Little Joe Cartwright was the first one out of bed on Christmas day 1862. Like each morning he wanted to go for a ride on his horse Cochise. But that day would turned out to become completely different. Little Joe opened the front door and almost tripped about a basket which was standing before the door.
“What will we have here now?”, asked the young Cartwright.
He kneeled near the basket and looked in it being curious. There was lying a newborn baby wrapped up in a yellow blanket with a note near it. Little Joe picked up the basket and carried it inside. He put the basket on the drawing table and walked then to the stairs
“Pa, Adam, Hoss, I have found something”, he yelled to upstairs.
His father Ben Cartwright and elder brothers Adam and Hoss Cartwright ran downstairs at once being worried. They saw the basket standing and walked to it.
Ben picked up the note and read out loud,
This is Mitchell Jonathan, called Mitch, born on December 25 1862 at ten past twelve this night.
Take care of him.
His mother Mary.
He put the note down and picked up the baby who started to cry slowly.
The rancher sat down and said to Adam, “Ask if Hop Sing wants to make some milk for Mitch.”
Adam walked to the kitchen and asked the Chinese cook, “We have a baby in the house. Would you like to make a bottle for him?”
“Hop Sing make it right away. Mr Adam out of kitchen”, the cook said.
“I am already going. Merry Christmas Hop Sing”, Adam said before he got chased to the living room.
“You too Mr Adam”, said Hop Sing.
In the living room Mitch was the centre of attention.
“Pa, can we not keep him?”, Hoss asked while he looked at the baby.
He was already fond of children and of Mitch completely.
“For the time being yes. First Mitch must have a bedstead. At the attic there are still the old baby furniture of Joe so if you want to put them in the bedroom next to the one of Hoss”, said Ben.
The boys went upstairs. Little Joe went already to the attic to look up the requested things. Adam and Hoss were already very fond of Mitch.
“If that lad stays here then he will be very spoiled by us and pa”, Hoss said laughing to his brother.
“Sure. But we also have someone to do the nasty chores for us. Who leave their newborn baby now behind in the cold?”, Adam asked himself out loud.
Hoss had no answer to that either. Quickly they went to wash and get dressed to help their younger brother to helpen.
In the living room Hop Sing came with the requested bottle for Mitch.
“Bottle for little child”, the cook said.
Ben grabbed the bottle and gave it to Mitch who had become very calm now.
“Hop Sing, you will have to cook for a mouth more because I have planned to let Mitch stay here and to raise him as my son”, said Ben.
“Hop Sing always willing to cook more as long as Mr Hoss not eat it alone”, said Hop Sing.
“We just say that Mitch needs it harder than he does”, reacted the rancher.
While drinking Mitch looked at Ben and Hop Sing and had stolen their hearts as well.
“Just say nothing yet to the boys because I first want to look how they react at the message that Mitch goes to the orphanage”, Ben said to the cook.
Hop Sing said smiling, “Hop Sing play along.”
An hour later the bedroom for Mitch was ready. Enthusiastically Adam came downstairs and
said, “Mitch can sleep in the old bestead of Joe.”
“That was about time because he is already sleeping for half an hour in my arms”, his father said.
He got up and walked with the baby upstairs. Adam followed them. Adam, Hoss and Little Joe watched mollified how Ben put Mitch to and tucked him in.
“We let him sleep now and later on we will see what we will do with him”, Ben said outside the nursery.
The brothers looked at each other amazed and worried.
“Pa, you won’t let Mitchy go to the orphanage?”, asked Hoss.
“That is not up to me to decide. If he has no parents he has to go to the orphanage. He is not the first but also not the last one without parents. If you would like to excuse me so that I can get washed and dressed and then we go enjoy the christmasbreakfast together later on”, said Ben.
He walked to the bathroom while the three boys went downstairs.
“I really can’t believe that pa brings such a little and sweet lad to the orphanage”, Hoss said indignant.
“He is right somewhere. There are enough children without parents. Especially now with that war. We cannot take care of all of them”, Adam reasoned.
“That is true but what does such a little child eat now?”, Hoss asked.
“Much less than you do”, Little Joe reacted laughing.
“Must I hang you on top of the tree?”, vroeg Hoss asked threatening his younger brother.
Little Joe held his hands up right away and said, “Hereby I offer you my very noble apology.”
“You better be”, Hoss said looking at him a bit dirty.
In the living room they waited for the arrival of their father.
“If Mitch stays here at the ranch we must buy double presents. For his Christmas and his birthday”, Adam said after a while.
“But he is worth it too”, said Hoss.
Without that they admitted it openly they had closed Mitch in all of their hearts.
During the extended Christmas breakfast the conversation came back upon Mitch again of course.
“Pa, is it true that you are going to bring Mitch to the orphanage?”, Adam asked worried.
“Yes. You are grownup so must I raise again a child with your interfering included? I am really not looking forward to that. I ride later on first to Doc Martin to ask him to ask him if he happen to help a woman giving birth last night and to look him at Mitch. Then the boy goes to the orphanage”, replied Ben.
“Pa, I speak on behalf of Hoss and Joe. We solemnly promise not to interfere with the raising of Mitch if the boy may stay here”, said Adam.
“That is very nice to hear but when you were upstairs I had already made the decision to let Mitch stay here. I just wanted to see how you would react at the message that Mitch went to the orphanage”, said Ben.
The brothers looked at each other a bit sour but they were pleased that they had gained a little brother.
“When you go to town later on we look after Mitch”, said Adam.
“You are supposed to do so”, reacted Ben.
“If Mitch really remains to stay here for good then I am not the youngest anymore in the house”, Little Joe remarked dry then.
Everybody laughed.
“Count on that he remains living here. but I tell you this: I raise him like I have raised you”, Ben said serious again.
