 33 A week or two after we got home, I heard the moorish boy's talking about an Italian who was coming to Fairport with a troop of trained animals and I could see for myself whenever I went to town, great flaming pictures on the fences of monkeys sitting at tables, dogs and ponies and goats climbing ladders and rolling balls and doing various tricks. I wondered very much whether they would be able to do all those extraordinary things but it turned out that they did. The Italian's name was Bellini and one afternoon the whole moorish family went to see him and his animals and when they came home I 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 fella and I'll tell you all about it. First of all there was a perfect gym in the town hall. I sat 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, black broadcloth, flower in his buttonhole and so on. He made a fine bow and he said he was pleased to see the fine audience and he was going to show them the fine animals, the finest animals in the world. Then he shook a little whip that he carried in his hand and he said that that whip didn't mean that he was cruel. He cracked it to show his animals when to begin and or change their tricks. Some boy yelled rats you do whip them sometimes and the old man made another bow and said certainly he whipped them just as these mamas whipped the naughty boys to make them keep still when they was noisy or stubborn. Then everybody laughed at the boy and the Italian said the performance would begin by a grand procession of all the animals. If some lady would kindly step up to the piano and play a march Nina Smith you know Nina Joe the girl that has black eyes and wears blue ribbons and lives around the corner stepped up to the piano and banged out a fine loud march. The doors at the side of the platform opened and out came the animals two by two just like Noah's Ark. There was a pony with a monkey walking beside it and holding on to its mane and another monkey on a pony's back two monkeys hand in hand a dog with a parrot on his back a goat harnessed to a little carriage another goat carrying a birdcage in its mouth with two canaries inside different kinds of cats some doves and pigeons half a dozen white rats with red harness and dragging a little chariot with a monkey in it and a common white gander that came in last of all and did nothing but follow one of the ponies about the Italian spoke of the gander and said it was a stupid creature and could learn no tricks and he only kept it on account of its affection for the pony he had got them both on a Vermont farm and he was looking for show animals the pony's master had made a pet of him and had taught him to come whenever he whistled for him though the pony was only a stub of a creature he had a gentle disposition and every other animal on the farm liked him a gander in particular had such an admiration for him that he followed him wherever he went and if he lost him for an instant he would mount one of the knolls on the farm and stretch out his neck looking for him when he caught sight of him he gabbled with delight running to him waddled up and down beside him every little white pony put his nose down and seemed to be having a conversation with the goose if the farmer whistled 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 along as fast as the pony did and the pony never kicked him the italian saw that this pony would be a good one to train for the stage so he offered the farmer a large price for him and took him away oh joe i forgot to say that by this time all the animals had been sent off the stage except the pony and the gander and they stood looking at the italian while he talks i never saw anything as human in dumb animals as that pony's face he looked as if he understood every word that his master was saying after this story was over the italian made another bow and then told the pony to bow he nodded his head at the people and they all laughed then the italian asked him to favor us with a waltz and the pony got up on his hind legs and danced you should have seen that gander skirmishing around so as to be near the pony and yet 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 begged the young gentleman not to make z noise but let z pony do 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 them did they helped the italian on with his coat they pulled off his rubbers they took his coat away and brought him a chair and dragged a table up to it they brought him letters and papers and rang bells and rolled barrels and swung the italian in a big swing and jumped a rope and walked up and down steps they just went around that stage just handy with their teeth as two boys would be with their hands and they seemed to understand every word their master said to them the best trick of all was telling the time and doing questions and arithmetic the italian pulled 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 looked at it then scratched four times with his forefoot on the platform the italian said that's good four o'clock but it's a few minutes after four how many the pony scratched again five times the italian showed his watch to the audience and said it was just five minutes past four then he asked the pony how old he was he scratched four times that meant four years he asked him how many 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 pony that he had been very good and had done his lessons well if it would rest him he might be naughty a little while all of a sudden a wicked look came into the creature's eyes he turned around and kicked up his heels at his master he pushed over the table and chairs and knocked down a blackboard where he had been rubbing out figures with a sponge held in his mouth the italian pretended to be cross and said come this won't do and he called the other pony to him and told him to take that troublesome fellow off the stage the second one nosed diamond and pushed him about finally bit him by the ear and led him squealing off the stage the gander followed gambling as fast as he could and there was a regular roar of applause after that there were ladders brought in joe and dogs came on not thoroughbreds but curves something like you the italian says he can't teach tricks to pedigree animals as well as to scrubs those dogs jumped the ladders and climbed them and went through them and did all kinds of things the man cracked his whip once and they began twice and they did backward what they had done forward three times and they stopped and every animal dogs goats ponies and monkeys 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 up to him and licked his hands or his sleeve there was one boss dog joe with a head like yours bob they called him and he did all his tricks alone the italian went off the stage and the dog came on and made his bow and climbed his ladders and 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 i saw old judge brown wiping tears from his eyes he'd laugh so much one of the last tricks was with a goat and the italian said it was the best of all because the goat is such a hard animal to teach he had a big ball and the goat got on it and rolled across the stage without getting off he looked as nervous as a cat shaking his old beard and trying to keep his four hooks close enough together to keep them on the ball we had a funny little play at the end of the performance a monkey dressed