Family Theater 47-02-20 (002) No Night Too Dark

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode: Family Theater 47-02-20 (002) No Night Too Dark
Date: January 8, 2026
Host: Bill Goggin (as presented in the play)
Starring: Walter Brennan, Beulah Bondi, Jennifer Holt, Gene Reynolds
Written by: Charles Tazewell

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Main Theme & Purpose

This Family Theater episode, “No Night Too Dark,” is a dramatized radio play exploring themes of faith, perseverance, community, and the transformative power of love and kindness. Set in the close-knit rural village of Coldwater, the narrative centers around Jonathan Carter, his family, neighbor Peggy Griffin, and returning war veteran Will Calder who has been blinded. The show delivers a message about overcoming hardships with faith, hope, and family support.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction and Philosophy of Family Theater

• Bill Goggin (host) sets the tone with a focus on family unity and the spiritual value of prayer:
  • “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams.” (00:20)
  • Explains Family Theater is not sponsored by any single entity, but rather by everyone who values family and community.
  • “Family prayer will give us the faith and understanding which we all need to keep our families together.” (01:45)
• Listeners are encouraged to reflect on the comfort, faith, and support that come from families and prayer.

2. Life in Coldwater: Introduction to Characters

• Jonathan Carter, local storekeeper, interacts humorously with his wife Sarah about his slow pace and her efficiency.
• Their banter paints a portrait of long-married rural life, with warmth and gentle teasing.
• The Carter's neighborly relationships are highlighted by Sarah sharing news and Jonathan’s quirks.

Memorable Quote

• Jonathan to his cat, Clementine:
  “There’s nothing the Lord likes better than a handicap… to show off his power and glory.” (03:29)

3. Peggy Griffin and Will Calder: Love Interrupted

• Will Calder, a writer and former Marine, is returning to Coldwater after time away.
• Jonathan and Sarah speculate upon his relationship with Peggy Griffin.
• Peggy confides in Jonathan about her hurt—Will stopped writing to her unexpectedly.
• Jonathan, a matchmaker at heart, proposes holding a “homecoming” for Will.

Notable Exchange

• Jonathan: “No man is so dog gone ambidextrous he can hold a doubt in his mind and the girl in his arms one at the same time.” (11:42)

4. Will Calder’s Return — Coping with Disability

• Will arrives—revealed to be blind, using a cane and wearing dark glasses (13:48).
• This shocks and distresses Peggy and others, who did not know he’d been disabled.
• The play captures the discomfort, confusion, and heartbreak of returning disabled veterans.

Memorable Moment

• Peggy, in shock: “Jonathan. Good Lord. Oh, no. Dear Lord, save us. The boy’s blind.” (13:52)

5. Jonathan’s Intervention: Helping Will Find Hope

• Will isolates himself at his cabin, wrestling with the loss of his sight and purpose.
• Jonathan seeks him out, insisting that “the Lord loves them that help themselves and others.” (16:04)
• He challenges Will’s fatalism and self-pity, emphasizing that life is still worth living.

Notable Quotes

• Jonathan: “With a whole lifetime to play, you’re retiring to the sidelines to say the game’s called on account of darkness.” (18:00)
• Will, anguished: “There’s only one. I’m blind. Isn’t that a big enough reason?” (18:33)
• Jonathan: “It ain’t only his eyes that’s blind, Sarah. His whole mind and reason’s locked up in the dark, too.” (15:35)

6. Experiencing the World Beyond Sight

• Jonathan coaches Will to rely on other senses, demonstrating that blindness doesn’t mean an end to experiencing life fully.
• Vivid descriptions of nature via sound, smell, and touch help Will reconnect with the world.
• Through attentive listening, Will identifies Jonathan’s actions and the environment—regaining confidence.

Inspirational Moment

• Jonathan: “I said you can see as well as me… All the things I love and remember best ain’t the things I’ve seen with my eyes. They’re the things I’ve heard, tasted, smelled or touched.” (20:20)

7. Healing and Reconnection with Peggy

• Will recognizes Peggy approaching by the sound and “color” of her walk—a symbol of hope and confidence.
• Jonathan’s playful prompt:
  “Now go ahead and kiss her. And if anyone tries to tell you you’re blind, you tell him he’s a two faced liar.” (24:30)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “There’s nothing the Lord likes better than a handicap… to show off his power and glory.”
  Jonathan Carter, (03:29)

• “No man is so dog gone ambidextrous he can hold a doubt in his mind and the girl in his arms one at the same time.”
  Jonathan Carter, (11:42)

