Original subtitles

Now, hold it, C.L.! Hold...

Oh, dear. Just a minute.

Oh, come on, Arletta, let's not waste all day on this.

Oh, darling child, this feature's going to be on the front page!

Oh!

Now, let us not move until I finish

counting to thirty-three.

Let us think of sweet, kind things while we pose.

A little more teeth here.

Ah, there, that's better.

Hold it there now!

Can you imagine a newspaperman looking like that, Bill?

I think I'll trim my beard a little bit.

You're not falling again, are ya? No, but I'm teetering.

Miss Hardy, will you marry me?

Charles, what happens if she says yes?

She won't. Nobody ever has yet.

One of these days you're gonna get caught.

Well, if I do, I hope she's the one that catches me.

I don't think she'll have time.

The Major's madder than a hornet.

He was expecting a newspaperman of the male sex.

♪

♪

I tell ya, I never agreed to take along a newspaperwoman!

Is this your signature? Of course it's my signature!

But you misrepresented the facts.

You told me you were sending along a newspaper man.

I beg to differ. I said I was sending a reporter. And I did.

You said you were sending a C.L. Harding.

Now, it never occurred to me, nor would it to anybody else,

that you would send a woman to do a man's job!

The Globe feels Harding's as good a reporter as any man on the staff,

and she gets what she goes after.

I don't care what she gets!

She needs somebody to look after her.

She's still a woman. And, therefore, a second-class citizen.

Is that what you mean, Major Adams? No, Miss Harding.

Listen to me. There's nothing personal about this.

Oh, no? Prejudice always claims to be impersonal.

I haven't got a prejudiced bone in my body.

I... well, I like women.

In their place. And woman's place is in the home.

You're goldarn tootin' it is! I...

N-Now, let's not lose our tempers.

Honor thy mother, but never let it be said that she has a brain.

You just leave my mother out of this.

You're out of the Dark Ages, Major Adams.

Don't you talk to me like that! I can't talk to you at all.

Mr. Ellington, will you please have my wagon moved out of the line?

I'd rather go with another train.

Uh-uh-uh-now, wait a minute! Miss...

Sorry it didn't work out.

C.L.'s series would have given you some nice publicity.

The Jonah Grant train pulls out in about three weeks, doesn't it?

Jonah Grant? You can't send a woman alone along with Jonah Grant!

Major Adams, why don't you tell C.L.

that you're sorry you got off on the wrong foot?

Me?! I tell her I'm sorry?!

Jonah Grant.

Oh...

There ought to be a law against women.

Male intolerance.

Male intolerance. "Pack, unpack,

pack, unpack.."

Ahem!

Are you clearing your throat at me, Major Adams?

Miss Harding...

I-I'm sorry. I-I...

Well, you see, I didn't expect...

Rather, I did expect...

Uh, well, no, you see, when...

Well, then, when I found out...

Well, naturally...

well, anybody would be... Anybody would be what?

Aw, confound it, you know darn well what I'm trying to tell you.

No, I don't. So far, you've been completely inarticulate.

I wasn't expecting a woman.

You were rude, disagreeable, intolerant,

and completely unpleasant.

Yes, ma'am.

Why shouldn't a newspaperman be a woman?

Because a woman hadn't oughta be out in the world alone,

that's why.

And where does she belong, in cold storage?

Maybe some of 'em should be, yes!

Oh, Major Adams, be practical.

A woman requires clothing, food, lodging...

All those things cost money,

and there are only certain ways a woman can earn money.

I've chosen an honorable profession.

A woman should get married

and let her husband provide for her!

Ha ha! What a splendid, archaic, moth-eaten sentiment.

Well, Miss Harding, the world has been turning on that sentiment

for quite some time.

Maybe your musty world, but not mine.

Just what have you got against marriage?

Absolutely nothing. I just don't believe in marrying to get bed and board.

Who said anything... I happen to think marriage without love

is thoroughly dishonest.

Ah, I... sorry.

Every time I open my mouth,

I seem to stick my goldarn foot in it.

I... I'm sorry.

