Beautiful Joe

by Marshall Saunders

  “After a time one of them began to swear at me, and say that he believed I was gun-shy. He staggered to the wagon and got out his fowling piece, and said he was going to try me.

  “He loaded it, went to a little distance, and was going to fire, when the young man who owned Bob said he wasn’t going to have his dog’s legs shot off, and coming up he unfastened him and took him away. You can imagine my feelings, as I stood there tied to the tree, with that stranger pointing his gun directly at me. He fired close to me, a number of times over my head and under my body. The earth was cut up all around me. I was terribly frightened, and howled and begged to be freed.

  “The other young men, who were sitting laughing at me, thought it such good fun that they got their guns, too. I never wish to spend such a terrible hour again. I was sure they would kill me. I dare say they would have done so, for they were all quite drunk by this time, if something had not happened.

  “Poor Bob, who was almost as frightened as I was, and who lay shivering under the wagon, was killed by a shot by his own master, whose hand was the most unsteady of all. He gave one loud howl, kicked convulsively, then turned over on his side and lay quite still. It sobered them all. They ran up to him, but he was quite dead. They sat for a while quite silent, then they threw the rest of the bottles into the lake, dug a shallow grave for Bob, and putting me in the wagon drove slowly back to town. They were not bad young men. I don’t think they meant to hurt me, or to kill Bob. It was the nasty stuff in the bottles that took away their reason.

  “I was never the same dog again. I was quite deaf in my right ear, and though I strove against it, I was so terribly afraid of even the sight of a gun that I would run and hide myself whenever one was shown to me. My master was very angry with those young men, and it seemed as if he could not bear the sight of me. One day he took me very kindly and brought me here, and asked Mr. Morris if he did not want a good-natured dog to play with the children.

  “I have a happy home here and I love the Morris boys; but I often wish that I could keep from putting my tail between my legs and running home every time I hear the sound of a gun.”

  “Never mind that, Jim,” I said. “You should not fret over a thing for which you are not to blame. I am sure you must be glad for one reason that you have left your old life.”

  “What is that?” he said.

  “On account of the birds. You know Miss Laura thinks it is wrong to kill the pretty creatures that fly about the woods.”

  “So it is,” he said, “unless one kills them at once. I have often felt angry with men for only half killing a bird. I hated to pick up the little warm body, and see the bright eye looking so reproachfully at me, and feel the flutter of life. We animals, or rather the most of us, kill mercifully. It is only human beings who butcher their prey, and seem, some of them, to rejoice in their agony. I used to be eager to kill birds and rabbits, but I did not want to keep them before me long after they were dead. I often stop in the street and look up at fine ladies’ bonnets, and wonder how they can wear little dead birds in such dreadful positions. Some of them have their heads twisted under their wings and over their shoulders, and looking toward their tails, and their eyes are so horrible that I wish I could take those ladies into the woods and let them see how easy and pretty a live bird is, and how unlike the stuffed creatures they wear. Have you ever had a good run in the woods, Joe?”

  “No, never,” I said.

  “Someday I will take you, and now it is late and I must go to bed. Are you going to sleep in the kennel with me, or in the stable?”

  “I think I will sleep with you, Jim. Dogs like company, you know, as well as human beings.” I curled up in the straw beside him and soon we were fast asleep.

  I have known a good many dogs, but I don’t think I ever saw such a good one as Jim. He was gentle and kind, and so sensitive that a hard word hurt him more than a blow. He was a great pet with Mrs. Morris, and as he had been so well trained, he was able to make himself very useful to her.

  When she went shopping, he often carried a parcel in his mouth for her. He would never drop it nor leave it anywhere. One day, she dropped her purse without knowing it, and Jim picked it up, and brought it home in his mouth. She did not notice him, for he always walked behind her. When she got to her own door, she missed the purse, and turning around saw it in Jim’s mouth.

  Another day, a lady gave Jack Morris a canary cage as a present for Carl. He was bringing it home, when one of the little seed boxes fell out. Jim picked it up and carried it a long way, before Jack discovered it.

  Chapter IX

  The Parrot Bella

  I often used to hear the Morrises speak about vessels that ran between Fairport and a place called the West Indies, carrying cargoes of lumber and fish, and bringing home molasses, spices, fruit, and other things. On one of these vessels, called the “Mary Jane,” was a cabin boy, who was a. friend of the Morris boys, and often brought them presents.

  One day, after I had been with the Morrises’ for some months, this boy arrived at the house with a bunch of green bananas in one hand, and a parrot in the other. The boys were delighted with the parrot, and called their mother to see what a pretty bird she was.

  Mrs. Morris seemed very much touched by the boy’s thoughtfulness in bringing a present such a long distance to her boys, and thanked him warmly. The cabin boy became very shy and all he could say was, “Go way!” over and over again, in a very awkward manner.

  Mrs. Morris smiled, and left him with the boys. I think that she thought he would be more comfortable with them.

  Jack put me up on the table to look at the parrot. The boy held her by a string tied around one of her legs. She was a gray parrot with a few red feathers in her tail, and she had bright eyes, and a very knowing air.

