 Family Theatre presents Dan Durrier, Virginia Gregg, and Parley Baer. The mutual network in cooperation with Family Theatre Incorporated presents The Postmistress of Lolo Run, written by the Dean of Western authors Brett Hart. To introduce the drama, your host, Dan Durrier. Thank you, Gene. We at Family Theatre are happy to welcome Virginia Gregg and Parley Baer to our stage in a story that's long been one of my favorites and I'm sure is familiar to you all. When it comes to telling the stories of life in the western states during the gold rush days of 49, the name of Brett Hart certainly reigned supreme. Perhaps that's because he wrote not of high adventure and melodrama, but of people, warm, human, frail and courageous people. The kind of people or in the story we're going to tell tonight. The story of The Postmistress of Lolo Run. Let me tell you about it. The stagecoach carrying the mail has just passed through the little mining town of Lolo Run. Out of the whirling cloud of dust it left in its wake comes the trim figure of a young woman. Her pretty face is made even more so by the faint flush of exertion as she drags a leather mail sack along the ground behind her. Oh, my goodness. I do declare the mail gets heavier every day. Well now, Miss Baker, I'd be right happy to give you a hand. Maybe I could ease that bag along for you, Miss Baker. I could just lift it on my shoulder, Miss Baker. Now, now, boys, you know better than that. It's the rules. Government postal regulation number 124, I think. Or perhaps it's 142. Well, no matter. Rules is still rules. But I thank you. Anyways, gentlemen. Darn shame. That's what it is. Yeah, in fact, Postmistress, you know Postmistress. Ain't Miss Baker's job to be dragging them heavy sacks? Well, gentlemen, if a visitor to your fair city may be allowed to venture an opinion, I'd see the trouble lies in entrusting government business to a foolish, incapable, light-headed woman, such as this Miss Baker obviously is. So that's what Miss Baker obviously is, huh, stranger? Well, maybe I better get you straight on certain things. Sit down. Well, now, really, I have no desire to... Sit down. Yes, sir. Did you ever hear of Johnny Baker? No, no, I don't believe that I... Shut up. I'm doing the talking. Well, maybe yes, sir. Johnny Baker was foreman of the last chance mine. And in Laurel Run, everybody depends on that mine for his living. Well, there was 40 people up here, all men. We was Johnny's boys. And he was boss, pal, and even a sort of father-confessor to all of us. Anyway, a couple of years ago, Johnny was off to San Francisco on business. Some of us was sitting in the smeller shack when Stanton Green came in. Well, lookie, who's here, boys, Mr. Green? I might dress up any. That's fact he is. He sure looked mighty pretty, Mr. Green. Why, thank you, gentlemen. I reckon at least one of Johnny's boys ought to be dressed up for the occasion. Occasion? What's this here now occasion you're talking about? Well, Johnny's rigs are coming up the grade right now. Maybe you ought to get out there and see for yourself. Johnny's back? Well, come on, boys. Let's give that Texan the old hoop and ho. Come on, old son of a gun. They're coming back so soon. Oh, enough is Johnny all right. But who's that he's a-bringin'? Who's that he... She opens your hose about. Well, skid, I don't mind britching. I'm dreamin'. I can't be. I'm dreamin'. I told you it was an occasion today. Get out of here! Step right on up here, boys. Aren't you to meet Mrs. John Baker, my new bride? Your new... Betsy, honey, here's something my boys have been telling you about. This in here is Sam Martin. I'm delighted, Mr. Martin. Just positively delighted. Uh... This here is Bill Hanley. Why, I do declare, Mr. Hanley, you're ever bit as good-looking as Johnny said you was. And here's my best friend, Betsy. Stanton Green. We always figured we was livin' in God's country, ma'am. Now we know it. We got an angel with us for proof. Oh, well, I do declare, Mr. Green. That's the prettiest speech. Well, honey, you think you can be happy here in Laurel Run? Why, I'm just gonna love it, Johnny. I'm just gonna love it. Well, being how Mrs. Baker was the only woman in Laurel Run, she sure had a disturbing effect on some of the younger, more foolish gents. And on some of the old ruins, too. But she was Johnny Baker's wife, so all concerned kept their distances. All that is but Stanton Green. It's Mr. Green. Well, I hope you don't mind my comin' to callin' this way, Mrs. Baker. Mind? What's always a pleasure to have one of Johnny's friends come a visitin'? Now, I'd just love to invite you in, but Johnny ain't home. I know, ma'am. He asked me to tell ya he'd be workin' late tonight. Workin' late again. I do declare Johnny worries about that mind like it was a sickly child. Well, he takes his work mighty serious, Mrs. Baker. But you know it's a shame you gotta stay cooped up in this cabin so much. I'd be willing to wager you ain't even see the sunset from Smokey Hill Point since you've been here. Well, no, I ain't. I, uh, I have a rig outside. I take it as a favor if you'd allow me the