• “It ain’t only his eyes that’s blind, Sarah. His whole mind and reason’s locked up in the dark, too.”
  Jonathan Carter, (15:35)

• “With a whole lifetime to play, you’re retiring to the sidelines to say the game’s called on account of darkness.”
  Jonathan Carter, (18:00)

• “There’s only one. I’m blind. Isn’t that a big enough reason? Can’t you realize what it is to be blind?”
  Will Calder, (18:33)

• “All the things I love and remember best ain’t the things I’ve seen with my eyes. They’re the things I’ve heard, tasted, smelled or touched.”
  Jonathan Carter, (20:20)

• “Now go ahead and kiss her. And if anyone tries to tell you you’re blind, you tell him he’s a two faced liar.”
  Jonathan Carter, (24:30)

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Segment Timestamps

• 00:20–02:00: Bill Goggin introduces Family Theater and explains the ethos of the program.
• 03:29: Jonathan’s reflection on “the Lord loving a handicap”
• 04:01–07:18: Banter between Jonathan and Sarah; introduction of the Coldwater community.
• 07:42–13:12: Peggy’s heartbreak and Jonathan’s matchmaking efforts.
• 13:48: Realization that Will Calder is blind.
• 16:04–23:42: Jonathan’s nighttime visit to Will; exploration of perception beyond sight.
• 23:54–24:47: Peggy and Will’s reconciliation.
• 25:00–26:12: Closing reflections—Jonathan muses on faith and recovery.

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Language & Tone

Reflective, gentle, and imbued with warmth and humor. The dialogue captures the rural inflections and camaraderie of small-town life, emphasizing wisdom, perseverance, and community support at all times.

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Summary for the Uninitiated

“No Night Too Dark” is a moving audio drama about hope, faith, and the power of community. In post-war Coldwater, when beloved local Will Calder returns home blinded, he retreats into despair. Through the care, persistence, and wisdom of Jonathan Carter—a neighbor who refuses to let Will give up—Will begins to experience the world and his own life in new ways. By embracing the senses he has, and the love waiting for him, Will discovers that, indeed, no night is too dark when you’ve got the light of others’ faith, friendship, and love to guide you.

If you’re drawn to stories about overcoming adversity with humility and humor, or want a glimpse into old-fashioned family values and rural life, this Golden Age radio drama stands as a heartwarming classic.

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Transcript

[Program Announcer]

The mutual broadcasting system presents the family theater. Starring walter brennan and beulah bondi. With william gargan as your host.

[Bill Goggin]

More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams. Good evening, this is Bill Goggin. And before I say another word, I want to thank all of you on behalf of the Family Theater for your telegrams, letters and phone calls which we received after last week's program. As a matter of fact, so many of you called that the network switchboards here in Hollywood and all over the country were literally jammed. And many of you ask the same question. Who sponsors this program? The Family Theater? The answer is simple. Nobody. And everybody. The actual show is put together by a lot of us in pictures and radio who agree that the most important thing in the world is our family. My family and yours. We think that a happy family means a happy community. A happy community means a happy country and happy countries. Well, when you love your neighbor, you don't fight with them, do you? And so we offer this program its plays and players with the conviction that prayer. That's what I said, prayer, family prayer, will give us the faith and understanding which we all need to keep our families together. If you're listening to Family Theater tonight for the first time and you're wondering how faith can help you, why not sit back and listen to Charles Tazewell's story no Night Too Dark, With Meredith Wilson's orchestra and starring Walter Brennan and Beulah Bondi. With Jennifer Holt and Gene Reynold. State Highway Number 10, broad and efficient, hurries through the heart of the Broad River Valley and is much too busy to bother with the village itself. There is a marker, however, which points down a wandering blacktop road. A marker which reads cold water two miles. Just under this marker is a hand lettered sign which says Jonathan Carter, 2 1/10 miles. Dry goods, notions, bargains of all kinds, and notary public. Travelers who follow this secondary road will find Jonathan in his favorite rocker on the porch of his store. His wise old eyes bestowing a kindly benediction on Broad River Valley and all its inhabitants. His cat Clementine perched on his shoulder. Both of them purring in the warmth of the early spring sunshine.

[Jonathan Carter]

Yes, sir, there's not a doubt about it, Clementine. There's nothing the Lord likes better than a handicap. Now, you take that tree yonder they sawed off last fall. It's putting out green shoots like a porcupine. That crack. And the new cement sidewalk. There's a dandelion pushing up through it to see what sort of spring weather we're being blessed with in cold water. Yes, sir, Clementine. The Lord sure does love and relish a downright discouraging handicap to show off his power and glory.