  The boy said he had been careful to buy a young one that could not speak, for he knew the Morris boys would not want one chattering foreign gibberish, nor yet one that would swear. He had kept her in his bunk in the ship, and had spent all his leisure time in teaching her to talk. Then he looked at her anxiously, and said, “Show off now, can’t ye?”

  I didn’t know what he meant by all this, until afterward. I had never heard of such a thing as birds talking. I stood on the table staring hard at her, and she stared hard at me. I was just thinking that I would not like to have her sharp little beak fastened in my skin, when I heard someone say, “Beautiful Joe.” The voice seemed to come from the room, but I knew all the voices there, and this was one I had never heard before, so I thought I must be mistaken, and it was someone in the hall. I struggled to get away from Jack to run and see who it was. But he held me fast, and laughed with all his might. I looked at the other boys and they were laughing, too. Presently, I heard again, “Beau-ti-ful Joe, Beau-ti-ful Joe.” The sound was close by, and yet it did not come from the cabin boy, for he was all doubled up laughing, his face as red as a beet.

  “It’s the parrot, Joe!” cried Ned. “Look at her, you gaby.” I did look at her, and with her head on one side, and the sauciest air in the world, she was saying: “Beau-ti-ful Joe, Beau-ti-ful Joe!”

  I had never heard a bird talk before, and I felt so sheepish that I tried to get down and hide myself under the table. Then she began to laugh at me. “Ha, ha, ha, good dog sic ’em, boy. Rats, rats! Beau-ti-ful Joe, Beau-ti-ful Joe,” she cried, rattling off the words as fast as she could.

  I never felt so queer before in my life, and the boys were just roaring with delight at my puzzled face. Then the parrot began calling for Jim. “Where’s Jim, where’s good old Jim? Poor old dog. Give him a bone.”

  The boys brought Jim in the parlour, and when he heard her funny, little, cracked voice calling him, he nearly went crazy: “Jimmy, Jimmy, James
Augustus!” she said, which was Jim’s long name.

  He made a dash out of the room, and the boys screamed so that Mr. Morris came down from his study to see what the noise meant. As soon as the parrot saw him, she would not utter another word. The boys told him though what she had been saying, and he seemed much amused to think that the cabin boy should have remembered so many sayings his boys made use of, and taught them to the parrot. “Clever Polly,” he said, kindly; “good Polly.”

  The cabin boy looked at him shyly, and Jack, who was a very sharp boy, said quickly, “Is not that what you call her, Henry?”

  “No,” said the boy; “I call her Bell, short for Bellzebub.”

  “I beg your pardon,” said Jack, very politely.

  “Bell—short for Bellzebub,” repeated the boy. “Ye see, I thought ye’d like a name from the Bible, bein’ a minister’s sons. I hadn’t my Bible with me on this cruise, savin’ yer presences an’ I couldn’t think of any girls’ names out of it: but Eve or Queen of Sheba, an’ they didn’t seem very fit, so I asked one of me mates, an’ he says, for his part he guessed Bellzebub was as pretty a girl’s name as any, so I guv her that. ’Twould ’a been better to let you name her, but ye see ’twouldn’t ’a been handy not to call her somethin’, where I was teachin’ her every day.”

  Jack turned away and walked to the window, his face a deep scarlet. I heard him mutter, “Beelzebub, prince of devils,” so I suppose the cabin boy had given his bird a bad name.

  Mr. Morris looked kindly at the cabin boy “Do you ever call the parrot by her whole name?”

  “No, sir,” he replied; “I always give her Bell but she calls herself Bella.”

  “‘Bella,’” repeated Mr. Morris, “that is a very pretty name. If you keep her, boys, I think you had better stick to that.”

  “Yes, father,” they all said; and then Mr. Morris started to go back to his study. On the doorsill he paused to ask the cabin boy when his ship sailed. Finding that it was to be in a few days, he took out his pocketbook and wrote something in it. The next day he asked Jack to go to town with him, and when they came home, Jack said that his father had bought an oilskin coat for Henry Smith, and a handsome Bible, in which they were all to write their names.

  After Mr. Morris left the room, the door opened and Miss Laura came in. She knew nothing about the parrot and was very much surprised to see it. Seating herself at the table, she held out her hands to it. She was so fond of pets of all kinds, that she never thought of being afraid of them. At the same time, she never laid her hand suddenly on any animal. She held out her fingers and talked gently, so that if it wished to come to her it could. She looked at the parrot as if she loved it, and the queer little thing walked right up and nestled its head against the lace in the front of her dress. “Pretty lady,” she said, in a cracked whisper, “give Bella a kiss.”

  The boys were so pleased with this and set up such a shout, that their mother came into the room and said they had better take the parrot out to the stable. Bella seem to enjoy the fun. “Come on, boys,” she screamed, as Henry Smith lifted her on his finger. “Ha, ha, ha—come on, let’s have some fun. Where’s the guinea pig? Where’s Davy, the rat? Where’s pussy? Pussy, pussy, come here. Pussy, pussy, dear, pretty puss.”

