1 00:00:01,135 --> 00:00:04,272 [guitar music] 2 00:00:13,147 --> 00:00:16,284 [theme music] 3 00:00:33,033 --> 00:00:35,769 [car honking] 4 00:00:43,911 --> 00:00:46,647 [music continues] 5 00:01:07,401 --> 00:01:10,338 [music continues] 6 00:01:29,357 --> 00:01:32,293 [music continues] 7 00:01:40,067 --> 00:01:41,635 [instrumental music] 8 00:01:57,985 --> 00:02:01,522 Growing up on Walton's Mountain in those Depression years... 9 00:02:01,589 --> 00:02:04,024 when times were lean and money was scarce... 10 00:02:04,091 --> 00:02:07,395 I learned early that hard work was a central fact of life... 11 00:02:07,461 --> 00:02:09,797 and the key to survival. 12 00:02:09,863 --> 00:02:12,900 I wasn't afraid of work, but above everything else 13 00:02:12,966 --> 00:02:14,735 I wanted to be a writer. 14 00:02:14,802 --> 00:02:17,505 Gripping a book, reading and rereading 15 00:02:17,571 --> 00:02:19,640 the wonderfully colored sentences: 16 00:02:19,707 --> 00:02:23,110 This was as close as I could get to another writer. 17 00:02:23,177 --> 00:02:26,347 Until one afternoon I met someone who showed me... 18 00:02:26,414 --> 00:02:29,850 the way I must take to be a literary man. 19 00:02:33,086 --> 00:02:34,622 John-Boy. 20 00:02:35,823 --> 00:02:37,991 Right here, Daddy. 21 00:02:38,058 --> 00:02:40,628 Where have you been? We had to load this ourselves. 22 00:02:40,694 --> 00:02:42,696 I'm sorry, I was off reading. 23 00:02:42,763 --> 00:02:45,533 That's a load for sure. Now let's get it into town. 24 00:02:45,599 --> 00:02:47,835 So we're behind schedule? 25 00:02:48,969 --> 00:02:50,838 Not so far we can't catch up. 26 00:02:50,904 --> 00:02:53,741 Get it to the railroad station and come back. 27 00:02:53,807 --> 00:02:55,175 We got more timber to cut. 28 00:02:55,243 --> 00:02:57,010 Yes, sir. 29 00:02:57,077 --> 00:02:58,546 [engine starts] 30 00:03:05,553 --> 00:03:07,688 You think we'll make our deadline? 31 00:03:07,755 --> 00:03:11,191 We got three good days and three good men. We'll make it. 32 00:03:24,171 --> 00:03:25,639 [engine revving] 33 00:03:51,432 --> 00:03:54,568 [engine choking] 34 00:04:16,990 --> 00:04:18,726 [sighs] 35 00:04:44,318 --> 00:04:47,254 Man and his machine. 36 00:04:47,321 --> 00:04:49,523 Times like this you wonder... 37 00:04:49,590 --> 00:04:52,626 which is the slave and which is the master. 38 00:04:52,693 --> 00:04:56,330 -Sir? -Never mind, son. 39 00:04:56,397 --> 00:04:57,565 You don't need a philosopher. 40 00:04:57,631 --> 00:05:00,568 I think you probably need a mechanic. 41 00:05:01,902 --> 00:05:04,271 I've tried everything I've ever seen my daddy do 42 00:05:04,338 --> 00:05:07,007 and it's no use. 43 00:05:07,074 --> 00:05:10,911 Son, you've aroused the dormant Good Samaritan in me. 44 00:05:10,978 --> 00:05:14,181 Would you like me to dip into my mechanical bag of tricks... 45 00:05:14,247 --> 00:05:16,216 and see what I can do? 46 00:05:16,283 --> 00:05:18,218 Are you an automotive repairman? 47 00:05:18,285 --> 00:05:20,821 No. Can't lay claim to that. 48 00:05:20,888 --> 00:05:23,824 But I have tinkered with a few engines in my time. 49 00:05:23,891 --> 00:05:27,094 Could help you out on this one if you say the word. 50 00:05:28,462 --> 00:05:31,064 Sure. Go right ahead. I'd appreciate it. 51 00:05:31,131 --> 00:05:32,199 No guarantees. 52 00:05:32,265 --> 00:05:33,767 [chuckles] 53 00:05:33,834 --> 00:05:38,005 The name is Covington. A.J. Covington. 54 00:05:38,071 --> 00:05:41,141 A.J. to many, Andy to a chosen few. 55 00:05:41,208 --> 00:05:43,411 I'm just John-Boy Walton. 56 00:05:43,477 --> 00:05:46,414 Well, John-Boy... 57 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:49,683 I just might be able to help you, with a little luck. 58 00:05:50,484 --> 00:05:52,386 [all laughing] 59 00:05:52,453 --> 00:05:53,787 I don't need it. 60 00:05:53,854 --> 00:05:56,323 What are you going to put the berries in? 61 00:05:56,390 --> 00:05:58,325 -My hat. -Mostly his mouth. 62 00:05:58,392 --> 00:06:01,294 I'll get you, Mary Ellen. 63 00:06:01,361 --> 00:06:02,830 Come on, Jim-Bob. 64 00:06:02,896 --> 00:06:06,199 -I don't think I'll go today. -Why not? 65 00:06:06,266 --> 00:06:07,868 I don't feel so well. 66 00:06:07,935 --> 00:06:09,937 But it won't be any fun without you. 67 00:06:10,003 --> 00:06:12,039 Now you just run along, Elizabeth. 68 00:06:12,105 --> 00:06:14,475 Jim-Bob's got no business out in the hot sun 69 00:06:14,542 --> 00:06:15,776 if he's not feeling well. 70 00:06:15,843 --> 00:06:18,378 I'll bring you some berries. 71 00:06:20,848 --> 00:06:23,951 -The child got a fever? -I don't think so. 72 00:06:24,017 --> 00:06:27,721 His forehead feels clammy. I wonder what it is. 73 00:06:27,788 --> 00:06:29,790 It's too late for spring fever 74 00:06:29,857 --> 00:06:32,125 and too early for summer doldrums. 75 00:06:32,192 --> 00:06:33,627 I'll brew him some tea. 76 00:06:33,694 --> 00:06:35,629 And you are gonna drink it. 77 00:06:40,133 --> 00:06:42,770 [engine starts] 78 00:06:46,273 --> 00:06:48,676 Hold it. 79 00:06:48,742 --> 00:06:52,212 I can't thank you enough, Mr. Covington. 80 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:56,183 Machines are still largely predictable, unlike people. 81 00:06:59,487 --> 00:07:01,689 I wish I could offer to pay you. 82 00:07:01,755 --> 00:07:04,925 And spoil my image as a Good Samaritan? Glad I could help. 83 00:07:04,992 --> 00:07:08,996 -Can I give you a lift? -I would appreciate it. 84 00:07:09,062 --> 00:07:10,864 Which way are you going? 85 00:07:10,931 --> 00:07:12,900 Any way you're headed would be fine. 86 00:07:12,966 --> 00:07:16,470 I'm just going up to Rockfish to deliver this lumber. 87 00:07:16,537 --> 00:07:18,071 Reading Moby Dick? 88 00:07:18,138 --> 00:07:21,675 Carnival man gave it to me. Littlest man you ever saw. 89 00:07:21,742 --> 00:07:23,243 "When gliding by the Bashee Isles... 90 00:07:23,310 --> 00:07:26,046 "we emerged at last upon the great South Sea. 91 00:07:26,113 --> 00:07:29,717 "Now the long supplication of my youth was answered. 92 00:07:29,783 --> 00:07:31,719 "That serene ocean rolled eastward from me 93 00:07:31,785 --> 00:07:33,854 a thousand leagues of blue." 94 00:07:33,921 --> 00:07:36,890 -You know it by heart. -Certain sections. 