 Family Theater presents Anne Blythe and Edmund Gwynne. From Hollywood, the mutual network in cooperation with Family Theater presents One Horse Carousel starring Edmund Gwynne. And now here is your hostess, Anne Blythe. 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 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 One Horse Carousel starring Edmund Gwynne as Ben. An ancient philosophy taught that all life is a series of cycles. The philosophy was wrong. But many things of this life are in cycles. In human relations, for instance, the children learn how to live and work. The adults do live and work. And the old people. Well, there are some who only sit and remember, but there are others who complete the cycle. They try to help the children learn. This is a story about one of those unofficial teachers. A man who sat each day in the village square sharing with the children of the township his wisdom and perhaps too freely the fruits of his imagination. Could I have done the things I've done and been the places I've been without it? Not so. Now a man must learn kindness first. Ah, it's the kindness that lives. To everybody? To every living thing. If you'd make your mark in this world and with God I know because he's a friend of mine. God's a friend of yours, Grandfather. I am from the day I was born. You must know everybody in the whole world, Uncle Ben. He even knows the Prime Minister and the King. The King. Well... The King would no sooner think of going to sea without Ben Bean than he would of washing his face without water. You've really been presented to the King, Uncle Ben. Tell her about when you were presented to the King, Grandfather. Oh, King. Oh, please. Well, I didn't know the story. It was such a great demand. Perhaps I better save it for a bigger audience, eh? Only two of you here now. Perhaps if there were a dozen. Oh, oh, please. Oh, well, all right. The first time I was presented to the King. It was right after I saved the flagship during the War of the Ems. The War of the Ems? It was not too well known that war. Well, they took me to the palace to be decorated. I wish you'd been there. Oh, it was a sight to gladden the heart it was. The ladies in their finery and the men in their spangles and gold braid catching the light of a thousand candles as they danced in the Great Hall. That's where the ceremony took place. Oh, I remember the look of it as I walked in behind the Guard of Honor. I looked over the room and announced my name. Musicians stopped playing, the people stopped dancing, and they all turned to look at me. Oh, I was something to see as I walked the length of the Great Hall to stand at the foot of the platform. He looked down at me and smiled and then the King stepped down and took me by the hand. And that's the way it was with Ben Bean. During the early hours he'd visit with the trades people or anyone who was disposed to stop and talk. He'd have his glass of wine with the innkeeper of the inn and share his views on local politics. But when the shadows reached a certain length and the town clock chimes were answered by dismissal bells from the school up on the hill, he'd say his goodbyes and head for the clock tower in the square. And there he'd spend his afternoons telling stories of high adventure or teaching the gathered children how to make flutes out of reeds from the mill pond or teaching how to change willow switches into willow whistles or bits of rag and string into dolls. Then after a time he'd send the children off to play and make his way toward home. Have you seen my son? Richard! I sent him to play with the rest. It'll be dark before long. He had his coat and the still light enough for a lad to stretch his legs. Let him play a bit, Elizabeth. Childhood's far too short a time. Grandfather, Richard was telling me about the new school master. Why the new school master? What lies between the two would not pass for friendship. No, the children say he's hard. He doesn't like you, Grandfather. Of what I hear the poor man can ask for no one. Should I be different from the rest? You are different from the rest. Will you do something for me? What? Avoid him. The new school master? Now why do you ask me this? Because I love you. Circumstances have a way of changing things. Some can even change our lives by bringing us into contact with the very things we've been warned against. Such a circumstance arose for Ben B early the next afternoon in the village. Saw his grandson coming home from school. He looked up at the clock in the tower and then he hurried after it. Oh, Richard! Wait a bit! Hello, Grandfather. Oh, out of school a bit early, aren't you, boy? Yes, I am. Here. Here you've got streaks on your face. You've been crying. Grandfather? Here. Here. Here. Come on. Here. Let's sit down in the shade. Hmm? Ah! Ah! That's better. Now you tell me what the trouble is. Maybe we can mend it, eh? Mr. Billum, he put me out. Out of school? Now why would he do a thing like