Black Beauty

Black Beauty

by

Anna Sewell

Jerry is the kind cab driver who purchases Black Beauty from Mr. Barry. He lives with his wife Polly and his two children, Harry and Dolly, in London and keeps two horses at a time to pull his cab. Black Beauty adores and respects Jerry from the beginning, as Jerry cares meticulously for his horses and doesn’t work them too hard. He refuses to get a seven-day cab license and work Sundays. This is in part because he’s a deeply spiritual man and believes that people and animals all have the God-given right to a day of rest, but it’s also because he used to work seven days per week and it was detrimental to his health. Working a six-day week is so important to him that he even loses a beloved regular customer for refusing to drive her to church on Sundays so that he himself can attend services. On the cab stand, he’s known for being principled and is often ridiculed for it—the other drivers think he’s ridiculous for turning down extra money and refusing to whip his horses. However, in situations where he believes a person has a valid reason for needing to get somewhere quickly, Jerry is willing to hurry his horse along and accept extra payment. Drivers also mock him for not drinking; he occasionally tries to convince others to give up alcohol so they can be in control of their own lives, but with limited success. Black Beauty loyally works for Jerry for three years, until Jerry contracts bronchitis and his doctor forbids him from driving cabs. Black Beauty never gets to say goodbye to Jerry.

Jerry Barker Quotes in Black Beauty

The Black Beauty quotes below are all either spoken by Jerry Barker or refer to Jerry Barker. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Horse Care, Abuse, and Neglect Theme Icon
).
Chapter 35 Quotes

“Well,” said Larry, “you’ll never be a rich man.”

“Most likely not,” said Jerry, “but I don’t know that I shall be the less happy for that. I have heard the commandments read a great many times, and I never noticed that any of them said, ‘Thou shalt be rich’; and there are a good many curious things said in the New Testament about rich men, that I think would make me feel rather queer if I was one of them.”

Related Characters: Jerry Barker (speaker), Black Beauty/The Narrator
Page Number: 187
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 36 Quotes

“I read that God made man, and He made horses and all the other beasts, and as soon as He had made them, He made a day of rest, and bade that all should rest one day in seven; and I think, sir, He must have known what was good for them, and I am sure it is good for me; I am stronger and healthier altogether, now that I have a day of rest; the horses are fresh too, and do not wear up nearly so fast.”

Related Characters: Jerry Barker (speaker), Mr. and Mrs. Briggs
Page Number: 190
Explanation and Analysis:

“’Tis not for me to lay down plans for other people,” said Jerry, “but if they can’t walk so far, they can go to what is nearer; and if it should rain they can put on their mackintoshes as they do on a week-day. If a thing is right, it can be done, and if it is wrong, it can be done without; and a good man will find a way; and that is as true for us cabmen as it is for the church-goers.”

Related Characters: Jerry Barker (speaker), Black Beauty/The Narrator
Page Number: 194
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 38 Quotes

“Do you know why this world is as bad as it is?”

“No,” said the other.

“Then I’ll tell you. It is because people think only about their own business, and won’t trouble themselves to stand up for the oppressed, nor bring the wrong-doer to light. […]”

“My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.”

Related Characters: The Gentleman (speaker), Black Beauty/The Narrator, John Manly, Jerry Barker
Page Number: 204
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 39 Quotes

“[…] and I say ‘tis a mockery to tell a man that he must not overwork his horse, for when a beast is downright tired, there’s nothing but the whip that will keep his legs agoing—you can’t help yourself—you must put your wife and children before the horse, the masters must look to that, we can’t. I don’t ill-use my horse for the sake of it; none of you can say I do. There’s wrong lays somewhere—never a day’s rest—never a quiet hour with the wife and children.”

Related Characters: Seedy Sam (speaker), Black Beauty/The Narrator, Jerry Barker, Governor Grant
Page Number: 207
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 44 Quotes

The drayman was proved to be very drunk, and was fined, and the brewer had to pay damages to our master; but there was no one to pay damages to poor Captain.

