 Family Theatre presents Elizabeth Scott and Edmund O'Brien. Jew Edmund O'Brien, Ed Begley and Carlton Young in The Man Without a Country. To introduce the drama, your hostess, Elizabeth Scott. Thank you, Gene Baker. Family Theatre's only purpose is to bring to everyone's attention a practice that must become an important part of our lives if we're to win peace for ourselves, peace for our families and peace for the world. Family Theatre urges you to pray. Pray together as a family. Edward Hale was born of a prominent and distinguished Boston family. His father, owner and editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser, his uncle, Edward Everett, the author and statesman and his great uncle Nathan Hale, the martyr spy. His best known work was the story we present now and it's with real pleasure that we bring you Edmund O'Brien as Philip Nolan, Ed Begley as Ingham and Carlton Young as Danforth in Edward Hale's The Man Without a Country. My steamer ticket that you'd be aboard Captain Ingham, what's an old Navy man like you doing aboard a ferry boat? The same thing you are, Danforth, crossing Lake Superior. You mean you're not the captain of this magnificent steam ship? I'm afraid not, Danforth. I've been pretty much of a landlubber since the Navy retired me. How is everything on board the Levant? Couldn't be better. And how's old plane buttons? Haven't you heard? He died about six months ago aboard my ship. Maybe it's for the best. I have a clipping on it here somewhere. Probably since the New York Herald. Here it is. Nolan died on board U.S. Corvette Levant. Latitude 2 degrees, 11 minutes south. Longitude 131 degrees west. The 11th day of May, Philip Nolan. Not a very impressive obituary, is it? No one cares about the death of an obscure old man. This should have read, died May 11th, The Man Without a Country. It all began with the Aaron Burr affair. Philip Nolan was as fine a young officer as there was in the Legion of the West, as the Western Division of our army was then called. But, as luck would have it, the ambitious Burr, who during the war with Spain had visions of taking over Mexico and setting himself up as emperor, marked young Lieutenant Nolan and caused him to be invited to a reception in Burr's honor. He outdid himself to recruit Nolan for his man... I've been keeping an eye on you, Lieutenant Nolan. I think you're just the man I've been looking for. Thank you, sir. I hope I can be of service. You can be of great service. You were brought up along the Mexican border were you not, Lieutenant? Yes, sir. I spent all my childhood there. As you might know, I have some definite ideas about Mexico and the Texas Territory. I have heard about that, sir. How would you like to become part of my organization? In what capacity, sir? I'm going to need good men to lead my expedition. You know the country. How would you like to be your colonel in my army? A colonel, sir? I get over, Lieutenant. I have to return to Washington tomorrow, and when we return south again, we'll discuss this further. I assume that you're interested. Oh, yes, sir, I am. All you have to do, sir, is to tell me when to act. It won't be long, my boy. It won't be long. And when we act, I promise you great things. Great things, Lieutenant. The next year, Barrick's life was very tame for Nolan. He availed himself of Aaron Burr's permission to write him. But never a word did he receive from the gay deceiver. And one day, a fellow officer came to him. Hey, Nolan, have you heard? Your friend Aaron Burr has been arrested for treason. Treason? Yes. And I wouldn't be surprised if, well, if you weren't on the list, too. Yes, Nolan was on the list of those suspected of treason. And there was evidence enough against him. Everyone knew that he was sick of the service and would have obeyed any order to march anywhere with anyone who would follow him. As long as the order was signed by command of His Excellency Aaron Burr. So that when the acts fell, Lieutenant Nolan was one of the first to feel its sharp blade. Lieutenant Nolan, you have been found guilty of treason against the United States who uniform you wear and whose food you eat. Do you have anything to say to disprove treason against the United States of America? Damn the United States! What? Lieutenant Nolan, did I hear you correctly? I said damn the United States! I wish I may never hear of the United States again! Prisoner, hear the sentence of the court. Your wish is granted. The court decides, subject to the approval of the president, that you never hear the name of the United States again. Ah! Marshal of the court, you will take the prisoner to Orleans in an armed boat and deliver him to the naval commander there. Yes, sir. And Mr. Marshal, see that no one mentions the name of the United States to the prisoner while he's on board ship. Provo