Cavalcade of America. Starring Jane Darwell in When We're Green, We Grow. Presented by the DuPont Company, makers of Better Things for Better Living through Chemistry. Good evening. This is Bill Hamilton. Among DuPont's Better Things for Better Living through Chemistry is DuPont 40 Outside White House Paint. A house paint that actually washes its own face. That's why it stays white and fresh looking so long. As time goes by, a fine white powder forms on the surface and is washed away by rain, taking dust and dirt with it. And DuPont 40 is durable. It will protect against rust and decay for a long time. When you plan to have your house painted, ask your painter about DuPont House Paint. Available in popular light tints as well as white, paint is one of the DuPont Company's Better Things for Better Living through Chemistry. Now, here is When We're Green, We Grow with Jane Darwell as Marl Logan. It was a spring day in 1915 and here on our farm in North Carolina. I'm hungry, Ma. Well, all right, Clover. Clover never thinks of anything but her stomach. Why, Blossom Logan, I do so. Shh, girl. Ma, Ma. Wipe your feet, Luke. Ma, there's a lady out in the road. Her buggy's broke down. Now, son, remember the last time you told one of your whoppers. But I saw her, Ma. She's real pretty. Pa, take the strap to you if you keep this up. But Pa's out there himself helping her. What? He's trying to pull the wheels out of the mud. Is it tough anymore? Well, my gracious looks that way. Clover, look after the baby a minute. Yes, Ma. Blossom, you put the coffee on. And oh, quick, quick, quick, move the rocker over that hole in the rug. Yes, son. Think of it, company. I don't know how long it's been since we've had a car. Come on, Ma. If we keep standing here talking, she might get away. It's too bad, ma'am. That wheel's broke. Oh, dear. Excuse me. Can Luke and me be of any help, sir? Hello, Ma. Meet Miss McKimmon. She's over from Raleigh, just passing through. Looks now as if I'm going to stay a while. How do you do, Miss Logan? I'm glad to meet you, Miss McKimmon. My gracious, isn't it a long way to come, clear from Raleigh all by yourself? Oh, I'm used to traveling. I'm the state home demonstration agent. Ma, you don't say. Oh, selling something, huh? In a sense, yes, but only when people want to buy. Ma, what's a home demonstration agent? Why, it's a... Well, maybe I don't quite understand myself, Luke. Well, Luke, your father goes to see the farm agent in this county every now and then, doesn't he? No, not worth a trip. Oh, I see. I keep telling Sam he ought to go. The agent come by here once, and he appeared full of good ideas. Well, Miss Logan, the purpose of home demonstration agents is to be full of good ideas for the women and girls on a farm. My gracious. Now, maybe you've got an idea how to get that pump moved close to the kitchen. Maybe. How far away is it? Oh, it's clear out and... Oh, it's no use you're talking to her about it, Ma. Ma'am, we've been over this a hundred times. We need the pump where it is, and it'll take cash to buy another one. And I ain't going to get mixed up with any new... Oh, all right, Sam, all right. Let's don't bother Miss McKibbin with our troubles. Now, it's way past noon. She must be famished for some dinner. Noon? Oh, I was to be at Miss Chandler's over on Silver Ridge by 11 to give a demonstration of fireless cookers. Fireless cookers. Do you know about them? I have one with me right there in the back of the buggy. Would you like to take a look at it, Miss Logan? Could I? I've been reading about them. Sam says they won't work. There. There it is. Miss McKibbin, there's a chicken in here. I know. I brought it for the demonstration to show how the cooker operates without fire. Oh, it's just a simmering and a cooking. Looks pretty near done. Fine-looking bird. Well, now, why don't I bring the chicken on up to the house? We'll all have a fine dinner, and perhaps I can show Mr. Logan how to build a fireless cooker for you. Oh, that'd be wonderful. But there's just one thing. I must let Miss Chandler and the other ladies know I can't get there. Well, Luke can go tell them. Oh, that's fine. You know something, Miss Logan? If that chicken proves a fireless cooker can save you both time and firewood, then I'll have given my demonstration meeting right here. Now, girls, stop pestering Miss McKigham with so many questions and get busy with those dishes. Here, let me have a towel. I'll help. I thought city ladies didn't have to know how to wash dishes. Of course they do, silly. They have to eat things we do. Oh, hush, girls. It's all right. Blossom, do you like to cook? No. Clover's the one that's always thinking about her stomach. I'm not either. I like the finer things of life just like you do. Oh. And what do you consider the finer things of life, Blossom? I'm going to be a big artist someday. I'm going to show pictures to show what happens in