 The mutual broadcasting system in cooperation with Family Theater Incorporated presents the story of John Sager, starring Jean Herscholt and Scotty Beckett. Dinah Shore is your hostess. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Ever happened to be walking through the woods and come to a place where the road branches into two paths and you don't know which to take? You finally decide on one and go along, wondering where the other path would have brought you. You know, it's at these crossroads in life we need more help than even the good advice of our friends. We need God's help. That's why prayer should play an important part in our lives and it's so very important too when we're making decisions, not only for ourselves, but for those we love, our families. That's why so many families have learned the importance of praying together. That's why so many families are making prayer a daily family practice. Dinah Shore returns following tonight's Family Theater play, the story of John Sager, starring Jean Herscholt and Scotty Beckett. One day the story of a little man, a very little man, came limping over the torches' organ trail toward our home on the abundant bank of the Columbia River. The pathetic truth of the story glorified the substance of devotion far beyond the power of parable of fiction and seemed to make a living thing out of a promise we all knew well. According to the ways of Asa Sager, living was very simple. He plowed a meager land that stretched away behind the cabin. He had built a house his wife and sons and daughters. He had nothing to give his family, but the best that was in himself. And he tried to teach them to share each day's adventure. Hey, Pa. Hmm? Ho, ho, ho, ho, hold that ho. Yes, John? Marseille's just about that time, Pa. Marseille, you better come on up the cabin. All right, John, good boy. I kind of think mine don't feel so good. Oh, of course not, son. Now, listen, I got to stay here close and get your mall and get things ready. You can run over there and bring Miss McCordish back, can you? Oh, sure. That's two and a half miles, John. I don't run too fast. Miss Cordish will probably let me drive back on that buckboard. Don't hurt yourself running too fast, is all. I won't, Pa. I'll be back. Wish Miss Cordish had come out and tell us what's happening. What you giggling at, John? Oh, little Francis trying to hold his own again, Marthe and Sarri. Well, Sarri's too little and Marthe's too big and, oh, Francis, why, he just stands there and he don't know what to do. Well, you've got to respect your women folk, John. Your brother's learning young. Oh, I don't know, Pa. Francis is almost five. Yeah? You think he'll be as smart as you by the time he's twelve? Oh, sure. I didn't mean to... I heard it. Hey, you children, be still. John. Yeah, Pa. Yeah. Hey, there's Miss Cordish at the window. You stay here with the other youngster, John. I got you into your mother. Francis, Sarri, Marthe, John. You got a brand new baby sister. Now I got to find a home for us, John. But, Pa, we got us a home right here. Well, yes. Anyplace where we're all together and happy is a home in one way, son, but I... Are you thinking about that Columbia River valley out in Oregon territory, Pa? Maybe. What I'm thinking of is a place where our land and what comes of our land and what we do with it together is all a part of us, just like we're part of each other. Hmm. Columbia River. Think you'd like to make the trek out west, son? Well, it sure sounds fine the way you tell of it, Pa. And I only tell what I've heard from them that's been out there like Whitman's home and such. What do you... do you think that's where we'll find our real home, Pa? Well, John, I know that someday we'll set foot on the land where we belong and we'll know it when we do by the smell and the sound of it. There were other nations besides our own who held interest in the Oregon territory in the year 1844. They did their best in many ways to discourage settlers from coming in from the east. The Oregon Trail itself was only a footpath and there were ways of inciting Indian tribes to violence. But men like Asa Saker held the ideal about the dangers. The baby's old enough, Asa, if you want to travel. There's a strong hundred men in the party that's leaving next week well armed and they got good guides. They saved the trail across Idaho. It's pretty good now. It goes along a big river, don't it, Pa? One of them does, yeah, John. What we own here ought to bring about enough to buy us a conistuga. This'll be the last