Summer Magic Page #2

But, Mother,

my school's here and my friends.

- Beulah's a hick town.

- Abraham Lincoln came from a hick town.

Mother?

Your father loved you so,

and he wanted so much for you.

It was his dream to live in the country.

So maybe he'd like to know we were

together in the yellow house in Beulah.

Oh, Mother, I knew it, I knew it!

I wished it!

Gilly, get to the piano.

Mother, sit down there.

There. In anticipation of this glorious

decisin, I've written a glorification.

But first, an introduction

straight from the Bible.

Church chords, please, Gilly.

Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken,

neither shall thy land

any more be termed desolate,

but it shall be called Beulah,

for the Lord delighteth in thee. Amen.

Right. Now, Railroad Rag.

- What?

- You were just playing it.

# Land of promise, bounteous

# This is beautiful,

this is beautiful Beulah

- # In the rocky state of Maine

- # Land of plenty

# Meant for us

# This is beautiful,

this is beautiful Beulah

# Within our reach is there

# Grapes big as peaches there

# The cows and bees are busy

# Who needs any money

in the land of milk and honey?

# Sweet apple trees abound,

wild cherries all around

# Berries on the vine,

rambler roses twine

# They're so nice, it's a paradise

# Beulah land, so beautiful

# Let's set forth for it,

let's go north on that train

# Chug-a-choo, chug-a-choo

# To beautiful Beulah land,

beautiful Beulah, Maine

# To beautiful Beulah land,

beautiful Beulah, Maine #

Choo-chug-a-choo, chug-a-choo,

whoo-whoo!

So this is Beulah.

Yeah, you're right

in the heart of the city now.

The town, the whole thing, is wonderful.

How can we thank your father

for all he's done for us?

The name Ossian Popham should flame

across the sky with letters of fire.

Pa's just glad somebody's

gonna be living in the old yellow house.

The Hamilton's haven't used it

since uh... I can recollect.

What's the matter with it? Haunted?

No. Pa says it's just too fancy

for these parts.

The way the Hamiltons

fixed up the barn for dancing,

Pa says it'd darn near overpower a cow.

Your father didn't write much

about his family.

Are you an only child, Digby?

Well, you might say so, ma'am.

I just have a sister.

Mother, look. The church.

How lovely and quaint.

Heavenly.

Yeah, and uh... believe it or not,

we have a minister named uh... Mr. Lord.

- Is he any relation to...

- No, Peter.

Well, hold tight.

Country! Real country!

- We're out in the sticks, all right.

- Gilly.

Sticks?! It's the loveliest!

Land of promise. Land of opportunity.

Opportunity for what?

Well, you've got something there.

You're the first family to move

into Beulah in more than five years.

Most people move away to the city.

That's where I'm aiming to get

just as soon as I can.

See some of them bright lights.

Make a little money.

Money? The heavenly thing about

the country is you don't need money.

You have the soil! The soil!

- What's soil?

- Mud.

We're here! We're home!

Oh, Gilly, come on!

The piano's here!

Mother! A quaint old pump!

You folks the Careys?

I heard you way up in the attic.

Yes.

You mean to tell me

that you're the Careys?

- You must be Ossian Popham.

- Yes.

- At your service, ma'am.

- First dibs for bedrooms, Gilly!

Nancy!

Is this your treasured daughter, ma'am?

Well, let's just say my daughter.

Nancy, this is Mr. Popham.

Oh, my goodness. Um...

- Mr. Popham...

- No, you don't. No, you don't.

That must have been the invalid boy.

Mr. Popham, about that first letter.

I wrote it.

No need to go on. What you've done

has come to me like a blinding flash.

Pa.

Pa, there's a boy up here.

It's the Carey boy.

Come on down, Lallie Joy.

That's my daughter, Lallie Joy.

She's awful shy.

She'd be more like me

only her ma won't let her.

Look at me, Mother! Look at me!

- Wee!

- Peter? Where are you?

Look at me!

Wee! Wee! Look at me!

That must be the rickety baby.

Mr. Popham, I think it's time

I told you everything.

Oh, may I tell him, Mother, please?

You see, Mr. Popham,

I wrote that letter and we all...

Oh, I don't know how to begin.

Gee, I'm sorry.

They're too heavy for a girl.

Allow me.

You don't have to be nice or nothing.

She's my sister.

And that's the way it was.

Well, Nancy, the way I figure it,

this worid's the only worid we've got.

That is, until we move on

to the next one.

And there ain't nothing like a story

that's a mite off'n the truth

for making things interesting.

Like a painter improving on nature.

Yes. It ain't nothing like

an out-and-out lie.

Of course not! Just a small white one,

only colored a little.

You see, Mother,

Mr. Popham understands.

Now the first thing we must do

is fix up this house.

Now, where to begin?

Well, standing before you is the best

painter, carpenter, bricklayer in Maine.

You're wonderful!

Mr. Popham,

one part of Nancy's letter was true.

- We don't have much money.

- Oh, money.

Forget about the money. When

it's all done, we can figure that out.

I work cheap when I can take my time

and get into some conversing.

Well, I ain't one to hurry.

We got one hurrier in the family

and that's enough.

Mrs. Popham does everything

right on the dot.

Sometimes I get terrible sick

of seeing that dot.

Which reminds me,

it's getting along toward noon time.

I'd better be digging for home.

Mariah sits

and looks at the clock from 11:00 on.

Then she'll get a meal

of cold pork and greens,

cold string beans, ginger bread

and custard pie on the table.

Then she'll holler, "Hurry up, Ossian!"

"It struck 12:
00 more than two minutes

ago and everything's getting overdone!"

- Well, so long, folks.

- Goodbye! Thank you.

Thanks for letting me

crank her up, Digby.

Pa, I've been doing some thinking.

Good. Thinking never hurt anybody.

Pa, do you realize the farthest I've

ever been from Beulah is Four Corners

and I was too young to even remember?

What are you getting at, Son?

Pa, do you realize I ain't never

seen nothing or done nothing?

- Go on.

- You yourself said, Pa,

a man never gets anywhere

standing in one place.

How much am I paying you, Digby?

Three dollars a week. But a fella

can make that in one day in the city.

You gonna put a stop to it, Pa?

Nope. Might as well

get it out of your system.

Might be coming

about the right time, too.

The boy, Gilbert. He ought to be able to

take on the job of driving this truck.

That Gilly boy. He's awful nice, Pa.

I got a feeling the money

might come in handy for the Careys, too.

They're wonderful folks.

Even if they ain't got the rickets.

Oh, smell it, Mother.

Listen.

I feel sorry for city people tonight.

# Summer magic

# The soft summer magic

# Drifts across

# The meadows

# Summer magic

# It weaves through the willows

# Right into

# Your heart

# The song

# The river sings

# The joy

# The sunset brings

# Warm rain on blossoming

# Growing things

# Hearts grow dearer

# And heaven seems nearer

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