Original subtitles

Thank you, young man.

Now, I'll need something for headache.

Oil of hemlock.

And some sumac berry syrup.

Oh, and some blackberry root tea leaves.

Sounds as if the household's down with the influenza, Janet.

Don't say that, Alvaro. We have far too much lambing left to do to fall ill.

No, no, it's just precautionary.

Well, the pharmacopoeia would suggest sweet fern.

Sweet fern.

All right.

Yes, and persimmon tea.

Thanks, Elvira.

Oh!

Oh, good Lord!

Great Aunt Eliza!

What a surprise!

I should have known you wouldn't be on time, dilly -dallying with the gossip.

Well, now, dear, you should have written. We had no idea.

No need to patronize me, Janet.

I did write.

You won't fool me into not coming just because you didn't write me that.

And heaven of those bags!

Gently, take it gently.

Oh, Alex was supposed to come and pick me up.

Honestly, Aunt Eliza, we didn't get your letter. We never received a single

word. Now, perhaps you... Perhaps I may be getting on in years, but I should be

able to recollect that I wrote to you.

Oh, Janet, please don't leave me out here. I shall catch my death.

Whatever you say, Aunt Eliza.

I don't know why you insist on keeping this old buggy. It's falling apart at

joints.

Yes.

Great Aunt Eliza.

Come on.

Come on.

These ewes will be ready to give birth any day. Yoo -hoo!

Hattie! Alex! Children!

Come and say hello to Aunt Eliza.

What did she say?

Greetings, Eliza.

Here today?

Oh, good Lord.

Come along now, children. Must at least be cordial.

Here we go, dear.

Oh, I don't know if I can move. My back is in a hundred pieces.

Buzzing.

Hard to see.

Oh. Oh,

no, no, no. I'm chilled to the bone.

Had a pleasant trip then, Eliza?

Hallie King.

Well, I can see your age has certainly caught up to you since my last short

visit.

It's amazing how you never change, Eliza. But you should have written. I

we're really not prepared to have you stay here.

I did write, as I told Janet.

It's not my fault if my letter has got displaced amongst all this clutter and

chaos.

Still not able to manage a household, Janet dear.

Felix is just bringing in the last of the bags.

Where should we put them all, Mother dear?

Oh, unprepared as usual, Janet.

Always in a fluster.

Tell me, child, which is the warmest room in this house?

The kitchen.

I mean the warmest bedroom.

Hello, Felix.

Haven't grown much taller, have you?

Hello, great Aunt Eliza. The warmest bedroom really would be the boys' room.

What? Well, then, take my things up to the boys' room.

Daniel can stay in our room.

Yes, very good, very good, dear.

Felix, you'll just have to stay downstairs for a while. Oh, please,

me.

How long will you be staying, Aunt Eliza? Oh.

Oh, not long, dear, I'm sure.

A month, two months.

Oh, who can say how much longer I am intended to be on this earth, for

sake.

Yes. Well, now I must go up and test that mattress.

Come along, Peter. I can't manage those dreadful hairs on my own.

Getting settled in, dear?

This is an awfully cold house, Janet.

Oh, well, I've just put some more wood on, Aunt Liza. Give it time.

Time.

That's all there is in the end.

One knows when one's time is up, Janet.

Oh.

What?

What did you say exactly?

She said, in the end, time is all we have.

But what did she mean? She wouldn't say.

Well, I didn't ask, but I'm dreadfully afraid she's come here.

Well, I mean, perhaps she's... Oh, I don't know. Maybe I should write to

Abigail. Oh, she seems fit as a fiddle to me.

For certain, that tongue of hers has never been sharper.

Alec, I think we should be especially kind to her.

Agreed.

But why us? Why now?

In the middle of lambing season, all these animals ready to give birth.

Who can say after all the... Oh, my goodness.

You work in mysterious ways.

Alec, here it comes.

Leave it.

Stir yourself, boy. Come along.

What's the matter?

I need water for my tea.

Is it morning?

No, it certainly isn't. It's just past midnight.

I can see dull witness runs in your family. Now, come along.

have tea, Great Aunt Eliza. Not satisfactory for this time of the year.

You all may wish to suffer the influenza, but I do not.

Felix, the stove is out on embers.

We used all of the firewood already. I'd have to go with fine.

But four or five pieces will suffice, Felix.

Goodness, Great Aunt Eliza.

At this rate, I won't get any sleep.

It's just my mother.

I am here, and I'm asking you, Felix.

It seems to me like you've been asking me a lot of things lately.