bunch to get through this year before winter hits the mountains. I just hate to put you and the youngsters up to the hardship, Agnes. It's not going to be a hardship, Asa. This trip's going to take us home. They traveled in the Wackensrain for a month. There were engine scares but no engines. Only the campfires. But one hot morning in the late July, Agnes Saker fell ill. We never learned why, for there was no doctor on the train. Martha cared for him. Martha, the oldest daughter, just about ten. And in the days that followed, John walked beside his father. How's Marfield and John? She don't say nothing, Pa. Why don't you climb up and ride in the Wackensrain? We only got one ox to pull the thing unless you hitch up the cow. And that won't do, so it makes it easier on the ox if I walk with you. Mm-hmm. Martha sleeping still? Yeah. In the wagon. So serri. How's your baby? All right. Pressing quiet. Now don't you worry, Pa. The body had to think he was my Pa instead of me being yours. Your grandfather whipped me good if I hadn't said sir every time I spoke to him. Yeah. You and me, we get along good, huh, Pa? Back home now, Eddie Stimpsons, Pa. Why, he used to be... Pa! Pa! Pa, you all right? Sure, sure, son. I'm... Francis! Francis, stop the wagon! Pa's sick! Stop it, I say! Pa! Pa! Yank back, Francis! Yank on the ring! Pa, what is it? I'm just dizzy. Pa! Pa, you can't! Pa! Johnny! Pa! Pa, get up! Pa, wake up! Pa, get up on your feet! May have been the heat that struck down Asa Secker. John made little Francis ride the Secker car to the head of the train tell the leaders they had to pull out. And when morning came, John Secker found he had lost the wagon train. He drove for days alone, drove to shoulder springs on the bare valley, saw no Indians, saw no living thing. Until at the threshold of one evening, Martha suddenly stood up at the wagon seat beside him and pointed. Looked! Wagon stoned into a circle, a camp for the night, and John cracked his whip and turned his conestoga toward him. John asked for a doctor, but these were not the wagons he had started with, but the people were friendly and willing to help. They had a veterinarian in the train. It's my mom and Pa, Doc. They're sick. And my baby sister, all there in the wagon. Ma's got the baby, but she's been too sick to nurse it, and I can't get her to drink no milk for my cow. Maybe you could help get the baby to eat and fix up my mom and Pa. Be glad to try, son. You stay here. Give these youngsters something to eat. I'll be right back. Maybe we should have let Ma and Pa sleep, John. Better the doctor looks at him. They've been asleep all day. They maybe need some medicine or something. Maybe they... John, here comes the doctor back already. He's got the baby. Can you get her to eat, Doc? Maybe Ma and Pa could have some medicine or... Well, what's the matter? It is a baby. The baby is all right, son. It's your Ma and Pa. Oh, I know they're sick, but you can fix them because folks say a veterinarian is pretty smart. You see, we're going out the Columbia River to make us a home for all of us. You see? Your Ma and Pa is dead, son. T-Tain't so. I don't believe it. Oh, boy, don't... Let go of me. Let go. You're wrong. I'm going in that wagon. Improve it. Don't let him do it, folks. Let go. Let go of me. I'm going in that wagon. John Sager added his wagon to the 7 he found in the circle. The people helped him lay his parents to rest. After many endless days, the little train arrived at Fort Hall. There was an Englishman at Fort Hall who gave the party good advice. What did he say, John? Says we're too late in the year to try the Oregon Trail. Told everybody to turn south for California. Well, maybe California will be nice, John. Not for us. But the man said... He's an Englishman, Marthe. Pa said the Englishman was somewhat the one to scare people out of the Oregon Territory. But if winter's coming, John... We're going to try to beat it. What? We're leaving out of here tonight. Fort Boise, they say, is the next stop on the trail. I don't know how fur it is, but it's closer to Oregon, though, Marthe. That's all I care. This here, Fort Boise? Yeah. Where and thunderations you come from? Fort Hall. Oh, go on. You know how fur that is? Maybe two, three hundred miles. Ain't you got a wagon or something? Did have. Got too much for my old ox to pull. I ditched it. Where? Into a river. The Snake River? I don't know. Snakes, mosquitoes, lizards, muddy trail, bad smell? Yeah. Yeah, Snake River. Be turned. Just you kids? I was five. We've carried our