"In those trying years of the Depression, the achievements of any Walton family member were a source of pride for all of us." "But the visit to our home of an extraordinary young man gave us all a new, and perhaps more balanced perspective in our views toward academic brilliance." "It happened on a weekend when we were getting ready for a church bazaar." " Jason!" " Hey!" " Have a good day?" " Yeah, how about you?" "It was all right." "Come on." " Smell something?" " Yeah." "Let's go!" " Hi, Mama." "Hi, Grandma." " Hi, Jason." "Get away from the stove." "This is burning hot." "That's what I thought I'd smelled." "English toffee." "Looks good, Granny." "Can we have some?" " Who are you calling "Granny"?" " What's wrong with "Granny"?" "Well, it just sounds old." "I know I'm no spring chicken, but I'm still in the prime of life, remember that." "Can we have some candy, Grandma?" "No, you can't." "It's all for the bake sale." "You can buy some on Sunday." "That sounds crazy to me." "Making candy and buying it back again?" "You're spending money twice." "We get paid for the ingredients out of the proceeds, Ben, so we make out all right." " Where's Mary Ellen?" " She's selling tickets for the bazaar." "Grandma, when we gonna make fudge?" "Later." "John-Boy is picking up the chocolate and sugar on his way home." "Why not charge the money to the church and keep the cash?" " You do have a head for business, Ben." " Well, better go work on my homework." "How's your play coming, Erin?" "I just wish you hadn't talked me into giving Jason the part of Captain Baudricourt." "I know he's not going to learn it." "Last night he wouldn't even read the script." "Tom Waggoner would've been just perfect for the part." "Speaking of Jason, has anybody seen him?" "He's working out in the mill." "Mama, do you think Daddy will come home this weekend?" "You read his letter, Erin, he'll be working." "Do you think Grandpa could make me some kind of suit of armor for my costume?" "If he can spare the time." "But you better ask him quick." "He's working on those boots." "What kind of play are you doing where a girl wears armor?" "Joan of Arc." "The greatest military genius who ever lived, and she was a saint." "Well, now, how can somebody be a military genius, killing people and all and still be a saint?" ""Joan, you are the fairest maiden that has ever delighted these weary eyes." ""But, alas, I fear no man on earth can lift the siege of Orléans," ""much less a frail lass of thy innocence!"" "You're saying it all wrong." "You really expect me to say stuff like that?" "Well, it's the way you say it, stupid." "Recite it right, Jason." "It's pure poetry." "Pure pain in the neck, you mean." "The whole dumb play." "Miss Forrester, I think Dean Beck wants to see me." " It'll be just a minute, Mr. Walton." " Thank you." "Hi." " Hi, John, how's it going?" " Mighty fine." " Mr. Walton." " Thank you." " Neighbor Walton." " Neighbor Beck." " Well, how are you?" " Fine, thank you, sir." "I don't get to see half enough of you around here anymore." " Sit down." "Sit down." " Thank you very much." "How is the family?" "They're fine, thank you." "They ask after you often." "And how is the woodcutting business?" "Well, that could be a little bit better." "Daddy's had to take a job in Norfolk temporarily." "No serious problems I hope." "No, nothing more than is usual these days." "I suppose you want to see me about my physics grade." "Partly." "Your..." "Your grades are passing so far." "But frankly, with your scholarship coming up for review," "I'd sure like to see an A in these records." "Make it a lot easier for me to back up my recommendation for your scholarship." "Well, we didn't have too much advanced math in Miss Hunter's class, but I'm working hard to make it up." "Well, I'll tell you something, neighbor Walton, as far as I'm concerned, the laws and postulates of physics rank very high among the world's unfathomable mysteries." "Nevertheless, the subject is required." "And there is a young man on campus who I think could be of great help to you." "Well, I'd certainly appreciate any help I can get." "Well, I'm sure this student can help you." "But if you don't mind, I'd like to attach a condition to the arrangement." "I would like you to return the favor by giving him some help, too." "Well, certainly." "I'll be happy to." "What subject?" "Take him home with you over the weekend." "The young man's name is Lyle Thomason." "Lyle just turned 16 years of age, and he's a sophomore." "He's 16 and he's a sophomore?" "Very likely, within six or eight weeks he'll be a junior and probably graduate within a year." "Well, I don't see how I could help anybody like that." "Well, I think you can help him a great deal." "Now, I realize this is an imposition on your family." "But if you think your parents wouldn't mind," "I'd appreciate it a great deal." "Well, sure, I'll take him home." "I don't think they'd mind." "But