95 00:07:36,957 --> 00:07:38,926 Melville was my model and inspiration 96 00:07:38,992 --> 00:07:41,328 when I was learning the craft. 97 00:07:41,394 --> 00:07:44,565 Are you a writer? 98 00:07:44,632 --> 00:07:46,934 There are some who thought so. 99 00:07:57,477 --> 00:07:59,947 -You ready? -All right. 100 00:08:05,953 --> 00:08:09,022 I sure do appreciate your helping me out, Mr. Covington. 101 00:08:09,089 --> 00:08:11,124 A.J. 102 00:08:11,191 --> 00:08:15,295 That's all right. Never unloaded lumber before. 103 00:08:15,362 --> 00:08:18,866 It's a new experience for me. Grist for the mill. 104 00:08:18,932 --> 00:08:22,102 I bet you've had a lot of experiences. 105 00:08:22,169 --> 00:08:25,673 I left Indiana when I was 17 and went to Chicago. 106 00:08:28,609 --> 00:08:30,277 Chicago. 107 00:08:30,343 --> 00:08:34,047 "Hog Butcher for the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat 108 00:08:34,114 --> 00:08:37,184 "Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler" 109 00:08:37,250 --> 00:08:39,352 Carl Sandburg. 110 00:08:39,419 --> 00:08:43,323 I'll never forget the first time I heard Carl recite that poem. 111 00:08:43,390 --> 00:08:45,626 Stirred up quite a hullabaloo. 112 00:08:45,693 --> 00:08:48,829 You knew Carl Sandburg? 113 00:08:48,896 --> 00:08:52,299 Worked beside him as a stevedore. 114 00:08:52,365 --> 00:08:56,036 Chicago was an exciting place in those days. 115 00:08:56,103 --> 00:09:01,508 -Anderson, Dreiser, Lindsay. -So you made Chicago your home? 116 00:09:01,575 --> 00:09:03,744 The world's my home. 117 00:09:06,313 --> 00:09:10,618 I guess you've just about been everywhere and done everything. 118 00:09:10,684 --> 00:09:13,120 I'm working on it. 119 00:09:13,186 --> 00:09:17,090 And those are the experiences that make a writer. 120 00:09:17,157 --> 00:09:21,361 You seem to be unusually interested in the literary life. 121 00:09:21,428 --> 00:09:23,530 I am. 122 00:09:23,597 --> 00:09:25,899 Have some ambition that way yourself? 123 00:09:28,435 --> 00:09:30,638 I want to be a writer. 124 00:09:30,704 --> 00:09:34,307 More than anything else in the world, I want to be a writer. 125 00:09:35,643 --> 00:09:37,778 If you really mean that, 126 00:09:37,845 --> 00:09:41,114 you've already taken the first big step. 127 00:09:41,181 --> 00:09:44,885 If you want to make it, your writing has to come first. 128 00:09:44,952 --> 00:09:48,889 Before comfort, security, happiness. 129 00:09:48,956 --> 00:09:52,092 Very few stick it out. 130 00:09:52,159 --> 00:09:54,527 But you have. 131 00:09:54,594 --> 00:09:57,597 What's the second step? 132 00:09:57,665 --> 00:09:59,532 That depends. 133 00:09:59,599 --> 00:10:04,171 Won't your folks be wondering where you are? It's almost 6:00. 134 00:10:04,237 --> 00:10:06,173 They will be worried. 135 00:10:15,515 --> 00:10:17,384 Mr. Covington? 136 00:10:17,450 --> 00:10:21,221 Would you like to come home and meet my folks? 137 00:10:21,288 --> 00:10:23,223 If you say so. 138 00:10:23,290 --> 00:10:25,058 Hop in. 139 00:10:28,561 --> 00:10:30,063 [engine starts] 140 00:10:33,300 --> 00:10:35,468 -You're worried about John-Boy. -He ought to be. 141 00:10:35,535 --> 00:10:36,970 That I am, Ma. 142 00:10:37,037 --> 00:10:38,806 I'll tell you something you already know. 143 00:10:38,872 --> 00:10:40,340 That's her specialty. 144 00:10:40,407 --> 00:10:43,443 If a boy of mine his age had been off all hours... 145 00:10:43,510 --> 00:10:45,879 he'd have his bottom scorched when he got home. 146 00:10:45,946 --> 00:10:48,716 That boy of yours here got in twice as much devilment 147 00:10:48,782 --> 00:10:50,417 as John-Boy ever did... 148 00:10:50,483 --> 00:10:53,320 and I don't recall his bottom was too heavily scorched. 149 00:10:53,386 --> 00:10:54,587 Was it? 150 00:10:54,654 --> 00:10:56,790 Hey, everybody. 151 00:10:58,158 --> 00:11:00,928 I had a breakdown in the truck on the way in. 152 00:11:00,994 --> 00:11:03,030 And if it hadn't been for this gentleman 153 00:11:03,096 --> 00:11:04,631 I never would've gotten it fixed. 154 00:11:04,698 --> 00:11:07,267 Mr. Covington, this is my family. My daddy, John Walton. 155 00:11:07,334 --> 00:11:10,603 -How do you do, sir? -This is my wife, my father. 156 00:11:10,670 --> 00:11:12,139 Pleasure, sir. 157 00:11:12,205 --> 00:11:13,473 How do you do? 158 00:11:13,540 --> 00:11:15,108 She just flat went out on me. 159 00:11:15,175 --> 00:11:18,211 Quit this side of the yards, and Mr. Covington helped me out. 160 00:11:18,278 --> 00:11:21,782 Fact is, he got her started when I was ready to give up. 161 00:11:21,849 --> 00:11:23,216 Much obliged to you, sir. 162 00:11:23,283 --> 00:11:25,919 Won't you stay for dinner, Mr. Covington? 163 00:11:25,986 --> 00:11:29,156 -Thank you kindly. -Have a seat right there, sir. 164 00:11:31,892 --> 00:11:34,294 -Your hat. -Thank you very much. 165 00:11:34,361 --> 00:11:38,565 Is fixing trucks a specialty of yours, Mr. Covington? 166 00:11:38,631 --> 00:11:40,000 Just a sideline. 167 00:11:40,067 --> 00:11:42,903 -Mr. Covington is a writer. -Is that a fact? 168 00:11:44,371 --> 00:11:46,874 What brings you to this neck of the woods? 169 00:11:46,940 --> 00:11:50,310 -Just passing through. -On your way to where? 170 00:11:52,012 --> 00:11:54,214 Anywhere and everywhere. 171 00:11:56,884 --> 00:11:59,419 Very nice. Thank you very much. 172 00:12:07,527 --> 00:12:09,096 [plates rattling] 173 00:12:11,231 --> 00:12:14,101 So you were in Cuba covering the war? 174 00:12:14,167 --> 00:12:18,205 San Juan Hill and all the rest of it. 175 00:12:18,271 --> 00:12:21,174 You must've gotten a lot of material for stories there. 176 00:12:22,709 --> 00:12:24,812 Steve Crane was my tent mate. 177 00:12:24,878 --> 00:12:28,548 Stephen Crane? The Red Badge of Courage? 178 00:12:28,615 --> 00:12:31,184 -Brilliant writer. -Yes. 179 00:12:31,251 --> 00:12:32,719 Tragic loss. 180 00:12:32,786 --> 00:12:34,754 He died so young. 181 00:12:36,256 --> 00:12:38,391 It's about time to turn in. 182 00:12:38,458 --> 00:12:40,994 We've got to work double time tomorrow. 183 00:12:42,329 --> 00:12:46,133 I understand you have a sawmill, Mr. Walton. 