Original subtitles

The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC.

- Hi, Willie. - Joe.

- Billy, how you doing? - All right.

What are you two doing here?

We heard you was sparking the new schoolteacher.

We figured we'd come over, take a look.

I thought you were thinking about going to school.

You know we don't hold with no book learning.

- We gonna be hog farmers. - Just like Pa.

Well...

Psst! Psst!

Class is dismissed.

It is such a lovely day for horseback riding,

and you are so thoughtful to suggest it.

It's my pleasure, Miss Pettigrew. Abby.

Class is dismissed.

Come on.

Joe!

Those are wedding bells!

Come on. Let's go.

Oh, he's so beautiful.

You shouldn't talk like that in front of him. He's liable to get a swelled head.

- Joe, do you think I could ride him? - Sure, why not?

He's real gentle with ladies.

Abby!

Abby. Abby, are you all right?

- I'm sorry. How stupid of me. - Why are you? Wasn't your fault.

- Ooh. Ow. - What’s the matter?

- Ooh, it's my ankle. - Easy.

Beginning to swell. I think it's broke.

Now, now, now, we'll hear no more of that.

Mr. Cartwright, I just can't stay here as a long-term house guest.

You can't stay at your own place with a broken ankle, can you?

No. You're the best thing that's happened around here in a long time!

You might even get to like us.

- Yes. - Thank you, Candy.

- Well? - No luck.

I thought I could get Mrs. Ferguson, she was a good substitute teacher,

but she can't quit her job at the millinery store.

It ought to be easy enough to find somebody. No big deal teaching school.

- I got an idea, Joe. - What’s that?

Seeing as it's no big deal, why don't you do it?

- Why don't I do what? - Teach school for a couple of weeks.

Oh, come on!

What are you looking at me like that for?

I was just thinking.

Miss Pettigrew, how do you think Joseph would make out as a teacher?

Well, he says it would be easy enough.

- I think he'd make a fine teacher. - I think he'd make a great teacher.

You know, as a matter of fact I would. I'd make a great teacher.

I just have a lot of work to do here, that's all.

- No problem. I'll do the work for you. - I'll do my work myself, thanks.

Joseph, every man, married or single,

owes something to the children of his community.

Now, what have you done for the children of your community?

- Well, I... - Nothing. Absolutely nothing, Joseph.

Now, don't you think it's about time you assumed some responsibility?

Look, Pa, I'm willing to do my share, but I'm not gonna teach school.

Look, I'm not kidding. I am not gonna teach school. N-O. No. That's it.

I... I don't want to do it.

What do you think of our new teacher, Billy?

- He look kind of natural, don't he? - Mm-hm.

What do you two want?

Well, uh... me and Billy,

we was thinking about how Miss Pettigrew always wanted us to come to school.

We thought we'd come over and enroll.

- You two want to enroll? - Sure, why not?

- We’re as good as anybody, ain't we? - Don't sit on the desk.

If you want to go to school, take a seat.

- Oh. Any place in particular? - Yeah.

Right up front, where I can keep an eye on you.

- Right here. - Anything you say, Joe.

From now on, the name is Mr. Cartwright.

- Oh, Mr. Cartwright? - Mm-hm.

You hear that, Mr. McNab? From now on, Joe ain't Joe.

- Joe is Mr. Cartwright. - Yes, sir, Mr. Cartwright.

- Take off your hat. - Yes, sir, Mr. Cartwright.

Show some respect.

Cathy?

Cathy?

- What’s the matter with her? - She's scared, Mr. Cartwright.

- Scared of what? - She never had a man teacher before.

Cathy?

Cathy, honey, you're not scared of me, are you?

Oh, how can that be, after all the times I've taken you on rides

and been over your house to see your pa?

Now, you can't be afraid of me.

Let me see a little bit of a smile. Okay, that's better.

Hey, all you... All you kids.

I accidentally made Miss Pettigrew hurt her leg,

so I'm gonna have to be your teacher for a little while.

I don't know too much about being a teacher, so it's up to you to help me.

- Now, will you help me? - Yes, sir.

Okay. Good. How about you showing me where you sit, huh?

- Where’s your seat, Cathy? - Over there.

There you go, honey.