Adam, Hoss and Little Joe looked at each other laughing but said nothing.
After breakfast Ben went to Virginia City. The rancher had very much questions about Mitch and his descent. Because it had snowed the previous night and early morning there were no tracks to find of the one who had left Mitch behind.
Ben thought, ‘If no one claims the boy Mitch remains at the Ponderosa. There is plenty of room for him.’
Deep in his heart Ben loved Mitch already. But that went also for his sons.
Arrived in Virginia City Ben went straight to the house of doctor Paul Martin and his wife Harriet. He dismounted and hitched his horse Buck. Hereafter he knocked at the door. Paul answered it and was very surprised to see Ben.
“Merry Christmas Ben. Come in. There are no sick at the ranch?”, the doctor asked.
Ben took off his head and went inside.
“Same to you Paul, Harriet. No, there are fortunately no sick at the Ponderosa. But we have since this morning a little boy in the house. Joe found him when he wanted to go for a ride with Cochise. The baby is called Mitch and is born this night at ten past twelve. His mother wrapped him up in a yellow blanket. The child seems healthy to me but I want to know for sure. Can you come later to examine him of he is fails something?”, the rancher asked on his turn.
Harriet came in and popped the question, “I may assume for sure that you do want a cup of coffee?”
“Morning Harriet. I shall not refuse that indeed”, Ben replied.
She walked back to the kitchen and came back a moment later with a tray with a full steaming pot with coffee on it.
“We are coming along at once. But I haven’t done any deliveries last night. There are also no pregnant women in town. So it must have been a lady from out of town”, the heal master said.
“Mitch is a lad who steals everyone’s heart. I have told the boys that I will raise him but I am afraid that first they will spoil him and then when he is old enough give him the nasty chores like they did to Joe then”, said Ben.
“The little child must have a great power of endurance when his mother has left behind in the snow”, said Harriet.
After the hot coffee Ben went to the sheriff’s office to report the message about the foundling of the Ponderosa. Only sheriff Roy Coffee was present because his deputy Clem Foster was temporarily out of town.
“Merry Christmas Roy”, Ben said by entrance.
Roy asked, “Same to you Ben. What can I do for you on this seldom quiet day in Virginia City?”
“This morning Joe has found a little boy called Mitch on our porch. He was wrapped in a yellow blanket and his mother requested us to take care of him. I surely want to do that but not without that you know from it”, the rancher answered while he sat down.
“It is well known that there is a prison punishment for exposing a child wherever that happens. I will make a record of it and tell Clem also when he comes back. Congratulations with your fourth son. Let’s hope that he doesn’t turn out much different from your other sons”, said the sheriff.
Ben nodded and said goodbye. He got his horse and rode quickly back to the ranch. He missed his youngest son now already more than he wanted to admit. Even though Ben knew that his sons would take good care of Mitch.
At the Ponderosa Mitch had woken up. Adam had taken care of him and came with him in his arms downstairs.
When Hoss and Little Joe saw that Hoss said, “I believe that Mitchy has gotten a second father in the shape of Adam.”
“Hoss! You cannot do that to Mitch. That way the kid gets a trauma for the rest of his life already”, Little Joe reacted teasing.
“And then you must think that he was born today so he has hopefully a very long life ahead of him”, Hoss said dry.
The brothers laughed hard but Adam said nothing back. Quietly he walked downstairs and put Mitch in the bed which they had put in the living room. It stood near the Christmas tree and the still unwrapped christmaspresents.
Mitch looked around him like he would ask, “What is it here nice. Have you done this all for me?”
Hop Sing came to take a look at the new inhabitant of the ranch often.
After Paul and Harriet Martin and Ben had arrived at the Ponderosa Mitch got his first examination in the nursery. Only Paul and Ben were with the de boy during the examination.
“Ben, this boy is in perfect good health but I have noticed something by him. Mitch has a birth-mark just right under his right knee and I know that Adam has that too”, the doctor said after the examination.
“That is right because his mother had that too at the same spot. So that could mean that Mitch is the son of Adam?”, Ben asked amazed.
Paul nodded.
The rancher walked downstairs and asked, “Adam, would you like to come up for a moment?”
Adam got up and walked along upstairs.
In the nursery Ben asked seriously, “Adam, didn’t you have something with a young woman nine months ago and did you happen to make her pregnant by accident?”
The eldest Cartwright boy went to sit in the rocking chair and thought deeply.
“That must have been then Mary Watts. She just broke up with me and disappeared trackless. Are you meaning that Mitch happens to be my son?”, Adam asked amazed and worried although he actually knew the answer already.
The two men nodded.
“I didn’t even know that she became pregnant by me. But I will take my fatherly responsibility and look after Mitch as good as I can”, said Adam.
He got up and walked to the little bedstead where his son was lying.
“Why did his mother abandon him? I really would have looked after her”, Adam said confused.
“There can be a lot of reasons for her deed. Do you want to look for her?”, asked Ben.
“No, if she doesn’t care about him then she is not entitled to have him. I do want that Mitch stays with me”, his son replied.
“I will make sure that you get full custody over him”, Ben said calm.
They walked downstairs with Mitch where Adam said to his brothers, “This lad remains to live here and doesn’t want to be teased by his two teasing loving Uncles Hoss and Joe.”
“Are you the father of Mitchy?”, Hoss asked amazed.
His elder brother nodded and told everything that had been said upstairs.
“Adam, I know for sure that you will be a very good father for Mitch but also that he will be teased a lot by Hoss and Joe”, said Harriet.
“We will do that too but we will also protect him when that is needed”, said Little Joe.
Now Mitch had gotten a home it really was Christmas in the Cartwright household. Adam didn’t lose his son out of sight and was constantly at his side.