 Great Scenes from Great Plays with your host Walter Hamden and co-starring tonight Eddie Albert and Margo in The Farmer Takes a White. On behalf of the families of the Protestant Episcopal Church in your own community and the Episcopal Actors Guild, we welcome you to another half hour of Great Scenes from Great Plays, transcribed by famous artists of stage, screen and radio. Now I present your host, the distinguished actor-manager, Mr. Walter Hamden. Thank you and good evening. Our play tonight, The Farmer Takes a Wife by Frank B. Elzer and Mark Connolly, is based on a novel by Walter D. Edmonds. It is laid in that almost forgotten chapter of America's past when the early canal was the throbbing main artery of the nation's commerce. Our characters are the robust, spirited boaters whose horse and mule-drawn barges linked the Atlantic seaboard with the pioneer west. Here to play the roles of Dan Harrow and Molly Larkins, I am pleased to present the two screen favorites, Eddie Albert and Margo. And now let's raise the curtain on The Farmer Takes a Wife, adapted for radio by Elizabeth Hart. The time is April 1835, the place Rome, New York. Tomorrow the early canal reopens for another season and this evening some of the boat captains are celebrating this most important of yearly events in the taverns along the topop. For some time now their women folk have been calling them back to their boats and their suppers. But the summons have gone unheeded and one by one the women have given up. Only Molly Larkins still stands on deck, blowing determinately in the direction of a tap room just across the topop from where her boats tied up. Excuse me ma'am. Oh, you gave me a turn. Well you was so busy blowing that horn I couldn't get you to notice me. Can you tell me where Mr. Sam Weaver's boat is at? Three boats down the topop. Name of the sock is Sal. But Mr. Weaver ain't a boarder at present. Well, you know if I'd maybe find him at the freight agents. Well he just went into Hennessy's hotel right over there where the singing's coming from. Say, you're new on the canal, ain't ya? Yes ma'am. How could you tell? You call the scout for the freight agent. Are you the driver the hiring agency said they'd send Mr. Weaver? That's right. They think you'll be very long over there. It's kind of hard talking business with hijinks going on. Well, he only stepped in for a couple of minutes. You can wait for him here on deck if you want. Oh, thank you kindly ma'am. If you can walk a team of horses down a towpath, Mr. Weaver will hire you all right. He's desperate. His driver and his cookbook, quit on him with a canal opening tomorrow. Is that so? Hey, you live on this boat? No. I'm going to live on her. This came aboard this morning. I'm a cook. Huh? Well what's the matter? Oh, nothing. Just that you don't look like a cook. Not much. How ought a cook to look? Well, maybe they're prettier on the canal. I was raised in a farm. Where are you now? Well, I've never done any cooking for anybody before except my father. He died last winter and I had to get me a job. The voter I'm going to work for is named Jotham Clore. Ever hear him? No ma'am. You're the first one I've met on the canal. Well, you may meet Jotham directly. That is, if he can drag himself away from Hennessy's long enough to eat the supper I fixed him. I asked Mr. Weaver to tell him it was drying up in the oven. You know, nothing used to bristle my ma like weight and supper. It bristles any good cook. Yeah. If that Jotham thinks I'll even consider marrying him, if he's the kind that's going to arrive later then... Oh, you're going to marry him? Well, that wasn't a plan. I guess it still is. Jotham... Well, he licked all the other fellas that were courting me. Well, Molly, I thought Jotham Clore and Hennessy's not giving work for and he's had to tell you to be right along. Thanks a lot, Mr. Weaver. I'll say, here's your new driver. Hmm. Agency sent you, huh? Yes, sir. What's the name? Daniel Harold, sir. Harold? Yeah. My father's name was Henry Harrow. He's a horse of fat. Your father's boat was a golden city. Yes, sir. He made that wonderful run. Connected it to Buffalo in three days, 11 hours, 31 minutes. Mithony of five miles an hour. Where'd your father go to? Well, he had a farm north of Booneville. Things didn't go so good. He lost it just before he died. Dead, he did. You more, too? Yes, sir. Today and I'm right glad and proud to hire you. Well, thanks, Mr. Weaver. But I guess I ought to tell you that I don't aim to stay on the canal permanent. I just want to drive for the Lyft Albany. The agency said you was going that way. What's in Albany you're raring to see? A girl? Oh, no, ma'am. I got a letter