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Chapter 13 The Devil's Trademark One day when John and I had been out on some business of our master's and were returning gently on a long straight road,
At some distance we saw a boy trying to leap a pony over a gate.
The pony would not take the leap,
And the boy cut him with a whip,
But he only turned off on one side.
They whipped him again,
But the pony turned off on the other side.
Then the boy got off and gave him a hard thrashing.
Then he got up again and tried to make him leap the gate again,
Kicking him all the time shamefully,
But still that pony refused.
When we were nearly at the spot the pony put down his head and threw up his heels,
And then he sent the boy neatly over into a broad quickset hedge,
And with the rain dangling from his head he set off at home at full gallop.
John laughed out quite loud at this,
And he said it'd serve him right.
Oh,
Cried the boy as he struggled among the thorns,
I say come and help me out.
But John was not at all impressed.
Thank ye,
Said John,
I think you're in quite the right place,
Son,
Maybe a little scratching will teach you not to leap a pony over a gate that's far too high for him.
And with that John rode off.
It may be,
He said to himself,
That young fella is a liar as well as a cruel one.
We'd better just go home by Farmer Bushby's beauty,
Then if anyone wants to know you and I can tell them,
See?
So we turned off to the right and soon came up to the stackyard.
This was within sight of the house.
The farmer was hurrying out into the road,
And his wife was standing at the gate looking very frightened.
Have you seen my boy?
Said Mr.
Bushby as we came up.
He went out an hour ago on my black pony,
And the creature's just come back without his rider.
I should think,
Sir,
Said John,
He'd better be without a rider unless he can be ridden properly.
What do you mean?
Said the farmer.
Well,
Sir,
I saw your son whipping and kicking and knocking that good little pony about shamefully because he would not leap a gate that was far too high for him.
The pony behaved well,
Sir,
He showed no vice,
But lastly just threw up his heels and tipped the young gentleman into the thorn hedge.
He wanted me to help him out,
Your son,
But I hope you'll excuse me,
Sir,
I did not feel inclined to do so.
There's no bones broken,
You'll only get a few scratches.
Now I love horses and it riles me to see him badly used.
It's a bad plan to aggravate an animal till he uses his heels.
The first time is not always the last.
During this speech of John's,
The mother began to cry.
Oh,
Poor Bill,
I must go and meet him,
He must be hurt.
You better go into the house now,
Wife,
Said the farmer.
Bill needs a lesson about this and I must see he gets it.
This is not the first time nor the second our son has ill used that pony.
I shall have to put a stop to it,
I shall.
I'm much obliged to you,
Manly,
Now good evening.
We went on ahead,
John chuckling all the way home.
He told James about it when we got back.
James laughed out loud and said,
Serve him right.
I knew that boy at school.
He took great hairs on himself because he was a farmer's son.
He used to swagger about and bully the little boys.
Of course,
We old ones wouldn't have any of that nonsense.
We let him know in the school,
In the playground,
Farmer's sons and labourer's sons were all alike.
I well remember one day just before afternoon school.
I found him at the window,
As I recall,
Catching flies and pulling off their wings.
He didn't see me,
Though.
I gave him a box on the ears and that laid him sprawling out on the floor.
Angry as I was,
I was almost frightened because he roared and bellowed in such a style.
But then all the boys rushed in from the playground and the master ran in from the road to see who was being murdered.
Of course,
I said fair and square at once what I'd done and why,
And I showed the master the flies,
Some crushed,
Some crawling about helpless,
And I showed him all the wings on the windowsill.
I never did see that master so angry before.
But as Bill was still howling and whining like the coward he was,
He didn't give him any more punishment of that kind.
But he set him on a stool for the rest of the afternoon and said he should not go out to play for a whole week.
After that,
He talked to all the boys very seriously about cruelty.
He said how hard-hearted and cowardly it was to hurt the weak and the helpless.
But what stuck in my mind was this.
He said that cruelty was the devil's own trademark.
If we saw anyone who took pleasure in cruelty,
We might know who he belonged to.
The devil was a murderer from the beginning and a tormentor to the end.
On the other hand,
Where we saw people who loved their neighbours and were kind to man and beast,
We might know,
He told us,
That that was God's mark.
Your master never taught you a truer thing,
Said John.
There is no religion without love.
People may talk just as much as they like about their religion,
But if their religion does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast,
It's all a sham,
It's all a sham,
I tell you.
And it won't stand when things come to be turned inside out at the end.