privilege of driving you out there to see. Well, I really shouldn't, but... just wait till I get my bonnet and cape. I'd take it as a pleasure, Mr. Green. A real pleasure. Maybe you couldn't blame a lively spirited young gal for wantin' to get away from a lonely cabin once in a while. Anyway, she and Stanton Green were seeded together more and once as the weeks went by. And then one day around noon, while Johnny was at his cabin havin' a bite to eat, something happened at the mine. Mr. Dad, boys, what level? The east one, Johnny. Who's down there? Kurtzer, Green, Melville, maybe eight or nine more. Yeah, they're blastin' in there tight on tick, Johnny. Can't get through to them, no how. They're still alive. We can still hear them callin', but there ain't no way of gettin' through. There's one way, the old abandoned mine to the north. Oh, you're crazy, Johnny. Them walls are so weak and the timber so rotten. The whole thing can come down on your ears. It can't be done, Johnny. I figure it's got to be done, and I'm gonna do it. No, Johnny, no. Well, if I don't go, Betsy, there's maybe a dozen men that won't never come up again. It ain't gonna do them no good for you to be lost, too, Johnny. I won't let you go. I won't. Betsy, listen to that. Them's my boys down there. My boys. It's up to me to say there ain't no harm comes to them. That's my work, Betsy. And I'm gonna do it. I got to. He's right. Of course, Johnny. You're right. Go to him. And I'll wait for you right here. Makes 11. Who's left down there? Only Stanton Green and Johnny. Here, here comes Green. Give me a hand, boys. Quick, now, give me a hand. Here, come, fella. Here, come, now. Get Johnny quick. That shaft's gonna cave in any second. Get Johnny up there faster for the whole thing. Thousands of tons of rock piled up down there. And Johnny's... For you right here, Johnny. I'll wait for you. Laurel Run wasn't the same after that. Not with Johnny gone and the mine ruined. Stanton Green pulled stakes for Hickory Hill. One or two others headed for Sacramento. But somehow the rest of us just couldn't leave. Not with Betsy Baker still there, standing in her cabin in the morning, quiet light. And then it started to happen. Darn nuisance is here, walkin' clothes. Darn nuisance. Good morning, Mr. Hatton. Well, if it ain't Miss Baker. Now that's hardly fitin' work for a man to do, washin' clothes. You just sit down there in the shade and smoke a pipe while I get to it. The sun, the con-son, the con-son. The dad-rather thing keeps stickin' to the skillet like it was miss... I'm a bit of trouble with you, sir. No biscuits, ain't you, Mr. Ronson? My goodness, I could smell them burnin' and clean down to my cabin. Here, let me eat that skillet. Hungry man or to have some decent biscuits to eat for a change. Gold is still there, ain't it, Mr. Mark? Sure it is, Miss Baker. And if the mine gets operating again, there'll be work for all you boys, won't there? Sure there will, but you gotta have... Then goodness, what's the matter with all of you? Ain't you got backbone and gumption? Now, you just get a committee together and skidaddle off to San Francisco. And don't you dare come back, Mr. Martin, without the capital necessary to get that mine open again. Yes, sir, 40 grod men were ready to throw up their hands and quit. And little foolish Betsy Baker, little giddy Betsy Baker, pulled that town right up by its bootstraps. We did get the mine open again and Laurel Run began to thrive and grow. Well, it was maybe a couple of months later that a delegation of us went calling up to Miss Baker's cabin. I do declare, boys. This is quite a little gathering. Did you all come up here just to see me? Yes, I'm there. That's right. That's a fact, ma'am. Yes, it sure is. Goodness. I ain't gonna bite none of you. Ain't nobody gonna tell me what this is all about? Well, you see, ma'am... It's like this, Miss Baker. Finally. Oh, go on. You tell her, Bronson. Well, ma'am, it's this hair-away. We've been worried about you and how you're gonna get along, so we tried to figure ways and means and hand it to San Francisco and give the argument to the general office and, well, we got the appointment for you. Well, now, what apartment's that, boys? There's post-mistress of Laurel Run, of course. Post-mistress? Of course, it's only temporary first. And don't pay too much. But enough for you to get along. And if we get enough post, so business here. Then it'll be made permanent. How about it, Miss Baker? Will you take the job? What's the matter, Miss Baker? Did we hurt your feelings or something? No, boys. You... You didn't hurt my... Thank you, boys. I'll be both proud and happy to be post-mistress of Laurel Run. Well, we all turned to and built a special post office building, and everything was just fine. Only we had to make sure her temporary job was going to be permanent. And we figured that if the post office did a good thrive in business, that that had turned the trick. Good morning, Miss Baker. Lovely day, ain't it? I'll take ten dollars worth of them five-cent stamps. Howdy, Miss Baker. I got a few letters going out. Better give me some of them