Black Beauty Chapter 37 Summary

The Golden Rule

  • In a perfect example of good karma, Mrs. Briggs sends a message to Jerry in a few weeks asking for a cab ride. The servant says they've been trying other cabs, but "there's something wrong with them all" (37.3).
  • After that, Mr. Briggs is back on the good customer list, although he never again asks for a Sunday ride.
  • However, Jerry does go out once on a Sunday, which Beauty explains. One Sunday Polly comes to Jerry with the news that her friend Dinah Brown's mother is seriously ill, and Dinah "[…] must go directly if she wishes to see her alive" (37.9). Problem is, Dinah's mother lives ten miles out of town, a long walk from any train station, plus Dinah has a four-week-old baby.
  • Polly asks Jerry to go, quoting the Golden Rule at him—"you know we should do to other people as we should like they should do to us" (37.11)—so Jerry agrees, saying that Polly is "as good as the Minister" (37.12).
  • They ride out of town to deliver Dinah on a beautiful May day. When they arrive, Jerry asks if Beauty can spend some time in the meadow. Beauty is ecstatic.
  • They spend a blissful afternoon at the field, and it's been ages since Beauty's been in one—since Earlshall, in fact. At the end of the day, Jerry brings his daughter some flowers and comments on how happy Beauty was in the field.