhausted when
he arrived, for there was nota sound out of him. But shortly

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afterward he had set up a yellingthat I attracted mister Harry's attention and made
him run down to him. MisterHarry said he was raging around his pen,
digging the ground with a snailt fallingdown and getting up again, and
by a miracle escaping death by chokingfrom the rope that was tied around his

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neck. Now that his hunger hadbeen satisfied, he was gazing contentedly at
his little trough that was half fullof good, sweet milk. Mister Harry
said that a starving animal, likea starving person, should only be fed
a little out of time. Butthe Englishman's animals had always been fed poorly,

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and their stomachs contracted so much sothat they could not eat much.
At one time, Miss Laura gota stick and scratched the poor piggy's back
a little, and then she wentback to the house. In a short
time we went home with mister Wood. Mister Harry was going to stay all

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night with the sick animals, andhis mother would send him things to make
him comfortable. She was better bythe time we got home, and was
horrified to hear the tale of misterBaron's neglect. Later in the evening,
she sent one of the men overwith a whole box full of things for

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her, darling Bowie and nice hottea done up for him in a covered
dish. When the man came home, he said that mister Harry would not
sleep in the Englishman's dirty house,but had slung a hammock out under the
trees. However, he would notbe able to sleep much, for he

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had his lantern by his side,all ready to jump up and attend to
the horse and cow. It wasa very lonely place for him out there
in the woods, and his mothersaid she would be glad when the sick
animals could be driven to their ownfarm. End of Chapter twenty seven A

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Neglected Stable. Chapter twenty eight theend of the Englishman. In a few
days, thanks to mister Harry's constantcare, the horse and the cow were
able to walk. It was amournful procession that came into the yard at

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Dingley Farm, the hollow eyed horseand lean cow and funny little thin pig
staggering along in such a shaky fashion. Their hoofs were diseased and had partly
rided away so that they could notwalk straight. Though it was only a

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mile or two from Penhollow to DingleyFarm. They were tired out and dropped
down, exhausted on the comfortable baths. Miss Laura was so delighted to think
they had all lived that she didnot know what to do. Her eyes
were bright and shining, and shewent from one to another with such a

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happy face. The queer little pigthat mister Harry had christened Daddy long legs
had been washed, and he layon his heap of straw in the corner
of his neat little pen, andsurveyed his clean trough and abundance of food
with the air of a prince.Why he would be clean and dry here

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and all his life he had beenused to dirty, damp Penhollow, with
the trees hanging over him, andhis little feet in a mass of filth
and dead leaves. Happy little pig, his ugly eyes seemed to blink and
gleam with gratitude, and he knewMiss Laura and mister Harry as well as

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I did. His tiny tail wascurled so tight that it was almost in
a knot. Mister Wood said thatwas a sign that he was healthy and
happy, and that when poor Daddywas at Penhallow, he had noticed that
his tail hung as limp and asloose as the tail of a rat.

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He came over and leaned over thepen with Miss Laura and had a little
talk with her about pigs. Hesaid they were by no means the stupid
animals that some people considered them.He had had pigs that were as clever
as dogs. One little black pigthat he had once sold to a man

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away back in the country had foundits way home through the woods across the
river Uphill and down Dale, andhe'd been taken to the place with a
bag over his head. Mister Woodssaid that he kept that pig because he
knew so much. He said themost knowing pigs he ever saw were Canadian

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pigs. One time he was havinga trip on a sailing vessel and it
anchored in a long, narrow harborin Canada where the tide came in with
a front four or five feet high, called the boar. There was a
village opposite the place where the shipwas anchored, and every day at low

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tide, a number of pigs camedown to look for shellfish. Sometimes they
went out for half a mile overthe mud flats, but always a few
minutes before the tide came rushing in, they turned and hurried to the shore.
Their instincts warned them that if theystayed any longer, they would be

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drowned. Mister Wood had a numberof pigs, and after a while Daddy
was put in with them, anda fine time he had of it,
making friends with the other little grunters. They were often led out in the
pasture or orchard, and when theywere there I could always single out Daddy

