Black Beauty

Many people enjoy Christmas and the New Year, but not cabmen and their horses. It can be a lucrative time to work with all the parties, but waiting for hours in the freezing rain for a party to end can take its toll. Black Beauty performs most of the evening work during the week between the holidays. Jerry has a cough, and Polly always waits up for him to come home with a worried look. On New Year’s Eve, Jerry and Black Beauty take two men to the West End and are told to return at 11, though they say the party might go late. Jerry returns on time, waits for an hour, and tries to warm himself in the driving sleet. The passengers return at 1:15 and are annoyed to be charged for the waiting time. Black Beauty is so cold he can barely make it home.

When Jerry and Black Beauty get home, Jerry can hardly speak and is coughing. Polly attends to Black Beauty that night—and the next morning, only Harry comes to the stables midmorning. The boy seems grim. Later, Black Beauty learns that Jerry is very ill. On the third day of Jerry’s illness, the Governor visits the stables while Harry is there. Harry explains that Jerry has bronchitis and will either die or start to improve tonight, according to the doctor. The doctor also insists that Jerry would’ve died already had he been a drinker. The Governor sadly tells Harry that if good men get special treatment, Jerry will certainly pull through. He promises to stop in the next morning.

In the morning, Harry tells the Governor that Jerry is better. The Governor is thrilled. He says that Black Beauty will be fine with a week or two of rest, but Hotspur will quickly become dangerous without exercise. He suggests that if Polly is interested, he could take Hotspur out in the afternoons and give Polly half the earnings. At noon, the Governor returns and takes Hotspur out, and this continues for a week. The Governor regularly tells Harry he’s happy to do a nice thing for Jerry.

Jerry gets better, but his doctor says he can’t drive a cab again. Dolly and Harry are very interested in what their father is going to do now. One day, while Harry is grooming Hotspur, he and Dolly learn that the woman Jerry met last summer, Mrs. Fowler, has hired Jerry to be her coachman in the country. The family decides to leave as soon as Jerry is well enough to travel, so the horses and cab must be sold quickly. Black Beauty is resigned to his fate; he’s not young anymore, and three years as a cab horse has left its mark. The Governor purchases Hotspur, but Black Beauty doesn’t find out where he’s going until after the children come out to say goodbye. He never gets to say goodbye to Jerry.