Episode 19 - Beautiful Joe - Marshall Saunders

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Chapter thirty seven, the end ofmy story. I have come now to
the last chapter of my story.I thought when I began to write that
I would put down the events ofeach year of my life. But I
fear that would make my story toolong, and neither Miss Laura nor any

(00:23):
boys and girls would care to readit. So I will stop just here,
though I would gladly go on,for I have enjoyed so much talking
over old times that I am verysorry to leave off. Every year that
I have been at the Morris's,something pleasant has happened to me. But

(00:45):
I cannot put all these things down, nor can I tell how Miss Laura
and the boys grew and changed yearby year till now they are quite grown
up. I will just bring mytale down to the present time, and
then I will stop talking and golie down in my basket, for I

(01:07):
am an old dog now and gettired very easily. I was a year
old when I went to the Morris's, and I have been with them for
twelve years. I am not livingin the same house with mister and Missus
Morris now, but I am withmy dear Miss Laura, who is Missus

(01:30):
Laura no longer but Missus Gray.She married mister Harry four years ago and
lives with him and mister and MissusWood on Dingley Farm. Mister and Missus
Morris live in a cottage nearby.Mister Morris is not very strong and can

(01:51):
preach no longer. The boys areall scattered. Jack married pretty miss Bessie
Dreary and lives on a large farmnear here. Miss Bessie says that she
hates to be a farmer's wife,but she always looks very happy and contented,
so I think she must be mistaken. Carl is a merchant in New

(02:16):
York, Ned is a clerk ina bank, and Willie is studying at
a place called Harvard. He saysthat after he finishes his studies, he
is going to live with his fatherand mother. The Morris's old friends often
come to see them. Miss Drurycomes every summer on her way to Newport,

(02:39):
and mister Montague and Charlie come everyother summer. Charlie always brings with
him his old dog, brisk whois getting feeble like myself. We lie
on the veranda in the sunshine andlisten to the Morris's talking about old days

(02:59):
and sometimes times it makes us feelquite young again. In addition to brisk
we have a Scotch Collie. Heis very handsome and is a constant attendant
of Miss Laura's. We are greatfriends, he and I, but he
can get about much better than Ican. One day a friend of Miss

(03:23):
Laura's came with a little boy andgirl, and Collie sat between the two
children, and their father took apicture with a Kodak. I like him
so much that I told him Iwould get them to put his picture in
my book. When the Morris boysare all here in the summer, we

(03:44):
have gay times all through the winter. We look forward to their coming,
for they make the old farmhouse solively. Mister Maxwelle never misses a summer
in coming to Riverdale. He hassuch a following of dumb animals now that
he says he can't move them anyfarther away from Boston than this, and

(04:08):
he doesn't know what he will dowith them unless he sets up a menagerie.
He asked Miss Laura the other dayif she thought that the old Italian
would take him into partnership. Hedid not know what had happened to poor
Bellini, so miss Laura told him. A few years ago, the Italian

(04:31):
came to Riverdale to exhibit his newstock of performing animals. They were almost
as good as the old ones,but he had not quite so many as
he had before. The Morrises,and a great many of their friends went
to his performance, and Miss Laurasaid afterward that when cunning little Billie came

(04:57):
on the stage and made his bowand went through his antics of jumping through
hoops and catching balls, that shealmost had hysterics. The Italian had made
a special pet of him for theMorris's sake, and treated him more like
a human being than a dog.Billy rather put on airs when he came

(05:19):
up to the farm to see us. But he was such a dear little
dog in spite of being almost spoiledby his master, that Jem and I
could not get angry with him.In a few days they went away,
and we heard nothing but good newsfrom them till last winter. Then a

(05:42):
letter came to Missus Laura from anurse in a New York hospital. She
said that the Italian was very nearhis end, and he wanted her to
write to Missus Gray to tell herthat he had sold all his animals,
But the little dog that she hadso kindly given him. He was sending

(06:03):
him back to her, and withhis last breath he would pray for Heaven's
blessing on the kind lady and herfamily that had befriended him when he was
in trouble. The next day,Billy arrived, a thin, white scarecrow
of a dog. He was sickand unhappy and would eat nothing, and

(06:28):
started up at the slightest sound.He was listening for the Italian's footsteps.
But he never came. And oneday mister Harry looked up from his newspaper
and said, Laura Bellini is dead. Missus Laura's eyes filled with tears,

(06:48):
and Billy, who had jumped upwhen he heard his master's name, fell
back again. He knew what theymeant, and from that instant he seemed
listening for footsteps and lay white steeltill he died. Missus Laura had him
put in a little wooden box andburied him in a corner of the garden.

(07:13):
And when she is working among herflowers, she often speaks regretfully of
him, and of poor Dandy,who lies in the garden at Fairport Bella.
The parrot lives with Missus Morris andis as smart as ever. I
have heard that parents live to avery great age, some of them even

(07:35):
get to be a hundred years old. If that is the case, Bella
will outlive all of us. Shenotices that I am getting blind and feeble,
and when I go down to callon Missus Morris, she calls out
to me, keep a stiff upperlip, beautiful Joe. Never say die,

(07:58):
beautiful Joe. Keep the game.Am a going, beautiful Joe.
Missus Morris says she doesn't know whereBella picks up her slang words. I
think it is mister Ned who teachesher, for when he comes home in
the summer, he often says,with a sly twinkle in his eye,

(08:18):
come out into the garden, Bella. And he lies in a hammock under
the trees, and Bella perches ona branch near him, and he talks
to her by the hour. Anyway, it is in the autumn after he
leaves Riverdale that Bella always shocks MissusMorris with her slang talk. I am