as a lady in a white satin suit and a bonnet with a white veil came on the stage she was miss green and the dog bob was going to elope with her he was all rigged out as mr smith and had on a light suit of clothes and a tall hat on the side of his head high collar long cuffs and he carried a cane he was a regular dude he stepped up to miss green on his hind legs and helped her onto a pony's back the pony galloped off the stage then a crowd of monkeys chattering and ringing their hands came on mr smith had run away with their child they were all dressed up too there were the father and mother with gray wigs and black clothes and the young greens and bibs and tuckers they were a queer looking crowd while they were going on in this way the pony trotted back on the stage and they all flew at him and pulled off their daughter from his back and laughed shattered 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 dog and kicked his hat and broke his cane and stripped his clothes off and threw them in a corner and bound his legs with cords a goat came on harnessed to a little cart and they threw the dog in it and wheeled him around the stage a few times then they took him out tied him to a hook in the wall and the goat ran off the stage and the monkeys ran to one side and one of them pulled out a little revolver pointed it at the dog and fired and he dropped down as if he was dead the monkey stood looking at him and then there was the most awful hullabaloo you ever heard such a barking and yelping and half a dozen dogs rushed on the stage and didn't they trundle those monkeys about they nosed them and pushed them and shook them till they all ran away all but miss green who sat shivering in a corner after a while she crept up to the dead dog pawed him a little and didn't he jump up as much alive as any of them everybody in the room clapped and shouted and then the curtain dropped and the thing was over i wished he'd give another performance early in the morning he has to go to boston jack pushed my paws from his knees and went outdoors and i began 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 to take a run down to the hotel where they were staying so i set out it was a lovely autumn evening the sun was going down in a haze and it was quite warm earlier in the day i had heard mr morris say that this was our indian summer and that we should soon have cold weather their port was a pretty little town and from the principal street one could look out upon the blue water of the bay and see the island opposite which was quite deserted now for all the summer visitors had gone home and the island house was shut up i was running down one of the steep side streets that led to the water when i met a heavily laden carp coming up it must have been coming from one of the vessels for it was full of strange-looking boxes and packages a fine-looking nervous horse was drawing it and he was straining at every nerve to get it up the steep hill his driver was a burly hard-faced man and instead of letting his horse stop a minute to rest he kept urging him forward the poor horse kept looking at his master his eyes almost starting from his head in terror he knew that the whip was about to descend on his quivering body and so it did and there was no one by to interfere no one but a woman in a ragged shawl who would have no influence with the driver there was a very good humane society in fairport and none of the teamsters dared ill use their horses if any of the members were near this was a quiet out of the way street with only poor houses on it and the man probably knew that none of the members of the society would be likely to be living in them he whipped his horse and whipped him till every lash made my heart ache and if i had dared i would have bitten him severely suddenly there was a dull thud in the street the horse had fallen down the driver ran to his head but he was quite dated thank god said the poorly dressed woman bitterly one more out of this world of misery then she 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 that can happen to tortured animals the fairport hotel was built right in the center of the town and the shops and houses crowded quite close about it it was a high brick building and it was called the fairport house as i was running along the sidewalk i heard someone speak to me and looking up i saw charlie montague i had heard the morises say that his parents were staying at the hotel a few weeks while their house was being repaired he had his irish setter brisk with him and a handsome dog he was as he stood waving his silky tail in the sunlight charlie padded me and then he and his dog went into the hotel i turned into the stable yard it was a small choked up place and as i picked my way under the cabs and wagons standing in the yard i wondered why the hotel people didn't buy some of the old houses nearby and tear them down and make a stable yard worthy of such a nice hotel the hotel horses were just getting rubbed down after their day's work and others were coming in the men were talking and laughing and there was no sign 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 there were two little ponies tied up in a stall two goats beyond them and dogs and monkeys and strong traveling cages i stood in the doorway and stared at them i was sorry for the dogs to be shut up on such a lovely evening but i suppose their master was afraid of their getting lost or being stolen if he let them loose they all seemed very friendly the ponies turned around and looked at me with their gentle eyes and then 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 out of the brownest ponies crib and there was the gander close up beside the open mouth of his friend the monkeys made a jabbering noise and held on to the bars of their cage with their little black hands while they looked out at me the dogs sniffed the air and wagged their tails and tried to put up their muzzles through the bars of their cage i liked the dogs best and i wanted to see the one they called bob so i went up quite close to them there were two little white dogs something like billy two mongrel spaniels an irish stetter and a brown dog asleep in the corner that i knew must be bob he did look a little like me but he was not quite so ugly for he had his ears in his tail while i was peering through the bars at him a man came into the stable he noticed me first thing but instead of driving me out he spoke kindly to me in a language that i did not understand so i knew he was the italian how glad the animals were to see him the gander fluttered out of his nest the ponies pulled at their halters the dogs whined and tried to reach his hands to let them in the monkeys shattered with the light he laughed and talked back to them in queer soft sounding words then he took out of a bag on his arm bones for the dogs nuts and cakes for the monkeys nice juicy carrots for the ponies some green stuff for the goats and corn for the gander it was a pretty sight to see the old man feeding his pets and it made me feel quite hungry so i tried it home i had a run downtown again that evening with mr morris who went to get something from a shop for his wife he never let his boys go to town after tea so if there were errands to be done he or mrs morris went the town was bright and lively that evening and a great many people were walking about and looking into the shop windows when we came home i went into the kennel with jim and there i slept till the middle of the night then i started up and ran outside there was a distant bale ringing which we often heard in fairport and which always meant fire end of chapter 33 performing animals chapter 34 a fire in fairport i had several times run to a fire with the boys and knew that there was always a great noise and excitement there was a light in the house so i knew that somebody was getting up i don't think indeed i know for they were good boys that they ever wanted anybody to lose property but they did enjoy seeing a blaze and one of their greatest delights when there hadn't been a fire for some time was to build a bonfire in the garden jim and i ran around to the front of the house and waited in a few minutes someone came rattling at the front door and i was sure it was jack but it was mr morris and without a word to us he set off almost running toward the town we followed after him and as we hurried along other men ran out from the houses along the streets and either joined him or dashed ahead they seemed to have dressed in a hurry and were thrusting their arms and their coats and buttoning themselves up as they went some of them had hats and some of them had none and they all had their faces toward the great red light that got brighter and brighter ahead of us where's the fire they shouted to each other don't know afraid it'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 was the hotel we saw that as soon as we got on to the main street there were people all about and a great noise and confusion and smoke and blackness and up above bright tongues of flame were leaping against the sky jim and i kept close to mr morris's heels as he pushed his way among the crowd when we got nearer the burning building we saw men carrying ladders and axes and others were shouting directions and rushing out of the hotel carrying boxes and bundles and furniture in their arms from the windows above came a steady stream of articles thrown among the crowd a mirror struck mr morris on the arm and a whole package of clothes fell on his head and almost smothered him but he brushed them aside and scarcely noticed them there was something to matter with mr morris i knew by the worried sound of his voice when he spoke to anyone i could not see his face though it was as light as day about us for we had got jammed in the crowd and if i had not kept between his feet i should have been trodden to death jim being larger than i was had got separated from us presently mr morris raised his voice above the uproar and called is everyone out of the hotel a voice shouted back i'm going up to sea it's jim watson the fireman cried someone near he's risking his life to go into that pit of flame don't go watson i don't think that brave fireman paid any attention to this warning for an instant later the same voice said he's planting his ladder against the third story he's bound to go he'll not get any farther than the second anyway where are the montaigs shouted mr morris has anyone seen the montaigs mr morris mr morris say it a frightened young voice and charles montaig pressed through the people to us where's papa i don't know where did you leave him said mr morris taking his hand and drawing him closer to him i was sleeping in his room said the boy and a man knocked at the door and said hotel on fire five minutes to dress and get out and papa told me to put on my clothes and go downstairs and he ran up to mama where was she asked mr morris quickly on the fourth flat she and her maid blanche were up there you know mama hasn't been well and couldn't sleep and our room was so noisy that she moved upstairs where it was quiet mr morris gave a kind of groan oh i'm so hot and there's such a dreadful noise said the little boy bursting into tears and i want mama mr morris soothed him the best he could and drew him a little to the edge of the crowd while he was doing this there was a piercing cry i could not see the person making it but i knew it was the italian's voice he was screaming in broken english that the fire was spreading to the stables and his animals would be burned would no one help him get his animals out there was a great deal of confused language some voices shouted look after the people first let the animals go and the others said poor shame get the horses out but no one seemed to do anything for the italian went on crying for help i heard a number of people who were standing near us say that it had just been found out that several persons who had been sleeping in the top of the hotel had not got out they said that at one of the top windows a poor housemaid was shrieking for help here in the street we could see no one at the upper windows for the smoke was pouring from them the air was very hot and heavy and i didn't wonder that charlie montague felt ill he would have fallen on the ground if mr morris hadn't taken him in his arms and carried him out of the crowd he put him down on the brick sidewalk and unfastened his little shirt and left me to watch him while he held his hands under a leak in a hose that was fastened to a hydrant near us he got enough water to dash on charlie's face and breast and then seeing that the boy was reviving he sat down on the curb stone and took him on his knee charlie lay in his arms and moaned he was a delicate boy and he could not stand rough usage as the morris boys could mr morris was terribly uneasy his face was deathly white and he shuddered whenever there was a cry from the burning building poor souls god help them oh this is awful he said and then he turned his eyes from the great sheets of flame and strained the little boy to his breast at last there were wild shrieks that i knew came from no human throats the fire must have reached the horses mr morris sprang up then sank back 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 to put on it that there was very little they could do i wondered whether i could do anything for the poor animals i was not afraid of fire as most dogs for one of the tricks that the morris boys had taught me was to put out a fire with my paws they would throw a piece of lighted paper on the floor and i would crush it with my four paws and if the blaze was too large for that i would drag a bit of old carpet over it and jump on it i left mr morris and ran around the corner of the street to the back of the hotel it was not burned as much here as in the front and then the houses all around people were out on their roofs with wet blankets and some were standing at the windows watching the fire or packing up their belongings ready to move if it should spread to them there was a narrow lane running up a short distance toward the hotel and i started to go up this when in front of me i heard such a wailing piercing noise that it made me shudder and stand still the italians animals were going to be burned up and they were calling to their master to come let them out their voices sounded like the voices of children in mortal pain i could not stand it i was 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 into the street i stumbled over something it was a large bird a parrot and at first i thought it was bella then i remembered hearing jack say that the italian had a parrot it was not dead but seemed stupid with the smoke i seized it in my mouth and ran and laid it at mr morris's