And it doesn't seem to me why you can't just go and get what you want yourself.

Your parents will hear of this, Felix.

Wait, wait.

I'll get the wood.

Rise and shine, Felix. You've got plenty of work ahead of us today.

Laura had a full night of work.

What do you mean?

First it was water for her tea, then wood for the stove, another blanket,

open the window, no, close the window, then a hot water bottle for her feet.

Oh, buck off, Felix.

Mother, I can't get any sleep down here.

Great Aunt Eliza. Darling, she's elderly.

Will you try to understand?

I'm off to the barn.

Well, without any breakfast, Eric.

No, I don't feel too hungry, you know.

Stomach's not an uneven keel. Oh, well, I'll bring you out something special.

I feel battleaxe now.

Felix King, I should wash your mouth out with soap, and I told you to be kind to

your great Aunt Eliza.

I hope I don't get that old feeble.

Good morning, Aunt Eliza. Isn't it a fine day?

I should hardly say so, Janet. My feet are like blocks of ice. Oh.

Really, you and Alec are so skimpy with the heating in this place.

Pillows are as hard as rock.

I've got a crick in my neck. I didn't sleep well at all.

Oh, I'm so sorry, dear.

Now, Janet, there are a few things I need.

I don't think that it will inconvenience you at all.

It's because of my rheumatism.

Yes, dear.

I have one egg each and every day. In case you don't remember, your memory

was very good.

One three -minute egg and a piece of dry toast, tea, very hot

rosehip. Yes. Well, I'm not quite sure about the rosehip.

Oh, what about you, Janet?

If you could, will you refill this hot water bucket? Yes, of course.

Janet, what are you waiting for?

Oh, nothing.

So,

we

can conclude, as did Sir Isaac Newton, that light is made of a mixture of

different colours forming the optical spectrum.

You have a question, Mr. King.

Uh, yes.

If light is white, how can it be colored?

Through the separation of its particles.

Yes, particles. But if there's a bunch of particles, why can't we see them?

Quiet. It's a legitimate question.

Miss King, you have an answer, perhaps.

Isaac Newton investigated the optical spectrum and established a theory of

based on a hypothesis that light is composed of a stream of particles that

disturb the area around them. That is precisely his theory, Miss King. Yes,

light is light, like a sun or a candle. I can see that. I can see light.

And when the light goes out, it's dark.

So how come anybody can say...

That these so -called particles exist when we can't even see them.

Well, Mr. King, to paraphrase Shakespeare, there are many things that

the world that aren't dreamt of in your philosophy.

Science has offered us great advancements in the last 25 years and is

of the future.

Your future.

I shall expect the science project on one of the following subjects to be

presented in a week's time.

You may work in teams.

You will state an hypothesis, conduct the experiment, and submit your

conclusions.

There will be a prize for the best project, and your grade will be worth 50

your science mark.

Properties of light, wave theory, combustion engine, electricity.

I have enough to do with the old subjects without all the science.

Cram it all into your head for the examinations and then forget it?

That's hardly an attitude of someone likely to succeed in life, Felix.

School has nothing to do with life, Felicity.

Well, I'm sure I haven't the head for scientific theory.

Oh, phooey on it.

They discover something one day, just have someone else say it's different the

next. I'll discover something myself.

I have a feeling your imagination is running away with you now, Felix.

You're just jealous, Felicity, because you don't have a creative bone in your

body. I have enough creativity to imagine my future life without you.

I hate those snails.

Coming right up.

I could use something hot to drink.

You look kind of sore today, Alec. What's the matter?

Well, I... Well, where's your brother?

Mrs. Lawson had a delivery for Uncle Jasper, so Sarah and Felix are just

it over to the Dale house and then they'll be home.

You look feverish.

It's nothing.

Seamus came while Jasper's away.

He wanted us to just leave it here and not fiddle with it. I swear, it doesn't

weigh anything.

What could Uncle Jasper have been working on recently?

And what could be in a box that weighs almost nothing?

Felix, don't fiddle with it.

A light bulb.

Dozens of light bulbs.

Electricity on Prince Edward Island?

It'll be just like Montreal.

You know, Sarah,

If we look through Uncle Jasper's notes, we could probably come up with the best

science project of the year.

Aunt Hattie's already at the barn.

Hurry up, Felix. We're supposed to be helping.

Oh, for pity's sake.

I'm coming.

Tell me if my mother comes back.

Pretty clever, eh?

Felix shall freeze.

Survival of the fittest.

I've learned a lot of things at school besides science.