that? Well, what did you do? Hmm? Oh, it's all right. You can tell me. I hit him. Huh? I didn't said. Oh. What did he say? Was it something about me? I had to do something? He told such lies? Throne out of school. We'll have to do something about that. Yeah, come along, Richard. Come along. Are we going to fix him, Grandfather? Are we? No, Richard. No, you can't mend wrongs with more wrongs. We're going to ask Mr. Billum to let you back in school. Well, here we are. Well, are we just going to walk right in, Grandfather? Hi. I hope we're not interrupting anything, but this is a very serious matter. When we place the siphon here, by how much have we... Now, what have we here? I'm Ben Bean, Mr. Billum. I'm perfectly aware of who you are, Mr. Bean. May I have a word with you, sir? Certainly, certainly. Come forward. But don't be shy, Mr. Bean. Come forward. Grandfather? You too, young man. Hello, Uncle Ben. There will be silence in this classroom. Now, Mr. Bean, I presume you want me to take the boy back. He's not a bad boy and he's not like him to strike out at anyone. Richard. I'm sorry, Mr. Billum. On the strength of that little apology, I'm to take him back, eh? All a man can do is apologize. Another of your precepts, Mr. Bean? Precepts? I have this opportunity to face each other, Mr. Bean. I said I was aware of who you are and believe me, I am and of what you are. But how do you think of yourself, Mr. Bean? As a one-horse carousel placed on earth for the amusement and edification of the children? The benevolent old Uncle Ben. A very, very foolish old man. He is not. He is not a foolish old man. Silence. Young lady, I will not be contradicted by the empty-headed daughter of a cobbler. I wish you had a better opinion of me, Mr. Billum. But Richard here... Richard is like the rest of them. He'd rather sit in the square with the rest of them listening to the wise old man who thinks he's an institutional. With his wild tales. Who would have them believe he's teaching them the workings of the universe. The director of the district sent me here to this godforsaken village to teach. Well, I mean to do it alone, Mr. Bean. I don't need the assistance of any benign old wise man in the village square to teach these children how to earn their bread. Not by bread alone does a man live. Ah, and now you would teach me. I think I also have a little lesson. Right here in this Bible you might just read this to the class, Mr. Bean. In this? Yeah, start reading here. Right here. I'd rather recite it if you'd give me the chapter and verse. Read, Mr. Bean. Grandfather? Well, Mr. Bean, don't you like my Bible? It seems a nice Bible, Mr. Billum. Does it? Now that's odd because you see it's a history book. Can you read, Mr. Bean? I never learn to read. Can't even read, class. And this is the man who would compete with me to teach. Who would have you believe he's consulted by admirals and kings? Do you believe him now, daughter of a cobbler? Or you? Or you? And you, great grandson of a foolish old man, do you believe him? Do you think this man would be noticed by a king? Yes. Then make him take you to the king. If you want back in this school, have your grandfather bring a note from his friend, the king. It's the only way you'll ever come back as long as I'm schoolmaster. Ben Bean was not seen near the square that afternoon. The children were there and they waited for him. They waited till the sun was low in the sky, but Ben did not come. He was sitting alone in a borrowed garden for the first time in his life feeling an emptiness of spirit and thinking things he'd never thought before. Uncle Ben? Uncle Ben? Is that you? Why don't you talk to me? Oh, hello, Mary Ann. You didn't come today. We waited for you. Well, I had some things to do. You aren't angry with us? Are you, Uncle Ben? No, child. I'm not angry with you. That old Mr. Bellum. He's a terrible man. Just terrible. Oh, he only spoke the truth. I know things he said. They were all true. True? I never learned to read and write. I've never seen the king. I've never even been outside this village. Except when I was young and went out with the fishing boats to sea. Never at all? Never at all. I failed you and the others, Mary Ann. I've never done great things. It doesn't matter, Uncle Ben. You could've done those things if you'd wanted to. Right. It's very dark. Come along, dear. I'll walk you home. What are you going to do about Richard, Uncle Ben? I don't know. I just don't know. You'll have to go to the king. That's what Mr. Bellum said. But I couldn't do a thing like that. Just because you've never done a thing, it doesn't mean you can't do it. Bellum had finished its journey through the heavens before sleep came that night. Ben Bean watched it pass that part of sky outlined by his window. Then he watched its bright reflection travel over the patchwork of his comforter, climb his bedroom door, and finally dim and fade away like an old man's dream of glory. He turned his face to the wall and