of a big dairy farmer. I hope he'll give me a job. Name of Butterfield. John Butterfield, huh? Yep. I've called for him, everybody does. He got farms all up and down the canal. Yeah, must be fine to have all that land for your own. The iris all our own. You ain't got a deed, ma'am. My part's mine. I'd like to see anybody take it. Yeah. What about the railroads? Well, what about them? The dirty rattle traps. Yeah, some say they're killing the canal. Don't you believe it, Dan? Why, the old eerie, she's a pride of the nation. She's a whole she bang a life. But I tell you, Dan, I won't hold you if you want to quit at Albany. But I bet you won't. Let me tell you something. I bought a ticket on the Ohio Lottery while I was in Hennessy just now. And I got a feeling Henry Harris' boy's going to bring me luck. I sure hope so, Mr. Weaver. Come along. I want to show you the team and the sassy's house. Could you acquaint me with the young lady first? Huh? She's Molly Larkin. Oh, Pa was a great canola, too. I'm pleased to meet you, Miss Larkin. I hope I can see you again real soon. Maybe you will, Mr. Harrow. Anything can happen on the Grand Canal. Miss Larkin? Yes? Excuse me for bothering you so late. I saw you was still on deck. Well, it ain't so very late for me, Mr. Harrow. But I'm surprised you're still up. Don't farmers go to bed with the chickens? Well, I was just fixing to turn in when I missed my hat. You're in the habit of wearing your hat to bed? Oh, no, ma'am. It's handy in the daytime, though. I thought it must have come off and left it on your boat. You had it on your head when you went away with Mr. Weaver? I did? Oh, well, now if that don't beat all. What's that they're singing? Well, I don't know what its name is, but I've been hearing it on the canal ever since I was born. Jotham can sing it a lot better than he's doing right now. Is he still over there with their mother Orioles? I thought he told Mr. Weaver he was coming right back. Everybody's got a right to change their plans. Yeah, and a drinking man generally does. You needn't anguish yourself about Jotham's drinking. He can hold his liquor better than he two men. Not the best head for it on the whole canal. Evening, Molly. Where's supper? I saved you some. Jotham, this is Mr. Daniel Harold. Where's supper? Damn Weaver told me you had it ready. That was three hours ago, Jotham. Yo, Harold, sir, whatever your name is. What do you mean, stopping my cook from cooking my supper? Don't talk back to him, Mr. Harold. He's the best fighter on the canal. Quit that whispering, Molly. I don't like the way you're acting tonight. Maybe the time has come to give you a good elation. That time ain't never gonna come, Clore. Any liquor left in that cake I put in the cabin this morning? You've been giving it to this fellow? I thought the Harold wouldn't touch her catpies. Well, I'm going down and see. If there's a drop going, I'm coming back up and throw the boat here in the canal. He won't be back up. He'll be passed out in five minutes. What an awful fool I was bragging to you about his drinking. Oh, no. You were just trying to stand up for him. Well, I ain't gonna do it no more. I've never been ashamed of myself, and I won't work for a voter. Let alone marry him. Uh, Miss Larkin, why don't you transfer to Mr. Weaver? Yeah, he needs a cook. Oh, he'd admire to have you. Oh, I'll get another job, all right. Yeah, but... Trouble with cooking for Mr. Weaver. He's sickly, and he don't eat much. Oh, I ain't sickly. I got the biggest appetite in Ohnita County. Yeah, but you aim to leave the boat at Albany. Say, maybe... maybe some good canal cooking. How long since you ate pancakes? Oh, I ain't tasted them made right since Mammoth. Brown Betty? Brown... Huckleberry roll? Chicken pot pie? Oh, hey, I'd even smelled none of them for years. Go tell Mr. Weaver he's got a cook for the saucy sound. Good. And by the time we get to Albany, maybe you won't be so all fired anxious to work on a farm. The saucy sound going down to Albany. Let us through the lock, Tom. Hi there, Tom. What are you? Number five, three, four, eight, saucy sound. Albany bound, carrying grain. I should room it in some loops. Over. Long enough to drop you a pinnacle. We'll be tied up to the side of Ritter's wearer. Well, Dan, did it seem like forever getting here to Albany? No, ma'am, I couldn't hardly credit my ears when Mr. Weaver said he was going into town to see how the Ohio lottery come out. Seems like it was only last night he bought his ticket at the Hennessy's Hotel. Then you enjoyed the canal. Oh, yeah. But if that's so, why are you still so set on getting a farm job? Was my cooking disappointing? Oh, nothing about you is