I still don't really understand what his problem is." "Well, I think the young man's problem will become apparent to you very quickly." "But I don't think you should treat him as if he has a problem, understand?" " No, frankly." " You will, Walton." "Just take him home to your family and when you..." "John Walton, may I present Lyle Thomason." "Hello again." "The house is just a few more miles up here, but we're gonna stop off at the General Merchandise store first, if that's all right with you." "I've got to pick up some chocolate and some sugar for my mother." "Church is having a bazaar on Sunday, and Grandma and my sisters are gonna make some candy." "One of my sisters is gonna act in a play that she wrote about Joan of Arc." "Where's your home, Lyle?" "Emporia." "Emporia." "You usually go back there on the weekend?" "No." "I usually spend my weekends in the library." "But sometimes Dr. Ryland lets me use the chemistry labs." "Chemistry." "That's your major, huh?" "No." "Dr. Ryland discussed nephelometric analysis in a paper he wrote last year." "I'm doing some experiments to test the validity of his conclusions." "What is that?" "Nephelometric analysis, what is that?" "It's a means to measure the turbidity of a solution, and determine the effect the turbidity has on the transmission of light." "Oh." "You want to come on in?" "It's not much, but it's the only store we've got." " Hey." " Hey, John-Boy, how's tricks?" "Not bad." "I'd like you to meet Lyle Thomason." "He's gonna spend the weekend with us." "This is Ike and Corabeth Godsey." "How do you do?" "Nice to meet you, young man." "John-Boy, what can we do for you?" "My mama wants five packages of cooking chocolate and 10 pounds of sugar." "Your mama making fudge, John-Boy?" "No, my grandma is gonna make some." "I want some of this candy here, Ike." "Esther's rightfully famous for her fudge." "Mr. Godsey, you'll have to buy me some at the bazaar." "I certainly will, sugar lump." "And you make sure that you tell your grandma to save some of that fudge for me." "You know, when I got to the bazaar last year, it was all gone." " I'll do that, Ike." " I'm making divinity." "It's from an old family recipe." "I brought it all the way from Doe Hill." "We'll be sure to buy some, Corabeth." "I got the sugar here, honey, you put the chocolate in there." "Hey, Lyle." "Why don't you give your luck a try?" "No." "The statistical probabilities of winning any money are very small." "A person would be foolish to waste a nickel against such odds." "I don't know about that." "Easy Jackson, he's a local fellow around here," " he won a jackpot last week, didn't he?" " Yeah, he sure did." "You remember last year, I think it was in the summertime," "Miss Emily Baldwin won the jackpot two times in one afternoon?" "That's right." "All you got to do is get one of those cherries there on the right-hand side and you win four nickels." "Mr. Godsey, I don't think the young man is interested in a game of chance." "It appears there are seven symbols on each of the drums." "Therefore, it would cost 35 cents to get back 20." "Yeah." "But if you get the three bars there, you get a whole hatful of money." "Well, the probability of getting three identical symbols is 49-to-1 against you." "And the chance of getting three bars and a jackpot is only one in 343." "Young man, are you suggesting that we are taking unfair advantage of people?" "I don't think he means any kind of criticism, Corabeth." "Considering the aggregate sum of the various probabilities, the machine would be returning $8.75 for every $10 put into it." "Of course, that's assuming there have been no adjustments designed to return less than chance would predict." "Therefore, if a person induced people to play the machine by promising a profit, it would certainly be fraudulent misrepresentation." "I do vow and declare." " John-Boy..." " We better get on back to the house, Lyle." "Come on." "We'll see you all later." "Bye." "Bye." "Mr. Godsey, are you going to allow that remark to go unchallenged?" "Corabeth, I don't rightly know exactly what he said." "I don't think you should've said those things, Lyle." "I'm sure my figures are correct." "In fact, it's possible there were even more than seven fruit symbols on each of the drums." "I couldn't see them very well." "But in that case, the probabilities of winning are even smaller." "Sounded kind of insulting to me." "Sounded like you were accusing them of cheating." "The man should post a sign explaining the statistical probabilities." "Some people aren't aware of them." " Grandpa." " Hi." "Grandpa, this is Lyle Thomason." " Lyle, huh?" " Yeah." "I'm happy to meet you, young man." " You also a writer?" " No." "No, Lyle's gonna help me out with my physics this weekend." "Oh, is that so?" " I didn't know you took physics, John-Boy." " Oh, yes." "The only physics I ever took was stewed prunes." "You're gonna get used to it." "Grandpa