began a troubled sleep. Read it. Read. Please, Grandfather. Please. I can't. Doesn't even know the king or anyone else important. He's been telling you lies. Now do you believe him? Do you? Can you believe him? Lord, I know I was wrong, and I'm sorry. But we're old friends, you and I. Please don't let them laugh at me. Show me away, Lord. Show me away. Just because you've never done a thing, it doesn't mean you can't do it. What's that? You were having a dream. You called out. Dream? Right. It's time to be getting up anyway. It'll be sent up before long. Elizabeth. Yes? A man. A man might do a thing he's never done before. With the help of God, I mean. Well, I would think so, but... Then there's something else. May I have your special prayers today? If you want them, but why? Because today, today the boy and I are going to see. Road the first part of the journey with a tanner who was hauling a wagonload of hides to a suburb of the city. Then they walked while the sun moved higher in the heavens and the dew of morning lost itself in the dust of noon. Hold on. Hold on, boy. Let's sit a while. Are you tired again, Grandfather? Well, let's just say I sit better than I walk, eh? Here, here's a place. Yeah. Isn't it far now, is it, Grandfather? No, no, not far. Remember what the tanner said? Just over the hill. Here. Oh, here's something coming. Let's get out to the road. Maybe he'll stop for us, eh? Oh, it's a load of vegetables, Grandfather. It's a wagon, and that's enough for me. Oh, there! Oh! Oh, oh! Oh, what's trouble, old man? Would you be going toward the city, friend? Now, don't you see, Crest? Crest? What might that be? The crest on the side of the wagon. The Royal Enson. Oh? I produce for the tables of the palace you don't stop wagons with this crest. All we want is a ride. The boy and I, we're very, very tired. Ah. Well, I'm not supposed to, but I guess there'd be no harm. Oh, very much obliged, sir. Thank you. Get on, boy. Don't you fuck. Oh, to sight. Oh, we will. Places aren't they, Grandfather? Aye, and easy to be lost in. Driver, where would the palace be? Oh, right ahead. Now, where'd you like me to let you off? At the door, if you would. At the palace, Gates? At the door! Oh! No, old man, it's sown to me like you said the door. Aye, aye, that's what I said. We've come to see the King. Ah, you've come to see the King, just like that. Well, it's a matter of great importance. Who do you think you'll get past the guards? The guards? Aye, they're there to keep people out. What I mean, old man, is I might get you through if I made the way something older. Oh, we have no money. Boy, have we anything between us? Grandfather, you said you thought God was with us? Aye. Maybe we could ask him to give the man a special blessing. Ah, a special blessing. Here, look! Where are you taking us? Through the back gate. I'll let you off in guard. Now, when you get caught, you'll have to forget how you got in. Oh, and about the bribe. Special blessing. Perhaps I should hold out for two, eh? See anyone, boy? No, Grandfather. Now, if we can find a way to the King, that's the problem. Grandfather? Aye. There's someone. Where? Over there among the roses. Hmm? Oh, ah, a gardener. Oh, could we ask him? Oh, there's a kinship between men of the soil and men of the sea. I might just have a word with him. But I think you'd better wait here. All right. If you see a garden, make yourself small, boy. Good day to you. Eh? Beautiful roses you've got there, friend. Ah, thank you. I see you're pruning the red sevens. That's good. The red seven? Aye. The seven leaf stems with the reddish hue. Oh, yes, yes. They set the plant. You know something about roses? Oh, little. Here. Look at this. It's a blight of some sort. Aye, the knits. I had them on my own roses once. The knits. Aye, they cling to the stems and the underparts of the leaves. I'll tell you how to get rid of them if you need of help. Oh, we need help very much. We? I meant, uh, I and the roses. Wow. Well, I guess we all need help. The good Lord brought me this far and now... Ha! Now I'm lost. Oh, perhaps we might help each other. Is there something I might do for you? Well, it's very kind of you, but I'm afraid it must be the king. Well, he's very fond of his roses. He spends hours right here in this garden. And then you know him? Well? In a manner of speaking, we're very close. Oh. Why don't you tell me your problem? If you tell me, he'll hear it. I promise you that. Aye. Oh, well then, I'll tell you the whole story. Doris, you told her, could you go back and tell the children they aren't true? Well, I could, but the first little ones are grown and have children of their own now. Those already know, but could you right the wrong? Oh, I think I could. Well, you taught no error. No. No, I tried to give them what I knew of the good things. Now, what would you have the king do with the schoolmaster seems he was unduly harsh? Well, sometimes truth casts a harsh light. You could have