Ben Weatherstaff
Ben Weatherstaff is the elderly, sour-faced head gardener at Misselthwaite Manor, a man whose blunt Yorkshire speech and forbidding manner initially make him seem as barren and unyielding as the winter earth. Yet beneath his crusty exterior lies a profound, secret fidelity to the dead Mrs. Craven and a grudging, then genuine, tenderness for the children who stumble into his solitary world. He is the human anchor of the old order, the keeper of the garden's buried history, and his own slow thaw into something approaching joy is one of the novel's quietest but most essential transformations.
Identity and Introduction
Ben Weatherstaff is introduced as a "surly old man" with a "weather-beaten face" who works in the kitchen-gardens. When Mary Lennox first encounters him, he is digging with a spade over his shoulder and does not hide his displeasure at seeing her. He speaks in broad Yorkshire, answering her questions with short, crusty replies. He is a bachelor who lodges with Martin at the gate, and his only companion is the robin, whom he calls "th' only friend I've got." He tells Mary bluntly that they are cut from the same cloth: "We was wove out of th' same cloth. We're neither of us good lookin' an' we're both of us as sour as we look. We've got the same nasty tempers, both of us, I'll warrant." This is the first honest assessment Mary has ever received about herself, and it unsettles her.
Relationship with the Robin and the Garden's Secret
Weatherstaff's bond with the robin is the one soft spot in his otherwise prickly character. He speaks to the bird as if to a child, calling it a "cheeky little beggar" and a "conceited one." The robin, in turn, perches on his spade and hops about him without fear. It is through this bird that Weatherstaff is linked to the secret garden. He reveals that the robin came out of a nest in the garden that has been locked for ten years, and that he himself has secretly climbed over the wall to prune the roses once a year, despite the master's orders. "She was so fond of it—she was!" he says of Mrs. Craven. "An' she was such a pretty young thing. She says to me once, 'Ben,' says she laughin', 'if ever I'm ill or if I go away you must take care of my roses.'" This secret, loyal gardening—done in defiance of Mr. Craven's prohibition—kept the garden from dying entirely and prepared the ground for the children's work.
Role in Mary's Transformation
Weatherstaff serves as an early mirror and mentor for Mary. He is the first person to tell her the truth about her appearance and temper, and he is also the first to notice her physical improvement. When she skips into the kitchen-garden with the skipping-rope Susan Sowerby sent, he exclaims, "Well! Upon my word. P'raps tha' art a young 'un, after all, an' p'raps tha's got child's blood in thy veins instead of sour buttermilk. Tha's skipped red into thy cheeks as sure as my name's Ben Weatherstaff." He teaches her to watch for the green points pushing through the earth and to wait for the spring. His gruff approval becomes a measure of her progress. When she tells him she has no friends, he says, "Well... that's true. Tha' hasn't," and Mary senses that he is actually a little sorry for her.
Confrontation with Colin and the Revelation of Health
The most dramatic moment of Weatherstaff's arc comes when he discovers the children inside the secret garden. Climbing a ladder to look over the wall, he sees Colin in his wheelchair and Mary and Dickon working. His first reaction is fury: he shakes his fist at Mary and shouts, "If I wasn't a bachelder, an' tha' was a wench o' mine, I'd give thee a hidin'!" But Colin, with the imperious authority of a young Rajah, commands Dickon to wheel him close and demands, "Do you know who I am?" Weatherstaff stares, his jaw dropping, and finally whispers, "Who tha' art? Aye, that I do—wi' tha' mother's eyes starin' at me out o' tha' face. Lord knows how tha' come here. But tha'rt th' poor cripple." This accusation—that Colin is a cripple—triggers the boy's furious, defiant act of standing up on his own feet for the first time. Weatherstaff's old eyes fill with tears as he sees the boy stand straight. "Eh!" he bursts out, "th' lies folk tells! Tha'rt as thin as a lath an' as white as a wraith, but there's not a knob on thee. Tha'lt make a mon yet. God bless thee!" In that moment, his role shifts from guardian of the past to witness of the miracle.
Integration into the Secret and Final Role
After this revelation, Weatherstaff is brought into the secret. Colin, standing tall, tells him, "I'm your master... when my father is away. And you are to obey me. This is my garden." Weatherstaff touches his cap and answers, "Yes, sir! Yes, sir!" He becomes a participant in the Magic, joining the children's circle under the plum-tree and even singing the Doxology with them, though he had "never seed no sense in th' Doxology afore." His rheumatic back, which had kept him from climbing the wall, is now eased by the door. He brings a rose in a pot for Colin to plant, telling him to "set it in the earth thysel' same as th' king does when he goes to a new place." At the novel's end, it is Weatherstaff who, from his stepladder, witnesses the reunion of Colin and Mr. Craven, and who delivers the news to the servants' hall with a shrewd, satisfied air. He has moved from being a lonely, sour old man to being a trusted member of a living community, his own life having been restored alongside the garden he secretly tended.
