On Our Merry Way

Oliver Pease gets a dose of courage from his wife Martha and tricks the editor of the paper (where he writes lost pet notices) into assigning him the day’s roving question. Martha suggests, « Has a little child ever changed your life? » Oliver gets answers from two slow-talking musicians, an actress whose roles usually feature a sarong, and an itinerant cardsharp. In each case the « little child » is hardly innocent: in the first, a local auto mechanic’s « baby » turns out to be fully developed as a woman and a musician; in the second, a spoiled child star learns kindness; in the third, the family of a lost brat doesn’t want him returned. And Oliver, what becomes of him?