Book 3 18. KEEPING HOUSE Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

keeping house

uncle andrew lived 10 miles away

for a week father and mother were

getting ready to go

and all the time they were thinking of

things that must be done while they were

away

even when mother was climbing into the

buggy she was talking

be sure to gather the eggs every night

she said

and i depend on you eliza jane to take

care of the churning

don’t salt the butter too much pack it

in the small tub

and be sure you cover it and remember

not to pick the beans and peas i’m

saving for seed

now you all be good while we’re gone she

was tucking her hoops down between the

seat and the dashboard

father spread the lap robe and mind

eliza jane

be careful of fires don’t you leave the

house while there’s a fire in the cook

stove

and don’t get scuffling with lighted

candles whatever you do

and father tighten the reins and the

horses started don’t eat all the sugar

mother called back the buggy turned into

the road

the horses began to trot rapidly taking

father and mother away

in a little while the sound of the buggy

wheels

ceased father and mother

were gone nobody said anything

even eliza jane looked a little scared

the house and the barns and the fields

seemed very big and empty

for a whole week father and mother would

ten miles away

suddenly almanzo threw his hat into the

air and yelled

alice hugged herself and cried what do

we do first

they could do anything they liked there

was nobody to stop them

we’ll do the dishes and make the beds

eliza jane said

bossy let’s make ice cream royal shouted

eliza jane loved ice cream she hesitated

and said

well almanzo ran after royal to the ice

house

they dug a block of ice out of the

sawdust and put it in a grain sack

they laid the sack on the back porch and

pounded it with

hatchets till the ice was crushed

alice came out to watch them while she

whipped egg whites on a platter

she beat them with a fork till they were

too stiff to slip when she tilted the

platter

eliza jane measured milk and cream and

dipped up sugar from the barrel in the

pantry

it was not common maple sugar but white

sugar bought from the store

mother used it only when company came

eliza jane dipped six cupfuls then she

smoothed the sugar that was

left and you would hardly have missed

any

she made a big milk pail full of yellow

custard

they set the pail in a tub and packed

the snowy crushed ice around it with

salt

and they covered it all with a blanket

every few minutes they took off the

blanket and uncovered the pail

and stirred the freezing ice cream when

it was frozen

alice brought saucers and spoons and

almanzo brought out a cake and the

butcher knife

he cut enormous pieces of cake while

eliza jane heaped the saucers

they could eat all the ice cream and

cake they wanted to

no one would stop them

at noon they had eaten the whole cake

and almost all the ice cream eliza jane

said it was time to get dinner

but the others didn’t want any dinner

almanzo said

all i want is a watermelon alice jumped

goody let’s go get one alice

eliza jane cried you come right back

here and do the breakfast dishes

i will alice called out would i come

back

alice and almanzo went into the hot

melon field where the melons lay round

above their wilting flat leaves

almanzo snapped his finger against the

green rhines and listened

when a melon sounded ripe it was ripe

and when it sounded green it was green

but when almanzo said a melon sounded

ripe

alice thought it sounded green there

wasn’t really any way to know

though almanzo was sure he knew more

about melons than any girl

so in the end they picked six of the

biggest melons

and they lugged them one by one to the

ice house

and put them on the damp cold sawdust

then alice went to the house to do the

dishes

almanzo said he wasn’t going to do

anything

maybe he’d go swimming but as soon as

alice was out of sight

he skipped through the barns and stole

into the pasture

where the colts were the pasture was

big and the sun was very hot

the air shimmered and wavered with heat

and little insects made a shrill sound

bass and beauty were lying down in the

shade of a tree

and their little colt stood near them

wagging their small bushy tails and

straddling the little on their long

gangling legs

the yearlings and the two-year-olds and

the three-year-olds were grazing

all of them lifted their heads and

stared at almanzo

he went slowly toward them holding out

his hand

there wasn’t anything in his hand but

they didn’t know that

he didn’t mean to do anything he only

wanted to get near enough to pet them

starlight and the other little cult ran

wobbling to their mothers

and bass and beauty lifted up their

heads and looked

then laid them down again the big colts

all pricked up their ears

one big cult stepped toward almanzo then

another

the six big cults were all coming

almanzo wish he had brought carrots for

them

they were so beautiful and free and big

tossing their manes and showing the

whites of their eyes

the sunshine glistened on their strong

arched necks and on the muscles of their

chests

suddenly one of them said

one of them kicked one of them squealed

and all at once their heads went up