been more gentle. Certainly he deserves some punishment. Oh, no. No, I don't believe he does. I think I'd give the man what he wants. He said something to me about wanting to teach in a school in the city. Don't you think he was wrong to treat you the way he did? That might be, but if a man be punished for every mistake, I'd hate to think what would happen to me. We'd best leave vengeance to the law. All right, Ben Bean. I'll give you your letter. You? Yes, sir. You see, Ben, I am the king. But you said you serve him. Every man, everything with life in it has a king, Ben. You and I end these roses, and actually we all serve the same one. Yes, you can come tonight. I'll have the letter for you. Now come. You must teach me how to save these roses from the knits. Someone once said, God gives a degree of wisdom to the old to make up for the failing of old senses. The very young have sharp, quick senses and are therefore blessed with very little wisdom. When Richard was in bed that night, back in his own village, he thought about the things that had come to him through his senses. He added up his twos and twos, and his sum was in the thousands. He remembered going to the palace and the sound of the music from the great hall when the man had let them in. He remembered the smell of the perfume the ladies had been wearing and that pleasant, dusty odor peculiar to thick carpets and heavy drapes. Then there was the feel of the smooth, cool banister that was part of the marble staircase leading to the main hall. And the shock to his ears, when he'd heard his name, shouted into that great room, announcing Mr. Benjamin Bean and his grandson, Master Richard. The music had stopped then and the dancing stopped and all eyes were turned to watch as he and Ben had walked the length of the room to stand before the King. He went down on one knee the way he'd been told that out of the corner of his eye he'd seen the King smile, step down from his rise and help the old man to his feet again. He heard the King call his grandfather by name and then they had talked about some recipe for roses. He didn't remember much about the ride home only that it had been in a palace coach with a royal crest on its side. Richard had gone to sleep on the way back to the village but not before adding up his total. He had seen too much. No one would ever be able to make him believe his grandfather and the King were anything less than old friends. He made a mental note to tell the others and then he went to sleep again. Please, Uncle Ben, tell about the King. Well, I don't know. There's a new one among us. He might want another story. Please, Grandfather. Did you want to see me, Mr. Bellum? I would like a word with you, sir. The King first. Well, if you have no objections, Mr. Bellum. Why, I would like to hear it myself. Oh, that's fine. Well, it was a sight that would have gladdened the heart, it would. And this is a true story. It's like the kind I told before. Oh. I remember the way it was as I walked the full length of the room to stand at the foot of the platform. He looked down at me and smiled. And then the King stepped down and took me by the hand. This is Anne Blythe again. Did you ever stop to think that one of the most perfect, the most beautiful forms of art is prayer? For art, whether it be painting, sculpture, the theater of any of the long established modes of expression, is only one form of man's attempt to reach perfection. Art is an attempt to reach the infinite, the perfect. And that's why I say prayer is the greatest of the art forms. For in prayer, our dialogue is with God. And by it, we create a thing of beauty. We forge a bond between ourselves and God. And when we pray as families, the bond is strengthened by just that much in the name of Him who said, where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am in the midst of them. That's why family theater tells us week after week, the family that prays together stays together. More things are brought by prayer than this world dreams of. Family Theater has brought you transcribed The One Horse Carousel starring Edmund Gwynne. Anne Blythe was your hostess. Others in our cast were Vic Perron, Gayan Kelly, Richard Bills, Joyce McCloskey, Lawrence Dubkin, and Tudor Owen. The script was written and directed for Family Theater by Robert Hugo Sullivan, with music composed and conducted by Harry Zimmerman. This series of Family Theater 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 state screen and radio who give so unselfishly of their time and talent to appear on our Family Theater stage. To them and to you, our humble thanks. This is Tony Lofrano expressing the wish of Family Theater that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home and inviting you to be with us next week when Family Theater will present Shutout starring Aldo Ray. Anna Maria Elbergatti will be your hostess. Join us, won't you? Family Theater has 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.