Book 3 8. SUNDAY Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

sunday when almanzo trudged into the

kitchen next morning with

two brimming milk pails mother was

making stacked

pancakes because this was sunday

the big blue platter on the stove’s

hearth was

full of plump sausage cakes eliza jane

was cutting apple pies

and alice was dishing up the oatmeal as

usual

but the little blue platters stood hot

on the back of the stove

and 10 stacks of pancakes rose in tall

towers on it

10 pancakes cooked on the smoking

griddle

and as fast as they were done mother

added another cake to each stack

and buttered it lavishly and covered it

with maple sugar

butter and sugar melted together and

soaked the fluffy pancakes and dripped

all down their crisp edges

that was stacked pancakes almanzo liked

them better than any other kind of

pancakes

mother kept on frying them till the

others had eaten their oatmeal

she could never make too many stacked

pancakes

they all ate pile after pile of them and

almanzo was still eating

when mother pushed back her chair and

said mercy on

us eight o’clock i must fly

mother always flew her feet went

pattering

her hands move so fast you can hardly

watch them

she never sat down in the daytime except

at her spinning wheel or loom

and then her hands flew her feet tapped

the spinning wheel was a blur or the

loom was clattering

thump thud clickety-clack but on sunday

morning she made everybody else hurry

too

father curried and brushed the sleek

brown driving horses till they shone

almanzo dusted the sleigh and royal

wiped the silver mounted harness

they hitched up the horses and then they

went to the house to put on their sunday

clothes

mother was in the pantry setting the top

crust

on the sunday chicken pie three fat hens

were in the pie

under the bubbling gravy mother spread

the crust

and crimped the edges and the gravy

showed through the two pine trees she

had cut in the dough she put the pie

in the heating stove’s oven with the

beans and the ryan engine bread

father filled the stove with hickory

logs and closed the dampers

while mother flew to lay out his clothes

and dress herself

that mother had made of store bottom

cloth woven by machines

she had made father’s suit a fine black

broadcloth

the coat had a velvet collar and his

shirt was made of french calico

his stock was black silk and on sundays

he did not wear boots he wore shoes

of thin calf skin mother was dressed in

brown moreno

with a white lace collar and white lace

frills at her wrists

under the big bell-shaped sleeves

she had knitted the lace of finest

thread

and it was like cobwebs there were rows

of brown

velvet around her sleeves and down the

front of her bask

and she had made her bonnet of the same

brown velvet

with brown velvet strings tied under her

chin

almanzo was proud of mother in her fine

sunday clothes

the girls were very fine too but he did

not feel the same about them

their hoop skirts were so big that royal

and almanzo could hardly get into the

sleigh

they had to scrooge down and let those

hoops bulge over their knees

and if they even moved eliza james would

cry out

be careful clumsy and alice would mourn

oh dear me my ribbons are must

but when they were all tucked under the

buffalo skin robes

with hot bricks at their feet father let

the prancing horses go

and almanzo forgot everything else the

sleigh

went like the wind the beautiful horses

shone in the sun

their necks were arched and their heads

were up

and their slender legs spurned the snowy

road

they seemed to be flying their glossy

long manes and tails

blowing back in the wind of their speed

father sat straight and proud holding

the reins and letting the horses go as

fast as they would

he never used the whip his horses were

gentle

and perfectly trained he had only to

tighten or slack in the reins

and they obeyed him his horses were the

best horses in new york state

or maybe in the whole world

malone was five miles away but father

never started

till thirty minutes before church time

that team would trot the whole five

miles

and he would stable them and blanket

them and be on the church steps

when the bell rang when almanzo thought

that it would be

years and years before he could hold

reins and drive horses like that

he could hardly bear it in no time at

all father was driving into the church

sheds him alone

the sheds were one long low building

all around the four sides of a square

you drove into the square through a gate

every man who belonged to the church