[Peggy Griffin]

Jonathan.

[Jonathan Carter]

Now, don't jaw at me, Sarah. I'm hurrying fast as I can. At the post office.

[Sarah Carter]

That's where you told me you were going 20 minutes ago. Is that rocker as far as you've got?

[Jonathan Carter]

Yep. Got overtook by a thought and sat down to puzzle it out.

[Sarah Carter]

Oh, stuff and pure nonsense.

[Jonathan Carter]

In fact, I got to wondering why you're twice as pretty now as when I paid off for our wedding. 40 years.

[Sarah Carter]

If you think you can get around me with a lot of soft.

[Jonathan Carter]

Sarah. Now, Sarah, you know I never spoke a truer word in my life. You always were the prettiest.

[Sarah Carter]

There are moments, Jonathan Carter, when you're purely exasperating. If you'd keep still till I can tell you what I came out here to say.

[Jonathan Carter]

Whatever it is I forgot, I'll mail, open, fix, empty, attend to directly I get back from the post office. Sarah, that's a solemn promise.

[Sarah Carter]

But you don't have to go to the post office. That's what I've been trying to tell you. Oh, Mrs. Skinner picked up the mail and left it our back door.

[Jonathan Carter]

Oh, neighborly woman, Mrs. Skinner must bathe in the milk of human kindness.

[Sarah Carter]

Well, there wasn't much. Two bills, three advertisements and a telegram.

[Jonathan Carter]

Who's dead?

[Sarah Carter]

Nobody's dead. It's from that Mr. Calder.

[Jonathan Carter]

Oh, well, let's see. That'd be Will Calder.

[Sarah Carter]

Take it, Lieutenant Calder. He was with the Marines.

[Jonathan Carter]

Yeah, that Boston fell that built the cabin out on the river to write books in.

[Sarah Carter]

That's the one.

[Jonathan Carter]

Nice boy Hollis liked, Will. First author I ever met that didn't wear his hair like a sheepdog. What do you wire about?

[Sarah Carter]

He's coming home Saturday.

[Jonathan Carter]

Can't get together a brass band to welcome him on that short notice.

[Sarah Carter]

Now, don't you go making any fancy plans, Jonathan. All he wants is the cabin cleaned. And the telegram was to me.

[Jonathan Carter]

Hmm. I never know till now that you and him was that well acquainted.

[Sarah Carter]

Why, that summer he was here, he was in to buy something nearly every day. Don't you remember?

[Jonathan Carter]

Yeah, but I also recollect that was the summer I had Peggy Griffin working on my books. I planted her right by that counter of slow moving items every time called to come in. Got rid of six egg beaters, two gallons of sheep dip and hog oil I never expected to sell.

[Sarah Carter]

Well, they made a real handsome couple.

[Jonathan Carter]

I spent a Deal of time studying the matter over before I matched him up.

[Sarah Carter]

Why, Jonathan Carter, you had nothing to do with it.

[Jonathan Carter]

Well, who got Peggy to read his book and tell him how wonderful it was? Who got him to take her swimming in that red balance suit I ordered? COD598 dealers discount fob.

[Sarah Carter]

Peggy and that Calder fellow would have gotten together without your help. And you know something? I think they had a definite understanding before he left.

[Jonathan Carter]

Oh, I'm certain sure they did. She had the same happy cat, eat the cream grateful look that you had when I asked you to marry me.

[Sarah Carter]

Why, Jonathan, I never did.

[Jonathan Carter]

Well, I'm unbelievin of your good fortune.

[Sarah Carter]

Of all the tall story. But I haven't the time nor the inclination to argue. Nonsense. I'm running over to ask Mrs. Scuddy if she wants the job of cleaning. Yeah, if a customer shows up while I'm gone, see if you can stir yourself to wait on him. Yeah, and if Peggy Griffin comes in, restrain yourself just this once, Jonathan, and don't go asking questions.

[Jonathan Carter]

Won't open my mouth.

[Sarah Carter]

Well, see that you don't. Just mind your own business and stay out of trouble till I get back.

[Jonathan Carter]

I won't talk to nobody but Clementine won't ask a question of any living soul. I give you my promise, Sarah. Peggy Griffin comes in here driving a team of six horses, she won't drag one single question past my lip.

