10. The Changing Of The Guard

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of
sight and sound, but of mind, a journey into a
wondrous land whose boundaries are those of imagination. Your next
stop the Twilight Zone.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
There's the bell.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
We're gonna be late.

Speaker 4 (00:39):
Oh so what last day before vacation?

Speaker 5 (00:42):
Yeah, but Fowler doesn't care now Marcus absent? Weird old guy?

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Huh?

Speaker 6 (00:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (00:47):
How did you do on the test?

Speaker 7 (00:49):
Me?

Speaker 2 (00:49):
I hated you did? Did you study?

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Well?

Speaker 3 (00:54):
I read all the pages, but I don't know.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
I don't get this poetry stuff. Why can't they just say?

Speaker 2 (00:59):
What mean?

Speaker 8 (01:02):
All?

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Right, class, let's begin. I trust you've brought your books
and that you have read the assignment. What's that I
can't hear you? Good? That's good. Now. Then, we've studied
a number of poets this term, their themes and their methods,
and we've analyzed their works at least as sampling as

(01:25):
time would allow. Is that correct? Today? I thought i'd
talk about one of them, Alfred Edward Housman. I'm sure
you'll recall the name born. What year are mister Graham?
What year?

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Sir?

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Precisely? The question?

Speaker 4 (01:45):
Well, sometime in the last century, I think.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Close, mister Graham closer than usual. Mister Graham's career has
laid out for him. After the varsity football team, he
will be a second and assistant in the information booth
at Grand Central Station. In the interest of time, let
me refresh your memory. The date of AE Housman's birth,

(02:12):
mister Graham, and for the benefit of the rest of
the class, was eighteen fifty nine, a long time ago,
so long ago that it happened before our own Civil War.
In fact, I could, of course ask you to tell
me about the war between the States, but I choose
not to press my luck any further. In any event,
the subject of this class is literature, not history. His

(02:35):
death occurred in what year, mister Butler.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
Well, I would say around around nineteen hundred, Sir.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Upon my word, young mister Butler, it seems that you
and mister Graham are kindred spirits. You are both masters
of inexactitude, So allow me to enlighten you. Alfred Edward
Housman died in the year nineteen thirty six, but we
are concerned here with his achievements rather than the circumstances

(03:08):
of his death. And perhaps his best known work was
a Shropshire lad, which of course you know well by now,
since it was part of your latest assignment. Nevertheless, I
thought I might take it upon myself to read just
a bit of it aloud. When I was one and twenty,

(03:28):
I heard a wise man say, give crowns and pounds
and guineas, but not your heart away. Give pearls away
and rubies, but keep your fancy free. But I was
one and twenty. No use to talk to me. The
heart out of the bosom was never given in vain,
tis paid with sighs of plenty, and sold for endless rule.

(03:52):
And I am two and twenty, and oh tis true,
tis true. This being the last afternoon of the semester,
and this also being just three days before the Christmas holidays,
I thought it might behoove me to show at least
a minute degree of compassion and let you out early.

(04:14):
I might add here that while your final exam papers
are not ready to be returned, you have all amazingly
enough past. My delight is surpassed only by my sense
of shock. It is rare, young men, that in some
fifty one years of teaching, I have ever encountered such
a class of dunderheads. But nice dunderheads and potentially fine

(04:39):
young men who will no doubt make their marks and
leave their marks. God bless you all, and a merry Christmas.

Speaker 9 (04:57):
What you've just witnessed is not the end of a semester.
It happens to be the end of an era. Professor
Ellis Fowler, a teacher of literature, a gentle, bookish guide
to the young, is about to find a package under
his Christmas tree, and not a pleasant one. He doesn't
realize it yet, but after half a century of planting

(05:18):
the seeds of wisdom and then watching the fruits of
his harvest, he will discover that he has come to
the end of the field and is about to be discarded,
and that the campus of the Rock Hills School for
Boys lies on a direct path to another institution commonly
referred to as the Twilight Zone.