blankets and food in our backs. I had to carry the baby. She won't eat much. Well, son, you better stay here at Fort Boise. Nope. Well, what do you figure to do? We're going across the mountains to the Columbia River. I'd like it if you'd dig us up some moccasins for a feat and maybe lend us a horse or two and give us a couple of engine guides because we get off the trail a lot being strange to it. The Indian scouts deserted them three days later and took the horses and the children were alone again. Why didn't you let us stay at Fort Boise? The man would have let us stay, John. Well, let some old stranger have my baby sister. Ha! Pa would have died first. The Whitman's got a place in the Oregon Territory. Right on the Columbia River, too. They'll really take care of us there. My feet hurt, John. Come here, let me see them. Martha, hold the baby in there. All right, John. Here, hold her careful now. Francis, bring me one of them blankets. We'll rip it into strips so we can wrap them around her feet. Then we'll move on. We've got to get that baby across those mountains. Better stop a while and see can we get her to eat. What if we stop and... The wolves catch up to us. Wolves. Oh, John, is there wolves? Behind us. Now, listen. All of you. You hurl around this log right here. Put the baby in the middle and keep her warm. Poor little thing. I'm going back to find a wolf and bring back some pelt that'll keep us warmer. You stay here. Pels of the wolves, John killed, kept the children from freezing. The wolves kept circling nearer and nearer until at last John used his final bullet on the ox. The children left the carcass behind to keep the wolves from closing in on them. A few days later, Martha fell and the stumbling cow stepped on her and broke her leg so that she had to ride. And Sarah and Francis walked with John and they only knew they were somewhere in the mountains. How's the baby, John? I don't know if she's even breathing. We'll die if we don't stop and rest, John. Stop that, Sarah. Oh, please, let's stop, John. My leg hurts. Francis, pack some more snowballs on Martha's leg. Will you carry me, John? I can't walk no more. I've got to carry the baby. Get up on the cow there with Martha. John, the cow's feet. I know about the cow's feet. Please, can't we stop? Power wouldn't have stopped. If we stop, we'll all die. I'm not... Get up on that car like I told you. We'll rest at the top of this hill. Help me up on the cow, Francis. Here, I'll help you, Sarah. Come on, up there now. Then move ahead. I'm getting weak, John. I may fall off. Here, put your hand on my shoulder, Martha. I'll walk beside. Stop here, John. No, right onto the top. Now, can we stop? We go to the top. Just a few feet. Looks like the world just ends when you get to the top of this hill. There's always more behind. We get to the top. We can see. All right. Right over there. We can stop? Francis, take the baby a minute. Pull, cow. Right there under that tree, we can... We can what, John? Make the camp, John? John, what's the matter? Lonely help me pot it. Get him down the mountain to find us a home for us all. Oh, Nassissa, put in some trinkets along with those Joseph asserts in my saddlebags. Will you please? I've already put in beads and bracelets and lace, Marcus. Anything else? No, that's fine. Do you think there really is Indian trouble, Marcus? I doubt it, but I'd best go see. They're good and bad among us all. Marcus, look out yonder across the meadow. What's that? Yonder by the road. Aren't those Indians? Why, by George, they are. One, two. They're for them with an ox. They're coming straight toward us. I'll go out and greet them. Probably want food. Get something for them, Nassissa. He's there. Nassissa, says he. Come here quickly. What is it, Marcus, dear? Look, the one who's leading the ox. He's there. It's almost golden. He's... He's carrying a bundle of pelts. They aren't Indians, Marcus. Two of them riding the back of that animal. It isn't an ox, it's a cow. My, what a sight they are. But, Marcus, my dear, there's something terribly wrong. Why, these are just little children. For a moment I couldn't speak. And I found my voice. Never imagining who they were, whence they'd come and bear them welcome. Why don't you speak? You must be chilly, children. Haven't you any other clothes? What's that you have there, young man? Pack it up first to sell? Look here. I'm Dr. Marcus Whitman. This is my wife, Nassissa. This is the Whitman home. That's what... that's what I've been looking to find. Oh, Marcus. Ms. Whitman, could