[Peggy Griffin]

Not only that, but it's nothing I want to talk about, Jonathan. And if you don't mind, I'd like a bucket of carpet tags.

[Jonathan Carter]

They're right yonder on the notion counter, Peggy. Pick them out yourself.

[Peggy Griffin]

Thank you.

[Jonathan Carter]

You know, I always been terrible grateful to the Lord that he never afflicted me with even a small wart of curiosity in other folks affairs.

[Peggy Griffin]

Which of the big head attacks Jonathan.

[Jonathan Carter]

In the green box? Yes, sir. Somehow these. Nothing in all creation that displeasures me as much as seeing a pretty girl all set to bust down for a good cry.

[Peggy Griffin]

Where do you keep the sink strainers?

[Jonathan Carter]

Next door to the flypaper there. You know, I bet you can't guess who's coming back to Coldwater.

[Peggy Griffin]

That is one of the few bad bets you ever made, Jonathan. You're talking about Will Calder, aren't you?

[Jonathan Carter]

Oh, shucks. I thought I was going to surprise you. But I bet you don't know that he's.

[Peggy Griffin]

That he's coming back Saturday. Yes, I know that too. Here, will you put these things in a bag for me, please?

[Jonathan Carter]

Surely. Sent you telegram, did he?

[Peggy Griffin]

Nope.

[Jonathan Carter]

How much Do I owe you 28 cents? Wrote you a letter?

[Peggy Griffin]

Nope. Can you change a 5?

[Jonathan Carter]

I think you can. How'd you find out about Will?

[Peggy Griffin]

A telegram isn't very secret in a place as small as Cold Water. The whole village is talking about the one he sent Sarah.

[Jonathan Carter]

30, 50, 1, $, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

[Peggy Griffin]

Thank you.

[Jonathan Carter]

You know, it's powerful strange him not letting you know. I thought you and Will was.

[Peggy Griffin]

Oh, darn it, Jonathan.

[Jonathan Carter]

Well, I was just remarking.

[Peggy Griffin]

You have to keep on and on.

[Jonathan Carter]

And on, but all I ever said.

[Peggy Griffin]

Was, all right, I'm crying now. I hope you're satisfied.

[Jonathan Carter]

Well, you're bound to do it, one place or another.

[Peggy Griffin]

I came in for some tax at a sixth Trader and all I get is Will Calder. Will Calder.

[Jonathan Carter]

Here, have a handkerchief, compliments the store. Go ahead and cry all you like. Got plenty of pails and pans to bail out the place.

[Peggy Griffin]

You just minded your own business, Chucks.

[Jonathan Carter]

You're my business. So's Will Calder. So is everybody else in Coldwater. Got to live with them, don't I? I sure don't want my bed and board surrounded by a parcel of weeping willows. Come on now, blow your nose and tell me why a writin fella like Will Calder suddenly comes down with writers cramped and can't send you even a postcard.

[Peggy Griffin]

Well? Well, he did write for a while.

[Jonathan Carter]

Uh huh.

[Peggy Griffin]

Three letters a week sometimes.

[Jonathan Carter]

Sure.

[Peggy Griffin]

Long letters?

[Jonathan Carter]

Yeah. Then.

[Peggy Griffin]

Well, then he just stopped.

[Jonathan Carter]

Did you keep on writing to him?

[Peggy Griffin]

Yes.

[Jonathan Carter]

But you never got no in the bag?

[Peggy Griffin]

No.

[Jonathan Carter]

That's powerful strange.

[Peggy Griffin]

I do think, well, there might be some other girl.

[Jonathan Carter]

Could be.

[Peggy Griffin]

Well, in that case.

[Jonathan Carter]

Only I don't think so.

[Peggy Griffin]

You don't, Jonathan?

[Bill Goggin]

No.

[Jonathan Carter]

My guess is that the very same thing overtook Will as overtook a lot of the boys.

[Peggy Griffin]

What's that?

[Jonathan Carter]

Well, you see, when a fellow's a long way off somewhere, why, he feels he's clear out of touch with things and folks back home. And when he gets back he'll be so changed he can't never put on the harness of everyday living.

[Peggy Griffin]

Yes, but don't you think.

[Jonathan Carter]

I think Will stopped writing because he wanted to come back to Coldwater and find out how he fitted in. Until he found out for sure why he wanted you to feel free to do as you liked.

[Peggy Griffin]

Well, I'd like to think that, but it's just your idea, Jonathan.

[Jonathan Carter]

There's nothing wrong with it.