stories like in Maugh's book, Arabian Nights. I'm sure you will, too. You know, I'll bet both you girls would enjoy belonging to a club where you'd meet other girls your age and learn all about how to do things. Gee, I would. What kind of things? Well, first, we are all going to find out how to put up tomatoes. Oh, that's no fun. What, your manners, Blossom? Well, it might be more fun than you think. I know a little girl over in Guildford County. She grew tomatoes in her own garden, put up 250 quarts in one year. And the money she earned taught her to play the violin. Honest? Honest. There. We all finished? Neat as a pin. Now, let's sit down, Miss Bell. When's the club going to have a meeting, Miss McKimmon? Next Monday afternoon over at the Dunlap place. Wouldn't you both like to come? Well, all right. If Clover doesn't plague me by acting like she knows everything. I helped Ma put up peaches last summer. Well, maybe Clover can give the other girls some pointers. That's the way a club demonstration works. How about it, Miss Logan? Well, I don't know. Sam won't approve. The girls have chores to do around here. Over just one afternoon. Please, Ma. Well, how would they get there, Miss McKimmon? Well, I come through this way anyhow. I'll pick them up. If you'll do just one thing for me in the meantime. What, Miss McKimmon? Stop calling me Miss McKimmon. But what do you want us to call you? Well, to my friends, I'm known as Miss Jenny. And I hope I can count the Logan family as my friends, too. You certainly can, Miss Jenny. Ma, where's Blossom? Why, she's... Hey, wasn't that Miss McKimmon's buggy I saw driving away from here? Now, see what you've done with all your banging around. I won't be able to get the baby back to sleep for an hour. There, there, darling. Where's Clover? Why isn't she looking after him? Miss Jenny took them both to a girls' club meeting. Sam, they're going to learn how to can tomatoes and grow their own gardens and... And what? I had a note if I tried to do a good turn for a town woman, she'd start meddling. Meddling? She comes here, turns the whole place upside down with her fireless cookers and her chickens... And her talk about putting ideas into respectable people's heads. But, Sam, they're good ideas she has. Don't you want the girls to learn? Should we stop learning just because we've grown up? I saw the eppity way she looked around the house... As if we could help it that the farm don't pay enough for us to live decent. Trouble with us. We're so soft in our ways. We've forgotten there is a better way to live. Now, Miss Jenny says we could have a garden, back of the kitchen... And fresh vegetables on the table nearly all year round. How's a town woman know so much about it? Well, she went to school and she learned, that's how. Bet she never tried to make both ends meet on a farm with all her learning. Oh, Sam gracious. Can't you understand? That's why they got farm and home agents for, to show folks how they can live better. Now who's making the noise and waking the baby? Oh dear, now there, there. Yes, baby, I know. You know, sometimes I can't quite figure you, Ma. You get such high flown ideas, like the way when you name the girls... And reading them rabie night stories to the kids... And letting Blossom draw pictures all the time. There's got to be something in this somewhere, Sam. I can't help looking for a little bit of it and wanting my kids to want it. Back you, Luke. Wipe your feet. Yes, boy. What's that you're carrying, Luke? How do you like it? I built it for Ma. Well, what is it? Luke, it's a fireless cooker. It's quite as nice as the one Miss McKimman had, but it works. Well, how did you ever learn how to make it? Miss McKimman showed me the other day after dinner. It worked hard. Like it, Ma? I like it. It was scrumptious. After that, Sam didn't say anything when he saw the girls working in their garden. Just went around looking kind of sour. And that summer, after the tomatoes got ripe... Miss Jenny showed all the club girls how to put them up in real tin cans. Ma, just look at that. It's a real tin can. It's a real tin can. We're going to put them up in real tin cans. Ma, just look. Look out in the yard. They're all ours. Every single one. What's all this? Where? See, in those crates. Two hundred whole-quartz clover and I canned ourselves. My, my. We're going to sell them, Ma. Well, maybe we'll save some of them out to eat. Oh, Clover, you make me sick. How are we going to get rich if we eat up all the products? Now, now, wait a minute, girls. I think it's a fine idea and I'm very proud of you. But who's going to buy all those cans of tomatoes? We're going into town. All the girls in the club. Charlie Castle's going to pick us up in his wagon. Well, I don't think you're poor. Stand for it, girls. Oh, please, Ma. If I sell my share, I can buy some real drawing paper and some paints even. Well, when's Charlie coming by? In