Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin Read online

  In the quiet that followed, the boys and girls began to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Their voices were high and thin at first, but as the grownups joined in, the notes swelled until they carried as far as the little community of Westdale, named for Benjamin West.

  Long seconds after the last note had been sung, the crowd stood still. They had journeyed so far back into America that they were a long time returning. Slowly the sun umbrellas clicked shut. Slowly the people walked back to their horses. They still seemed part of the long ago and the far away. They had struggled with the boy Benjamin, as he overcame great odds. They had watched the boy grow until he became the father of American painting.

  It was not easy for them to begin talking in their everyday voices, as if nothing had happened to them. Something had happened to them. They had gone a-leafing and found a page of American history.

  * * *

  1. The house is still standing. It may be seen on the campus of Swarthmore College, at Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.

  A Note of Acknowledgment

  FOR THEIR HELP THE AUTHOR IS GRATEFUL TO

  Elsie M. Jones, Curator, Delaware County Historical Society, Chester, Pennsylvania

  Theodore Sizer, Director, Yale University Art Gallery

  Richard D. Buck, Acting Head, Department of Conservation, Harvard University, Fogg Museum of Art

  Meyric R. Rogers, Curator of Decorative Arts and Industrial Arts, Chicago Art Institute

  Ruth Butler, Custodian, Edward E. Ayer Collection of North and South American Indians, Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois

  Sykes Hartin, Reference Department, The Library of Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

  H. H. Hewitt and Roberta Sutton, Chicago Public Library

  Marjorie G. Wright, Aurora Public Library

  Grace Luenzmann, Wayne, Illinois

  MARGUERITE HENRY is the beloved author of such classic horse stories as KING OF THE WIND, MISTY OF CHINCOTEAGUE, and STORMY, MISTY’S FOAL, all of which are available in Aladdin paperback editions.

  ALADDIN

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  Meet the author, watch videos, and get extras at

  KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

  authors.simonandschuster.com/Marguerite-Henry

  OTHER BOOKS BY MARGUERITE HENRY

  Album of Horses

  Black Gold

  Born to Trot

  Brighty of the Grand Canyon

  Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley

  Gaudenzia, Pride of the Palio

  Justin Morgan Had a Horse

  King of the Wind

  Misty of Chincoteague

  Misty’s Twilight

  Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West

  San Domingo, the Medicine Hat Stallion

  Sea Star

  Stormy, Misty’s Foal

  White Stallion of Lipizza

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  This Aladdin paperback edition March 2014

  Text copyright © 1947 by The Bobbs-Merrill Company

  Text renewal copyright © 1947 by Marguerite Henry

  Illustrations copyright © 1947 by Wesley Dennis

  Cover illustration copyright © 2014 by John Rowe

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  ALADDIN is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and related logo is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Interior designed by Ellice M. Lee

  Cover designed by Jeanine Henderson

  The text of this book was set in Garamond

  Library of Congress Control Number 86028658

  ISBN 978-1-4814-0394-8

  ISBN 978-1-4814-0396-2 (eBook)