fancy fifty-centers. Maybe thirty or forty of them. Come in and look at the new wallpaper in my cabin, boys. Done the job myself. And every one of them stamps was bought from the post-mistress of Laurel Run. Business was flourishing, all right. But for some reason or other, that permanent appointment just didn't come through. And one day when I was alone with Miss Baker in the post office, I maybe got an inkling why. Would you mind my asking you for a piece of advice, Mr. Martin? Why, I'd be really delighted, Miss Baker. What's troubling you? Well, it's these here official letters. From the General Postal Office in San Francisco. They just keep on writing to me all the time. Writing to you? About what? Just nonsense. That's all plain nonsense. All about new rules and notifications and absurd questions and such. I have been referring them to the Postmaster at Hickory Hill for advice. Oh, you have? Yes, he's... he sort of admires mine. The loony. And what's he been saying about them? Well, he ain't answered the last couple I sent him and now I've got another one. I declare I don't know what to make of it. Maybe you could read it for me, Mr. Martin. You know, let's see. Postmistress Laurel Runn referred to our unanswered communication of the previous week compelled to remind you of Rule 47 of the... Rule 47? What's that, Miss Baker? Well, goodness, how should I know? That's true. That's true. Well, Miss Baker seems like some valuable money-letters has disappeared here about. They seem to think you ought to know something about them. Missing money-letters? Now, why would they imagine I would know anything about me? Why, how dare they? What do they mean? Why, if they're insinuating that I had anything to do with those letters disappearing, they're... No, no, just you don't worry, Miss Baker. Me and the boys will handle this. We've got to go to Washington and see the President. Well, if you do see him, Mr. Martin, just tell him for me he'd better run his post office a good deal better than he does. Goodness. While I hadn't let on to Miss Baker, this here was mighty, mighty serious business. Money-letters missing from government mail. So, when that stranger rode into town next day at sundown and made a B-line for the post office, I figured I'd better know what was going on. That's how come me to be sitting outside the open window sort of casual like just as he went in to talk to her. Good evening, Mrs. Baker. I'm Harry Holm, San Francisco. Good evening, Mr. Holm. What can I do for you? Apparently my note of advice number 201 miscarried and you don't recognize my name. I'm Harry Holm, the department agent from the general office in San Francisco. Department agent for that one. Yes, that one, Mrs. Baker. Well, I can assure you, Mr. Holm, you didn't have to come snooping around here. My register and way bills is in perfect order and my cash receipts for sales of stamps are quite satisfactory. Satisfactory, Mrs. Baker, for a station of its class, the sale of stamps and loyal runners unprecedented and the annals of the postal service. Well, there. Actually, my business down here doesn't concern you at all, Mrs. Baker, except in a minor way. You happen to have my communications to you, handy? Your commute? Goodness. I sent him over to the postmaster at Hickory Hill. You what? Well, I couldn't for the life of me make any sense out of Mr. Holm, so I just asked him what I should do. Mrs. Baker, he's the man we suspect of embezzling those moneylesses. Oh, no. Goodness, not... not... That's why I'm here. To prove the Hickory Hill postmaster is the guilty one. But how can you do that here, Mr. Holm? We mailed a decoy letter from Cripple Creek. Hickory Hill is the only station between there and here. If the letter's not in the omnibus way bag when it arrives here, we'll know it was removed at Hickory Hill. I... I see. The way bag leaves Hickory Hill at C830. It's an hour's run to here, so I'll be here at 9.30 to receive it, open it, get my proof, and dispatch it again. Goodness. Such excitement. Decoy letters and robbery. It makes me feel kind of faint. Well, as acts of no need for you to be here, Mrs. Baker, you can go home if you wish. I'll handle everything. Well, now that's mighty kind of you, Mr. Holm. I do think I'd better retire. I'm afraid there are times when a poor, weak woman like me just ain't up to things in a man's world. Well, now, maybe Betsy Baker wasn't up to things in a man's world, but she was sure up to something. Because she didn't go to her cabin. She went to my stable, saddled up my Mustang, and rode him away like she was possessed. Let the wind between here and Hickory Hill got to the post office two minutes for 8.30 and then turned to the young and surprised postmaster. Now, no pretty speeches, Stanton Green. Just tell me one thing quick. Where's the money letter that come in that mail bag? What do you mean, Betsy? I don't know of any money letters. We ain't got time to play games, Stanton Green. That letter is a decoy. Check through at Cripple Creek. Decoy? Yes. And Mr. Holm of San Francisco is waiting at my desk right now to learn if you've taken it. Now, where