Marshal delivered Nolan aboard the intrepid at Orleans. Captain Shaw received the orders in his cabin. What, this is ridiculous, Lieutenant Neal. Never to hear about nor see anything pertaining to the United States? How can we prevent it? Are we supposed to be mutes while he's aboard? I'm sure I don't know, sir. What do they think we talk about and read about while we're at sea? Our home and our families. Not anymore, sir. And reading matter. He certainly must read. What else is there for him to do? And what can he read without coming across some reference to the United States? Orders are to delete all reference to the United States in evidence. But he'll surely talk to the men. They might make a slip, and I can't discipline a man for mentioning the country he should be proud of. Well, sir, it would take some of the load off the men if he kind of switched around a bit. They could take turns having him to mess, and when he's around the men, you could see that he is always accompanied by an officer, sort of as a security measure. Oh, yes, yes, it could be done that way, but confounded man, why my ship? Why, in all the blooming Navy, do they have to prick on me? Those first few months on board the old intrepid posed a good many problems. As you can imagine, the conversation was more than stiff. The officers groping for harmless topics. One went on, and possibly to relieve the strained conversation, it became the custom for the officers when they were with Nolan to read aloud from cleared books. One afternoon, Nolan took his turn at reading the supposedly harmless work of Sir Walter Scott. Less liked he still, that scornful jeer mispries the land he loved so dear. High was the sound, as thus again the land resumed his minstrel strain. That ends the fifth canto. Would someone else care to read for a while? You're doing far better than I could, Mr. Nolan. You can take my turn, if you will. Canto sixth. Breathes there a man with soul so dead who never to himself hath said, this is my own, my native land, whose heart hath near within him burned as home his footsteps he hath turned from wandering on a foreign strand. If such there breathe, go, mark him well, for him no minstrel raptures swell. High though his titles proud his name, boundless his wealth as wish can claim, despite these titles, power and pelf, the wretch consented all in self. You'll excuse me, gentlemen. They didn't see Nolan for two months after that, and when they did, he was a changed man. He never entered in with a young man exactly as a companion again, and took on a shyness that was to last throughout his life. Soon after this, he was transferred to the warren, the first of some 20 such transfers, which brought him sooner or later into half of our best vessels. Transfers which kept him from the country he hoped he might never hear of again. But it was on that second cruise that he met Mrs. Graff. The warren had put in at the port of Naples, and a ball was arranged on board. It was agreed that Nolan could be invited, as long as one of the officers stayed with him. After a while, everyone got so friendly, they began to relax their guard a little. That's when he met Mrs. Graff. I beg your pardon, ma'am, but aren't you Miss Rutledge? I'm not Miss Rutledge any longer, Mr. Nolan. I am now Mrs. Graff. May I offer my congratulations, Mrs. Graff? What are you doing here in Naples? My husband had some business here. We're going to France in a few days. I've been doing a good deal of traveling myself at late. I believe we're to sail for Turkey next. Some day, perhaps, I'll go there, too. It's a wonderful country. Tell me, what do you hear from home, Mrs. Graff? Home, Mr. Nolan? I thought you were the man who never wanted to hear of home again. Excuse me, Mr. Nolan. And Nolan saw some action against the British. As a direct result of that engagement, Captain Shaw started the proceeding to obtain a pardon for him. You see, Nolan was back on the intrepid with Shaw again, when they were overhauled by a big English frigate. The American Navy got its baptism of fire that day. And Nolan was everywhere at once, looking after the wounded, doing what he could to help. It happened that a round shot from the enemy entered one of our gun ports. I'll show you how we used to use it in the artillery. Give me that rammer. And you, bring shot. Yes, sir. Don't carry shot that way, man. You'll kill yourself. Put your back into it. Put it in the artillery. I'm all for it. Give me that rammer. We'll give them another. But, Phillip, she's trapped under the mantle. You'll be burned to death. You there, give me your knife. You can't go up there. Nolan, you'll be exposed to enemy fire. I don't go, Phillips. We'll burn. Give me that knife. Yes, sir. Good. I'll be up in no time. I shall never forget this day, Mr. Nolan, and you never shall. I've