  Her voice was shrill and distinct, and very like the voice of an old woman who came to the house for rags and bones. I followed her out to the stable, and stayed there until she noticed me and screamed out, “Ha, Joe, Beautiful Joe! Where’s your tail? Who cut your ears off?”

  I don’t think it was kind in the cabin boy to teach her this, and I think she knew it teased me, for she said it over and over again, and laughed and chuckled with delight. I left her and did not see her till the next day, when the boys had got a fine, large cage for her.

  The place for her cage was by one of the hall windows; but everybody in the house got so fond of her that she was moved about from one room to another.

  She hated her cage, and used to put her head close to the bars and plead, “Let Bella out; Bella will be a good girl. Bella won’t run away.”

  After a time the Morrises did let her out, and she kept her word and never tried to get away. Jack put a little handle on her cage door so that she could open and shut it herself, and it was very amusing to hear her say in the morning. “Clear the track, children! Bella’s going to take a walk,” and see her turn the handle with her claw and come out into the room. She was a very clever bird, and I have never seen any creature but a human being that could reason as she did. She was so petted and talked to that she got to know a great many words, and on one occasion she saved the Morrises from being robbed.

  It was in the winter time. The family was having tea in the dining room at the back of the house, and Billy and I were lying in the hall watching what was going on. There was no one in the front of the house. The hall lamp was lighted, and the hall door closed, but not locked. Some sneak thieves, who had been doing a great deal of mischief in Fairport, crept up the steps and into the house, and, opening the door of the hall closet laid their hands on the boys’ winter overcoats.

  They thought no one saw them, but they were mistaken. Bella had been having a nap upstairs and had not come down when the tea bell rang. Now she was hopping down on her way to the dining room, and hearing the slight noise below, stopped and looked through the railing. Any pet creature that live in this nice family knew what happened when beggar boys came to call.

  “Company’s coming,” she screamed, angrily. “Get the tea. Bring some cake. Quick! Quick!”

  Billy and I sprang up and pushed open the door leading to the front hall. We had smelt the thieves, who in a terrible fright, were just rushing down the front steps. One of them got away, but the other fell, and I caught him by the coat, till Mr. Morris ran and put his hand on his shoulder.

  He was a young fellow about Jack’s age, but not one-half so manly, and he was sniffling and scolding about “that pesky parrot.” Mr. Morris made him come back into the house, and had a talk with him. He found out that he was a poor, ignorant lad, half-starved by a drunken father. He and his brother stole clothes, and sent them to his sister in Boston, who sold them and returned part of the money.

  Mr. Morris asked him if he would not like to get his living in an honest way, and he said he had tried to, but no one would employ him. Mr. Morris told him to go home and take leave of his father and get his brother and bring him to Washington Street the next day. He told him plainly that if he did not he would send a policeman after him.

  The boy begged Mr. Morris not to do that, and early the next morning he appeared with his brother. Mrs. Morris gave them a good breakfast and fitted them out with clothes, and they were sent off in the train to one of her brothers, who was a kind farmer in the country, and who had been telegraphed to that these boys were coming, and wished to be provided with situations where they would have a chance to make honest men of themselves.

  Chapter X

  Billy’s Training Continued

  When Billy was five months old, he had his first walk in the street. Miss Laura knew that he had been well trained, so she did not hesitate to take him into the town. She was not the kind of a young lady to go into the street with a dog that would not behave himself, and she was never willing to attract attention to herself by calling out orders to any of her pets.

  As soon as we got down the front steps, she said, quietly to Billy, “To heel.” It was very hard for little, playful Billy to keep close to her when he saw so many new and wonderful things about him. He had gotten acquainted with everything in the house and garden, but this outside world was full of things he wanted to look at and smell of, and he was fairly crazy to play with some of the pretty dogs he saw running about. But he did just as he was to
ld.

  Soon we came to a shop, and Miss Laura went in to buy some ribbons. She said to me, “Stay out,” but Billy she took in with her. I watched them through the glass door, and saw her go to a counter and sit down. Billy stood behind her till she said, “Lie down.” Then he curled himself at her feet.

  He lay quietly, even when she left him and went to another counter. But he eyed her very anxiously till she came back and said, “Up,” to him. Then he sprang up and followed her out to the street.

  She stood in the shop door, and looked lovingly down on us as we fawned on her. “Good dogs,” she said, softly; “you shall have a present.” We went behind her again, and she took us to a shop where we both lay beside the counter. When we heard her ask the clerk for solid rubber balls, we could scarcely keep still. We both knew what “ball” meant.

  Taking the parcel in her hand, she came out into the street. She did not do any more shopping, but turned her face toward the sea. She was going to give us a nice walk along the beach, although it was a dark, disagreeable, cloudy day when most young ladies would have stayed in the house. The Morris children never minded the weather. Even in the pouring rain, the boys would put on rubber boots and coats and go out to play. Miss Laura walked along, the high wind blowing her cloak and dress about, and when we got past the houses, she had a little run with us. We jumped, and frisked, and barked, till we were tired; and then we walked quietly along.