disappointing, Molly. But if Mr. Butterfield could get you a cook's job on the same farm he sends me to, would you come? I would not. If I want another job, I'll get my old one back from Jotham Clore. You wouldn't do that, Molly. Anyway, Clore's in jail for throwing a man through the window. Well, he'll get out some time, and he'll come looking for me. Clore's got his faults, but he's a canala. He ain't just interested in milk and cow. No, wait a minute, Molly. No, no, wait. Hello, Mr. Weaver. Do you ever guess what's happened? Went a little something on the lottery? A little something. $3,000. That's all. Oh, gosh. $3,000. I'm going to order me a new 96-foot boat bill. She'll be the sweetest vessel on the Grand Canal. And you know what I'm going to do for you, Dan? I'm going to make you half-owner of the Sausage Owl. What? I bought my ticket the night I met you. Had a feeling then you'd bring me luck. Or will I have a new driver who will make you captain? I'll stay aboard long enough to learn you the ropes and we'll split what she makes even Steven. Mr. Weaver, I don't know what to say. And if you're still set on farming at the end of the season, you can buy yourself a farm. Think it over, Dan. Think it over. Tell you, Molly, I'd take Mr. Weaver's offer if I knew that at the end of the season I could buy a farm for both of us. I know you've got no use for farms, but... Yes, this is the last evening you and Dan and me will spend together for quite a spell. You're really going to Durham, though, tomorrow, Mr. Weaver? Yep, and I'm going to stay there till the canal closes. Ain't but two months left and I'd like to spend them keeping an eye on them fellas at the building of my new boat. Dan can run the Sausage Fine without me now. Dan's done wonderful, hasn't he? I think he's come to like the canal, too. Don't you? You mean to say you ain't talked to him about it? Well, I promised him I wouldn't till the end of the season, and he promised not to pester me about a farm. Well, the way he's been buying furnishings for the Sausage it looks like he planned to stay on her a while. I can hardly turn around in this cabin anymore without bruising myself on a new Jim Craig. It's terrible how he spends money. Well, Mr. Weaver, he bought me this dress just to wear to the county fair tonight. Yes, you'll do him proud in it. If Clore could see it, he'd be even angrier than he is already to break Dan's neck. Mr. Weaver, you ain't talked to Joseph, have you? Is he here abouts? He was bound to catch up with her sometime, Molly. But he was heading for a saloon when I run into him. Time he comes out, he won't be in shape to harm nobody. Maybe not, but he's a terrible scrapper, drunk or sober. Well, Dan ain't no little whiz in the farm and himself. But Dan don't like fighting, though he's peaceable. Well, he ain't even had an argument at a lock all summer. He's such a funny fella. Who's a funny fella, Molly? Oh, hello, Dan. Hi. Say, uh, what have you got there? A little present of brunger to see your new dress in. A looking glass. That's about the biggest mirror I've ever seen. It's beautiful, Dan. Dan, do you like me in the dress? You're as pretty as a field of daisies. Oh, my, your hair looks nice, fix fancy that way. It's just a crazy old ribbon. You're the sweetest-looking sight in 10 counties. Hey, guess where we're hauling to next. I don't care so long as it ain't another short haul. Well, some boaters are making a mint. Short hauling to the railroads. Ain't that right, Mr. Weaver? There's crazy fools even on the big decks. But as long as I own half this boat, she won't do nothing to help out the railroads. Oh, I was just teasing Mr. Weaver. I got a long haul. Load a hemp all the way to Buffalo. Hemp, eh? Yep. I kind of thought it might be dairy stuff for John Butterfield. I've seen you're talking to him real earnest in the Bentley house. Oh, I'm getting a good price for hauling this hemp. Sure, you all are still fine. Butterfield turning down, huh? Oh, I didn't ask him for a cargo. Oh, he didn't, eh? No, don't you think we ought to be starting for the fair? We sure had. I told Saul good that I'd meet him at the Cockfighting Pit at Seven Sharp. You go ahead, Mr. Weaver. We'll be along later. See you in the refreshment tent. Dan. Yes, Molly? Sit down, Dan. Yeah, Molly, sure. I want to ask you something. Oh, now we'll be late. Dan! If you weren't talking to Mr. Butterfield about hauling for him, what were you talking about? Now, it's something we promised we wouldn't mention till the end of the season. You mean something about a farm? Molly, don't go spoiling things. This season ain't over for two months yet. You were checking over your money this morning. I