mentioned you in my dispatches, and I've also written a letter to the Secretary of War, asking him to give you a pardon. A pardon, sir? It's no more than you deserve today. We're all very grateful, Mr. Nolan. And I would consider it an honor if you would accept this sword. But it's your sword. It was my sword. It's yours now, if you'll have it. Although nothing came of that letter requesting a pardon, Nolan never gave up hope. It was about that time that headquarters in Washington began to ignore the whole transaction, and Nolan's imprisonment went on because there was nobody to stop it. Six years after the war, I was appointed midshipman, and it was on my first voyage that he first came into my life. I had seen him on board, of course, with his plane button tunic. The plane, because the buttons with the United States insignia had been removed. I took him for a lay chaplain, knowing nothing of his strange story. We had him to mess once a week. While we were cautioned, never to mention home, I was too green to ask why. I never found out until the day that I met this dirty little schooner which had slaves aboard. I need some men to go with me, Lieutenant. Call out a boarding party. Aye, aye, sir. Bowson, turn out the starboard watch. Aye, sir. I go along, sir. It's nothing but a slave ship, Mr. Nolan. There wouldn't be much for you to do, and it might be dangerous. The danger doesn't worry me, sir, and it would be a change. Yes, I suppose it would. I'll show the natives that were on their side. Aye, aye, sir. These slavers certainly are a cut for a bunch. I'll be glad to get them in irons. The natives don't know what to make of it. They're almost as much afraid of us as they are of the pirates. That's bad. None of my men can speak this dialect. Perhaps I can help, sir. Can you speak this native jargon? No, sir, but I can speak a little Spanish, and cruel and native should understand Spanish. Well, it's worth a try anyway. Singham's coming out. Tell them they're free, and that these rascals will be hanged as soon as we can get rope enough. Have a go at it, Nolan. Yes, I'll do my best. I'm sorry, sir, but I couldn't make them understand a word. Mr. Nolan says he speaks Spanish. He's going to give it a try. What? Looks like he's found someone there now, sir. He seemed to understand him all right. Poor devils, I imagine it's been months since they've seen their homes and friends. And what of Mr. Nolan, sir? How long has it been since he's seen his home and his friends? Oh, Lord. Nolan's as white as a sheet. He must be going through the torches of the damned. Well, here he comes, sir. Fight it, sir. The headman says, not palmless, take us to our house. Take us to our women and children. He says he has a mother and father back there who will die if they don't see him. And another said he has not heard a word from home in six months. Tell him yes, yes, yes. Yes. Well, then we shall take them to the mountains of the moon if they wish. If I have to sail this schooner through the great white desert, they shall go home. It was after mess that night that Nolan called me over to a corner of the ward room. Youngster, come here. Yes, sir? Let what happened this afternoon show you what it is to be without a family, without a home, without a country. And if you are ever tempted to say a word or do a thing that you'll put a bar between you and your family, your home and your country, pray God in His mercy to take you that instant home to your own heaven. I shall never be tempted, sir. And as for your country, boy, and for that flag, never dream a dream but of serving her as she bids you, though the service carry you through a thousand hells. By all that's holy, sir. I thought of doing anything else. Oh, if someone had only said that to me when I was your age. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then, Danforth. And I'll have to admit I didn't have the courage or the rank to do anything about a pardon for Nolan. And now, and now it's too late. Don't blame yourself, Captain Ingham. You weren't the only one lacking in courage. I didn't appreciate what a great man he really was until the night he died on board the Levant. It was late one afternoon that the doctor told me Nolan would like to see me. I'll never forget my amazement when I first entered that forbidden room. He had made a shrine of his bunk. Stars and stripes would try to step around a picture of Washington. And above the picture, he had painted a majestic eagle with lightning blazing from his beak and his foot just clasping the whole globe over shadowed. Here you see, Captain Danforth, I have a country. I see you have, sir. I know I'm dying, Danforth. I can never get home. Surely you can tell me something now. Wait, wait. Do not speak till I say what I am sure you know. That there is not on this ship that there