 The Cavalcade of America, sponsored by the E.I. DuPont Dinamoers & Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry, presents him from the night, starring Rosalind Russell, and as Cavalcade's host, Walter Houston. Before we begin our play tonight, here is a false suggestion for you. Now that vacations are over and the children back in school, it's a good time to redecorate. And this fall, your home decorating can be done so easily with DuPont's speedy wall finish. The wall finish that covers most wall surfaces with one easy coat. It's ideal over old discolored wallpaper. For less than three dollars, you can make the average room bright and new again. Remember, it's speedy. It dries in one hour. And it's easy. Easy for anyone to use. It's speed easy, made by DuPont. And now I take pleasure in presenting your host for the Cavalcade of America, Walter Houston. Good evening. Tonight, the Cavalcade of America inaugurates its 10th season with a notable series of radio plays, which I believe will provide you, Cavalcade's audience, with the finest possible in radio entertainment. The DuPont company invited me to be your host for this series, and I was glad to accept to be able to add what I can to your enjoyment of the play's plan. There will be plays of yesterday and of today, of men and women celebrated and little known, of heroes, scientists, adventurers, yet all real people brought to you from that endless living pageant which we here call the Cavalcade of America. Tonight you will hear one of your favorite players, and mine as well, Miss Roslyn Russell, as Julia Ward Howe, in a play entitled Him from the Night. And in the weeks ahead you will listen to such plays as Valley Forge, written by the distinguished playwright Maxwell Anderson, or to the Girl Lincoln Love, written by Norman Cohen. And starting these fine plays will be such actors as Bob Hope, Walter Pigeon, Edwin G. Robertson, Jerry Cullona, Francis Langford, Clark Gable, and other notables of the theatre and motion pictures. Today our nation, foremost among free nations, is proudly discovering and recording its present and its past. I think this radio series will prove to be a fine contribution to such a record. And now tonight's Cavalcade play, Him from the Night, written by Robert Tormann and starring Miss Roslyn Russell as Julia Ward Howe. Our story is about a woman and a song to become a battle cry of wrath, a battle cry of freedom, in the bloodiest war the new world had known. The American war between the United States, Boston, Massachusetts, peacetime, the year 1856. The boys is headed for the column. If he doesn't stop this time, shoot the kill! Is it bossy after a band of outlaws? No. These are a United States Marshal and his deputy is chasing an elderly Negro waiter through the streets of Boston, Massachusetts. They are enforcing the law of the land, the fugitive slave law. The old serene way of life still goes on in Boston and in houses like that one, for instance, that proud mansion surrounded by ancient and beautiful oaks, there's a lamp burning in the parlor window. The gentile lady sits at the piano. Oh, I didn't hear you come in. Have you heard the news, Julia? Oh, I know. What happened? There was rioting mobs in the street. Rioting? What about? The fugitive slave law. The people of Boston aren't going to stand for it. Oh, I was afraid of this. And that's not all. If the slave states continue trying to impose their rotten system on states that don't want it, we'll carry the fight to their own territory. Yes, I never heard you talk like this before. And what will I have done to help, Julia? Well, what will I leave behind me but a few mediocre poems? Well, Dr. Holmes doesn't think your poems are mediocre. He was saying only this evening. He considered you one of the finest poets writing in America today. These are sterile times for writers, Chev. Somehow, nothing we do seems equal to the problems around us. And so we do nothing. Julia, there was a man at Dr. Holmes who talked in a way that made me wonder. That man took a sword in his hand and went out and cut down the enemy. He did something. John Brown. You net John Brown. Then it's true he is in Boston. I want to meet him, Chev. You must arrange it. No. No, you mustn't meet that old man, Julia. But why not? Well, for one thing, he's an outlaw. However much you may admire his courage, he's still a murderer, Julia. Remember the psalm, Chev? I break the jaws of the wicked and plucked out their teeth. Was that man a murderer? Those were violent times. And these are violent times, too. They were shooting today in the streets of this peaceful city. You said it yourself. It's come at last, Chev. To us, here in our little quiet lives. I stopped by to see if you'd need me this evening, ma'am. Well, I don't think you should leave the house after dark like this, Agnes. Well, nothing happened to me, ma'am. I got my free papers right here in my apron pocket. Anybody tries to get them away