Little House on the Prairie, Season 9

[When Matthew is ordered by a judge to be sent to an asylum]

Mr. Edwards:
I find this whole thing amazing. A boy like Matthew is able to say more with his heart than most of us can ever say with our mouths. I guess today, this boy was judged to be unstable, not normal. See, um, I haven't had a whole lot of schooling, so I don't quite understand what that means. Maybe somebody can explain it to me. Laura? Doc? (both of them are silent) Maybe I'm not normal. You know what I wanted that boy to do yesterday? I wanted him to run away with me. He refused. You know why he refused? Because he didn't want his friend to get into any trouble with the law. Maybe you could tell me which one of us was acting normal. I mean, how many of us fit that description? John, I recall you helping Almanzo plow his field after working in your blacksmith shop all day long. A lot of people called you crazy for that. Nels, two years ago, when we had the drought, you extended credit to every man in this room. I mean, half of them haven't even paid you back yet! That ain't normal, Nels. Not normal at all. How about you, Reverend? What do you get for all the things you do for us besides an invite to Sunday supper, and the right to hear all our problems? And Doc, you took care of this boy. You gave him your best medical care. Your best! You know what you ought to do, Doc? You ought to wander around this room and gather up all the money that everybody owes you. But you won't do that, will you? You just accept a dozen eggs or a basket of turnips. And Laura, do you know that you taught a wild boy how to speak with his hands? Honey, that's crazy. Crazy! I'll tell you what we ought to do. [walks over to Jenny] We ought to take this little girl right here and send her right along with Matthew, because she met this boy, this "unstable," this "not normal," this "wild boy," and she made a friend! A friend, Judge! You ought to just get a rope and just hitch it around this whole building, and pull us all along with Matthew, because we don't act any more normal than that boy over there! There's something wrong here, something terribly wrong! I love that boy. I'm sorry for taking up your time, Reverend. I'm through. [walks out]