Speaker 10 (05:43):
And now the Twilight Zone and our story, The Changing
of the Guard, starring Orson Bean with Stacy Keach as
your narrator.

Speaker 8 (05:57):
Merry Christmas, Professor.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
I'm the same to you. Oh thanks, yes, of course,
see you next year. Yes, indeed, yes, is that you
FATHERA Oh good afternoon, head master.

Speaker 8 (06:07):
Good afternoon to you, I say, foala could you step
into my office for a moment.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
Yes, yes, of course, it would be my pleasure. You
received the midterm grades for my class. I take it.
I did something else I can do for you some
question perhaps.

Speaker 8 (06:22):
Please sit down, be comfortable, Thank you, I will. You
don't mind if I Smokedarah.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
By all means. I smoked the pipe for many years.
I still love the fragrance of a good aromatic blend,
like spice on the air. Sometimes I think that's what
I miss most, the aroma. It makes a room feel lived.

Speaker 8 (06:40):
In, quite right, at least for those who can tolerate
tobacco these days.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
Of course.

Speaker 8 (06:46):
Yes, am I keeping you what?

Speaker 2 (06:51):
No, no, no, there is going to be a broadcast
of the Messiah at five o'clock? Is there? But I
have plenty of time. It's a lovely piece, don't you think?
Is always very you like?

Speaker 8 (07:03):
I agree? I agree. Well, then I suppose we should
get to the matter at hand very well. This won't
take long, of course. Not you're looking very well these days.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Thank you, sir. I had a bit of a head cold,
but it seems to have passed. Happens every winter, and
you what, oh.

Speaker 8 (07:30):
The flu bug seems to have passed. Me by Knockwood.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, that's something to be thankful for, isn't it.

Speaker 8 (07:37):
You you didn't respond to the letter I didn't the
one that the trustees since you last week letter.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
I'm terribly sorry, head Master. It suddenly occurs to me
that I haven't opened my mail the last few weeks. Now,
you know how it is, final exams, grading, preparation for
the holiday, that sort of thing. Though I am rather
certain I know the contents of this particular letter and.

Speaker 8 (08:07):
Your reactions.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
Professor, Well, naturally i'll go along.

Speaker 8 (08:12):
Well, I think that's very perspicacious of your, Professor. Then
I'll tell the trustees that you receive the communication and
agreed to it. Now, as to your replacement.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
I told my housekeeper not a week ago that I
should very likely teach him this place until I'm one
hundred years old, and with great pleasure, I might add, Professor,
did you know two years ago I actually taught the
grandson of one of my earlier students. Can you imagine
the satisfaction that gave me a sense of Oh, I
don't know, not completion exactly, but accomplishment, perhaps in some

(08:45):
small measure. I venture to say that I'll live to
teach a great grandson one of these days.

Speaker 8 (08:50):
Please.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
It was the Reynolds boy. You know him. I'm sure
his father was Damon Reynolds, and his grandfather a regular
rascal of a boy who persisted in calling me weird Beard.
Didn't know I knew that's what he was calling me. Oh,
a regular rascal of a boy went into the stock market,
made himself a fortune, came back for his twentieth reunion,

(09:12):
shook my hand and said, actually said to me, Professor Fowler,
please forgive me for calling you weird Beard.

Speaker 8 (09:20):
Isn't that remarkable, Professor Fowler? You'll forgive me, sir, But
I think you'd best read the communication that the trustees sent.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
Oh indeed I will. Though it's really an odd formality,
this contract signing year after year. You can tell them
for me, Head Master Old Fowler won't depart the ship,
Oh no, indeed, he'll stand at the wheel through fair
weather and foul and watch the crews come aboard and
then depart, come aboard and depart as they always have.

Speaker 8 (09:53):
Professor Fowler, please hear me out.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yes, was there something else?