Related Characters: Black Beauty/The Narrator (speaker), Jerry Barker, Captain
Page Number: 228
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 45 Quotes

Christmas and the New Year are very merry times for some people; but for cabmen and cabmen’s horses it is no holiday, though it may be a harvest. There are so many parties, balls, and places of amusement open, that the work is hard and often late. Sometimes driver and horse have to wait for hours in the rain or frost, shivering with cold, whilst the merry people within are dancing away to the music. I wonder if the beautiful ladies ever think of the weary cabman waiting on his box, and his patient beast standing, till his legs get stiff with cold.

Related Characters: Black Beauty/The Narrator (speaker), Jerry Barker
Page Number: 233
Explanation and Analysis:
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Black Beauty PDF

Jerry Barker Quotes in Black Beauty

The Black Beauty quotes below are all either spoken by Jerry Barker or refer to Jerry Barker. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Horse Care, Abuse, and Neglect Theme Icon
).
Chapter 35 Quotes

“Well,” said Larry, “you’ll never be a rich man.”

“Most likely not,” said Jerry, “but I don’t know that I shall be the less happy for that. I have heard the commandments read a great many times, and I never noticed that any of them said, ‘Thou shalt be rich’; and there are a good many curious things said in the New Testament about rich men, that I think would make me feel rather queer if I was one of them.”

Related Characters: Jerry Barker (speaker), Black Beauty/The Narrator
Page Number: 187
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 36 Quotes

“I read that God made man, and He made horses and all the other beasts, and as soon as He had made them, He made a day of rest, and bade that all should rest one day in seven; and I think, sir, He must have known what was good for them, and I am sure it is good for me; I am stronger and healthier altogether, now that I have a day of rest; the horses are fresh too, and do not wear up nearly so fast.”

Related Characters: Jerry Barker (speaker), Mr. and Mrs. Briggs
Page Number: 190
Explanation and Analysis:

“’Tis not for me to lay down plans for other people,” said Jerry, “but if they can’t walk so far, they can go to what is nearer; and if it should rain they can put on their mackintoshes as they do on a week-day. If a thing is right, it can be done, and if it is wrong, it can be done without; and a good man will find a way; and that is as true for us cabmen as it is for the church-goers.”

Related Characters: Jerry Barker (speaker), Black Beauty/The Narrator
Page Number: 194
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 38 Quotes

“Do you know why this world is as bad as it is?”

“No,” said the other.

“Then I’ll tell you. It is because people think only about their own business, and won’t trouble themselves to stand up for the oppressed, nor bring the wrong-doer to light. […]”

“My doctrine is this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.”

Related Characters: The Gentleman (speaker), Black Beauty/The Narrator, John Manly, Jerry Barker
Page Number: 204
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 39 Quotes

“[…] and I say ‘tis a mockery to tell a man that he must not overwork his horse, for when a beast is downright tired, there’s nothing but the whip that will keep his legs agoing—you can’t help yourself—you must put your wife and children before the horse, the masters must look to that, we can’t. I don’t ill-use my horse for the sake of it; none of you can say I do. There’s wrong lays somewhere—never a day’s rest—never a quiet hour with the wife and children.”

Related Characters: Seedy Sam (speaker), Black Beauty/The Narrator, Jerry Barker, Governor Grant
Page Number: 207
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 44 Quotes

The drayman was proved to be very drunk, and was fined, and the brewer had to pay damages to our master; but there was no one to pay damages to poor Captain.

Related Characters: Black Beauty/The Narrator (speaker), Jerry Barker, Captain
Page Number: 228
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 45 Quotes

Christmas and the New Year are very merry times for some people; but for cabmen and cabmen’s horses it is no holiday, though it may be a harvest. There are so many parties, balls, and places of amusement open, that the work is hard and often late. Sometimes driver and horse have to wait for hours in the rain or frost, shivering with cold, whilst the merry people within are dancing away to the music. I wonder if the beautiful ladies ever think of the weary cabman waiting on his box, and his patient beast standing, till his legs get stiff with cold.

Related Characters: Black Beauty/The Narrator (speaker), Jerry Barker
Page Number: 233
Explanation and Analysis: