The Waltons (1971–1981): Season 7, Episode 23 - Founder's Day - full transcript

This is not the
assignment I gave you.

You go against all the
conventions of music.

You

apparently don't care much
about passing my class.

Professor Bowen, I have to pass
your class if I hope to graduate.

I've never known you to be
stumped by your music before.

Well, this is real important.

This says I graduate
from Kleinberg or I don't.

I want it to be great.

In our house, all of us had
that strong and very personal link

with other generations,



so that past and present
sometimes blended,

with unexpected results.

None of us knew from
what ancestral source

my brother Jason's
love of music had sprung,

just that it built up in him
until it had to be expressed.

As he neared graduation,

Jason found himself returning
to that source for inspiration,

and it was nearly
to prove disastrous.

A labor of love.

Labor of love, you say, son? It's
as if you're having a real problem.

I am.

I don't know why.

It's always been such a
natural thing to me, composing.

Well, this assignment was
not intended to be simple.



It's the culmination of
your four years here,

at the Kleinberg Conservatory.

I've just never tackled
anything this difficult before.

I think I might be
in over my head.

Maybe you're trying too hard.

If it were country music, I'd
have finished it a long time ago.

If it were country music, you'd have
been out of my class a long time ago.

I know.

Last call for breakfast.

Son, is there somebody keeping
you up half the night? Maybe a gal?

I wish there was.

It's my composition.

Is anything
bothering you, Jason?

No, it's me.

I got the theme for the thing,
but just can't seem to develop it.

I don't know what
I'm going to do.

I've never known you to be
stumped by your music before.

Well, this is real important.

This says I graduate
from Kleinberg or I don't.

I want it to be great.

Jason, remember, all
you can do is your best.

Now... Now...
- No. No.
- No?

Mmm-mmm.

- Well, you haven't heard very much of it.
- Well...

I don't think Grandma
likes the title. Neither do I.

Oh, swell!

So far that's the only thing
Professor Bowen does like.

Tell me,

- what does "polyphonic" mean, anyhow?
- It means "many voices."

In music, it's several melodies,
different but harmonizing.

Sounds awful stuffy to me.

Great.

- I have to work, Grandma.
- Yeah.

What do I have to do to
get some quiet around here?

- Sorry, Jason, we didn't see the sign.
- "Genius at Work."

All right, just...

Just don't stand over
me, all right? Do you mind?

All right.

Cut it out!

I give up!

See what you did, Ben?
He's not in the mood anymore.

It's not just Ben,
it's everything.

Jason, we're sorry. We
won't bother you anymore.

Just leave me alone, all of
you. It's my problem, I'll handle it!

Oh, boy! You see?

We have so many
things to decide, Sister.

Where we're going to place
all this Baldwin family history.

Papa's old letters and
documents, and the family tree.

Perhaps in the bank,
Sister, in a safe-deposit vault.

We need a safe, permanent
place to store all this.

So it will say, "The
Baldwin family were here.

"They existed."

It wouldn't say that
in a safe-deposit box.

That's another
responsibility we share.

The Recipe?

Do we pass the
torch, so to speak?

Or does the Recipe die with us?

I refuse to think about it.

Well, we must think about
it, Sister! We are only mortal!

Oh, I'll get it, Sister.

I'm feeling much better.

Oh, good.

Coming!

Coming!

Why, Jason! What a treat!

Hello, Miss Emily, I
hope I'm not interrupting.

You are,

but it's one of those lovely little
surprises that makes life an adventure.

Sister! It's Jason.

Oh, Jason, what good
fortune brings you here?

Well, Miss Mamie, Miss Emily,

I need a place to work on
my composing and practicing.

I'm working on my final
composition for the Conservatory.

- Oh!
- And our house is pretty confusing.

Such a lively family!

Well, we would just be delighted to
have you compose and practice here.

Oh, thank you.

We could work out whatever time
would be best for you to have me here.

- Right now is the perfect time.
- Perfect!

Well, thank you!

Well, right now, Jason, dear.

- Just go right ahead and compose.
- All right.

