Episode 17 - Beautiful Joe - Marshall Saunders

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Chapter thirty three, Performing Animals.A week or two after we got home,
I heard the Morris boys talking aboutan Italian who was coming to Fairport
with a troop of trained animals.And I could see for myself whenever I

(00:20):
went to town, great flaming pictureson the fences of monkeys sitting at tables,
dogs and ponies and goats, climbingladders and rolling balls and doing various
tricks. I wondered very much whetherthey would be able to do all those
extraordinary things. But it turned outthat they did. The Italian's name was

(00:47):
Bellini, and one afternoon the wholeMorris family went to see him and his
animals, And when they came homeI heard them talking about it. I
wish you could have been there,Joe, said Jack, pulling up my
paws to rest on his knees.Now, listen, old fellow, and
I'll tell you all about it.First of all, there was a perfect

(01:11):
gem in the town hall. Isat up in front with a lot of
fellows and had a splendid view.The old Italian came out, dressed in
his best suit of clothes, blackbroadcloth, flower in his buttonhole and so
on. He made a fine bow, and he said he was pleased to

(01:32):
see ze fine audience, and hewas going to show Zim z fine animals,
the finest animals in z Wood.Then he shook a little whip that
he carried in his hand, andhe said, za whoop, means that
was he was cruel. He crackedit to show his animals when to begin,

(01:53):
end or change their tricks. Someboy yelled, rats, you do
whip sometimes, And the old manmade another bow and said, certainly he
whipped Zim just as these mama's whippedze naughty boys, to make Zim keep
still when Zay was noisy or stubborn. Then everybody laughed at the boy,

(02:16):
and the Italian said the performance wouldbegin by a grand procession of all the
animals, if some lady would kindlystep up to the piano and play a
march. Nina Smith, you know, Nina Joe, the girl that has
black eyes and wears blue ribbons andlives around the corner, stepped up to
the piano and banged out a fineloud march. The doors at the side

(02:39):
of the platform opened and out camethe animals, two by two, just
like Noah's ark. There was apony with a monkey walking beside it and
holding on to its maine, andanother monkey on a pony's back, two
monkey's hand in hand, a dogwith a parrot on his back, a
goat harnessed to a little carriage,another carrying a bird cage in its mouth

(03:01):
with two canaries inside. Different kindsof cats, some doves and pigeons,
half a dozen white rats with redharness and dragging a little chariot with a
monkey in it, And a commonwhite gander that came in last of all
and did nothing but follow one ofthe ponies about. The Italian spoke of

(03:21):
the gander and said it was astupid creature and could learn no tricks,
and he only kept it on accountof its affection for the pony. He
had got them both on a Vermontfarm, and he was looking for show
animals. The ponies master had madea pet of him and had taught him
to come whenever he whistled for him. Though the pony was only a stub

(03:42):
of a creature, he had agentle disposition, and every other animal on
the farm liked him. A ganderin particular, had such an admiration for
him that he followed him wherever hewent, and if he lost him for
an instant, he would mount oneof the knolls on the farm and stretch
shout his neck looking for him.When he caught sight of him, he

(04:03):
gabbled with delight, running to him, waddled up and down beside him.
Every little white pony put his nosedown and seemed to be having a conversation
with the goose. If the farmerwhistled for the pony and he started to
run to him, the gander,knowing he could not keep up, would
seize the pony's tail in his beak, and flapping his wings, would get

(04:25):
along as fast as the pony did, and the pony never kicked him.
The Italian saw that this pony wouldbe a good one to train for the
stage, so he offered the farmera large price for him and took him
away. Oh Joe, I forgotto say that by this time all the
animals had been sent off the stageexcept the pony and the gander, and

(04:47):
they stood looking at the Italian whilehe talks. I never saw anything as
human in dumb animals as that pony'sface. He looked as if he understood
every word that his ma Master wassaying, after this story was over.
The Italian made another bow, andthen told the pony to bow. He
nodded his head at the people,and they all laughed. Then the Italian

