Original subtitles

What do you think's in them?

I don't know. They sure are heavy.

Can't we open just one? No, it's for your mom.

What's for me? All this?

What? From your mother.

Can I open one? Me too.

I don't think you'll need Sally to help you.

Look at all these.

Why did your mom get so many books?

They're from my father's library.

My mother says the books have been gathering dust for some time and she

to have them.

As an endowment to help civilize the Colorado wilderness.

What are we supposed to do with them?

Read them, silly.

Where are we going to keep all these books?

Next to my bed, in the barn.

I don't think that's a very good idea.

Why not?

All books are too special to be hidden away in the barn. Books are meant to be

shared. We should keep them in the house.

I remember when people used to stop by my father's house to borrow these.

Like a library?

Yes, that's what it was.

My father loved to help people learn.

We could do something like that.

That's a lovely idea, Brian.

Don't you think that the homestead's a little far for people to be coming up

just to get a book?

We wouldn't have to keep them at the homestead. We could keep them right here

where people could borrow them whenever they wanted.

But we don't live in town.

We wouldn't have to live in town to keep these books for use the way my father

would have wanted.

How's that?

We're going to open this town's first public library.

The time was we had to paint a sign that said library outside this building and

pretend we had some books inside.

Not anymore.

Now we got us a library as good as any back east.

As mayor. Why don't you let Dr. Mike speak?

I'm getting to it. They're her books.

All right.

Here's Dr. Mike.

A

long

time ago when I was little,

took a trip to England.

I wrote to tell him how much I missed him, and in his return letter, he said

that whenever I was thinking of him, I should go into his library and read it,

that he wouldn't seem so far away so long as I had all of his books around

Well, he was right.

He didn't seem so far away back then, and he doesn't seem so far away right

We hereby dedicate this building the Joseph Quinn Memorial Library Memorial

Library

Colleen, who's volunteered to be our librarian.

She's going to be here an hour after school each day and two hours on

morning. Who'd ever thought?

Our very own library.

I'd forgotten how much I meant to have him all these books around.

Hey, Mom, I found a great book. Can I go outside and read it? Did you have

Colleen check it out?

Do I have to?

Yes, everyone does.

Oh, it makes me wish I'd had some books for my boys when they were his age.

Brian's going to get so much out of this library.

This library's going to be helpful for all the children.

I know. These books help me a great deal.

Thank you.

For what?

For letting me read your book.

Don't you want to take it home?

I ain't got the money to pay.

You don't have to pay, Charles.

The library will lend it to you.

How come?

Because that's what the library's for.

Lending out books.

You get to take it home and read it, and then you have to bring it back in three

weeks. Lana, well, first I've got to write down your name, next to the name

the author, the title of the book, and the date to do back.

Can I take it home now?

Yep.

You leaving already, Jay?

There's nothing else to say.

There could be if you learned how to read.

I ain't got time for reading. Ain't got time or ain't got the courage?

Are you saying I'm scared?

Sure looks like that to me.

I can learn any time I want. How about tonight?

Let's say them again.

A. Thank you, ma 'am.

We're just starting.

Now, look.

You've got to learn what each letter looks like.

Look.

A.

A.

B.

B.

B.

C. What are you doing? What's that look like I'm doing? I'm dusting.

You dust someplace else.

Dorothy, this is not a schoolhouse.

It's a store, and people expect it to be kept tidy.

What's this letter right here?

D.

Thank you, Lord.

Now, what's this?

What's this letter here?

This is amazing.

You can really teach a frog how to jump.

Did you know that?

Want to read about how to make a frog jump, Ma?

Perhaps when I finish reading the surgical textbook.

How about you, Sully?

Oh, I like the book I got.

I'm going to do some reading outside.

I think it's time for you to close your books and go to sleep.

Just a little longer.

Hold on. You can read more tomorrow.

Good night.

May I join you?

Are you keeping your book a secret?

Keeping it a secret?

What is it?

It's poetry.

Poetry?

You don't like poetry?

Oh, I love poetry.

My father always used to read it to us.

It's been a long time since I heard poetry.

Because you always got your nose buried in those medical books.

Well, now's your chance to read me something different.

You see,

I resign myself to you also.

I guess what you mean.

I behold from the beach your crooked and writing fingers.

I believe you refuse to go back without feeling of me.

We must have a turn together.

I undress, bring you out of the sight of land.

Clip me soft, rock me in a billowy drowse.

Dash me with amorous wet, I can repay you.

Who wrote that?

Walt Whitman. Walt Whitman wrote that?

Yes.

Well, it's not appropriate.

What's not appropriate about it?

Well, there are certain things that aren't meant to be written about.

What things?

I think you know what I mean.

You don't like poetry about the ocean?

I'm not writing about the ocean, Sally.