their tails went up

and their hooves thundered on the ground

all their brown haunches and high black

tails were turned to almanzo

like a thundering whirlwind those six

cults went around the tree

and almanzo heard them behind him he

whirled around

he saw their pounding hooves and big

chests coming straight at him

they were running too fast to stop there

wasn’t time to get out of the way

almanzo’s eyes shut he yelled whoa

the air and the ground shook his eyes

opened

he saw brown knees rising up in the air

a round belly and hind legs

rushed overhead brown sides went by him

thunder his hat flew off he felt

stunned one of the three-year-olds

had jumped over him the colts were

thundering down across the pasture

and almanzo saw royal coming

leave those cults be royal shouted

he came up and said that for ascent he’d

give almanzo a licking he’d remember

you know better than to fool with those

cults royal

said he took almanzo by the year

almanzo trotted but his ear was pulled

all the way to the barns

he said he hadn’t done anything royal

wouldn’t listen

let me catch you in that pasture again

and i’ll wail the height off you

royal said i’ll tell father too

almanzo went away rubbing his ear

he went down to trout river and swim in

the swimming hole till he felt better

but he thought it wasn’t fair that he

was the youngest in the family

that afternoon the melons were cold

and almanzo carried them to the grass

under the balsam tree in the yard

royal stuck the butcher knife into the

dewy green rinds

and every melon was so ripe that the

rinds cracked open

almanzo and alice and eliza jane and

royal

bit deep into the juicy cold slices

and they ate till they could eat no more

almanzo pinched the sleek black seeds

popping them at eliza jane until she

made him quit

then he slowly ate the last slice of

melon and he said

i’m going to fetch lucy to eat up the

rinds

you will not do any such thing eliza

jane

said the idea a dirty old pig in the

front yard

she is not either a dirty old pig

said almanzo lucy’s a little young clean

pig and pigs are the cleanest animals

there are

you just ought to see the way lucy keeps

her bed clean

and turns it and airs it and makes it up

every day horses won’t do that

nor cows nor sheep nor anything

pigs i guess i know that

i guess i know as much about pigs as you

do eliza jane said

then don’t you call lucy dirty she’s

just as clean as you be

well mother told you to obey me

eliza jane answered and i’m not going to

waste melon rinds on any pig

i’m going to make watermelon rind

preserves

i guess they’re as much my rinds as they

are yours

almanzo began but royal got up and said

come along manzo it’s chore time

almanzo said no more but when the chores

were done

he let lucy out of her pen the little

pig was as white as a lamb

and she liked almanzo her little curled

tail

quirked whenever she saw him she

followed him to the house

grunting happily and she squealed for

him at the door till eliza jane said she

couldn’t hear herself think

after supper almanzo took a plate of

scraps and fed them to lucy

he sat on the back steps and scratched

her prickly back

pigs enjoy that in the kitchen eliza

jane and royal were arguing about candy

royal wanted some but eliza jane said

that candy pools were only for winter

evenings

royal said he didn’t see why candy

wouldn’t be just as good in the summer

almanzo thought so too and he went in

and sided with royal alice said she knew

how to make candy

eliza jane wouldn’t do it but alice

mixed sugar

and molasses and water and boiled them

then she poured the candy on buttered

platters and set it on the

porch to cool they rolled up their

sleeves

and buttered their hands ready to pull

it and eliza jane buttered her hands too

all the time lucy was squealing for

almanzo

he went out to see if the candy was cool

enough and he thought his little pig

should have some

the candy was cool no one was watching

so he took a big wad of the soft brown

candy

and dropped it over the edge of the

porch into lucy’s wide open mouth

then they all pulled candy they pulled

it into long

strands and doubled the strands and

pulled again

every time they doubled it they took a

bite

was very sticky it stuck to their teeth

and their fingers and their faces

somehow it got into their hair and stuck

there it should have become hard and

brittle but it didn’t

they pulled and they pulled still it was

soft and sticky

long past bedtime they gave it up

and went to bed next morning

when almanzo started to do chores lucy

was standing in the yard

her tail hung limp and her head hung

down

she did not squeal when she saw him she

shook her head sadly and wrinkled her

nose

where her white teeth should have been

there was a smooth

brown streak lucy’s teeth

were stuck together with candy she could

not eat

she could not drink she could not even

squeal

she could not grunt but when she saw

almanzo coming

she ran almanzo yelled for royal

they chased lucy all around the house

under the snowball bushes and the lilacs

they chased her all over the garden lucy

whirled and

dodged and ducked and ran like anything

all the time she didn’t make a sound she

couldn’t

her mouth was full of candy she ran

