The Library of Congress

Evaluating Primary Sources

What Do You Hear? Transcript for Primary Source Two

Introduction: Been sometime in a Friend's camp, of migratory workers at Delano, California. I'm happy to say that Reverant Marley and his son is with us tonight, and he's promised me that he will not take up much time so that we can get going with our full program that we have for you in just a short time and it gives me great pleasure at this time to introduce to you Rev. Marley. Some clapping….

Rev. Marley- "Why we're going to make a speech tonight, I would begin by saying that I have made many speeches, but never to an entire town before. From the little folks right on up to the city council and all of them. I think you have a splendid town here, and I say more power to you. About your little dispute with Farmerville, I might suggest that you both ..ah..organize baseball teams and get out here on the diamond somewhere and see which one is the best player. ..ah.. I rather would like to come down and referree a game like that so if you do it why you let me know , will you, and I'll see if it can be arranged because I think that it would be a very interesting game. But what I want…(poor recorded segment) (repeat) what I want…ed to say tonight briefly is the idea..(repeat) idea of cooperation, (repeat) cooperation now here and now, there and everywhere. Because it seems to me that is the thing we most need in the world. I wonder if these folks right down here on the first row and the second row and maybe the third and fourth row have heard the story about the lion and the mouse. You know the time…(sounds of children in the audience saying they would like to hear the story) ..

Rev. Marley- Would you like to hear that? The time that the lion had a little mouse come into his den, and the little mouse was annoying the lion and he was just about to slap him down with his big paw, and the mouse said "Wait a minute". And the mouse said "Now if you'll spare my life, maybe someday I can do you a good turn". The lion was rather amused at the thought, but he let the little mouse go, and it so happened that not very much later the mouse was going by that same place and he heard terrible loud roars coming from within the lion's den. He poked his little snoot in and he saw that the lion was all covered up in a big net that somebody had set for him and he couldn't get away. So the mouse went in and .. What did he do? He began to knaw at the little ropes of that net, and first thing you know, the lion was free again. Now that is cooperation.

If I would go back to a few rows further back, I think most of you would recognize a story of cooperation. A parable told by a man that you've all heard about. The parable is that a man who fell by the way side that robbers had left him there for dead……"

End of recording.

Return to What Do You Hear?