Speaker 8 (10:04):
The communication that trustees sent you was not a contract,
not this time. As a matter of fact, it was
a notice of termination. What you've been on the faculty
here for over fifty years, fifty remarkable years of my dad.

(10:25):
You passed a normal retirement age several years ago. So
you see, we decided at our winter meeting that perhaps
a somewhat younger man. You don't mean to say, if
you could have been at the meeting, sir, you would
have been very proud of the things said about you
and your work. A teacher of incalculable value to all

(10:50):
of us. But youth must be served, changing of the guard,
that sort of thing. I'm sure you can appreciate my position.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Mister Headmaster. Am I to understand that my contract is
not to be renewed. I'm discharged.

Speaker 8 (11:09):
Discharged, please don't call it that. Retirement and at half
salary for the rest of your life.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
For the rest of my life.

Speaker 8 (11:21):
A chance to do the things you've waited for, hobbies, writing,
the opportunity to publish, think of the books, the articles.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
Well, it must certainly proves one thing, upon my word,
it does. A man should read his mail. He must
certainly should read his mail. Boys.

Speaker 4 (11:45):
Merry Christmas, professor, why yes, thank you?

Speaker 6 (11:48):
Have happy holidays, sir.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Very kind of very very kind, indeed, and the very
best to you boys, to both of you.

Speaker 4 (11:54):
See you after Christmas, Sir.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
Mister Halliday, mister McTavish. I wish you a say journey
and a happy reunion with your families. And I trust
you will not eat too much turkey or too much
too much stuffing. We'll try not to do, sir. They
are fine young men. Have a merry Christmas. Both of you.
Have a excuse me, I must be going.

Speaker 4 (12:21):
What's the matter with old weird beard?

Speaker 2 (12:23):
He was crying? Did you see that?

Speaker 4 (12:24):
No, not him, Yeah he was.

Speaker 2 (12:26):
He was crying. Letter a letter, he says, of all
of them.

Speaker 7 (12:47):
Oh, mister Fowler, I was worried about you.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
Huh.

Speaker 7 (12:52):
It's later than usual. I didn't hear you come in.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Oh that's all right, I had my key.

Speaker 7 (12:58):
Why have you left the door open?

Speaker 2 (12:59):
Sorry?

Speaker 7 (13:04):
Everything all right, mister Fowler.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
Here it is what missus Landers am? I all right?
I guess that would depend upon the point of view,
wouldn't it. If you're a trustee in this institution anxious
to inject new young blood into the faculty, I'm sure
you'd think there was nothing wrong, nothing wrong at all.

Speaker 7 (13:21):
What are you talking about.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
But if you're an old man who has spent the
better part of his life inside those walls, those classrooms,
then you might be forgiven a degree of consternation. As
a matter of fact, everything is not all right. Everything
happens to be very wrong.

Speaker 7 (13:38):
What is it, professor? What's wrong?

Speaker 2 (13:40):
See for yourself here, I'll read it to you, and
so on so and since it is the policy of
the school to ensure our students the most up to
date educational methods, we think it advisable that you consider
this retirement to be a mutually beneficial decision. Please understand
the spirit in which this request is made, and understand

(14:01):
further that your contributions to Rock Hill School for Boys
are a matter of record, as is our appreciation.

Speaker 7 (14:08):
Oh my word, professor, that means.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
That means missus Landers stripped of its sophistry, its subtlety,
its effort to break the news gently. In so many words,
I've been given a sack.

Speaker 7 (14:19):
But there must be some mistake.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
None of my boys were here, were they your boys?
The students, They had a wonderful tradition that went on
for many years. On the last afternoon of the winter term,
they would gather outside, just there beyond the window and
sing Christmas carols. I came to expect it after a while.

Speaker 7 (14:40):
They haven't done that in a year's professor, not since
before the war.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
As I recall, of course, I should have remembered, I've
become a worshipper of tradition, missus Landers, a worshiper of
tradition and a fervent follower of ritual. I know it now,
I know it, and I can admit it. I guess
that's why this whole thing has taken me by surprise.