(08:39):
glad that I am to end mydays in Riverdale. Fairport was a very
nice place, but it was notopen and free like this farm. I
take a walk every morning that thesun shines. I go out among the
horses and cows and stop to watchthe hens pecking at their food. This

(09:03):
is such a happy place, andI hope my dear miss Laura will live
to enjoy it many years after Iam gone. I have very few worries.
The pigs bother me a little inthe spring by rooting up the bones
that I bury in the fields andthe fall, but that is a small

(09:24):
matter, and I try not tomind it. I get a great many
bones here, and I should beglad if I had some poor city dogs
to help me eat them. Idon't think bones are good for pigs.
Then there is mister Harry's tame squirrelout in one of the barns that teases

(09:46):
me considerably. He knows that Ican't chase him now that my legs are
so stiff with rheumatism, and hetakes delight in showing me how spry he
can be, darting around me andwhisking his tail almost in my face,
and trying to get me to runafter him so that he can laugh at

(10:09):
me. I don't think that heis a very thoughtful squirrel. But I
try not to notice him. Thesailor boy who gave Bella to the Morrises
has got to be a large stoutman and is the first mate of a
vessel. He sometimes comes here,and when he does, he always brings

(10:31):
the Morris's presence of foreign fruits andcuriosities of different kinds. Malta. The
cat is still living and is withmissus Morris. Davy. The rat is
gone, so is poor old Jem. He went away one day last summer,

(10:52):
and no one ever knew what becameof him. The Morris has searched
everywhere for him, and all fora large reward to anyone who would find
him, But he never turned upagain. I think that he felt he
was going to die and went intosome out of the way place. He

(11:13):
remembered how badly Miss Laura felt whenDandy died, and he wanted to spare
her the greater sorrow of his death. He was always such a thoughtful dog,
and so anxious not to give trouble. I am more selfish. I
could not go away from Miss Laura, even to die. When my last

(11:35):
hour comes, I want to seeher gentle face bending over me, and
then I shall not mind how muchI suffer. She is just as tender
hearted as ever, but she triesnot to feel too badly about the sorrow
and suffering in the world, becauseshe says that would weaken her, and

(11:56):
she wants all her strength to tryto put a stop to some of it.
She does a great deal of goodin Riverdale, and I do not
think that there is any one inall the country around who is as much
beloved as she is. She hasnever forgotten the resolve that she made some

(12:18):
years ago that she would do allthat she could to protect dumb creatures.
Mister Harry and mister Maxwelle have helpedher nobly. Mister Maxwelle's work is largely
done in Boston, and Miss Lauraand mister Harry have to do the most
of theirs by writing for Riverdale hasgot to be a model village in respect

(12:45):
of the treatment of all kinds ofanimals. It is a model village not
only in that respect, but inothers. It has seemed as if all
other improvements went hand in hand withthe humane treatment of animals. Thoughtfulness toward
lower creatures has made the people moreand more thoughtful toward themselves, and this

(13:09):
little town is getting to have quitea name through the state for its good
schools, good society, and goodbusiness and religious standing. Many people are
moving into it to educate their children. The Riverdale people are very particular about
what sort of strangers come to liveamong them. A man who came here

(13:33):
two years ago and opened a shopwas seen kicking a small kitten out of
his house. The next day,a committee of Riverdale citizens waited on him
and said they had a great dealof trouble to root out cruelty from their
village, and they didn't want anyoneto come there and introduce it again,

(13:56):
and they thought he had better moveon to some other place. The man
was utterly astonished and said he'd neverheard of such particular people. He had
had no thought of being cruel.He didn't think that the kitten cared.
But now when he turned the thingover in his mind, he didn't suppose
cat's like being kicked about any morethan he would like it himself, and

(14:22):
he would promise to be kind tothem in the future. He said too,
that if they had no objection,he would just stay on, for
if the people there treated dumb animalswith such consideration, they would certainly treat
human beings better, and he thoughtit would be a good place to bring
up his children. Of course,they let him stay, and he is

(14:46):
now a man who is celebrated forhis kindness to every living thing, and
he never refuses to help Miss Laurawhen she goes to him for money to
carry out any of her humane schemes. There is one most important saying of
Miss Laura's that comes out of heryears of service for dumb animals that I

(15:09):
must put in before I close,and it is this. She says that
cruel and vicious owners of animals shouldbe punished. But to merely thoughtless people,
don't say, don't so much.Don't go to them and say don't
overfeed your animals, and don't starvethem, and don't overwork them, and

(15:35):
don't beat them, and so onthrough the long list of hardships that can
be put upon suffering animals, Butsay, simply to them, be kind,
make a study of your animals wants, and see that they are satisfied.
No one can tell you how totreat your animal as well as you

(15:56):
should know yourself, for you arewith it all the time and know its
disposition, and just how much workit can stand, and how much rest
and food it needs, and justhow different it is from every other animal.
If it is sick or unhappy,you are the one to take care

(16:18):
of it, For nearly every animalloves its own master better than a stranger,
and will get well quicker under hiscare. Miss Laura says that if
men and women are kind in everyrespect to their dumb servants, they will
be astonished to find out how muchhappiness they will bring into their lives,

(16:41):
and how faithful and grateful their dumbanimals will be to them. Now I
must really close my story goodbye tothe boys and girls who may read it.
And if it is not wrong fora dog to say it, I
should like to add, God blessyou all. If in my feeble way

(17:03):
I have been able to impress youwith the fact that dogs and many other
animals love their masters and mistresses andlive only to please them, my little
story will not be written in vain. My last words are, boys and
girls, be kind to dumb animals, not only because you will lose nothing

(17:27):
by it, but because you oughtto, For they were placed on the
earth by the same kind hand thatmade all living creatures. End of Chapter
thirty seven and end of Beautiful Joe