Major. Uh...

why were you looking for me? Did you come to say goodbye?

Well... no.

But apparently I've said it.

What did you want to say?

Well, I...

I wanted to ask you to stay with us.

You see, well...

maybe there are some things I can learn about women,

particularly women like you. Maybe.

You know, we women have just recently emerged from the Dark Ages,

and I'm afraid sometimes our sex gets the better of us

in spite of our high ideals.

A good newspaperman never resigns in a fit of temper.

I can't leave.

Now you're talkin'.

Friends?

Friends.

SETH: Let 'er roll!

Lead out!

"At last came the morning when the cry, 'Wagons ho!'

"rang out like a bugle call,

"and we were on our way.

"We were a hundred prairie schooners,

"and over twice as many people,

"a village on wheels,

a small community headed West."

"We traveled on through days and days of rain.

"Our wheels sunk deep into prairie mud.

"The land stretched emptily and endlessly on all sides of us.

"We began to feel small and insignificant.

"The wind set its might against us,

"and stole whatever it could rip from our wagons.

"But somehow we moved on,

day after day, week after week..."

All right, let's try it.

Come on, git!

Come on, Blackie! Come on, Kate!

Maybe I better give her a hand.

No, she's doin' all right.

Come, git! Come on!

Come on! Hey!

Git! Come on, Kate!

We'll be in Ash Hollow by tomorrow night.

Now, the Indians in this part of the country are generally very friendly,

but they've still got a keen eye for a good horse or a mule.

So I want you to stay close to camp.

If you get out of sight of the wagons,

we're liable to have a little trouble finding you.

Just bear that in mind, will you?

Good night, folks.

Good night.

My, he certainly is rugged, isn't he?

Oh, Arletta, you're not falling in love again?

Maybe just a teensy-weensy bit.

Hero worship.

I guess I've just never outgrown it.

You're entirely too romantic.

Well, it is spring.

I'll take a dose of sulfur and molasses.

Bud? Here.

Oh.

Where's the boss?

She said she was gonna ride to the rear of the train.

I think she was gonna interview someone.

She sure is a nosy one.

It's her job to be nosy. She's a newspaperman.

She's gonna end up in trouble,

you take my word for it.

Women can't go around stickin' their nose in everything

without getting into trouble.

C.L. can. She's very capable.

Ho!

Looks like we got a couple of young bucks following us.

You better go back and see if you can find out what they want, Bill.

All right.

All right, Charlie, come on.

Ho!

Heeyah!

What?! That's what they said.

What?! That's what they said.

They want to buy me?

Well, what did you say?

I asked 'em how much they were willing to pay.

But that's outrageous! You can't sell me to the Indians!

They offered a darn good price, and I'm just about to take it.

You disobeyed my orders!

I did not disobey your orders,

and I won't be shouted at.

What were you doing up on that hill?

Looking at an Indian burial casket.

Well, you might just have the chance to look at a lot of 'em first-hand!

You're responsible for my safety.

Only as long as you obey my orders.

You said not to ride out of sight of the wagon train,

and I kept the train in sight!

Through what, a pair of binoculars?

I'm gonna report you to my editor.

You can't intimidate me.

Listen here, lady...

You're heading for home at the very next stop.

I'm a newspaperman. It's my job to report news.

Is it your business to create it?

You've jeopardized the lives of everybody on this wagon train.

What do you think would happen if those Indians came back

with a bunch of their friends?

Do you think they will?

I don't know. It's happened before.

I never realized.

Yeah, there's a lot of things you never realized.

And one thing you better start realizing

is that you're a woman, and a darned attractive one,

and you can't run around expecting every man

to treat you like just one of the boys!

Yes, sir.

Oh...

Major, I don't think you should talk to her like that.

You shut up or I'll sell you to the Indians!

They didn't offer anything for me.

Do you think she's pretty, Major? Yes... No!!!

I don't know! I never thought about it. Well, I think she is.

You think everybody's pretty, don't you? Only women.

She's not a woman, she's a newspaperman!

I keep forgetting that.