[Peggy Griffin]

You can't build any plans on it.

[Jonathan Carter]

All right, I'm going to prove it ain't an idea.

[Peggy Griffin]

But A fact How?

[Jonathan Carter]

There ain't nothing a man or fish will snap at quicker than this tasty morsel of bait. We're having a party.

[Peggy Griffin]

A what?

[Jonathan Carter]

You and me and Sarah are giving a homecoming for Will come Saturday out to his cabin. Oh, Jonathan, you'll be wearing your prettiest dress. And when Will Carter comes up the path and sees you standing there in the door, why, he won't be having a doubt in his mind.

[Peggy Griffin]

Why won't he?

[Jonathan Carter]

Because no man is so dog gone ambidextrous he can hold a doubt in his mind. The girl in his arms one at the same time. Shucks. You just leave it to me, Peggy. Come Saturday night, you're practically a married woman.

[Sarah Carter]

Jonathan, we get. Please get me some wood out back of the cabin. And leave those olives alone.

[Jonathan Carter]

Oh, I was just winnowing out the runty one, Sarah.

[Sarah Carter]

And by the time Will gets here, there won't be any left.

[Jonathan Carter]

Shucks. Kind of recollect that, Will don't fancy stuffed ones. Anyhow.

[Sarah Carter]

You don't recollect anything of the kind if you go and get into just. Jonathan, if you love me, don't pick at that chocolate cake.

[Jonathan Carter]

Just brushing a fly off. Sarah.

[Sarah Carter]

There are no flies this hour of the night. What time is it? Shouldn't Will's train be in by now?

[Jonathan Carter]

Sure. Heard it whistle for the station half hour back.

[Sarah Carter]

Well, then if he takes Zeb taxi, he ought to be along any minute.

[Jonathan Carter]

Where's Peggy got to?

[Sarah Carter]

She's out in front in the car, trying to find out where you put the spoons I gave you.

[Jonathan Carter]

Spoons?

[Sarah Carter]

Yes, the spoons.

[Peggy Griffin]

Oh.

[Jonathan Carter]

Oh, they're wrapped in some napkins under the hood.

[Sarah Carter]

Well, why on earth did you put them there?

[Jonathan Carter]

Keep the carburetor from rattling my stars. Yeah. I'll go get the wood for the stove.

[Peggy Griffin]

Jonathan.

[Sarah Carter]

Yes, Peggy.

[Peggy Griffin]

He's coming. I just heard the car turn in from the main road.

[Sarah Carter]

You did?

[Peggy Griffin]

How's my hair? All right. How do I look?

[Sarah Carter]

Oh, perfectly beautiful.

[Jonathan Carter]

You are as slick and pretty as a new red fire engine. Yeah, yeah, that Zeb's taxi's all right. I'd know that engine knock over a convention of woodpeckers.

[Peggy Griffin]

Do you think you'll like me?

[Jonathan Carter]

That's the craziest question I ever heard. Now, here's what we'll do. We'll close the door all but a crack so as we can see. Then just as he comes up the walk, we'll throw it open and yell, welcome home, Will. Quiet now.

[Sarah Carter]

Zeb Stockton. Not in front.

[Peggy Griffin]

I can't see. Will. Can you?

[Jonathan Carter]

Now just hold your horses.

[Sarah Carter]

Listen, wasn't that a dog?

[Jonathan Carter]

Sure was. Will must have brought one home with him.

[Peggy Griffin]

Yes, there it is. It just jumped out of the taxi.

[Jonathan Carter]

Big dog, too.

[Peggy Griffin]

Oh, he always did love dogs. He wrote me once about a pup that he'd picked up.

[Jonathan Carter]

There's Will. See, he's just getting.

[Peggy Griffin]

He's got a cane and he's wearing dark glasses. Jonathan. Good Lord. Oh, no. Dear Lord, save us. The boy's blind.

[Sarah Carter]

Jonathan. Oh, Jonathan, is that you?

[Jonathan Carter]

Yes, Sarah, it's me.

[Sarah Carter]

Just where on earth have you been since supper?

[Jonathan Carter]

Oh, out and about.

[Peggy Griffin]

Out and about?

[Sarah Carter]

Doing what?

[Jonathan Carter]

Well, walk some and thought some and talk. Just a mic.

[Sarah Carter]

Talk to who?

[Jonathan Carter]

Let me see now. I guess it was Peggy Griffin.

[Sarah Carter]

So you've been meddling again.

