Book 2 9. A FIRE ON THE HEARTH Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

[Music]

a fire on the hearth

outside the house close to the log wall

opposite the door paw cut away the grass

and scraped the ground smooth he was

getting ready to build the fireplace

then he and ma put the wagon box on the

wheels again

and paw hitched up pat and patty

the rising sun was shortening all the

shadows

hundreds of metal larks were rising from

the prairie

singing higher and higher in the air

their songs came down from the great

clear sky

like a rain of music and all over the

land

where the grass is waved and murmured

under the wind

thousands of little dickey birds clung

with their tiny claws to the blossoming

weeds

and sang their thousands of little songs

pat and patty sniffed the wind and

winnied with joy

they arched their necks and pawed at the

ground because they were eager to go

paul was whistling while he climbed to

the wagon seat and took up the reins

then he looked down at laura who was

looking up at him

and he stopped whistling and said wanna

go along laura

you and mary ma said they could

they climbed up the wheels clinging to

the spokes with their bare toes

and they sat on the high wagon seat

beside paw

pat and patty started with a little jump

and the wagon went jolting down the road

that paws wagon wheels had made

they went down between the bare reddish

yellow walls of earth

all ridged and wrinkled by forgotten

rains

then they went on across the rolling

land of the creek bottoms

masses of trees covered some of the low

rounded hills

and some of them were grassy open spaces

deer were lying in the shadows of the

trees

and deer were grazing in the sunshine on

the green grass

they lifted their heads and pricked

their ears

and stood chewing and watching the wagon

with their soft large

eyes all along the road the wild lock

spur was blossoming pink and blue and

white

birds balanced on yellow plumes of

goldenrod

and butterflies were fluttering starry

daisies lighted the shadows under trees

squirrels chattered on branches overhead

white-tailed rabbits hopped along the

road

and snakes wriggled quickly across it

when they heard the wagon coming

deep in the lowest valley the creek was

running

in the shadow of dirt bluffs when laura

looked up those bluffs

she couldn’t see the prairie grass at

all trees grew up the bluffs where the

earth had crumbled

and where the bare dirt was so steep

that trees couldn’t grow on it

bushes held on desperately with their

roots

half-naked roots were high above laura’s

head

where are the indian camps laura asked

paul

he had seen the indians deserted camps

here among the bluffs

but he was too busy to show them to her

now he must get the rocks to build the

fireplace

you girls can play he said but don’t go

out of my sight and don’t go into the

water

and don’t play with snakes some of the

snakes down here are poison

so laura and mary played by the creek

while paw dug the rocks he wanted

and loaded them into the wagon

they watched long-legged water bugs

skate over the glassy still pools

they ran along the bank to scare the

frogs and laughed from the green-coated

frogs with their white vests plopped

into the water

they listened to the wood pigeons call

among the trees

and the brown thrush singing they saw

the little minnows

swimming all together in the shallow

places where the creek ran sparkling

the minnows were thin gray shadows in

the rippling water

only now and again one minnow flashed

the sunshine from its silvery belly

there was no wind along the creek the

air was still and drowsy warm

it smelled of damp roots and mud and it

was full of the sound of rustling leaves

and of water running

in the muddy places where deer’s tracks

were thick

and every hoof print held water swarms

of mosquitoes rose up with a keen

sharp buzzing laura and mary slapped at

the mosquitoes on their faces and necks

and hands

and legs and wished they could go

waiting

they were so hot and the water looked so

cool laura was sure that it would do no

harm just to dip one foot in

and when paw’s back was turned she

almost did it

laura said paw and she snatched that

naughty foot back

if you girls want to go waiting paul

said

you can go into that shallow place don’t

go in over your ankles

mary waited only a little while she said

the gravel hurt her feet and she sat on

a log and patiently slapped at

mosquitoes

but laura slapped and kept on waiting

when she stepped the gravel hurt her

feet

when she stood still the tiny minnows

swarmed about her toes

and nibbled them with their tiny mouths

it was a funny

squiggling feeling laura tried and tried

to catch a minnow but she only got the

hem of her dress wet

then the wagon was loaded paul called

come on girls and they climbed to the

wagon seat again

and rode away from the creek up through

the woods and hills they rode again

to the high prairie where the winds were

always blowing and the grasses seemed to

sing and whisper and laugh

they had had a wonderful time in the

creek bottoms

but laura liked the high prairie best

the prairie was so wide and sweet

and clean that afternoon

moss sat sewing in the shade of the