loves to make puns." "Sometimes he just gets started and goes on for days." "Well, you just make yourself at home around here, young man." "I'm happy to have you." "You've just won a great battle." "So you march proudly into the Captain's office, then you turn this side, put down your sword, and then I come in." " Hey, John-Boy." " Hey." "We don't want to interrupt your rehearsal or anything, but this is Lyle Thomason." "This is Jim-Bob and Ben and Jason and Erin Walton." " Hey." " Hi." "Well, go on ahead." "We don't want to disturb anything." "You're not disturbing anything." "All right." "Let's try it again." "Listen, Erin, can I maybe just play my guitar for background music or something?" "I don't want to do this." "Grandma, I hope there's gonna be some room on that stove for me to start supper pretty quick." " This is the last batch." " Hey." " Did you remember the chocolate?" " Yes, I did." " Sugar?" " Yes, it's right in here." "I'd like you to meet Lyle Thomason." "This is my mama, my grandma, Elizabeth, and Mary Ellen." "I hope you'll excuse the mess." "Mama, if it's all right, I've asked Lyle to spend the weekend with us." "Dean Beck suggested that he come home and help me with my physics." "We're happy to have you, Lyle." "Good." "Well, we better go upstairs and put your stuff in my room." "Come on." "Grandma, can we make the fudge now?" " Not until I start supper, you can't." " No." "You can have the bed." "There's a cot down in the barn and I'll get that for myself." "I usually like to sleep with the window open." "If that gets too cold for you, you just let me know." "Why does your grandfather like to make puns?" "I don't know." "I guess he thinks it's fun." "There's really only one part of physics that I'm having trouble with." "And that would be vector analysis." "Most people have trouble with that." "Vectors are simply graphic representations indicating the magnitude and direction of forces." "Most of the problems can be simplified by resolving the vectors into components of right angles to obtain the component of a resultant force in a given direction." "There's one problem in particular that I mean." "A 900-pound weight lifted by a crane with its boom 30 degrees from vertical." "Yeah." "To calculate the horizontal pull on the upper cable, you assume that it is one side of a 30, 60, 90-degree triangle." "Thus, the Pythagorean theorem simplifies it to the equation, x square plus 900 square equals four x square." "Therefore, x is equal to 300, times the square root of three, which is 519.6." "You're..." "So, you're taking the course, too, huh?" "No." "Well, how did you recognize the problem here that, that..." "I glanced through that book once a couple of years ago." "I'm gonna get the..." "I'm gonna get the cot from the barn, okay?" "You just make yourself at home." " Hey, John-Boy." " Grandpa." "Say, what is it that Dean Beck wants you to do for that new boy?" "What?" "What does the dean want you to do with that new boy you have here?" "I don't really know." "Don't talk much, does he?" "Does he ever say anything?" "He shy?" "I don't think he's shy." "He had a lot to say down at Ike's about that slot machine." "Those infernal slot machines." "I don't blame about that." "One-armed bandits with a license to steal." "He's like some kind of Martian or something." "The way he looks at you from out of those glasses, it's like he's examining you from under a microscope." "He's landed here amongst a mess of strangers, maybe he'll loosen up after a while." "Well, I hope so." "Young man, I think you best sit over there in the middle of the table." "That way you can reach out and get your hands on any food you want." "Looks good..." "Thank you." "It would seem impractical to crowd everyone in on the side and leave one chair vacant." "Well, that's Daddy's place." "He's away working in Norfolk." "Grandma, would you say the blessing tonight, please?" "Join hands." "Join hands." "Lord, we thank you for this food and for all the gifts you have bestowed on this family." "We humbly ask thy blessing, and thank you for making us aware of thy everlasting presence." " Amen." " Amen." "Pass the hot dogs." "Do you have any brothers and sisters, Lyle?" "No, I don't have any." "And just what does your daddy do to make a living down there in Emporia?" "He used to be a blacksmith." "But he lost his shop several years ago." " It was in 1932." " Oh, what a shame." "They must have mighty fine schools down there in Emporia." "I didn't go to school in Emporia." "Where did you go to school, young man?" "When I was five years old, my teacher took me to the University of Virginia for some psychometric tests." " Then I went to Chicago." " Why Chicago?" "A special school." "Most of the time, I was being tested and interviewed by psychologists." "I spent 10 years there." "It was very interesting." "When did you see your parents in all that time?" "Almost every year I went home for two or