[Jonathan Carter]

Just meddling. Meddling. The girl feels powerful bad, Sarah.

[Sarah Carter]

Well, I don't doubt that in the least.

[Jonathan Carter]

She went out to Will's cabin this afternoon. The door was locked and he wouldn't answer.

[Sarah Carter]

Well, if he's still as stiff necked as he was when he came to the cabin last evening, I think she'd be satisfied to just let him alone.

[Jonathan Carter]

That's easy to say, Sarah. Big trouble is she loves the boy.

[Sarah Carter]

All right, maybe she loves him. But if Will doesn't want her, shucks.

[Jonathan Carter]

He'S crazy about her. Why, that was only his doggone pride, talking so big and independent when he asked us to all take our leave and not come back.

[Sarah Carter]

Now listen, John, if we'd stayed just.

[Jonathan Carter]

Five minutes more, why, he'd have busted down and bawled like a kid that's lost and scared.

[Sarah Carter]

He told us just as plainly.

[Jonathan Carter]

Sure he did. Sure he did. But it ain't only his eyes that's blind, Sarah. Why, his whole mind and reason's locked up in the dark, too.

[Sarah Carter]

All right, but there's nothing under the sun you can do about it, is there? Now go on, change your shirt and get ready for church.

[Jonathan Carter]

Oh, I ain't going to church this evening. Now, Jonathan, you know all my praying this morning.

[Sarah Carter]

But you promised me that you'd go.

[Jonathan Carter]

Hey, got some work to do concerning.

[Sarah Carter]

Peggy Griffin and Will Calder, I'll be bound.

[Jonathan Carter]

Could be. And maybe.

[Sarah Carter]

Oh, Jonathan, just this once, won't you tend to your own business and leave some things to the Lord?

[Jonathan Carter]

Why, the Lord loves them that help themselves and others.

[Sarah Carter]

Sarah, if you want to misquote the.

[Jonathan Carter]

Scripture, you go right along to church. Now. In the meantime, there's some business for the Lord and me out to Will Calder's cabin. Evening, Will. Who is it, Kata?

[Will Calder]

Oh.

[Jonathan Carter]

Out for a walk and call myself up this way.

[Will Calder]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Carter]

Pretty night. Moon's as round and as yellow as a beehive. Sky's just buzzing with stars.

[Will Calder]

Is it?

[Jonathan Carter]

Sure is.

[Will Calder]

I wouldn't know.

[Jonathan Carter]

Mighty pretty night. Mind a facet if you like. Thanks. Say, hear that fiddle? That's old Tim Peabody. Lives in a shack down by the creek. Yes, sir. Good fishing there on a sultry day. You know, there's a granddaddy tried to.

[Will Calder]

Might as well get down to brass tacks or horse collars or whatever you're dealing in, Jonathan.

[Jonathan Carter]

Why? What do you mean, Will?

[Will Calder]

You didn't walk up here to the cabin. Because it's a pretty night and Peabody's playing his fiddle. There's a trout in the crick.

[Jonathan Carter]

Didn't I?

[Will Calder]

You came up to talk about Peg Griffin.

[Bill Goggin]

Well.

[Jonathan Carter]

Well, now, I'm glad you brought up a name. Thought she might be a right good subject for conversation.

[Will Calder]

You're wasting your time, Carter.

[Jonathan Carter]

Tell me why.

[Will Calder]

Because it's one thing you can't ever fix.

[Jonathan Carter]

Oh, feeling powerful sorry for yourself, ain't you?

[Will Calder]

Now, that's my business.

[Jonathan Carter]

With a whole lifetime to play, you're retiring to the sidelines to say the game's called on account of darkness.

[Will Calder]

I don't want one of your pep talks, Jonathan.

[Jonathan Carter]

Oh, you're gonna prove to everybody you're the most miserable and unfortunate fellow in the whole face of the earth.

[Will Calder]

I told you last night to stay away and leave me alone.

[Jonathan Carter]

You're gonna hide out to mope and mule so's your friends will feel real sorry for you.

[Will Calder]

That's not the reason.

[Jonathan Carter]

And you gonna make Peggy Griffin feel she's being plum disloyalty every time she goes out somewhere with another man.

[Will Calder]

No, that's not the reason, and you know it as well as I do.

[Jonathan Carter]

All right. Give me a reason with some sense to it, if you can.

[Will Calder]

Sure, I can give you a reason. There's only one. I'm blind. Isn't that a big enough reason? Can't you realize what it is to be blind? To know you'll never be able to see again? I'm no earthly use to Peg Griffin. The wall to myself. I'm through. Finished. For good. Now, will you get out of here.