(05:12):
asked him to favor us with awaltz, and the pony got up on
his hind legs and danced. Youshould have seen that gander skirmishing around so
as to be near the pony andyet keep out of the way of his
heels. We fellows just roared,and we would have kept him dancing all
the afternoon if the Italian hadn't beggedZe young a gentleman, not to make

(05:35):
ze noise, but let ze ponydo the rest of his tricks. Pony
number two came on the stage,and it was too queer for anything to
see the things the two of themdid. They helped the Italian on with
his coat, They pulled off hisrubbers. They took his coat away and
brought him a chair and dragged atable up to it. They brought him

(05:59):
letters and papers, and rang bellsand rolled barrels, and swung the Italian
in a big swing, and jumpeda rope and walked up and down steps.
They just went around that stage ahandy with their teeth, as two
boys would be with their hands,and they seemed to understand every word their
master said to them. The besttrick of all was telling the time and

(06:23):
doing questions and arithmetic. The Italianpulled his watch out of his pocket and
showed it to the first pony,whose name was Diamond, and said what
time is it. The pony lookedat it, then scratched four times with
his forefoot on the platform. TheItalian said, that's good four o'clock,

(06:44):
but it's a few minutes after four. How many The pony scratched again five
times. The Italian showed his watchto the audience and said it was just
five minutes past four. Then heasked the pony how old he was.
He scratched four times. That meantfour years. He asked him how many

(07:05):
days in a week? There were? How many months in a year.
And he gave him some questions,an addition and subtraction, and the pony
answered them all correctly. Of course, the Italian was giving him some sign,
but though we watched him closely,we couldn't make out what it was.
At last, he told the ponythat he had been very good and

(07:28):
had done his lessons well. Ifit would rest him, he might be
naughty a little while. All ofa sudden, a wicked look came into
the creature's eyes. He turned aroundand kicked up his heels at his master.
He pushed over the table and chairsand knocked down a blackboard where he
had been rubbing out figures with asponge held in his mouth. The Italian

(07:50):
pretended to be cross and said,come, come, this won't due.
And he called the other pony tohim and told him to take that troublesome
fellow off the stage. The secondone nosed Diamond and pushed him about,
finally bit him by the ear andled him squealing off the stage. Beginder

(08:13):
followed, gabbling as fast as hecould, and there was a regular roar
of applause. After that, therewere ladders brought in Joe, and dogs
came on, not thoroughbreds, butcurs, something like you. The Italian
says he can't teach tricks to pedigreeanimals as well as to scrubs. Those

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dogs jumped to the ladders and climbedthem, and went through them and did
all kinds of things. The mancracked his whip once, and they began
twice, and they did backward whatthey had done forward three times, and
they stopped. And every animal,dogs, goats, ponies, and monkeys,

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after they had finished their tricks,ran up to their master and he
gave them a lump of sugar.They seemed fond of him, and often,
when they weren't performing, went upto him and licked his hands or
his sleeve. There was one ballsdog, Joe, with a head like
yours, Bob, they called him, and he did all his tricks alone.

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The Italian went off the stage,and the dog came on and made
his bow, and climbed his laddersand jumped his hurdles and went off again.
The audience howled for an encore,and didn't he come out alone,
make another bow and retire. Isaw old Judge Brown wiping tears from his

(09:37):
eyes, he laughed so much.One of the last tricks was with a
goat, and the Italian said itwas the best of all, because the
goat is such a hard animal toteach. He had a big ball and
the goat got on it and rolledacross the stage without getting off. He
looked as nervous as a cat.Shaking his old beard and trying to keep

(09:58):
his four hooks close enough together tokeep them on the ball. We had
a funny little play. At theend of the performance, a monkey dressed
as a lady in a white satinsuit and a bonnet with a white veil
came on the stage. She wasMiss Green and the dog Bob was going
to elope with her. He wasall rigged out as mister Smith and had

(10:22):
on a light suit of clothes anda tall hat on the side of his
head, high collar, long cups, and he carried a cane. He
was a regular dude. He steppedup to Miss Green on his hind legs
and helped her on to a pony'sback. The pony galloped off the stage.
Then a crowd of monkeys, chatteringand wringing their hands came on.