three days." "That's all?" "Must've been hard on you." "Now you're closer, so you get to see them more often." "I don't go home very often." "My mother and father can't read or write." "And they moved, too, since they lost the shop." "Somewhere near the edge of town." "Well, I'll tell you something." "Lyle's a real wiz in physics." "Boy, he can remember problems word for word he hasn't seen in years." "What's your secret, Lyle?" "I have a photographic memory." "Dr. Elliot at the University of Chicago thought it was very interesting." "My IQ is so high they don't have any test that can measure it." "It's unusual in such cases for a subject such as myself to have a photographic memory." "Well, well." "I knew a man once who had a phonographic memory." "He said "photographic," not "phonographic."" "Yes, Esther, phonographic memory." "He never could forget a song once he heard it on the Victrola." " Lyle, would you like some corn bread?" " Yes." "This food is good." "Thank you very much, Lyle." "I, too, shall partake of more legumes if yon fair maiden will transport the vessel hence." " What?" " Yeah, me, too, sire." "I, too, my Lord." "I'm glad to hear that you fellows seem to be enjoying your sister's play." "Well, I'll tell you one thing." "It's improved your language already 100%." "I hope you'll come to church with us on Sunday, Lyle, and to the bazaar." "I don't go to church." "How'd you get out of it?" "I have no reason to go." "Don't you believe in God?" "He didn't say that." "He just doesn't go to church." " But you are a Christian?" " No." "There's no reason why he has to be a Christian." "Most of the people in the world aren't Christians." "In fact, if we'd all been born in India, we'd probably all be Hindus." "That makes it even worse." "He was born right here in Virginia." "But that doesn't mean he doesn't believe in God." "What do you believe in, Lyle?" "Primitive people manufacture gods and religions to account for unexplained natural phenomena." "But superstitious beliefs and religions are a hindrance to scientific thought." "Intelligent people avoid them." "On the other hand, no one's ever proved that God doesn't exist, have they, Lyle?" "That would be trying to prove a negative, which is logically impossible." "You see, unless a positive concept is first established and proven, a negative cannot be defined." "Thus, the negative concept cannot be subjected to analysis for verification." "When you reach the end of your days and face your maker, you're gonna hear more negatives than you ever realized existed." "Now, Esther." "He's young." "He might get over it." "Don't "now, Esther" me." "I know when I'm being called stupid." ""Superstitious beliefs." Some things have to be taken on faith." "Professor Carlton hypothesizes that..." "I won't hear any more blasphemies in this house." "Stay." "When dinner's over, we're..." "Grandpa and I are gonna go down to the church and fix up some booths for the bazaar." "You want to come and help us out?" "No." "Eat your supper." " Don't do that." " Why not?" "You'll shake all the parts loose." "I may shake it all back together again." "It's not working the way it is right now." "I bet you it's the crystal." "I bet you don't even know where the crystal is." "I do, too." "That's the crystal right there." " It is not." "That's the crystal." " That's right." "Who built the set?" " We all put a hand into it." " Yeah, but it doesn't work now." "Try it again." "This antenna's too short and it's not attached properly." "Jason needed some wire, so he cut the antenna in half." "Well, the antenna should be as high and unobstructed as possible." "However, since your antenna's so short," "I think we may use an expedient." "Lyle, what are you doing?" "Bedsprings make an excellent antenna." "Strange as it may seem, the antenna may serve two opposite purposes." "At the transmitting station, the antenna sends out into space radio waves which have been converted from sound waves by the transmitting set." "Sure, Lyle, whatever you say." "At the receiving end, the antenna catches the radio waves and leads them into the receiver where they are converted into sound waves again." "Actually, it is possible to construct certain special arrays known as "beams," which greatly magnify... the signal." "You still writing that letter to Daddy?" "Seems so much to tell him." "I wrote one." "Here, would you mind sending it with yours?" "It's going to be a sizable envelope." "This is from Elizabeth." "She must've spent hours making all those X's and O's." "Jim-Bob signed his name under "Miss you."" " Yeah." " Erin's is as thick as a book." "You got a lot of postage there." "I don't care how much it costs as long as your Daddy knows how much we miss him." "Good night." "Hi." "What're you doing?" "Just putting some notes down before they fly out of my head." "What are these notes for?" "I'm writing a novel about the Mountain." "I find most novels a waste