The Boxcar Children

Silently, the kids watch the woods. Coming toward them is a dog who limps on three legs. The pooch hobbles over, and Jessie coaxes him into her lap. She sees a long thorn in the dog’s paw. She has Violet soak a handkerchief in the brook, then gently pulls the thorn from the dog’s paw and wraps it in the kerchief.

She comforts the pooch while Violet and Benny go to the blueberries and begin to collect them. At first, Benny merely eats his fill, but Jessie brings the dog over, and they all collect berries into a towel. Henry returns with bread, milk, and cheese. He meets the dog, saying, “He ought to be a good watchdog” (48). Benny promptly names the dog “Watch.”

Using the laundry bag for a tablecloth, they sit on the forest floor and eat. Henry says they’ve given him two surprises, a dog and some blueberries. Jessie feeds the dog some bread, then pours milk into her hand for him to drink.

They bring pine needles into the boxcar and shape them into beds. Then they take soap and towels to the brook and wash up. Jessie and Violet wash the towels; for a clothesline, Jessie unrolls some string from the laundry bag, ties one end to a tree and the other to the boxcar, then hangs the towels on the string.

Each milk bottle has a little left over for breakfast, but Jessie wants some water from the fountain back on the road. Henry combines the milk into two bottles, then takes the other two to the fountain and brings them back full.

The kids and the dog climb into the boxcar. The night is warm, so they leave the door open. It’s the first full nighttime sleep they’ve had in four days. 

Jessie wakes in the morning, hops down from the boxcar, walks over to the brook’s little waterfall, and retrieves the two milk bottles she placed behind the fall. They’re nice and cold. She calls that spot “the refrigerator.” Everyone drinks the milk for breakfast.

Glad they have a dog to guard them, Henry says he’ll go into town, find some work, and earn money to buy more food. The rest look for a dump where they can find old cups, plates, and other kitchen things. Jessie says it’s a search for “treasures.” They walk along the rail line till it arcs over a hill, where they can view the town below. Benny sees a dump off to one side; they go to it and find the kitchenware they need, including a big kettle. Benny discovers a pink cup he likes and some small wheels he can use as toys.

They place the finds on a board and carry the board back to the boxcar. They wash cups, dishes, and spoons in the brook—Jessie scrubs the spoons with sand to remove rust—and everything sparkles. Jessie wants hot water to rinse them really clean. When Henry returns, he can build a fire.

Violet points out that the door on the other side of the boxcar has two wood pieces nailed to it. They lay their board atop the wood for a shelf, then put the dishes and cups on it. Violet gathers flowers and places them in a cup of water on the shelf.

Henry returns with bags full of things, but he won’t show them till they eat. He builds a fire in a safe place, lines it with big stones, and heats water in the kettle. Jessie rinses the dishware in the boiling water: “Now I know they’re clean enough to eat from” (58). 

For lunch, Henry brings out a loaf of brown bread, more milk, dried meat, and a bone for Watch. The town he visited is called Silver City. In a nice neighborhood, he met a man, a doctor, cutting the grass on his property, and Henry offered to do the work. It was a hot day, and the doctor accepted. The man’s cook gave Henry a bag of chocolate cookies—he pulls it from his pocket and hands them out to the other kids—and the doctor liked Henry’s work so much that he asked him to come back this afternoon to do more. Henry also got paid.

He bought a tablecloth, but it’s unhemmed. Violet volunteers to finish it. Henry leaves again for the town, and the other kids clean the dishes. Watch buries his bone while Benny helps Jessie gather sticks to make a broom. The little boy soon falls asleep “with the dog for a pillow” (63). Jessie assembles a broom while Violet hems the tablecloth.

Henry returns in the evening with fresh butter for their bread and a gadget that’s both a spoon and a knife. As they eat supper, Henry reports that he washed the doctor’s car, then the windows and walkways, and he’ll do some gardening in the morning. He gazes at the brook and wonders about building a swimming pool in it. Everyone quickly agrees that this is a fine idea. Henry will build a cart using Benny’s wheels, and Benny can ride on it and use it to haul big stones for the pool.

They get ready for sleep, but Henry stays up, looking at the brook and thinking about the pool. He pets Watch, but the dog growls at something. Worried, Henry and Jessie close the boxcar door. Outside, a stick cracks, and Watch barks. Henry grabs the broom, and they wait a long time but hear no other sounds. Finally, they open the door. Watch looks out for a moment, then curls up for sleep. Henry takes this as a sign there’s no more danger. They all sleep soundly. 

