 Family Theater presents Jeanette MacDonald and Will Rogers Jr. From Hollywood, the Mutual Network in Cooperation with Family Theater presents The Sangebo Sage starring Will Rogers Jr. And now here is your hostess, Jeanette MacDonald. Thank you, Tony LaFranco. Family Theater's only purpose is to bring to everyone's attention a practice that must become an important part of our lives if we are to win the peace for ourselves, peace for our families, and peace for the world. Family Theater urges you to pray. Pray together as a family. And now to our transcribed drama, The Sangebo Sage starring Will Rogers Jr. as Abraham Lincoln. By the time he was 24, he had gone bankrupt and was over $1,000 in debt. None would deny he was an excellent wrestler, a swift corn husker, and told a funny story better than most. But apart from the fact that he could read and write, his new Salem neighbors didn't feel he had any qualifications to be deputy surveyor of Sangamon County. He didn't know a chain from a circumferenter or a logarithm from either. But here this morning they'd seen him start out on foot bright and early to walk 20 miles to Springfield to ask a Democrat for a job he didn't know the first thing about. But that's how he did. I've come to see Mr. Calhoun, ma'am. Is he expecting you? Yes, ma'am. I wrote him. Well, come in, come in. Thank you. John, John. Yeah? There's a young man here to see you. He says you're expecting him. Well, I don't recall anyone. It's me, Mr. Calhoun. Hey, well, how are you? Good enough, thank you, sir. How's the story? Well, it winked out. That's why you're seeing me sooner than you might have expected. Mary, this is young Lincoln who wrote that fine letter to me. How'd you do? It's a pleasure, Mrs. Calhoun. Hey, come on in to the study, Abe, and rest your feet. Had your dinner yet? No, sir. Still breakfast time when I left New Salem. Well, then you'll stay to dinner with us. It won't be Mary. I'll set another plate. You like chicken, Mr. Lincoln? Yes, Mrs. Calhoun. I thank you. Come on in, Abe. Sit down, sit down. Yes, sir. You walked all the way to Springfield this morning? Yes, sir. I'm afraid my appearance is the worst for it. You won't know Horace, don't you? I own about 80% of one. But the creditor holding title to the balance, he won't even let his part leave town while I settle up. How much do you owe him, Abe? $10. But he's well down on the list. Bill Berry didn't turn out to be much of a business partner, did he? He got as bad as he gave. Well, at least you weren't drinking all the time. No, I was down on the river watching Jack Kelso fish and spout Shakespeare. There's nothing left of the stock? Some dry goods. A few jugs of corn juice that Billy didn't get to finish. Even so, it ought to bring something. That was the attitude of the constable who impounded it. I see. So now you want to learn surveying. I think I can, Mr. Calhoun. I'm a learner. Do you know anything at all of the subject? Only that. Well, a man couldn't expect to be your deputy without a thorough understanding of it. Here. Hey, take a look at this book, Abe. The Theory and Practice of Surveying by Robert Gibson. Tisable volume, eh? Yes, sir. I could learn it. And you need someone to coach you. Schoolmaster New Salem, Mr. Menter Graham. He'd coach me. We're friends. Then you're welcome to try, Abe. I take it you're still interested in entering politics. Yes, sir. As a wig. And I don't worry, Abe. There are no strings attached to this appointment. Well, I appreciate that, Mr. Calhoun. That is if you get it. Dinner's on the table. Right away, dear. There's a pitcher and a bowl in the kitchen, Mr. Lincoln, if you're wanting to wash up. Indeed I do, ma'am. I'll only be a minute. Oh, use the towel on the rack. Yes, ma'am. Well, John, if he isn't the most unheavenly-looking mortal ever stepped inside this house. For all of that, he's no common man. He ran for state representative from the county last year, and he placed seventh among twelve candidates. What's so uncommon about losing an election? In one of his speeches, he said, If the good people in their wisdom shall see fit to keep me in the background, I've been too familiar with disappointments to be very much chagrined. Sounds like he had more faith in the good people than he did in himself. Yes. That's what's uncommon about him. I don't know, Menter. Start over from the beginning, Abe. Maybe I'm not cut out for this any better than I was for trading. A man's got to have a nose for trading. Plus gumption. You've walked every man in the county who'd stand up to you. It's not a case of gumption. You've got a brain and a tongue. Now, start over. There are three