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June 26, 2024 58 mins
The Mercury Theatre on the Air was a captivating radio series created and hosted by Orson Welles. This weekly hour-long show featured live radio dramas performed by Welles’s celebrated Mercury Theatre repertory company. They presented classic literary works, accompanied by music composed or arranged by Bernard Herrmann.

The series began in July 1938 and aired on the CBS Radio network. Notably, their broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” on October 30 caused quite a stir, allegedly leading to panic among listeners. After this memorable episode, the Campbell Soup Company became the show’s sponsor. The Mercury Theatre on the Air concluded its run on December 4, and shortly thereafter, The Campbell Playhouse took its place.

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Episode Transcript

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(00:00):
The Mercury Theater on the Air.No theatrical organization has done more in recent

(00:30):
years to stimulate interest in the Americanstage than the Mercury Theater, whose outstanding
productions of last winter, under thedirection of Orson Wells, were the sensation
of the theatrical season. Julius Caesarin Modern Dress, The Shoemaker's Holiday,
Mark Blitstein's The Cradle Will Rock,Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House proved to the public
the vitality and genius of this neworganization. This summer, the Columbia Network

(00:53):
introduced Orson Wells and his company forthe first time to radio, and tonight
we present the Mercury Theater on theAir in the fifth broadcast of its unique
news series, dramatizing famous narratives bygreat authors. CBS again welcomes mister Wells
and his associates to Columbia stations andto the stations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporations.
And here is Austin Wells to tellyou about these stories himself. Mister

(01:17):
Wells, good evening tonight. Asyou were duly warned last week, we
are trying out something altogether new.We are telling three stories instead of one,
three short stories instead of a singlelong one stories about love and ghosts
and horse races, three stories andthe first person singular about young people for

(01:38):
grown ups. I'm a Fool bySherwood Anderson is the first of the three.
It began at three o'clock one Octoberafternoon. So I sat on the

(02:01):
grand stand the fault trotting and pacingmeat, Sandusky, Ohio. It was
a good hot joel for me,and the dog came about through my own
foolishness too. Summer before I'd leftmy home town with a fella called Bert
French with two horses that was campaigningthrough the race meats that year. Shit
was fun. We had Besephalers,a big black pacing stamion that could do

(02:23):
two o nine or two ten ifyou had to, and a little gelding
called Doctor Fritz that never lost arace all four and Bert wanted him to
win. See was it was fun. He got to a county seat town,
maybe saying on a Saturday or Sunday, and the fair began the next
Tuesday. And you took your horsesto the track and fed'em, and
got your good clothes out of abox and put'em on, And the

(02:44):
town was full of farmers gaping becausethey could see you were horse race people.
And you went into a saloon,the two of you, Burt and
I, and all the dudes cameand stood around asking questions. And all
you did was to lie and lieall you could about what horses you had.
And I said I owned'em.And and some fella'd ask us to
have a drink of whiskey with him, and birdd lead him on. Uh

(03:07):
what was that you said? She? I asked you, gentlemen, I
du'd I have a drink with me? Oh wait, all right, I'm
Agreeable'll do a little nit here.Didn't wanna lose sh I'll spin a quart
with you. Gee whiz, thatisn't what I wanna tell my story about
it. We got home late November, and I promised mother I'd quit the

(03:28):
races for good. It's a lotof things you gotta p promise the mother
because she don't know anybody. Igot a job driving a laundry van.
And then as I started to tellyou, the four race came to Sandusky.
I got the day off. Mywind had on my good clothes and
my new born Derby hat and astand up collar. I had forty dollars
in my pocket and three twenty fivecents of gars, and drink a whiskey

(03:51):
inside. And then it was broughtme at the West House by a fella
with a cane and a Wednesday tie. She had. Was fun being on
a track again. Tell you aboutfine bye, come on on that.
I looked around for Bert French,and there he was standing around with his

(04:11):
horses. Hello, Bert, Whyhello, Joe, I have been Bert
ne better see you've got no money? Joe? Sure? How would you
like to watch it? Bro mightfind Bert? All right, come over
here then I'll tell you something.Listen, Joe. In the second race,
the two eighteen pace, there's ahorse. I'm hamdlon abdal beIN Hammon.

(04:32):
There he is number seven. ThatGilden's as fast as freak. Joe
longshore fellow called Mather and Mary atOhio. We got him marked at two
twenty one. But he can stepin, oh ah gee, in the
first heat. Don't you touch him. He'll go around like an oxen hitch
to applow. After that you goright down and lay on your fire.

(04:54):
Thanks burn a lot, have acigar, well, thanks Joe, well,
sir, I went and bought myselfthe best seat I could get,
right in the grandstand. I didn'tgo in for any of those boxes,
and that's putting on too many years. Well, right in front of me
in the grandstand that day, rightin front, there was a fellow with

(05:15):
a couple of girls, and theywas about my age. The young fellow
was the nice guy, alright,and he had his sister with him and
another girl, and a sister lookedaround over his shoulder accidentally at first,
not intending to start anything. Shewasn't that kind, and her eyes and

(05:35):
mind happened to me, you know, just see, she was a peach.
She had on a soft dress,kind of blue stuff. And I
blushed when she looked right at me, and so did she. She was
the nicest girl I ever seen inmy life. She wasn't stuck on her
own. She could talk, youknow, a proper grammar without being like
a school teacher or something like that. What I mean is she was okay.