I like it better
when he just plays.

When he stops, I
think he's composing.

Oh, is that it?

The artist in the
act of creating.

It's still better
when he just plays.

I think I'm disturbing you.

Oh, not at all!

Just before you came,

Sister and I were discussing
some rather depressing business.

The world is in such a
turmoil, don't you know?

Yes.

How does one preserve one's
heritage in these uncertain times?

All the old letters and
papers and diaries.

And our memoirs, Mamie.

All will be lost to the future
when Sister and I are gone.

Yes, ma'am.

The war has a lot of people
worried about the future.

Sometimes we don't
appreciate what we are

until we're threatened.

So young, and yet so wise.

And Jason is right. There
are others who feel as we do.

Perhaps we should make
it a community project.

Oh, I doubt that.

No one but us gives a
fig about our ancestors.

Oh, we care about ours. I
expect a lot of people do.

If there were just some way

that everyone on the mountain
could gather up all the old documents

and family Bibles and
correspondence, and share them.

Perhaps a celebration
of some kind.

And we could display all the
old relics and records of the past.

And there could be speeches!
I love a rousing good speech.

- Oh, Jason, do help us plan it.
- I'll do what I can, Miss Mamie.

All right, where
should we start?

Why, the attic.

Why not the attic?

- Come along, Jason.
- Come, Jason.

It says "ink."

You were probably running
out while you wrote it.

- Blue-black, please, Ike.
- Coming right up.

We need it for our
catalog, don't you know?

- Oh, hello.
- Oh, hello, Mary Ellen.

- Oh, hello, Mary Ellen.
- Hello, Mary Ellen.

As you were saying, the
ink is for your catalog?

Oh, Sister and I have been going over
some old family papers and heirlooms.

I've been arranging
them in alphabetical order.

- Chronological order, Sister.
- Same thing.

Sounds like a lot of
work. Is it for your book?

Sister, do tell them.

Well, we have found a way to
salute and preserve the past.

All the fine traditions and glories of
the lives of those who preceded us

are going to be acknowledged
at a very special occasion.

An entire day will be set aside.

A Baldwin Day?

Oh, no! Much more than that.

We include all of Walton's
Mountain. It's to be a Founders' Day!

That sounds like a pretty
good idea. Here's your ink.

Well, we're casting
about for directions.

Now, it could be a celebration,

at any rate, a gathering,

of all of us who live on the mountain
whose families first settled here.

Every family must have
records of their ancestors.

Oh, yeah, I got a
lot of old records.

Well, it sounds like a good
excuse for cleaning out the attic.

Now, what we
need is a committee.

Oh, what a
wonderful way to start.

Now, my great-great-grandfather,

he was the first Godsey to
live here on the mountain.

Now, you two ladies
will serve, of course.

I will volunteer my services,
and Mary Ellen makes four.

Hey! What about me?

Mr. Godsey, someone
must tend the store,

and under the circumstances
I feel that I am best qualified

to assist in the planning
of the Founders' Day.

Now, which one of
us will be chairman?

You hiding out here, Jason?

No, everybody's
just getting in my way,

including me.

Well, you can
avoid the rest of us,

but I guess you're kind of
stuck with yourself, huh, Son?

I keep bumping up

against all these dumb rules
Professor Bowen's been teaching us.

It's keeping me from
saying what I want to say.

It might have worked for Mozart, but
they sure don't work for Jason Walton.

Maybe that's because Jason Walton
was born in a different time and place.

You hear things and
see things different.

You think I ought to just
throw out the professor's rules?

Well, I'm not saying that.

All I know is when
I'm cutting wood,

I keep both eyes on the
wood, not on the machinery.

And you think I'm worrying
too much about the machinery?

If I were you, I'd start
listening to my own voices.

Just wish I knew what
they were trying to tell me.

- Jim-Bob, where you going with that thing?
- Outside.

What are you gonna do? Take
on the Nazis single-handed?

I was up in the attic looking for
some stuff to trade with Buck Vernon.

I need some stuff
for my airplane.