[Bill Goggin]

And leave me alone?

[Jonathan Carter]

Oh, no.

[Bill Goggin]

Easy, boy. Easy.

[Will Calder]

And I haven't done this before. I want you to know that.

[Jonathan Carter]

Sure. Sure.

[Will Calder]

I didn't. Even when they told me what had happened to me.

[Jonathan Carter]

I know you didn't.

[Will Calder]

Will you come up here and hammer at me and talk about Peg.

[Jonathan Carter]

Oh, sure. I'm sorry.

[Will Calder]

I. I guess you know I'm crazy about her.

[Jonathan Carter]

Yeah, I know that.

[Will Calder]

But even you can see that I haven't the right to hold her to a promise we made before this thing happened to me.

[Jonathan Carter]

Well, maybe you don't realize how much she loves you.

[Will Calder]

Well, maybe she does, but she's got to get over it.

[Jonathan Carter]

You're asking for a miracle, son.

[Will Calder]

But don't you see? I'm living in a world different than she is. A dark world where things have no size or color, only sound or taste or smell or feel.

[Jonathan Carter]

Do you think that matters?

[Will Calder]

Of course it matters.

[Jonathan Carter]

Well, when you get a bit older, Will, you'll know that sight is only one of the things that help us along. Oh, it's a wonderful thing to be able to see. One of the Lord's greatest blessings. But you know something? All the things I love and remember best ain't the things I've seen with my eyes. They're the things I've heard, tasted, smelled or touched.

[Will Calder]

That's all very easy to say, but.

[Jonathan Carter]

But it's true. Why, if my ears hear a few bars of an old song, I can bring back a whole wonderful day that I lived as a boy. I'm walking down a road again with a dog I love trotting at my heels. Yes, and although the years have dimmed the memory of my mother's face if I smell the spicy perfume of Petulia's just at dusk, I can see her standing in her garden and smiling at me plain as. Plain and just as alive as you and me.

[Will Calder]

Yeah, but, Jonathan, I can't.

[Jonathan Carter]

Oh, yes, you can.

[Will Calder]

I'm still young. I can't live on memories of the past.

[Jonathan Carter]

You don't have to. Why, you can see as well as me if you just try.

[Will Calder]

You don't mean that, Jonathan. You're just trying to make me feel good.

[Jonathan Carter]

I said you can see as well as me. Why, I can close my eyes and tell you everything going on around this cabin.

[Will Calder]

You can?

[Jonathan Carter]

Sure, I can. There. You hear that scraping over yonder on the tree limb?

[Will Calder]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Carter]

Now. Just ate himself a field mouse and now he's cleaning up his beak. You hear that? Squeaking Squirrels got him a home in that same tree and got woke up.

[Will Calder]

There is. I think I hear a little noise at the corner of the porch.

[Jonathan Carter]

Sure you do. That's a hoppy toad. Skinny and light from sleep in the winter.

[Will Calder]

How can you tell?

[Jonathan Carter]

Taking long jumps. Wrong about July.

[Bill Goggin]

He'll plop a lot harder.

[Jonathan Carter]

Yeah. And listen. Listen to that rustling over in the bushes. That's Mr. Weasel setting out to hunt his dinner.

[Will Calder]

Do you think I could ever.

[Jonathan Carter]

You can do it right now. Now come on, listen and tell me what you see.

[Will Calder]

Well? Well, you're smoking your pipe. I heard you scratch a match a moment ago and now I smell tobacco.

[Jonathan Carter]

You did. Right.

[Will Calder]

The moon's a lot higher. It must be right overhead because that nybird started to call.

[Jonathan Carter]

Right again.

[Will Calder]

You just crossed your legs. I heard the scrape of the cloth. And you've taken off your hat because I heard a tap on the porch.

[Jonathan Carter]

You see how easy it is?

[Will Calder]

Why, it isn't hard at all when you get onto it.

[Jonathan Carter]

Easy as eating plum jam.

[Will Calder]

Listen, isn't that someone walking up the road?

[Bill Goggin]

Is he?

[Will Calder]

Yeah. Didn't you hear that stone roll?

[Bill Goggin]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Carter]

You see, your eyes are sharper than mine. Now tell me, is it a man or a woman?

[Will Calder]

A man, I think. No, no, it's a woman all right.

[Jonathan Carter]

What color dress is she wearing?

[Will Calder]

Well, I don't know, Jonathan. How can I tell?

