



Produced by A. Light, Linda Bowser, and David Widger





BLACK BEAUTY

The Autobiography of a Horse

by Anna Sewell [English Quaker -- 1820-1878.]



[Note: 'Black Beauty' was originally published in 1877. This etext was
transcribed from an American edition of 1911. Some small corrections
were made, after being confirmed against other sources.]




     To my dear and honored Mother,
     whose life, no less than her pen,
     has been devoted to the welfare of others,
     this little book is affectionately dedicated.




Contents


     Part I

     Chapter
     01      My Early Home
     02      The Hunt
     03      My Breaking In
     04      Birtwick Park
     05      A Fair Start
     06      Liberty
     07      Ginger
     08      Ginger's Story Continued
     09      Merrylegs
     10      A Talk in the Orchard
     11      Plain Speaking
     12      A Stormy Day
     13      The Devil's Trade Mark
     14      James Howard
     15      The Old Hostler
     16      The Fire
     17      John Manly's Talk
     18      Going for the Doctor
     19      Only Ignorance
     20      Joe Green
     21      The Parting


     Part II

     22      Earlshall
     23      A Strike for Liberty
     24      The Lady Anne, or a Runaway Horse
     25      Reuben Smith
     26      How it Ended
     27      Ruined and Going Downhill
     28      A Job Horse and His Drivers
     29      Cockneys
     30      A Thief
     31      A Humbug


     Part III

     32      A Horse Fair
     33      A London Cab Horse
     34      An Old War Horse
     35      Jerry Barker
     36      The Sunday Cab
     37      The Golden Rule
     38      Dolly and a Real Gentleman
     39      Seedy Sam
     40      Poor Ginger
     41      The Butcher
     42      The Election
     43      A Friend in Need
     44      Old Captain and His Successor
     45      Jerry's New Year


     Part IV

     46      Jakes and the Lady
     47      Hard Times
     48      Farmer Thoroughgood and His Grandson Willie
     49      My Last Home





Black Beauty




Part I




01 My Early Home


The first place that I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow
with a pond of clear water in it. Some shady trees leaned over it, and
rushes and water-lilies grew at the deep end. Over the hedge on one side
we looked into a plowed field, and on the other we looked over a gate
at our master's house, which stood by the roadside; at the top of the
meadow was a grove of fir trees, and at the bottom a running brook
overhung by a steep bank.

While I was young I lived upon my mother's milk, as I could not eat
grass. In the daytime I ran by her side, and at night I lay down close
by her. When it was hot we used to stand by the pond in the shade of the
trees, and when it was cold we had a nice warm shed near the grove.

As soon as I was old enough to eat grass my mother used to go out to
work in the daytime, and come back in the evening.

There were six young colts in the meadow besides me; they were older
than I was; some were nearly as large as grown-up horses. I used to run
with them, and had great fun; we used to gallop all together round and
round the field as hard as we could go. Sometimes we had rather rough
play, for they would frequently bite and kick as well as gallop.

One day, when there was a good deal of kicking, my mother whinnied to me
to come to her, and then she said:

"I wish you to pay attention to what I am going to say to you. The colts
who live here are very good colts, but they are cart-horse colts, and
of course they have not learned manners. You have been well-bred
and well-born; your father has a great name in these parts, and
your grandfather won the cup two years at the Newmarket races; your
grandmother had the sweetest temper of any horse I ever knew, and I
think you have never seen me kick or bite. I hope you will grow up
gentle and good, and never learn bad ways; do your work with a good
will, lift your feet up well when you trot, and never bite or kick even
in play."

I have never forgotten my mother's advice; I knew she was a wise old
horse, and our master thought a