But I bet she writes a pip of an article about you tonight.

She better be darn careful what she writes about me.

I'm still running this outfit, and don't you forget it!

Oh, I won't. I won't.

Oh, thanks, Arletta.

Good evening, Miss Harding. Good evening.

I just thought I'd drop by and...

You know, those... Those articles you're writing,

I kind of thought I'd like to see 'em.

Oh. Well, we'll get copies of the first paper

at the next mail station.

Well, I'd like to see some of 'em now.

No, I'm afraid I couldn't let you do that, Major.

Why not? Are you, uh,

are you writing something you think I won't like?

Well, I don't know whether you'll like them or not.

Well, apparently you are writing something you think I won't like.

Let me see what you're writing right now.

No. That's quite impossible.

This is my wagon train.

But it is not your newspaper.

I have every ri...

I have every right to protect the reputation of my train.

Well, since I only report the truth,

the reputation of your train is entirely in your own hands.

I don't know whether or not you're familiar with

the traditions of the Fourth Estate...

The what estate? The newspaper world.

Perhaps you've never heard of freedom of the press.

Ah... Believe me,

it's something that every newspaperman in the world

will fight to the death to preserve and defend.

Good night, Major Adams.

Ahhh!

Very funny!

"We traveled on, deeper and deeper into the heart of America,

"and Spring rolled out her carpet ahead of us,

"and the days were golden, and bright with flowers.

"We took music with us; we took laughter;

"we took drama; the drama of what we had left behind

"and what we hoped was beyond the horizon.

"And we also took tears.

"The tears were for those whose dreams suddenly ended

"in the still, quiet earth far from California.

"Death has ridden beside us every mile of the way;

"the silent grave is quiet warning of his presence.

"And perhaps because of the moments of sorrow,

"the moments of joy seem gayer than any moments have ever seen before.

"Major Seth Adams is a man of great moral strength and purpose,

but, like all humans, he does have his blind spots."

Good evening, Miss Harding.

Hawks said you wanted to talk to me.

Oh, yes, I do. Please sit down, Major Adams.

Is it, uh, safe?

Oh, you still haven't forgotten that mousetrap.

I'm not likely to forget that.

Well, I'm sure you're the kind of a man who enjoys a joke.

Well, I guess I enjoy it more when it's on someone else.

I like you for admitting that.

You probably think I'm a terrible-tempered old fossil, don't you?

Well, you do have a temper.

But I am an old fossil?

Now, now... you're fishing.

I guess maybe I am at that.

I don't happen to think you're an old fossil,

except when you act like one.

C.L... you don't mind if I call you C.L., do you?

Not at all, Seth.

Let's start all over.

Let's bury the hatchet. Agreed.

And not in each other's back.

Not in each other's back.

Friends? Friends.

Your eyes are blue.

You're color blind. They're green.

Uh, you wanted to talk to me, you said.

Hmm?

Oh, yes.

I heard that we're having an election Saturday night.

That's right, yes, for Judge.

Jim Appleton says that he doesn't want to preside

at the wagon train trials anymore,

says he's losing too many friends.

Oh, Seth, if you only knew what a great opportunity you have right now.

I don't run for office.

But I'm talking about something much bigger than running for office.

I'm talking about a man who steps out of a bolt of lightning

and flings a principle into the skies! What principle?

Your name will be on the front page

of every newspaper in the country...

"Seth Adams gives women the vote!"

Doesn't it have a glorious ring to it? Shh!

"Seth Adams gives women the vote!"

Shh! Somebody'll hear you.

Let them hear. Let the whole world hear!

C.L., sit down, will you, please?

Please sit down. Come on.

Now, let's look at this thing calmly and rationally.

Well, of course. That's the only way to look at it.

And we won't lose our tempers, we will not get personal.

No. No. Completely impersonal. All right.

Now, the world is the way it is,

and you are not going to change it.

Why not? The world is changing all the time.

Our forefathers brought a whole new concept of government to this country.

Now, you've read the Constitution.

You bet your boots I've read the Constitution,

and you can't show me one place in it

where it gives women the right to vote.