Um... My desk's over there, Mr. Cartwright.

Go sit down, Mary.

- All right, erase it, Willie. - Why me, Joe?

The name's Mr. Cartwright. I said erase it.

If you say so. Go erase it, Billy.

- Sure, Willie. - Not you, Billy. You.

You know, you really shouldn't get all fretted-up, Mr. Cartwright.

My pa, he always says

a man get fretted-up, he's just gonna wear himself out.

That's right.

A man getting fretted so early in the morning, Mr. Cartwright,

gonna be plumb tuckered out before the day's over.

Yeah, that's right.

I think we had enough school for one day, don't you, Billy?

Yeah.

See you tomorrow, Mr. Cartwright.

"And then, Chicken Little said..."

Uh... "Then Chicken Little said, 'The sky is falling.""

Yes, Cathy?

That's not the way Miss Pettigrew said it.

She did it with different animal sounds.

That was Miss Pettigrew. You don't expect me to do it that way, do you?

- Yes. - Yes, you do.

Well, all right, I'll... I'll try.

"And then Chicken Little said...

'The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

I must go and tell the king. ""

Children, I think I'll find another story to read, all right?

I got a much better one for you.

Chicken Little?

Chicken Little, the sky is falling.

Oh, the sky is falling on my head. Oh, mercy.

You stay right here. I'm gonna go tell the king.

Hey, get back inside. Quick! Quick!

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Where you boys been? I ain't seen you since sun-up.

We've been at school, Pa.

Joe Cartwright, he's taken over for Miss Pettigrew now that she's laid up.

We just kind of been pestering him.

This, uh... Miss Pettigrew.

She ain't got you boys hankering to go to school, has she?

Us, Pa? What would we do with schooling?

Well, there’s them that values it.

It looks to me like we got everything right here we're ever gonna need.

That's right, Pa.

Get out and get your chores done. It's getting late.

- Right, Pa. - Right.

Hey, Joe. Joe, you hear the news?

Chicken Little just came by. The sky falls off till next Thursday.

Hm.

Abby, have you met my friend, Chicken Little?

- What was that all about? - Oh, nothing. He thinks he's funny.

How did your first day go? Many problems?

Well, the McNab boys showed up, if you consider that a problem.

Joe, that's wonderful!

I have been trying to get them to enroll for the past year,

but their father's been dead set against it.

Yeah, well, he's been doing you a favor.

Why? Did they cause you a lot of trouble?

Oh, not too much. They didn't stay in school long enough.

Joe, they need an education.

And if you could just give them the special attention they need...

I'm not gonna bend over backwards for the McNab boys.

If they come back to school, they'll get the same treatment the other kids get.

If they start fooling around, they'll get something the other kids don't get.

- You surprise me. - Why?

I just didn't think you would admit

the McNab boys could get the better of you, that's all.

Well, I didn't say they could. I just said they'd better not try.

I think you have a lot to learn about being a teacher.

Yeah, well, you got a lot to learn about the McNab brothers.

"Time will bring you your reward.

Try, try again.

All that other folks can do, why with..."

Patience.

"patience, should not you?

Only keep this rule in view,

try, try again."

That was very good, Mary.

That was very good, Mary.

Thank you.

Sit down.

We've all been working real hard. You young folks, why don't you take a rest?

The older ones can work on their arithmetic.

- Work on your arithmetic. - Right.

- Mr. Cartwright? - Yeah?

We thought it was getting kind of chilly in here.

So, could we put some more wood on the fire?

Well, that’s very nice, Willie. Thank you.

Mr. Cartwright! You should have seen your face!

- That was real funny, huh? - Yeah.

I just wonder how funny you're gonna look splitting wood this afternoon.

We're gonna need a cord.

Yeah.

One, and I raise you two.

Oh. You see that? For a nice lady, you know a lot about playing cards.

Well, I find it's more knowledge

of the science of mathematical probability is to be great at.

Hey, Joe.

Little late today, huh?

Yeah, I had to keep a couple of little boys after school.

- You tired? - Yeah.

Joe, I hope you're not too tired to read me a story before you go to sleep.

- Yeah, funny. - Owl and the Pussycat's my favorite.

Yeah, it figures.

