The DuPont Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry, presents the Cavalcade of America, starring Cornell Wilde. Good evening. This is Cornell Wilde. I'm returning to Cavalcade to portray one of our country's first great writers, Ralph Waldo Emerson, usually thought of as a cold or steer man of letters. But tonight, we're going to meet Emerson as a young man, a young man in love. This little plot of ground, starring Cornell Wilde as Ralph Waldo Emerson, time, December 6, 1828, place, Boston. Mr. Emerson, since we all enjoyed that little sample sermon you preached for us, well, Second Church, you know, is looking for an assistant pastor. Mr. Trumbull, thank you, but I don't feel capable of undertaking a pastor just now. Not ill? No, not quite ready in my mind. Not even his assistant? No, I'm afraid not even in his assistant. I must say, for a man of God, you've come quickly to the point. It was good of you to call, sir. Well, good day, Mr. Emerson. Good day, Mr. Emerson. Mr. Trumbull, my nephew has been under some strain. I dare say, if you approach him again... Good day, Mr. Emerson. Won't New Hampshire be cold in December? Well, Boston can get cold too, you know. Is that intended as a review? I merely said Boston can get cold, Aunt Mary. I heard you, but I saw your eyes double the meaning. Is there something I might eat before I go? There's a pork pie, tea and stones warming by the fire. I was in New Hampshire a year ago this Christmas. I preached for them, and now they want me to visit again, and if I care to, become their regular pastor. Waldo. Yes, Aunt Mary? In all your years at Harvard, in your theological training, was there ever any mention of the desirability of a clergyman telling the truth? If I have offended you in some way... In the year since your father died, I have been trying, because I was his sister and I felt I owed it, I have been trying to help your mother with her brood, haven't I? Well, that's true. You've been like a father to us. And by now you may have gathered that of all my nephews, you are my favorite. I know you've been concerned for me, Aunt Mary, done everything. Then you may also know that for my pains, I have never felt more abysmally rewarded. The idea of your running off from this fine opportunity in Boston to flitter away... Oh, really, Aunt Mary, how can you say that when I'm doing exactly what you want me to? Ralph Waldo Emerson's top line. Don't you think that remark rather intemperate? Open your release. I don't understand you. Do you object to opening it? By no means. Customs inspection? Certainly not. I am most interested in what books are taken to New Hampshire. Books? Half of them you gave me. Gerta's memoirs, Aristotle on Ethics. What else? What's underneath? Oh, the Nose of the Edinburgh Review. What's this book, Tucked Under Your Flammels? Oh, that. Yes, forget me not. Well, from title and tinted binding, this would appear intended for a lady's boudoir. Well, it is indeed something in a lighter vein, yes. Ah, it's inscribed, perhaps to be a gift to ELT, Christmas Playwright in New Hampshire, Founders in Memory, Dearest and Prospect from RWA. Who is ELT? Ellen Louisa Tucker. Her father. One of the elders in the church up there. A. Seventeen. Is this that rather tender? Or aren't you serious? Well, excuse me, it's past time for me to go. On that playwright, will you utter words of matrimony? I intend to speak my mind. You think that likely little Ellen will accept? I think it most likely. What? Hand me that pen. I have a letter to write. Goodbye, Aunt Mary. I know you're not going to read it. I'm not going to read it. I'm going to read it. I'm going to read it. I'm going to read it. I'm going to read it. I'm going to read it. I'm going to read it. I'm going to read it. Goodbye, Aunt Mary. I'm sorry. Waldo, rid yourself of this nonsense in New Hampshire and then come back to Boston. There's something brilliant to be made of your life. We'll make it. I'll be back in three weeks. As you hear those sleigh bells tinkle, think of yourself in harness, tinkling away your life hits to a soft, pillied girl. Goodbye. My dear cousin Sam, kindly make inquiries about the person and family of one Ellen Louisa Tucker. She is of your neighborhood. Should you uncover any matter that my deterrent addict, a possible marriage with Waldo to whom as you know I have devoted good years of my life and hence am most loathed. Look, look at the sun on the snow field. Is it not, Ellen? In all new hamster there's nothing but light and oxygen. Come along now. Do you ride out often, Ellen? Every day. Doctors orders? Uh huh. Oh. I ask him how I might attain a complexion that would draw a gentleman from Boston. He said to ride out. He knew too. He knew. Waldo. Do you mind if sometimes I giggle? Depends. I...I loved your sermon this morning. And your voice. I always do. Your temple and the rest. Well, weren't we about to giggle? No matter how far away the pulpit, your voice is so close it feels like some warm thought staring inside of me. Well, touch the robe and you'll take a chill. Here, we'd better stop. Whoa, Genevieve, whoa! Look at the hill. The hill's a blue gold. The sun in winter has such faith. Faith? Faith that he will in his good time, thaw out the world. Don't you? Don't I