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Mister Smith had to run away withtheir child. They were all dressed up
too. There were the father andmother with gray wigs and black clothes,
and the young Greens in bibs andtuckers. They were a queer looking crowd.
While they were going on in thisway, the pony trotted back on

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the stage and they all flew athim and pulled off their daughter from his
back, and laughed and chattered,and boxed her ears, and took off
her white veil and her satin dress, and put on an old brown thing.
And some of them seized the dogand kicked his hat, and broke
his cane, and stripped his clothesoff, and threw them in a corner,

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and bound his legs with cords.A goat came on, harnessed to
a little cart, and they threwthe dog in it and wheeled him around
the stage a few times. Thenthey took him out, tied him to
a hook in the wall, andthe goat ran off the stage, and
the monkeys ran to one side,and one of them pulled out a little

(11:48):
revolver, pointed it at the dogand fired, and he dropped down as
if he was dead. The monkeystood looking at him, and then there
was the most awful hullabaloo you everheard, such a barking and yelping.
And half a dozen dogs rushed onthe stage. And didn't they trundle those
monkeys about. They nosed them andpushed them and shook them till they all

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ran away, all but Miss Green, who sat shivering in a corner.
After a while, she crept upto the dead dog, pawed him a
little, and didn't he jump upas much a life as any of them.
Everybody in the room clapped and shouted, and then the curtain dropped and
the thing was over. I wishedhe'd give another performance early in the morning.

(12:37):
He has to go to Boston.Jack pushed my paws from his knees
and went out doors, and Ibegan to think that I would very much
like to see those performing animals.It was not yet tea time, and
I would have plenty of time totake a run down to the hotel where

(12:58):
they were staying, so I setout. It was a lovely autumn evening.
The sun was going down in ahaze, and it was quite warm.
Earlier in the day I had heardmister Morris say that this was our
Indian summer and that we should soonhave cold weather. Fairport was a pretty

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little town, and from the principalstreet one could look out upon the blue
water of the bay and see theisland opposite, which was quite deserted.
Now for all the summer visitors hadgone home, and the island house was
shut up. I was running downone of the steep side streets that led

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to the water when I met aheavily laden cart coming up. It must
have been coming from one of thevessels, for it was full of strange
looking boxes and packages. A finelooking, nervous horse was dropped owing it,
and he was straining at every nerveto get it up the steep heel.

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His driver was a burly, hardfaced man, and instead of letting
his horse stop a minute to rest, he kept urging him forward. The
poor horse kept looking at as amaster, his eyes almost starting from his
head in terror. He knew thatthe whip was about to descend on his

(14:26):
quivering body, and so it did. And there was no one by to
interfere, No one but a womanin a ragged shawl, who would have
no influence with the driver. Therewas a very good humane society in Fairport,
and none of the teamsters dare toill use their horses if any of

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the members were near. This wasa quiet out of the way street with
only poor houses on it, andthe man probably knew that none of the
members of the society would be likelyto be living in Then he whipped his
horse and whipped him till every lashmade my heart ache, and if I

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had dared, I would have bittenhim severely. Suddenly there was a dull
thud in the street. The horsehad fallen down. The driver ran to
his head, but he was quitedad. Think God, said the poorly
dressed woman bitterly. One more outof this world of misery. Then she

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turned and went down the street.I was glad for the horse. He
would never be frightened or miserable again. And I went slowly on, thinking
that death is the best thing thatcan happen to tortured animals. The Fairport
Hotel was built right in the centerof the town, and the shops and

