Book 2 10. A ROOF AND A FLOOR Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

a roof and a floor

all day long every day laura and mary

were busy

when the dishes were washed and the beds

made there was always plenty to do and

to see and to listen to

they hunted for birds nests in the tall

grass and when they found them the

mother bird squawked and scolded

sometimes they touched a nest gently and

all in an instant a nest full of

downiness became a nest full of wide

gaping beaks

hungrily squawking then the mother bird

scolded like anything

and mary and laura quietly went away

because they did not want to worry her

too much

in the tall grass they lay still as mice

and watched flocks of little prairie

chickens running and pecking around

their anxiously clucking

smooth brown mothers they watched

striped snakes

rippling between the grass stems or

lying so still

that only their tiny flickering tongues

and glittering eyes

showed that they were alive they were

garter snakes

and would not hurt anybody but laura and

mary did not touch them

ma said snakes were best left alone

because some snakes would bite

and it was better to be safe than sorry

and sometimes there’d be a great grey

rabbit

so still in the lights and shadows of a

grass clump that you were near enough to

touch him before you saw him

then if you were very quiet you might

stand a long time looking at him

his round eyes stared at yours without

meaning anything

his nose wiggled and sunlight was rosy

through his long ears that had

delicate veins in them and the softest

short fur on their outsides

the rest of his fur was so thick and

soft

that at last you couldn’t help trying

very carefully to touch it

then he was gone in a flash and the

place where he had been sitting was

hollowed and smooth and still warm from

his warm behind

all the time of course laura or mary was

minding baby carrie except when she had

her afternoon nap

then they sat and soaked in the sunshine

in the wind

until laura forgot that the baby was

sleeping

she jumped up and ran and shouted till

mom came to the door and said

dear me laura must you yell like an

indian

i declare ma said if you girls aren’t

getting to look like indians

can i never teach you to keep your son

bonaton

paul was up on the house wall beginning

the roof

he looked down at them and laughed one

little indian

two little indians three little indians

he sang softly

nope only two you make three

mary said to him you’re brown too

but you aren’t little paw said laura

paul when are we going to see a papoose

goodness ma exclaimed what do you want

to see an

indian baby for put on your sun bonnet

now and forget such nonsense

laura’s sunbonnet hung down her back she

pulled it up by its strings

and its sides came past her cheeks when

her son bonnet was

on she could see only what was in front

of her and that was why she was always

pushing it back

and letting it hang by its strings tied

around her throat

she put her sun bonnet on when ma told

her to but she did not forget the

papoose this was

indian country and she didn’t know why

she didn’t see

indians she knew she would see them

sometime though

pah said so but she was getting tired of

waiting

paul had taken the canvas wagon top off

the house

and now he was ready to put the roof on

for days and days he had been hauling

logs from the creek bottoms and

splitting them

into thin long slabs piles of slabs lay

all around the house and slabs stood

against it

come out of the house caroline he said i

don’t want to risk anything falling on

you or carry

wait charles till i put away the china

shepherd as smaw answered

in a minute she came out with a quilt

and her mending and baby carrie

she spread the quilt on the shady grass

by the stable

and sat there to do her mending and

watch carrie play

paul reached down and pulled up a slab

he laid it across the ends of the

sapling rafters

its edge stuck out beyond the wall then

paw put some nails in his mouth and took

his hammer out of his belt and he began

to nail the slab to the rafters

mr edwards had lent him the nails they

had met in the woods where they were

both chopping down trees and mr edwards

had insisted that paul

borrow nails for the roof

that’s what i call a good neighbor paul

said when he told ma about it

yes said ma but i don’t like to be

beholden

not even to the best of neighbors nor i

paul replied i’ve never been beholden to

any man yet and i never will be

but neighborliness is another matter and

i’ll pay him back

every nail as soon as i can make the

trip to independence

now paul carefully took the nails one by

one from his mouth

and with ringing blows of the hammer he

drove them into the slab

it was much quicker than drilling holes

and whittling pegs and driving them into

the holes

but every now and then a nail sprang

away from the tough oak when the hammer

hit it