184 00:12:46,199 --> 00:12:48,601 Just a little thing out back there... 185 00:12:48,668 --> 00:12:52,572 cut some lumber for the railroad, a little firewood. 186 00:12:52,639 --> 00:12:56,509 I once worked a whole season on a lumber mill up near Seattle. 187 00:12:56,576 --> 00:12:58,946 It was hard work but it was satisfying. 188 00:12:59,012 --> 00:13:02,449 -And you've cut timber? -Acres of it. 189 00:13:02,515 --> 00:13:04,117 Daddy, we've still got that contract 190 00:13:04,184 --> 00:13:06,053 for the four-by-fours to fill-- 191 00:13:06,119 --> 00:13:07,955 John-Boy's speaking out of turn. 192 00:13:08,021 --> 00:13:10,790 Mr. Covington was kind enough to help out in an emergency 193 00:13:10,858 --> 00:13:12,525 do us a favor. 194 00:13:12,592 --> 00:13:16,796 If I could help you out, I'd be glad to stay on for a few days. 195 00:13:16,864 --> 00:13:19,532 We're in no position to hire help. 196 00:13:19,599 --> 00:13:22,903 Bed and board till the job's done would be good enough. 197 00:13:28,942 --> 00:13:32,545 If you're kind enough to put up with what little we've to offer. 198 00:13:32,612 --> 00:13:34,381 I'd be more than satisfied. 199 00:13:34,447 --> 00:13:36,349 Well, good. 200 00:13:36,416 --> 00:13:40,020 -You can have my room. -It's very generous of you... 201 00:13:40,087 --> 00:13:41,821 but if the barn's available 202 00:13:41,889 --> 00:13:44,858 I'd enjoy a night's sleep on a sweet bed of straw. 203 00:13:44,925 --> 00:13:48,561 I'll get some bedclothes and fix you up a nice place in the barn. 204 00:13:48,628 --> 00:13:51,498 And you're right, that straw does smell real good. 205 00:13:54,367 --> 00:13:56,970 Bright boy. 206 00:13:57,037 --> 00:14:00,007 He's got all the makings of a good writer: 207 00:14:00,073 --> 00:14:02,342 curious and sensitive. 208 00:14:02,409 --> 00:14:03,376 And trusting. 209 00:14:06,914 --> 00:14:09,349 Good night, Mr. Walton. 210 00:14:09,416 --> 00:14:10,850 Good night. 211 00:14:19,792 --> 00:14:20,460 [dramatic music] 212 00:14:39,212 --> 00:14:41,548 You're all set now. 213 00:14:47,854 --> 00:14:51,058 After Whalen's Meadow, come back as soon as you've got a load. 214 00:14:51,124 --> 00:14:53,293 We need all the logs we can get. 215 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:55,228 Yes, sir. 216 00:14:58,465 --> 00:15:00,900 See you later, Daddy. 217 00:15:07,007 --> 00:15:09,576 -Mule seems to be limping. -Yeah. 218 00:15:14,547 --> 00:15:16,950 [mule braying] 219 00:15:29,662 --> 00:15:31,598 Now, now. 220 00:15:32,899 --> 00:15:34,834 No wonder you've been hobbling. 221 00:15:34,901 --> 00:15:37,504 You got a big rock stuck in here. 222 00:15:38,105 --> 00:15:40,273 There we go. 223 00:15:41,908 --> 00:15:43,676 A.J., will you look at the.... 224 00:15:57,991 --> 00:15:59,959 [instrumental music] 225 00:16:04,897 --> 00:16:08,935 "While on my way to Suffern along the Erie track 226 00:16:09,002 --> 00:16:11,071 "I pass by a poor old farmhouse 227 00:16:11,138 --> 00:16:13,273 "with its shingles broken and black 228 00:16:13,340 --> 00:16:15,308 "I suppose I've passed it a hundred times 229 00:16:15,375 --> 00:16:17,310 "but I always stop for a minute 230 00:16:17,377 --> 00:16:19,846 "To look at the house, the tragic house 231 00:16:19,912 --> 00:16:22,082 the house with nobody in it" 232 00:16:23,250 --> 00:16:26,153 -Did you know Joyce Kilmer, too? -No. 233 00:16:29,489 --> 00:16:31,758 Who owns this place, John-Boy? 234 00:16:31,824 --> 00:16:33,393 It used to be the Tabor place. 235 00:16:33,460 --> 00:16:37,064 But now my Daddy says anybody who can pay the back taxes on it 236 00:16:37,130 --> 00:16:39,399 can claim it. 237 00:16:39,466 --> 00:16:42,402 Reminds me of my boyhood home in Indiana. 238 00:16:43,736 --> 00:16:47,040 Nobody's been here for two or three years. 239 00:16:47,107 --> 00:16:49,042 You ever notice that some houses just 240 00:16:49,109 --> 00:16:51,744 deteriorate out of loneliness? 241 00:16:51,811 --> 00:16:54,047 Can't stand not sheltering life. 242 00:16:57,517 --> 00:17:00,287 I wonder if these roses were red. 243 00:17:05,692 --> 00:17:08,561 We're supposed to be chopping down trees, not gathering wool. 244 00:17:16,403 --> 00:17:18,971 Like you to try a little of this beef broth. 245 00:17:19,038 --> 00:17:21,841 Do I have to? 246 00:17:21,908 --> 00:17:24,244 No, I won't force you. 247 00:17:26,646 --> 00:17:28,881 Does it still hurt? 248 00:17:28,948 --> 00:17:31,118 Can you show me where? 249 00:17:37,056 --> 00:17:39,025 You just lie still. 250 00:17:39,092 --> 00:17:41,694 Mama, is Jim-Bob real sick? 251 00:17:43,062 --> 00:17:45,198 He's got a bad stomachache. 252 00:17:45,265 --> 00:17:47,234 Like when I ate the green apples? 253 00:17:47,300 --> 00:17:49,869 He isn't as sick as I was that time, is he? 254 00:17:49,936 --> 00:17:53,106 No, Elizabeth. Nobody's ever been sicker than you and lived. 255 00:17:53,173 --> 00:17:55,408 Out, you children. 256 00:18:16,296 --> 00:18:18,365 When did you first start writing, A.J.? 257 00:18:18,431 --> 00:18:21,234 I was just 15 when I first started making words 258 00:18:21,301 --> 00:18:23,703 do the tricks I wanted them to do. 259 00:18:23,770 --> 00:18:25,305 Why did you start? 260 00:18:26,806 --> 00:18:29,409 Why? 261 00:18:29,476 --> 00:18:32,612 I was making all these exciting new discoveries. 262 00:18:32,679 --> 00:18:36,115 I felt like I just had to share them with somebody or bust. 263 00:18:36,183 --> 00:18:37,684 I know. 264 00:18:37,750 --> 00:18:39,786 Trouble is, on an Indiana farm... 265 00:18:39,852 --> 00:18:41,988 what with the milking and plowing... 266 00:18:42,054 --> 00:18:43,690 and planting and harvesting... 267 00:18:43,756 --> 00:18:47,527 there wasn't much time for people to listen. 268 00:18:47,594 --> 00:18:51,063 So I started writing all my thoughts down on paper. 269 00:18:51,130 --> 00:18:53,633 How old were you then? 270 00:18:53,700 --> 00:18:55,134 Seventeen. 271 00:18:56,636 --> 00:19:00,139 Along about the same time I heard about this story contest 272 00:19:00,207 --> 00:19:01,508 a magazine was having. 273 00:19:01,574 --> 00:19:03,976 So I polished up this piece I had done 274 00:19:04,043 --> 00:19:06,613 on a drought we'd had the year before... 