different horizons. Now, there are three different horizons. The apparent, the sensible, and the true. The apparent horizon. The apparent or visible horizon. The apparent or visible horizon is the utmost apparent view of the sea or the land. There's two more. The sensible horizon is a plane. A plane passing through the eye of an observer, perpendicular to a plumb line hanging freely. That is the most uninstructive collection of words ever assembled in a single sentence. It's highly instructive. A pain passing through the eye of a plum tree. A plane. The only person who could understand that is the man that wrote it. A wager, it's not too clear to him. It's as clear as spring water. Would a plane parallel to the horizon be horizontal or vertical? Word parallel does not appear in that proposition. It's implied in the phrase, through the eye of an observer. You think the observer's going to be lying on his back with his head rolled sideways? I've always found that a very restful posture. Now don't try joking your way out of this. He's going to be standing flat-footed, and the sensible horizon is the horizontal plane he sees at right angles to the plumb line. Hanging freely. You getting tired, Abe? No, madam. It's most midnight. You working again tomorrow? Yeah, over at Jim Short's place. Huston? He'll be finishing another day or so. Abe, you can't keep up a pace like this. I shouldn't have to for much longer. Why, we're better than halfway through the book. You haven't had a good night's sleep in a month. Yes, I have. And you won't get but four hours tonight if you start right now. Well, I managed to catch a few winks during the day. Well, that's not how Jim Short tells it. What? He says you're husking two loads of corn to his one. Well, you know, Jim does a sight of sleeping on the job himself. Oh, Abe. Now let me try it once more, madam. And then we'll call it quits. Just once. And don't prompt me now. There are three different horizons. The apparent, the sensible, and the true. The apparent or visible horizon is the utmost point of view, almost the apparent point of view of the sea or the land. Well, sensible. Now let me get this by myself. The sensible is a plane passing through the eye of the observer, perpendicular to a plumb line hanging freely. Good, Abe. Now there's one more, how do I say? The true horizon. The true horizon. Oh, no. The true horizon will always be able to see that. Good morning to you, Mr. Kelso. Well, Abe, I just heard the great news about your appointment. Yes, I guess I'm going to be a surveyor after all, Jack. A man who doth bestride the narrow world like a colossus. Let us hope. Then why pray does one of your high station pass the morning chopping wood? Because I aspire to even greater heights. Oh, I would bestride my horse. So I borrowed ten dollars from Russell Godbeata, pay off Winter Hall, and now I'm working it out. Good deed, Godbeat. That little candle throws his beams. So shines a good deed in a naughty world. Abe, when do you start work? As a surveyor, first thing in the morning. For Mr. Godbe. Well, it all comes clear now. How much are your fees? Three dollars a day? Well, you bet he tries to pay off in buckskin. Abe! Abe! It's Nancy Graham. Running like the wind. Abe, Father says you're to come right away. What's the trouble? It's that man from Rock Creek who holds the promissory note you took from the Trent Brothers. What about him? He says they've skipped and it's your responsibility to make good what's owein' him. Well, he's had the store and everything they've left. Well, he says that's not enough. And the constable agreed with him. What constable? Down at Rutledge Tavern. He took your horse and saddle and your surveying stuff. He impounded my instruments too? Uh-huh, everything. You gotta go down there, Abe. Well, it wouldn't be any use, Nancy. Mr. Hunter's within his rights. But Abe, you can't work without those instruments. The law's the law, Jack. I'm in the man's debt. When's the auction, Nancy, did they say? Uh-huh, sometime tomorrow. Abe, maybe you could somehow borrow the money to buy back your stuff. I've done enough borrowing. Not near as much as you have Linden. Well, there's lots of folks here about so still haven't settled what you carried him for. Yes, and that doesn't auger well for me either. How do you mean? Neither a borrower nor a lender be. For loan oft loses both its self and friend and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. Hamlet, act one. See who that is, will you, Nancy? Yes, Father. Good evening, Nancy. Hey! Howdy. It's Abe and Jack Kelso, Father. Come in, boys. Come in. I stopped by at a fetch Mr. Calhoun's surveying