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from among them, because he wasthe smartest. Though he had been brought
up in such a miserable way,he soon learned to take very good care
of himself at Dingly Farm, andit was amusing to see him when a
storm was coming on, running aboutin a state of great excitement, carrying

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little bundles of straw in his mouthto make himself a bad He was a
white pig and was always kept veryclean. Mister Wood said that it is
wrong to keep pigs dirty. Theylike to be clean as well as other
animals, and if they were keptso, human beings would not get so

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many diseases from eating their flesh.The cow, poor unhappy creature, never
as long as she lived on DinglyFarm, lost a strange melancholy look from
her eyes. I have heard itsaid that animals forget past unhappiness, and

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perhaps some of them do. Iknow I have never forgotten my one miserable
year with Jenkins, and I havebeen a sober, thoughtful dog in consequence
of it, and not playful likesome dogs who have never known what it
is to be really unhappy. Italways seemed to me that the Englishman's cow

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was thinking of her poor dead calf, starved to death by her cruel master.
She got well herself and came andwent with the other cows, seemingly
as happy as they. But oftenwhen I watched her standing and chewing her
cud and looking away in the distance, I could see a difference between her

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face and the faces of the cowsthat had always been happy on Dingly Farm.
Even the farm hands called her oldmelancholy, and soon she got to
be known by that name, orMail for short. Until she got well,
she was put into a cow stablewhere mister Woods cows all stood at

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night upon raised platforms of earth coveredover with straw litter, and she was
tied with a Dutch halter so thatshe could lie down and go to sleep,
and she wanted to. When shegot well, she was put out
the pasture with the other cows.The horse they named Scrub because he could

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never, be, under any circumstanceanything but a broken down, plain looking
animal. He was put into thehorse stable in a stall next to fleet
Foot, and as the partition waslow, they could look over at each
other. In time, by dintof much doctoring, scrubs hoofs became clean

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and sound, and he was ableto do some work. Miss Laura peaded
him a great deal. She oftentook out apples to the stable, and
Fleetfoot would throw up his beautiful headand looked reproachfully over the partition at her,
For she always stayed longer with Scrubthan with him, and Scrub always

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got the larger share of whatever goodthing was going. Poor old Scrub,
I think he loved Miss Laura.He was a stupid sort of a horse,
and always acted as if he wasblind. He would run his nose
up and down the front of herdress, nip at the buttons, and

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be very happy if he could geta bit of her watch chain between his
strong teeth. If he was inthe field, he never seemed to know
her till she was right under hispale colored eyes. Then he would be
delighted to see her. He wasnot blind, though for mister Wood said

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he was not. He said hehad probably not been an overbright horse to
start with, and had been mademore dull by cruel usage. As for
the Englishman, the master of theseanimals, a very strange thing happened to
him. He came to a terribleend, but for a long time no

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one knew anything about it. MisterWood and mister Harry were so very angry
with him that they said they wouldleave no stone unturned to have him punished,
or at least to have it knownwhat a villain he was. They
sent the paper with the crest onit to Boston. Some people there wrote

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to England and found out that itwas the crest of a noble and highly
esteemed family, and some earl wasat the head of it. They were
all honorable people in this family exceptone man, a nephew not a son
of the late earl. He wasthe black sheep of them all. As

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a young man, he had leda wild and wicked life, and had
ended by foraging the name of oneof his friends, so that he was
obliged to leave England and take refugein America. By the description of this
man, mister Wood knew that hemust be mister Baron. So he wrote

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to these English people and told themwhat a wicked thing their relative had done
in leaving his animals to starve.In a short time, he got an
answer from them, which was atthe same time very prouded and very touching.
It came from mister Baron's cousin,and he said quite frankly that he

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knew his relative was a man ofevil habits, but it seemed as if
nothing could be done to reform him. His family was accustomed to send a
quarterly allowance to him on condition thathe'd led a quiet life in some retired
place, But their last remittance tohim was lying unclaimed in Boston, and