You can't have that, Jim-Bob.
It's been in the family for years.

True!

What good is it?
Nobody ever uses it.

Well, it would make a good
display at Founders' Day.

You know, I bet there's
a lot of stuff up in the attic

that we could use for exhibits.

You're right. I know where a whole
box of old shoes and clothes are.

There's a lot of tools in the barn
that date back to the Civil War.

We could even use
John-Boy's book.

It's not very old, but it has lots of
great stories about the mountain.

Are you going to put anything
into Founders' Day, Grandma?

No.

Grandma thinks the whole
thing is a waste of time.

What about that old
diary of Rome Walton's?

- You could put that on display.
- Never!

She treasures that like diamonds.
She'd never let it out of her sight.

I don't get it. Who cares
about all this old junk?

And those founders,
they've been dead for years.

Jim-Bob, obviously
you're too young

to appreciate the
significance of the celebration.

Elizabeth, you're starting
to sound just like Corabeth.

Let's get back to work.

- Sister?
- Yes?

Sister!

Look what I found.

This may be the oldest
document we have.

And I found it behind one of
Mama's cruets in the pantry.

We have so many
cruets. I wonder why.

"Left Culpepper County..."

I can't make out the date.

"Wife, sons and daughters."

Oh! That's who it is.

Remember Papa's
great-great-grandfather, Phinneas Baldwin?

That sounds familiar.

Well, he's the one who
started from Culpepper County.

It says here all the
places he settled before...

Before what?

- Before he settled in Jefferson County.
- Oh.

"Untold hardships of
weather and sickness,

"but persevered to become
the first permanent settlers

"in an area later and
erroneously named

"Walton's Mountain."

- Oh, dear!
- Oh, my!

You mean it should
have been named

- Baldwin's Mountain!
- Baldwin's Mountain!

You don't need
to tiptoe, Elizabeth.

You're not interrupting much.

I'm sorry.

I forgot John-Boy's book,

and I wanted to
finish it tonight.

I remember how much
trouble he had writing it.

All the struggle
he went through.

Then his manuscript was burnt
and he had to start all over again.

I think if that happened to
me right now with this piece,

I'd just forget about
the whole thing.

I think it's kind of pretty.

Sort of sounds like the
wind through the pine trees.

It's not supposed to.

According to Professor Bowen,

it should sound like an
"abstract composition

"in which two or more independent
but organically related voice parts

"sound against one another."

No wonder you're
having such a time.

John-Boy only wrote about
things he knew and cared for.

He did, didn't he?

Listen to this, Elizabeth.

- Still sound like wind in the pines?
- Sounds better. It's not as stiff.

I've been on the wrong
track the whole time.

Daddy was right.

Somebody else's style
just isn't right for me.

I've got to do
what John-Boy did.

Write what I know, what I
hear, the people, the places.

You're a lifesaver.

And I thought I
was disturbing you.

You are now.

Thanks.

- Any closer to finishing that?
- Are you getting tired of it?

Getting worried about you.

Up half the night, sleeping on the
couch, up at daybreak working again.

- I'm rolling now, Daddy.
- You gonna stop for breakfast?

I just did.

Morning, everyone. Glad
I didn't hold anyone up.

Oh, I'm sorry we didn't
wait for you, Daddy,

but I kind of rushed breakfast this
morning, keeping time to Jason's music.

Morning.

Want some more?

Grandma, those two are
beginning to make me sick.

Lovebirds.

- Morning, Ben. Morning, Cindy.
- Morning, Daddy.

How's everything coming with
the Founders' Day arrangements?

Well, Corabeth wants
me to start a program,

and she keeps hinting
that she wants to be in on it.

What's she gonna do? One
of her interpretive dances?

She volunteered to sing
On the Road to Mandalay.

Oh, we can do better
than that, can't we?

Well, maybe we
could have a pageant

where we'd show the first settlers
coming to Walton's Mountain.

We don't have enough
time to get it ready.

Ike and I could do some
of our song-and-dance act.

Zuleika Dunbar does recitations.

I think we should
have a beauty contest.