Speaker 7 (15:04):
Can I get you anything, anything at all?

Speaker 2 (15:08):
I'm an antique guarding antiques. I am the curator of
a museum that houses nothing but some very fragile memories.

Speaker 7 (15:16):
Professor, you're the finest man. You're absolutely the finest man.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
And you, missus Landers, have been the most wonderful housekeeper
a man could wish for. Now, could you do me one.

Speaker 7 (15:29):
Small favor, anything at all?

Speaker 2 (15:32):
Could you possibly brew me up a pot of tea?

Speaker 7 (15:35):
Oh? Yes, that's a good idea.

Speaker 2 (15:37):
Would you mind terribly handles messiahs on the radio in
a few minutes. I'd like to listen to it.

Speaker 7 (15:43):
I'll bring it right in, sir, professor, what is it?
You'll be all right for a few minutes.

Speaker 2 (15:52):
Don't be silly. I'm fine. I think i'll sit here
and read the rest of my mail until then.

Speaker 7 (15:57):
It'll be just a moment. I'll be right back, of.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
Course you will.

Speaker 3 (16:02):
H h.

Speaker 10 (16:15):
And we're almost ready for our annual symphony broadcast of
the air. Bringing you these performances live and one interrupted has.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
Become a tradition. Here, good, good, another minute, i'll have
an opportunity to prepare. There now, I believe I'm quite ready. Y, yes,

(16:55):
missus landers, come in.

Speaker 7 (16:57):
Oh, I thought you were asleep.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
Not at all. I was listening to the performance. Magnificent
ass always.

Speaker 7 (17:04):
Would you care for some more tea?

Speaker 2 (17:06):
Thank you?

Speaker 7 (17:07):
No, I'll have dinner ready in a half hour. Why
don't you take a little nap?

Speaker 2 (17:11):
I know I'm being very difficult, but could we put
off dinner this evening? I haven't much of an appetite.

Speaker 7 (17:16):
You've got to eat something, professor. Perhaps later I could
keep it warm for you. Why don't you rest for
a while?

Speaker 2 (17:23):
Oh, I don't know that I feel like resting, not
just yet, as you wish. Do you happen to know?

Speaker 7 (17:29):
Yes, Professor?

Speaker 2 (17:30):
Where I've kept the yearbooks.

Speaker 7 (17:32):
The yearbooks from the school.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
They haven't been packed away in the attic, have they?

Speaker 8 (17:37):
Why?

Speaker 7 (17:37):
No, I don't believe so. Check the corner bookcase. Yes,
here they are.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
Oh good.

Speaker 7 (17:44):
Did you want to see one in particular?

Speaker 2 (17:47):
No, it doesn't matter. So many years summarized here and
capsulated as it were, as if these books were, in
some sense time machines. This volume, for instance. Look at
their faces. Jimothy Arnold never thought that one would pass.
Had an incorrigible habit of chewing bubblegum and popping. It
sounded like a small howitzer in the back of the room.

(18:09):
Upon my word it did.

Speaker 7 (18:10):
Why don't you sit down?

Speaker 2 (18:12):
No?

Speaker 8 (18:12):
No?

Speaker 2 (18:13):
And William Hood, little Bill Hood, smallest boy ever to
play varsity football here, believe it or not. He had
a penchant for the poems of Shelley? Did he an
Artie Beechcraft? Now there was a lad. There was a
staunch lad, full of heart. That one.

Speaker 7 (18:29):
What a face was he?

Speaker 2 (18:31):
The one? Yes, yes, I recall. Now his father sent
me a letter. I wonder if I still have it.
He was killed in a word. Jimmer, freckle faced little fellow,
all was grinning, never stop grinning, most infectious. He'd walk
into a classroom and you simply had to smile.

Speaker 7 (18:51):
Let me put it back for you.