from me is going to have a fight on their hands. Well, all right, Agnes. But do be careful. I'll hurry right back, ma'am. And don't you go up in the door to no strangers. I won't. I've already gone. You did say... I was bitten to come to this house, ma'am. I am John Brown. Oh, well, Dr. Howe isn't it home just now? Perhaps it was God's will that I should speak to you, ma'am. Oh, well, come in, Mr. Brown. I thank you, ma'am. I'm afraid I can't offer you much hospitality. I'm here all alone this evening. Sit down, won't you? Thank you. I... I've heard so much about the great work you are doing in the cause of a abolishing slavery, Mr. Brown. I am only the instrument of God's will, ma'am. Much blood will be spilled before the sins of slavery shall be washed away. I pray that is not so, Mr. Brown. Pray that God's will be done, ma'am. And work, work in God's vineyard. This much at least you can do. Look at these hands, Mr. Brown. Are these hands of such a worker? If it is God's will, then they shall be. I am a writer, Mr. Brown. Oh, not a writer of great cadences and majestic prophecies, such as your work demands. Poems. Some that I am a little proud of. Words. Words have one great battle, ma'am. Not my kind of words. I see that you are a great lover of life, ma'am. The arms of death are closing around me. I leave much behind me. God's work unfinished. If I could make you see your work as God has given me to see. What is it? What do you want me to see? Glory, glory beyond this corporeal frame. My eyes have seen it, madam. If it is God's will that you too shall see it when the time comes. The day of wrath are at hand. Blood and blood alone will wash out the sins of slavery. Mr. Brown, your words disturb me profoundly. I pray that when you leave this house that these disturbing thoughts will go with you, and yet I fear I know in my heart that they will remain there. Year 1856. In Washington on the floor of the United States Senate, Representative Brooks of South Carolina approaches the desk of trial Sumner, Senior Senator from Massachusetts. Senator Sumner, sir? Oh, Mr. Brooks, come back later will you? I have to finish with it and then we can talk. Words cannot express the message I have for you, Sumner, but I believe the head of this cane will serve. Brooks, you must be Brooks! Brooks, what are you doing? Get that cane away from him! Somebody do something! I am the one! Something that should have been me! Turn around! One was right, Chev. The day of wrath is at hand. Words can't turn the tide of anger back. Not anymore. There's still hope, Julia. Not all the Southern leaders are as violent as Brooks. You can't fight a thing like slavery with words. Senator Sumner fought with words. They silenced him with a club. John Brown uses words too, but he backs him up with a saber. A man like that speaks even from the grave. You mustn't see that old man again, Julia. He's wild. He's bad for people. Promise me you won't see him again. I don't think I shall see him again here. Maybe we should take a little vacation. Go far away from here. Some place away from all this war talk. What do you say to that, Julia? No, Chev. There's no use trying to turn our backs on history. Sooner or later, it'll catch up with us. The day is march on, my dear. The days of wrath. There's nobody now. Not even that wild old man with the strength to call retreat. John Brown, you have been found guilty of treason. Conspiring with the slaves to rebel and of murder in the first degree. Have you anything to say why sentence should not be pronounced upon you? This is the account in the traveler I wanted to read, Chev. Brown then rose and faced the courtroom. I have, he said. May it please the court a few words to say. Had I interfered in the manner which I admit has been fairly proved. Had I so interfered in behalf of the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends, and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been deemed all right. But because I did what I have done in the name of those who are helpless and oppressed, it has been called by another name. Well, it's over now. The old man made a heroic stand, a violent bloodshed. That's not the way. I wonder how his wife took the news. She lost three sons in Kansas the same way. There's only one more tragedy in a life full of tragedies. She'll be all right. Well, I'm going to make sure she's all right. I'm going to see her today. But you've never even met her, do you? We have at least one friend in common, Shev. John Brown. John Brown is dead, Julia. You must put all these things out of your mind. You can't help that old woman. And Brown himself is beyond anyone's power to help. I know, Shev, you're absolutely right. I wish I could forget the whole thing. But it's as if a voice was speaking inside of me, telling me I must remember. Remember things I never even knew. Julia, I'm a dull sort of fellow when it comes to understanding what goes on inside a poet's mind. Even if a