book, mentor. Uh-huh. Since I shan't be needing it, I want to return it to him tomorrow. Hunter won't let you have the instruments? Not unless I settle up. So they're going ahead with the auction? First thing in the morning. Oh, it's just a shame. Well, Mr. Hunter was polite, but he has obligations of his own to meet. Abe, I know it's not enough, but I've got a bit of over $30 that way. No, no, thank you, mentor. In the first place, I couldn't pay you back. You don't have to. In the second, it isn't enough. Oh, at least it'd be a start, Abe. I've got an $1,100 start on my creditors already. That seems as efficiency, eh, Jack? It is enough to serve. So, mentor, if you let me take the book. Of course, Abe. Right there on the top shelf. Thank you. Hmm. No, in a way, I hate to give it up. Abe, I must confess, I don't see the rush. Mr. Calhoun will be appointing another deputy now. If he's much like his predecessor, he'll be in sore need of this volume. Well, promise me one thing, Abe. If you can't fetch a ride to Springfield tomorrow, come by and take my mule. I think I'll manage, mentor. You're crazy walking that distance. Jim Short told me a few days ago if I had to, I could use his horse until my own was clear. Now you don't even have that. Can't be helped. Thanks for your coaching, mentor. Oh, sure. Even if I never put it to practical use, it's taught me a fine $5 word for describing my progress to date. Which word's that, Abe? Ecliptical. Meaning what? Oh, roughly, it means going around in a circle. Come along, Jack. We're keeping mentor up past his bedtime. Glad you stopped by, Abe. Good night, Jack. Good night, mentor. Good night, Nancy. Good night, Abe. Want to stay over to my place tonight, Abe? Thank you, Jack. Feeling restless. I think I'll stroll a little and try and do some figurein'. Abe, hmm? Abe, I'm a poor man to be given counsel and you may think less of me for sayin' this. Right now I couldn't think less of anyone to do myself, Jack. Go ahead. Well, Abe, as the bard put it, you could vanish like a bright exhalation in the evening. And no man see me more. That's the line. You mean skip. Well, Abe, it was good enough for the Trent brothers and before them, dentin' off it and be a liar if I said I hadn't considered it. Why you've hung on this long's a puzzle to most folks in New Salem anyhow. You've no real home here, no family. I've got friends. Friends like me own you for coal oil and whiskey. And payin' me back ten times over in companionship. It won't balance a ledger, Abe. And it won't get back your horses or your measuring tools. Somehow you've just put your finger on a very sound reason for my not skipping. What's that? I've nothing to skip with. All I've got left in the world are my debts. If I leave New Salem, I won't even have those. Abe, do you think you know enough to start up as a surveyor somewhere elsey? If you had your tools? If I had them, I could start up right here. Well, Abe, what if you had to do something to fetch them that make it unpopular for you to start up right here? What are you digging at, Jack? I was looking around at that shed back of Rutledge's stable earlier tonight where the constables got your stuff locked up. Uh-huh. Abe, that's a terrible, flimsy thing. A shed? Looks like a good breath of wind blow it right over. Never paid it much mind. Well, you ought to see around the back of it there's a board about oh so wide. I swear, Abe, I don't know what's holding it up. Hard to believe a man like Rutledge would allow his property to fall into such disrepair. Well, Abe, I'm not asking you to take my word for it. Well, I'm perfectly willing. Well, there's no need to. His place is just up the road. Come on, you can see it for yourself. Isn't that a scandal? Yes. Look, Abe, all you have to do is touch it. See how it shakes? Terrible. Hardly a safe place for valuable tools like yours. Hardly. By the way, Jack. Yes, Abe? Is there any reason why we should be talking in whispering? There's the lateness of the hour to consider. It's your opinion then that Mr. Rutledge is by now asleep. Well, you know he's an early riser. Uh, Jack. Say, I just spied a curious thing, Abe. What's that? Inside the shed there just past them loose boards. Look, isn't that your tool case? Quite likely. You know, I just now spied something curious myself. Yeah, this loose board. It's the only loose one along the entire back wall. But, George, you're right, Abe. I don't think it'll take much to put it to rights. Oh, now, Abe, just a few bottom pegs here are loose. Now, you don't want to do anything right. Did you just get this flat rock here? Abe, Abe, think what the bard says about noise that splits