of time." "Oh, really?" "Most of them present highly romanticized representations of life." "Still, you ought to be given credit for taking on such a task at a comparatively young age." "Well, thank you very much." "You comfortable here?" "Yes, I'm fine." "I was surprised that you asked me to come to your house for the weekend." "Dean Beck said that I would enjoy it." "Well, are you enjoying yourself?" "I don't get along with people very well." "I never had any brothers or sisters." "All the time I lived in Chicago, I never had any friends except psychologists and professors." "I guess everyone thought I was different." "You're smarter than anybody I know." "Yes, that's true." "Your sister seems to be very intelligent." "The oldest one." " Mary Ellen?" " Yes." "Yes, she is bright." "Most girls seem to have no interest in intellectual matters." "They're very hard to talk to." " Do you have trouble talking to girls?" " Sometimes." "What do you usually discuss with them?" "As in the case of your sister." "What kind of things should I talk to her about?" "Well, I don't know." "You just talk about what you think might interest her." "I mean, Mary Ellen has lots of interests." "I was at the World's Fair at Chicago once." "They had lots of interesting exhibits." "You see, that's perfect." "Mary Ellen always likes to keep up with what's going on in the world." "It's a great idea." "Come along." "The sad thing about him is, Grandpa, he seems to know he rubs people the wrong way." "That shows there's some hope for the boy genius." "I'd just like to see him smile every once in a while." "I don't see how you can think he's so smart." "He don't even laugh at my jokes." "You gonna need me much longer?" "Oh, no." "But I would like you'd try on that armor I made there for Erin." " I want to see how it looks." " That's what that is." " How do I put it on?" " Slip it over your head." " Which way?" "This way?" " Try it on." "I'll tell you, I don't think Erin's ever gonna get that play put on, the way she's having trouble with her actors." "They all keep complaining till the curtain goes up and then they'll start putting on the dog." "I think this looks great, Grandpa." "Yeah, you can run along now." "I know you're anxious to get back to the physics and that boy genius of yours." "Well, I am, but I'm not too sure about him." "I think he's got a crush on Mary Ellen." "I wouldn't be at all surprised." "She's about the only one of the family that's spoken up for him." "I reckon he's human after all." "I wouldn't be too sure about that." "Well, one thing's for sure." "His mind isn't on vector analysis right now." "Hello, Lyle." "At the Chicago World's Fair they had some hybrid turnips that weighed six pounds." "They grew them without soil, in water treated with chemicals." "Is that so?" " It was very interesting." " I'll bet." "They also had a display demonstrating the synthetic ammonia process for making fixed nitrogen for fertilizers." "Most of the nitrates for fertilizer used to come from Chile." "But now almost all fertilizer is manufactured synthetically." "Lyle, is that what you came out to the garden for?" "To talk to me about manure?" "They also had an astronomical exhibit." "Since they found the planet Pluto in 1930, some astronomers believe there are even more planets beyond that." "Well, maybe if they keep searching, they'll discover a planet with life on it." "They don't search for them visually." "They usually find new planets through mathematical calculations based on the irregular motion of other planets." "Then they fix the probable position before they even attempt to look..." "Why'd you do that?" "Because I felt like it." "But I'm all wet." "Yes, the evidence would seem to indicate that." " I guess I better get some dry clothes." " That would be a good idea." "I think I'll do that now." "To me it looked like the romance is over before it got started." "Yeah, she tried to baptize him into the human race." "Didn't work." "And this maiden, who claims to hear the voice of Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret, is guilty of witchcraft and hearsay and must be put into irons." ""Heresy," Ben." "I keep telling you it's her-esy!" "If you don't do these things right, you're just gonna make fools of yourselves in front of everybody and ruin the whole play." "Well, if you want everybody to laugh at you, then it's fine with me." "I don't understand this." "She just won the battle for them and they're all mad at her." "Don't you see?" "Because she is pure and inspired." "And she's a saint." "Men can't stand for a woman to be so perfect, so they're gonna burn her at the stake." "That wouldn't be such a bad idea." "Hey!" "Hey, Blue." "Lyle." "I've been thinking about one of those problems there." "You know, the one with the 100-pound force and the 32-degree angle." "Would I use the sine function or the cosine function for that?" "Cosine of 32 degrees times the tangent