Come on, we'd better hurry to Uncle Jasper's and be back for the lambing

they miss us.

with the sheep, no doubt.

Thank you, Daniel.

You know you are a very lucky little boy, Daniel King.

You have a wonderful large family around you.

Oh, Daniel.

You're quite feverish.

Aunt Eliza, is Daniel bothering you? Do you need something?

Oh, never mind. I'm not important.

But really, Janet, I had hoped you'd gain some sense over the years.

Whatever do you mean, dear? It's a wonder to me that any of your children

still living and breathing.

I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about, Aunt Eliza. Well, this

here is burning up with fever.

What?

Influenza, I say.

Caused, no doubt, by the extreme damp in this drafty old farmhouse.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this house, Aunt Eliza. Oh, I...

Have you ever noticed anything at all, Janice? You're always in such a muddle.

Oh, yes, I know. So you keep telling me. Well, there's absolutely nothing the

matter with Daniel either. He's just overheated us all.

He just needs some fresh air.

See, the bicycle somehow creates enough power to make the electricity work.

Bicycle? I don't get it.

Neither do I, really.

But that's what it says here, I think.

an invisible power that picked me up and threw me across the room. Well, you

know better than to go into Jasper's workshop when he's not there.

I not butter Janet.

Hetty is correct.

Plying into someone else's private things when they're not at home.

Really. Uncle Jasper allows us in his workshop.

And you're always telling us to be more independent and resourceful, so we were.

There's surely a difference between being resourceful and life...

You should go to your room, Felix.

I don't have a room, remember?

I don't need any smart remarks right now. Go to the barn, and that's where

you're supposed to be helping.

Like I've been hit by a train.

Well, Alec, I'll make you some blackberry root tea.

What did I tell you?

Influenza. I was very curious at your age, Alec.

I remember my cousin Alice went to bed in perfect health.

The next morning, her mother went in, and there she lay, her elegant fingers

gripping the sheets, her eyes fixed, and her mouth open in a last gasp.

That's enough, Eliza. Can't you see you're upsetting the whole household

these prophecies of doom?

Look, I'm sorry.

I understand.

I'll just go back to my room. All this exertion down here, very trying, Eliza.

age. Who knows?

I may die in my sleep like Uncle Robert.

Alec, I really think you should stay in bed tomorrow.

Oh, and let the children take care of the lambing?

Father, we've helped with lambing many times.

Besides, this could be the last time I'm even part of the lambing.

What with the possibility of school away next year. Yeah, but, Alec, I'm sure

that with the children helping, Hetty and I can manage.

Well, not with great Aunt Eliza needing your constant attention.

Besides, a little hard work is just the ticket to what ails me.

I just know I'm going to have problems with those new ewes. I can feel it in my

bones.

Oh, this smells as bad as that last concoction. What was it, oil of hemlock?

Well, you just try it.

I can't, Janet. It makes me gag.

Now, I know you don't want me to interfere, Alec, but I really do feel

have something in here.

Look, I don't want to know about any new remedies. I don't care. I'm going to

bed.

You brought this influenza on your whole household, Janet.

You were never one to take precautionary measures or think something through.

Oh, live for today, we reap what we sow.

You were too busy counting sheep, I dare say, to take notice of your alien land.

Yes, Aunt Eliza, I'm sure you know all about it. You've had so many children of

your own.

Felicity, you'll go blind if you continue to read by lamplight.

Yes, Great Aunt Eliza.

You seem to take after your Aunt Hetty.

You have that... Pinched look, just like the rest of the King family.

Janet!

Janet!

Great Aunt Eliza, what's wrong?

Oh, this room is as cold as an igloo.

I'll fetch another blanket.

It'll take a few minutes to know.

Why don't you sit down here and we can have a little chat until I get warmed

What do you mean by pinched? You always seem such a serious, down -hearted

child. Oh, it's nothing.

I know I must seem like a doddering old woman to you, but I was a young girl

once. Would you be kind enough to plump up these pillows for me?

You know...

It's my experience that when a young girl is preoccupied, the cause is

matter of love.

No, not really.

Well, maybe partly.

That and graduating soon.

Perhaps going away.

It's just that why can't things stay as they are?

There are so many decisions.

But how do I know which is the right one?

You must weigh your present against the possibilities of your future.

But I don't know about my future.

I was always a headstrong and opinionated young girl when I was young.

Much like yourself.

On a holiday in New York with my cousin Louise, I met and fell in love with a

young Union soldier, Lyle Prescott.