house and baby carrie played on the

quilt beside her

while laura and mary watched paw build

the fireplace

first he mixed clay and water to a

beautiful thick mud

in the mustang’s water bucket he let

laura stir the mud while he laid a row

of rocks around three sides of the space

he had cleared by the house wall

then with the wooden paddle he spread

the mud over the rocks

in the mud he laid another row of rocks

and plastered them over the top and down

on the inside

with more mud he made a box on the

ground

three sides of the box were made of

rocks and mud

and the other side was the log wall of

the house

with rocks and mud and more rocks and

more mud

he built the walls as high as laura’s

chin

then on the walls close against the

house he laid

a log he plastered the log all over with

mud

after that he built up rocks and mud on

top of that log

he was making the chimney now and he

made it smaller

and smaller he had to go to the creek

for more rocks

laura and mary could not go again

because ma said the damp bear might give

them a fever

mary sat beside ma and sewed another

block of her nine patch quilt

but laura mixed another bucket full of

mud

next day paul built the chimney as high

as the house wall

then he stood and looked at it he ran

his fingers through his hair

you look like a wild man charles ma said

you’re standing your hair all on end it

stands on end

anyway caroline paul answered when i was

courting you it never would lie down no

matter how much i

slicked it with bear grease he threw

himself down on the grass at her feet

i’m plum tuckered out lifting rocks up

there

you’ve done well to build that chimney

up so high all by yourself

ma said she ran her hand through his

hair

and stood it up more than ever why don’t

you make it stick and dab the rest of

the way

she asked him well it would be easier he

admitted

i’m blamed if i don’t believe i will he

jumped up

ma said oh stay here in the shade and

rest a while

but he shook his head no use lays in

here while there’s work to be done

caroline the sooner i get the fireplace

done the sooner you can do your cooking

inside out of the wind

he hauled saplings from the woods and he

cut

and notched them and laid them up like

the walls of the house on top of the

stone chimney

as he laid them he plastered them well

with mud

and that finished the chimney then he

went into the house

and with his axe and saw he cut a hole

in the wall

he cut away the logs that had made the

fourth wall

at the bottom of the chimney and there

was the fireplace

it was large enough for laura and mary

and baby carrie to sit in

its bottom was the ground the paw had

cleared of grass

and its front was the space where paw

had cut away the logs

across the top of that space was the log

the paw had plastered all over with mud

on each side paul pegged a thick slab of

green

oak against the cut ends of the logs

then by the upper corners of the

fireplace he pegged

chunks of oak to the wall and on these

he laid an oak slab and pegged it firmly

that was the mantle shelf

as soon as it was done moss sat in the

middle of the mantle shelf

the little china woman she had brought

from the big woods

the little china woman had come all the

way and had not been broken

she stood on the mantel shelf with her

little china shoes

and her wide china skirts and her tight

china bodice

and her pink cheeks and blue eyes and

golden hair

all made of china then paw and ma

and mary and laura stood and admired

that fireplace

only carrie did not care about it she

pointed at the little china woman and

yelled when mary and laura told her that

no one but ma could touch it

you’ll have to be careful with your fire

caroline paul said

we don’t want sparks going up the

chimney to set the roof on fire

that cloth would burn easy i’ll split

out some clapards as soon as i can and

make a roof you won’t have to worry

about

so ma carefully built a little fire in

the new fireplace

and she roasted a prairie hen for supper

and that evening they ate in the house

they sat at table by the western window

paw had quickly made the table of two

slabs of oak

one end of the slab stuck in a crack of

the wall

and the other end rested on short

upright logs

paul had smoothed the slabs with his axe

and the table was very nice when moss

spread a cloth over it

the chairs were chunks of big logs

the floor was the earth that ma had

swept clean with her willow bow broom

on the floor in the corners the beds

were neat

under their patchwork quilts the rays of

the setting sun came through the window

and filled the house with

golden light outside

and far far away to the pink edge of the

sky

the wind went blowing and the wild

grasses

waved inside

the house was pleasant the good roast

chicken was

juicy in laura’s mouth her hands and

face were washed

her hair was combed her napkin was tied

around her neck

she sat up straight on the round end of

log and used her knife and fork

nicely as ma had taught her she did not

say anything

because children must not speak at table

until they are spoken to

but she looked at pau and maw and mary

and a baby carrie in ma’s lap

and she felt contented it was nice to be

living

in a house again