(06:05):
Then pretty soon the horses came outfor two eighteen paces, and there
was Bird's horse in among the restI have been on this time. What
do you say you know as muchabout him? Riding on hank, ma'am.
That mayor couldn't beat a street car. And they looked up kind of
surprised, but they didn't seem madanyway. I'd done it now and I

(06:28):
might as well go on. There'sa horse in that's right, number seven.
That's the fastest, DrAk adro benHammett. That's right, adro ben
Hammett. But look, don't yougo letting on this the first heat,
because don't bet on him, becausehe'll pay it like a lame car,
you see, if he don't.But when the first heat is over,
go right down, lay a pileon Addre ben Hammett. He'll come right

(06:49):
out and skin him alive. That'sthe dope. Well, that's what I
told her. Gee, you shouldhave seen the way they looked at me.
And then you know what she did, And she whizz She asked this
man it was with her, wilburWell, she asked him. And there
was a fat man sitting beside thelittle girl that had looked at me twice

(07:10):
by this time, and I hadhearn both blushing, And what did that
young fella do? Would have thenerve to turn and ask the fat man
to get up? And change priceswith me so I could set with his
crowd. I want you to meetMiz eleanor Woodbury, praise to meet you.
And this is my sister, LucyWilson. My name's Wilbur. I
suppose it was they're having such swellnames got me off my trolley. And

(07:31):
then that girl, you know,how felly is this something? That kind
of nice clothes and the kind ofnice eye she had, the way she
looked at me, and a whilebefore over her brother's showed her and me
looking back at her, and bothof us blushing. I couldn't show up
for a boob, could I?I I made a fool of myself,
That's what I did. Glad toknow y'all. My name's Wala Mapus from

(07:55):
Marietta, Ohio. How it's agirl Wilburgh, I think, And did
you ever think you told good winsto Mason? Then I told him all
the smashingest lie you ever heard.I said, my father owned this horse,
you know, bu Ben Adam issupposed to be a secret because our
family was proud and never gone infor racing that way, adroll ben Hammett.

(08:16):
I mean, here's what I thinkof that horse, Wilbur, would
you do me the favor when yougo down to place these thirty bills on
Abdroll Ben Hammett at whatever arch youcan get just about there in the bells
the first heat come off, andsure enough Abdoll Ben Hammond went off as
dride up the back stretch and lookedlike a wooden horse or a sick one
came in to be last. Seefolks, what I tell you like a
land kal. Certainly we're right,mister Mason. And this Wilmer Weston went

(08:39):
down to the Betton Place un ofthe grandstand, and this missus Woodbury with
him and Lucy Weston and I wasleft alone together like on a desert island.
Why Christ ride? What about thegenius? Lucy gee? I?

(09:05):
I'm like, sure, you're aplace down in Marietta. It's it's on
a hill, a great old redbrick house with the stables behind it,
way up on a hill up abovethe Ohio River. I like, lily.
Her eyes were shining, and thenshe kind of with her shoulder,
you know, kind of touched me, not just tucking down. I I

(09:30):
don't mean, man, you knowhow a woman can do They get close
but not getting gay either, youknow what they do. See as I
begin to wish I was on thesquare with her and to see what a
fool i'd been, But there wasn'tany way of getting myself on the square.
Now, there ain't any wall thatmaye this, like I said doing.
There ain't ever been one. Butif there was, I bet I'd
go to Marrietta, Ohio and shoothim tomorrow. M Then Wilbur Weston came

(09:54):
back with miss wood Brian. He'dgone and bet fifty dollars on his horse,
and the girls had gone put inten dollars d to their own money
too. Gee. I was sickthen, but came out okay. Then
Adams stepped on three weeks like abush with spoiled eggs, going to the
market before they could be found out. Nothing is coming up, coming up,

(10:20):
I'm going to have it. Well. Well, we all got nine

(10:43):
to two for our money. Afterrace, we had a hack downtown and
Wilbur stood as a swell supper atthe west House and a bottle of champagne
besides. And there was I withthat girl, big boat that I am.
She wasn't saying much and I wasn'tsaying much either. One thing.
I know she wasn't stuck on mebecause the lie about my father being rich

(11:05):
and all that. The there's away, you know, craps some money.
There's a kind of girl you seejust once in your life. You
don't get busy and make hay,then you're gone for good and all.
You might just as well go jumpoff a bridge, because what it means
is you want that girl to beyour wife, and you want nice things
around her, like nice flowers andswell clothes, and wanted to have the
kids you're gonna have. You wantgood music played and not ragtown. She

(11:30):
was, Well, there's a placeover near Sandusky, across a kind of
bay, and it's called Cedar Point. After we'd had suffer, went over
to it in a launch, justthe four of us by ourselves. What
times the train do you wild?Forty? And is that the last train?
Yeah, that's the last train?Oh Shaw. Well over at Cedar

(11:58):
Point. We didn't stay around wherethere was a game a common cattle at
all the big dance halls and diningplaces for you absent. There was a
a beach you could walk along andget where it was dark. We went
there she didn't talk hardly at all. When we needed to die, I
was thinking how glad I was.My mother was alright, always made us

(12:20):
kids, learned to eat with afork at table, and I'd spilled soup
and up being nice and rough likeagain you see around the race track,
you know that way, Hey,loosey lusey went all to beat you wait
and go on ahead. We'll waitfor you here. I feel kind of
tired, don't you. Huh yeah, I guess so, miss Lucy.