of 48 degrees." "The answer is 0.9418." "Your sister sprayed me with water." "All I did was tell her about the World's Fair." "I know." "Probably means she likes you." "No, really." "I mean, if she didn't like you she'd probably just ignore you." "Unless she was mad at you." "Is there some reason that she should be mad at you?" "No." "She seemed to think it was amusing." "That probably means she likes you." "That doesn't make any sense." "It's not logical." "I know it's not logical, but it's probably the truth." "If people show their friendship by attacking each other, it's not surprising there's so much conflict in the world." "Obviously, there was an emotional basis for your sister's behavior." "Such actions indicate an undisciplined mind." "Lyle, there are other things in the world besides disciplined minds and logic." "Like having fun sometimes." "By that I presume you mean engaging in enjoyable activities." "Yes, that's exactly what I mean." "Well, for me, working on difficult mathematical problems is enjoyable." "But I don't get people all wet while I'm doing it." "In primitive cultures, love and affection were considered signs of insanity." "Young people weren't allowed to choose their own mates." "Altogether I think that's a much more sensible way of doing things." "Tell me, are these the same primitive people that you were talking about before, the ones that manufacture all the gods and the religious superstition?" "Well, at least everybody knows their lines." "And if the boys don't act silly, it should be okay." "I'm sure the boys will do just fine." "Jason." "Mary Ellen, don't you think you ought to apologize to Lyle for squirting water at him?" "It was just a friendly squirt, Mama." "I don't believe our company considered it to be a friendly squirt." "Grandpa, do you think you could paint my armor white and the cross in the front red?" "I think so." "We got some leftover paint in the barn." "I'll need some flowers to decorate Blue for the mule races." "How much money do you figure to pull in on this bazaar?" "We've already sold $10 worth of tickets for the play." "And all the cakes and candies ought to bring in at least $25 more." "I'm gonna make $600,000 selling rides on Blue." "Lyle, are you gonna buy some fudge?" "You want some of Grandma's fudge, you better put your order in fast, because it's famous all over the county." "It seems to me trying to raise money by baking things and selling them to each other is just a waste of effort." "Why is that?" "When people exchange food, there's never any economic gain for the community." "It'd be a lot simpler and a lot more logical just to give the money to the church." "The church would be glad to take your money if you wanna make a contribution, young man." "That's not really the point, Lyle." "People enjoy getting together at the bazaars." "And the money is for a good cause." "It's for a family where the father is out of work and the mother is expecting her seventh child." "I hope it's a girl." "They've already got five boys." "It seems kind of foolish for a family to have more children when they can't even support those they already have." "Giving money to people like that is just like rewarding them for their lack of prudence." "Young man, that may be so where you come from." "But up here, we consider the Claytons to be fine, upstanding people, always ready to help others when in distress." "We consider that to be a more rewarding virtue than the marital prudence." "Grandpa, could we just not go round and round again?" "I think everybody's got chores to do." " Yeah." " Yeah." "We gotta go through the play one more time." " Do we have to go through that..." " Yes, we do." "I'm sick of that." "But you're not gonna get me to put on any of them funny hats." "I am the director." "You do what I say." "For one nickel, be the one to knock down one of these little things..." "Throw three bean bags." "There's the first throw." "The gentlemen misses but there's always a chance." "Try with this one right here." "Always a winner every single time, and here is the balloon for you." "Step right up and get your three throws, and try your skill and have a thrill." "Step right up." "Don't be fickle, pay a nickel." "Test your skill and have a thrill." "Three throws for one nickel." "You knock down one of these little things and get yourself a nickel." "Knock down the young lady doll, or knock down the old gentleman doll." "We have a gentleman here with a nickel, gets three throws, three bean bags." "That's your first throw." "There's always a chance." "You'll have two more chances." "The young gentleman is gonna try again." "And he misses again." "Try for this one right here, young man." "As I said once before, one blue coupon, one five cent coupon will stand you an opportunity to win yourself one balloon of any color you should choose." "Step right up." "Test your skill and have yourself a thrill." "Here we have a young