Perhaps you're finding taking care of a bunch of kids,

to use your words, is more difficult than you thought, Joe.

Was it Willie and Billy that you kept in after school?

Oh, yeah. It was Willie and Billy. Of course I'm not too worried.

I figure in two or three days, they'll stop coming to school.

- That seems like a pity, Joe. - Well, that’s your opinion.

I agreed to teach these kids.

I didn't say anything about raising Willie and Billy McNab.

You know teaching is only a part of a teacher's task.

Concern for the boy's future welfare is the rest of it.

Oh, for some reason, I thought that was their father's job.

They need to look up to someone more than their father, Joe.

- You could be that someone. - Oh, come on, will you, Abby.

These kids don't give a darn about going to school.

- All they want to do is horse around. - Well, maybe they're testing you.

Maybe they want to make sure that you're worthy of their admiration.

The admiration of Willie and Billy McNab are the least of my worries.

I just hope I can keep them from burning the school down.

All right, kids. Come on. Everybody inside. It's late.

Come on! Hurry up!

Come on.

Come on. Inside, everybody. Come on. You too.

All you kids keep your coats on. I'm a little bit late.

- I got to start a fire. - Good morning.

- Good morning, Mary. - Morning, Mr. Cartwright.

- Morning. - What time's recess?

There we go.

We ain't gonna do any writing till our hands warm up.

I'll put some problems on the board and you just shout out the answers.

Four!

All righty. Two plus two.

Four plus four.

Three plus four.

Two plus four.

Four plus four.

All right.

- Mr. Cartwright? - Yeah, Tommy. You got a problem?

No, but I think you do. Look.

All you kids outside. Go on, outside till the smoke clears!

Fire!

Outside till the smoke clears.

Not you two. All right, what did you do to the stove?

Why, Mr. Cartwright, you're plumb suspicious.

When school's over I'm gonna check that stove.

If somebody's been fooling with it, that somebody's gonna be in a lot of trouble.

We'd better get out of here, Mr. Cartwright, it's bad in here.

You'll get out of here when I tell you to. Now, sit down. Sit down!

What’s something like that doing up a chimney, Mr. McNab?

All right.

You want to act like little boys, that's just how I'm gonna treat you.

- Which one of you wants to go first? - Now, hold on, Joe.

It ain't nothing to get in a sweat over.

Just a little old smoke.

I said which one of you wants to go first?

Now, Billy didn't have anything to do with that chimney.

Why don't you just let him get on out of here?

- All right, Billy. Get on home. - I done my share. I want to stay.

Billy, you get.

Look, Joe, you been having yourself a time just playing schoolteacher.

That’s fine. I'm going right along with you.

But a tanning? No.

I'll fight you. I'll fight you like a man and no hard feelings.

Nobody going to pants-whip me but my pa!

Ow!

All right, that's enough, Willie.

I told you that's enough.

Go on, get out of here.

I didn't want to hit him. He didn't give me any choice.

I'm just sorry I let him get to me.

- Well, is he all right? - Oh, he's fine.

I didn't hit him hard. His pride's hurt worse than anything.

One thing for sure, he won't be back to school.

I suppose that's best for both of us.

Joe, that is where you're wrong.

Look, you've accomplished something that I could never do.

Well, I’d like to know what that is.

You've got them to go to school.

Now, regardless of their motives, it's a start.

Now, that is the important thing.

Well, important or not, it's too late. It's over.

Joe, it's not over. You must talk to those boys.

Abby, look, if I couldn't get through to them before

I certainly am not going to be able to get through to them now.

- Joe, as a teacher you... - You keep saying "as a teacher."

I am not the teacher, Abby, you are.

That's right, I am their teacher, and their future is my responsibility.

Now it's your responsibility.

Not anymore.

Joe.

For what it's worth, I think Abby's right.

I'd love to know why you two are getting so upset over the McNabs.

Oh, and you're not?

Pa, I did the best I could.

- And that's the end of it? - Yeah, that's the end of it.

I seem to recall you being sent home from school on several occasions.

I don't remember the teacher quitting on you.

And you didn't quit on me, either.

You set me straight and you sent me back to school.

Why can't their father do the same thing?