That book around the house where the children might find it.

They won't find it.

Oh,

it was a nice idea anyway.

Maybe we can try it again sometime.

You might have a change of heart.

And he teaches them how to be the best jumping frog in the county. How can

anybody want to teach a frog how to jump?

Well, in the story, the man does it so he can win lots of money in a frog

jumping contest.

We could do that.

Not until we get our own.

Look.

There's another one.

I'll get that one.

We're teaching the young.

Sorry, Reverend. I didn't see you.

No need to apologize.

The way you read's a real example for the other children.

Reading's my favorite thing to do.

Every time I start a book, it's like going to a whole new place, meeting lots

interesting people and doing all sorts of exciting things.

What's this one about?

The man who's never happened.

So he tells his soul to the devil that the devil can never make him say that

he's satisfied with anything.

The devil?

And the devil does all these things for him, but the man... May I see that?

Do you know what book Colleen's reading?

Faust.

I remember reading this when I was around Colleen's age.

You approve of this book?

Approve?

This is a book about a man who sells his soul to the devil.

It's about more than that, Reverend.

That's what the devil would like to have us think, Dr. Mike. That's how he

confuses us. That's how he leads us away from God.

It's just a story.

The devil's words are never just a story, Dr. Mike.

This is how people start to lose their way, by reading things that they

shouldn't. I will not allow a book like this in the library.

Forgive me, Reverend, but I don't believe that you're concerned what books

have in this library.

Just as it is your responsibility as a doctor to look out for the physical well

-being of this community, it is my responsibility as a minister to look out

their spiritual concerns.

You do a fine job, Reverend.

But confiscating fiction isn't going to do you or the town any good.

Colleen should be free to read whatever she chooses from this library.

Are you going to give this back to me?

I do not believe that children should be allowed to read whatever they wish.

There must be something. You wouldn't want your children to read.

Well, of course there is.

It's a matter of choice.

And whose choice would that be, Dr. Mike?

What's this?

I want you to publish that as an editorial in the Gazette.

Well, I usually write them myself, Reverend.

I think you'll agree with everything I've written.

Something the matter, Reverend?

Yes, something is the matter.

Yesterday, I found Colleen reading a book about a man who sold his soul to

devil.

And I've heard about a lot of other books at that library that sound just as

bad.

An English woman writing about prostitutes.

And a Russian man who writes about nihilists, which are people that don't

believe in anything, God included.

I tell you, that library's going to wind up in more trouble than it's worth.

You said you liked the library.

Well, it was before people stopped buying my books.

Why, they come in here and expect me to lend them to them for free.

You sure you want to print this, Reverend?

Yes, I'm sure.

I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't speak up now. I agree with the Reverend.

Print the editorial.

But, Jake, you can't even read it.

I don't have to read it to know that those books are trouble.

Can you put it in this week's edition?

Well... I got the best jumping frog in town. We both got

the best jumping frogs in town.

Do not. Do to.

I got frogs around my house.

jump clear over my head. You want to bet?

Yeah. You can bring your frogs on Sunday, and we'll see.

All right.

Anybody else want to bet?

Bring your frogs, bring your money.

Let's see who's got the best jumper in town.

Colleen? Reverend?

I'll take that.

Dr. Mike said I could read it.

Dr. Mike said you could read it in the library.

But you're at school now, and as your teacher, I'm telling you to give me that

book.

I may not run the library, but I do run the school.

And I will not have a book about the devil on school grounds.

You can have it back at the end of the...

Any such book is a threat to the spiritual well -being of our town.

It should not be allowed in our library.

I say he's got a point.

Books like that just ain't decent.

He might have a point, but we're going to have to do a whole lot more than

a bunch of editorials if we want to keep those books out of town.

That's why we're having the town meeting, Jake.

I don't see why we need a town meeting for a bunch of books.

Because books can give folks bad ideas.

And whatever we end up doing, I know you're going to support us, right,

Well, I don't think Dr. Mike's going to be so happy about the idea of folks

getting rid of her father's books.

I'd say she looks a little more than unhappy.

Do you really mean this?

Michaela, the Reverend wrote that editorial. And you printed it.

Well, it's my job to print what I see fit.

Book publishers have the same job, Dorothy. Oh, no, they don't. No, they're

publishing all sorts of things.

Newspapers print only facts.

They report the truth.

But this isn't the truth. It's an opinion. It's an opinion based on fact,

Michaela. There are books in that library that have no business being

They all belong here.

Oh, no, not all of them.

You've got a book in there called the Koran.

About some strange kind of religion.

And something else called civil disobedience. Now, what kind of

civil? And I've heard that there's even a copy of those dirty poems by that

Whitman fella.