(12:46):
Why don't we sit down a ground? It's nice here, Lucy and I
sat down in a dark place wherethere was some roots, old trees,
and the water had washed up thatgood. How smooth it is. It's
like silk. Yeah, And therewas a watery smell, and the night

(13:09):
was like as if you could putyour hand out and feel it, so
warm and soft and dark and sweetlike an orange. After that, the
time when we had to go backin the launch and they had to catch

(13:31):
their train was nothing at all.Went like wink in your eyes, noisy,
nosy, move, I've got togo. We've got to go to
the train now. When do youkiss me goodbye? She was most crying

(13:54):
then, but you never knew nothing. I knew she couldn't be you saw.
I busted up, and I wasge would sometimes I hope I have
cancer and die. I guess youknow what I mean. We went in
the launch across the bay to thetrain like that, and it was dark

(14:16):
too. What are you thinking about? She only she knew you knew what
I was thinking. What I wasthinking. You and I could get out
of this boat right this minute.Them walk on the water sounded foolish,
all right, but I knew whatshe meant. And then quick, we're

(14:48):
right at the depot and it's abig gang of yepps, crowded, miling
around like cattle. And how couldI tell her it won't be long because
you're riding all answer you. Igot a chance like a hay barn a
fire, a swell chance. Ican got to answer her by comment,
Yeah, maybe she'd write me downat very out of that way. And

(15:11):
the letter had come back and stampedon the front of it by the USA.
There ain't any such guy or somethinglike that. However, they stamp
on a letter that way, thanksfor the tip off, Bye bye bye
and bye, and that train went. I busted out and cried like a

(15:46):
kid. Gee, I could haverun after that train and made man of
war look like a freight train aftera wreck. But sucks a mighty goose.
Did you ever see such a foolme trying to pass myself off for
a big bug and a swell toher? Did you ever see such a

(16:11):
fool? I bet you would.If I had an arm broke right now,
or a train had run over myfoot, I wouldn't go to no
doctor at all. I'd go sitdown, let it hurt and hurt.
That's what I do, big foolthat I am. I'll bet you what
I bet you if I hadn't drunkthat booze, I never been such a
boob as to go tell such alie, a lie that could never be

(16:34):
made straight to a lady like her. I wish I had that fellow right
here that bought me that drink.I'd smash him for fair gush Downy's eyes.
He's a big fool, that's whathe is. If I'm not another
you just go and find me one. I'll quit working and be a bum.
Give him my job. I don'tcare for working and earning and saving

(16:56):
it for no such boob as myself. The second story of tonight's program by
Orson Wells on the Mercury Theater isThe Open Window by Saki. My name

(17:30):
is drampt in Mettle. I ama very nervous man. The doctor's not
entirely in agreement in the matter withmy diet. They have agreed to a
man in ordering me complete rares anabsence of mental excitement, and avoidance of
anything in the nature of violent physicalexercise. It was the doctor's idea that

(17:53):
I should go to the country fora week for my health, but it
was my sister Nuttle who insisted onMoule Bearrington. I know how it will
be, Frampton. You will buryyourself down there and not speak to a
living soul, and your nerves willbe worse than ever from moping. I'm
not given to moping. The TOLDO, oh, yes you are, Frampton.

(18:15):
I shall give you letters to allthe people I know in Moe Beddington.
Some of them, as far asI can remember, are quite nice.
You will call on them. Thatis how I came to visit missus
Sappleton. Hello, I would liketo see missus Sappleton. My name is

(18:36):
Frampton. Nuttle. Really I havea letter to missus Sappleton from my sister.
I see, won't you come inand sit down? I was led
into the drawing room by a younglady of about fifteen, with unnaturally long
legs, a great many freckles onher face, and gray eyes. I'll
tell my aunt her here. Howdid you say your name was Nuttle Dampton

(19:00):
Nuddle, I'll tell my aunt,mister Noddle. I wondered whether missus Sappleton
was in the married or widowed state. An indefinable Something about the room seemed
to suggest masculine in habitation. Alarge French window open on the garden.
Through it, I could see awell kept long and beyond that the darker
green of the fens. The scenewas delightfully peaceful. I'm my aunt will

(19:26):
be down presently. In the meantimeyou must try and put up with me.
Oh yes, mister yes. Doyou know many of the people around
here not as soul. My sisterwas staying here at the rectory, you
know, some four years ago,and she gave me letters of introduction to
some of the people here. Theyknew no practically nothing about my aunt,

(19:48):
mister Naddow, only her name andaddress. Oh, my aunt's great tragedy
happened just three years ago. Threeyears ago, that would be since your
sister's her tragedy. Yes, wetry not to talk about it. You
may well know why we keep thatwindow open on an October afternoon, ways