Speaker 2 (18:52):
They come and go, the ghosts face's name, smiles, the
funny things they did, or sad things, or silly ones
or noble ones. And I gave them nothing, Oh, mister Fowler,
But it's true, don't you see? I gave them nothing
at all to protect them from the world. I realize

(19:12):
that now. Poetry that left their minds as soon as
they left the school aged slogans and homilies that were
already out of date when I repeated them, quotations so
dear to me that were meaningless to them.

Speaker 7 (19:26):
Surely not.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
I was a failure, missus Landers. I was an old
relic that walked from class to class, speaking by rote
to unhearing ears, unwilling heads. I was a dismal, abject failure.
I motivated no, and I left no imprint. Now where
do you suppose I got the idea that I was

(19:48):
accomplishing anything? How could I have thought that?

Speaker 7 (19:52):
Oh mister Fowler, I will.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
Take that nat now. And I hope I haven't inconvenienced
you putting off dinner like this.

Speaker 7 (20:00):
You haven't you haven't done anything of the kind. I'll
straighten up for you.

Speaker 2 (20:06):
Don't bother. There's nothing on my desk of any importance.

Speaker 7 (20:12):
Dear dear mister Fowther, For of course I'll straighten up
for you. The least I can do. It would be
my pleasure. What's this? Bullets and an empty holster? Empty? Professor?

Speaker 11 (20:32):
Professor?

Speaker 7 (20:33):
Are you in your room? Professor?

Speaker 11 (20:36):
Are you out there?

Speaker 8 (20:37):
Where have you gone?

Speaker 4 (20:46):
Oh? Oh?

Speaker 7 (20:48):
Hello the headmaster, please quickly, it's about professor Fowl.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
Hello, Yes, who's that Bitchellice Fowler? Hello? Tom?

Speaker 6 (21:09):
Oh hello, professor working mate?

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Are you no? No, just out for a walk and
you you should be hung this out, Tom, I will.

Speaker 6 (21:16):
Be soon enough. Few chores before I lock up for
the holidays.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
Nothing too serious, I trust.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
Oh.

Speaker 6 (21:22):
The door of the main building, the latches sprung so
it won't lock.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
Can't leave it like that, I suppose not. Can you
fix it?

Speaker 6 (21:30):
Strike plate needs tightening, That's all. I was on my
way to get my tools.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
Well, you shouldn't have much to worry about here. The
boys of rock Hill are hardly vandals.

Speaker 6 (21:39):
No, but there's a matter of security files, records.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
The real treasures of this school are invisible to the eye.
How do you mean the mines that were formed here,
for better or worse, the personalities that grew to maturity
and then went out into the world.

Speaker 6 (21:54):
Will you're one guy who had a lot to do.

Speaker 2 (21:57):
With that, precious little I'm afraid, precious little. But even
if the school made little impression on them, they surely
left their impression on it.

Speaker 6 (22:06):
These walls could talk, a professor.

Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yes, indeed, if these walls could talk.

Speaker 6 (22:12):
Getting pretty cold there, button up that coat.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Oh I don't have father, go Were you headed to
the statue in the courtyard. You can see it just ahead.

Speaker 6 (22:21):
Oh yeah, you know. I always wondered who that guy was, anyway,
somebody famous.

Speaker 2 (22:27):
I bet there's a bronze of Horace Man, the educator.
The old fellow looks rather foreboding, doesn't he. But you know,
when I first began here as an instructor, I liked
to take my lunches in this courtyard in his shadow,
so to speak, as if in some way I might
be inspired by him. At least that was my thought.

Speaker 6 (22:45):
Well, yes, I better get those tools.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Yes, yes, of course, this is as far as I go.

Speaker 6 (22:52):
Take care of yourself, Professor.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
I will and tom what. I just wanted to say, yeah,
to thank you for taking such good care of the
grounds all these years, and for this conversation.