lady with a five cent blue coupon." "She gets herself three, I count, one, two, three bean bags to knock down one of these lovely dolls here." "She makes her first throw and unfortunately, it's a miss." "But never fear, there are two more chances." "The young lady winds up for her second throw and unfortunately again, it falls short of the mark." "But for her third throw, there's a last and final chance." "She makes her third throw and knocks down the doll, and she wins a beautiful blue balloon." "There's a winner each and every time." "Would you like to test your luck, Lyle?" "Here we have a young gentleman who's got himself a blue five cent coupon." "Bring me a little bit of lemonade, will you, honey?" "Mama!" "Mama, look what I won!" "Is that one of Maude Gormley's delicious coconut cakes?" "Yes, I believe it is." "Mrs. Gormley, yes." "How much she asking for that cake?" "It says 35 cents here, but since you seem to have taken such a shine to it" "I'll give it to you special price, 50 cents." "All right, Zebulon, since it's for a good cause." "One of the cherries is missing." "Thank you." " Grandpa, what're you doing?" " What are you doing?" "I'm gonna pass out some samples." "Not that whole plate." " Mr. Walton." " Miss Baldwin." "Hello." "I do believe we found the famous Walton fudge." " Olivia." "Mrs. Walton." " Ladies." "It's always a highlight of the bazaar to buy some of your fudge." "And take it home where it is consumed with much joy." "If only Dr. Mclvers hadn't said that we should limit ourselves to much smaller quantities." "Bad for the health, don't you know?" "We'll have two pounds." "The fudge or the toffee?" " Both!" " Both!" "Why don't you do the toffee and I'll do the fudge?" " That's 25 cents apiece." " Oh, yes." "It's not my fault." "He's been acting stupid all day." " So what do we do now?" " Let's look for him." " We didn't forget you, Ike." " Thanks, Liv." "That'll be 40 cents." "I almost forgot." "Let's see, 35, 40." "Now, I gotta go find Corabeth and buy some divinity." "Mama, Jason's quit the play and we're supposed to start in 10 minutes." " Why'd he do that?" " I don't know." "He's just being silly." "He walked out and said he was going home." " Grandpa." " Yeah." "Grandpa, Jason's quit Erin's play." "Would you see if you can find him and get him to come back?" " He's not gonna come back." " Why not?" "Because Erin got mad and said he was a terrible actor and he said that we could do a better job without him." "Well, he's been acting awful all day." "You two keep on looking for him." "I'll try and find him." "See if I can patch it up." "The young lady with one baby blue nickel coupon is entitled to the one, two, three, count them, three gigantic bean bags." "And an opportunity to knock down any one of these beautiful dolls." "She winds up..." "Hold on, just a minute." " What?" " John-Boy, Jason quit the play." "Do you think you can take his part?" "Mama, there's all these children here, waiting." "I'm making a lot of money." "I can't..." "Why don't you get him..." "Why don't you get him to do it?" "He's been standing underneath that tree all day long." " You think he would?" " Well, I don't know..." "Let go of those." "I think it'd be good for him." "We can try." "You kids wait here." "It'll only take about 20 minutes, Lyle." "If you don't do it we're gonna have to give back everybody's money." " No." " Lyle." " No!" " Why not?" "I have no experience in the field of dramatics." "But that doesn't matter." "Lyle, you could memorize the whole part in five minutes." "And nobody's expecting any great performance." "It's all for fun." "I think this all could have been anticipated from the way your brother was behaving yesterday." "I don't think it's fair of you to ask me to save the situation by making a fool of myself." "I think you made a fool of yourself already, Lyle." "You know, you've been with us for three days now and the only nice thing that you said to anybody, and believe me, that hasn't been much, is you said that you thought the food was good." "Aside from that, you've made it clear that you think we're stupid for going to church, that you think we're even dumber for the way we raise money to try to help our neighbors." "You've made it completely clear that you don't care about us, that you don't care about Ike and Corabeth Godsey, that you don't care about anybody else on Walton's Mountain." "Now, you may be smart now, so that you can spend the rest of your life and you don't ever have to ask anybody for any help." "You don't ever have to say things like" ""yes" and "please" and "thank you" and "hello" and be polite." "Things like that." "You may be so smart that you don't ever need anybody, but if that's the way you're gonna live your life, you're gonna be very lonely." "And you're probably gonna spend the rest of your life standing under a tree like this one." "You know what really makes me angry?" "You know what really irritates