the ears of the groundlings. These pegs are sharp tap like so. Gently, Abe, gently use all gently. And, Abe, you'll wake up the whole neighborhood. There, it's as good as new. You want the constable down on us? Soft. What light through yonder window breaks? It's Rutledge, you woke him up. Abe, we got to get out of here. Run! Lead on, Gallop of Pace, you fiery-footed steed. We're away. I got to get my breath. Such speed is never to carry a wheel. Fine joke, Abe, very fine. Oh, but you did saw the air too much with your hands. Abe, you threw it away. You had a chance to get clear of this mud hole and you threw it away. I guess so. At least ways. Well, I thank you, Jack. Fair weather or foul, you're a friend. Abe, I spent the better part of two hours loosening those pegs. They're fees. Oh, there's no teaching you anything. I dispute that now. I'm a good learner. Of surveying maybe in Shakespeare, blame little else. Maybe not. I've learned what a friend will do for you, though. I learned that tonight. Fat lot of good it served you. No, it served me well, Jack. It's what made me pound back those pegs. Am I putting them loose major pound them back? In a way of speaking. You see my friends right now are all I've got to my name. Don't forget your debts. That's true. I'd rather have both than either. Oh, Abe. No, no, this is right, Jack. A man would be a fool to leave a place where people have been good to him, like folks like you and Mentor and others have been to me. Abe, you make friends wherever you go. I've been lucky. I wouldn't want to turn that luck by starting to leave enemies someplace I've been. You got no tools, no horses, not a penny to your name. And you call yourself lucky? Sight luckier than most men alive. How do you figure that? You promise not to josh me about this? I promise. Well, people... people seem to trust me. Oh, but old man Hunter. No, it's not really me, Mr. Hunter doesn't trust. It's circumstances. The Trent Brothers let him down and now he's afraid of everybody. All right Abe, even allowing people do trust you. What special goods in that? It makes you... How can I put it? It makes you strong. Strong? Yes, Jack. It makes you strong enough for anything. Good morning, Mrs. Short. Oh, Abe, come in. Come in. Thank you. You're a bright and early at breakfast. Yes, I got up to go to Springfield this morning. About your job. Yes, in a way. Mr. Short said I might borrow the bay if I needed. Well, Abe, he wrote off on the bay himself less than an hour ago. Into New Salem? That's what he told Jimmy. Dr. Allen came by in his rig on the way to Petersburg, I guess, and I saw James talking to him out by the fence and next thing I knew he was gone. Oh, well, I guess he must have had some important business to attend to. You're welcome to wait, Abe. I can't say when he'll be back. No. It shouldn't be too long. Well, thank you kindly, Mrs. Short, but I'd best be on my way. Can I make you a snack to take along? Well, thank you, but I've got a pair of corn dodgers and some bacon Nancy Graham put up for me. Well, I'm sure you can use an apple to top that off with. Well, thank you. Maybe even two. Oh, no. One for now and one for later. Well, thank you, ma'am. I have a bludge to you. Well, if James should come back in the next half hour, I'll tell him you're walking. Maybe he'll want to leave the bay out with the rig and catch you. No, you just tell him what's a bludge and I'll stop back on my way here tonight. All right. You've always got a book, haven't you, Abe? Oh, this? It isn't mine, Mrs. Short. I'm returning it to its owner. Learn anything from it? Yes, a great deal. Then reading it was time well spent. That's the way I feel too, Mrs. Short, no matter what. What have you done? Now, hold on, hold on. Well, you're leading my horse carrying my surveying instruments? Will you let me get my breath? You stole them after all. Nobody stole nothing will you let me get down and tell you? I've near run my nags legs off trying to catch you. Well, what did you do? I went to the auction this morning. The whole township went. Everybody? Miller, Hill, Ferguson, Rutledge. Oh, what happened? Let me get my breath. Abe, the constable got up and said your stuff was for sale to the highest bidder. And Ethan Dodge, you know that old miser? He's not a miser, he's just poor. He wasn't too poor to bid $15 for your horse. I meant poor in spirit. Well, he bid $15. Up to then, no one else had said a word. Tom Clary and I were going to pool our resources and bid $15.80. When all of a sudden, up comes riding Jim Short and his big bae, Patton and Huffin. Well, I passed his farm this morning. Well, up he comes yelling at the