Well, they... they couldn't think of everything.

Well, I'm sure that when you think this over

that you'll agree with me that you're being completely unreasonable.

Unreasonable?

What marvelous self-confidence.

What... what monstrous ego!

Now, we said we wouldn't get personal.

Well, that's a completely impersonal opinion.

Look, voting is a man's job. Who says so?

Everybody. Everybody says so!

Well, half of "everybody" are women!

You can't confine democracy just to men.

I can on this wagon train!

Ohh. And I thought you were a giant.

Why, you're nothing but a... But a midget!

Whether you like it or not, this is a man's world.

But women populate it.

Not alone, they don't!

You try populating it alone and see how far you get.

Oh, why can't women just he happy being women?

We feed you, we clothe you,

we devote all our lives to taking...

We wash for you, we cook for you, we mend for you,

and what do we get in return?

We're menials, personal charwomen,

housekeepers without wages.

You never kept house in your whole life!

Now, don't you get personal.

That is a strictly impersonal opinion.

You are a dunderhead!

I tell you, the hand the rocks the cradle rules the world!

You're a radical!

You're so conservative you're obsolete!

All right. All right!

Where you goin'? To my wagon.

C.L., this is your wagon, right here.

Well, then, you get away from my property.

We promised we'd bury the hatchet, C.L., remem...

And don't you call me C.L.!

Now you're talking like a woman! I am a woman!

You certainly are.

Ohhh!

Ohhh! I hate wagons!

I wish I had a door so I could slam it!

You know that old saying "Walls have ears"?

Well, wagons... All right, so you heard.

My, he is compelling when he gets angry.

I can't stand that man.

That must make it even more exciting.

Why don't you let me mix you a dose of sulfur and molasses?

What'd you do with the coffee?

I threw it out.

That's just fine.

Major, why are you always arguing with Miss Hardy?

Oh, I don't know.

It's just because she's a woman and I'm a man.

I don't know. Can you think of a better arrangement?

Say, how did you know we were arguing?

Well, you weren't exactly whispering, you know.

Why don't you let her vote, Major? She's so pretty.

Why don't you mind your own goldarn business?

Because yours is more interesting, that's why.

You go to blazes! I'm gonna turn in.

Now, boys,

Saturday night is election night.

We've got two candidates for the office of Judge.

One of 'em, Jed Foley here...

Good man!

And the other is Frank Hoag.

Good old Frank.

Now, if any of the rest of you men

think you'd like to run for this office of Judge,

talk to me after this meeting.

On Saturday, we cross over into the territory of Wyoming.

We're gonna hole up at Miller Springs for a little rest,

then we'll have the election Saturday night.

Afterwards, we're gonna have a little party.

Sounds good by me!

Now, hold on, men, before you break up.

There are a few things I want to talk to you about tomorrow's route...

What's going on with them women?

My wife says the women are having a meeting of their own.

Nobody said anything to me about a goldarn meetin'.

This is America, the land of the free,

and the women of America are in bondage.

We've gotta stand up and fight, ladies!

This is war! ARLETTA: This is war!

May I have your attention, please?

Attention!

We've got a lot of important things to discuss!

They're making so much noise, they're gonna scare all the stock!

What do suppose they're doing over there?

Oh, it's just woman talk.

It's got nothing to do with us.

Now... WOMEN: Hurray!

We'll do battle right here in the wilderness.

We'll show them we're not soft and spineless.

From now on, it's the iron hand in the velvet glove!

Liberty or death!

Hurray! To the death!

Must we really go that far?

We won't have to.

We can bring them to their knees

without firing a shot if we all stand together.

But how are we going to do it?

Strike, ladies, strike!

From now on, no cooking, no mending,

no washing...

And above all, no affection.

But I've only been married a month.

Good. Then you should be able to do wonders!

My husband can't boil water without burning it!

Then we're all agreed.

We strike until we get our vote!

What are you doing here?!

I want to join the movement. But you're a man!

I am not. I'm a turncoat.

Don't let him in. He's a spy! No, I'm not.