between royal’s legs and upset him

almanzo almost grabbed her and went

sprawling on his nose

she tore through the peas and squashed

the ripe tomatoes and

uprooted the green round cabbages eliza

jane kept telling royal and almanzo to

catch her

alice ran after her at last

they cornered her she dashed around

alice’s skirts

almanzo fell on her and grabbed she

kicked

and tore a long hole down the front of

his blouse

almanzo held her down alice held her

kicking hind legs

royal pryed her mouth open and scraped

out the candy

then how lucy squealed she squealed

all the squeals that had been in her all

night and all the squeals she couldn’t

squeal while they were chasing her

and she ran screaming to her pin

almanzo james wilder just look at

yourself eliza jane scolded

he couldn’t and he didn’t want to

even alice was horrified because he had

wasted candy on a pig

and his blouse was ruined it could be

patched

but the patch would show i don’t care

almanzo said he was glad it was a whole

week before mother would know

that day they made ice cream again

and they ate the last cake alice said

she knew how to make a pound cake

she said she’d make one and then she was

going to go sit

in the parlor almanzo thought that

wouldn’t be any fun

but eliza jane said you’ll do no such

thing alice you know very well the

parlors just for company

it was not eliza jane’s parlor and

mother hadn’t said she couldn’t sit in

almanzo thought that alice could sit in

the parlor if she wanted to

that afternoon he came into the kitchen

to see if the pound cake was done

alice was taking it out of the oven it

smelled so

good that he broke a little piece off

the corner

then alice cut a slice to hide the

broken place

and then they ate two more slices with

the last of the ice cream

i can make more ice cream alice said

eliza jane was upstairs and almanzo said

let’s go into the parlor they tiptoed in

without making a sand the light was dim

because the blinds were down

but the parlor was beautiful

the wallpaper was white and gold

and the carpet was of mother’s best

weaving almost too

fine to step on the center table was

marble topped and it held the tall

parlor lamp all

white and gold china and pink painted

roses

beside it lay the photograph album with

covers of red velvet and mother of pearl

all around the walls stood solemn

horsehair

chairs and george washington’s picture

looked sternly from its frame between

the windows

alice hitched up her hoops behind and

sat

on the sofa the slippery hair cloth

slitter right off onto the floor she

didn’t dare laugh out loud for fear

eliza jane would hear

she sat on the sofa again and slid off

again

then almanzo slid off a chair

when company came and they had to sit in

the parlor

they kept themselves on the slippery

chairs by pushing their toes against the

floor

but now they could let go and slide

they slid off the sofa and the chairs

till alice was giggling so hard they

didn’t dare slide anymore

then they looked at the shells and the

coral and the little china figures on

the whatnot

they didn’t touch anything they looked

till they heard eliza jane coming

downstairs

then they ran tiptoe out of the parlor

and shut the door without a sound

eliza jane didn’t catch them

it seemed that a week would last forever

but suddenly it was gone one morning at

breakfast eliza jane said

father and mother will be here tomorrow

they all stopped eating the garden had

not been

weeded the peas and beans had not been

picked

so the vines were ripening too soon the

hen house had not been whitewashed

this house is a sight eliza jane said

and we must churn today but what am i

going to tell mother

the sugar is all gone nobody ate any

they looked into the sugar barrel and

they could see the bottom of it

only alice tried to be cheerful we must

hope for the best

she said like mother there’s some sugar

left

mother said don’t eat all the sugar and

we didn’t

there’s some around the edges

this was only the beginning of that

awful day

they all went to work as hard as they

could royal and almanzo

hoed the garden they whitewashed the hen

house

they cleaned the cow stalls and swept

the south barn floor

the girls were sweeping and scrubbing in

the house

eliza jane made almanzo churn till the

butter came

and then her hands flew while she washed

and salted it and packed it in the tub

there was only bread and butter and jam

for dinner though almanzo was starved

now almanzo you polish the heater eliza

jane

said he hated to polish stoves

but he hoped eliza jane would not tell

that he had wasted candy on his pig

he went to work with the stove blacking

and the brush

eliza jane was hurrying and nagging be

careful you don’t spill the polish she

said busily dusting

guessed he knew enough not to spill

stove polish but he didn’t say anything

use less water almanzo and mercy rub

harder than that

he didn’t say anything eliza jane went

into the parlor to dust it

she called almanzo that stove done now

no said almanzo goodness don’t dawdle so

almanzo muttered whose boss are you

eliza jane asked what’s that you say

nothing almanzo said

eliza jane came to the door

you did so say something almanzo

straightened up

and shouted i say whose boss