Speaker 6 (23:04):
I've enjoyed it me too, Professor. Do you take care now?
Merry Christmas.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
Merry Christmas to you too. Horace Mann seventeen ninety six,
eighteen fifty nine. I was just wondering, mister Mann. I
was wondering if you had any self doubts. I'm sure not.
All one had to do was read the inscription be
ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity,

(23:35):
well said, But you see, mister Man, I have won
no victory, no victory at all, And now sorry to say,
I am ashamed to die. Class bells at this hour?
Why would they ring? Now? There's no special assembly, There's
nothing of the sort this.

Speaker 11 (23:56):
Evening, Oh, Headmaster.

Speaker 8 (24:15):
I came as quickly as I could.

Speaker 7 (24:18):
Thank you, not at all, missus Landis. I didn't know
who else to call.

Speaker 8 (24:22):
Have you found Professor Fowler?

Speaker 7 (24:24):
Not a word.

Speaker 8 (24:25):
I'll contact the local authorities if they see him.

Speaker 7 (24:29):
He couldn't have gone far.

Speaker 8 (24:30):
I'm afraid I must bear some responsibility for this.

Speaker 7 (24:33):
Oh, the Professor doesn't blame you.

Speaker 8 (24:35):
Of course he wouldn't. It's not his nature. But perhaps
if I had handled it differently, he should have been
included in the board's deliberations. I want you to know
that it was a most difficult decision, most difficult.

Speaker 7 (24:50):
The only thing that matters now is to find him.
They say there'll be more snow tonight.

Speaker 8 (24:55):
Can you think of where he might have gone into town,
perhaps to visit a friend.

Speaker 7 (24:59):
He doesn't go anywhere except the school. It's been his life.

Speaker 8 (25:02):
Then all alert campus security, though it's unlikely he's there.
Everything will be closed now for the holidays.

Speaker 7 (25:10):
There's something I haven't told you. Yes, he he has
a gun with him. What an old army souvenir. It
belonged to his father. It's gone from his desk drawer,
and so are the bullets.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
Old Tom hasn't repaired the door yet. But why is
the class bell ringing? There are no classes at this hour.
What is the meaning of this?

Speaker 5 (25:49):
Come in, professor, We've been waiting for you.

Speaker 2 (26:08):
What are you boys doing in my classroom?

Speaker 5 (26:11):
We're here to see you, sir.

Speaker 2 (26:12):
I don't quite understand. Forgive me, boys, but I'm not
at all sure. What I mean is I don't recollect.

Speaker 5 (26:20):
How Artie Beechcroft, sir? Second form class of forty one?
How have you been? Professor?

Speaker 2 (26:26):
How's how's that again? You say you're Arty.

Speaker 5 (26:29):
Beechcroft, Yes, sir, of course you are.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
I'd recognize you anywhere.

Speaker 5 (26:34):
And i'd recognize you, sir, You've hardly changed.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
Why HTI? I'm delighted to see you. I'm truly delighted
to see you. I've thought of you many times over
the years, and I've missed your presence.

Speaker 5 (26:45):
And I've missed you too.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
But what are you doing here? Forgive me, but you
shouldn't be here tall, if memory serves, weren't you?

Speaker 5 (26:54):
That's right, Professor. I was killed in the Battle of
iwo Jima.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
One of this nation's proud just ours.

Speaker 5 (27:01):
I wanted to show this to you.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
What do you have there?

Speaker 5 (27:04):
It's the Congressional Medal of Honor splendid. It was given
to me posthumously, sir. My father was very proud.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Oh my, and a very prideful thing. It is, mister Beechcroft,
a very prideful thing. And I am indeed proud of
you too.

Speaker 5 (27:20):
Thank you, sir. That means a great deal to me.
More than you know.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
You were always A fine young man, A fine young man,
But I don't understand. How can you be, Professor? What's that?