275 00:19:06,679 --> 00:19:08,781 and sent it in. 276 00:19:08,848 --> 00:19:13,286 I didn't win the $75 first prize, but I did win the second. 277 00:19:13,353 --> 00:19:17,089 -And you were just 17 ? -Yeah. 278 00:19:17,156 --> 00:19:19,759 This watch was my prize. 279 00:19:19,826 --> 00:19:22,262 It's a beauty. I've admired it. 280 00:19:28,167 --> 00:19:31,938 I've carried it with me all these years. 281 00:19:32,004 --> 00:19:34,006 What happened then? 282 00:19:34,073 --> 00:19:37,176 I lit out for Chicago. 283 00:19:37,244 --> 00:19:39,712 No money. No prospects. 284 00:19:39,779 --> 00:19:42,482 But I was loaded down with hope and determination. 285 00:19:42,549 --> 00:19:46,619 -Weren't you scared? -You bet. 286 00:19:46,686 --> 00:19:49,656 But I knew then, as I know now... 287 00:19:49,722 --> 00:19:52,725 that unless a man is ready to strike out on his own... 288 00:19:52,792 --> 00:19:56,729 leave kith and kin behind without ever looking back... 289 00:19:56,796 --> 00:19:59,632 he'll never make it as a writer. 290 00:19:59,699 --> 00:20:02,269 My big story, the one I was born to write... 291 00:20:02,335 --> 00:20:05,605 is out there somewhere. 292 00:20:05,672 --> 00:20:08,541 I just got to keep searching till I find it. 293 00:20:10,009 --> 00:20:12,845 I've never let anyone but my schoolteacher 294 00:20:12,912 --> 00:20:14,347 see what I write... 295 00:20:14,414 --> 00:20:19,586 but would you mind reading a little something? 296 00:20:22,121 --> 00:20:24,691 And I'll bet you just happened 297 00:20:24,757 --> 00:20:27,694 to bring it along with you, didn't you? 298 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:31,964 -I'll be glad to. -Thank you. I just.... 299 00:20:32,031 --> 00:20:33,966 I just wrote this last night. 300 00:20:42,442 --> 00:20:45,845 That's not bad at all. 301 00:20:45,912 --> 00:20:49,181 You think you see the makings of a writer in there somewhere? 302 00:20:49,248 --> 00:20:51,584 You're working at it. 303 00:20:51,651 --> 00:20:52,952 It might be, though... 304 00:20:53,019 --> 00:20:55,555 that you are working a little bit too hard. 305 00:20:55,622 --> 00:20:59,225 See, sometimes the fanciest words are not always the best. 306 00:20:59,292 --> 00:21:01,594 And adjectives are just like red pepper: 307 00:21:01,661 --> 00:21:04,030 A little bit goes a long way. 308 00:21:04,096 --> 00:21:06,933 Look, for instance, right here. 309 00:21:06,999 --> 00:21:11,838 Now what do you say let's start chopping some adjectives. 310 00:21:11,904 --> 00:21:13,540 All right. 311 00:21:21,714 --> 00:21:24,517 He doesn't seem to be getting any better. 312 00:21:24,584 --> 00:21:27,354 Maybe you'd better send for Doc Shackleford. 313 00:21:27,420 --> 00:21:29,522 Last of the logs, Daddy. 314 00:21:29,589 --> 00:21:31,958 Nothing we can do about it till John-Boy gets back. 315 00:21:32,024 --> 00:21:34,193 I surely thought John-Boy would be back 316 00:21:34,260 --> 00:21:36,028 with another load before now. 317 00:21:37,930 --> 00:21:42,935 -All right, son, switch it on. -All right, Daddy. 318 00:21:43,002 --> 00:21:45,838 We need a doctor. Jim-Bob's getting worse by the minute. 319 00:21:45,905 --> 00:21:47,407 Hold it, son. 320 00:21:47,474 --> 00:21:50,877 All right, I'll get over to Ike's and call him right now. 321 00:21:55,682 --> 00:21:58,518 There, now. See how much clearer it is? 322 00:21:58,585 --> 00:22:00,853 Says it all in half the words. 323 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:05,324 Yes, well, now is the time for you to be learning those skills. 324 00:22:05,392 --> 00:22:08,160 Then when you go out after your big story... 325 00:22:08,227 --> 00:22:10,129 you'll be able to write it. 326 00:22:10,196 --> 00:22:13,433 -I can't thank you enough, A.J. -My pleasure, son. 327 00:22:18,671 --> 00:22:21,874 We've been at this a good while. I better get back to work. 328 00:22:21,941 --> 00:22:25,612 When a writer gets lost in his own world, time has no meaning. 329 00:22:27,279 --> 00:22:30,850 You know, we don't even have a half a wagonload yet. 330 00:22:41,528 --> 00:22:43,596 Hey, everybody. 331 00:22:43,663 --> 00:22:46,399 Sorry we're late getting home. 332 00:22:46,466 --> 00:22:48,034 Ben, when you finish eating 333 00:22:48,100 --> 00:22:50,269 would you turn the mules out for me? 334 00:22:50,336 --> 00:22:51,904 -Sure. -Thank you. 335 00:22:51,971 --> 00:22:55,374 Seems like dark just fell on us all of a sudden. 336 00:22:57,844 --> 00:23:00,680 Put in a long day up there, didn't you? 337 00:23:00,747 --> 00:23:03,049 We thought maybe you might have got lost. 338 00:23:03,115 --> 00:23:07,053 No, sir, we didn't, but we did lose sight of the time. 339 00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:08,655 Thank you. 340 00:23:14,260 --> 00:23:17,296 -How's Jim-Bob? -He's one sick child. 341 00:23:17,363 --> 00:23:21,233 Your daddy phoned for the doctor but he was out on another call. 342 00:23:21,300 --> 00:23:23,703 All we can do now is wait. 343 00:23:25,472 --> 00:23:28,741 Bring back a full load, did you, son? 344 00:23:28,808 --> 00:23:31,578 No, Daddy, not exactly a full load. Right much, though. 345 00:23:37,617 --> 00:23:38,985 How'd things go at the sawmill? 346 00:23:39,051 --> 00:23:41,988 We managed to get along till mid-afternoon. 347 00:23:42,054 --> 00:23:45,357 -Then we ran out of timber. -We waited and waited for you. 348 00:23:45,424 --> 00:23:47,226 We wanted to come up and fetch you. 349 00:23:47,293 --> 00:23:49,662 We thought maybe you laid down for a nap-- 350 00:23:49,729 --> 00:23:52,965 Right, children, that's enough. 351 00:23:53,032 --> 00:23:55,001 The jelly, please. 352 00:24:17,657 --> 00:24:20,059 Daddy, I did wrong today. I'm sorry. 353 00:24:21,561 --> 00:24:24,130 Those things happen sometimes. 354 00:24:24,196 --> 00:24:26,032 We got such an early start. 355 00:24:26,098 --> 00:24:28,835 It seemed like we were doing real good. 356 00:24:28,901 --> 00:24:30,903 Sometimes a man works real hard 357 00:24:30,970 --> 00:24:34,006 and can't seem to get anything done. 358 00:24:34,073 --> 00:24:36,408 It wasn't that. 359 00:24:36,475 --> 00:24:40,647 We sat down on a log to eat lunch and we started talking. 360 00:24:40,713 --> 00:24:43,249 I asked A.J. about writing, naturally. 