Now, what's that got to do
with Founders' Day, Jim-Bob?

Would you just
eat your breakfast?

Grandma! What's that for?

This.

- Grandma's right.
- Jason can play his composition.

Oh, my.

That's perfect! MARY
ELLEN: Oh, would you?

Good idea! Why didn't
you think of that before?

I mean, that's
what it's all about.

It is, it's a great idea.

Boy, that goes back a long
way. That journal is real old.

Why, Mr. Godsey,
you have forebears, too.

Why have you never recounted
this illustrious family to me?

Well, I guess I just
always took it for granted.

Now, what do you
suppose this means?

- "Isaak Adelbert Godsey."
- "Adelbert."

"Isaak Adelbert Godsey homesteaded
on the first mountain of size

"due west of Scottsville in
Jefferson County, Virginia."

That'd be here! This is the first mountain
of any size due west of Scottsville,

Walton's Mountain.

It goes on to say,

"A full year passed before
his first neighbor arrived

"and built a cabin
on the mountain."

That's about right.
That's the way I heard it.

One full year before a cabin
was built on this mountain,

your forebear was living here?

One full year.

Oh, good Lord!

Godsey's Mountain!

John, you could have
knocked me over with a pin.

We opened up that safe, took out
those old papers, and one of them said

that my great-great-grandfather, Isaak
Adelbert Godsey, was the first one...

Here come the Baldwin ladies.

Hello, gentlemen!

- Hi, Miss Emily.
- Hi.

- Afternoon, ladies!
- Good afternoon, John.

Hi, Miss Mamie.

- Nice to see you.
- Oh, it's nice to see you, too.

Oh!

Sister and I have made the
most wonderful discovery.

We're just bursting with plans!

Oh! Oh, Sister, do you think it's
appropriate to bring it up at this time?

- You know what.
- I don't see why not.

Now, you both have always said that
we could come to you in time of need.

Is something wrong, Miss Mamie?

Well, if our old dear friend,
Zebulon Walton, were still with us,

nothing would be wrong.

Mr. Walton was always
so accommodating.

Well, I can't pretend to fill Pa's
shoes, but I'll help you if I can.

It's the Recipe.

We agreed years ago
that if our time came,

we would entrust to
your father's eternal care

the contents of the Recipe.

As it is, we will just
have to bring it with us.

- Take it with us, Sister.
- Oh, yes.

- You mean you're looking for volunteers?
- We want your careful consideration.

And we don't expect
an answer immediately.

- Whom shall we leave the Recipe to?
- Whom shall we leave the Recipe to?

If at all.

That's a big
responsibility, ladies.

But we'll help you decide.

Oh, Sister, the load
seems lighter already.

Yes, indeed,
Sister, much lighter!

Oh, my! We'd better get to
Corabeth's committee meeting!

Oh, dear.

John, you know, people have been
trying to find out about the Recipe

as long as we can remember.

Very good.

Now, everyone in the area has
been alerted as to our celebration.

Mrs. Miniver would
be so pleased.

Sister and I have been
looking down the long road,

when a Founders' Hall will be established
to house the papers permanently.

We're devoting the remainder
of our years to that project.

Well, that's a very admirable and
foresighted thought, dear ladies,

but first things first.

Now, Mary Ellen, how is
our program coming along?

If it's all right with everyone,

Jason has agreed to play
for us his senior composition.

It's called
Appalachian Portraits.

- Oh!
- Lovely!

And if an encore is required,

perhaps I could be persuaded
to render a vocal solo.

I've always wanted
to play the harp.

Now, as to the more
pressing matter on our agenda,

the location of the
celebration itself.

Oh, Sister and I have agreed
it must be in our garden.

We have plenty of
room at our house.

Oh, but if the road in front
of the store, were blocked off,

why, we could set up our
booths and our displays.

They'd be more
centrally located,

and people could enjoy and
appreciate our fountain and our park.

Oh, Sister and I insist.

It was our idea in the
first place, don't you know?

I believe it was Jason
who suggested it first, dear.

- Oh.
- Then it's all settled.