I'll take the pledge. Well, welcome to the ranks.

It's a pleasure to meet a man who doesn't insist that this is a man's world.

I'm for a man's world, all right,

but with women in it.

To the ladies. Bless 'em!

What's the matter with you?

Why aren't you cooking my supper?

Because there's a strike on, that's why,

and you're not gonna make a strikebreaker out of me.

A strike, huh? What are you striking for?

Women's rights. Women's rights?

How can you possibly be for this idiotic idea?

Because I'm a fair-minded man, that's why.

I'm for the underdog.

Underdog my foot. You're still a man.

Listen, Major, I know what it is to cook over a hot stove all day

and not be appreciated.

I also know what it is to wash and mend and scrub my fingers to the bone, too.

I never saw fatter, better-fed fingers in my life.

All right, keep it up. Bite the hand that feeds you.

Well, you're biting the hand that pays you.

Now, you get over there and cook my supper or, by golly, I'll fire ya.

Listen, Major, you can't fire me.

I've got the strength of every woman in the world behind me.

Women, huh? Well, we'll see about that!

Hey... that smells pretty good.

You couldn't spare a little taste of that, could you?

I wish I could, Major Adams,

but we're not allowed to feed you.

Yes, Major Adams?

Well, Miss Harding.

I don't know what you've done to Wooster,

but you've turned him against me.

Well, if you haven't made him happy, you can hardly blame me.

He always thought he was happy till he met you.

You've ruined a darn good cook.

Did you ever once tell him that he was a good cook?

Wooster gets paid in gold, not compliments.

Sometimes compliments are even more important than gold.

Miss Harding,

I don't know what it was you said to Wooster,

but you'd better unsay it, because I'm hungry,

I want my supper, and it's his job to get it!

Mr. Wooster is a high-minded man who believes in justice.

He has voluntarily placed his job on the altar of woman's suffrage.

If you had the same high-minded principles,

you'd push his job right back in his face.

You haven't got a legal leg to stand on.

I refer you to the Constitution.

I refer you to the Bill of Rights.

And I refer you right back to it... you're not even in it!

We will be. Well, you won't be.

Not on this issue, you won't,

I wouldn't be too sure of that. No matter what you say or do!

We'll see.

You're ruined my disposition, my digestion!

I was a happy man till you came on this train,

and now I'm a... I don't know what I am!

Well, then, let us vote. Never!

We'll see.

You're darn tootin' we'll see!

Attention!

Chest out! Straight!

Torches up!

Squad, right!

"When in the course of human events

"it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve

"the political bonds which have connected them with another,

"and to assume among the powers of the earth

"the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature

and of Nature's God entitle them..."

"We hold these truths to be self-evident,

that all men are created equal."

"Governments are instituted among men,

"deriving their just powers

"from the consent of the governed,

"that whenever any form of government

"becomes destructive of the ends,

it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it."

Women can't declare war!

It plainly states right here in the Constitution

that only Congress shall have the power to declare war.

"The right of the citizens of the United States to vote

"shall not be denied or abridged

"on account of race, color,

"or previous condition of servitude.

"With a firm reliance in the protection of divine providence,

"we mutually pledge to each other our lives,

our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

Excelsior!

March!

Cup of coffee, Bill? Yeah.

Say, I think we better turn the draft animals out to graze,

and put a bell on that old mare, will you? All right.

Who made this?

Well, I made it.

Oh.

Whew.

I brought everything I could find.

My wife won't tell me where anything is.

Well, dump in whatever you found.

Everything? Well, sure, it's a stew, ain't it?

Dried apples in a stew?

We ain't in no position to be choosey.

I just don't understand Marilla.

She's the dutiful type.

She always obeyed her father,

and she always obeyed me.

They all turn on you eventually.

You know what it is? Basically, they just don't like us.

No, sir. Marilla always liked me.

She kept no secret about it, either.

She told everyone all over town.

Then why is she letting you go hungry?

Well, sir, she says it's the principle of the thing.

I'll tell you what the principle is.

The principle is they just don't like us.

