Writer: Earl Hamner.
Director: Lee Philips.
Music: Jerry Goldsmith.
"Waltons
Mountain by day was friendly, but by night ghosts seemed to hide in every
shadow and the feeling of something old and mysterious flowed downward on the
cold night wind. And if we were walking homeward past a house that was known to
be haunted, you couldn't help but be a little apprehensive".
After dark, John-Boy is walking by the
Pendleton place when he observes a light in one of the windows. Knowing the
house is empty John-Boy whistles, and then watches the light disappear. Back
home, the family watch Mary Ellen excitedly describes her latest business
venture that she discovered in Liberty magazine: raising frogs in a tadpole
farm. John-Boy returns home and tells his father about his experiences at the
Pendleton place. John has agreed to look after the place for Dave Pendleton, so
decides to take a look with John-Boy after supper. When the pair enters the
house they find a girl playing the harpsichord, but scare her with their
presence. John introduces himself and his son, saying he is taking care of the
place for Dave Pendleton. The girl announces that she is Jenny Pendleton,
Dave’s daughter. Finding out that Dave and his new wife, Eula, are arriving in
a few days, Jenny accepts John’s invitation to stay with the family.
The Walton girls talk with Jenny in their
bedroom, and name one of the tadpoles after her. In his bedroom, John-Boy
writes in his journal about Jenny: “… and she is
about the prettiest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on. I suspect she is in trouble
of some kind and I know Momma and Daddy think she has run away from home….”
The family says ‘goodnight’ to each other with Jenny wondering if the family
does this ritual every night. Mary Ellen says they do. In the morning John and
Olivia hear Reckless barking and soon find that Sheriff Bridges is at the back
door. Upon telling them that Dave Pendleton called from Richmond to say his
daughter has run away, Olivia says that Jenny is asleep upstairs. After some
coffee, Ep leaves to tell Dave the news. Olivia then calls up to the children
in order to wake them up. Jenny is the first to walk downstairs. Later she
gathers eggs with Elizabeth, swings with Elizabeth and Ben, and dusts after
Grandma places an old fashion cap on her head. Jenny finds Olivia wrapping
Ben’s injured finger, then asks Olivia if she can stay. Olivia welcomes her,
then tells her that her father knows by now where she is, relating the story
about the sheriff and her father. Just then Elizabeth runs in and Jenny tickles
her, saying she is going to be one of the family. She then goes upstairs to
dust in John-Boy’s room. With John-Boy writing in his tablet, Jenny wonders if
he is writing about her. He can’t admit what he wrote,
but they do discuss what they want to do with her lives. John-Boy also plays a
dulcimer that Old Man Dolsom loaned to him.
That night John walks to answer a knock at
the front door. He finds Dave Pendleton and his new wife, Eula, looking for his daughter. The family is
reintroduced to Dave, who has been gone for nine years, and introduced to Eula.
Dave says that Jenny is “too old to be spanked, and too young to be put in
jail” for running away, so just hugs her. Dave announces they are opening up
the old house, and will be staying a few days. Jenny leaves with them, but
reminds John-Boy that he has promised to take her up on the Mountain tomorrow.
At the Pendleton place, Dave looks for more candles as Eula tells Jenny that as
a second wife she must “live with a ghost”. Early in the morning Jenny ask John
and Olivia how they first met. John states that they grew up together, but at
first he thought she was too prissy and Olivia said he was “the wickedest boy
in town”. But John said they fell in love in high school. John-Boy walks
downstairs and asks permission to take Jenny to the Mountain. Olivia realizes
they are attracted to each other, suggesting the children accompany them. But
John-Boy finds that the children are busy filling the frog pond with three
hundred tadpoles, so John-Boy and Jenny walk up to the Mountain alone.