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houses crowded quite close about it.It was a high brick building and it
was called the Fairport House. AsI was running along the sidewalk, I
heard someone speak to me, andlooking up, I saw Charlie Montaigue.
I had heard the Morrises say thathis parents were staying at the hotel a

(16:26):
few weeks while their house was beingrepaired. He had his Irish setter Brisk
with him and a handsome dog.He was as he stood, waving his
silky tail in the sunlight. Charliepatted me, and then he and his
dog went into the hotel. Iturned into the stable yard. It was

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a small, choked up place,and as I picked my way under the
cabs and wagons standing in the yard, wondered why the hotel people didn't buy
some of the old houses nearby andtear them down and make a stable yard
worthy of such a nice hotel.The hotel horses were just getting rubbed down

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after their day's work, and otherswere coming in. The men were talking
and laughing, and there was nosign of strange animals. So I went
around to the back of the yard. Here they were in an empty cow
stable under a hay loft. Therewere two little ponies tied up in a
stall, two goats beyond them,and dogs and monkeys and strong traveling cages.

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I stood in the doorway and staredat them. I was sorry for
the dogs to be shut up onsuch a lovely evening, but I supposed
their master was afraid of their gettinglost or being stolen if he let them
loose. They all seemed very friendly. The ponies turned around and looked at

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me with their gentle eyes, andthen went on munching their hay. I
wondered very much where the gander was, and went a little farther into the
stable. Something white raised itself outof the brownest ponies crib, and there
was the gander close up beside theopen mouth of his friend. The monkeys

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made a jabbering noise and held onto the bars of their cage with their
little black hands while they looked outat me. The dogs sniffed the air
and wagged their tails and tried toput up their muzzles through the bars of
their cage. I liked the dog'sbest, and I wanted to see the

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one they called Bob, so Iwent up quite close to them. There
were two little white dogs something likeBilly, two mongrels Faniels, an Irish
setter, and a brown dog asleepin the corner that I knew must be
Bob. He did look a littlelike me, but he was not quite

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so ugly, for he had hisears in his tail. While I was
peering through the bars at him,a man came into the stable. He
noticed me first thing, but insteadof driving me out, he spoke kindly
to me in a language that Idid not understand, so I knew he

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was the Italian. How glad theanimals were to see him. The gander
fluttered out of his nest, theponies pulled at their halters, The dogs
of wine and tried to reach hishands to lit them, and the monkeys
chattered with the light. He laughedand talked back to them in queer,

(20:00):
soft sounding words. Then he tookout of a bag on his arm,
bones for the dogs, nuts andcakes for the monkeys, nice juicy carrots
for the ponies, some green stufffor the goats, and corn for the
gander. It was a pretty sightto see the old man feeding his pets,

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and it made me feel quite hungry, so I tried at home.
I had a run downtown again thatevening with mister Morris, who went to
get something from a shop for hiswife. He never let his boys go
to town after tea, so ifthere were errands to be done, he

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or missus Morris went. The townwas bright and lively that evening, and
a great many people were walking aboutand looking into the shop windows. When
we came home, I went intothe kennel with Jim, and there I
slept till the middle of the night. Then I started up and ran outside.

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There was a distant bail ringing,which we often heard in Fairport,
and which always meant fire. Endof chapter thirty three, Performing Animals,
Chapter thirty four, A fire inFairport. I had several times run to

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a fire with the boys and knewthat there was always a great noise and
excitement. There was a light inthe house, so I knew that somebody
was getting up. I don't think, indeed, I know, for they
were good boys, that they everwanted anybody to lose property. But they

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did enjoy seeing a blaze. Andone of their greatest delights when there and
been a fire for some time,was to build a bonfire in the garden.
Jim and I ran around to thefront of the house and waited.
In a few minutes someone came rattlingat the front door, and I was