feel excited when you come in tonight. Dan, you didn't go and buy a farm? Yes, I did. I bought an option on it, and I paid something down. Then you've made up your mind already. Look, Molly, I said from the start I was a farmer, not a canaller. And Molly, this is the best dairy farm north of Rome. I wrote Mr. Butterfield about it last week, and he wrote back saying he'd be in Utica today, and well, we fixed it up. And when the season ended, I was going to take you up there and let you decide for yourself if we should take it. So that's plain fair. You never even gave the Grand Canal a chance. Oh, Molly. You never even noticed how beautiful it is. You never noticed you've been happier than you ever was in your life. That's because I've been with you. You call them things you've been buying for the boat. Things that are too big for it. That stone, this looking glass. You've been buying them for a farm, ain't ya? This dress. I suppose you thought I'd wear it to a husk and be... I thought maybe you'd get married in it. You're so certain sure about everything, aren't you? Well, I'm getting sure too of one thing. I ain't never going to marry you. Won't you even come and look at the farm? No, I won't. All right. From now on, my half of the boat's yours, Molly. But I don't think you'll be hauling many seasons more. I can run her for Mr. Weaver just as good as you. No, that ain't what I mean. Bowlers call the area the big ditch. Well, in a few years, that's just what it will be, a ditch. There'll be no water in it. Trains will go flying by, and where'll you be, Molly? Not beyond my boat, that's where. Hauling things east and hauling things west. Watching the eerie grow even more wonderful every year. Because nothing can lick the grand canal. Yeah, well, anyway, I'm leaving it. Just like Mopadhan, because in his heart, he was a farmer too. All right, then. It's just as well you are getting out. Jotham Claw has finally caught up with us, and he's fixing to wipe up the ground with you. If you ever want me, Molly, I'll be waiting to clear the hollow. On the farm you wouldn't even look at, and I'm leaving on the railroad. Hello, Molly. What you doing in Hennessy's parlor? Hello, Jotham. I got a room here for the winter. Been running Sam Weaver's boat, ain't ya? Do well? Well, enough of those Mr. Weaver asked me yesterday if I'd run her again next season. I don't want the burden, though. Cookin' is the job I like, and it's the one I'm gonna stick to. Why don't you come back to me? I've signed up with some other boaters to work on the Black River and Utica Railroad this winter, but I'll be back to the canal next spring. Thanks, Jotham, but the answer is no. You ain't going back to Harrow. Since you know so much, you ought to know that Dan's living on a farm 10 miles north of here. He's through with the canal, and I'm through with him. Well, then, I might still consider marrying ya. Go back in the bar and quit considering. I'm not interested. He ain't, huh? I ain't. Well, then, I guess I got to hold to my plan for beating Harrow to a pulp. If you'd have come back to me, I'd have let him off. Now, he'd better watch out. The workin' of the rail, long day. The workin' of the rail. There. If them fools in the bar want to insult a good canal song by changing the words, I don't have to listen. And sit down, Dan. I'll call Molly. Maybe she won't want to see me, Mr. Weaver. It's a business matter, ain't it? Yeah, but... Molly. Molly, you in your room? Come down to the parlor, will you? You down in a minute. Now, while you're talking to her, Dan, I got a little matter to Dan, too. I'll be back soon. But, Mr. Weaver, if... Every time a train comes in, I like to be at the railroad station so I can cuss it. Got the hold in an hour on Mr. 215. But you said you'd explain to ma... Oh. Here I am, Mr. Weaver. Dan. Well, Mr. Weaver went down to the railroad station. Said he wanted to cuss the 215 train. What you doin' here? Well, I want to buy the Sarsie Sal's team from a farm. Seeing you're the half owner. I ain't anymore. I give Mr. Weaver back my share in the boat. Oh. Say, you better go after him and settle your deal outside of this hotel. Jotham Clore was here a couple of hours ago, and he may be in the bar yet. I'm sorry you gave up your half of the boat, Molly. I wanted you to have it. Didn't you hear me, Dan? Clore's laying for you, and you're... I ain't interested in him. Now, look, Molly, you got some time. Why don't you let me drive you out to see ma farm? Look, this ain't no time for farms. Here he comes. Get Dan quick. Hi, Jotham. I'm going over to the boat to get some things off it. Want to come along with me? Yeah, Molly. When do you want to go? Oh, right