(20:11):
quite warm for the time of theyear. That's not why we keep it
out in, mister Neddll. Iter hasn't anything to do with the uh
tragedy, has it yet? Ithas mister Neville out through that window.
Three years ago to day, myaunt's husband and the two young brothers went
off of their day's shooting. Theynever came back in crossing the moor to

(20:36):
their favorite snipe shooting grounds. Theywere all three engulfed in a treacherous piece
of bogs even that dreadful wet summerenough and places that were safe in other
years gave way suddenly without warning.Their bodies were never recovered. That was
the dreadful part of it. Oh, poor Land always thinks they'll come back

(20:59):
some day, say in the littlebrown staniel that was lost with them,
and walk in at that window,just as they used to do. That
is why the windows kept open everyevening till it is quite dusk, oh
cool, dear aunt. She oftentold me how they went out, her
husband with this white waterproof coat overhis arm, and Rannie, her youngest

(21:22):
brother, singing, bit er dirtywid you bound like this, I said,
BIRTI, why do you barn as? He always did the teaser,
because she said, a gut ona nerve. Do you know? Sometimes
I'm still quiet evenings like this,I almost get a creepy feeling. But

(21:47):
they're all walking through that window.It was a relief when missus Sackerson came
into the room. Oh, I'mso sorry to have kept you waiting,
mister Nuttle. I do hope dearhas been amusing you. She has been
very into that. It's so niceof you to come and see us.
Mister Nuttle. I do hope youdon't mind the open window. Why no,

(22:07):
I no open window? No.My husband and brothers will be home
directly from hunting, and they alwayscome in this way. They'd be not
a snipe in the marshes to day. So I make a fine mess over
my poor carpiff. So like youmen folk, isn't it do you hunt?
Mister Nuttle? It was horrible theway the poor woman's mind dwelt on

(22:30):
the topic of hunting. I lookedup and the girl's eyes caught mine.
She shook her head sadly. I'vetried desperately to change the subject. I
told her that I was in LowldBarrington for my health. But I was
conscious that missus Sampleton was giving meonly a fraction of her attention, and
her eyes were constantly staring past me, to the open window and the long

(22:53):
beyond. Then suddenly I saw herstiffened. She was staring at the window
where they are now, just intime for tea. I turned toward the
niece. The child was staring throughthe open window with dazed horror in her
eyes. I turned and looked inthe same direction, and the deepening twilight,

(23:15):
three figures were walking across the lawntoward the window. They all carried
guns under their arms, and oneof them carried a white waterproof coat hung
over his shoulders. Tired brown spanielkept close to their heels, noiselessly to
day near the house. Oh goodheavens, who he Lucy? Oh on

(23:48):
earth? Of that bolted off thedrive as we came in. That was
mister Nubble. I can't imagine whatcame over him. I bet there was
a spaniel that did it. Horrordog vera l zero. What did you
say to mister Nuttle before I cameinto the room, Nothing, lucy.

(24:10):
Mistertle did all the talking. Ididn't say anything. He told me the
strangest thing. He was once huntedinto a cemetery somewhere on the banks of
the Ganges by a pack of pariahdogs. Had the semini in a newly
dug grave with a creature snarling andgrinning and foaming just above his head.

(24:30):
Not to meet anyone lose. Youare listening to the Columbia Networks presentation of
Orson Wells and the Mercury Theater inthree famous short stories. You have just

(24:52):
heard the first two of these,I'm a Fool and The Open Windows.
We will present the third story ina moment. This is the Columbia Broadcast
System. The Columbia Network is presentingthree famous short stories, and now the
Mercury Theater and Orson Welles resume withMy Little Boy by Carl Ewall. My

(25:34):
little boy is beginning to live carefully. Stumbling now and then on his little
knock kneed legs, he makes hisway through the world, looks at everything
that there is to look at,and bites at every apple, both those
that are his due and those whichare forbidden in He's not a pretty child,

(26:00):
but he is charming. His facecan light up suddenly and become radiant,
can look at you with quite coldeyes. He has a strong intuition,
and he is incorruptible. He hasnever yet boughted a kiss for candy.

(26:21):
He has bad habits too. Heis, at for instance, suddenly
and without the slightest reason, togo up to people whom he meets in
the street and hit them with hislittle stick. What is in his mind
when he does so, I donot know, And so long as he
does not hit me, it remainsa matter between himself and the people concerned.