361 00:24:43,315 --> 00:24:44,884 How he got started and all. 362 00:24:44,951 --> 00:24:46,953 And he told me. 363 00:24:47,019 --> 00:24:50,857 And you didn't get much wood cut. 364 00:24:50,923 --> 00:24:52,925 That's the whole thing. 365 00:24:57,163 --> 00:25:02,168 I think reading and writing's a fine thing, John-Boy. 366 00:25:02,234 --> 00:25:04,571 But you had a job to do today... 367 00:25:04,637 --> 00:25:07,807 for me, for the family, for yourself. 368 00:25:12,812 --> 00:25:15,882 A man's judged by the way... 369 00:25:15,948 --> 00:25:19,518 he is handling a job he's agreed to do. 370 00:25:19,586 --> 00:25:21,153 Give less than your best... 371 00:25:21,220 --> 00:25:24,957 whether you're writing or chopping wood or farming... 372 00:25:26,158 --> 00:25:29,028 and you're failing a lot of people. 373 00:25:29,095 --> 00:25:31,030 Most of all he's failing himself. 374 00:25:32,699 --> 00:25:35,735 You do the best of what you try... 375 00:25:35,802 --> 00:25:38,537 you'll have nothing to be sorry about. 376 00:25:38,605 --> 00:25:40,206 I'll try, Daddy. 377 00:25:43,676 --> 00:25:46,045 -You'd better come. -What is it, Livie? 378 00:25:46,112 --> 00:25:48,748 It's Jim-Bob. The pain is real bad. 379 00:25:48,815 --> 00:25:50,216 And I'm afraid. 380 00:26:06,098 --> 00:26:08,267 His fever's rising and his little stomach is 381 00:26:08,334 --> 00:26:10,069 as tight as a drum. 382 00:26:11,270 --> 00:26:13,405 Feeling pretty tough, are you, son? 383 00:26:13,472 --> 00:26:14,741 Yes, Sir. 384 00:26:14,807 --> 00:26:16,743 He hasn't been sick to his stomach 385 00:26:16,809 --> 00:26:18,745 so it isn't anything he ate. 386 00:26:18,811 --> 00:26:22,514 The pain's lower down, isn't it, honey? 387 00:26:22,581 --> 00:26:26,185 I've given him some fennel tea to check the fever and.... 388 00:26:30,222 --> 00:26:32,358 Excuse me, I.... 389 00:26:33,392 --> 00:26:34,761 I heard your son was sick. 390 00:26:34,827 --> 00:26:38,264 I thought maybe I could be of some help. 391 00:26:38,330 --> 00:26:42,601 So you're a doctor, as well as a writer and a woodcutter? 392 00:26:42,669 --> 00:26:44,804 No, ma'am, I'm not a doctor. 393 00:26:44,871 --> 00:26:47,606 But I have worked in a hospital. 394 00:26:49,275 --> 00:26:51,443 Any advice you can give us, Mr. Covington... 395 00:26:51,510 --> 00:26:54,380 we'd be much obliged. 396 00:26:59,719 --> 00:27:01,053 Hi, son. 397 00:27:03,355 --> 00:27:05,224 Hurt down here? 398 00:27:13,499 --> 00:27:15,234 [groaning] 399 00:27:29,115 --> 00:27:31,550 I think your son has appendicitis. 400 00:27:31,617 --> 00:27:33,920 Acute appendicitis. 401 00:27:33,986 --> 00:27:35,988 What makes you think that? 402 00:27:36,055 --> 00:27:39,558 I've seen these symptoms before. 403 00:27:39,625 --> 00:27:42,428 If there's even a possibility that I'm right... 404 00:27:42,494 --> 00:27:44,230 it could be very serious. 405 00:27:44,296 --> 00:27:46,132 What about Dr. Brooks down in Scottsville? 406 00:27:46,198 --> 00:27:48,567 I think what you need now is a surgeon... 407 00:27:48,634 --> 00:27:50,236 not a country doctor. 408 00:27:50,302 --> 00:27:53,239 -Thank you, Mr. Covington. -Quite all right. 409 00:27:55,875 --> 00:27:58,244 We get him to the hospital right away. 410 00:28:02,181 --> 00:28:04,416 We'll stay with him till he's fixed up. 411 00:28:04,483 --> 00:28:06,518 I don't know how long that's gonna be... 412 00:28:06,585 --> 00:28:09,188 but I'll get back home as soon as I can. 413 00:28:09,255 --> 00:28:11,758 -We'll be fine. -You all behave yourselves here. 414 00:28:11,824 --> 00:28:13,192 Don't worry, Daddy. 415 00:28:13,259 --> 00:28:15,828 John-Boy, we still got a chance to fill that contract. 416 00:28:15,895 --> 00:28:17,463 We're gonna try. 417 00:28:19,598 --> 00:28:21,834 Bye, Jim-Bob. 418 00:28:24,636 --> 00:28:26,172 Don't cry, honey. 419 00:28:26,238 --> 00:28:28,808 Crying's not going to help Jim-Bob feel any better. 420 00:28:28,875 --> 00:28:31,077 It's going to make me feel better. 421 00:28:31,143 --> 00:28:32,711 Into the house, all of you 422 00:28:32,779 --> 00:28:34,146 before somebody catches the grippe. 423 00:28:34,213 --> 00:28:35,481 Here, Grandpa. 424 00:28:35,547 --> 00:28:38,317 One Walton at a time in the hospital is enough. 425 00:28:55,434 --> 00:28:58,971 I've seen your symptoms before, too. 426 00:28:59,038 --> 00:29:00,773 Acute depression. 427 00:29:02,674 --> 00:29:05,044 I let them down, A.J. 428 00:29:06,078 --> 00:29:07,479 We were chopping out adjectives 429 00:29:07,546 --> 00:29:11,217 when we should've been chopping down trees. 430 00:29:11,283 --> 00:29:13,953 Never thought of anything else but the writing. 431 00:29:14,020 --> 00:29:17,023 I just never give a thought to anyone else but myself. 432 00:29:18,057 --> 00:29:21,060 I'll shoulder the blame. 433 00:29:21,127 --> 00:29:24,463 No, it's my family and it was my job. 434 00:29:24,530 --> 00:29:27,433 All right, we'll share the blame. 435 00:29:29,568 --> 00:29:33,005 A.J., I've been thinking a lot about what you said. 436 00:29:33,072 --> 00:29:35,774 You're right. If a man wants to be a writer... 437 00:29:35,842 --> 00:29:38,744 then that's got to come first before anything else. 438 00:29:38,811 --> 00:29:40,646 At a certain point in his life. 439 00:29:40,712 --> 00:29:43,415 You know, sometimes I talk a little too much. 440 00:29:45,084 --> 00:29:47,887 I don't think I'll ever be able to turn my back 441 00:29:47,954 --> 00:29:50,689 on the people I care about. 442 00:29:50,756 --> 00:29:52,691 The people that depend on me. 443 00:29:52,758 --> 00:29:54,560 Wait a minute, John-Boy. 444 00:29:54,626 --> 00:29:58,730 I wasn't suggesting you make such a drastic move... 445 00:29:58,797 --> 00:30:02,168 tomorrow or the next day. I was just talking generally. 446 00:30:02,234 --> 00:30:05,337 Today, tomorrow, next year. What does it matter? 447 00:30:07,606 --> 00:30:09,909 I've been fooling myself with this dumb idea 448 00:30:09,976 --> 00:30:12,611 that I'm gonna be a writer! 449 00:30:12,678 --> 00:30:15,681 You're right. A writer's gotta be able to cut off those ties. 450 00:30:15,747 --> 00:30:18,951 He's got to be able to just go looking for that story 451 00:30:19,018 --> 00:30:21,653 he was meant to write. 