In the morning, Henry tells Benny to build something out of stones, but he won’t tell him what it is. “You build it just as Jessie tells you, and you will see” (69).

Henry returns to town. The doctor’s mother, Mrs. Moore, lives with him and wants Henry to thin out the vegetables in the garden. He knows how, and soon there’s a pile of carrots, turnips, and onions. Mrs. Moore doesn’t want these veggies, but Henry does, so she gives them to him, along with the morning’s pay. He stops at the store to buy meat.

At the boxcar, he sees that Benny has finished the rock project: It’s a fireplace built from flat stones. Jessie found a wire at the dump, strung it across two trees, and hung the kettle on it over the fireplace. They chop up the meat, add water from the fountain, and set it to simmer over the flames. Jessie cuts and washes the vegetables to add to the stew.

Henry returns to Dr. Moore’s house, where he’s assigned garage clean-up. Henry reorganizes the jumble of things into boxes and cleans the floor. Dr. Moore returns and laughs happily at how neat everything is and how many lost tools suddenly appeared out of the rubble. He gives Henry one of the four hammers the boy organized: “Take one […]. You found them all” (74). Henry asks for the bent nails he found, and Dr. Moore gives them to him.

This day is Saturday, and Dr. Moore asks if Henry will return on Monday to pick cherries. He hints that if Henry knows of other workers, they can come, too.

On his way home, Henry buys salt for the stew. At the boxcar, he smells the stew cooking. He notices that Jessie has built a ladle from a tin cup tied to a stick with wire. They eat, and the stew is delicious. Jessie says, “That was the best meal I ever ate” (76), and Violet agrees.

Henry wants to build a cart so they can start work on the swimming pool. He hammers straight the bent nails, then he and Henry go to the dump and find boards. Henry uses them to build the cart. It’s dark by the time he’s finished. He gives the cart to Benny, who pulls it around happily.

They put the cart in the boxcar for the night. Benny sleeps with one hand on his cart. Henry, still worried about last night’s noise, keeps a hand on his hammer.

The children sleep late on Sunday, then eat a quick breakfast and start in on the swimming pool. They inspect a shallow pool downstream in the brook, but it’s only a foot deep. They decide to place stones and logs at the bottom as a dam so the pool can deepen to about three feet. That way, says Henry, “It will be deep enough to swim in and won’t be too deep for Benny” (84-85).

They find stones and drop them into the pool at one end in a straight line until there are enough to support logs. Henry and Jessie drag logs to the pool. They pile them on top of the stones and fill gaps with brush and pebbles. The water rises until it spills over the top. The pool is complete. Henry and Benny reward themselves by jumping in and splashing around. Watch jumps in, too.

Jessie and Violet prepare a stew for lunch. When it’s ready, Jessie rings the dinner bell, a tin can hung from a tree, with a spoon. Everyone has worked hard and is hungry, and they really enjoy the meal.

After washing the dishes, they all go for a walk. Watch chases a chicken, but it gets away. Benny discovers the chicken’s nest; it has five eggs. The kids eat scrambled eggs for dinner.

On Monday, Henry wants everyone to come with him to pick cherries at the Moore house. They worry, though, that their grandfather, who lives in nearby Greenfield, might learn about a group of four children walking through town. They decide to walk to the Moores in pairs. Carefully, they close up the boxcar and leave for town. Watch tags along.

Dr. Moore greets them and has plenty of work for them: The cherries must be picked quickly, and he, Mrs. Moore, the cook, and two helpers are already on the job. Benny helps put cherries into small baskets while the others climb ladders and pick the fruit. Mrs. Moore says they’re welcome to eat as many cherries as they like.

The Moores are delighted with the children. At noon, Dr. Moore insists the kids stay for lunch. He asks Henry if their mother will expect them home, but Henry says their parents are dead. They all eat a delicious lunch that includes cherry dumplings. A full Benny falls asleep, but the other kids continue working. Dr. Moore calls a halt late in the day, pays each child, and gives them a large load of cherries.

The kids depart as they arrived, in twos. Dr. Moore wonders who they are. That evening, reading the paper, he sees a notice: “LOST. Four children, two boys and two girls. Somewhere around Greenfield or Silver City. Five thousand dollars to anyone who can find them” (99-100). The notice is signed by a James Henry Alden. Dr. Moore realizes that Henry and his siblings are the grandchildren Mr. Alden searches for. Somehow, the doctor already knows they’re living in a boxcar, but for now, he decides not to tell Mr. Alden about them.