and if paul was not holding it firmly it

went sailing through the air

then mary and laura watched it fall and

they searched in the grass till they

found it

sometimes it was bent then paul

carefully

pounded it straight again it would never

do to lose or waste a nail

when paw had nailed down two slabs he

got up on them

he laid and nailed some more slabs all

the way up to the top of the rafters

the edge of each slab lapped over the

edge of the slab below it

then he began again on the other side of

the house

and he laid the roof all the way up from

that side

a little crack was left between the

highest slabs

so paul made a little trough of two

slabs

and he nailed this trough firmly upside

down

over the crack the roof was done

the house was darker than it had been

because no light came through the slabs

there was not one single crack that

would let rain come

in you have done a splendid job charles

law said and i am thankful to have a

good roof over my head

you shall have furniture too as fine as

i can make it

paul replied i’ll make a bedstead as

soon as the floor is laid

he began again to haul logs day after

day he hauled logs

he did not even stop pulling logs to go

hunting

he took his gun on the wagon and brought

back at night whatever meat he had shot

from the wagon seat

when he had hauled enough logs to make

the floor he began to split them

he split each log straight down the

middle

laura liked to sit on the wood pile and

watch him

first with a mighty blow of his axe he

split the

butt of the log into the crack

he slipped the thin edge of an iron

wedge

then he wrenched the axe out of the log

and he drove the wedge

deeper into the crack the tough wood

split a little farther all the way up

the log

paw fought that tough oak he struck with

his axe into the crack

he drove blocks of wood into it and

moved the iron wedge higher little by

little

he followed the crack up the log he

swung the axe high

and brought it down with a great swing

and a grunt from his chest

the axe whizzed and struck plung

it always struck exactly where paul

wanted it to

at last with a tearing cracking sound

the whole log split its two halves

lay on the ground showing the tree’s

pale insides

and the darker streak up its middle

then paul wiped the sweat from his

forehead he took a fresh grip on the axe

and he tackled another log one day

the last log was split and next morning

paul began to lay the floor he dragged

the logs into the house

and laid them one by one flat side up

with his spade he scraped the ground

underneath

and fitted the round side of the log

firmly down into it

with his axe he trimmed away the edge of

bark

and cut the wood straight so that each

log fitted against the next

with hardly a crack between them then he

took the head of the axe in his hand

and with little careful blows he

smoothed

the wood he squinted along the log to

see that the surface was straight and

true

he took off last little bits here and

there

finally he ran his hand over the

smoothness and nodded

not a splinter he said that’ll be all

right for little bare feet to run over

he left that log fitted into its place

and dragged in another

when he came to the fireplace he used

shorter logs

he left a space of bare earth for a

hearth so that when sparks or coals

popped out of the fire they would not

burn the floor

one day the floor was done it was smooth

and firm and hard

a good floor of solid oak that would

last paul said

forever you can’t beat a good punch and

floor he said

and ma said she was glad to be up off

the dirt

she put the little china woman on the

mantel shelf and spread a red checked

cloth on the table

there she said now we’re living like

civilized folks again after that

paul filled the cracks in the walls he

drove

thin strips of wood into them and

plastered them well with mud

filling every that’s a good job ma

said that chinking will keep out the

wind no matter how hard it blows

paw stopped whistling to smile at her he

slapped the last bit of mud between the

logs and smoothed it and sat down the

bucket

at last the house was finished

i wish we had glass for the windows paw

said we don’t need glass charles

said ma just the same if i do well with

my hunting and trapping this winter

i’m gonna get some glass in independence

next spring said paw and hang the

expense

glass windows would be nice if we can

afford them

moss said but we’ll cross that bridge

when we come to it

they were all happy that night the fire

on the hearth was pleasant

for on the high prairie even the summer

nights were cool

the red checked cloth was on the table

the little china woman glimmered on the

mantel shelf

and the new floor was golden in the

flickering fire light

outside the night was large and full of

stars

paul sat for a long time in the doorway

and played his fiddle and sang to ma and

mary and laura in the house

and to the starry night outside