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sure it was Jack, but itwas mister Morris, and without a word
to us, he set off,almost running toward the town. We followed
after him, and as we hurriedalong, other men ran out from the
houses along the streets and either joinedhim or dashed ahead. They seemed to

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have dressed in a hurry and werethrusting their arms in their coats and buttoning
themselves up as they went. Someof them had hats and some of them
had none, and they all hadtheir faces toward the great red light that
got brighter and brighter ahead of us. Where's the fire, they shouted to

(23:00):
each other. Don't know, afraidit's the hotel or the town hall.
It's such a blaze, hope not. How's the water supply now? Bad
time for a fire. It wasthe hotel. We saw that as soon
as we got onto the main street. There were people all about, and

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a great noise and confusion and smokeand blackness, and up above, bright
tongues of flame were leaping against thesky. Jim and I kept close to
mister Morris's heels as he pushed hisway among the crowd. When we got
nearer the burning building, we sawmen carrying ladders and axes, and others

(23:47):
were shouting directions and rushing out ofthe hotel, carrying boxes and bundles and
furniture in their arms. From thewindows above came a steady stream of articles
thrown among the crowd. A mirrorstruck mister Morris on the arm, and
a whole package of clothes fell onhis head and almost smothered him, but

(24:11):
he brushed them aside, and scarcelynoticed them. There was something the matter
with mister Morris. I knew bythe worried sound of his voice when he
spoke to any one. I couldnot see his face, though it was
as light as day about us,for we had got jammed in the crowd,

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and if I had not kept betweenhis feet, I should have been
trodden to death. Jim, beinglarger than I was, had got separated
from us. Presently, mister Morrisraised his voice above the uproar and called,
is everyone out of the hotel?A voice shouted back, I'm going

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up to see. It's Jim Watson, the fireman, cried someone near.
He's risking his life to go intothat pit of flame. Don't go,
Watson. I don't think that bravefireman paid any attention to this warning.
For an instant later, the samevoice said, he's planting his ladder against

(25:18):
the third story. He's bound togo. He'll not get any farther than
the second anyway. Where are theMontags, shouted mister Morris. Has anyone
seen the Montags? Mister Morris?Mister Morris, say it a frightened young
voice and Charles Montag pressed through thepeople to us. Where's Papa. I

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don't know where did you leave him, said mister Morris, taking his hand
and drawing him closer to him.I was sleeping in his room, said
the boy. And a man knockedat the door and said, hotel on
fire. Five minute. It's todress and get out. And Papa told

(26:02):
me to put on my clothes andgo downstairs. And he ran up to
mamma. Where was she asked misterMorris quickly on the fourth flat. She
and her maid Blanch were up there. You know, Mama hasn't been well
and couldn't sleep, and our roomwas so noisy that she moved upstairs where

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it was quiet. Mister Morris gavea kind of groan. Oh I'm so
hot, and there's such a dreadfulnoise, said the little boy, bursting
into tears, and I want mama. Mister Morris soothed him the best he
could and drew him a little tothe edge of the crowd. While he

(26:48):
was doing this, there was apiercing cry. I could not see the
person making it, but I knewit was the Italian's voice. He was
dreaming in broken English that the firewas spreading to the stables, and his
animals would be burned. Would noone help him to get his animals out?

(27:11):
There was a great deal of confusedlanguage. Some voices shouted, look
after the people first, let theanimals go, and the others said,
for shame, get the horses out. But no one seemed to do anything.
For the Italian went on crying forhelp. I heard a number of

(27:33):
people who were standing near us saythat it had just been found out that
several persons who had been sleeping inthe top of the hotel had not got
out. They said that at oneof the top windows a poor housemaid was
shrieking for help. Here in thestreet, we could see no one at

(27:55):
the upper windows, for the smokewas pouring from them. The air was
very hot and heavy, and Ididn't wonder that Charlie Montaigue felt ill.
He would have fallen on the groundif mister Morris hadn't taken him in his
arms and carried him out of thecrowd. He put him down on the