what? Have such faith? In the sun or myself? Yourself. No faith, except in my mediocrity. Luggered all my life in the bottom half of my class at Harvard. No one liked me. Tried teaching, failed. The theological seminary, my eyes went bad, so... that came to nothing. Is this what riding out with me does to you? As my Aunt Mary keeps saying, it's a good thing my father died. He wouldn't have been proud. You sound bitter. I'm explaining why I have no faith in myself. You will have. I...I might, under one condition. What's that? That I could find someone with such faith that she as my wife would endow me with. Do you know of any such person? There must be...lunis. Well, I thought possibly someone in New Hampshire. I would like, of course, if you would say about 17, with a taste for poetry and giggling. With blue-gold eyes and... with a configuration of faith, body, and soul such that... even when I see her from the pulpit, I'm seized with a sickness and a love that locks my speech. I have to cry to God to give me further utterance. Do you know of anyone in New Hampshire? Do you, Ellen? I know of no one in New Hampshire that... Not you. ...that can fill your specifications at every point. Not you, Ellen. Not me. Well, at what point is there disparity? Your faith in me? Have I no means? And where? I shall never marry you. And I shall never give you my reason why. Well, that puts a different plant on the sunlight and somewhat dirties up the snowfield. With Agnes Ned, you... It has not been in regard to the depth of my affection. No. For they'll stay there as long as I live. But you won't marry me. I... can't. Nor give a reason. No. Get around there, Genevieve, get around. Get up. Why are we turning? What I understood to be our direction has been reversed. Are you... angry? No. But under the circumstances, I think it's perhaps wise to start back home to Boston. Get up. The End Waldo, what time do you expect Mr. Trumbull, or are you to go to the church? You'll be here at seven, Aunt Mary. Of course, I don't want to influence your decision, unduly, but I am certain that your father, were he alive, would urge you to accept this offer to be assistant pastor. But I... I keep having doubts. Oh, Waldo, you promised me. I know, but... Haven't I been right in every decision I've helped you to make? And aren't you thankful to me that you didn't come back from New Hampshire's paddled and bridal for life? Let's not talk about that. Because where would she fit in now? She could never be a pastor's wife, sick little thing. Sick? Sick, and she comes from a sick family. She's been well informed. Our cousin, Sam, wrote. Wrote what? Oh, they die young. Her father, her brother, her brother had to travel abroad for his health and died of a cold in Paris. Her sister, Mary, died young. What about Ellen? Another sister suffers from consumption. What about Ellen? Ellen. Ellen suffers so from consumption that they give her but a year to live. Now, aren't you thankful to me for keeping you from such a misalliance? Imagine an invalid wife if you... Waldo. Waldo, what's wrong? Waldo, where are you going? To New Hampshire. When Mr. Trumbull calls, tell him I've changed my mind. I'll accept. Waldo! And I'll be prepared to assume my duties in a month when I come back to Boston with my wife. Waldo, if you disobey me and marry that girl... Pray for me, Aunt Mary. I'll pray that you'll suffer and be cursed worse than Job. You are listening to the Cavalcade of America starring Cornell Wilds and presented by the DuPont Company, makers of better things for better living through chemistry. In order that our families may enjoy better living, there are certain jobs around the house that just have to be done. One of them is keeping the kitchen thick and fan. Now, any housewife will tell you that is a never-ending job, but fortunately there is a way to make it a little easier. Just repaint the walls and woodwork with easy-to-use DuPont DuCo One Coat Magic Enamel. Because modern chemistry has developed new pigments and new enamel formulas, you can use DuCo and know that the white will stay snowy white, or the colors will stay bright for years. DuCo enamel, available in a range of beautiful colors, is one of DuPont's better things for better living through chemistry. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Ellen Louisa Tucker were married and they came to Boston. Two years went by. Emerson became full pastor of the church. Ellen, his health mate. Always they took great joy in each other. I will not stay on earth my love, unless thy love is mine. Ellen, is there more paper somewhere? It's such a long sermon for next Sunday that I've... Who's that in the bar? It's the doctor. Is it me? Mr. Emerson, I waited because I thought I should say a word to the two of you together. Oh? Darling, he's not very happy about me, but you can be wrong. The doctor can always be wrong. I'm quite certain I'm not wrong about this. Mr. Emerson, I should be loathe to have Mrs. Emerson spend another winter in New England. Oh, well, the polls will then stout for the winter. Of course, soft weather would... The West Indies or Santa Cruz, Cuba. Ideal. I hesitated to suggest it because I assumed with your many church duties and your pastor's salary... We can work it out, but I trust