It was all very sudden.

He wanted to marry me before going back to his regiment.

But you didn't.

No, I didn't.

I was afraid.

Afraid of losing my family, my friends, my home.

I was afraid of the future.

My heart said yes to Captain Prescott.

But I said no.

And I turned my back on a possible road of my life.

Who knows?

I might have had a family.

A daughter like you, Felicity.

But you didn't know you wouldn't get another chance, Great Aunt Eliza.

No.

I held back and became trapped in the moment of time.

Life can be very, very long, my dear.

You should do what your heart tells you to do.

No matter whatever people say.

Good night, Green Antelosa.

Good night, Felicity, dear.

There, there, my fine soldier boy. We'll soon have you feeling better.

None of that nasty brew of your mother's. We have some nice water ravens

for you. Indian chocolate to bring your fever down. Make you feel better.

Did you say chocolate?

Indian chocolate.

So we used to call water ravens.

Nobody remembers it now. Your parents don't want to listen to an old lady like

me. But what was all that about chocolate?

Well, it tastes like chocolate.

Hence its English name.

Say, this is great, hmm?

There's a good boy.

Now, you must have some fluids along with the medicine.

Where'd you ever learn about that? Oh, well, my mother was a great believer in

native medicine.

You know, the Micmacs used this plant, water ravens, to cure the influenza.

Maybe father should have a drink of that.

He should, no doubt.

But what do I know?

I'm just part of the past, Felix.

Don't let me keep you up, boy. I've just stopped by to tend the little one. And

I know you have a man's work to do tomorrow.

That's all right.

No, I was decidedly selfish to you the other night, and it hasn't made any

difference. That room is still freezing.

Great -aunt Eliza, there's something I think you should know.

And what would that be, Felix?

I, uh, turned the heat off to your room.

I'm sorry.

I'm not at all surprised.

You're a very clever boy.

It's just like whenever I think of something, it causes no end of trouble

disaster.

You shouldn't let people dissuade you from discovering what you want to for

yourself, Felix.

After all, where would one get in the world if you didn't charge ahead?

Oh, there'll be bumps and bruises on the way, but what can you expect?

You have great spirit.

And an imagination when it suits your purpose.

I suppose.

Great Aunt Eliza.

I think you might want to sleep down here.

It's warmer and I'll take my room.

That's very considerate of you, Felix.

I'll bring down your things and your blankets and your pillow.

Thank you, Felix.

Take me, Taylor.

No.

Boiled bark of white oak.

Press him in tea, perhaps?

I think those remedies are making me worse, Janet.

But I'll, uh... I'll be all right once I get out to the barn. Work's the best

remedy.

You look all in, too.

First you, then Daniel.

Great Aunt Eliza doesn't give me a moment's rest.

She's completely disrupted the household.

Felix mopes about the house all day because he doesn't get any sleep at

Her nocturnal wanderings are making it impossible for me to sleep as well.

Nothing is good enough for her.

Certainly, I am not good enough for her.

Tried to make me feel you would even as a girl.

I know, I know.

Well, you're just going to have to talk to her, Janet.

What am I going to say?

Oh, don't warn her, Frazzle. My thinking is that we put her on the first train

to Avid Hills until we finish the lambing. At least we get a good night's

I can't turn her out.

Look, you're not turning her out.

Abigail's her relation as much as you are. In fact, her family, well, they

should be informed about her condition. Maybe we should consider a hospital for

some kind of treatment. I don't know, but we can't continue to live like this.

I know.

Why did you come here?

She really doesn't like me very much.

She never has come.

Oh, we traded places last night.

She was too cold for her.

Where are her things?

I must go to the doctor's as well.

Oh, no.

Oh, no, oh, no, no, no.

Look, Daniel.

A lamb's bottle.

Eddie,

have you seen Eliza?

Delilah switched beds with Felix last night, and she overheard Alec and I

talking about her. Now she's packed up and gone.

Oh, my.

Oh, I am not surprised.

She always was a free -minded woman.

We said such terrible things about her.

She's always so...

Critical and overbearing.

Never a kind word about me. Never.

Janet, did it never occur to you that being critical and overbearing, as you

it, may be her way of trying to be more involved with you and the family? I

know. I know. She was the only one who dared stand up to that father of yours.

Why, if it hadn't been for great Aunt Eliza, he'd never have relented and

allowed you to marry Alec.

I didn't know that.

Why would she have done that for me?

I suppose she knew Alec was what your heart desired.

Well, heaven knows why.

