Trumper

by Hetty Burlingame Beatty, Joshua Tolford (Illustrator)

Mark Sullivan was thrilled when his dad, farmer Tod Sullivan, bought the dappled grey gelding Trumper off a neighbor. Trumper's flashy and exciting compared to the farm's two draft horses, and Mark just knows that with Trumper, he can win the annual 4-H contest for best all-around light-weight farm horse. The prize, a purebred Angus calf, will start Mark off on his dreamed-of beef herd. The only problem is that Trumper is unused to farm work, having been a saddle horse, and pitches a fit when he's hitched to anything. In short order he's broken the hayrake, the milk wagon and two harnesses, and earned the undying enmity of Mark's older brother Carl, who was the unfortunate driver in all these episodes. And there's no place on a working farm for a useless horse. Trumper will have to go.

Genres: Childrens

165 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1963

About the author

Beatty was born in New Canaan, Connecticut. From 1924 until 1929 she attended the Boston Museum School. She trained as a sculptor. Frederick W. Allen was the daily instructor at that time with Charles Grafly coming up from Philadelphia twice a month to give criticisms as head of the Sculpture Department.

Her works were exhibited nationally and won a number of awards. A one-woman show of her sculpture and drawings was held at the Worcester Art Museum in 1941. She also had shows at: Art Institute of Chicago, Knoedler Gallery-New York City, MacBeth Gallery-New York, Pennsylvania Academy, and the Society of Independent Artists.

In addition to being a sculptor, Beatty also took up writing and illustrating children’s books.

On October 11, 1959, she married Lewis F. Whitney, another artist.

Beatty once commented to Contemporary Authors, "I started out as a sculptor and gradually shifted over to the field of writing, becoming so absorbed in it that I devote nearly all my time to it now, along with illustration of most of my own books for children.”