They hate us because we're superior.

"I am a woman"?

Honey, you don't need a sign to get that across.

Frank, please. You're not allowed to kiss me.

Who says so?

Susan B. Anthony, Amelia Bloomer, and C.L. Harding.

Oh, they don't even know me!

They don't have to. They know men.

Estabelle, you can have my vote.

No. I have to have my very own.

Hey, where ya goin'?

We're staging a demonstration.

Oh, Estabelle.

Everybody... Estabelle. Estabelle! Come along.

Now, everybody stand straight,

and march in a military style!

That's right.

Now...

Left, right, left, right,

left, right, march!

Left, right, left right...

Halt!

♪ ...is the hand the rules the world ♪

♪ Oh, the hand that rocks the cradle ♪

♪ Is that hand that rules the world ♪

♪ For the hand that rocks the cradle ♪

♪ Is the hand that rules the world ♪

Major Adams! Some of the horses are stampeding.

Get some men, saddle up.

We'll have to go get 'em.

Five men, saddle up!

Thank you.

I'll take him, Major.

You chose your side, Brutus.

I think he's mad.

She didn't have to say all that.

Any wagon master would have done the same thing.

Major Adams,

we've been thinkin'.

What harm would it do to let 'em vote?

I'm willing to come out for women's rights.

SETH: You're not gonna do anything of the kind.

Oh, yes, he is. We all are!

My britches is torn. I can't sew!

I can't wash and iron.

I can't boil water without burning it!

I've only been married a month.

You listen to me, boys.

These women'll come back,

and they'll come back on their bended knees.

You ever been married, Major? What's that got to do with it?

Well, the only time a man can handle women is when he's a bachelor.

No woman is gonna dictate to me.

I run this outfit.

Don't tell us... Tell them. Yeah!

Sometimes I think we shoulda taken the Jonah Grant train.

Right! You said it all.

When you gonna give in, Major?

You're big and strong, and they're so weak and defenseless.

Defenseless? Huh!

I never knew anything more dangerous in my life than a defenseless woman.

That's the best kind of danger I ever heard of.

You sound to me like you're gettin' lovesick.

I think that C.L. Harding's got you wrapped right around her little finger.

I can't help it, Major, just because she's so pretty.

Well, I hope you two will be very happy!

Wait a minute. She doesn't even know I'm alive,

at least the way you say.

She's crazy in love with somebody else.

Oh, she is, huh?

What makes you so goldarn sure of that?

Because I know all the symptoms.

I've had 'em myself a lot of times.

Oh, you have, huh? Yeah.

Well, what are those symptoms, Charlie?

The first thing, everything gets off-balance.

You can't wait till you see someone,

then when you do see 'em, you say all the wrong things.

You get touchy and irritable.

You can't sleep. You lose your taste for food.

One minute you're on top of the world,

and the next minute the world's on top of you.

It's like being drunk and having a hangover all at the same time.

Well, I'll be doggoned.

Oh, Seth, I...

I'm so sorry.

Sorry? For what?

About the stampede. I...

Oh, there's no harm done.

You know, I...

You look kinda tired.

I haven't been sleeping very well.

Neither have I.

How's your appetite?

Oh, not too good. I don't know why,

but lately I've been so touchy and jumpy and...

Yeah. Same thing with me.

I guess it's all the excitement.

Yeah, I suppose so.

What's the news from home?

Well, it's not a very newsy letter.

It's... it's from Mr. Ellington.

Oh, your editor. What does he say about your articles in the paper?

Uh, nothing. It's, um...

it's not that kind of a letter. Uh...

Mr. Ellington has asked me to marry him.

Well, I...

I suppose if, uh...

well, if a woman... likes that kind of a man,

that that's the kind of a man she'd...

She'd like.

I suppose so.

Is he the kind of a man a woman like you would like?

Well, he's...

Well, he's a very brilliant man.

But, I don't know, he just doesn't seem to have any spirit of adventure.

He's not the kind of a man, for instance,

who could get excited about what's over the horizon...

