Beautiful Joe | Page 4

distress is girding itself with power to do manly work in the world.
The story of "Beautiful Joe" awakens an intense interest, and sustains it through a series of vivid incidents and episodes, each of which is a lesson. The story merits the widest circulation, and the universal reading and response accorded to "Black Beauty." To circulate it is to do good, to help the human heart as well as the creatures of quick feelings and simple language.
When, as one of the committee to examine the manuscripts offered for prizes to the Humane Society, I read the story, I felt that the writer had a higher motive than to compete for a prize; that the story was a stream of sympathy that flowed from the heart; that it was genuine; that it only needed a publisher who should be able to command a wide influence, to make its merits known, to give it a strong educational mission.
I am pleased that the manuscript has found such a publisher, and am sure that the issue of the story will honor the Publication Society. In the development of the book, I believe that the humane cause has stood above any speculative thought or interest. The book comes because it is called for; the times demand it. I think that the publishers have a right to ask for a little unselfish service on the part of the public in helping to give it a circulation commensurate with its opportunity, need, and influence.
HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH.
(Of the committee of readers of the prize stories offered to the Humane Society.)
BOSTON, MASS

CONTENTS
Chapter I.
ONLY A CUR
Chapter II.
THE CRUEL MILKMAN
Chapter III.
MY KIND DELIVERER AND MISS LAURA
Chapter IV.
THE MORRIS BOYS ADD TO MY NAME
Chapter V.
MY NEW HOME AND A SELFISH LADY
Chapter VI.
THE FOX TERRIER BILLY
Chapter VII.
TRAINING A PUPPY
Chapter VIII.
A RUINED DOG
Chapter IX.
THE PARROT BELLA
Chapter X.
BILLY'S TRAINING CONTINUED
Chapter XI.
GOLDFISH AND CANARIES
Chapter XII.
MALTA THE CAT
Chapter XIII.
THE BEGINNING OF AN ADVENTURE
Chapter XIV.
HOW WE CAUGHT THE BURGLAR
Chapter XV.
OUR JOURNEY TO RIVERDALE
Chapter XVI.
DINGLEY FARM
Chapter XVII.
MR. WOOD AND HIS HORSES
Chapter XVIII.
MRS. WOOD'S POULTRY
Chapter XIX.
A BAND OF MERCY
Chapter XX.
STORIES ABOUT ANIMALS
Chapter XXI.
MR. MAXWELL AND MR. HARRY
Chapter XXII.
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE TEA TABLE
Chapter XXIII.
TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS
Chapter XXIV.
THE RABBIT AND THE HEN
Chapter XXV.
A HAPPY HORSE
Chapter XXVI.
THE BOX OF MONEY
Chapter XXVII.
A NEGLECTED STABLE
Chapter XXVIII.
THE END OF THE ENGLISHMAN
Chapter XXIX.
A TALK ABOUT SHEEP
Chapter XXX.
A JEALOUS OX
Chapter XXXI.
IN THE COW STABLE
Chapter XXXII.
OUR RETURN HOME
Chapter XXXIII.
PERFORMING ANIMALS
Chapter XXXIV.
A FIRE IN FAIRPORT
Chapter XXXV.
BILLY AND THE ITALIAN
Chapter XXXVI.
DANDY THE TRAMP
Chapter XXXVII.
THE END OF MY STORY

BEAUTIFUL JOE
CHAPTER I
ONLY A CUR
MY name is Beautiful Joe, and I am a brown dog of medium size. I am not called Beautiful Joe because I am a beauty. Mr. Morris, the clergyman, in whose family I have lived for the last twelve years, says that he thinks I must be called Beautiful Joe for the same reason that his grandfather, down South, called a very ugly colored slave-lad Cupid, and his mother Venus.
I do not know what he means by that, but when he says it, people always look at me and smile. I know that I am not beautiful, and I know that I am not a thoroughbred. I am only a cur.
When my mistress went every year to register me and pay my tax, and the man in the office asked what breed I was, she said part fox-terrier and part bull-terrier; but he always put me down a cur. I don't think she liked having him call me a cur; still, I have heard her say that she preferred curs, for they have more character than well-bred dogs. Her father said that she liked ugly dogs for the same reason that a nobleman at the court of a certain king did namely, that no one else would.
I am an old dog now, and am writing, or rather getting a friend to write, the story of my life. I have seen my mistress laughing and crying over a little book that she says is a story of a horse's life, and sometimes she puts the book down close to my nose to let me see the pictures.
I love my dear mistress; I can say no more than that; I love her better than any one else in the world; and I think it will please her if I write the story of a dog's life. She loves dumb animals, and it always grieves her to see them treated cruelly.
I have heard her say that if all the boys and girls in the world were to rise up and say that there should be no more cruelty to animals, they could put a stop to it. Perhaps it will help a little if I tell a story. I am fond of boys and girls, and though I have seen many cruel men and women, I have seen few cruel children. I think