TV show quotes
I killed him.
What?
He was running that day, trying to keep up with me. Why didn't you tell me he was sick? Why?
Jenny, your father asked us not to.
You should have. This never would have happened if you had told me!
Jenny, now you listen to me. Your father was very sick. Doc Baker told you that.
I could have taken care of him. I could have helped him live, but instead I killed him.
Jenny, you didn't kill him.
Leave me alone. Get out and leave me alone!
[when she wakes up in bed] How did I get here?
Jeb found your note. He saved your life.
Why didn't he let me die? It's what I wanted!
What you wanted? Well, maybe it's about time you started thinking of someone else besides yourself.
I want to be with them. I love them.
If you love them like you say you do, then you would never do anything like this, to hurt them like this! Jenny, your parents loved you more than anything else in the world. They wanted you to have everything. Everything! Your own family, children, their grandchildren! But because of your self-pity, you'll deny them everything?
That's not true!
Yes, it is! You talk about God and love? God put you on this Earth for a reason just like all of us! You're strong and healthy, and you should get down on your knees and thank the Lord for what you've got! But instead, you just throw it all away, and you nearly cost an innocent boy to lose his life.
What?
Yes! Jeb Carter nearly drowned trying to save you! His father told me he couldn't swim a stroke, yet he jumped into that water, and he somehow got you out! Now, I don't want to hear anymore about what you want. You start thinking about what your parents would want for you if you love them like you say you do.
[about Matthew] Well, Doctor? What's wrong with him?
I think Matthew's suffering from morphinism. It's a condition that affects normal behavior due to the extended use of morphine. I saw quite a bit of it after the war.
Well, how would he have gotten that way?
My guess is that McQueen has been using his elixir to keep the boy sedated.
I'm sorry, Doc, I don't see the connection.
Isaiah, that elixir that McQueen is peddling probably has a morphine base. I'd have to test it to be sure. Anyway, all he had to do was give the boy large doses of the elixir and he was able to control his moods.
You mean, that's why the boy was acting crazy?
Exactly. When he wants the boy to go wild, all he has to do is withhold the solution, just long enough for the boy's need to bring on the violence.
How could anybody do that to a boy?
Oh, Jenny. That and worse may have been done to him. I examined Matthew's throat. At some point in his life, he swallowed some lye, and that's why he can't speak. I hope to God it wasn't done deliberately.
[about Matthew] It's him! It's the Wild Boy!
But he's not wild!
I said keep away from him! There's no telling what he's gonna do.
Please! Won't you just listen to me? He's not wild, I tell you! He's a mute! [walks over to Matthew] It'll be all right, Matthew. They won't hurt you. His name's Matthew. He can't talk, but he can hear. He scratched his name in the dirt over there. The reason he acts this way is because Dr. McQueen keeps him locked up in that cage. You'd act wild, too!
I can't believe anybody would do something like this.
What I can't understand is how he got here. Jenny, how long have you known about this?
Just today. Well, see, some of us sneaked into the tent to see him. We were just gonna take a quick peek and leave, honest. Nancy started teasing him and hitting him with a cane. Well, I stopped her. When I was putting the cane back, he reached down and touched my arm. He was scared, and he had this look on his face like.....well, now I know that all he wanted was for someone to help him.
These are my sign language books. They can teach you to talk with your hands.
They can?
It's the way deaf people talk.
Matthew can hear just fine.
But he can't talk, can he?
That's right, he can't. Trying to understand that boy is about as easy as scratching your ear with your elbow!
Well, I can change that. I can teach Matthew how to talk with his hands, and I can teach you and Jenny how to understand him.
Wouldn't that be wonderful?
You think you can? I'm kind of a bonehead.
[laughs] I know I can.
[When Matthew is ordered by a judge to be sent to an asylum]
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]
And this must be Nancy! Oh, Mother, you're absolutely right! Why, she's just a picture of me at that age.
I've seen pictures of you when you were my age. We don't look at all alike. I'm way prettier.
You love her but you hate me!
Oh! Oh Nancy!
[to Laura] Look at you, you're all grown up!
Well, so are you.
I've missed you.
Oh, I've missed you, too.
I can't believe we're saying this to each other! Remember how we used to fight?
I sure do!
I wonder if you can still beat me up.
I don't know. Wanna fight?
[about Nancy] Harriet, you are finally going to have to do something about that child. I don't know what, but during the last two weeks, she's gotten almost as bad as when she first came here.
[hears Nancy slamming and breaking things upstairs] Oh, dear. Nels, what's she done now?
Well, among other things, she poured ink all over Willie's head.
Oh, the poor child. You know, Nels, she probably....she probably isn't getting enough attention.
Not enough attention? That's all she gets is attention! Something has got to be done!
I can't get over that essay. Nancy truly views herself as a helpless victim, surrounded by people who hate her.
Every day, we prove to her the exact opposite. How could she possibly think that?
I don't know, but Mother's always saying how much Nancy looks like me.
It's true.
Well, maybe she thinks that's the only reason you adopted her.
Well, I admit it started out that way, but it's not true anymore.
Then I think you need to prove it to her.
How?
I'm not sure, but she did get ignored a lot since I've arrived.
She did?
Think about it. I guess it was a time when we should have made an extra effort to pay more attention to her.
[to Almanzo] I don't think it's such a good idea for Jenny to be spending so much time at Marvin's.
Why not?
Well, you saw her. She's exhausted. She could barely keep her eyes open at the dinner table. She hardly even ate anything! I just don't think it's a good idea.
Beth, how many times has that child come home so exhausted from playing that she can barely keep her eyes open?
It was different then.
How?
She was all right then. How do we know this isn't making her worse? All that walking.....
Beth, it's good for her. She's having fun. Don't treat her like an invalid. You said you were gonna give this a chance.
[to Jenny] So, you went back to school and they acted different to you. Is that it?
Yes.
And you weren't different? You weren't any different from the way you were before? Of course you were.
But they made me feel uncomfortable.
That's because they were uncomfortable. They didn't know what to say to you. Land sakes, you've gotta give people a chance.
Then Nancy said things--
Nancy said mean things to you. Didn't she always? Didn't she?
Well, yes, but--
But nothing. She shouldn't be mean to you now because of what happened to you? That's nonsense. You're upset at the other children because they acted differently. You were upset at Nancy because she acted the way she always does.
[to Jenny] What are you gonna do now? Go home and feel sorry for yourself? That'll do you a lot of good.
You don't understand. You pretended to be my friend, but you don't care. You don't care at all!
That's it! That's it! Get angry! It's good for you! I do it lots of times, because I'm a doctor and I'm going blind. And that makes me damn angry because I'm still a good doctor and I can't help people anymore! [voice softens] I do understand, and I do care. If I didn't care, I wouldn't have told you to go back to school. I didn't want you to, you know. I wanted you to spend your days here with me. I couldn't wait for you to come every morning. It made me feel that I was still able to help someone, that I was useful. And I wasn't quite so frightened with the coming doctors, because you were around. Jenny, you're my last patient, and you're getting better. You're getting better all the time and you can still keep getting better as long as you fight. You got angry today. Use it! Fight this thing. Show Nancy. Show them all!
You don't have to drive me to school tomorrow. I'm gonna walk.
That's an awfully long way. Are you sure?
I'll make it. Believe me, I'll make it.
[voiceover] And make it she did. Within a few months, Jenny was running to school, and by the end of the year, it was as though the accident had never happened. Jenny was Marvin's last patient and he was proud.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Little House on the Prairie pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