452 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:24,623 I admire you and all the great men who've done it. 453 00:30:24,690 --> 00:30:27,459 But I honestly don't think I'll ever have the courage. 454 00:30:30,629 --> 00:30:34,700 I guess I know I'll always be looking back. 455 00:30:34,766 --> 00:30:36,535 Just be tied to what's here. 456 00:30:40,372 --> 00:30:43,609 John-Boy, we got a big day tomorrow and you're tired now. 457 00:30:45,277 --> 00:30:47,613 We sure do have a big day tomorrow. 458 00:30:49,548 --> 00:30:50,950 I may never be a writer... 459 00:30:51,017 --> 00:30:52,985 but I'm going to be the best logger 460 00:30:53,052 --> 00:30:55,587 in Jefferson County tomorrow. 461 00:30:58,457 --> 00:31:01,961 -Good night, A.J. -Good night. 462 00:31:11,537 --> 00:31:15,607 90 cents, 95 cents, $1. There you go. You all come back, now. 463 00:31:18,177 --> 00:31:20,879 Well, Mr. Covington, what can I do for you? 464 00:31:20,947 --> 00:31:22,949 A little information. 465 00:31:23,015 --> 00:31:24,216 I understand the Tabor place 466 00:31:24,283 --> 00:31:26,652 could belong to any man that paid the taxes. 467 00:31:26,718 --> 00:31:28,420 That's correct. 468 00:31:28,487 --> 00:31:32,858 It's a shame. Nice little place like that falling to pieces. 469 00:31:32,925 --> 00:31:34,693 Do you know how much the taxes are? 470 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:37,930 I do. I was thinking of buying the place myself. 471 00:31:37,997 --> 00:31:40,732 $58.76. 472 00:31:40,799 --> 00:31:44,670 Why? Do I take it you'd be interested in it? 473 00:31:44,736 --> 00:31:48,307 Well, I've got to admit, I am a little tired of traveling. 474 00:31:48,374 --> 00:31:51,643 It'd be an honor to have a person of your reputation 475 00:31:51,710 --> 00:31:54,613 in our neighborhood. 476 00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:58,817 There's one problem, though. I'm a little bit short of cash. 477 00:31:58,884 --> 00:32:00,819 A lot of folks are nowadays. 478 00:32:00,886 --> 00:32:03,755 I do have this watch, though. 479 00:32:03,822 --> 00:32:05,457 Although I hate to part with it... 480 00:32:05,524 --> 00:32:08,294 I have to have a down payment on the taxes. 481 00:32:15,034 --> 00:32:17,336 She's a beauty. 482 00:32:21,540 --> 00:32:23,509 How much? 483 00:32:23,575 --> 00:32:25,077 $40. 484 00:32:28,814 --> 00:32:30,983 I'll give you $25. 485 00:32:32,084 --> 00:32:35,554 This is one of a kind, Mr. Godsey. 486 00:32:37,623 --> 00:32:39,925 $35. 487 00:32:39,992 --> 00:32:42,394 How's that work again? 488 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:50,369 $30. 489 00:32:53,939 --> 00:32:56,008 It's yours. 490 00:32:58,777 --> 00:33:01,480 The assessor's office is over at the county seat. 491 00:33:01,547 --> 00:33:05,451 And let's see, that's $5, $10, $20, $30. 492 00:33:17,796 --> 00:33:19,698 How're you doing, A.J.? 493 00:33:19,765 --> 00:33:22,201 Okay. 494 00:33:48,227 --> 00:33:51,463 Sure is taking a long while. 495 00:33:51,530 --> 00:33:54,233 I wish I could've stayed with him. 496 00:33:54,300 --> 00:33:58,036 Livie, he's getting the best care. 497 00:33:58,104 --> 00:34:01,740 He looked so small on that big white bed. 498 00:34:01,807 --> 00:34:05,010 I'm just glad we got him here on time. 499 00:34:05,077 --> 00:34:07,746 We have Mr. Covington to thank for that. 500 00:34:11,883 --> 00:34:14,686 If anything had gone wrong, they surely would've told us 501 00:34:14,753 --> 00:34:16,522 by now, wouldn't they? 502 00:34:20,592 --> 00:34:24,696 Hadn't you better go on home? 503 00:34:24,763 --> 00:34:27,633 We'll just sit this thing out together. 504 00:34:28,867 --> 00:34:31,437 What about the contract? If we don't make it? 505 00:34:33,472 --> 00:34:35,674 Just gonna have a long winter. 506 00:34:44,983 --> 00:34:47,018 You and the mules have done real well. 507 00:34:47,085 --> 00:34:48,820 We sure have. 508 00:34:48,887 --> 00:34:51,089 Couldn't hardly see the sun for the chips 509 00:34:51,157 --> 00:34:53,192 flying up there today. 510 00:34:53,259 --> 00:34:55,427 -Come on, Jason, give me a hand. -Sure. 511 00:34:57,429 --> 00:34:59,431 -We'll get this one first. -All right. 512 00:35:03,202 --> 00:35:04,703 -Got her? -Yeah. 513 00:35:04,770 --> 00:35:07,406 Okay, let's go. 514 00:35:07,473 --> 00:35:09,575 We're way behind on this order. 515 00:35:09,641 --> 00:35:11,843 Trouble is, this old machine will go 516 00:35:11,910 --> 00:35:14,246 just so fast but no faster. 517 00:35:18,150 --> 00:35:20,686 You can make it go faster, Mr. Walton. 518 00:35:20,752 --> 00:35:22,288 How's that? 519 00:35:22,354 --> 00:35:24,756 You change the ratio of the pulleys. 520 00:35:24,823 --> 00:35:26,057 Ratio? 521 00:35:26,124 --> 00:35:27,893 How can we do that? 522 00:35:30,429 --> 00:35:34,966 You just replace that large pulley with the small one, see. 523 00:35:35,033 --> 00:35:36,768 I fail to see it. 524 00:35:36,835 --> 00:35:38,937 It'll make the blade go twice as fast... 525 00:35:39,004 --> 00:35:41,240 so you'll be cutting twice as much lumber 526 00:35:41,307 --> 00:35:43,141 in the same amount of time. 527 00:35:43,209 --> 00:35:45,377 I say let's try it. 528 00:35:45,444 --> 00:35:48,247 Nothing ventured, nothing gained. 529 00:35:52,484 --> 00:35:54,186 [sighs] 530 00:36:05,197 --> 00:36:06,832 -Mr. Walton? -Doctor. 531 00:36:06,898 --> 00:36:09,301 Your boy's appendix has been removed... 532 00:36:09,368 --> 00:36:12,271 and the operation was a complete success. 533 00:36:13,539 --> 00:36:15,541 How long before we can see him, Doctor? 534 00:36:15,607 --> 00:36:16,808 Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours 535 00:36:16,875 --> 00:36:18,277 till the ether wears off. 536 00:36:18,344 --> 00:36:21,247 I'll have the nurses call you so you can be with the boy 537 00:36:21,313 --> 00:36:22,514 when he wakens. 538 00:36:22,581 --> 00:36:25,451 Thank you, Doctor. Thank you very much. 539 00:36:25,517 --> 00:36:27,719 Well, how about that? 540 00:36:44,670 --> 00:36:46,037 I don't understand it. 541 00:36:46,104 --> 00:36:47,706 It's simple. 542 00:36:47,773 --> 00:36:50,942 What your ratio's done is to burn out the roller bearing. 