feet he wrapped it in his handkerchief and laid it beside him i sat and trembled and did not leave him again i shall never forget that dreadful night it seemed as if we were there for hours but in reality it was only a short time the hotel soon got to be all red flames and there was very little smoke the inside of the building had burned away and nothing more could be gotten out the firemen and all the people drew back and there was no noise everybody stood gazing silently at the flames a man stepped quietly up to mr morris and looking at him i saw what was mr montague he was usually a well-dressed man with a kind face and a head of thick grayish brown hair now his face was black and grimy his hair was burnt from the front of his head and his clothes were half torn from his back mr morris spring up when he saw him and said where is your wife the gentleman did not say a word but pointed to the burning building impossible cried mr morris is there no mistake your beautiful young wife montague can it be so mr morris was trembling from head to foot it is true said mr montague quietly give me the boy charlie had fainted again and his father took him in his arms and turned away montague cried mr morris my heart is sore for you can i do nothing no thank you said the gentleman without turning around but there was more anguish in his voice than in mr morris's and though i'm only a dog i knew that his heart was breaking end of chapter 34 a fire in fairport chapters 35 and 36 of beautiful joe this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox.org this reading by allison hester of athens georgia beautiful joe by marshall saunders chapter 35 billy and the italian mr morris stayed no longer he followed mr montague along the sidewalk a little way and then exchanged a few hurried words with some men who were standing near and hastened home through the streets that seemed dark and dull after the splendor of the fire though it was still the middle of the night mrs morris was up and dressed and waiting for him she opened the hall door with one hand and held a candle in the other i felt frightened and miserable and didn't want to leave mr morris so i crept in after him don't make a noise said mrs morris laura and the boys are sleeping and i thought it better not to wake them it has been a terrible fire hasn't it was it the hotel mr morris threw himself into a chair and covered his face with his hands speak to me william said mrs morris in a startled tone you are not hurt are you and she put her candle on the table and came and sat down beside him he dropped his hands from his face and tears were running down his cheeks ten lives lost he said among them mrs montague mrs morris looked horrified and gave a little cry william it can't be so it seemed as if mr morris could not sit still he got up and walked to and fro on the floor it was an awful scene margaret i never wish to look upon the like again do you remember how i protested against the building of that death trap look at the wide open streets around it and yet they persisted in running it up to the sky god will require an account of those deaths at the hands of the men who put up that building it is terrible this disregard of human lives to think of that delicate woman and her death agony he threw himself in a chair and buried his face in his hands where was she how did it happen was her husband saved and charlie said mrs morris in a broken voice yes charlie and mr montague are safe charlie will recover from it montague's life is done you know his law for his wife oh margaret when will men cease to be fools what does the lord think of them when they say him i my brother's keeper and the poor creatures burn to death their lives are as precious in his sight as mrs montague's mr morris looked so weak and ill that mrs morris like a sensible woman questioned him no further but made a fire and got him some hot tea then she made him lie down on the sofa and she sat by him till daybreak when she persuaded him to go to bed i followed her about and kept touching her dress with my nose it seemed so good to me to have this pleasant home after all the misery i had seen that night once she stopped and took my head between her hands dear old joe she said tearfully this is a suffering world it's well there's a better one beyond it in the morning the boys went downtown before breakfast and learned all about the fire it started in the top story of the hotel in the room of some fast young men who were sitting up late playing cards they had smuggled wine into their room and had been drinking till they were stupid one of them upset the lamp and when the flames began to spread so that they could not extinguish them instead of rousing someone near them they rushed downstairs to get someone to come up there and help them put out the fire when they returned with some of the hotel people they found that the flames had spread from their room which was in an ale at the back of the house to the front part where mrs montague's room was and where the housemaids belonging to the hotel slept by this time mr montague had gotten upstairs but he found the passageway to his wife's room so full of flames and smoke that though he tried again and again to force his way through he could not he disappeared for a time then he came to mr morris and got his boy and took him to some rooms over his bank and shut himself up with him for some days he would let no one in then he came out with the look of an old man on his face and his hair is white as snow and he went out to his beautiful house in the outskirts of the town nearly all the horses belonging to the hotel were burned a few were gotten out by having blankets put over their heads but the most of them were so terrified that they would not stir the morris boy said that they had found the old italian sitting on an empty box looking at the smoking ruins of the hotel his head was hanging on his breast and his eyes were full of tears his ponies were burned up he said and the gander and the monkeys and the goats and his wonderful performing dogs he had only his birds left and he was a ruined man he had toiled all his life to get this troop of trained animals together and now they were swept from him it was cruel and wicked and he wished he could die the canaries and pigeons and doves the hotel people had allowed him to take to his room and they were safe the parrot was lost an educated parrot that could answer 40 questions and among other things could take a watch until the time of day jack morris told him that they had it safe at home and that it was very much alive quarreling furiously with his parrot bella the old man's face brightened at this and then jack and carl finding that he had had no breakfast went off to a restaurant nearby and got him some steak and coffee the italian was very grateful and as he ate jack said the tears ran into his coffee cup he told them how much he loved his animals and how it made ze hot bitter to his them crying to him to deliver them from the raging fire the boys came home and got their breakfast and went to school miss lora did not go out she sat all day with a very quiet pain face she could neither read nor so and mr and mrs morris were just as unsettled they talked about the fire and low tones and i could see that they felt more sad about mrs montague's death than if she had died in an ordinary way her dear little