We'll roll the piano out onto
the front porch for Jason.

Well, I hadn't wanted to
bring this up at this moment,

but there is a reason
why Godsey's Store

is the more appropriate
place for our celebration.

You see, Mr. Godsey and
I have uncovered evidence

that proves that it was one of his
ancestors who first settled this mountain.

But Sister and I have
papers in our possession

which positively
identify the first settler.

As Phinneas T. Baldwin,
founder of Baldwin's Mountain,

mistakenly called
Walton's Mountain.

Correction, dear ladies.
Godsey's Mountain.

Grandpa always claimed it was
his great-grandfather, Rome Walton,

who opened up this area.

Ah, but have you proof of that?

We do, of Phinneas T. Baldwin.

And we do, in Isaak
Adelbert Godsey.

Well, I'll have to ask Grandma.

Very well. We shall table the decision
as to the location of the celebration

until I have time to present the
evidence and study the matter further.

I don't understand this.

This is not the
assignment I gave you.

We were to write something
utilizing the musical principles

you've given us,
Professor Bowen.

Now, I did that.
It's all right here.

I just took it one step further
into a more contemporary mode.

Without my permission?

It was the only way I could see
to approach this piece of music.

May I play some of it for you?

You expect to play this
at the faculty concert?

I'm gonna try it out
at Founders' Day first.

Founders' Day?

Kleinberg was founded in
September, not in the spring.

Ceremonies disrupt open classes.

I'm talking about my
home, Professor Bowen.

Walton's Mountain Founders'
Day. I'd like you to come.

I can't quite believe it.

You not only go against
all musical convention,

you expect me to come hear
you play in some small county fair?

You

apparently don't care much
about passing my class.

Professor Bowen, I have to pass
your class if I hope to graduate.

But if it means lying to myself musically
or borrowing someone else's style,

then I don't think I'd be
very proud of that degree.

I'll be here

if you change your
mind, Mr. Walton.

It's warm tonight.

Looks like spring
has settled in for good.

The sun's staying up
a little later each day.

Reminds me of what
John-Boy said in his book,

about spring climbing up
the side of Walton's Mountain.

From what I hear, we have no
right to call it Walton's Mountain.

Who says so?

Well, Corabeth and the Baldwin sisters
have been digging through their old papers.

Each of them claims to have an ancestor
who was here before the first Waltons.

Can't be.

Rome Walton was the first
man to settle these parts.

Well, Corabeth showed
me. It's in black and white.

Oh!

Where you going, Grandma?

What's got her dander up?

All of a sudden the
family pride is in doubt.

- Are you going to the Dew Drop already?
- Yeah.

Callie wants me to
learn a new number.

Sleepy Lagoon.

How does your professor
like your composition?

He doesn't. He's
threatening to flunk me.

- Can he do that?
- He sure can.

I offered to have him come and
hear me play it at Founders' Day,

but he wasn't interested.

- What are you going to do?
- I don't know.

I just can't believe that
he wouldn't even listen to it

just because it's too
contemporary for his taste.

Well, see you later.

- Bye.
- Bye.

Poor Jason. He's worked
so hard on his music.

What you got there, Grandma?

That looks like
Rome Walton's diary.

Pa used to read it to me
when I was a little boy.

Always wondered
what happened to it.

- What, you've been hiding it, Ma?
- Yes.

Read it.

Oh, yeah.

It's been a lot of years
since I've seen this.

It's about Rome Walton's second
freezing winter on the mountain.

Does it say what year
it is? JOHN: 1766. Huh!

"I heard the pounding on the
door over the howling storm,

"and opened it on a man in..."

Oh, "...who seemed
not to feel the cold.

"Later I drank from
the bottles he carried,

"and was myself warmed by the
best whiskey ever to touch my lips.

"The itinerant was Phinneas
Lewis Baldwin of Culpepper County."

An original Baldwin. I didn't
know the Recipe was that old.

Is that what...
Oh, wait a minute.

"It was two days before I sobered up
enough to notice the storm had cleared."

Is that why you hid it, Ma?