you take my sister and see if you can help me? Your sister? I got her here, wrapped up in this wolf skin. What? I've been carrying her, trying to keep her warm, but... A baby. A tiny baby. Let me have her. Couldn't get her nothing she could eat. But she... Marcus... She's on the babies. She's dead. She can't be. Well, I've been looking for you for months because my father said you was good. You're a doctor. Take that baby and get her warmed up. Care for the others as best I could. While John helped Mrs. Whitman warm a few drops of milk for the baby. Nassissa wrapped a tiny thing in woolen blankets and held her and rocked her all through the night and fed her a drop of milk at the time. And John stood silently by the chair and said nothing until just before dawn. I carried her in my arms for weeks and weeks. I... I carried her here because I... I knew you could fix her. How soon will she wake up? Nassissa, maybe if you try another drop of milk. All right, Marcus. There. Now. Nassissa, my dear. Marcus, she's alive. She is alive. Oh, thank you, Mrs. Whitman. Thank you, thank you. Oh, she's alive. My little baby sister. After the adults slept and eaten and warmed themselves to John told us the story. The last of the trip was the longest part. I... I didn't know if the baby was dead or alive. I... I guess we just about fell down out of their mountains. We reckon we look kind of funny. Yes, you did. You don't know what to say. Why did you drive yourself on by? Why didn't you stop? I couldn't stop. Well, there was nothing back in them planes, strange people, engines, animals, nothing else. I couldn't let my baby sister get left in a country like that. You see, after Mar died... Yes, dear. Well, I... I knew about the Whitman home here after Mar died. I wanted you to have her, ma'am. Me? You wanted me to have her? Well, that's one reason I come here. I wanted to grow up out here. Mar wanted to learn to be good. And... And I wanted to have a home. You talk like a grown man, John. You're only 13. That's plenty. I care you too. You and Francis are Mar and Sarah. Won't you all stay with us? It... it ain't a case of wanting to go. I... I got to go. From a pond. And my family. I got to find a farm. A piece of ground that I can take my family to. Where the land and... and what comes from the land and... and what we do with it together just like... just like we're a part of each other. That's what... that's what Paul wants me to do. John, there isn't a place in the territory good enough for that farm of yours. But if you'd like a spot that's right on the bank of the Columbia River, not far from here, I think I know the place. We can ride over any time you say. Yes, sir. Ride soon if we can, because... because I... I got to get to work and grow something or... or do some work for God. He's... He's done so much for me. This is Dinah Shore again. The story of John Sager is a true story. Knowing that it's true and not fiction should be inspiring to each of us. Perhaps even help us match the courage of this lad of a few generations ago. These are discouraging days in many parts of the world. Days that demand courage and perseverance from all of us. A strengthening of the will to go ahead and to do the things we know are right. I think most of us realize that we can't accomplish our goal entirely through our own efforts. That we need aid from a higher source. So like John Sager into Night Story, we should remember the value of calling on God for help. Not forgetting the importance of offering our thanks to him through the habit of family daily prayer. That is an important element of the community and the spirit that we are building in our society. And the family that prays together stays together. Before saying good night, I'd like to thank Jean Hersholt Radio's Dr. Christian and Scotty Beckett for their truly thrilling performances this evening. And to Max Tariff for his music. This production of Family Theatre Incorporated was directed sure saying good night and God bless you. This series of the Family Theater broadcast is made possible by the thousands of you who felt a need for this kind of program and by the mutual broadcasting system which has responded to this need. Be with us next time when our Family Theater star will be Tom Drake with Kate Smith as hostess. Family Theater will not be heard next week but will be heard on a new day and a new time beginning Wednesday November 3rd. Consult your radiologue for new time Wednesday November 3rd. Tony LaFranco speaking. This is the Mutual Broadcasting System.