Well, it's... Oh, I mean, Walt Whitman isn't someone that I would care to read,

but I wouldn't stop someone else from reading it.

We can't be legislating morality.

Those books aren't only morally wrong, they're legally wrong.

What law states that?

Right here. Right here in this article from the Denver paper.

Here. The question whether a publication is obscene does not depend upon its

being true or false, but upon its tendency to inflame the passions and

debauch society.

Can you see that?

We don't need books like Mr. Whitman's to give people ideas and stir up

What kind of trouble?

We don't know, but better safe than sorry.

Books don't start trouble, Dorothy.

Books help stop it.

I hear there's a book all about witchcraft.

Massachusetts. He teaches about witchcraft.

The library can be a great addition to our town, but I think we can all agree

we need to close it down for a while. I don't agree.

Just so as we can figure out which books to get rid of and which ones to keep.

Who's going to do the choosing?

The reverend. How can you allow one man to decide what an entire town should

read?

Not anybody.

He's a reverend.

What makes his judgment better than anybody else's?

I'm not going to do anything rash, Dr. Mike.

I'm going to use common sense.

So would you let my father's medical books stay in the library?

Of course.

Then according to a story I read in the Denver paper, you'd be doing something

illegal, Reverend.

Settle down.

There's a law that says that even medical textbooks can be judged obscene.

Oh, we ain't talking about medical textbooks, Dr. Mike.

You know what kind of books you've got in that library.

It's going to cause so much trouble. I ain't so sure we need a library after

all. I'm beginning to think that we need a library more than ever.

What makes you think that?

Because a library is a place where you open your mind to new ideas, different

cultures. We don't want to know about a bunch of atheists and prostitutes.

There are certain things that you should not open your mind to, Dr. Mike.

Let's vote already.

Those in favor of closing the library, raise your hand.

Council votes 4 -1 to close the library.

Please don't do this. We voted, so...

What are you doing?

Got the names of all the library books in it, so I'm confiscating them.

Are you going to give that back, or do I have to take it away?

We took a legal vote.

It's rightfully.

We're not going to solve anything this way.

We're going to reopen this library legally, with all the books in it.

Where'd Jake...

What are you going to do with that ledger? It's none of your business. I

it's everyone's business because everyone's name is in that book.

It might have been everybody's business when this library was opened. This

library is now officially closed.

Who is that?

It's Jack. Open up.

For the sake, Reverend, sorry to disturb you, Horace.

But, um, we're looking for a book.

Can't it wait till the morning?

Nope. It's a book called The Scarlet Letter, and we need it now.

Well, I don't think I have that book.

I do.

Yes, that's right.

And it says here you took it out of the library last week.

What about it?

Well, Myra, we've...

heard some things about that book.

It's a moral and we're confiscating it.

Not a moral?

Well, maybe not to somebody like you. You watch what you say, Jake.

Myra, it's about an unwed mother, isn't it?

Well, it's about a lady who doesn't want to tell anybody her baby's father's the

town reverend.

Yeah.

Well, we just need the book.

You can't have it.

Myra, that book is a danger to our community.

How is it dangerous?

It gives people ideas.

I think you'd be the last person in town to want to see some little girl get the

wrong idea with the way the world works, if you know what I mean.

No, I don't, Jake.

Now, Myra, Jake is the mayor, and Reverend's always looking out for our

interests. Why, sneaking around in the middle of the night?

Taking people's books away?

The town council voted to close the library, and you still got a book out.

That's why we're here.

Oh, you... I like this book.

I like reading about interesting ladies.

Well, Myra, when we reopen the library, I'm sure you'll find lots of books about

interesting and proper women.

Myra, honey, I... I thought you were through with your old boy alive.

No ham, Horst.

Then how come you're still reading about it?

Oh,

Beth, honey.

We'll take your book, too, Horst.

Oh, my book? I'm just reading a plain old story.

I think you better let us be the judge as to whether a book called...

The vampire is just a plain old story, Horace.

Oh, well, guess right.

Let me go find it.

They're not jumping.

What's the book say about getting them to leap?

Like I told you, the man in the story holds out a fly and says flies, and the

frog jumps.

Hey, look at that.

They ate the flies.

That's because they didn't have to jump for them.

Maybe if we feed them more, they'll have more strength for jumping.

You think?

Of course they will.

Just like we get more strength after eating.

Let's give them the flies and the worms. And another whole jar every day until

Sunday.

We'll have these frogs jumping over everybody then.

Anybody but Lauren know you're coming here?

My goodness, Jake, there's nobody even out there.

Now, shall we pick up where we left off?

That sounds like a good idea.

I'm with the book.

Oh, that.

Yes, that. The reason that we're meeting here.

Now, you were saying your letters were pretty good by the end of last time.

So, let me hear them again.

B.

C.

D.

E.