canary berry died with her she would never be separated from him and his cage had been taken up to the top of the hotel with her he probably died an easier death than his poor mistress charlie's dog escaped but was so frightened that he ran out to their house outside the town at tea time mr morris went to town to see that the italian got a comfortable place for the night when he came back he said that he had found out that the italian was by no means so old a man as he looked and that he had talked to him about raising a sum of money for him among the fairport people till he had become quite cheerful and said that if mr morris would do that he would try to gather another troop of animals together and train them now what can we do for this italian asked mrs morris we can't give him much money but we might let him have one or two of our pets there's billy he's a bright little dog and he's not two years old yet he could teach him anything there was a blank silence among the morris children billy was such a gentle lovable little dog that he was a favorite with everyone in the house i suppose we ought to do it said miss lora at last but how can we give him up there was a good deal of discussion but the end of it was that billy was given to the italian he came up to get him and was very grateful and made a great many bows holding his hat in his hand billy took to him at once and the italian spoke so kindly to him that we knew he would have a good master mr morris got quite a large sum of money for him and when he handed it to him the poor man was so pleased that he kissed his hand and promised to send frequent word as to billy's progress and welfare end of chapter 35 billy and the italian chapter 36 dandy the tramp about a week after billy left us the morris family much to its surprise became the owner of a new dog he walked into the house one cold wintry afternoon and lay calmly down by the fire he was a brindled bull terrier and he had on a silver plated collar with dandy engraved on it he lay all the evening by the fire and when any of the family spoke to him he wagged his tail and looked pleased i growled a little at him at first but he never cared to be it and just dozed off to sleep so i assumed stopped he was such a well bred dog that the morrises were afraid that someone had lost him they made some inquiries the next day and found that he belonged to a new york gentleman who had come to fairport in the summer in a yacht this dog did not like the yacht he came ashore in a boat whenever he got a chance and if he could not come in a boat he would swim he was a tramp his master said and he wouldn't stay long in any place the morrises were so amused with his impudence that they did not send him away but said every day surely he will be gone tomorrow however mr dandy had gotten into some comfortable quarters and he had no intention of changing them for a while at least then he was very handsome and had such a pleasant way with him that the family could not help liking him i never cared for him he phoned on the morrises and pretended he loved them and afterward turned around and laughed and sneered at them in a way that made me very angry i used to lecture him sometimes and growl about him to jim but jim always said let him alone you can't do him any good he was born bad his mother wasn't good he tells me that she had a bad name among all the other dogs in her neighborhood she was a thief and a runaway though he provoked me so often yet i could not help laughing at some of his stories they were so funny we were lying out in the sun on the platform at the back of the house one day and he had been more than usually provoking so i got up to leave him he put himself in my way however and said coaxingly don't be cross old fellow i'll tell you some stories to amuse you old boy what shall they be about i think the story of your life would be about as interesting as anything you could make up i said dryly all right fact or fiction whichever you like here's a fact plain and unvarnished born and bred in new york swell stable swale coachman swale master jeweled fingers of ladies poking at me first thing i remember first painful experience being sent to vet to have ears cut what's a vet i said a veterinary animal doctor vet didn't cut ears though master sent me back cut ears again summertime and flies bad ears got sore and festered flies very attentive coachman sent little boy to brush flies off but he'd run out in the yard and leave me flies awful though they'd eat me up or else i'd shake out brains trying to get rid of them mother should have stayed home and licked my ears but was cruising about the neighborhood finally coachman put me in dark place powdered ears and they got well why didn't they cut your tail i said looking at his long slim tail which was like a sewer rats it wasn't the fashion mr. way back a bull terrier's ears are clipped to keep them from getting torn while fighting you're not a fighting dog i said not i too much trouble i believe in taking things easy i should thank you did i said scornfully you never put yourself out for anyone i notice but speaking of cropping ears what do you think of it well he said with a sly glance at my head it isn't a pleasant operation but one might as well be out of the world as out of the fashion i don't care now my ears are done but i said think of the poor dogs that will come after you what difference does that make to me he said i'll be dead and out of the way men can cut off their ears and tails and legs too if they want to dandy i said angrily you're the most selfish dog that i ever saw don't excite yourself he said coolly let me get on with my story when i was a few months old i began to find the stable yard narrow and wondered what there was outside of it i discovered a hole in the garden wall and used to sneak out nights oh what fun it was i got to know a lot of street dogs and we had gay times barking under people's windows and making them mad and getting into backyards and chasing cats we used to kill a cat nearly every night policemen would chase us and we would run and run till the water just ran off our tongues and we had a bit of breath left then i'd go home and sleep all day and go out again the next night when i was about a year old i began to stay out days as well as nights they couldn't keep me home then i ran away for three months i got with an old lady on fifth avenue who was very fond of dogs she had four white poodles and her servants used to wash them and tie up their hair with blue ribbons and she used to take them for drives and her fainting in the park and they wore gold and silver collars the biggest poodle wore ruby and his collar worth five hundred dollars i went driving to and sometimes we met my master he often smiled and shook his head at me i heard him tell the coachman one day that i was a little black guard and he was to let me come and go as i liked if they had whipped you soundly i said it might have made a good dog of you i'm good enough now say a dandy airily the young ladies who drove with my master used to say that it was pretty tiresome to be too good to go on with my story i stayed with mrs judge tidbit till i got sick of her fussy ways she made a simpleton of herself over those poodles each one high high chair at the table and a plate and they always sat in these chairs and had meals with her and the servants all