(28:17):
brick sidewalk and unfastened his little shirtand left me to watch him while he
held his hands under a leak ina hose that was fastened to a high
drink near us. He got enoughwater to dash on Charlie's face and breast,
and then, seeing that the boywas reviving, he sat down on

(28:37):
the curved stone and took him onhis knee. Charlie laying his arms and
moaned. He was a delicate boy, and he could not stand rough usage
as the Morris boys could. MisterMorris was terribly uneasy. His face was

(28:59):
deathly white, and he shuddered wheneverthere was a cry from the burning building.
Poor souls, God help them.Oh this is awful, he said,
And then he turned his eyes fromthe great sheets of flame and strained
the little boy to his breast.At last there were wild shrieks that I

(29:22):
knew came from no human throats.The fire must have reached the horses.
Mister Morris sprang up, then sankback again. He wanted to go,
yet he could be of no use. There were hundreds of men standing about,
but the fire had spread so rapidly, and they had so little water

(29:47):
to put on it, that therewas very little they could do. I
wondered whether I could do anything forthe poor animals. I was not afraid
of fire, as most dogs forOne of the tricks that the Moors boys
had taught me was to put outa fire with my paws. They would

(30:07):
throw a piece of lighted paper onthe floor and I would crush it with
my forepaws, and if the blazewas too large for that, I would
drag a bit of old carpet overit and jump on it. I left
mister Morris and ran around the cornerof the street to the back of the
hotel. It was not burned asmuch here as in the front, and

(30:32):
then the houses all around people wereout on their roofs with wet blankets,
and some were standing at the windowswatching the fire, or packing up their
belongings, ready to move if itshould spread to them. There was a
narrow lane running up a short distancetoward the hotel, and I started to

(30:53):
go up this when in front ofme I heard such a wailing, piercing
noise that it made me shudder andstand steel. The Italian's animals were going
to be burned up, and theywere calling to their master to come let
them out. Their voices sounded likethe voices of children in mortal pain.

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I could not stand it. Iwas seized with such an awful horror of
the fire that I turned and ran, feeling so thankful that I was not
in it. As I got intothe street, I stumbled over something.
It was a large bird, aparrot, and at first I thought it

(31:38):
was Bella. Then I remembered hearingJack say that the Italian had a parrot.
It was not dead, but seemedstupid with the smoke. I seized
it in my mouth and ran andlaid it at mister Morris's feet. He
wrapped it in his handkerchief and laidit beside him. I sat and trembled,

(32:04):
and did not leave him again.I shall never forget that dreadful night.
It seemed as if we were therefor hours, but in reality it
was only a short time. Thehotel soon got to be all red flames,
and there was very little smoke.The inside of the building had burned

(32:25):
away and nothing more could be gottenout. The fireman and all the people
drew back, and there was nonoise. Everybody stood gazing silently at the
flames. A man stepped quietly upto mister Morris, and looking at him,

(32:46):
I saw it was mister Montaig.He was usually a well dressed man
with a kind face and a headof thick, grayish brown hair. Now
his face was black and grimy.His hair was burnt from the front of
his head, and his clothes werehalf torn from his back. Mister Morris

(33:09):
sprang up when he saw him andsaid, where is your wife? The
gentleman did not say a word,but pointed to the burning building. Impossible,
cried mister Morris. Is there nomistake your beautiful young wife? Montag

(33:30):
Can it be so? Mister Morriswas trembling from head to foot. It
is true, said mister Monte.Quietly, give me the boy. Charlie
had fainted again, and his fathertook him in his arms and turned away.

(33:52):
Monte cried, mister Morris, myheart is sore for you. Can
I do nothing? No, thankyou, said the gentleman, without turning
around. But there was more anguishin his voice than in mister Morris's.

(34:12):
And though I'm only a dog,I knew that his heart was breaking.
End of Chapter thirty four of Firein Fairport.