E. Up.

Look closer.

That's a different letter.

This is a waste of time. No, it's not. You know that letter.

It's F.

Now, think of a word that begins with F.

Friend.

Flower? How about fool, which is what I feel like, because I can't do something

even little kids know how to do. You're going to be reading in no time, as long

as you keep learning your letters.

Lauren's right. I'm too old for this.

Well, anyone who thinks they're too old to learn how to read is too old for me

to be keeping company with.

So I guess I'd better leave.

All right.

Fucking hell.

Start with G.

G. H.

I.

J.

K.

I know a word starts with K.

Oh, now you're getting the hang of it. What starts with K?

Very good.

Now, keep on going.

Yeah.

Not fair. Those books belong to me.

The building belongs to the town.

What if we moved the books to another building?

Where?

One of the extra rooms at the clinic.

It'd be small, but no one could close it down.

It's still the same library.

But it wouldn't be one of the town's buildings anymore.

If someone wanted to borrow a book, all they'd have to do is borrow it from me

personally.

It was what my father used to do in Boston.

It would be my library, and anyone could read whatever they want.

Would I be able to read Walt Whitman?

I'd only worry about...

Having it around the children.

Are you worried about the children or are you worried about yourself?

I'm not like you, Sully.

I can't just sit down and read.

I'm not asking you to read it alone.

I'm asking you to let me share it with you.

I don't know if I can.

I've never really... Different?

It's kind of like thinking about being married, ain't it?

There are things that... still frighten me sometimes.

You're getting ahead of yourself.

What if I can't? It's not time yet, Caleb.

Courting's like reading a book.

You gotta take each chapter in order.

Some chapters are harder to get through than others.

But you read them all.

Otherwise, you'd be cheating yourself out of the whole book.

What do you think you're doing?

Moving my book. The town council voted to close the library.

We'll keep the building closed. We're here for the books.

These books belong to the town now. You donated them, Dr. Mike. I changed my

mind. I'm taking them back.

I'm starting my own private library. If anyone wants to read a book, all they

have to do is ask me.

This is going too far.

I agree.

It's gone too far. I hear you've been sneaking around in the night,

books from people.

That's not what we're doing.

That's exactly what you've been doing, Reverend.

And I expect you to return every one of those books you've taken.

You're the one who's stealing the town of books.

We've got work to do.

And I'd appreciate it if you'd let us get to it.

Folks, ain't nothing but trouble.

I love you

You coming, Dr. Mike?

No, Reverend, not this Sunday.

No saving this one.

It's not stable.

It's always my favorite bedtime story.

A lot of these are worse than that.

How are you going to replace all these books you lost?

I can't.

Never?

It takes a lifetime to collect so many books.

How can people be so stupid?

You mustn't say that, Colleen.

But it's true.

They're stupid.

No, they just don't know better.

That's called ignorance.

Dr. Mike?

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,

God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you.

Have you decided to join us, Dr. Mike?

Yes, I have.

I'm glad to hear that.

And I brought you something.

I think we've had enough to do with those books for a while.

You're absolutely right, Reverend.

But I brought this because I think we can all agree on what to do with it.

I'm glad to see you've had a change of heart. How could I not?

With a book that tells of a father who sacrificed his own daughter.

A book that tells of a man who is married to more than one woman at the

time.

Why, this book even has a passage in it describing how God...

accepted a bet from the devil.

You're right, Dr. Mike. That's a book that we can all agree on.

And handing it over to me is the kind of gesture that will help heal the spirit

of our town.

I thank you for showing so much faith.

Not at all, Reverend.

What is it?

The Holy Bible.

contest not when you lose all your money betting on it you boys gambled and

frogs i read about how to make lots of money having frog jumping contest in

book it sounded like a real good idea sounds like a real good lesson you boys

learned something about making your own decisions how'd we learn that well you

tried something from the book that didn't work out

So next time you read about an idea that sounds like an easy way to make money,

you might say to yourself, well, that's not for me.

You mean not just do it because you read about it.

Exactly. Well, that's what learning's all about.

Reading about lots of different things and then deciding for yourself what you

believe.

Gambling's no good.

And perhaps you'd feel better if you had something to eat.

Nah, I'm not hungry.

Me neither.

Well, if you change your minds.

I'll tell you something else that we know now that we didn't know before.

Never feed a frog five jars of flies and worms if you want him to jump.

What are you doing?

Well, we'll have to dry out all these books. I want to open the library by

tomorrow.

With all the books?

With all of them.

You look like this would need some help.

It helps to spell it out.

I sing the body electric.

The armies of those I love engirth me, and I engirth them.

They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them, and discorrupt

them, and charge them full with the charge of the soul.

The bending forward and backward of rowers and rowboats, the horsemen of his

battle.

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