Beautiful Joe by Marshall Saunders Read Free Book Online Page B

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