this minute, Jotham. Goodbye, Mr. Jones. I ain't Mr. Jones. Who are you then? The name's Dan O'Harrell. I thought so. I've been looking for you for quite a while. Step outside on the towpath. Dan, what's your right, Clore? Oh, mind him, Dan. Don't go, Clore. Hey, ma'am. Why are you covering your eyes? I just can't bear to look. Oh, Dan. Oh, Clore's down. Dan's not being spamed down. Clore's home is cut. Look, ma'am. Dan's picking Clore up. He's throwing him in the canal. Dan threw him in the canal. It's a town, Molly. Won't seem no distance to the farm at all. That buggy ride's so easy. But, Dan, Dan, you whipped, Clore. And here I've been thinking all the time you was too peaceable to be a fighter. You're going to like my orchard, Molly. Pairs, apples. Best preserving plums there is. And wait till you see the kitchen. Big and bright. And the pump's right in it. You don't have to go outside for water. I never could cook in anything but a little kitchen on a boat. Look it. You're just being stubborn to be stubborn. Now, it ain't the canal you hate to leave anymore. It's that you hate to grow up and make changes. Now, take it easy, Mr. Weaver. Take it slow. Keep your hands off me. I'm all right. Who's that with Mr. Weaver? Well, that's a railroad conductor. Oh, Mr. Weaver, what's happened? The crazy fool was right square on the tracks in front of us. We hit him with the cow catcher. I was standing right up to your train. Cussing it? I'll help you to your room. You ought to know you can't fight railroad trains, Mr. So when do you ain't dead instead of being just shook up a little? Poor Mr. Weaver. He takes it hard. Yes. It's too late for him to grow up and make changes. But maybe, maybe it ain't too late for me. Dan, why'd you say your horse and buggy's at? Right outside at the hitch and post, Molly. Oh, Molly. No, Dan. Trying to live without you is like trying to fight a railroad train. In tonight's play, both young Molly Larkin and old Sam Weaver fought against what they considered the terrible, changing conditions of their world. The railroad, for example, was a vicious personal enemy, endangering the supremacy of their beloved Erie Canal, endangering the wonderful security of things as they are. But Molly found, through her love for Dan, the courage that makes any adjustment possible. All of us must find this courage, too. For all of us have lost the security of things as they are. Railroads, automobiles, airplanes, movies, radio, television make us constantly conscious of our quickly changing lives. Now, atomic energy, the greatest force for change, man ever invented, will soon be upon us as a fact as well as a theory. In these days, when there seems to be no stability in our world, we often find ourselves discouraged, confused, feeling lost. Yet we must face each day courageously. We must find the stability in ourselves, special source of spiritual insight to meet those special challenges which come our way. Millions have found this source in the church, usually with the help of an experienced clergyman. If you're already a member of some church, you know how much church membership can help you to live courageously. If you're not a member of any church, you owe it to yourself and your family to find out just how much a church may be able to help you, too. Perhaps you will find what you want in the Episcopal church. You are always welcome at your nearest Episcopal church, and you'll find its clergyman ready to meet you and talk with you. Happy to explain to you what the Episcopal church stands for and how it offers you a faith to live by in these trying times. Why not decide right now to visit your nearest Episcopal church at Morning Services next Sunday? This is Walter Hamden. I want to thank our cast, and especially you, Eddie Albert and Margo, for a delightful performance. Next week, ladies and gentlemen, the families of the Protestant Episcopal church and the Episcopal Actors Guild will present Owen Davis's Pulitzer Prize play Icebound. Our guest will be the talented young screen star Cornel Wilde. I hope you will join us. Eddie Albert is currently seen in the Universal Picture Production. You've got to stay happy. Music for tonight's transcribed program was composed and conducted by Nathan Kroll. Now, an invitation from the church. You are cordially invited to attend services this coming Sunday morning at the Episcopal church nearest your home. If you are not familiar with its location or the hours of service, you will find both listed in your local newspaper or church directory. Your rector will be happy to have you join his parish family, and you will find him waiting to welcome you personally when the services are over.