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they thought he must be dead.Could mister Wood tell them anything about him.
Mister Wood looked very thoughtful when hegot this letter. Then he said,
Harry, how long is it sinceBaron ran away? About eight weeks,
said mister Harry. That's strange,said mister Wood. The money these

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English people sent him would get toBoston just a few days after he left
here. He is not the manto leave it long unclaimed. Something must
have happened to him. Where doyou suppose he would go from Benhallow?
I have no idea, sir,said mister Harry. And how would he
go, said mister Wood. Hedid not Riverdale Station because he would have

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been spotted by some of his creditors. Perhaps he would cut through the woods
to the junction, said mister Harry. Just what he would do, said
mister Wood, slapping his knee.I'll be driving over there tomorrow to see
Thompson. I'll make inquiries. MisterHarry spoke to his father the next night

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when he came home, and askedhim if he had found out anything only
this, said mister Wood. There'sno one answering to Baron's description who has
left Riverdale Junction within a twelvemonth.He must have struct some other station.
We'll let him go. The Lordlooks out f fellas like that. We

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will look out for him if heever comes back to Riverdale, said mister
Harry quietly. All through the villageand in the country, it was known
would a dastardly trick the Englishman hadplayed, and he would have been roughly
handled if he dared return. Monthspassed away and nothing was heard of him.

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Late in the autumn, after MissLaura and I had gone back to
Fairport, missus Wood wrote her aboutthe end of the Englishman. Some Riverdale
lads were beating about the woods lookingfor lost cattle, and then their wanderings
came to an old stone quarry thathad been disused for years. On one

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side there was a smooth wall ofrock many feet deep. On the other
the ground and rock were broken away, and it was quite easy to get
into it. They found that,by some means or other, one of
their cows had fallen into this deeppit over the steep side of the quarry.

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Of course, the poor creature wasdead, but the boys, out
of curiosity, resolved to go downand look at her. They clambered down,
found the cow, and to theirhorror end amazement discovered near by the
skeleton of a man. There wasa heavy walking step by his side,

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which they recognized as the one thatthe Englishman had carried. He was a
drinking man, and perhaps he hadtaken something that he thought would strengthen him
for his morning's walk, but whichhad, on the contrary, bewildered him
and made him lose his way andfallen to the quarry. Or he might

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have started before daybreak and in thedarkness have slipped and fallen down this steep
wall of rock. One leg wasdoubled under him, and if he had
not been instantly killed by the fall, he must have been so disabled that
he could not move in that lonelyplace. He would call for help in

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vain so have perished by the terribledeath of starvation, the death he had
thought to meet out to his sufferinganimals. Missus Wood said that there never
was a sermon preached in Riverdale thathad the effect that the death of this
wicked man had, and it remindedher of a verse in the Bible.

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He made a pit, and hedigged it, and is fallen into the
ditch which he made. Missus Woodsaid that her husband had written about the
finding of mister Baron's body to hisEnglish relatives, and had received a letter
from them in which they seemed relievedto hear that he was dead. They

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thanked mister Wood for his plane,speaking in telling them of their relatives misdeeds,
and said that from all they knewof mister Baron's past conduct, his
influence would be for evil and notfor good in any place that he chose
to live in. They were havingtheir money sent from Boston to mister Wood,

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and they wished him to expend itin the way he thought best fitted
to counteract the evil effects of theirnamesakes doing in Riverdale. When this money
came it amounted to some hundreds ofdollars, mister Wood would have nothing to
do with it. He handed itover to the Band of Mercy, and

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they formed what is called the BearingFund, which they drew upon when they
wanted money for buying and circulating humaneliterature. Missus Wood said that the fund
was being added to and the childrenwere sending all over the state leaflets and
little books which preached the gospel ofkindness to God's lower creation. A stranger

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picking one of them up and seeingthe name of the wicked Englishmen printed on
the title page would think that hewas a friend and benefactor to the Riverdale
people, the very opposite of whathe gloried in being end of chapter eight,
the end of the Englishman