- Narrator: [narration as John 'John Boy' Walton, Jr. reading from his journal] When I was growing up on Waltons Mountain in those years of the Great Depression, for me and my brothers and sisters it was a time of making do with the little there was; a time of stretching a nickel 'til it bought a dime's worth; often a time of doing without. In such times, keeping children in school was just too much of a strain for many families but, for my father, educating his children had almost the same importance as feeding and clothing us. I remember one day when the regular routine of our school life was threatened.
- Miss Megan Pollard: I didn't want anyone to see me.
- Olivia Walton: Because you've been crying?
- Miss Megan Pollard: So childish, weak.
- Olivia Walton: We all feel childish and weak sometime.
- Miss Megan Pollard: But adults mustn't show it.
- Olivia Walton: Why not? Why not?
- Miss Megan Pollard: Because intelligent people are strong and self-reliant.
- Olivia Walton: And never depend on anyone, for support, comfort, love?
- Olivia Walton: When the Lord gave human beings two arms, it wasn't to keep other human beings at a safe distance.
- Miss Megan Pollard: When you start in a race and you fall down the first step you take, what can you do about it? You can either lie there and feel sorry for yourself, or crawl away and quit, or jump up and start over again.