called them master and master taught and miss tiny and miss fluff one day they tried to make me sit in a chair and i got cross and bit mrs tidbit and she beat me cruelly and her servants stoned me away from the house speaking about bowls dandy i said if it is polite to call a lady one i should say that that lady was one dogs shouldn't be put out of their place why didn't she have some poor children at her table and in her carriage and let the dogs run behind easy to see you don't know new york say a dandy with the laugh poor children don't live with the rich old ladies mrs tidbit hated children anyway then dogs like poodles would get lost in the mud or killed in the crowd if they ran behind a carriage only knowing dogs like me can make their way about i rather doubted this speech but i said nothing and he went on patronizingly however joe thou hast reason as the french say mrs judge tidbit didn't give her dogs exercise enough their claws were as long as china men's nails and the hair grew over their pads and they always had red eyes and were always sick and she had to dose them with medicine and call them her poor little weenie teeny sicky wicky doggies blah i got disgusted with her when i left her i ran away to her nieces miss balls she was a sensible young lady and she used to scold her aunt for the way in which she brought up her dogs she was almost too sensible for her pug and i were rubbed and scrubbed within an inch of our lives and had to go for such long walks that i got thoroughly sick of them a woman whom the servants called trotsey came every morning and took the pug and me by our chains and sometimes another dog or two and took us for long tramps and quiet streets that was trotsey's business to walk dogs and this ball got a great many fashionable young ladies who could not exercise their dogs to let trotsey have them and they said that it made a great difference in the health and appearance of their pets trotsey got 15 cents an hour for a dog goodness what appetites those walks gave us and didn't we make the dog biscuits disappear but it was a slow life at miss balls we only saw her for a little while every day she slept till noon after lunch she played with us a little while in the greenhouse then she was off driving or visiting and in the evening she always had company or went to a dance or to the theater i soon made up my mind that i'd run away i jumped out of a window one fine morning in ran home i stayed there for a long time my mother had been run over by a cart and killed and i wasn't sorry my master never bothered his head about me and i could do as i liked one day when i was having a walk and meeting a lot of dogs that i knew a little boy came behind me and before i could tell what he was doing he had snatched me up and was running off with me i couldn't bite him for he had stuffed some of his rags in my mouth he took me to a tenement house in a part of the city that i had never been in before he belonged to a very poor family my faith weren't they badly off six children and a mother and father all living in two tiny rooms scarcely a bit of meat that i smelled while i was there i hated their bread and molasses and the place smelled so badly i thought i should choke they kept me shut up in their dirty rooms for several days and the brat of a boy that caught me slept with his arm around me at night the weather was hot and sometimes we couldn't sleep and they had to go up on the roof after a while they chained me up in a filthy yard at the back of the house and there i thought i should go mad i would have liked to bite them all to death if i had dared it's awful to be chained especially for a dog like me that loves his freedom the flies worried me and the noises distracted me and my flesh would fairly creep from getting no exercise i was there nearly a month while they were waiting for a reward to be offered but none came in one day the boy's father who was a street peddler took me by my chain and led me about the streets till he sold me a gentleman got me for his little boy but i didn't like the look of him so i sprang up and bit his hand and he dropped the chain and i dodged boys and policemen and finally got home more dead than alive and looking like a skeleton i had a good time for several weeks and then i began to get restless and was off again but i'm getting tired i want to go to sleep you're not very polite i said to offer to tell a story and then go to sleep before you finish it look out for number one my boy said dandy with a yawn for if you don't no one else will and he shut his eyes and was fast to sleep in a few minutes i sat and looked at him what a handsome good-natured worthless dog he was a few days later he told me the rest of his history after a great many wanderings he happened home one day just as his master's yacht was going to sail and they changed him up till they went on board so that he could be an amusement on the passage to fairport it was in november that dandy came to us and he stayed all winter he made fun of the moorises all the time and said they had a dull pokey old house and he only stayed because miss lora was nursing him he had a little sore on his back that she soon found out was mange her father said it was a bad disease for dogs to have and dandy had better be shot but she begged so hard for his life and said she would cure him in a few weeks that she was allowed to keep him dandy wasn't capable of getting really angry but he was as disturbed about having this disease as he could be about anything he said that he had guided from a little mangy dog that he had played with a few weeks before he was only with the little dog for a while and didn't think he would take it but it seemed he knew what an easy thing it was to get until he got well he was separated from us miss lora kept him up in the loft with the rabbits where we could not go and the boys ran him around the garden for exercise she tried all kinds of cures for him and i heard her say that though it was a skin disease his blood must be purified she gave him some of the pills that she had made out of sulfur and butter for gem and billy and me to keep our coats silky and smooth when they didn't cure him she gave him a few drops of arsenic every day and washed the sore and indeed his whole body with tobacco water or carbolic soap it was the tobacco water that cured him miss lora always put on gloves when she went near him and used a brush to wash him for if a person takes mange from a dog they may lose their hair in their eyelashes but if they are careful no harm comes from nursing a mangy dog and i have never known of anyone taking the disease after a time dandy sore healed and he was set free he was right glad he said for he had got heartily sick of the rabbits he used to bark at them and make them angry and they would run around the loft stamping their hind feet at him in the funny way that rabbits do i think they disliked him as much as he disliked them gem and i did not get the mange dandy was not a strong dog and i think his irregular ways of living made him take diseases readily he would stuff himself when he was hungry and he always wanted rich food if he couldn't get what he wanted at the morises he went out and stole or visited the dumps at the back of the town when he did get ill he was more stupid about doctoring himself than any dog i have ever seen he never seemed to know