The Farmer's Daughter

[wildly cheering crowd on the political convention floor]

Katrin Holstrom:
What are they yelling about?

Joseph Clancy:
These days they yell for anything.

Katrin Holstrom:
Anything?

Joseph Clancy:
Sure, they'll scream if you yell "Fish for sale!"

Katrin Holstrom:
Aw, no.

Joseph Clancy:
[Stands up and yells] Fish for sale!

[the crowds roars]

Eckers:
[addressing a large political convention] And I tell you, in every son of lan on fasfaloose, you will find histerec of abalac populashous.

[crowd cheers wildly]

Glenn Morley:
She doesn't know anything about politics. How can she, I ask you, be expected to give of such things as the minimum wage bill, the full employment bill, the Missouri Valley, the Columbia Valley authorities amendments, the permanent MBPC, atomic bomb control, poll tax, national... , well a hundred other things.

Katrin Holstrom:
Can you?

Glenn Morley:
That's beside the point. I am already a congressman.

Katrin Holstrom:
Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight I want to ask you for the most precious thing you own: your vote.

Agatha Morley:
What do you want the public to believe, Mr. Finley?

Anders Finley:
To believe in our type of 100% Americanism. Now, a 100% American is...

Agatha Morley:
White?

Anders Finley:
Right!

Agatha Morley:
No foreign-born?

Anders Finley:
Right!

Agatha Morley:
The right kind of religion?

Anders Finley:
Exactly right, Mrs. Morley.

Anders Finley:
Exactly right, Mrs. Morley. I guess I know where you stand. [Clancy has had enough. He moves menacingly towards Finley]

Joseph Clancy:
[to Finley, angrily] Either you're leaving this house now or I'm going to throw you out!

Agatha Morley:
[Mockingly] Joseph! How dare you talk to one of my guests like that! [Clancy is flabbergasted. Finley smiles. Mrs. Morley is a true convert, that's obvious]

Joseph Clancy:
[to Mrs. Morley] You're not serious about this?

Agatha Morley:
Joseph... [Reprovingly to Clancy]... I'm afraid we will have to speak about this later.

Joseph Clancy:
[Haughtily] Mrs. Morley, I'm not accustomed to speakin' about things later.

Agatha Morley:
[to Finley, smiling, pleasantly] Mr. Finley, I'm afraid I'll have to let Joseph throw you out.

Katrin Holstrom:
[Clearing her throat, then reading] Mr. President: Today I don't want to make a speech. I want to tell you a story about a doctor named Sorenson, who lived in a small town. He was a good doctor, but the rich people in this town didn't like him because he told them the truth a little too often about their imaginary sicknesses. [She looks up at Clancy, who smiles and motions her to go on] Things got bad for Dr. Sorenson, and he moved across the tracks to the poor section of town where people needed him, but didn't have the money to pay. [Clancy listens carefully. Katrin takes a deep breath and continues] He worked for them, anyhow. They would give him a bottle of milk when he cured a sore throat, or a loaf of bread when be set a broken leg. Dr. Sorenson couldn't afford a regular office. He practiced in the room he lived in, upstairs over a livery stable. The shingle outside was a simple little sign that read: "DR. SORENSON UPSTAIRS." [She smiles. The U.L.C. doors open, and Mrs. Morley appears. Motioning Clancy to stay seated, she indicates for Katrin to go on as she listens from the doorway] Well, even doctors get sick. And after working years with these poor people, Dr. Sorenson got sick and he died, and all those people who loved him, and whom he loved, buried him. They wanted to put up a big, marble monument, but they just couldn't afford it. So they took the sign from the stable, and put it over the doctor's grave. There it stood, and that was his monument. [pause] "DR. SORENSON-UPSTAIRS." [She smiles tenderly] Today a President has died. Only a short time ago his dream, the League of Nations, was killed by people who couldn't stand the truth. But his dream shall not perish from the earth. It will live in the hearts of good, common people. For over the President's grave the people have placed their everlasting monument which-like the doctor's-reads simply; "WOODROW WILSON-UPSTAIRS." [Mere is silence for a moment, then Mrs. Morley applauds. Clancy, standing up, joins her. Katrin is pleased, but embarrassed. She bows her thanks]