(26:41):
He has an odd trick of seizinghis words in a grown up conversation,
storing them for a while, andthen asking me for an explanation.
Wow, um, yes, whatis life? I give him a tap
on his little stomach. I canroll him over on the carpet and conceal

(27:02):
my emotion under a mighty tuzzle.Later, when we're sitting together, breathless
and tired, I give him hisanswer. Life is delightful, my little
boy, don't you be afraid ofit? Uh? My little boy is

(27:26):
given a penny by Mary the cook, with instructions to go to the baker's
and buy some biscuits. I standat my window and see him cross the
street in his slow way and withbent head. Only he goes slower than
usual, with his head bent moredeeply between his small shoulders. He stands

(27:47):
along outside the baker's window, butthere's a confused heap of lollipops and chocolates
and sugar sticks. Then he liftshis hand, opens the door, disappears,
and presently returns with a paper bag, eating with all his might.
And I, who hadn't be praisedof myself been a thief in my time,
go all over the house and givemy orders. My little boy enters

(28:12):
the kitchen, who if the discuson the table. He stands still for
a moment and looks at Mary,and at the table and at the floor.
Then he goes into the living room, where his mother is sitting.
You are quite a big boy now, but you can buy biscuits. To
Mary, his face is very long, he says nothing. He comes quietly

(28:36):
to me, sits on the edgeof a chair. Hello, well you
be over the way of the bakers. Whyn't you buy the bakers molly pops?
Oh well, I never want fun. I had some rollitos this morning.
Who gave you the money this time? No? Really, well Mary,

(28:56):
it's certainly fond of you, isn'tshe rumblowly boy? Well, she
gave you for your birthday. Hother, Maria told me about a penis up
a biscuit. Oh dear, it'svery quiet in the room, My little
boy cried bitterly, and I lookedanxiously before me and stroke his hair.

(29:22):
Well, you fool Mary badly.She needs those biscuits, of course,
for cooking. She thinks they're onthe kitchen table, and when she goes
to look she won't find any.Mother gave her a penny for biscuits.
Mary, gave you a penny forbiscuits, and you go and spend it
on lollipops. What are we gonnado? If only we had a penny,

(29:47):
then you could rush across the streetand fetch the biscuits. Other,
it was a penny in mother's ragtable. Oh is it really no?
I'm afraid that's no use to us. My little boy. That penny belongs
to mother. The other was married. People are so terribly fond of their
money and get so angry when youtake it from them. I can understand

(30:08):
that, for you can buy suchan awful lot of things with money.
You can get biscuits and lollipops andtoys and clothes and half the things in
the world. And it's not soeasy to make money either. Now,
Mary, she has to spend thewhole day cleaning rooms and cooking dinner and

(30:29):
washing up before she gets her wages. And out of that she has to
buy clothes and shoes. And youknow, she has a little girl,
and she has to pay for it. Missus Olson's. She must certainly have
saved very cleverly before she managed tobuy you that ball for your birthday.
Ah, the haven't you got apenny? Here's my purse, look for
yourself, not a penny in it, spent the last This morning, we

(30:52):
walk up and down, we sitdown and get up and walk about again,
very gloomy. We're bowed down withsorrow and look at each other with
great perplexity. Hmm, there mightbe one hidden away in a drawer somewhere,
only, if only we could finda penny. Hurry, now,

(31:18):
you go this straight through my door. Then run back quickly up the kitchen
stairs with the biscuits and put themon the table. I'll call Mary so
that she doesn't see, and wewon't tell anybody. He's down the stairs.
Before I've done talking, I runafter him. Hey there, Hey,
wasn't it a splendid thing We foundthat penny? And he laughs for

(31:40):
happiness, and I laugh too.His legs go like drumsticks across to the
baker's. From my window, Isee him come back, running with red
cheeks and glad eyes. He's committedhis first crime. He's understood it.
He has not the sting of remorseand his soul, nor the black badger

(32:02):
forgiveness on his cap. The motherof my little boy and I sit until
late at night talking about money,which seems to us the most difficult matter
of awe. For our little boymust learn to know the power of money,
and the glamour of money, andthe joy of money. He must

(32:23):
earn much money and spend much money. Yet there were two people yesterday who've
killed a man to love him offour dollars and thirty seven cents. My

(32:43):
little boy is engaged to be married. She's a big, large limbed young
woman three years his senior. Hername is Gerty. By a misunderstanding,
however, which is pardonable at hisage, and moreover quite explained by Dirty's
appearance, he calls her Dirty,little Dirty, and by this name she

(33:07):
will be handed down to history.I want to go for myself. Quite
right, my boy, either Iknow very little of mankind or has made
a fortunate choice. No one islikely to take Dirty from him. Like
the gentleman that he is, heat once brings the girl home to us
and introduces her. Owing to theformality if the occasional, he does not

(33:28):
go by the kitchen way as usual, but rings the front door bell.
I open the door myself. Therehe stands on the mat, hat in
hand, with Dirty as bride,and with radiant eyes. All the he's
is little Dirty. She's my sweetheart. We're going to be married. MM.
That's what people usually do. Theirsweethearts, come in dirty and be

(33:51):
welcomed by the family. Why yousee, Dirty, The mother of my
little boy doesn't think much of thematch. Why she's a perfectly dreadful little
thing. I have a good mannot to let her in the house.
We can't do that. I'm notin ecstasies over her either, But it's
not at all certain that it willlast. Yes, do you remember what
little use it was when your motherforbade me the house. We used to

(34:14):
meet in the most incredible places andkiss each other terribly. I can quite
understand that you've forgotten, but youought to bear it in mine now that
your son's beginning. Besides, Imust remind you that it is spring,
and so Dirty accept it. Butwhen she calls, she is first to