me about you, Lyle?" "It's the fact that underneath all of that..." "Those facts and the statistics, and all that logic, I think you're a likable guy." "You're just too darn stubborn to let anybody else see it." "Hey, Lyle." "How's it going, boy?" " Want to try some toffee?" " No." "I'm surprised Jason would do such a thing." "If he doesn't come back," "I think we should call the whole thing off and let him bear the burden." "You know, after all that rehearsing, I'd like to see that play." "I guess I can read it from the script." "It'll just look so stupid." "Where's Mary Ellen?" "She's in church trying to calm down Erin." "John-Boy, you better make that announcement." " Okay." " Ladies and gentlemen." "Ladies and gentlemen." "Everybody." "In five minutes, the play is going to begin." "If you don't have your ticket yet, you can still buy them here." "The play is Joan of Arc starring Erin, Ben, and Jim-Bob Walton." "And we have a special visiting actor from Emporia, Virginia." "Lyle Thomason." "I can't find hide nor hair of Jason." "They've got something." "Captain Baudricourt!" "Captain Baudricourt!" "Captain Baudricourt, sir!" "The maiden has arrived." "The maiden from Domrémy, sir." "She's here to see you." "She came about an hour ago, sir." "She's here with a Monsieur Jean de Metz." "Right out there." "They came by..." "They're right out there." "Is that..." "Is that the foolish girl who claims she speaks to God?" "Yes, sir." "She demands your audience." "Very well." "Send her in." "What is this nonsense about you wanting to raise the siege of Orléans?" "It is not nonsense." "It is exactly what I propose to do." "Are you mad?" "Who sent you to me?" "The Lord has sent me, Squire." "For it is his wish that I lead our armies against the British." "Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret have promised that my holy..." "Mission." "Mission will result in victory for France!" "You, de Metz!" "Do you believe this idiotic child has the ear of God?" "Or is she suffering hallucinations?" "I do believe she is a saint, Squire." "We wish only your blessings and that you give us horses to deliver our task." "Go then!" "Go to your deaths, if that is your wish!" "I am plagued with an army of incompetents, betrayed by the foul Burgundians, and confronted with the cannon and treachery of 10,000 Englishmen!" "And now this demented child with her saintly delusions beseeches me to give up my command to her foolish dreams." "Go then!" "You shall have it!" "Take horse and sword and your saintly visions, and be off with you!" "God bless you, Squire." "You know what the Baldwin sisters did?" "They bought four of Mary Breckenridge's cakes, and then gave them back to us so we could sell them again." "All right." "You know, some people do God's work without even knowing it." "Everything was sold by 3:00." "How much money did we take in altogether?" "$48 including the play tickets." " Was there any fudge left over?" " No fudge." "No." "This man, his name was Zebulon Walton, bought two whole pounds of it." "That was just for my sweet tooth, Elizabeth." " Didn't you buy any?" " Grandpa." "It was a great success." "Everyone loved the play and I think you were all wonderful." "The best part was when Jim-Bob hit Ben over the head with his sword and the end broke off." "The end that broke off hit me right in the rear." "And that look on your face wasn't very saint-like, Erin." "Aren't you sorry you walked out on us, Jason?" "You could've stayed and become a big theater star." "Oh, yeah." "No, Grandpa." "I was sitting in the bushes the whole time just hoping somebody would come along and take my part." "You were much better than I would've been." "Lyle, we really appreciate what you did for us." "I think you did a real good job." "I think you ought to give up physics altogether and just take up professional acting." "I'd like to thank you all for having me here as a houseguest." "I also want to tell you how much I like all of you, but I can't find the exact words to say, so..." "I guess I'll just have to demonstrate my affection." "Lyle Thomason came back to stay with us several more times, and we enjoyed his visits very much." "He did indeed prove to be a decent, kind, and very likeable human being." "But what pleased us even more was that after that weekend," "Lyle spent almost all of his free time visiting his own parents." "I'm glad I don't have a photographic memory." "Why wouldn't you like to have one, Jim-Bob?" "There are a lot of things I'd like to forget." "Like my grade in civics." "I knew a fellow once had a phonographic memory." "Old man, now that wasn't funny the first time you told it." " Why are you laughing, Esther?" " Why are you laughing, Grandma?" "Zebulon, you stop that." "Now, don't do that!" "What's he doing, Grandma?" "Oh, my Lord, he's tickling me." "Stop it now this minute or I'll go sleep on the sofa." "Good night, old darling." "Good night." "English"