You didn't want us to know
Rome was a drinking man?

Well, it says his visitor came the
second winter he was on the mountain.

Say anything about
Isaak Godsey in there?

- Yes.
- Ah!

Yeah! It says here he
took supper with him,

sometime the tenth year
Rome was on the mountain.

- This is fun, isn't it?
- It won't be for Corabeth!

Where are you going?

Well, to call her!

I'm gonna tell her that Founders'
Day is gonna be held right here!

Is she gonna be mad!

No!

Elizabeth, honey, I got to go.

- Can I talk to you?
- Anytime.

Jason doesn't think Professor
Bowen's gonna come tomorrow.

I know. Well, there's not much
we can do about it, Elizabeth.

I think there is. If I could talk to
him I think I could make him come.

Want me to go along with you?

I thought of that, but I'm afraid
you might lose your temper.

You know how
overprotective you get.

Well, I could promise
to behave myself.

- All right, then we'll both go.
- Come on.

I got to drop these
frames off, first.

Oh, no, no, no, no!

Oh, you were doing so
beautifully, and then...

Do the last four bars. You can
do much better. Much better.

Much better.

No.

No!

- A little musty, isn't it?
- Yeah.

No wonder Jason's
having trouble writing music.

Feels like it needs
some air in here.

- Professor Bowen?
- Yes, I'm Professor Bowen.

They told us at the office
we could find you here, sir.

Yes, well, I'm very busy. I have
a student whose time is limited.

- Would you two mind waiting in the hall?
- Only take a moment, sir.

- I'm Jason Walton's father.
- Yes.

- This is his sister, Elizabeth.
- Yes.

We come by to personally invite
you to hear his composition tomorrow.

I am gravely
disappointed in Jason.

I think he has a fine talent,
but he refuses to take direction.

He must have had his reasons, sir.
He wouldn't go galloping off on his own.

I set the rules, and
my students follow.

No. Excuse me, Professor. Now...

You see, music has been Jason's whole
life ever since he was a real little boy.

His mama and me have
always encouraged him in that.

He's worked real hard to
get himself a music education.

And I'm proud of him.

Now you're telling me
you're disappointed in him

because he did what he thought
was right instead of what you thought.

I've heard parts of Jason's composition,
sir, and it's very good, I think.

I see, now you are
questioning my judgment.

Jason would question my
judgment. The whole family!

Oh, no, sir. If it'd be more
convenient, I'll come back...

No, no, you stay
right where you are.

Mr. Walton and I have
finished our discussion.

Tell Jason I wish
him only the best.

Thank you, sir.

Yes. Yes. Now...

Yes, dear? Yes? Yes?

Everything my father was
trying to say, it's in this book.

- Oh.
- It's in my brother's music, too.

Thank you. Thank you.

Mozart's No. 12 Sonata.

Yes, sir.

Yes! Yes, yes.

Well, I've been giving some thought
to what you said about the Recipe.

Whatever could we have said?

You know, about who
you were gonna leave it to?

Oh, dear friend, the way
my sister and I feel today,

we're gonna live forever!

- Punch, Sister?
- Oh, thank you, dear.

Here's a napkin.

- Sisters.
- Oh, John.

Hello.

Have they decided
to take it with them?

They decided not to go!

Oh, it is just too bad that Olivia
couldn't be with us here today.

I talked to her on the phone
last night. She'll be here.

- Oh?
- At least in spirit.

Oh. Oh, yes, of course.

Well, I suppose that
it's time to get started.

Might as well
take a crack at it.

Yes, well, I will
gather them together.

Now, quiet, everybody! Please.

Now, gather around
for our musicale.

You people there, back at the punch bowl,
come right along. There'll be more later.

Jason, Professor didn't
call or anything, did he?

- Nope.
- Oh, well, don't give up hope.

- He might change his mind.
- I doubt it.

- Good luck.
- Thanks.

Oh, Mr. Godsey.

Mary Ellen.

Committee.

Ladies and gentlemen,
we are so pleased

that you could all be here
for our little celebration.