He already knows exactly what's there

because he's looked it up in the library.

You know, I've brought quite a few women West on these trains,

and I don't think I've ever heard a single one of 'em

mention spirit of adventure

or horizons.

They all wanted a home, a house with a fence around it.

I don't like fences.

I don't either. I couldn't live behind 'em.

Well, of course you couldn't. And I couldn't either.

Mm. I suppose, uh... he could?

He? Who?

Mr. Ellington. We were talking about Ellington.

Oh. Yes, we were talking about him.

And I'm sure that he's the kind of a man

that would help women get the right to vote.

Oh, well, for heaven's sakes,

voting isn't everything, you know.

Why, C.L. Harding... What about your crusade?

What about women's rights?

Why, you're stepping into history!

Well, who cares about that?

Do you know what someone once wrote?

"The happiest women are like the happiest nations.

They have no history."

Could you be that kind of a woman?

Could you give up all these things

you've been fighting for so hard and so long?

Right now...

today, I... I almost think I could.

ARLETTA: Oh, tidings!!!!

Great tidings!

Here once the embattled women stood

and fired the shot heard round the world!

Why does she always talk in quotations?

Arletta, what are you trying to say?

Where are we camped now, Major Adams?

Miller Springs. In what territory?

Just across the border into Wyoming.

Wyom... O glorious day! O happy, happy day!

Day of liberation! Rejoice! Rejoice!

I think she's torn her bonnet.

You're a law-abiding citizen, aren't you, Major Adams?

You uphold and defend the laws of the United States

and all her territories, don't you?

Yes, ma'am, just as much as I can.

Then history has you by the coattails.

The territory of Wyoming has just passed women's suffrage.

Ho ho ho!

The first women ever to vote in the history of America

will vote tonight on the Seth Adams wagon train!

Well, you... you got what you wanted.

WOMAN: Thank you.

Thanks. I say you'll make a fine judge.

Thanks.

I've just finished counting the house, and you're in.

There are 22 more women than men.

Come on, Major, it ain't the end of the world.

Oh, it isn't, huh? Don't be a sorehead.

If you can't lick 'em, join 'em.

Go on back with your suffragettes.

Oh!

Let's have a victory parade for Frank Hoag right after the voting.

Why, you don't seem to realize, we won, C.L.!

We won!

We did...

C.L...

Oh.

What's the matter with Miss Harding? She won the battle.

Yes...

but is winning a battle worth... losing the war?

Well, I don't know whether I'm supposed to laugh or cry.

I guess I'll go make me a drink of sulfur and molasses.

"We started out from St. Joe...

"a hundred wagons, and over twice as many people.

"It was Spring then,

"and now the rich, golden glow of summer is all about us.

"Our wagons are no longer so bright or new...

"the trail is treacherous and not easily tamed.

"Nature has deadly enemies to set against us;

"each new mile seems to have a new challenge.

"And when fire and flood and heat and drought

"have done their worst,

"there is still worse to come.

"Yet, somehow, we survive.

"And I, who started this trip to give you the chronicle

"of the journey of a wagon train,

"find it was easier to describe at the beginning

"than it is now.

"In the beginning, I was a spectator,

"but, well, now my heart is linked to my fellow travelers,

"and the perspective is difficult.

"The train is no longer a row of prairie schooners to me;

"the train is over 200 men, women, and children

"moving slowly but surely towards the Western ocean.

"Their wheels are linking the East and West,

"pulling an untamed continent into a nation.

"Tomorrow my journey ends at Fort Laramie,

"and I must say goodbye to many people I have learned to love.

Parting will not be easy."

Charlie...

I sure hate to see you leave us, Miss Harding.

Well, I hate to leave.

I'm never going to forget you.

You're the best friend a suffragette ever had.

Oh, any red-blooded man would have done the same thing.

Thank you, Charlie.

If you ever need a cook, you just let me know. All right.

Bill. We got you all packed and ready for leavin'

in the morning, ma'am. Thank you, Bill.

Thank you for everything. It's been a pleasure.

Good luck. Bye.

She's quite some gal, isn't she?