is it? It's right here, Betsy. But the seal is broken. You already opened it. Yes, I owed some bills, so I took something from the packet and gave it to the collector, but I was going to make it up the next mail. I swear it was. How much did you take? It was only a try. How much? A hundred dollars. A hundred? Oh, my goodness. Oh, well. Lucky I brought my purse along. Oh, no, no, Betsy. Nothing. I'm not your money. Shut up. I'm counting. Sixty. Seven. Nine. There. Now, let's have that packet. So now toss the packet in the waybag. But the seal's broken. If the money's found in the bag, the packet could have broke accidentally. Now dump it in. Now Mr. Holm won't find anything out of the way. Oh, Betsy. Betsy, darling, I don't know how to thank you. Was I asking for thanks, Stanton Green? No, of course you weren't. But a woman in love never does. A woman in love? Stanton Green, your loony. Am I? Then why did you race here? Why'd you give me that money? Involve yourself in this thing if you didn't love me. I'll tell you, you simpleton. I did all that for only one person. John Baker. John Baker? Yes, John Baker. Because I'm John Baker's wife and I'm waiting for him. While I'm waiting, I'm doing my best to carry on his work for him. You're one of his boys, his best friend. And if John Baker could give up his... his life to save you, I guess maybe I can risk a little trouble and disgrace. Now do you understand? Yes. Yes, Mrs. Baker, I... Well then, take my purse. Pay back the rest of the money you stole from the government. And if there's anything left, use it to start yourself in an honest life somewhere else. You're going now, Mrs. Baker? Yes, I'm going. I think I'll race the express back to Laurel Run. And I'll not only beat him, I bet I'll break the record as well. Goodbye, Stanton. The express man got to Laurel Run at 9.31. Mr. Holm had the omnibus way bag in the post office at 9.32 and 1.5. And at 9.34 he'd finished counting the money. Well, I declare Mr. Holm the money's all there. Yes, yes it is, Mrs. Baker. Stanton Green is safe this time and I'm just as glad. You are? Yes. I understand the man was a close friend of your husband's and a man who's more fool than naive. Now perhaps this means he's learned his lesson and will make restitution. Oh my goodness, I hope so, Mr. Holm. Well, that finishes my work here. I'll believe it now, but before I do, Mrs. Baker, did Stanton Green leave Hickory Hill and go away, as you undoubtedly advised? Leave Hickory Hill? Go away. I don't know what you're talking about. Oh, no, no, no, of course you don't. Well, that's silly of me to imagine it. Oh, by the way, Mrs. Baker, you might be interested in learning something. Now, when the postal department puts money in a decoy letter, we always use marked coins. Always? You... you... Mark? Yes, yes, but then that's a bit of information I don't think you'll need as permanent postmistress of Laurel Run. Will you? Good night, Mrs. Baker. Well, I declare. Oh, wasn't Mr. Holm the sweetest loony? I'd like to thank Virginia Gregg and our cast for their wonderful performance of Bret Hart's classic and also tell you the rather strange thought that occurred to me while listening to the story. Believe it or not, it was about icebergs. You know, only 10% of an iceberg is seen above water. The other massive 90% is normally concealed beneath the surface of the sea. In other words, we see only the tip, the peak, the least substantial part of the iceberg. Now, what brought all this on? Well, the postmistress of Laurel Run turned out to be a person of hidden depths and untapped strength, and there are a lot of people in the world like her, men and women who surprise you by revealing unsuspected qualities of good beneath a shallow, flighty exterior. Times of hardship and crisis bring out the best in them, while others fail to measure up. And I've often wondered what makes the difference, that extra something which enables the really strong person to meet a challenge successfully. I'll guarantee one thing, faith in God and in prayer has a lot to do with it. No individual, no family can help but be stronger if prayer is a part of their daily lives. It's a source of character. It's the concealed 90% of our character. We, or the family theater, invite you to find out for yourselves what prayer can do for you and your family. Why not begin the practice of daily family prayer in your home today? And then you'll realize that the family and only the praise together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. And the supporting cast included Jim Nussar, Ralph Moody, Howard McNair, Jack Petruzzi, and Barton Yarbrough. This series of Family Theater broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who have felt the need for this type of program and by the mutual network which has responded to this need. This is Gene Baker inviting you to join us next week at this same time, and your family theater will present Robert Alder to introduce Gene Crane and Van Heflin in the next list by Guy de Mopassant. Join us, won't you? Invest in United States savings bonds. This is the Mutual Broadcasting System.