it. Well, then I'll be going. I'm greatly relieved. Thank you for calling, doctor. Good night, sir. Thank you. I look forward to your sermon on Sunday. Brilliant sermon. Oh, thank you. Young man, I find that following your mind each week provides me with a strenuous but most exhilarating form of exercise. Good night. Good night, sir. Ellen. Walter, I don't think you need any little confidence about me. What the doctor told us, we knew. Now, let's drink some chocolate. It's hot on the hob. Ellen, we could manage the money, couldn't we? Weren't you happy to hear what the doctor thought of your sermon? If my sermons are that good, then I must be in an excellent position to ask Mr. Trumbull and his committee for December off. I've cracked these in keys with chives in it. You want me to pick out the humans for Sunday? Ellen, sweet, stop a minute. Ellen, when we're married, you promise... Look at me. You promise never to fuss over me. You were never to mention this. Never, never. I know, but this is... You swore on your knees that... Oh, if you'd look smiling on me, this is Mrs. McSuzler, outlived her husband a hundred years. Oh, you're angry. Yes, I'm furious. This is our pact. This is our covenant. I'm only nineteen. I'm a girl. I'm not... I'm... I'm not an invalid. Hold my hand. Promise me you'll go to Cuba. Let me see Mr. Trumbull. I'll go with you for a month, and then you stay on till spring. Trumbull will advance me the money. I can't let you stay another winter tearing out your lungs, darling. Promise. Yes, I promise. Oh, thank God. Anything to get out of this wind that blows so blue and true. Well, good evening, Mr. Trumbull. Ah, air's mighty crisp tonight. Fine night. Promise is winter. Nothing like a good, blustery New England winter. Shall I sit here? Yes. Won't you have some hot chocolate? Never touch it. Sherry? Don't use it. Oh, we have some crackers. Cheese with chives in it. Chives give me the rash. Well, I'd be happy to make you some tea. No, some works in a bad way. Only thing I can do for it is to flood it with buttermilk. Have you any buttermilk? No, I'm sorry, but... All the better. We can come right to the point. Mr. Emerson, we don't like your sermon. Furthermore, a good portion of us don't like your prayers. Excuse me, but is this an official call or are you here? Official. I'll start with the prayers. You don't have that fine, resounding quality your father had. You're much too plain, simple, like a child. Don't you think the Lord enjoys good, big, flourishing sentences? Mr. Trumbull, we can only pray as it is easy to pray. Oh, good evening, Mrs. Emerson. Ellen, you should be resting. Now for the sermon. Very simply, the matter is this. If we pay a preacher good money to preach to us, then it's only fair that he preaches to us the way we like to be preached to. But, Mr. Trumbull... Am I not right, Mrs. Emerson? It's our money. We're buying the sermon. In what respect, precisely? I have no time to quibble, Mr. Emerson. I'm a busy man. But here's a letter stating in a general way the points on which we differ. Look it over, will you, and let me know. Good night. Mr. Trumbull. Yes? I realize this is a most inept time to ask such a question, but... Proceed. Could I be granted an advance of three months' salary in the month of December 3? That is an extraordinary request, after what I've just said. I realize that. I tell you what. Let's wait two or three months. See how the sermons go. Then we'll decide. But, well, good night. The chocolate must be cold by now. I'd better go to my study. Where's that letter you left? Waldo. Yes, dear? Burn the letter up. What you have to say, you have to say. I'll read it for us. Waldo. If you ever change one word of your heart because of me, I shan't be able to live with you. Darling, be quiet. I love you. And I, you. I'd rather die than harm your life. I'd rather die. Good of you, doctor, to come out in the dead of night like this. Been the worst winter I've known. No drifting soul can't keep a track open. How do you feel? I'm all right. Hamilton, mind if I speak out? Last few weeks your sermons haven't been like you. Good enough, but not the way they used to be. Here, man, here's your house. Oh, you're driving right past your own house. Whoa. I, um, I won't stay long. Then you might sit with her until morning. Hamilton, you know this, don't you? She's been dying all week. Yes, I know it. She knows it too. I'll leave the lamp in the mirror so I can look at you. All right, darling. What time is it? Must be time for dawn. But still it's dark. Hmm, winter. Look. Oh, there's a nuthatch dead on the window sill. I don't know why all the birds don't go south. They have only to fly there. Waldo, I read your sermons suspended. Yes? It's not you. I know that. You should try the news, darling. No, my, my eyes are bad. I can't see too. Well, you, you could keep thinking about it till Sunday. It won't be informal, as you feel at the moment. I doubt if I dare. But do you remember two winters ago you were sleigh-riding? Yes. Look, there's the east. The east is getting light now. This diamond winter has such a face. What? That he will in his good time go out the world. Like what you said in New Hampshire. And if I'd marry you, you'd know such states too. Shall I, shall I take the