just a few minutes. Well, all right. Run along. I'll find Luke and send him out to help you. Oh, thanks, Ma. Promise me you won't be too disappointed if you don't sell quite all of them. You're listening to Jane Darwell as Ma Logan in One Where Green We Grow, tonight's original radio play on the cavalcade of America presented by the DuPont Company, makers of better things for better living through chemistry. The Flies and the Buttermilk You know, I felt kind of blue as I watched those happy kids those happy kids drive off towards town, singing as they rode, and never doubting they'd sell the tomatoes to girls at Cannes. Later on, they told me what happened in town, after they'd been parked on Front Street for nearly two hours. Come on, everybody, let's sing some more. Yeah, maybe that'll bring people over. I'll find another gal prettier than you. I'll find another gal prettier than you. What's all this disturbance going on? I'm selling canned tomatoes for sale, mister. We put them up ourselves. Don't you know you're right in front of the grocer's store? How do you think the owner feels? He's a taxpayer in this community. Oh, but mister, please, we've got to sell them. Go on home now, you kids. Take that wagon away from the business district and quit disturbing the peace. But we're not doing any harm. Oh, it's no use, Luke. We may as well go. That's better, sonny. I'm just looking out for the taxpayers, that's all. I don't want to catch you here again. I'll scat all of you. That's Mr. Kibbe. He's a politician. He's running for something important and he knows everybody. Oh, but how can we go home and tell them all we didn't sell any? Oh, I don't know. Here, here. What's the trouble, kids? What old Kibbe wants? We have to go home. We're in competition with the grocery store. But we've got to do something with these tomatoes. Look, mister, here's a can of them open. See how solid and red they are? Miss Jenny McKimmin showed our club how to put them up exactly right. Say, they look pretty good. Please, won't you buy just one can? Only ten cents. Now, how would I know they're all like this one? I told you, Miss Jenny made sure they were all what she calls standardized. And she's the home demonstration agent for the whole state. And Kibbe run you away from here, huh? Yeah. Well, I own the grocery store and you are in competition with me. Oh, yeah. Now, now, now, wait a minute, kids. Kibbe says you have to get out. I say you have a right to stay. But why don't we show him a thing or two about good business? Suppose I buy up the whole lot. Would you, miss? Will you take a dollar a dozen for him? Will we? Will we, kids? All right, then. Now, get busy and unload them. Charlie, you help me with this. What are you going to do with your money, Blossom? By drawing paper in some paint. I'm going to save mine. I bet you don't. I bet you spend it all on candy. If it was my money, there's something in the catalog I'd send for it. What's that? A pump. The catalog says you can put it in yourself right square in the kitchen. Honest? My show would be surprised, wouldn't she? She sure would. Yeah, she sure would. Luke, let's send for a pump. Clover and I'll pay for it and you can put it in. What about your paints and drawing paper? All those. I'm in business now. I can pay for those any time I like. I just don't care to be bothering with them right now. That's all. Well, you should have seen the difference that pump made. Sam had to admit it. But he still didn't favor my join in the women's home demonstration club that Miss Jenny had organized. And even I felt kind of shy about going to my first meeting. It was over at the Hickman place. Miss Logan. Oh, afternoon, Miss Jenny. I'm so glad to see you. Now, where would you like to sit? Well, is it all right if I just sort of stay in the back? I don't feel like I'm dressed very good. You know, that's a coincidence. Some of the other ladies said the same thing to me. They did? Uh-huh. And so we decided we all need a little breaking up. How'd you like to learn how to make yourself a new hat? A new hat? Oh, think of it. Now, everybody, the meeting will come to order. I'm going to begin by demonstrating with a piece of felt I've finally talked my husband into giving up. He's been wearing it on his head for almost ten years. Now, who'd like to help me? I'll try the hat on one of you, pull it this way, stretch it that way, and get all your suggestions about the style. And that way you can see how it's done and try it yourselves later. Will anybody volunteer? Well, I will if it's all right. Oh, good, Miss Logan. Thank you. Now, if you'll just sit here by the table, Miss Dunlap has put a kettle on so we can have steam to block the hat. Oh. Now, in the meantime, let's study the shape of your... There. There you are, Miss Logan, the lady style. Doesn't she look pretty in it? Here, here's a mirror. Take a look at yourself. Oh, my gracious, does