paid rent for a shed

according to his means and father had

the best one

it was so large that he drove inside it

to unhitch

and there was a manger with feed boxes

and space for hay and oats

father let almanzo help put blankets on

the horses

while mother and the girls shook out

their skirts

and smoothed their ribbons then they all

walked sedately into the church

the first clang of the bell rang out

when they were on the steps

after that there was nothing to do but

sit still

till the sermon was over it was two

hours long almanzo’s legs

ached and his jaw wanted to yawn

but he dared not yawn or fidget he must

sit

perfectly still and never take his eyes

from the preacher’s solemn face or

wagging beard almanzo couldn’t

understand how father knew that he

wasn’t looking at the preacher

if father was looking at the preacher

himself

but father always did know

at last it was over in the sunshine

outside the church

almanzo felt better boys must not

run or laugh or talk loudly on sunday

but they could talk quietly and

almanzo’s cousin frank was there

frank’s father was uncle wesley he owned

the potato starch mill

and lived in town he did not have a farm

so frank was only a town boy and he

played with town boys

but this sunday morning he was wearing a

store bottom cap

it was made of plaid cloth machine woven

and it had ear flaps that buttoned under

the chin

frank unbuttoned them and showed almanzo

that they would turn up and button

across the cap’s top

he said the cap came from new york city

his father had bought it in mr case’s

store

almanzo had never seen a cap like that

he wanted one royal said it was a silly

cap

he said to frank what’s the sense of ear

flaps that button over the top

nobody has ears on the top of his head

so almanzo knew that royal wanted a cap

like that too

how much did it cost almanzo asked

50 cents frank said proudly

almanzo knew he could not have one the

caps that mother made were snug and warm

and it would be a foolish waste of money

to buy a cap

50 cents was a lot of money

you just ought to see our horses he said

to frank

huh they’re not your horses frank said

they’re your father’s horses you haven’t

got a horse

nor even a colt i’m going to have a cult

said almanzo when frank

asked just then eliza jane called over

her shoulder

come almanzo father’s hitching up

he hurried away after eliza jane but

frank called after him low

you are not either going to have a cult

almanzo got soberly into the sleigh

he wondered if he would ever be big

enough to have anything he wanted

when he was younger father sometimes let

him hold the ends of the reins while

father drove

but he was not a baby now he wanted to

drive the horses himself

father allowed him to brush and curry

comb and rub down the gentle

old workhorses and to drive them on the

harrow

but he could not even go into the stalls

with the spirited driving horses or the

colts

he hardly dared stroke their soft noses

through the bars and

scratch a little on their foreheads

under the forelocks

father said you boys keep away from

those colds

in five minutes you can teach them

tricks it will take me months to gentle

out of them

he felt a little better when he sat down

to the good sunday dinner

mother sliced the hot ryan engine bread

on the breadboard by her plate

father’s spoon cut deep into the chicken

pie

he scooped up big pieces of thick crust

and turned up their fluffy yellow

undersides on the plate

he poured gravy over them he dipped up

big

pieces of tender chicken dark meat and

white meat

sliding from the bones he added a mound

of baked beans

and topped it with a quivering slice of

fat pork

at the edge of the plate he piled dark

red beet pickles

and he handed the plate to almanzo

silently almanzo ate it all then he ate

a piece of pumpkin pie

and he felt very full inside but

he ate a piece of apple pie with cheese

after dinner eliza jane and alice did

the dishes

but father and mother and royal and

almanzo did nothing at all

the whole afternoon they sat in the

drowsy warm dining room

mother read the bible and eliza jane

read a book

and father’s head nodded till he woke

with a jerk

and then it began to nod again

royal fingered the wooden chain that he

could not whittle

and alice looked for a long time out of

the window

but almanzo just sat

he had to he was not allowed to do

anything else

for sunday was not a day for working or

playing

it was a day for going to church and for

sitting still

almanzo was glad when it was time to do

the chores