Oh, Eddie.

It's true.

Now, I thrust her out into the cold.

And she came here for comfort in her old age.

Eddie, can you look after Daniel?

I'm going to go after Eliza.

I'm afraid it's just too

cold for them to survive.

There must be something else we can do.

Well, we can move them all in closer together. That should save two or three

them.

Sarah,

run and fetch Arthur Pettibone, will you? Please, he can help us.

Keep your coat done up.

Sarah Stanley.

Is Arthur at home?

We have an emergency with our lambs at the King Bar.

I'm afraid he's off to Nova Scotia.

Everyone's afraid that the lambs will die in this cold snap.

Hang on, Sarah. I'll be with you in a second.

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.

You were so sophisticated.

You knew everything.

I'm here. I was such a disappointment.

Suppose that way we could save one or two.

Helix, what temperature is it?

Minus ten.

It's frozen.

Alec, it's frozen.

We just can't generate enough heat for them or for ourselves.

How can we get more heat?

Heat is... heat's energy.

What?

Like when you jump up and down and get warm.

Please, children, I know you're trying to help, but really, jumping up and down

is not very realistic.

We'll just do our best to save a few of them.

I think I should run and get the doctor. She seems so gray and demented from the

cold.

Her cases, Alec. That's what she wants out of the buggy. Could you get them for

her?

Yes, dear.

Yes, dear. Hetty and Alec will get them for you.

Old,

frail, and sick.

That's what we all have to look forward to, Hetty. Oh, no, Alec. She's not dead

yet. Well, it always seems the same.

I remember our parents, you know.

Salt of the earth, kind, caring people who became cantankerous and critical,

just like Eliza. I hate remembering them that way. Oh, perhaps you're afraid.

One day you may become just what you fear the most.

Well, look what a bout of influenza does to my constitution and temperament.

Well, the truth is, Eliza has some quite useful information, if you'll listen

for me.

You just won't listen.

I can't even save my own lambs. I'm too ill to think straight.

I have to leave it all to the children, for heaven's sakes, to Felix.

And what's wrong with that? There's nothing whatever the matter with letting

children, even Felix, take care of lambing for you.

You just can't face their becoming independent, that's all, with minds of

own.

You were once, once upon a time, just like them, you know.

Now, come on.

Are you sure you're all right, ma 'am?

I'm going to be fine.

Just do stop hovering. Oh, yes.

Of course.

Thank you, Patty.

Does this look fine to you? No, not at all.

I want something to be warm all over.

I want some of these. Where are they? This.

This. This.

Portrait.

Can you make this up?

Into a tea idea?

Absolutely. Can you manage here?

Oh, yes, of course. I'll help you go. Here's the lamb.

Thank you. Thank you.

What in heaven's name is going on here?

We're making heat, Father.

Aren't they just beautiful?

Aunt Hattie, just listen to us for a minute.

You see, you pedal that bicycle.

And it makes the generator work.

And the current flows through these wires into these black boxes here. And

sends power to the light bulbs.

This is ingenious.

All set, I hope.

Mr. Pettibone, could you please pedal that bicycle?

You're going to have to pedal a lot faster than that, Mr. Pettibone.

Well,

I'll be.

It's the heat of the sun in the height of summer.

Quickly, go and tell your mother and great aunt Eliza. Pitch them down here.

It's warm.

It's warm.

Great Aunt Eliza.

You gave me such a fright.

Really, Janet.

I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself most of the time.

Yes, you are. You always have been.

I'm sorry.

I am a very forthright, overbearing woman.

But, oh, Janet.

My feet are blocks of ice.

And it chills right up into my bones.

Aunt Janet, Father says to bring Great Aunt Eliza down to the barn.

The barn?

Felix and I have created heat.

Sarah and Felix have displayed initiative and a dramatic understanding

scientific principles.

You could well take home the prize.

Certainly a very high mark in science.

Yes, I was wrong.

School is an important part of life.

I have to agree with you there, son. This is wonderful.

Felix, however did you get this idea?

I wouldn't have, except for great Aunt Eliza.

Like all the ward women, you are a wonder.

Oh, I can hardly believe this nonsense.

But the heat suits me.

Dear Aunt Eliza, can you ever forgive me?

But what was all that about?

Your time being up.

I didn't mean that, Janet.

Oh, we wards, we're not susceptible to illnesses.

No, it's just that I feel all my old friends are gone.

And sometimes I just feel so alone and quite... Well,

dear, great Aunt Eliza, you're welcome here any time.

For as long as you like.