Book 3 3. WINTER NIGHT Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

winter night

after supper almanzo took care of his

moccasins

every night he sat by the kitchen stove

and rubbed them

with tallow he held them up in the heat

and rubbed the melting tallow into the

leather with the palm of his hand

his moccasins would always be

comfortably soft and keep his feet dry

as long as the leather was well greased

and he didn’t stop rubbing

until it would absorb no more tallow

royal sat by the stove too and greased

his boots

almanzo couldn’t have boots he had to

wear moccasins because he was a little

boy

mother and the girls washed the dishes

and swept the pantry kitchen

and downstairs in the big cellar father

cut up carrots and potatoes to feed the

cows next day

when the work was done father came up

the cellar stairs bringing a big

pitcher of sweet cider and a pen full of

apples

royal took the corn popper and a

panicking of popcorn

mother banked the kitchen fire with

ashes for the night

and when everyone else had left the

kitchen she blew out the candles

they all settled down cozily by the big

stove in the dining room wall

the back of the stove was in the parlor

where nobody went

except when company came it was a fine

stove

it warmed the dining room and the parlor

its chimney warmed the bedrooms upstairs

and its whole top was an oven

royal opened its iron door and with the

poker

he broke the charred logs into a

shimmering bed of coals

he put three handfuls of popcorn into

the big wire popper

and shook the popper over the coals in a

little while

a kernel popped then another then three

or four at once

and all at once furiously the hundreds

of little pointed kernels exploded

when the big dish pan was heaping full

of fluffy white popcorn

alice poured melted butter over it and

stirred

and salted it it was hot and

crackling crisp and deliciously buttery

and salty

and everyone could eat all he wanted to

mother knitted and rocked in her

high-backed rocking chair

father carefully scraped a new axe

handle with a bit of broken glass

royal carved a chain of tiny links

from a smooth stick of pine and

alice sat on her hasic doing her wool

work embroidery

and they all ate popcorn and apples and

drank sweet cider

except eliza jane eliza jane read aloud

the news in the new york weekly paper

almanzo sat on a footstool by the stove

an apple in his hand a bowl of popcorn

by his side

and his mug of cider on the hearth by

his feet

he bit the juicy apple then he ate some

popcorn

then he took a drink of cider he thought

about popcorn

popcorn is american nobody but the

indians ever had popcorn until after the

pilgrim fathers came to america

on the first thanksgiving day the

indians were invited to dinner

and they came and they poured out on the

table a big bag full of popcorn

the pilgrim fathers didn’t know what it

was the pilgrim mothers didn’t know

either

the indians had popped it but probably

it wasn’t very good

probably they didn’t butter it or salt

it and it would be cold

and tough after they had carried it

around in a bag of skins

almanzo looked at every kernel before he

ate it

they were all different shapes he had

eaten

thousands of handfuls of popcorn and

never found

two kernels alike then he thought if he

had some milk

he would have popcorn and milk you can

fill the glass full to the brim with

milk

and fill another glass of the same size

brim full of popcorn

and then you can put all the popcorn

kernel by kernel

into the milk and the milk will not run

over

you cannot do this with bread popcorn

and milk are the only two things that

will go into the same place

then too they are good to eat but

almanzo was not very hungry

and he knew mother would not want the

milk pans disturbed

if you disturb milk when the cream is

rising the

cream will not be so thick so almanzo

ate another apple

and drank cider with his popcorn and did

not say anything about popcorn and milk

when the clock struck nine that was

bedtime

royal laid away his chain and alice her

wool work

mother stuck her needles in her ball of

yarn and

father wound the tall clock he put

another log in the stove

and closed the dampers it’s a cold night

mister course said

40 below zero said father and it will be

colder before morning

royal lighted a candle and almanzo

followed him sleepily to the stairway

door

the cold on the stairs made him wide

awake at once

he ran clattering upstairs the bedroom

was so

cold that he could hardly unbutton his

clothes and put on his long woolen night

shirt a night cap

he should have knelt down to say his

prayers but he didn’t

his nose ached with cold and his teeth

were chattering

he dived into the soft goose feather bed

between the blankets and pulled the

covers over his nose

the next thing he knew the tall clock

downstairs was striking twelve

the darkness pressed his eyes and

forehead

and it seemed full of little prickles of

ice

he heard someone moved downstairs then

the kitchen door

opened and shut he knew the father was

going to the barn

even those great barns could not hold

all father’s wealth of

cows and oxen horses and hogs and calves

and sheep

twenty-five young cattle had to sleep

under a shed in the barnyard

if they lay still all night on nights as

cold as this

they would freeze in their sleep so at

midnight

in the bitter cold father got out of his

warm bed

and went to wake them up out in the dark

cold night father was rousing up the

young cattle

he was cracking his whip and running

behind them

around and around the barnyard he would

run

and keep them galloping till they were

warmed with exercise

almanzo opened his eyes again and the

candle

was sputtering on the bureau royal was

dressing

his breath froze white in the air

the candle light was dim as though the

darkness were trying to put it out

suddenly royal was gone the candle was

not there

and mother was calling from the foot of

the stairs almanzo

what’s the matter be you sick it’s five

o’clock

he crawled out shivering he pulled on

his trousers and waist and ran

downstairs to button up by the kitchen

stove

father and royal had gone to the barns

almanzo took the milk pails and hurried

out

the night seemed very large and still

and the stars sparkled like frost in the

black sky

when the chores were done and he came

back with father and royal to the warm

kitchen

breakfast was almost ready how good it

smelled

mother was frying pancakes and the big

blue platter

keeping hot on the stove’s hearth was

full of plump brown

sausage cakes in their brown gravy

almanzo washed as quickly as he could

and combed his hair

as soon as mother finished straining the

milk they all sat down

and father asked the blessing for

breakfast

there was oatmeal with plenty of thick

cream and maple sugar

there were fried potatoes and the golden

buckwheat cakes as many as almanzo

wanted to eat

with sausages and gravy or with butter

and maple syrup

there were preserves and jams and

jellies and

donuts but best of all almanzo liked the

spicy apple pie

with its thick rich juice and its

crumbly crust

he ate two big wedges of the pie

then with his caps warm ear muffs over

his ears

and his muffler wrapped up to his nose

and the dinner pail in his mittened hand

he started down the long road to another

day at school

he did not want to go he did not want to

be there when the big boys thrashed mr

course

but he had to go to school because he

was almost nine years old