Don't you talk about her.

Where were you when she needed you for the suffragettes?

Charles, I'm not the suffragette type.

Well, I've got convictions.

Hey, how about a little three-handed, you two?

On Miss Harding's last night?

That's the same as any other night as far as I'm concerned.

I'll get the cards. Not according to Charlie, it isn't.

Oh? Aren't you gonna tell Miss Harding goodbye?

Are you gonna start telling me what to do again?

Somebody oughta tell you what to do.

You can't eat and you can't sleep

and you're getting touchy and irritable. Mind your own business!

And the same goes for you! I never opened my mouth.

Well, see that you don't! Yes, sir.

What'd I say? Touchy and irritable. You shut up.

All right. Be an old maid if you want to.

Come on, Bill, we'll play a little two-handed.

I was the one that wanted to play cards!

You're not taking any of our money.

You have every ace in the deck tonight.

You're bound to be lucky at cards,

you're so blamed determined to be unlucky at love!

Oh, I oughta...

Arletta, if you don't stop crying,

you're gonna float this wagon!

I just can't help it!

I can't keep a stiff upper lip.

I'm just awash with misery!

Well, do your crying somewhere else. You're demoralizing.

He's not even going to come and say goodbye!

After all you've been to each other, he...

He's not going to come and say goodbye!

After all that's passed between you!

Nothing had passed between us, Arletta. Nothing at all.

Oh, you had the most magnificent fights!

Yes. I think that's the trouble.

You do care for him... I know you do!

If I do, I'll do my own weeping in my own good time.

Oh...

We're here.

Whoa!

Suddenly I seem to have an awful lot to say to you.

Seems like there's no place...

no time to say it.

You knew you were leaving today...

Why didn't you come and say goodbye to me?

Why didn't you?

Well, I can't run around after you like a big bear with a ring in his nose.

Well, a woman can't be chasing around after a man.

Why not? We're all equal.

Intellectually, yes,

but that doesn't change man's relation to woman.

You still want the whole cake, don't you?

The position of men and the privileges of women.

Why do we have to waste these moments quarreling, too?

Why not? Consistent right down to the wire.

You said goodbye to everybody on this train last night except me!

Well, I was hoping you'd come to me!

I was busy with the train! Well, I was busy packing!

You make me so goldarn mad I can't even see straight!

Well, I won't be around any longer to make you mad!

I suppose you're gonna go marry that fat-headed editor of yours!

That is my business.

You're goldarn right it's your business,

and don't you get any idea that I care what you do!

Well, don't you get any ideas that I care

whether you care what I do or not!

You're the most infuriating, maddening, aggravating woman

I ever had the misfortune to run across in my life!

Well, you're nothing but a stubborn, bone-headed,

addle-pated dunderhead! You can't talk to me like that!

I can't talk to you at all.

C.L.!

C.L.

What in tarnation's your name?

Cecelia Lucinda.

Cecelia Lucinda.

Oh, it sounds so old-fashioned and... and so feminine.

Oh, Cecelia Lucinda.

Oh, Seth.

Why did we have to waste all our time?

Because I'm a...

bone-headed, addle-pated,

stubborn old dunderhead, that's why.

Well, it takes one to know one.

Tell me something.

Do you feel like you're drunk and that you've got a hangover all at the same time?

Yes, exactly.

Seth!

Seth.

Goodbye.

Goodbye?

Listen, don't you ever dare use that word to me.

In six months I'll be back in St. Joe, and you be there!

Uh-uh... I mean, please be there.

Yes, sir.

That's much better, ma'am,

much better.

Wagons... ho!

"And so I reached the end of my journey,

"and the little city on wheels rolled on.

"A wagon train is a dream, a star,

"a caravan winding into the future.

"It's hope and fear,

"sacrifice and promise,

"it's the past and the future,

"it's yesterday struggling towards tomorrow.

"It's America on her way West.

"And I know someday I will follow,

"for I glimpsed a dream of my own beyond the horizon,

"a man so tall, so brave,

he seemed to fill the universe."

♪