[Jonathan Carter]

Well, women folks always walk different in different colors.

[Will Calder]

They do? How?

[Jonathan Carter]

Oh, girls in black dresses always walk slow and sedate. Now, red always make some kind of flirt with the heels. Yellow. Well, yellow dress is just like a spring dance. Now, what color would you say this one's wearing?

[Will Calder]

She's wearing. She's wearing a yellow dress, Will.

[Jonathan Carter]

I don't know.

[Will Calder]

It's a yellow dress and it's Peg Griffin.

[Bill Goggin]

Will.

[Will Calder]

Hello, Peg.

[Peggy Griffin]

Hello. May I come and talk to you?

[Will Calder]

Why, sure. Sure you can, Peg.

[Peggy Griffin]

I came up this afternoon but, well, you wouldn't let me in.

[Will Calder]

Well, that doesn't matter now, does it?

[Peggy Griffin]

No, no, it doesn't matter at all.

[Will Calder]

Peg?

[Peggy Griffin]

Yes, Will?

[Will Calder]

What color dress are you wearing?

[Peggy Griffin]

What color?

[Will Calder]

Yes, I'd like to know just to prove something.

[Peggy Griffin]

Why. Why, it's a yellow dress.

[Will Calder]

A yellow dress. Did you hear that, Jonathan? She's wearing a yellow dress just like I said.

[Jonathan Carter]

Sure it is. Didn't I tell you that you can see as well as anyone? Now go ahead and kiss her. And if anyone tries to tell you you're blind, you tell him he's a two faced liar. Jonathan.

[Sarah Carter]

Oh, Jonathan.

[Jonathan Carter]

Yes, Sarah? I'm down here on the front porch. Let Neptune out for a run before he goes to bed.

[Sarah Carter]

Well, don't stay out too long. It's chilly.

[Jonathan Carter]

Oh, shucks, it's a wonderful night. Real spring like. Well, land of mercy. Will you look at that Clementine. That bush. I thought was through for good is sprouting up new again. No two ways about it, Clementine. There's nothing the Lord likes better than a handicap. Whether it's a lilac bush, an oak tree or Will Calder. The Lord has a way of managing things. Why Clementine? He's got a way of pushing a blade of grass plumbed through concrete. Got a way of making a blind man see right smack beyond the stars. Hungry, Clementine. That's what you get for looking at the Milky Way. Makes you hungry kind of, don't it? Clementine.

[Bill Goggin]

This is Bill Goggin again expressing our thanks to Ola, Brennan Bulabondi, Jennifer Holt and Gene Reynolds for such delightful performances. Thanks also to Charles Tazwell for his script of no Night Too Dark. You know, some of you folks listening in, you're lucky. I mean, those of you who listened with your family, I wonder if you ever really stop to think about what it means to have a family. If you love your family and your family loves you, well, what more could a guy want? But I don't have to tell you, even though you do have a happy family life, there are times when you get a little worried. Like maybe when one of the kids gets sick, very sick, and your whole family gets scared. So scared you don't know what to do and you don't know where to turn. Well, look, have you thought about maybe saying a prayer and turning to God? No one can give you greater comfort. Yes. And no one can give you more help. Ask God to keep your family together. Ask him to keep it well and happy. You know, none of us is so self sufficient that we can ignore God's help. None of us is so proud that we need hesitate to ask it. Just remember, you'll never know how much a prayer can do until you've said one. Ask and ye shall receive. Doesn't that sound familiar? Before saying good night, I want to express our thanks to all of you who have helped make this program possible. Thanks also to Richard Sanville for directing our play tonight. Next week, our stars in the family theater will be Bing Crosby, Irene Dunn and Dana Andrews in another story by Charles Tazewell entitled J. Smith and Wife. Now this is Bill Goggins saying good night all.

[Program Announcer]

Next week and in the weeks that follow, you will hear more of your favorite stars such as Bing Crosby, Joseph Maureen o', Hara, Gregory Peck, Lionel Barrymore, Susan Peters, Charles Bickford, Ruth Hussey and Pat o' Brien in plays written especially for family theater by the nation's leading radio dramatists. And directed by the most outstanding directors. This series of the Family Theater broadcast is produced by Bob Longnecker and comes to you through the cooperation of the Mutual Network and the actors, writers and directors of the radio and motion picture industries. This program is broadcast overseas to our armed forces through the worldwide facilities of the Armed Forces Radio Service. This is the Mutual Broadcasting System.