But at this moment,

the Baldwin ladies would
like to make an announcement.

My sister and I feel

that our community should
have its own Memorial Hall,

where all of these priceless
objects from our past

might be permanently
displayed and preserved.

So for that purpose,

my sister Emily and I are going to
bequeath our home to future generations.

That is, of course,
after we are...

Well, not here.

When we are elsewhere,
don't you know?

What a very gracious gesture,

and we are all looking
forward to that day.

Oh!

I mean, when you bequeath
your magnificent mansion

for our Founders' Hall.

John, would you care
to say a word, please?

I want to welcome you
all to our Founders' Day.

I know Ma's mighty proud today.

And I know my pa would
be, too, if he were still with us.

In fact, he'd be standing up
here talking to you instead of me.

You know, it seems to me

that it's not real important
who was the first one here.

What's more important
is that, for many of us,

families have been here for
generations and generations.

Our folks moved into this
territory, cleared the land, worked it,

raised decent
families, worked hard.

You know, in a way, this
day is in honor of us all.

I'm proud of us. I hope you are.

My son, Jason, has a
better way of saying things.

There is something within us

that tells us all we will
ever know about ourselves.

There is a destiny that tells
us where we will be born,

where we will live,
and where we will die.

Some men are drawn to oceans.

They cannot breathe unless
the air is scented with a salty mist.

Others are drawn
to land that is flat,

and the air is sullen
and as leaden as August.

My people were
drawn to mountains.

They came when the
country was young,

and they settled in the
upland country of Virginia

that is still misted with a haze of blue,
which gives those mountains their name.

They endured,
and they prevailed.

Through flood and famine,
diphtheria and scarlet fever,

through drought and forest fire,
whooping cough and loneliness,

through Indian wars, a
Civil War, a World War,

and through the Great Depression,
they endured, and they prevailed.

In my time, I have
come to know them.

Grandpa, in memory,
I touch your face.

A distance from me
now, I feel you near.

The coyote will
disappear from the Earth

and the whooping crane will
follow the passenger pigeon,

but you will endure
through all of time.

Grandma, I touch your hand,

and when I do I touch the past.

I touch all the small ships
that brought us to this country,

and all the strong, brave women
who faced a frontier and made it home.

Strength and love
came together here.

So not the same, they
did not seem a pair,

bound together, they
were so much one.

All I ever want is what
they've had so long,

and lived so well.

A brother with an alien name.

The ancient Jason went
searching for the Golden Fleece.

Our Jason makes voyages every
day and never leaves the mountain.

A first baseman grown to wife and
mother, soft and stronger as she grew.

A temper always at the
ready hides the best of him,

but I know my
brother as my friend.

A pretty girl
deepens into beauty,

impatient for time to
pass and bring her love.

His head most often in the clouds
causes the rest of him to stumble,

but seldom really fall.

The little sister, full of wonder,
and far enough behind to be a joy.

And close as family were our neighbors,
linked to us in ties as strong as blood.

Gentility and graciousness
lived there, too,

the past flowing into the present,
the present blending with yesterday.

I have walked the land in
the footsteps of all my fathers,

back in time to where
the first one trod,

and stopped, saw sky, felt
wind, bent to touch Mother Earth,

and called this home.

This mountain, this pine
and hemlock, oak and poplar,

laurel wild, and rhododendron,

home and mountain,
father, mother.

Grow, too, the sons and
daughters, to walk the old paths,

to look back in pride,
in honored heritage,

to hear its laughter
and its song,

to grow to stand and be
themselves, one day remembered.

I have walked the land in
the footsteps of all my fathers.

I saw yesterday, and
now look to tomorrow.

- Daddy?
- Yes, honey?

Is Rome Walton my
great-great-great-great-grandfather?

Well, let's see. He was Pa's
great-great-great-grandfather,

so that makes him your... No,
that's wrong, there's too many greats.

Don't you know, Daddy?

Why don't you look it up
in the family Bible, honey?

That's great,
Daddy, really great.

Good night, Elizabeth!

Good night, everyone.

English -SDH