Chap­ter 37: The Gold­en Rule unfolds on a qui­et Sun­day morn­ing, when Pol­ly gen­tly tells Jer­ry that some­one needs his help despite it being his day of rest. Mrs. Brig­gs, a woman who had always respect­ed Jerry’s choice not to work on Sun­days, now finds her­self in an unusu­al sit­u­a­tion. Her neigh­bor, Dinah Brown, must urgent­ly reach her sick moth­er in the coun­try but is too weak to take the train due to hav­ing recent­ly giv­en birth. The urgency of the sit­u­a­tion touch­es Pol­ly, and she appeals to Jerry’s deep-root­ed sense of com­pas­sion. She reminds him of the prin­ci­ple they’ve long believed in—treat oth­ers as you would want to be treat­ed. At first, Jer­ry hes­i­tates, not because he doesn’t care, but because Sun­day has always been sacred for rest. Still, Polly’s rea­son­ing is kind, not force­ful. Her words turn what feels like an incon­ve­nience into an oppor­tu­ni­ty for grace.

Moved by her gen­tle appeal, Jer­ry agrees and decides to make the jour­ney in a gig instead of the usu­al cab, ensur­ing Dinah a smoother and more com­fort­able ride. Black Beau­ty sens­es the dif­fer­ence in tone and pace, enjoy­ing the relaxed rhythm of the coun­try­side roads. The sun­shine, open fields, and gen­tle breeze offer a peace­ful con­trast to their usu­al clam­or of the city streets. Jer­ry appre­ci­ates the beau­ty of the land­scape and reflects on how kind­ness has a way of restor­ing even the giv­er. Upon reach­ing the destination—a hum­ble farm­house sur­round­ed by fresh air and greenery—Jerry’s efforts are met with grat­i­tude. Dinah’s relief is clear, and her mother’s wel­come is warm. There’s no fan­fare, only sin­cer­i­ty and appre­ci­a­tion. For Jer­ry, that is enough. He feels sat­is­fied know­ing that his work, done with pur­pose, brought com­fort where it was need­ed.

Through­out the ride back, Jerry’s mood is light. Though tired, he doesn’t regret sac­ri­fic­ing his day of rest. He real­izes that this Sun­day, rather than drain­ing him, has giv­en some­thing in return—a qui­et joy that comes from doing good with­out reward. His horse, Black Beau­ty, shares in the ease of the trip, con­tent with the gen­tle pace and thought­ful treat­ment. Pol­ly is wait­ing at home, smil­ing as she hears how the jour­ney went. Her under­stand­ing of the moment, the way she encour­aged com­pas­sion with­out guilt, reflects the strength of their part­ner­ship. Togeth­er, they show that prin­ci­ples are not weak­ened by excep­tions made with love. In fact, the deci­sion to help on this day gives deep­er mean­ing to the val­ue they place on rest, show­ing that true rest comes not just from stop­ping work, but from act­ing with a clear heart.

The moral heart of this chap­ter res­onates with last­ing truth. The “Gold­en Rule” is not a grand phi­los­o­phy for grand occa­sions; it’s made real in every­day choic­es. Jer­ry doesn’t per­form a miracle—he sim­ply lis­tens, under­stands, and acts when he can. It’s this kind of deci­sion-mak­ing that Sewell con­sis­tent­ly prais­es in her nar­ra­tive. Not flashy virtue, but steady, prac­ti­cal kind­ness that uplifts oth­ers with­out seek­ing praise. Black Beauty’s pres­ence, qui­et­ly con­sis­tent, adds to the atmos­phere of trust and gen­tle­ness. This kind of bond between man and horse does not grow in urgency and noise—it is built in calm moments like these, when both serve with care and pur­pose. The jour­ney reflects not only a phys­i­cal act of trans­porta­tion but an emo­tion­al pas­sage from reluc­tance to ful­fill­ment.

What makes this moment endur­ing is its sim­plic­i­ty. The sce­nario could hap­pen in any time or place: some­one needs help, some­one else must choose whether to respond. The chap­ter reminds us that eth­i­cal deci­sions are often qui­et ones, root­ed not in law or tra­di­tion, but in the feel­ing that doing some­thing kind is always the right thing. For today’s read­ers, this les­son still holds pow­er. In a world where sched­ules dom­i­nate and rou­tines feel sacred, the will­ing­ness to pause and help—even when inconvenient—carries extra­or­di­nary weight. Jer­ry and Pol­ly show that love, when guid­ed by prin­ci­ple and empa­thy, cre­ates space for moments that renew the spir­it. Their exam­ple remains a tes­ta­ment to what it means to live by one’s val­ues, even when the world rush­es on.