Genre(s): Animals
Beautiful Joe is a real dog, and "Beautiful Joe" is his real name. He belonged during the first part of his life to a cruel master, who mutilated him in the manner described in the story. He was rescued from him, and is now living in a happy home with pleasant surroundings, and enjoys a wide local celebrity.
The character of Laura is drawn from life, and to the smallest detail is truthfully depicted. The Morris family has its counterparts in real life, and nearly all of the incidents of the story are founded on fact. (Summary by Marshall Saunders 🕊️)[/size]
Agelbert NOTE: This is a heart warming story of animals and people in the late 19th century. I learned much about the care of farm animals in those days and what a Check Rein on a horse is. Sheep really do only respond to the voice of their shepherd! Dogs, 🐈 cats, cows, 🐴 horses, 🐷 pigs and
even 🐀 rats, are a LOT smarter than most people give them credit for 🤠.
Back then cow milk was not pasteurized. It seems the only requirement placed on milk delivered to homes was that it must have "at least 13% solids". I guess that was to keep people from adding water to it to increase profits. Kind handling without any beating, as well as keeping the cows clean and comfortable (i.e. Properly fed and exercised in a pasture, no loud or otherwise disturbing noises in roofed living area where milking took place, not too cold or hot, floor and walls cleaned regularly, adequate cow grooming to keep dirt, ticks and flies off of them) was the surest way to get a regular amount of disease free supply of milk. They would separate the calf from a cow after one year, so they could get milk from the cow for about a year. The calf was raised with sufficient nutrition (some kind of mash they made) to grow as healthy as if it had been given cow milk.
Even back then, farmers with a conscience who raised cows did not engage in the cruel practice of immobilizing calfs several weeks so their muscles would remain "tender" and they could be sold for veal after their short lives of cruel total restraint. Of course, as it is today, there were far too many people, farmers included, who cared nothing for the welfare of their animals beyond the profits they could extract from exploiting them. 😞
The central theme of the book is that humans who are kind to animals are invariably kind to other humans and vice versa.
