Book 3 7. SATURDAY NIGHT Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
saturday night
that night was saturday night all day
long mother had been baking
and when almanzo went into the kitchen
for the milk pails
she was still frying donuts the place
was full of their hot brown
smell and the weedy smell of new bread
the spicy smell of cakes and the syrupy
smell of pies
almanzo took the biggest donut from the
pan
and bit off its crisp end mother was
rolling out the golden dough
slashing it into long strips rolling
and doubling and twisting the strips
her fingers flew you can hardly see them
the strips seem to twist themselves
under her hands
and to leap into the big copper kettle
of swirling
hot fat plump they went to the bottom
sending up bubbles then quickly they
came popping up
to float and slowly swell till they
rolled themselves over
their pale golden backs going into the
fat
and their plump brown bellies rising out
of it
they rolled over mother said because
they were twisted
some women made a newfangled shape round
with a hole in the middle but round
donuts wouldn’t turn themselves over
mother didn’t have time to waste turning
donuts
it was quicker to twist them
almanzo liked baking day but he didn’t
like saturday night
on saturday night there was no cozy
evening by the heater
with apples popcorn and cider saturday
night
was bath night after supper
almanzo and royal again put on their
coats and caps and mufflers and mittens
they carried a tub from the washtub
outdoors
to the rainwater barrel everything was
ghostly with snow
the stars were frosty in the sky and
only a little faint light came from the
candle in the kitchen
the inside of the rainwater barrel was
coated
thick with ice and in the center where
the ice was chopped every day to keep
the barrel from bursting
the hole had grown smaller and smaller
royal chopped at it and when his hatchet
went through with an
oozy thud the water welled up quickly
because the ice was squeezing it from
all sides
it’s odd that water swells when it
freezes
everything else gets smaller in the cold
almanzo began dipping water and floating
pieces of ice into the wash tub
it was cold slow work dipping through
the small
hole and he had an idea
long icicles hung from the kitchen eaves
at the top they were a solid piece of
ice
then their pointed tips hung down almost
to the snow
almanzo took hold of one and jerked
but only the tip broke off the hatchet
had frozen to the porch floor where
royal had laid it
but almanzo tugged it loose he lifted it
up in both hands
and hit the icicles an avalanche of ice
came down with a splintering crash
it was a glorious noise
hi gimme royal said but almanzo hit the
icicles again
the noise was louder than before
you’re bigger than i’d be you hit him
with your fists almanzo said
so royal hit the icicles with both his
fists
almanzo hit them again with the hatchet
the noise was
immense almanzo yelled
and royal yelled and they hit more and
more icicles
big pieces of ice were flying all over
the porch floor and flying pieces
pitted the snow along the eaves there
was a gap as though the roof had lost
some teeth
mother flung open the kitchen door mercy
on us she cried royal almanzo
be you hurt no mother
almanzo said meekly what is it what be
you doing
almanzo felt guilty but they had not
really been playing when they had work
to do
getting ice for bathwater mother he said
my land such a racket i never heard
must you yell like comanches
no mother almanzo said
mother’s teeth chattered in the cold and
she shut the door
almanzo and royal silently picked up the
fallen icicles
and silently filled the tub it was so
heavy
they staggered when they carried it and
father had to lift it onto the kitchen
stove
the ice melted while almanzo greased his
moccasins and royal greased his boots
in the pantry mother was filling the six
quart pan with boiled beans
putting in onions and peppers and the
piece of fat pork
and pouring scrolls of molasses overall
then almanzo saw her open the flower
barrels
she flung rye flour and cornmeal
into the big yellow crock and stirred in
milk
and eggs and things and poured the big
baking pan
full of the yellow gray ryan engine
dough
you fetch the ryan engine almanzo don’t
spill it
she said she snatched up the pan of
beans
and almanzo followed more slowly with
the heavy pan of ryan engine
father opened the big doors of the oven
in the heater
and mothers slid the beans and the bread
inside
they would slowly bake there till sunday
dinner time
then almanzo was left alone in the
kitchen to take his bath
his clean underwear was hanging on a
chair back to air and warm
the washcloth and towel and the small
wooden panicking of soft soap
were on another chair he brought another
wash tub from the woodshed
and put it on the floor in front of the
open oven door
he took off his waist and one pair of
socks and his pants
then he dipped some warm water from the
tub on the stove
into the tub on the floor he took off
his other pair of socks
and his underwear and his bare skin felt
good in the heat from the oven he
toasted in the heat
and he thought he might just put on his
clean underwear and not take a bath at
all
but mother would look when he went into
the dining room
so he stepped into the water it covered
his feet
with his fingers he dug some of the
brown slimy soft
soap from the panicking and smeared it
on the washcloth
then he scrubbed himself well all over
the water was warm around his toes but
it felt cold on his body
his wet belly steamed in the heat from
the oven
but his wet back shivered and when he
turned around
his back seemed to blister but his front
was
very cold so he washed as quickly as he
could
and he dried himself and got into his
warm underwaist
and his woolly long drawers and he put
on his long woolen nightshirt
then he remembered his ears he took the
washcloth again
and he scrubbed his ears and the back of
his neck
he put on his night cap he felt very
clean and good
and his skin felt sleek in the fresh
warm clothes
it was the saturday night feeling
it was pleasant but almanzo didn’t like
it well enough to take a bath for it
if he could have had it his way he
wouldn’t have taken a bath till spring
he did not have to empty his tub because
if he went outdoors after taking a bath
he would catch cold
alice would empty the tub and wash it
before she bathed in it
then eliza jane would empty alice’s and
royal would empty eliza jane’s
and mother would empty royals late at
night
father would empty mothers and take his
bath
and the next morning he would empty the
tub for the last
time almanzo went into the dining room
in his clean
creamy white underwear and socks and
night shirt
and cap mother looked at him
and he went to her to be inspected she
laid down her knitting
and she looked at his ears and the back
of his neck
and she looked at his soapy clean face
and she gave him a hug
and a squeeze there
run along with you to bed he lighted a
candle
and he padded quickly up the cold stairs
and blew out the candle
and jumped into the soft cold feather
bed
he began to say his prayers but went to
sleep
before he finished them
you