543 00:36:51,009 --> 00:36:53,312 But it was working. 544 00:36:53,379 --> 00:36:55,547 For a while, anyway. 545 00:36:57,416 --> 00:36:59,150 That'll be Daddy. 546 00:36:59,217 --> 00:37:01,687 I hope his news is better than ours. 547 00:37:07,092 --> 00:37:10,228 I'm sorry, John-Boy. 548 00:37:10,296 --> 00:37:12,598 It's not your fault, A.J. 549 00:37:22,474 --> 00:37:25,210 How's Jim-Bob? 550 00:37:25,277 --> 00:37:27,679 Minus one appendix and doing just fine. 551 00:37:27,746 --> 00:37:30,248 -That's wonderful. -Tell the others. 552 00:37:33,819 --> 00:37:37,188 Daddy, we're not gonna make that contract. 553 00:37:37,255 --> 00:37:39,325 It's my fault. 554 00:37:39,391 --> 00:37:41,126 That's not what Grandpa told me. 555 00:37:41,192 --> 00:37:44,430 I was so anxious to make up for the time I lost... 556 00:37:44,496 --> 00:37:47,433 that I had A.J. try to speed up the saw. 557 00:37:47,499 --> 00:37:51,002 It worked for a while, then it burned out the bearing. 558 00:37:51,069 --> 00:37:55,040 At least you gave it a try, son. It wasn't such a bad idea. 559 00:37:55,106 --> 00:37:56,908 But I lost. 560 00:38:00,512 --> 00:38:02,581 We're just gonna have to... 561 00:38:02,648 --> 00:38:05,751 put our shoulder to the wheel a little harder. 562 00:38:05,817 --> 00:38:09,054 It'll be slim pickings this winter. 563 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,790 That operation cost $22. 564 00:38:16,462 --> 00:38:18,697 We'll get by somehow. 565 00:38:30,108 --> 00:38:31,843 Thank you, Chance. 566 00:38:52,564 --> 00:38:55,133 I feel a terrible aching emptiness... 567 00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:57,569 but I will fill that empty place in myself... 568 00:38:57,636 --> 00:38:59,805 with what I feel for my father and mother 569 00:38:59,871 --> 00:39:01,440 and brothers and sisters... 570 00:39:01,507 --> 00:39:03,274 instead of living in the private world 571 00:39:03,341 --> 00:39:05,677 of my thoughts and feelings. 572 00:39:19,224 --> 00:39:20,992 See you later, girl. 573 00:39:46,351 --> 00:39:50,321 After this writing, I will lay aside my journal forever. 574 00:39:50,388 --> 00:39:51,823 I will try to accept this 575 00:39:51,890 --> 00:39:53,825 and learn to live with the knowledge... 576 00:39:53,892 --> 00:39:56,495 that I can never follow in the footsteps of those 577 00:39:56,562 --> 00:39:58,196 who gave their lives... 578 00:39:58,263 --> 00:40:01,667 to search for the one great story they were born to write. 579 00:40:21,953 --> 00:40:23,722 Come in, son. 580 00:40:25,557 --> 00:40:27,959 -Am I disturbing you? -No. 581 00:40:29,961 --> 00:40:31,797 I was just thinking. 582 00:40:31,863 --> 00:40:35,066 Piecing out a story in your mind? 583 00:40:35,133 --> 00:40:37,002 Yeah. 584 00:40:37,068 --> 00:40:39,671 If you'd like to talk it out loud, there's nothing... 585 00:40:39,738 --> 00:40:41,873 I'd rather do than listen. 586 00:40:44,075 --> 00:40:46,745 That's what I've done with all my stories, John-Boy. 587 00:40:48,346 --> 00:40:51,683 Talked them all away instead of putting them down on paper. 588 00:40:51,750 --> 00:40:53,619 What do you mean? 589 00:40:55,253 --> 00:40:57,856 I've yarned my yarns at boarding house tables... 590 00:40:57,923 --> 00:41:00,726 in saloons, hotel lobbies, street corners... 591 00:41:00,792 --> 00:41:03,729 just about anyplace I could get anybody to listen. 592 00:41:03,795 --> 00:41:06,031 Then when I sat myself down alone 593 00:41:06,097 --> 00:41:08,967 in front of a blank piece of paper... 594 00:41:09,034 --> 00:41:11,537 it was all gone. 595 00:41:11,603 --> 00:41:13,939 I was drained. I'd talked it all away. 596 00:41:15,607 --> 00:41:17,643 So I couldn't write. 597 00:41:18,677 --> 00:41:20,946 But you did write. 598 00:41:22,681 --> 00:41:24,950 Very little, son. 599 00:41:28,486 --> 00:41:33,124 This story I was piecing out in my mind... 600 00:41:33,191 --> 00:41:35,527 it was about... 601 00:41:35,594 --> 00:41:38,496 a young boy growing up on a farm. 602 00:41:38,564 --> 00:41:40,966 Me? 603 00:41:41,032 --> 00:41:42,467 Or me. 604 00:41:42,534 --> 00:41:45,637 Maybe even both of us. 605 00:41:45,704 --> 00:41:48,740 This boy wanted to write. So he did. 606 00:41:48,807 --> 00:41:51,710 He wrote about his family, the farm... 607 00:41:51,777 --> 00:41:54,279 happenings in a small town nearby. 608 00:41:54,345 --> 00:41:56,381 People read what he wrote and liked it... 609 00:41:56,447 --> 00:41:59,217 because they sensed it came out of his own feelings. 610 00:41:59,284 --> 00:42:01,452 You know what I mean? 611 00:42:01,519 --> 00:42:02,888 I think so. 612 00:42:05,023 --> 00:42:08,627 Then he got a little recognition. 613 00:42:08,694 --> 00:42:10,762 Where's your watch? 614 00:42:10,829 --> 00:42:14,299 It's in a safe place. 615 00:42:14,365 --> 00:42:18,503 Then he got a little recognition and he went to the big city. 616 00:42:18,570 --> 00:42:19,838 He met other writers. 617 00:42:19,905 --> 00:42:22,240 He talked about writing and the literary life. 618 00:42:24,943 --> 00:42:28,546 Came away with a lot of bogus notions. 619 00:42:30,248 --> 00:42:32,784 One, he told himself that to be a writer... 620 00:42:32,851 --> 00:42:36,254 he had to cut all of his family ties. So he cut them. 621 00:42:38,323 --> 00:42:39,925 Then he looked at... 622 00:42:39,991 --> 00:42:42,828 the small but honest things he'd written... 623 00:42:42,894 --> 00:42:45,897 and decided that they were trivial. 624 00:42:47,065 --> 00:42:49,534 He had to go searching for the big story. 625 00:42:49,601 --> 00:42:53,004 But didn't Melville and London do the same thing? 626 00:42:53,071 --> 00:42:55,741 What they saw and felt, they set down... 627 00:42:55,807 --> 00:42:58,409 without asking themselves if it was "the" story. 628 00:42:58,476 --> 00:43:02,881 As long as it was "a" story. That was good enough. 629 00:43:02,948 --> 00:43:05,651 But this fellow I'm telling you about... 630 00:43:05,717 --> 00:43:07,986 he used the wandering and the searching 631 00:43:08,053 --> 00:43:10,321 as an excuse to keep from writing. 632 00:43:12,791 --> 00:43:15,260 -You know how he ended up? -No. 633 00:43:18,329 --> 00:43:20,699 With nothing to show for 45 years of living 634 00:43:20,766 --> 00:43:23,601 but a few tall tales... 