(34:36):
undergo a short quarantine, while themother of my little boy washes her and
combs her hair thoroughly. Dirty doesn'tlike this, but the boy does.
He looks on with extraordinary eagerness.No, no, not never enough.
Here, beauty place you haven't was. There's a good deal of cruelty in
love. He himself hates to bewashed. Or perhaps it is merely his

(35:00):
sense of duty. Last Friday,in cold Blood, he allowed Dirty to
wait outside on the steps for halfan hour until his mother came home.
Another of his joys is to seeDirty eat. I can quite understand that
here is something worth looking at.The mother of my little boy, and
I would be glad too to watchher if there were any chance of giving

(35:22):
dirty her sill. But there isnone, least not with my income.
When I see all that food disappearwithout as much as a shade of satisfaction
coming into her eyes, I tremblefor the young couple's future. But he
is cheerful and unconcerned. My littleboy and I have had a very interesting

(35:43):
walk in the park. There wasa mouse which was irresistible. There were
two sparrow's husband and wife who builttheir nest right before our eyes, and
a snail which had no secrets forus. And there were flowers, yellow
and white and green leaves which toldus the oddest adventures. Now we are
sitting on a bench, digesting ourimpressions. That was the lion and the

(36:10):
zoo. What's the zoo? Father? The zoo, my boy, is
a horrid place where they lock upwild beasts who've done no wrong, animals
who are accustomed to walk about freelyin far off countries where they come from.
The lion is there, He justheard him roaring. He's so strong

(36:31):
that he can kill a policeman withone blow of his paw. He has
great, haughty eyes and offull sharpteeth. They caught him one day in
a trap, tied him with ropes, and dragged him here and locked him
in a cage with iron bars.To a cage is about half the side
of the kitchen at home. Therethe king walks up and down, up
and down, and gnashes his teethwith sorrow and rage, and roars that

(36:54):
you can hear him miles away.And outside his cage stand curious people who
laugh at him because he can't getout, eat them up and poke their
sticks through the rails and tease him. Well, he eat them up,
that out in a moment. Hecan't get out. No, that's off.
It's sad he can't get on.Father, let's go and look at

(37:15):
the lud. I pretend not tohear, and go on to tell him
of the strange birds there, greateagles that used to fly over church steeples
and over the highest trees and mountains. Now they are sitting in cages on
a perch, like canaries, withclipped wings and blind eyes. I tell

(37:39):
him of gulls which used to flyall day long over the stormy sea.
Now they splash about in a puddleof water. Screaming pitifully. I tell
him of wonderful blue and red birds, which in their youth used to live
among wonderful red and blue flowers inforests, are than times bigger than this

(38:00):
park. Now. They sit therein very small cages and hang their beaks
while they stare at tiresome boys indark blue suits and black stockings and rubbers
and sailor hats. Are these birdsreally blue? Sky blue and utterly broken
hearted? Are they? Can't theygo and look at the birds? I

(38:22):
don't think we will. Why shouldmore silly boys go and look at them?
You can't imagine how it goes toone's heart to look at those poor
captive birds. Ah, they asouldso much like to go to the zoo.
Take my advice and don't. Theanimals are not the real animals,
you see. They are ill andugly and angry because of their captivity and

(38:45):
their longing and their pain. ButI should like so much to see them.
Ah. Let me tell you something. To go to the zoo costs
five cents for you and ten centsfor me. That makes fifteen cents.
Algether. That's an awful lot ofmoney. We won't go there now but
we'll buy the biggest money box wecan find. For one of those money

(39:07):
box is shaped like a pig.Then we'll put fifteen cents in it.
And every Thursday we'll put fifteen centsin the pig by and buy that'll grow
to be quite a fortune, sucha fortune that when you're grown up,
you can take a trip to Africayourself, into the desert and hear the
wild, the real lion roaring andtremble, just like the people tremble down

(39:28):
there. All that, I raallygo to the zoo. Now, so
we go and have some ice creamat justice to the zoo. You're not
going to the zoo. Now,we'll go home, and home we go.
But we're not in a good temper. Of course. I get over
it and buy him an enormous moneybox pig. We put the money into

(39:51):
it, and he thinks that mostinteresting. But later in the afternoon I
find him in the nursery engaged inthe pity of this game. He has
built a cage in which she hasimprisoned a pig. He is teasing it
and hitting it with his whip.Take it out and buy me a stupid
you can't get off. You can'tget out. You can't get out dirty.

(40:35):
He is staying at the visits,and my little boy is sitting at
her feet. She has buried herfingers and her hair and is reading,
reading, reading. Thou shalt nothear, Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy Thou shalt not cover thynebor's house. Thou shalt not cover thys

(41:00):
wife, nor his man servant,nor his maid Sir See boy watches her
with tender compassion when he comes tome, Father, must duty do all
the ten commandments? Say yes,Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not
steal, Thou shalt honor thy fatherand thy mother. Thou shalt not cover

(41:22):
at thy neighbor's house. Father,When I go big, what'st I do?
All the ten commandment? Say yes? Father? Do you do all
the ten commandments? Say yes?Well, Father, I don't believe that
I can do all those things thatthe ten Commandments say. There is a

(41:53):
great hullaballoo among the children in thecourtyard. I hear them shouting something,
and I go to the window andsee my little boy in the front rank
of the ruffian screaming, fighting withclenched fits, without his cap. I
know that you've come up before long, and tell me about it. Presently
appears he stands still, and there'shis way by my side, says nothing.

