This episode aired on December 21 1972 with this opening. When I was growing up back in those distant, Depression years, I always seemed to be a year or two younger than I wanted to be and a year or two older than my parents thought I was. It tried my patience for a long time until, one day, something happened to my sister, Mary Ellen that helped me understand those feelings in myself. Every time I watch the Waltons and see the shots of the Walton Mountains, it takes me back to that mountain where I work for years. Down at the bottom of the mountain, Mary Ellen is late for supper and running has fast as she can when she runs into a man pulling a mule. John comes home later in the day carrying two bags of apples and tells the family that he and the family will be pickings apple for money the next two days. However, Mary Ellen is having problems of her own because she wants to go to the beach with her friends and John won't let her. She gets upset that she's running away the first chance she gets and she has no interest in picking apples. The next day John decides to let Mary Ellen to take the minstrel over to Maude Gormley to hear her sing, while the rest of the family goes to pick apples. However, things start to go wrong when John Boy is injured. While Grandpa takes John Boy to the doctors, the rest of the family continues to pick apples. In the meantime, Mary Ellen and the Minstrel are getting closer as she continues to spend more time with him and listening to him sing. Mary Ellen fills like her life is passing her by and she's getting restless and its starting to scare her. Mary tells her parents that she loves them very much and sees what they have together and she doesn't want a life like that. However, John has more problems then he realizes as Mary Ellen is growing up, John Boy is injured and he has two days left to get the apples picked. The question is can John get the job done with all the problems he has on his mind? Again, I like this episode because at sometime in hour lives we all felt like Mary Ellen did when we were at that age. Because of the theme and the beauty of the mountain and of the apple field, I give these episode 10 weasels stars.