pillow away? Waldo, promise me something. Anything. From now on, whatever you do or say, let it be because it's you. Not I'm married or Mr. Trumble or even... I promise. Thank you, Waldo. Now, I think I'll sleep. I'll rest. And so, my dear brethren, it is when a man does not listen to himself but to others that he is depraved and misled. A trust in yourself is the height not of pride but of piety. The good man reveres himself, reveres his conscience. Jesus said, love thyself, God is within. Indeed, the more exclusively idiosyncratic man is, the more infinite. In very deed, the divinity of the individual is the basis of American freedom. For what you can get of moral or intellectual excellence out of this little plot of ground you call yourself, by the sweat of your brow, that is your own portion. And now, if I may speak in a still more personal tone, much as I am grateful to you for your sympathy in my recent sorrow, still I say to you that I can only preach or pray or live by abjuring the opinions and customs of all others and adhering strictly to the divine plan a few dim inches of whose outline I faintly discern in my breath. This I have now determined. This I shall do as long as I write or speak or live. Our star, Cornel Wilde, will return. Now is Bill Hamilton, and tonight he has with him three special guests. Two weeks from tonight, 12,000 safety leaders will meet in Chicago for the 37th National Safety Congress. And tonight, we are honored to have with us Mr. Ned H. Dearborn, President of the National Safety Council. Mr. Dearborn. Mr. Hamilton, I am happy to be here to honor the DuPont Company as one of the most safety-minded organizations in the world. For many years, DuPont has operated on the belief that all personal injuries can be prevented. Now, a new world's best no-injury record has been won by the DuPont plant at Martinsville, Virginia, something like 21 million man-hours with no lost-time injuries. This breaks a five-year record held by another DuPont plant at Seaford, Delaware. It gives me great pleasure to present to Mr. Don Hartford, Manager of the DuPont Martinsville plant, a bronze plaque signifying this achievement. Thank you, Mr. Dearborn. At Martinsville, we have worked hard to win this new world's safety record. To keep a plant running year after year without any lost-time injuries means that each and every one must thank safety and be alert every minute of each working day. And as the men and women of Martinsville who have made this world record, I sincerely appreciate their efforts and cooperation, and I accept this award in their name. It will be placed in the plant as a reminder that injuries can be prevented. And now, ladies and gentlemen, I have another pleasant duty. The DuPont Company won the National Safety Council's Award for Distinguished Service for the war years 1942, 1943, and 1944. We have again voted awards to DuPont for its accident prevention program in the years 1945 through 1948. I now present a Distinguished Service to Safety tenant for this outstanding seven-year record to Mr. H.L. Minor, Manager of the Safety and Fire Protection Division of the DuPont Company. Thank you, Mr. Dearborn. What DuPont men and women have done in winning these awards is inspiring because it shows that all personal injuries can be prevented. If during the period for which the award is given, injuries had occurred in the Martinsville plant at the same rate as in industry as a whole, at least 250 men and women would have been seriously injured, 15 would have been killed or permanently disabled. For more than seven years, Martinsville has had no lost time injuries, a good example of how an effective safety program is preventing thousands of injuries in our plant. Mr. Dearborn, we will send copies of this Distinguished Service to Safety tenant to all our plants as an inspiration to our men and women who are cooperating so diligently and sincerely to make DuPont plants safe. Thank you, Mr. Minor, Mr. Dearborn, and Mr. Hartford, for joining our cavalcade for the presentation of the National Safety Council's Award to the Martinsville plant and to the DuPont Company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. Applause Now, our star, Cornell Wild, and it's one last word to tell you that next week, cavalcade will bring you one of the loveliest and most exciting stars of the screen, Rosalind Russell. I'll be listening, hope you all will too. Thanks, good night. Applause Tonight's cavalcade play, This Little Plot of Ground, was written by Halstead Wells and was based on portions of the book Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Russ, published by Charles Scribner's son. The DuPont Cavalcade of America is directed by John Zoller. The music is composed by Arden Cornwell, conducted by Donald Borey. In the cast with Cornell Wild, Eugene Gillespie as Emily, Ethel Owen as Aunt Mary, House Gamerson as Trumbo, and Eric Dressler as the Doctor. This is Ted Pearson speaking. The cavalcade of America is broadcast from the stage of the Velasco Theater in New York and comes to you with the best wishes of the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware, makers of better things for better living through chemistry. Applause Listen to Me and Janie, which follows immediately on NBC.