poet happens to be my wife. But I do know something about what makes people become ill. And I tell you, your health won't hold up under this mental strain. Then so be it. When John Brown left this house, he left me with a stealing of destiny. Something I must do, something I must see. I don't even know what it is. But I shall never rest again until I find out. You are listening to Rosalind Russell in Him from the Night on the Cavalcade of America, sponsored by the E.I. DuPont Dinamoire's and Company of Wilmington, Delaware, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. Once again, he was Cavalcade's host, Walter Houston. Peace time in the year 1859. The American nation lies in the path of storm, and Americans, North and South, troubled, fearful, prepare to meet disaster. In the quiet city of Boston, Julia Ward-Howe has tried to shut out of the peaceful lies of herself and her family the growing terror and alarm, that the burning memory of a wrathful man disturbs her. The memory of John Brown. She seeks out his widow for some word that may put her troubled mind at ease. Good morning. You're Mrs. John Brown, aren't you? Yes. I'm Julia Howe. I met your husband. Oh, you're one of them. I don't understand. Why don't you leave me alone? Haven't you cost me enough grief? You and all the others, giving him money, aging him on to his death, and now denying you ever know. I'm not one of them, Mrs. Brown. Believe me, I'm not. Well, what do you want of me? May I come in and talk to you for just a moment? I ain't one to turn a stranger away from my dorm, Miss Howe. Perhaps you'd rather not talk about your husband, Mrs. Brown? I know there's must have been a terrible shock to you. Well, it didn't hurt so much to lose him. And they didn't hear him about the shame they heaped on him before they turned him up. He was a mighty proud man, Miss Howe. Yes, I know. He'd seen the glory for certain. There was no doubt of that, ma'am. Well, I recollect the day you come running in from the fields with that terrible look in his eyes. My eyes have seen it, he says to me. Glory beyond this caporial frame. Told you about it, ma'am? Well, yes, in a way. Tell me, did he ever mention meeting me? Yes. What did he say? Well, I'd rather not say, ma'am. So go ahead. I... Well, he says that as a woman knows how to use words, pity she don't see things more clear. Oh, well, I... I won't keep you any longer, Mrs. Brown. If there's anything I can do to help. Anything. Just... just keep your eyes open, Miss Howe. It's a blinding spirit that's the most harm in the world. When you see things clear the way my John wanted you to, you'll be able to do some for me. And all the folks like me. Abraham Lincoln, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and will to the best of my ability. That the sovereign state of South Carolina and legislature assembled us hereby declare an act of secession from the United States of America and here... That the said states together with their militias, armed forces and civil officers are declared to be in a state of rebellion against the United States of America. Yes, Julia? Take me to Washington with you. I'd like to take you, Julia. You don't seem to realize it's practically a battlefront. I'm not afraid, Shev. Well, Julia, you really mustn't worry so much about me, my dear. If I've seemed out of sorts lately, it's not because I'm ill or unhappy. It's just that my eyes have been straining to see. To see what that old man saw. The things that lifted him up and made him strong. John Brown. That song, John Brown's body lies a molding in the grave. The soldiers singing it now, they march off to war. There's no escaping him. No, Shev. There's no escaping John Brown. That's you, Julia? Yes, Shev, it's I. No, don't bother to light the gas. Enough light come through the windows to undress by. Oh, I just dropped off to sleep. Those cannon across the river keep up such a thunder. What kept you so long? I went to soldiers' hospital to see Louisa Alcott. Oh, Louisa May? I didn't know she was in Washington. She volunteered as a nurse. And think of it, poor, shy little Louisa. Never away from home before, facing the horrors of that place. How did she seem to be getting along? I didn't see her. Oh, I thought you said... I went to the hospital. They told me what happened. Her father came to take her home this morning. Well, what did happen? There was a soldier there in the ward. He was in great pain. She was reading aloud to him. And he would clutch her hand in his spasms of pain. Finally, when he finally dove off, she couldn't get her hand free. They found her there this morning. They had to break the dead man's fingers to loosen the grip on her hand. Julia, we leave Washington tomorrow. That's final. Very well. I think I've seen what I came to see. Good. Come on to bed. You must be tired. I think I'll sit here by the window for a few minutes. The breeze feels good. Dr. Potter drove me over the long bridge to one of