when to eat grass or herbs or a little earth that would have kept him in good condition a dog should never be without grass when dandy got ill he just suffered till he got well again and never tried to cure himself of his small troubles some dogs even know enough to amputate their limbs gem told me a very interesting story of a dog the morises once had called jip whose leg became paralyzed by a kick from a horse he knew the leg was dead and knotted off nearly to the shoulder and though he was very sick for a time yet in the end he got well to return to dandy i knew he was only waiting for the spring to leave us and i was not sorry the first fine day he was off and during the rest of the spring and summer we occasionally met him running about the town with a set of fast dogs one day i stopped and asked him how he contended himself in such a quiet place as fairport and he said he was dying to get back to new york and was hoping that his master's yacht would come and take him away poor dandy never left fairport after all he was not such a bad dog there was really nothing vicious about him and i hate to speak of his end his master's yacht did not come and soon the summer was over and a winter was coming and no one wanted dandy for he had such a bad name he got hungry and cold and one day sprang upon a little girl to take away a piece of bread and butter that she was eating he did not see the large house dog on the door seal and before he could get away the dog had seized him and bitten and shaken him till he was nearly dead when the dog threw him aside he crawled to the morises and miss lora bandaged his wounds and made him a bed in the stable one sunday morning she washed and fed him very tenderly for she knew he could not live much longer he was so weak that he could scarcely eat the food she put in his mouth so she let him lick some milk from her finger as she was going to church i could not go with her but i ran down the lane and watched her out of sight when i came back dandy was gone i looked till i found him he had crawled into the darkest corner of the stable to die and though he was suffering very much he never uttered a sound i sat by him and thought of his master in new york if he had brought dandy up properly he might not now be here in his silent death agony a young pup should be trained just as a child is and punished when he does wrong dandy began badly and not being checked in his evil ways had come to this poor dandy poor handsome dog of a rich master he opened his dull eyes gave me one last glance then with a convulsive shutter his torn limbs were still he would never suffer any more when miss laura came home she cried bitterly to know he was dead the boys took him away from her and made him a grave in the corner of the garden end of chapter 36 dandy the tramp chapter 37 of beautiful joe this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libra vox.org this reading by alice and hester of athens georgia beautiful joe by marshall saunders chapter 37 the end of my 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 of each year of my life but i fear that would make my story too long and neither miss laura nor any boys and girls would care to read it 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 very sorry to leave off every year that i have been at the morises something pleasant has happened to me but i cannot put all these things down nor can i tell how miss laura and the boys grew and changed year by year till now they are quite grown up i will just bring my tail down to the present and then i will stop talking and go lie down in my basket for i am an old dog now and get tired very easily i was a year old when i went to the morises and i have been with them for 12 years i am not living in the same house with mr and mrs morris now but i am with my dear miss laura who is miss laura no longer but mrs gray she married mr harry four years ago and lives with him and mr and mrs wood on dingley farm mr and mrs morris live in a cottage nearby mr morris is not very strong and can preach no longer the boys are all scattered jack married pretty miss besie drury and lives on a large farm near here miss besie 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 york ned is a clerk in a bank and willie is studying at a place called harvard he says that after he finishes his studies he is going to live with his father and mother the morris's old friends often come to see them miss drury comes every summer on her way to newport and mr montague and charlie come every other summer charlie always brings with him his old dog brisk who is getting feeble like myself we lie on the veranda in the sunshine and listen to the morris's talking about old days and sometimes it makes us feel quite young again in addition to brisk we have a scotch collie he is very handsome and is a constant attendant of miss lauras we are great friends he and i but he can get about much better than i can one day a friend of miss lauras came with a little boy and girl and collie sat between the two children and their father took a picture with a kodak i like him so much that i told him i would get them to put his picture in my book when the morris boys are all here in the summer we have gay times all through the winter we look forward to their coming for they make the old farmhouse so lively mr max whale never misses a summer in coming to river dale he has such a following of dumb animals now that he says he can't move them any farther away from boston than this and he doesn't know what he will do with them unless he sets up a menagerie he asked miss laura the other day if she thought that the old italian would take him into partnership he did not know what had happened to poor bellini so miss laura told him a few years ago the italian came to river dale to exhibit his new stock of performing animals they were almost as good as the old ones but he had not quite so many as he had before the morises and a great many of their friends went to his performance and miss laura said afterward that when cunning little billy came on the stage and made his bow and went through his antics of jumping through hoops and catching balls that she almost had hysterics the italian had made a special pet of him for the morris's sake and treated him more like a human being than a dog billy rather put on airs when he came up to the farm to see us but he was such a dear little dog in spite of being almost spoiled by his master that jim and i could not get angry with him in a few days they went away and we heard nothing but good news from them till last winter then a letter came to miss laura from a nurse in a new york hospital she said that the italian was very near his end and he wanted her to write to mrs gray to tell her that he had sold all his animals but the little dog that she had so kindly given him he was sending him back to her and with his last breath he would pray for heaven's blessing on the kind lady and her family that had befriended him when he was in trouble the next day billy arrived a thin white scare crow of a dog he was sick and unhappy and would eat nothing and started up at the slightest sound he was listening for the italian's footsteps but he never came and one day mr harry looked up from his newspaper and said laura bellini is dead miss laura's eyes filled with tears and billy who had jumped up when he heard his