that mean? It certainly is. Well, I guess my hair looks better, too, and it ain't skinned back so tight. I think it does. Is it that? Excuse me, I thought you ladies would be finished for now. Well, hello there, Mr. Logan. I came to pick up my wife. I'll just wait outside. No, no, don't go. The meeting's over. And anyway, I want you to see something. Where's Miss Logan? Right over here, Sam. Huh? Well, I didn't know you, Ma. Well, I hardly know myself. I'm going to make me a hat just like this, Sam. Miss Jenny showed us all how. Well, I'll be blamed. You looks kind of young and... And if she had a new dress, Mr. Logan, to go with the hat, she'd look just about as young and pretty as anybody in this whole county. Say, I bet you wouldn't that, Ma. Oh, you really think so? But we couldn't spare the money. Who says we couldn't? Sam, are you feeling all right? Of course I am. You know, Ma, if we hurried, we could stop by that dress store in town and still make it home for supper time. After that, I'll say why we learned all sorts of things at the club meetings. How to plan wholesome meals, refinish our old furniture, and fix up the house so it would be pretty and comfortable. But best of all was the farm women's market we held in the courthouse yard every Saturday. And closing time in the evening meant picnic time for all our families. Can I have some more potato salad, Ma? Now, wait your turn, Clover. What'll you have, Miss Jenny? Mmm, that wonderful chicken. Been a simmering all afternoon in my fireless cooker. How about you, Pa? You bet. Blossom, now settle down and eat your supper. Yes, Ma. Miss Jenny, I heard you were going away. Oh, just to Washington for a conference, Blossom. Do you think you can talk him into letting us have our own home agent in this county? Oh, I wish it were that simple. But your local board has to help out with expenses. They must see how bad we need one. Miss Jenny, they wouldn't vote against it, would they? Miss Logan, you see that man coming down the courthouse steps? Uh-huh. Yeah, Kibbie. If he has his way, the board will vote against it. Well, in that case, I'm going to get him over here. Woo-hoo! Mr. Kibbie! No, Ma. Now, why not, Sam? Mr. Kibbie, won't you join us in a bite of supper? No, thanks, ma'am. This picnic in on the courthouse lawn is a disgrace to our fair city. It wouldn't be a party of it, I'm sorry. Oh, now what's wrong with it? Why, we're all having a grand time. Had a good day with our market. The civic-minded citizens of this community aren't going to stand for it much longer, I can assure you. As for your trying to get a home agent for this county, when the taxpayer's here, you've been wasting the federal government's money on hat-making. Mr. Kibbie. Miss Logan. Ma, I don't think you better. Please, everybody, there's something I've just got to say. Mr. Kibbie, a year ago, I wouldn't anymore have had the nerve to answer you back than I would to fly over the moon. But I feel like a different person now because Miss Jenny McKimmon showed me and my whole family how we could live a little better and make good use of what we had to work with. And one of the most important things she showed me was how to make a pretty hat for myself. Yeah, hat, hat. A hat gives a woman courage, makes her feel like she's somebody that can face the world on its own terms. Well, that's all very well, ma'am. Now, wait a minute, wait a minute, I'm not finished yet. If you could see how the home agents work driving around over mountain roads, explaining how to put up vegetables and showing the youngsters how to start their own gardens, even earn cash for themselves, you wouldn't dare say they were wasting anybody's money. You'd say a fine home demonstration woman was worth any amount you could pay her. Perhaps that's true from your point of view. My point of view? All of us here feel that way. And we are the county, aren't we, folks? We certainly are. Well, naturally, if a majority voted for a home agent... And, Mr. Kibbie, you'd better think of that when you go looking for votes yourself. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, all right, I will, I will. Maybe you're right. Good evening, everybody. Good night. Oh, my gracious, anybody got a fan? That was magnificent, Miss Logan. You think we're going to win, Miss Jenny? After that, I don't see how you can possibly lose. I sure was proud of you tonight, Ma. Yes, Ma. You sure told us. What came over you, anyhow? Oh, I don't know, Sam. All of a sudden, I felt so kind of young. You've been looking younger lately, too. Oh, really? Well, maybe it's because I've got hope. You know, Sam, it's like Miss Jenny says. People are just like farms. When we haven't any hope, we're kind of gray and barren. But when we're green, we grow. Little red wagon painted blue, little red wagon painted blue, little red wagon painted blue, painted blue. Skip to the blue, my darling. She can't find a