(42:19):
I steal a glance at him.He's greatly excited and proud and glad,
like one who has fearlessly done hisduty. Well, what fun you've
been having down there? What wasa Jewish boy? You would be hot
a Jewish boy? You beating himup? Oh? What had he done?

(42:45):
No? He seems puzzled. Ilook so queer suddenly. Now I
snatch my hat and run out ofthe door as fast as I can.
Come. Come, we must findthis Jewish boy and beg his pardon.
My little boy hurries that to me. He does not understand a word of
it, but he is terribly inearnest. What's his name? Nothing,
Nathan, Nathan. There's nobody inthe courtyard. We go out in the

(43:10):
street, Nathan, all in vain. The Jewish boy and his persecutors are
blown away into space. So wego and sit up in my room again.
Well, nothing to be done.Now, hope you will meet that

(43:30):
Jewish boy some days, so thatyou can give him your hand and ask
him to forgive you. You musttell him that you did it only because
you were stupid. But if anothertime anyone does him any harm, I
hope you'll go in and help himand beat up the other fella as long
as you can move a limb.Yes, I can see by my little

(43:52):
boy's face that he is ready todo what I wish. So now I
have to explain. Now, letme tell you. The Jews are,
by way of being quite a wonderfulpeople. You remember David, about whom
Dirty reads at school. He wasa Jewish boy and the child Jesus,

(44:15):
whom everybody worships and loves. Althoughhe died two thousand years ago, he
was a Jew too. My littleboy stands with his arms on my knee.
Now the old Hebrews rise before us, in all their splendor and power.

(44:35):
They ride on their camels and coatsof many colors and with long beards.
Moses and Joseph and his brethren,and Samson and David and Saul.
We hear wonderful stories. The wallsof Jericho fall at the sound of the
trumpet. Girls, I've a girl. The whole day is to vote to

(45:00):
Jews. We learn that many ofthe most famous men in the world are
Jews. And when evening comes andmother sits down at the piano and sings
the song which Father loves above allother songs, it appears that the words

(45:21):
were written by one Jew, andthe melody composed by another. My little
boy is hot and red when hefalls asleep that night. He turns restlessly
in his bed and talks in hissleep. He is a little feverish.
Tonight we're spending a summer in thecountry, a long way out where the

(45:45):
real country is. Cows and horses, pigs and sheep, A beautiful dog,
and hens and ducks form our circleof acquaintances. The sun burns us
We eat like farm hands, sleeplike guinea pigs, and wake like larks.
Presently, for better or worse,we get neighbors. They're regular city
people. Are pearl of the family. Is Erner. Ernie is five years

(46:07):
old, A very small face,is pale green, with watery blue eyes
and yellow curves. She is richlyand gaily dressed in a broad and slovenly
sash of daintly embroidered dress, shortopen work socks, and patent leather shoes.
I at once perceived that my littleboy's eyes. If seen a woman

(46:30):
altogether, there's no doubt as tothe condition of his heart. One morning,
he proposes. He's sitting with hisbeloved on the lawn. Close to
them. Her aunt is nursing herrheumatism under a red parasol up in the
balcony above. I sit like Providenceand see everything myself unseen. M you

(46:53):
shall be more sweetheart, ah,sweetheart already at home hell. This communication
naturally by no means lawyers earn asuitor in her eyes, but it immediately
rouses or Anti's moral instincts. Ifyou have a sweetheart, you must be
true to her, but only goingto be nice. Sweetheart. Listen,

(47:14):
child, you're a very naughty boy. If you have given this uh uh
dettle, that's extraord my name.But if you've given her your word,
you would keep it till you die. Otherwise you'll never never be happy.
My little boy understands not a wordand answers not a word. But later,
after lunch, she comes up towhere his mother and I are sitting,

(47:37):
puts his hands in his pockets,looks straight before him. Father,
can't you have two sweethearts? Thequestion comes quite unexpectedly at the moment,
I don't know what to answer.Well, I pour my waistcoat down and
my collar up. Yes, yes, you can have true sweethearts. Ah,

(48:06):
but it is wrong leads to morefirst and unpleasantness than you can possibly
imagine. Are you so fond ofVerner? Yeah? Do you want to
marry her? Yeah? Well,then the thing is settled. We'll write
to Dirty and give her notice.Well, there's nothing else to be done.
I write now, and you cangive the letter yourself to the postman

(48:28):
when he comes this afternoon. Ifyou take my advice, you'll make her
a present of your bore, andyou will not be so much upset.
She can have my golfish too.If she likes, oh, excellent excellence,
we'll give her the goldfish. Thenshe really will have nothing in the
world to complain of. My littleboy goes away, but presently he returns.