I don't know. Why don't you ask him?

You boys staying mighty close to home today, ain't you?

It's Saturday, and we just ain't got nothing to do.

Wouldn't have nothing to do with them bruises you keep trying to hide, would it?

Oh, I seen them last night when you come sneaking in.

- Well, Joe Cartwright. - Hi, Mr. McNab.

- Haven't seen you in a long time. - It's been a while. Good to see you.

- Come and sit a spell. - Thank you.

Billy, Willie, how are you doing?

Pa was wondering why you haven't come by for a visit.

Well, seems the older I get, the closer I stay to home.

Um... You ain't here because of something my boys have done, are you?

Why? Did they say they'd done something?

Well, they said they'd been funning you some,

and last night, Willie come home looking like he'd been in a fracas.

Well, they have been funning me a little bit,

but I don't know anything about a fracas.

You know anything about a fracas, Willie?

- Huh? - You know anything about a fracas?

No, I guess not.

You boys go find yourself some chores. Me and Joe got some talking to do.

Now, then... tell me what's on your mind, Joe.

First, I was wondering when you're gonna butcher.

We'd like some of those hams of yours hanging in the smokehouse.

Ain't gonna be long now. Cold weather's coming in.

- Me and the boys need some things. - Yeah, boys need things.

- They been complaining? - No. No, nothing like that.

Well, they’d better not complain.

They got just about everything a hog farmer needs to have.

What about an education?

- I thought that's why you was here. - All right, that's why I'm here.

I was hoping you'd tell them to go back to school.

- No, sir. I just don't see it that way. - How do you see it?

It's a bunch of foolishness for a hog farmer.

The boys are gonna take over when I leave off.

They got the house, the land, the stock.

You keep saying hog farmer.

I just don't see where it makes any difference what a man does for a living.

He still needs an education.

Joe, I don't want you putting any highfalutin ideas in them boys' heads.

I came here hoping you'd put some highfalutin ideas in their heads.

I can't read or write, and I get along good.

So will they.

I guess that's it then. Be sure to let us know when you get those hams ready.

I'll sure do it.

So long, boys.

Pa, what did Joe have to say?

Said he wanted to buy hams.

Mostly, he just tried to get me to send you boys back to school.

He didn't say anything about me?

Was there some reason he should have said something about you?

- I guess not. - Go on, tell him.

Me and Joe, we locked horns yesterday.

And... Well, he whipped me pretty good.

- I figured as much. - I couldn't go back there now anyhow.

- Why not? - Because I got my pride.

Well, that kind of pride you don't need. I expect you was in the wrong.

If you got to eat crow, eat crow, but you don't have to go back to school.

I just can't see no sense in taking time off from your chores

to learn something you don't need to know.

Pa, you're dead set against us going to school, huh?

I am, but I want to know how you feel about it. You want to go to school?

- No. No, I... I don't want to go. - You want to go to school?

No, I... I don't want to go, either.

It's settled then. I don't want to hear no more about it.

- Willie? - Yeah?

Why do you figure Joe never told Pa about that ruckus you had?

How do I know?

Seems like that would be the first thing a teacher would do.

Why don't you just hush up?

He ain't hardly like any man I ever knowed before.

You did a real fine job.

I can't say doing it was easy.

Pa says if a man's got to eat crow, he should go ahead and eat it.

That the only reason you cleaned the place up?

Look, you didn't tell Pa we had a fight, so I figured I owe you one.

Kind of hoped you did it because you want to come back to school.

We don’t need any schooling, do we, Billy?

Willie, I... I've been thinking.

- You know what Ma used to say... - Hey.

- Just remember what Pa said. - Yeah.

Don't need no schooling to be a hog farmer.

I don't like to go against your Pa, but I think he's wrong.

I think you need schooling.

I think a hog farmer can be a better hog farmer if he's got an education.

Look, Joe... Mr. Cartwright.

We just done made up our minds.

We got a lot of chores to do. Now, come on home.

Now, come on!

Mr. Cartwright, this here is Ma's Bible.

Before she died, she wrote something inside.

I sure would appreciate it if you could read it to me.

Willie?

I guess it don't hurt none.

"My dear sons.

I have so little to leave you, I must count each thing I have with care.