master's name fail back again he knew what they meant and from that instant he ceased listening for footsteps and lay quite still till he died miss laura had him put in a little wooden box and buried him in a corner of the garden and when she is working among her flowers she often speaks regretfully of him and of poor dandy who lies in the garden at fairport bella the parrot lives with mrs morris and is as smart as ever i have heard that parents live to a very great age some of them even get to be a hundred years old if that is the case bella will outlive all of us she notices that i am getting blind and feeble and when i go down to call on mrs morris she calls out to me keep a stiff upper lip beautiful joe never say die beautiful joe keep the game a going beautiful joe mrs morris says she doesn't know where bella picks up her slang words i think it is mr ned who teaches her for when he comes home in the summer he often says with a slight twinkle in his eye come out into the garden bella and he lies in a hammock under the trees and bella perches on a branch near him and he talks to her by the hour anyway it is in the autumn after he leaves river dale that bella always shocks mrs morris with her slang talk i am glad that i am to end my days in river dale fairport was a very nice place but it was not open and free like this farm i take a walk every morning that the sun shines i go out among the horses and cows and stop to watch the hens pecking at their food this is such a happy place and i hope my dear miss lora will live to enjoy it many years after i am gone i have very few worries the pigs bother me a little in the spring by rooting up the bones that i bury in the fields in the fall but that is a small matter and i try not to mind it i get a great many bones here and i should be glad if i had some poor city dogs to help me eat them i don't think bones are good for pigs then there is mr harry's tame squirrel out in one of the barns that teases me considerably he knows that i can't chase him now that my legs are so stiff with rheumatism and he takes delight in showing me how spry he can be darting around me and whisking his tail almost in my face and trying to get me to run after him so that he can laugh at me i don't think that he is a very thoughtful squirrel but i try not to notice him the sailor boy who gave bella to the morrises has got to be a large stout man and is the first mate of a vessel he sometimes comes here and when he does he always brings the morrises presence of foreign fruits and curiosities of different kinds malta the cat is still living and is with mrs morris davie the rat is gone so is poor old gem he went away one day last summer and no one ever knew what became of him the morrises searched everywhere for him and offered a large reward to anyone who would find him but he never turned up again i think that he felt he was going to die and went into some out of the way place he remembered how badly miss allura felt when dandy 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 lora even to die when my last hour comes i want to see her gentle face bending over me and then i shall not mind how much i suffer she is just as tender hearted as ever but she tries not to feel too badly about the sorrow and suffering in the world because she says that would weaken her and she wants all her strength to try to put a stop to some of it she does a great deal of good in river dale and i do not think that there is anyone in all the country around who is as much beloved as she is she has never forgotten the resolve that she made some years ago that she would do all that she could to protect dumb creatures mr harry and mr max whale have helped her nobly mr max whale's work is largely done in boston and miss lora and mr harry have to do the most of theirs by riding for river dale has got to be a model village in respect of the treatment of all kinds of animals it is a model village not only in that respect but in others it has seemed as if all other improvements went hand in hand with the humane treatment of animals thoughtfulness toward lower creatures has made the people more and more thoughtful toward themselves in this little town is getting to have quite a name through the state for its good schools good society and good business and religious standing many people are moving into it to educate their children the river dale people are very particular about what sort of strangers come to live among them a man who came here two years ago and opened a shop was seen kicking a small kitten out of his house the next day a committee of river dale citizens waited on him and said they had a great deal of trouble to root out cruelty from their village and they didn't want anyone to come there and introduce it again and they thought he had better move on to some other place the man was utterly astonished and said he'd never heard 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 thing over in his mind he didn't suppose cats liked being kicked about any more than he would like it himself and he would promise to be kind to them in the future he said too that if they had no objection he would just stay on for if the people there treated dumb animals with such consideration they would certainly treat human beings better and he thought it would be a good place to bring up his children of course they let him stay and he is now a man who is celebrated for his kindness to every living thing and he never refuses to help miss lora when she goes to him for money to carry out any of her humane schemes there is one most important saying of miss lora's that comes out of her years of service for dumb animals that i must put in before i close and it is this she says that cruel and vicious owners of animals should be punished but to merely thoughtless people don't say don't so much don't go to them and say don't over feed your animals and don't starve them and don't overwork them and don't beat them and so on through the long list of hardships that can be put upon suffering animals but say simply to them be kind make a study of your animals won't and see that they are satisfied no one can tell you how to treat your animal as well as you should know yourself for you are with it all the time and know its disposition and just how much work it can stand and how much rest and food it needs and just how different it is from every animal if it is sick or unhappy you are the one to take care of it for nearly every animal loves its own master better than a stranger and will get well quicker under his care miss lora says that if men and women are kind in every respect to their dumb servants they will be astonished to find out how much happiness they will bring into their lives and how faithful and grateful their dumb animals will be to them now i must really close my story goodbye to the boys and girls who may read it and if it is not wrong for a dog to say it i should like to add god bless you all if in my feeble way i have been able to impress you with the fact that dogs and many other animals love their masters and mistresses and live 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 by it but because you ought to for they were placed on the earth by the same kind hand that made all living creatures end of chapter 37 and end of beautiful joe this has been a libra vox recording by alice and hester recorded in may 2008