is not in America, God bless her, a more loyal man than I. Oh, Danforth, how like a wretched night's dream. A boy's idea of personal fame or of separate sovereignty seems when one looks back on it after such a life as mine. But tell me, tell me something of home. Tell me anything, Danforth, before I die. Mr. Nolan, I'll tell you everything you were asked about. Only where shall I begin? Oh, God bless you, Danforth. Look, here on this flag I've drawn. I know there are 34 states, but their names, tell me their names. The last I know is Ohio. My father lived in Kentucky, and I have guest Michigan, and Indiana, and Mississippi. They make 20, but where are your other 14? You have not cut up any of the old ones, I hope? No, sir. This one is Texas. Oh, I'm glad it became part of my country. My brother died there, you know. You see, I've marked a gold cross on my map. And this is California, and here's Oregon. Oh, I rather suspected Oregon, because when we put in there, I was never allowed to land. Tell me, tell me, Danforth, has anyone never tried to serve our country as did Aaron Burr? No, no, sir. Everyone likes it as it is. If anyone ever does, Danforth, shoot him like a dog. There must be no more Burrs. Oh, God forgive him, for I'm sure I do. Like a monster that I had not told him everything before. Who were we to play the tyrant over that old man? I did my best to tell him all I could about his beloved country before he died. It was a hard thing to condense the history of half a century into that talk with a sick man. I told him everything I could think of that would show the grandeur of his country and its prosperity and how he did drink it in and enjoy it. He grew more and more silent, and yet I did not think him tired or faint. When I had finished, he asked me to bring him the Book of Public Prayer. Just hand it to me. It will open at the right place. Thank you. Would you please kneel, Danforth? Yes, sir. For ourselves and our country, O gracious God, we thank thee that notwithstanding our manifold transgressions of thy holy laws, thou hast continued to us thy marvelous kindness. Amen. Danforth, I have repeated those prayers night and morning for 55 years. And Danforth, look in my book. I thought he was tired and would sleep, but when the doctor and I went in an hour later, he had breathed his life away with a smile. I looked in his Bible and I found this mark. They desire a country, even a heavenly, before God is not ashamed to be called their God. For he hath prepared for them a city. And in the Bible was this piece of paper. Read it, Ingham. Burry me in the sea. It has been my home and I love it. But will not someone set up a stone for my memory at Fort Adams or at Orleans that my disgrace may not be more than I ought to bear? Say on it, in memory of Philip Nolan, lieutenant in the army of the United States, he loved his country as no other man has loved her. And no man deserved less at her hands. Scott again, I suppose everyone feels that his own problems are unique. We forget that others have borne even greater sorrows. We forget too that men and women in trouble have always found help when they turn to God in prayer. The families of yesteryear had troubles as great as ours. But they knew what to do about them. They prayed. As a family, they asked God's help every day in the year. Family prayer helped build the strong, God-fearing homes which made our nation great. Family prayer today in our homes can renew in our land the spirit and faith of those who've gone before us. And be assured, the family that prays together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Good Family Theatre has brought you Edmund O'Brien in The Man Without a Country with Elizabeth Scott as your hostess. Ed Begley was heard as Captain Ingham and Carlton Young as Captain Danforth. Others in our cast were Walter Burke, Ralph Moody, High Everback, Wally Mayer, Jack Carroll, and Virginia Euler. Edward Everett Hale's classic was adapted by Robert Hecker with music composed and conducted by Harry Zimmerman, was directed for Family Theatre by Jaime Del Valle. This series of Family Theatre broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who felt the need for this type of program, by the mutual network which has responded to the hundreds of stars of stage, screen and radio who have so unselfishly given of their time and talent to appear on our Family Theatre stage. To them and to you our humble thanks. This is Gene Baker expressing the wish of Family Theatre that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home and inviting you to join us next week at this time when Family Theatre will present Robert Young, Hans Connery and Mary Ship in Serenau de Bergerat. Join us, won't you? It originates in the Hollywood studios of the world's largest network. The Mutual Broadcasting System.