are you eliza jane

gasped then she cried out you just wait

almanzo james wilder you just wait till

i tell my

almanzo didn’t mean to throw the

blacking brush

it flew right out of his hand it sailed

past eliza jane’s head

smack it hit the parlor wall

a great splash and smear of blacking

appeared on the white and gold wallpaper

alice screamed almanzo turned around

and ran all the way to the barn he

climbed into the haymo

and crawled far back in the hay he did

not cry

but he would have cried if he hadn’t

been almost 10 years old

mother would come home and find he had

ruined her beautiful

parlor father would take him into the

woodshed

and whip him with the black snake whip

he didn’t want ever to come out of the

jemo

he wished he could stay there forever

after a long while royal came into the

haymo and called him

he crawled out of the hay and he saw

that royal knew

manny you’ll get an awful whipping royal

said royal was sorry

but he couldn’t do anything they both

knew that almanzo deserved whipping

and there was no way to keep father from

knowing it so almanzo

said i don’t care

he helped do the chores and he ate

supper

he wasn’t hungry but he ate to show

eliza jane

he didn’t care then he went to bed

the parlor door was shut but he knew how

the black splotch looked on the white

and gold wall

next day father and mother came driving

into the yard

almanzo had to go out to meet them with

the others

alice whispered to him don’t feel bad

maybe they won’t care but she looked

anxious too

father said cheerfully well here we are

been getting along all right yes father

royal answered almanzo didn’t go to help

unhitch the driving horses

he stayed in the house mother hurried

about

looking at everything while she untied

her bonnet strings

i declare eliza jane and alice she said

you’ve kept the house as well as i’d

have done myself

mother alice said in a small voice

mother well child what is it

mother alice said bravely you told us

not to eat all the sugar

mother we we ate almost all of it

mother laughed you’ve all been so good

she said

i won’t scold about the sugar

she did not know that the black splotch

was on the parlor wall

the parlor door was shut she did not

know it that day

nor all the next day almanzo could

hardly choke down his food at meal times

and mother looked worried she took him

to the pantry and made him swallow a big

spoonful of

horrible black medicine she had made of

roots and herbs

he did not want her to know about the

black splotch

and yet he wished she did know when the

worst was over

he could stop dreading it that second

evening they heard a buggy driving into

the yard

mr and mrs webb were in it father and

mother went out to meet them

and in a minute they all came into the

dining room almanzo heard mothers saying

come right into the parlor he couldn’t

move

he could not speak this was worse than

anything he had thought of

mother was so proud of her beautiful

parlor

she was so proud of keeping it always

nice

she didn’t know he had ruined it and now

she was taking

company in they would see that big black

splotch on the wall

mother opened the parlor door and went

mrs webb went in and mr webb and father

almanzo saw only their backs but he

heard the window shades going up

he saw that the parlor was full of light

it seemed to him a long time before

anybody said anything

then mother said take this big chair mr

webb and make yourself comfortable

sit right here on the sofa mrs webb

almanzo couldn’t believe his ears

mrs webb said you have such a beautiful

parlor i declare it’s almost too fine to

sit in

now almanzo could see where the blacking

brush had hit the wall

and he could not believe his eyes the

wallpaper was

pure white and gold there was no black

splotch mother caught sight of him and

said

come in almanzo almanzo went in

he sat up straight on a hair cloth chair

and pushed his toes against the floor to

keep from sliding off father and mother

were telling all about the visit to

uncle andrews

there was no black splotch anywhere on

the wall

didn’t you worry leaving the children

alone here and you so far away

mrs webb asked no mother said proudly

i knew the children would take care of

everything as well as if james and i

were home

almanzo minded his manners and did not

say a word

next day when no one was looking he

stole into the parlor

he looked carefully at the place where

the black splotch had been

the wallpaper was patched

the patch had been cut out carefully

around the gold scrolls

and the pattern was fitted perfectly and

the edges of the patch scraped

so thin that he could hardly find them

he waited until he could speak to eliza

jane alone

and then he asked eliza jane

did you patch the parlor wallpaper from

yes she said i got the scraps of

wallpaper that were saved in the attic

and cut out the patch and put it on with

flour paste

almanzo said gruffly i’m sorry i threw

that brush at you

honest i didn’t mean to eliza jane

i guess i was aggravating she said but i

didn’t mean to be

you’re the only little brother i’ve got

almanzo had never known before how much

he liked

eliza jane they never never told about

the black splotch on the parlor wall

and mother never knew