Book 2 25. SOLDIERS Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

soldiers

after the indians had gone a great peace

settled on the prairie

and one morning the whole land was green

when did that grass grow ma asked in

amazement

i thought the whole country was black

and now there’s nothing but green grass

as far as the eye can see

the whole sky was filled with lines of

wild ducks and wild geese flying north

crows caught above the trees along the

creek

the winds whispered in the new grass

bringing

sense of earth and of growing things

in the mornings the meadowlarks rose

singing into the sky

all day the curlews and kill deers and

sandpipers

chirped and sang in the creek bottoms

often in the early evening

the mockingbirds were singing

one night paul and mary and laura sat

still on the doorstep

watching little rabbits playing in the

grass in the starlight

three rabbit mothers hopped about with

lopping ears and watched their little

rabbits playing too

in the daytime everyone was busy paw

hurried with his plowing

and mary and laura helped ma plant the

early garden seeds

with the hoe maud dug small holes in the

matted grass roots that the plow had

turned up

and laura and mary carefully dropped the

seeds

then ma covered them snugly with earth

they planted onions

and carrots and peas and beans and

turnips

and they were all so happy because

spring had come

and pretty soon they would have

vegetables to eat

they were growing very tired of just

bread and meat

one evening paul came from the field

before sunset

and he helped ma set out the cabbage

plants and the sweet potato plants

ma had sowed the cabbage seed in a flat

box

and kept it in the house she watered it

carefully

and carried it every day from the

morning sunshine

to the afternoon sunshine that came

through the windows

and she had saved one of the christmas

sweet potatoes and planted it in another

box

the cabbage seeds were now little gray

green plants

and the sweet potato had sent up a stem

and green leaves from

every one of its eyes paw and ma

took each tiny plant very carefully and

settled its roots comfortably in holes

made for them they watered the roots and

pressed earth upon them firmly

it was dark before the last plant was in

its place

and ma and paul were tired but they were

glad

too because this year they’d have

cabbages and sweet potatoes

every day they all looked at that garden

it was rough and grassy

because it was made in the prairie sod

but all the tiny plants were growing

little crumpled leaves of peas came up

and tiny spears of onions

the beans themselves popped out of the

ground but it was a little

yellow bean stem coiled like a spring

that pushed them up

then the beam was cracked open and

dropped by two baby bean leaves

and the leaves unfolded flat to the

sunshine

pretty soon they would all begin to live

like kings

every morning paul went cheerfully

whistling to the field

he had planted some early sod potatoes

and some potatoes were safe to plant

later

now he carried a sack of corn fastened

to his belt

and as he plowed he threw grains of corn

into the furrow beside the plow’s point

the plow turned over a strip of sod on

top of the seed corn

but the corn would fight its way up

through the matted roots

and there would be a cornfield there

would be green corn for dinner someday

and next winter there would be ripe corn

for pat and patty to eat

one morning mary and laura were washing

the dishes

and ma was making the beds she was

humming softly to herself

and laura and mary were talking about

the garden

laura liked pea’s best and mary liked

beans

suddenly they heard pau’s voice loud and

angry

maul went quickly to the door and laura

and mary peeped out on either side of

her

paw was driving pet and patty from the

field dragging the plow

between them mr scott and mr edwards

were with paw

and mr scott was talking earnestly

no scott paul answered him i’ll not stay

here to be taken away by the soldiers

like an outlaw if some blasted

politicians in washington

hadn’t sent out word it would be all

right to settle here

i’d never have been three miles over the

line into indian territory

but i’ll not wait for the soldiers to

take us out we’re going now

what is the matter charles where are we

going

ma asked turned if i know

but we’re going we’re leaving here pau

said

scott and edward say the government is

sending soldiers to take all us settlers

out of indian territory

his face was very red and his eyes were

like blue fire

laura was frightened she had never seen

paul look like that

she pressed close against ma and was

still looking at paw

mr scott started to speak but paul

stopped him save your breath scott it’s

no use to say another word you can stay

till the soldiers come if you want to

i’m going out now mr edwards said he was

going to

he would not stay to be driven across

the line like an honorary yellow hound

right out to independence with us

edwards paul said but mr edwards

answered that he didn’t care to go north

he would make a boat and go on down the

river to some settlement farther south

better come out with us paul urged him

and go down on foot through missouri

it’s a risky trip one man alone in a

boat going down the verdigris among the

wild indian tribes

but mr edwards said he had already seen

missouri

and he had plenty of powder and lead

then pod told mr scott to take the cow

and calf

now we can’t take them with us pau said

you’ve been a good neighbor scott

and i’m sorry to leave you but we’re

going out in the morning

laura had heard all this but she had not

believed it until she saw mr scott

leading away the cow the gentle cow went

meekly away with the rope around her

long horns

and the calf frisked and jumped behind

there went all the milk and butter mr

edwards said he would be too busy to see

them again

he shook hands with paw saying goodbye

ingles

and good luck he shook hands with ma

and said goodbye ma’am i won’t be seeing

y’all again

but i sure will never forget your

kindness

then he turned to mary and laura and he

shook their hands as if they were grown

up

goodbye he said mary said politely

goodbye mr edwards but laura forgot to

be polite

she said oh mr edwards i wish you

wouldn’t go away

oh mr edwards thank you thank you for

going all the way to independence to

find santa claus for us

mr edward’s eyes shone very bright and

he went away without saying

another word paul began to unhitch

pet and patty in the middle of the

morning and laura and mary knew it was

really true

they really were going away from there

ma

didn’t say anything she went into the

house and looked around at the dishes

not washed and the bed only partly made

and she lifted up both hands and sat

down

mary and laura went on doing the dishes

they were careful not to let them make a

sound

they turned around quickly when paul

came in

he looked like himself again and he was

carrying the potato sack

here you are caroline he said and his

voice sounded natural

cook a plenty for dinner we’ve been

going without potatoes saving them for

seed

now we’ll eat them up so that day for

dinner

they ate the seed potatoes they were

very good

and laura knew that paul was right when

he said

there’s no great loss without some small

gang after dinner

he took the wagon bows from their pegs

in the barn

he put them on the wagon one end of each

bow in its iron strap on one side of the

wagon box

and the other end in its iron strap on

the other side

when all the bows were standing up in

their places

paw and ma spread the wagon cover over

them and tied it down

tightly then paul pulled the rope in the

end of the wagon cover

till it puckered together and left only

a tiny round hole in the middle of the

back

there stood the covered wagon all ready

to load in the morning

everyone was quiet that night even jack

felt that something was wrong

and he lay down close to laura when she

went to bed

it was now too warm for a fire but pau

and ma

sat looking at the ashes in the

fireplace

ma sighed gently and said a whole year

gone charles but paul

answered cheerfully what’s a year amount

to

we have all the time there is

you