the convalescent camps. They were singing that song. The spirit of those men, ready to go back and face death some of them for the third or fourth time. It made you feel that this wasn't in a small ugly anger, but a real big, clean, righteous wrath. It made you feel how inadequate words are to express a thing like that. And they need words. Words as big as the fighting spirit of the man they sing about. Here. Are you listening? Are you asleep? Here they come now. Here they come now. More of them. The army of the wounded. The stasis. I can see their faces so clearly. There's a wagon's path beneath the gaslight there. I think I'd know every one of them if I were to see them another time. Another place. I see things so clearly now. Is this what you wanted me to see, John Brown? What's this the word? They beyond this cup are you afraid? My eyes have seen it, madam. My eyes. My eyes. My eyes. Now I remember what I never knew. My eyes. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes and rats are stored. He has loosed the fateful lightning of his caribou swift sword. His truth is marching on. He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat. He is shifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat. I'll be swift to my soul to answer him. Be jubilant to my seat. Our God is marching on. Thank you, Rosalind Russell. And may I say as cavalcade's host and for myself as well, Rosalind. Thank you for a magnificent performance. The last page of our program tonight contains exciting and interesting news. About many of your Hollywood favorites. I'll be back in a few moments to tell you about it. Meanwhile, here's Gang Whitman with an interesting story about the new use for nylon. Thank you, Walter Houston. In the year 3000, schoolchildren may hear something like this in their classes. As late as the 20th century, children, our ancestors didn't know how to make many of the materials they needed. They had to use materials taken directly from mines in the earth, from plants and animals. But the 20th century brought about a great change, which made possible the world we live in today. Then chemists began on a large scale to create new material, designed for just the purpose for which they were needed. The story of paintbrushes in the war illustrates what the school teacher of the year 3000 may tell her pupils. When our Navy took on the colossal task of building the greatest war fleet in history, one of the thousands of difficulties Navy men had to overcome was paintbrushes, a small thing, yes, even a trivial thing. But every battleship calls for a thousand pounds of paint, and the paintbrushes just had to be gotten somewhere and fast. Bristles for paintbrushes had always come from the half-wild hogs of North China and Russia. No other material had been found that was as good for the purpose. But today, thousands of new Navy ships and craft of all kinds are painted with nylon bristle brushes, not to find multi-filament nylon yarn that goes into stocking, but large monophiles of nylon tapered at the ends by a special DuPont process. In addition, several hundred test brushes have been used by master painters on all kinds of severe surfaces, including wood, steel, and concrete. The results show that the nylon bristles wear at least three times longer than natural bristles. They are unaffected by cold water paints and can be cleaned by any commercial solvent cleaner, and they are not attacked by morgues or other vermin. The Navy wanted brushes with tapered synthetic bristles. Chemists in cooperation with brush manufacturers have supplied more than a million brushes thus far. Today, nylon bristle brushes are available only for war purposes. After the war, they will be among the many new materials tailor-made to fit your exact needs, a contribution of the chemistry of the future, the kind of chemistry that brings you the DuPont Company's better things for a better living through chemistry. And now here is Walter Houston. On the battlefront of the world tonight, thousands of human hearts are still beating because of a man most of us never heard of. He was Dr. Norman Bethune, who first created the Mobile Field Blood Bank. His story, which Cavalcade presents next week, is high drama, the story of a scientist fighting a battle for the betterment of his fellow men. One of the screen's finest players, Walter Pigeon, will portray the role of Dr. Bethune. And in weeks to come, our schedule is filled with exciting dramas. With the most famous of Hollywood stars, Edward G. Robinson, Bob Hope, Jerick Alona, Francis Langford, Trap Gable and many others. I know you will enjoy every one of them. Thank you. Ms. Rosalind Russell, star of tonight's performance, may soon be seen in the Warner Brothers' production, Roughly Speaking. Remember, next Monday, Lifetime, starring Walter Pigeon and with Walter Houston as host. Brought to you on The Cavalcade of America by E.I. DuPont Dinemore's and Company of Wilmington, Delaware.