blue bird or red bird or two. She can't find a blue bird or red bird or two. She can't find a blue bird or red bird or two. Skip to the blue. In just a moment, Jane Darwell will return with a surprise for you. But first, Bill Hamilton speaking for DuPont. Bread is so important as an article of human diet that all through history, every effort has been made to keep it wholesome. Edward I of England actually decreed that any baker guilty of turning out bad bread was to be dragged through the streets in disgrace with one of his bad loaves tied around his neck. Well, bread is still one of our best and most enjoyed foods, and bakers do their best to keep it fresh and good. But there are two kinds of organisms which attack bread. One is known as rope. You don't hear of it very often, fortunately, but the other organism everybody knows. It is mold. And when bread gets ropy or moldy, it's usually thrown out. Chemical science has developed a protector which helps bread to fight off the spores of mold and rope. Our DuPont trademark for this protector is mycoban. Mycoban mold and rope inhibitor, to the chemist, is a propionate. Propionates are substances found naturally in quite a few foods, raisins for example, and Swiss cheese. The chances are you've never seen a piece of moldy Swiss cheese. Well, that's because the cheese itself forms propionates while it's aging. In other words, DuPont now manufactures by chemistry the same propionates that are made by nature. We've learned to do scientifically something which in nature just happens. Very small amounts of DuPont mycoban added to the dough mix at the bakery give loaves of bread the ability to resist rope and mold spores. Adding every loaf of bread down to the last slice is a worthwhile economy. Everyone who pays a grocery bill knows that, and your friend the baker knows it too. So more and more bakers today add DuPont mycoban to their bread, saving food and saving money for you. Mycoban propionates, made by chemical science to serve you, are DuPont better things for better living through chemistry. Now here's Ma Logan back again, but this time as Jane Darwell, the Ma to hundreds of picture stars in Hollywood. Now we've saved the best for the last. For here on the stage with me is Miss Jenny herself. This is Jane Simpson McKimmon, 81 years young, who has played such an important part in the building of home demonstration work. How do you do, Mrs. McKimmon? I'm very much pleased that Cavalcade was able to tell something of the growth of our work under the United States Department of Agriculture, especially since this is National Home Demonstration Week. Oh, it's an honor to have you with us, Miss Jenny. Weren't you one of the first home demonstration agents? Yes, one of the first five in the country. Since 1911, every state in the union has them, even Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. We've come a long way since those early days. You pioneers must have loved your work. Oh, we did and we do. That's what made the program successful far beyond our dreams. Girls and women on the farm learned and taught their neighbors. This created a body of leaders who helped the agent reach the people. Our women call themselves the Country Women's College. It's one of the largest women's organizations in America. Today, we are working for many things that are beneficial to our communities. Could you tell us what some of those things are, Mrs. McKimmon? Why yes, we have scholarship funds, libraries, community courses, health, safety, and exchange programs with other countries. There's always something new to learn and homemakers continue to enroll from year after year. Well, the progress you've made in the years since home demonstration began is something America can be truly proud of. Mrs. McKimmon, you're a real American pioneer and Cavalcade is proud to have you here tonight. Thank you, Mrs. Dowd. Tonight's original Cavalcade play, When We're Green We Grow, starring Jane Darwell, was written by Virginia Radcliffe, was based on the book of the same title by Jane S. McKimmon, published by the University of North Carolina Press. Mrs. McKimmon appeared in person, but her early experiences in tonight's play were enacted by Helen Clare. The music for the DuPont Cavalcades composed by Arden Cornwell, conducted by Donald Borey. This is Ted Pearson speaking. Next week's Cavalcade is set in Concord, Massachusetts as it was in 1875, the day the statue of the Minuteman was dedicated, the 100th anniversary of the battle at Concord Bridge where the shot was fired that was heard around the world. Our star will be the distinguished Hollywood actor, Donald Crisp. Be sure to listen. The State of America's directed by John Zoller comes to you each week from the stage of the Longacre Theater on Broadway in New York and is presented by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. This is NBC, the national broadcasting company.