Speaker 3 (27:30):
It's Bartlett third form. I died in Roanoke, Virginia. I
was doing research on X ray treatment for cancer.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
You were.

Speaker 3 (27:39):
I was exposed to an overdose of radioactivity and contracted
leukemia myself.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
Such a sacrifice, Bartlet, A terrible price to pay. But
think of how many people have benefited from your effort,
your courage.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
Perhaps a few, Sir, I hope.

Speaker 2 (27:52):
So I remember, Botlet. I do remember. I read about it.
That was a brave thing you did, an incredibly brave thing.

Speaker 3 (28:00):
I kept remembering, Professor, something you'd said to me, A
quote from a poet named Walter.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
Yes, Howard Arnold Walter, wasn't it.

Speaker 3 (28:08):
He said, I would be true for there are those
who trust me. I would be pure, for there are
those who care. I would be strong, for there is
much to suffer. I would be brave, for there is
much to dare. I never forgot that, Professor, it was
something you left me. I never forgot how how.

Speaker 2 (28:28):
Very decent of you Butler to say that.

Speaker 5 (28:31):
That's why I brought the medal to show you, Professor.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
Fowler yes, mister Beechcroft.

Speaker 5 (28:36):
Because it's partly yours, not at all it is. You
taught me about real courage. You taught me what it meant.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
How incredible, Professor, Why it's wiss, isn't it, Dickie weis.
You were the first one, Dick.

Speaker 4 (28:54):
To the first one to die in World War II?

Speaker 2 (28:56):
Professor.

Speaker 4 (28:57):
I was an ensign at Pearl Harbor on the Arizona.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yes, you were, I remember you, Dick. It was in
all the papers and on the radio. You saved a
dozen men.

Speaker 4 (29:06):
I did my best, sir.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
You certainly did, got them out of a boiler room
after they were trapped, and lost your own life doing it.

Speaker 4 (29:14):
You were at my elbow that day, Professor what you
may not have known it, but you were. But why
it was a poem you taught me by John Dunn.
Any man's death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind,
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
It tolls for THEE.

Speaker 8 (29:35):
Thompson, Sir.

Speaker 11 (29:36):
Second Form class of thirty nine.

Speaker 8 (29:38):
I died on New Guinea.

Speaker 3 (29:39):
But you taught me about patriotism, right, sir.

Speaker 4 (29:43):
Third Form I died in the Battle of the Bulge
You taught me about duty, about never giving up against
impossible odds.

Speaker 12 (29:50):
Hudson, Sir, second form Class of nineteen fifty one. I
did my service in Korea. You taught me about loyalty.

Speaker 3 (29:58):
Whiting, Sir, Form Class of fifty three. I became a
civil rights attorney. You taught me about ethics and honesty.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
I'm overwhelmed.

Speaker 5 (30:09):
We have to go back now, so soon, Autie, I'm sorry, professor.
Go where to the place where we belong? But we
wanted to let you know that we were grateful, that
we are forever grateful, and that each of us has
in turn carried with him something You gave us, something
that lives and will not die, not ever. We wanted

(30:30):
to thank you, Professor.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
Yes, thank you.

Speaker 5 (30:32):
We won't forget.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
Take care of Professor.

Speaker 8 (30:35):
Take good care.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
You don't know how much goodbye, goodbye? Must you go
so soon? Please? Can't you stay a little bit longer? Artie, Artie,
I'm reminded of another poem by Shelley if I can recall,
it goes like this, peace. Peace. He is not dead,
he does not sleep, he has awakened from the dream
of life.

Speaker 7 (31:07):
Yes, head Master, he's home now. I wanted to call
and let you know. Yes, he's all right, Yes he's
just fine. Thank you, Sorry about the misunderstanding. Merry Christmas
to you too.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
Do you hear that, missus Landers? The carolers came this
year after.

Speaker 7 (31:27):
All, and a lovely sound.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
It is lovely and joyous. Thank you boys. I enjoyed
your performance very much, very much.