I leave you with my love with the hope it will warm and guide you

through all the years to come.

I leave you the brave plans I had for you...

knowing that, somehow, you will make them real.

And I leave you this book, the word of God, to light your way.

Live by it...

Live by it... and remember my love is with you always."

Thank you, Mr. Cartwright.

It's about time to start school, huh?

- Tommy? - Yeah, Mr. Cartwright?

- Ring the bell. - Sure, Mr. Cartwright.

Good morning, Mr. Cartwright.

Yes, it is, Mary. Yes, it is.

Willie, light a fire.

Yes, sir, Mr. Cartwright.

All right, here we go. "Cat."

- C-A-T. - Good. "Dog."

- Dog. D-O-G. Dog. - "Try."

Try.

T.

R... I.

- Y. Y. Remember that. Y. - Y.

"Now."

Um... N-O-W. Now.

C...

All right, that's enough.

The C's backwards. Just turn it around.

"Is... the... cat...

on... the...

the...

Mat.

Mat?"

Willie!

Very good. Sit down.

- Not too bad, huh? - That was good. That was good.

Billy, you're next.

Go on.

Go on!

Eight, nine, ten, eleven.

- Six and five is eleven... - Willie?

- What? - What’s that word?

"What."

"What" is that word.

Now I lost count.

Four and two is six. Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.

Eleven...

- I thought so. - We was just studying a little bit, Pa.

I can read...

some.

I thought we agreed that hog farmers didn't need no book learning.

Joe Cartwright read us what Ma wrote in our Bible

and we thought she'd like it if we could get some learning.

I could read it to you if you'd like, Pa. I memorized it by heart.

Pa.

Pa, Joe says a man is only half a man without any learning.

All right, kids, come on. Everybody inside.

Come on, hurry up. It's late.

Go on.

Thank you, Mortimer. They're lovely.

Hey. Psst.

Welcome back, Miss Pettigrew.

Thank you, and I'm so glad to be back.

And we're all glad you're back.

We got a surprise for you, a little program planned. Everybody sit down.

All right, Tommy, you can start.

The Gettysburg Address by President Abraham Lincoln.

"Four score and seven years ago,

our fathers brought forth to this continent a new nation,

conceived in liberty

and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war,

testing whether that nation

or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure."

"We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field

as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives

that that nation might live."

"It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot concentrate..."

Consecrate.

"Consecrate.

We cannot hallow this ground.

Brave men, living and dead, who struggled here

have consecrated it far beyond our poor power to add or detract.

The world will..."

Will, good to see you. Why don't you come on in and sit down?

I come for my boys.

I think your boys would like to stay in school.

You two get on home. There's chores to do.

No, Will.

I'm gonna fight you on this. These boys need an education.

Fight me, huh? Now, there's something I been waiting to hear.

Come on outside.

Wait a minute, Will, that’s not what I meant when I said fight.

You told my boys that a man with no learning was only half a man.

Well, I'm gonna prove you wrong.

I'll be waiting for you outside.

Children!

Now, you sit down at your desks.

Children, this will give me an opportunity

to find out just how much you've learned since I've been away.

That's enough, Pa.

Stay out of the way, boys. I'll show him who's half a man.

You're a man, Pa. You proved your point.

So is Joe.

If you're gonna do any more fighting,

you're gonna have to fight me and Billy.

You boys fight me?

Yeah.

Willie, I don't want you fighting your pa.

If schooling for me and Billy is worth Joe fighting for,

I guess it's worth me and Billy fighting for, too, agin you or agin anybody.

You okay, Mr. Cartwright?

Yeah.

Why don't you go finish that program for Miss Pettigrew?

Yes, sir.

The fight's over.

My pa and Joe... Mr. Cartwright are fine.

Oh.

Would it be okay if I went on with the reading?

Please do, Willie.

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here,

but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us, the living rather, to be dedicated here

to the unfinished work

which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated

to the great task remaining before us.

That from these honored dead we take increased devotion,

to that...

to that cause for which they gave their last full measure of devotion.

We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.

That this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom.

And that the government of the people,

by the people, for the people,

shall not perish from the earth."

This has been a color production

of the NBC television network.