John-Boy shows Jenny the remains of Rome and
Rebecca Lee’s homestead. They act like they are the pioneering couple, when
unexpectedly they hug each other, and kiss. They spend the rest of the day
falling in love. That night as the family gathers for supper John warns them
that John-Boy may act strangely because he is in love with Jenny. When John-Boy
enters, the kids giggle and ask him if he’s in love. John tells his son that he
should celebrate at being in love. Jenny and Eula talk on the porch when Dave
walks up. Eula needs more cigarettes so the pair leaves to find a store. Jenny
stays, expecting a visit from John-Boy. Back at the house, Reckless barks at a
raccoon found eating tadpoles in the pond. John-Boy and Jenny talk about their
future together, with John-Boy speaking about far-away places and Jenny about
raising a family. They tell each other that they love the other, when a
whippoorwill sings its lonely sound, possibly of a lost partner. They say
‘goodnight’ early so Jenny can return to the house early tomorrow morning.
Later, Ep arrives to tell the family that
Dave was killed and Eula injured in an accident while driving on Route 29. He
says that when he told Jenny the girl ran away. John-Boy races off to find her.
Later, Jenny is bedridden at the Walton house, in shock about the experience.
Doc Shackleford tells the family that she is physically fine, but mentally
can’t admit her father’s death. Grandpa, Grandma, and Mary Ellen visit the frog
pond to find all the frogs are gone. Grandpa realizes the frogs are “peepers,
tree frogs”. Mary Ellen exclaims, “Three hundred million dollars up a tree!”
She leaves to look for the correct tadpoles. As John-boy watches over Jenny,
the children say ‘goodnight’ throughout the house. John-Boy says, “Goodnight,
Jenny”. She finally awakens, accepting the death of the father, and cries in
John-Boy’s arms.
Several days later a recuperating Eula and
Jenny prepare to leave Walton’s Mountain. Jenny has not told John-Boy of her
departure, wanting the final days to be happy. They meet at the old homestead,
where Jenny presents John-Boy with one of the finest dulcimers made. They act
out parting ways as Rome and Rebecca Lee, and Jenny walks away from John-Boy.
"Jenny
was to come into our lives again, but the promises we made to each other we
were not to keep. Still, her name and her face are remembered in our house and
the memory of Jenny is as sad and as sweet as the cry of a nightbird drifting
across the new green fields of spring".
John:
Still awake, son?
John-Boy:
Yes, Daddy.
John:
Well, wish I could tell you it's going to hurt a little less tomorrow.
John-Boy:
Yes sir.
John:
But I don't think it will.
John-Boy:
Yes sir.
John:
'Night, son.
John-Boy:
Yes sir.
Notes:
Old Man Dolsom is said to build dulcimers in the area. For
more information on dulcimers, go to http://www.cybozone.com/luthier/instruments/dulcimer.html
The family eats
meat loaf the night that John-Boy is found by the
family to be in love with Jenny.
John-Boy sings to Jenny these two songs:
“I plant me a red and rosy bush,
I plant me a green willow tree.
To prove to all who come this
way,
That she has forsaken me.”
“When I was young and I was gay,
I loved her long and well.
But the sum that loving has
brought me,
No human touch can tell.
Oh, seen yond lonesome little
turtle dove,
He is swinging on that yonder
vine.
As I do mourn for mine,
Oh, hush you lest you break my
heart.
For no one will I cry,
Ten thousand lovers have already
parted,
So why not you and I.
So why not you and I.”
NOTE 1: This
episode was nominated for two Emmy awards: one for Lee Philips as best director
and the other for Earl Hamner Jr. as best writer.
NOTE 2: During this
episode, John-Boy plays a dulcimer and sings a folk song to Jenny. As a going
away present, Jenny buys John-Boy a dulcimer of his own.
NOTE 3: Sian
Barbara Allen was to return in season 2 to reprise her role as Jenny Pendleton
during the two-hour episode of The Thanksgiving Story.
Also appearing:
Sheriff Ep Bridges (John Crawford), Doc Shackleford (Byron Morrow), Jenny Pendleton (Sian Barbara Allen), Dave Pendleton (Gordon Rigsby), Eula Pendleton (Diane Shalet).
(synopsis written by William Atkins and edited by Arthur Dungate)