Speaker 3 (31:35):
Indeed, Merry Christmas, Professor, A Merry Christmas to you.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
And a merry Christmas to you, young man, A very
merry Christmas. And may I add how grateful I am
to all of you. I've always felt that Christmas caroling
is a wonderfully special tradition. Merry Christmas, boys, and may
God bless you.

Speaker 7 (31:57):
Such fine young men that day. They haven't come in
such a long time.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
You know, missus Landers, I've had a chance to consider.
I think I will retire. I do believe I've taught
all that I can teach.

Speaker 7 (32:10):
Oh, I'm sure that's not true.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
In any event, I wouldn't want the returns to diminish.

Speaker 7 (32:15):
Well, then if that's your decision, I think you've made
the right one. I'm sure you have.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
So am I, missus Landers?

Speaker 11 (32:23):
So am I I hope so?

Speaker 2 (32:25):
Because you see I do believe. I do believe that
I may have left my mark, such as it was
a few gauntlets of knowledge I've thrown out that may
have been picked up here and there after. All be
ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.
I didn't win them myself, but perhaps I helped others
to win them, so in that way, even in some

(32:47):
small measure, they are victories that I can share.

Speaker 7 (32:51):
I'm sure that's so.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
I've had a good life, missus Landers, a very rich life,
a very fruitful life. For this particular changing of the God.
I wouldn't have it any other way.

Speaker 10 (33:06):
WI Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas.

Speaker 8 (33:10):
We wish you a merry Christmas and a.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
Happy New Year.

Speaker 9 (33:22):
Professor Ellis Fowler teacher who discovered rather belatedly something of
his own value, that the quality of a man's life
is not measured by his personal achievements, but rather in
the effect he has on the lives he touches and
the contribution he makes to humanity, one that lives on
long after he reaches the end of his tenure. A

(33:45):
very small scholastic lesson, but an exceedingly important one. From
the campus of the twilight Zone.

Speaker 10 (34:00):
To the Twilight Zone.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
After these words, you are.

Speaker 9 (34:03):
About to enter another dimension, a dimension not only of
sight and sound, but of mind, a journey into a
wondrous land of imagination. Next stop the Twilight Zone. Hi,
this is Stacy Keach. I'd like to take a moment
to tell you about our Twilight Zone website at twilight
Zone Radio dot com. At twilight Zone Radio dot com

(34:24):
you'll find the latest information on these Twilight Zone radio dramas,
including behind the scenes photographs, plus the newest product releases,
trivia contests, ways to contact us, other Twilight Zone related
info and merchandise, plus links to other fascinating websites. So
make your next stop twilight Zone Radio dot com.

Speaker 12 (34:43):
Visit twilight Zone Radio dot com to purchase these Twilight
Zone radio dramas on cassette and CD, or call toll
free one eight six six nine eight nine Zone. That's
one eight sixty six nine eight nine nine six six three.

Speaker 10 (35:09):
The Changing of the Guard, starring orson Bean with Stacy
Keach as your narrator, was adapted for radio by Dennis
Etchison and based on a script by Rod Serling. Heard
in the cast were Rich Komenick Alyssa Fraden Brooke Read,
Kyle Tequila, Chad Reinhardt, Joe Sherman, Justin Chiloa, Doug James,
and Carl Lamari. To learn more about the Twilight Zone

(35:32):
radio dramas and to obtain audio cassettes and CDs of
these programs, visit our website at twilight Zone Radio dot com.
The producers of the Twilight Zone wished to thank CBS Enterprises,
Carol Serling, Dennis Etchison, Dick Bresha Associates, Claire Simon, Casting,
Don Longo, Terry Jennings, the American Forces Radio and Television Service,

(35:54):
our sponsors, and our radio affiliates for helping make this
series possible. This copyrighted radio series is produced and directed
by Carl Lamari and Roger Wolsky for Falcon Picture Group,
Doug James Peaking