635 00:43:23,669 --> 00:43:27,205 and some secondhand memories of working writers he'd known. 636 00:43:28,940 --> 00:43:31,677 But he could still write if he wanted to. 637 00:43:33,679 --> 00:43:35,747 He tells himself that from time to time 638 00:43:35,814 --> 00:43:39,017 but he doesn't really believe it anymore. 639 00:43:39,084 --> 00:43:41,319 Moral stories are out of style, John-Boy. 640 00:43:43,621 --> 00:43:45,724 But then, so am I. 641 00:43:48,860 --> 00:43:52,430 But my story has a moral. 642 00:43:52,497 --> 00:43:55,433 Don't waste your life searching for the one big story 643 00:43:55,500 --> 00:43:57,635 you were born to write. 644 00:43:57,703 --> 00:43:59,470 Write the little stories. 645 00:43:59,537 --> 00:44:03,641 Who knows, the sum total of them might be the big one. 646 00:44:03,709 --> 00:44:06,644 Write about Walton's Mountain. 647 00:44:06,712 --> 00:44:09,647 Your feelings about your family, this place. 648 00:44:09,715 --> 00:44:12,017 Just the way you've been doing. 649 00:44:12,083 --> 00:44:15,687 Write about how it is to be young and confused and poor. 650 00:44:15,754 --> 00:44:17,689 Groping, but supported by 651 00:44:17,756 --> 00:44:20,892 a strong father and a loving mother. 652 00:44:20,959 --> 00:44:23,061 Surrounded by brothers and sisters 653 00:44:23,128 --> 00:44:25,797 that pester you and irritate you... 654 00:44:25,864 --> 00:44:27,933 but care about you. 655 00:44:27,999 --> 00:44:31,036 Try to capture that in words, John-Boy. 656 00:44:31,102 --> 00:44:35,741 That's as big a challenge as the Klondike or the white whale... 657 00:44:35,807 --> 00:44:39,644 or flying the Atlantic Ocean alone. 658 00:44:39,711 --> 00:44:41,747 It was too big for me... 659 00:44:43,181 --> 00:44:46,151 but I think you just might be up to it. 660 00:44:49,654 --> 00:44:51,823 Thank you, A.J. 661 00:45:06,805 --> 00:45:09,340 [instrumental music] 662 00:45:32,363 --> 00:45:35,033 "It needs new paint and shingles 663 00:45:35,100 --> 00:45:37,836 "And the vines should be trimmed and tied 664 00:45:41,873 --> 00:45:43,842 "But what it needs the most of all 665 00:45:43,909 --> 00:45:46,211 is some people living inside" 666 00:45:51,950 --> 00:45:54,786 It was about so long and it looked sort of like 667 00:45:54,853 --> 00:45:56,054 a fishing worm. 668 00:45:56,121 --> 00:45:57,388 Mother! 669 00:45:57,455 --> 00:45:59,825 Jim-Bob, I think Erin is getting a bit squeamish. 670 00:45:59,891 --> 00:46:02,260 I am glad we are not eating at the table. 671 00:46:02,327 --> 00:46:03,795 -But it's interesting. -It's scientific. 672 00:46:03,862 --> 00:46:05,430 It's disgusting. 673 00:46:05,496 --> 00:46:07,833 It's all gone. 674 00:46:07,899 --> 00:46:12,003 It's the most interesting thing that ever happened to anyone. 675 00:46:13,571 --> 00:46:17,809 Some folks think that a forest fire is entertainment, too. 676 00:46:17,876 --> 00:46:20,145 Stop picking at them. 677 00:46:20,211 --> 00:46:23,781 You were as curious as a magpie when you were young. 678 00:46:23,849 --> 00:46:26,184 Whenever that was, I wonder. 679 00:46:26,251 --> 00:46:30,021 I am the only one around here who can recollect back that far. 680 00:46:35,460 --> 00:46:37,996 What's the matter, son? 681 00:46:38,063 --> 00:46:39,464 A.J.'s gone. 682 00:46:39,530 --> 00:46:40,765 -What? -Where? 683 00:46:40,832 --> 00:46:43,969 Without so much as a good-bye? 684 00:46:44,035 --> 00:46:47,839 He left me a note. I'd like to read it to you. 685 00:46:51,076 --> 00:46:55,446 "Dear John-Boy, time for moving on. 686 00:46:55,513 --> 00:47:00,185 "I'm leaving you something. This is not a gift. It's a loan." 687 00:47:04,255 --> 00:47:05,656 $22. 688 00:47:05,723 --> 00:47:08,159 Where would he get $22? 689 00:47:10,495 --> 00:47:12,864 I think I know, Grandma. 690 00:47:17,768 --> 00:47:20,038 "I've got no good use for this. 691 00:47:20,105 --> 00:47:22,573 "It will help to cover the loss of the contract. 692 00:47:24,109 --> 00:47:26,611 "This is the most I've written in years. 693 00:47:26,677 --> 00:47:29,580 "My road calls me, lures me 694 00:47:29,647 --> 00:47:33,751 "West, east, south, and north 695 00:47:33,818 --> 00:47:36,654 "Most roads lead men homewards 696 00:47:36,721 --> 00:47:39,557 "My road leads me forth' 697 00:47:39,624 --> 00:47:41,893 "Affectionately, A.J. Covington. 698 00:47:43,194 --> 00:47:45,330 "Andy." 699 00:47:50,268 --> 00:47:53,704 We never saw nor heard from A.J. Covington again. 700 00:47:53,771 --> 00:47:55,974 He wandered into our lives... 701 00:47:56,041 --> 00:47:59,044 touched them, and wandered away. 702 00:47:59,110 --> 00:48:01,112 Often when I face the silent challenge 703 00:48:01,179 --> 00:48:02,847 of a blank piece of paper... 704 00:48:02,914 --> 00:48:07,552 I remember the literary man and the advice he gave me. 705 00:48:07,618 --> 00:48:09,554 I struggle to keep faith with him 706 00:48:09,620 --> 00:48:11,756 and set down the small things... 707 00:48:11,822 --> 00:48:13,558 the seemingly trivial things 708 00:48:13,624 --> 00:48:15,560 which perhaps taken all together... 709 00:48:15,626 --> 00:48:18,063 will eventually give at least some suggestion... 710 00:48:18,129 --> 00:48:20,498 of the love and sacrifice and joy... 711 00:48:20,565 --> 00:48:23,534 that sustained one family who lived out the Depression... 712 00:48:23,601 --> 00:48:26,004 at the foot of Walton's Mountain. 713 00:48:28,606 --> 00:48:30,008 Mama? 714 00:48:30,075 --> 00:48:31,376 Yes, Jason? 715 00:48:31,442 --> 00:48:33,644 I got a sharp hurt in my side. 716 00:48:33,711 --> 00:48:35,947 You reckon I could be getting appendicitis? 717 00:48:36,014 --> 00:48:38,950 I hope not. Try turning on your back. 718 00:48:40,952 --> 00:48:42,387 It's all right, Mama. 719 00:48:42,453 --> 00:48:43,788 Hurt gone? 720 00:48:43,854 --> 00:48:46,391 I was laying on my harmonica. 721 00:48:46,457 --> 00:48:49,327 -Good night, Jason. -Good night, Mama. 722 00:48:55,200 --> 00:48:56,634 In a moment, some scenes 723 00:48:56,701 --> 00:49:00,038 from the next episode of The Waltons. 724 00:49:00,938 --> 00:49:04,075 [theme music] 725 00:49:20,058 --> 00:49:23,194 [music continues]