(48:52):
Father, Have you written a letterto Dirty Wren't you yet? My
boy? It's time enough. Ishan't forget it, are they I'm so
fond of Dirty? She was certainlya dear little girl. Father, I'm
I'm so so fond of you.We look at each other. This is

(49:16):
no joke. Perhaps we'd better waitwith a letter till tomorrow, or perhaps
it would be best if we talkto dirty ourselves. We get back to
town, and my eyes surprised anindescribable smile on our mother's face. All

(49:39):
a woman's incapacity to understand man's honestyis contained within that smile, and I
resent it greatly. Co let's go. My little boy and I go out
to a place we know of,far away behind the hedge, where we

(50:02):
lie on our back and look upat the blue sky and talk together sensibly
as two gentlemen should. My littleboy is going to school. We can't

(50:31):
keep him at home any longer,says his mother. He himself is glad
to go, of course, causehe doesn't know what school is. I
know what it is, and Iknow also that there is no escape for
him. But I am sick atheart. So we go for our last

(50:52):
morning walk along the road where somethingwonderful has always happened to us. We
sit down by the edge of ourah usual ditch, and suddenly my heart
triumphs over my understanding. I justwanna tell you that school is a horrid
place. You can have no conceptionof what you have to put up with.

(51:15):
There, they will tell you thattwo and two are four. Mother
has taught me that already. Yes, but that is wrong. Two and
two are never four, only veryseldom. And that's not all. You
will never have any more time toplay in the courtyard with Ainer when he

(51:37):
shouts to you to come out.You have to sit and read about a
lot of horrible old kings have beendead for hundreds and hundreds of years,
if they ever existed at all,which, for my part, I simply
don't believe. My little boy doesn'tunderstand me, but he sees that I
am sad, puts his hand inmine. What is that you must go

(52:00):
to school to become a clever boy? Mother says that honor is ever so
much too small and stupid to goto school. I bow my head a
nod and say nothing. I takehim to school. See how he gallops
up the steps without so much asturning to look back at me. Here

(52:24):
ends this story about my little boy. What more can I be to tell
he's no longer mine. I've handedhim over to society. There was nothing
else to be done, Really,was there nothing else to be done?

(52:45):
I wonder smaller boys have a badtime of it. You know, they
had a worse time of it thanthe old day. Yeah, that's poor
comfort. The world is still fullof parents and teachers who shake their stupid
heads and turn up their old eyesand cross their flat chests with horror at

(53:05):
the wickedness of youth. Children areso disobedient, they say, so naughty,
so self willed, and talk sodisrespectfully to their elders. And what
do we do? We who knowbetter, We do what we can.

(53:27):
She says it in such a way, and looks at me with two such
sensible eyes. They're so strong andso true that I suddenly think things quite
well for our little boy, andI become quiet and cheerful like herself.

(53:52):
M Those teachers of his better lookout, though, my little boy,
for all I care, may takefrom them all the English and geography and
history that he can, But theyshan't throw dust in his eyes about the
important things. I shall keep themawake, and we shall have great fun
finding them out, and I shallhelp him with his English and geography and

(54:16):
history. To night, the ColumbiaNetwork has brought Yours and Wells and the

(54:53):
Mercury Theater on the air in dramatizedversions of three famous short stories I'm a
Fool by Sherwood Anderson, The OpenWindow by H. H. Monroe sak
and My Little Boy by Carl Ewoald. We now present the scar and director
of these broadcasts wors' wells. Mylittle Boy grew up to be a writer

(55:16):
like his father, Karl A.Bald And, according to mister Alexander Wilket,
who made widely known that indescribably lovelytestament of love, my little Boy
has chiefly distinguished himself in Denmark asthe translator of successful English novels, including

(55:38):
The Green Hat. The second andsomewhat sinister posey in this Evening's children's Garland
was The Open Window by H.K. Moan Rowe, who signed himself
Sakie. It has been said ofhectorm and Roe that he was entirely incapable

(56:01):
of boring a fellow creature. Itis God knows eternally true of Saki.
Indeed, his sister's earliest recollections ofhim in the nursery, where he and
their brother Charlie had been rashly leftto their own devices, is worthy of

(56:21):
his most improbable heroes. To quotefrom her. Hector had seized the long
handled hearth brush, plunged it intothe fire and chased Charlie and me around
the table, shouting, I amGod, I AM going to destroy the
world. HK. Monroe joined upat the beginning of the war and was

(56:45):
killed by a sniper on the fourteenthof November nineteen sixteen, just before dawn.
The author of our opening bill,that searching and poignant confession of a
young lover who lied and lost,is this moment the editor of two newspapers
in Marion, Virginia, one Democraticand the other Republican. This virtually perfect

(57:07):
condition of life is the happy endingof a career that commenced surprisingly and suddenly
one hot afternoon when mister Sherwood Andersonwas the manager of a paint factory in
Aliria, Ohio. He was sittingin his office. The story goes,
dictating a letter when he turned toits stenographer and said, sharply, I

(57:29):
am walking in the bed of ariver. He then put on his hat
and walked out of the paint factoryand also out of Aliria, Ohio,
never to return. But Sherwood Andersonnever forsook his native state. Not really.
After all, nothing could be morefaithful to it than I'm a fool.

(57:53):
Well next week Charlotte Brant his JaneEyre. Till then, thanks everybody,
eh and good night,
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