constable and asking what been sold to who and hadn't anything been sold yet, so he bid a flat $100 for the lot. Instruments and everything? The whole lot. An old man hunter said take it and the constable did and here it is. I just can't believe it. That's what I told Uncle Jimmy, you'd say, but he told me catch him and speak for itself. It speaks eloquently. It seems as though my whole life is always being put together by my friends or the people who have trust in me. Well, they seem to trust you enough to watch your deputy surveyor of Sangamon County. So it appears. Abe, you better mount up and get at it. Yes. You know, it's a thing to conjure with. What's that? My friends. Here, Abe, don't forget your surveying tools. Oh, thank you. Abe, what do you mean it's a thing to conjure with? Well, they're sending me off to be a surveyor. That's just a spring for you. I know. I wonder how far they'll send me before they're through. Maybe all the way to Chicago. Maybe. Good luck, Abe. Good luck, Jack. And I thank you. This is Jeanette McDonald again. We all know many wonderful stories about Abraham Lincoln. Stories of his wit, his wisdom, his kindness, his humility. With some famous men, we've discovered that many anecdotes ascribed to these men are actually the product of the imagination of someone else. The legends of some famous figures have become more real than the men themselves and we are always disappointed when a legend stripped of accumulated dramatization reveals only bare, unromantic realities which rob us of a heroic idol. Abraham Lincoln needed no dramatist to enlarge upon his greatness. The simple facts about him are sufficiently inspiring. He rose from the humblest circumstances to bring grace and historic strength to the highest office in our land. He was tall and awkward. He was physically powerful, but he was truly a gentle man. Despite his ready humor, he gave the impression of sadness too. He always had to carry most of his burdens alone. But the record of his deeds and everything he wrote or said proved his deep affection and tolerance for all mankind. During the time of the terrible crisis in our country's history, this lonely man held unswervingly to the truths he knew to be inviolable. Not even that tragic civil war with all its heartbreak, famine and woe, and not even the doubts and the hatreds, and the plots against him turned him from what he firmly believed to be the source of his strength. He wrote, by the overpowering realization that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient to the day. Abraham Lincoln considered our union a family. A family of states that must, at whatever cost, remain united. The principles which worked for him almost a hundred years ago, and for Jesus nearly 2,000 years ago, and for the prophets for centuries before that, will work just as surely for us today. On February the 13th, 1947, Family Theatre came into existence, dedicated to what we believe to hold the guidance to world peace. Family Theatre is dedicated to the vital, faithful habit of family prayer. On this, our eighth anniversary program, we pay tribute to a man whose faith in prayer, whose trust in God continues through his example, and the proof that God heard his prayers and deserved his trust to inspire all peoples throughout the world. We give you two things of which we cannot be too often reminded. A world at prayer is a world at peace, and the family that prays together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. From Hollywood, Family Theatre has brought you transcribed the Sangamore Sage, starring Will Rogers Jr. Jeanette McDonnell was your hostess. Others in our cast were Jean Bates, Margaret Brayton, Leo Curly, Herb Ellis, and Billy Bacchum. The script was written and directed for Family Theatre by John T. Kelly, with music composed and conducted by Henry Mancini. This series of Family Theatre broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who feel the need for this type of program, by the mutual network which has responded to this need, and by the hundreds of stars of stage, screen, and radio who give so unselfishly their time and talent to appear on our Family Theatre stage. To them and to you, our humble thanks. This is Tony LaFranco expressing the wish of Family Theatre that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home, and inviting you to be with us next week when Family Theatre will present Uncle Jim, starring Donna Reed. Jack Haley will be your host. Join us, won't you? Family Theatre is broadcast throughout the world and originates in the Hollywood studios of the world's largest network. This is Mutual, the radio network for all America.