Book 5 11. THE WONDERFUL AFTERNOON Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

[Music]

the wonderful

afternoon early every morning while

laura washed the breakfast dishes

she could look through the open door and

see the men leaving the boarding shanty

and going to the thatch stable for their

horses

then there was a rattling of harness and

a confusion of talking and shouts

and the men and the teams went out to

the job leaving quietness behind them

all the days went by one like another

on mondays laura helped ma do the

washing and bring in the clean scented

clothes that dried quickly in the wind

and sunshine

on tuesdays she sprinkled them and

helped ma

iron them on wednesdays she did her task

of mending and sewing

though she did not like to mary was

learning to sew

without seeing her sensitive fingers

could hem nicely

and she could sew quilt patches if the

colors were matched for her

at noon the camp was noisy again with

all the teams and the men coming in to

dinner

then paw came from the store and they

all ate in the little shanty with the

wind blowing against it

and the wide prairie outside the door

softly colored in all shades from dark

brown to russet and tan

the prairie rolled and gentle swells to

the far edge of the sky

the winds were blowing colder at night

more and more wild birds were flying

southward

and paw said that winter would not be

long in coming

but lara did not think about winter

she wanted to know where the men were

working and how they made a railroad

grade

every morning they went out and at noon

and at night they came back

but all that she saw working was a

smudge of dust that came up from the

tawny prairie in the west

she wanted to see the men building the

railroad

aunt docea moved into the camp one day

and she brought two cows

she said i brought our milk on the hoof

charles

it’s the only way to get any out here

where there aren’t any farmers

one of the cows was for paw she was a

pretty bright red cow named ellen

paul untied her from the back of aunt

decea’s wagon

and handed the halter rope to laura here

laura

he said you’re old enough to take care

of her take her out where the grass is

good

and be sure to drive down the picket pin

good and firm

laura and lena picketed the cows not far

apart in good grass

every morning and every evening they met

to take care of the cows

they led them to drink from the lake and

move the picket pins to fresh grass

and then they did the milking and while

they milked they sang

lena knew many new songs and laura

learned them quickly

together while the milk streamed into

the bright tin pails they

sang a life on the ocean wave

a home on the rolling deep the pollywogs

wagged their tails

and the tears rolled down their cheeks

sometimes lena sang softly and so did

laura

oh i wouldn’t marry a farmer

he’s always in the dirt

i’d rather marry a railroad man

who wears a striped shirt

but laura liked the wall songs best she

loved the broom song

though they had to sing broom so many

times to make the tune swing

by a broom by a broom broom by a broom

room by a broom room

will you buy of this wondering bavarian

a broom to brush off the insects

that come to annoy you you find it quite

useful

by night and by day

the cows stood quiet chewing their cuds

as though they were listening to the

singing until the milking was done

then with the pails of warm sweet smelly

milk

laura and lena walk back toward the

shanties

in the mornings the men were coming out

of the bunk house washing in the basins

on the bench by the door and combing

their hair

and the sun was rising over silver lake

in the evenings the sky flamed with red

and purple and gold

the sun had set and the teams and men

were coming in dark along the dusty road

they had worn on the prairie

and singing then quickly

lena hurried to aunt ducia shanti and

laura to moz

because they must strain the milk before

the cream began to rise

and help get supper lena had so much

work to do

helping aunt docea with cousin louisa

that she had no time to play

and laura though she did not work so

hard was busy enough

so they hardly ever met except at

milking time

if paw hadn’t put our black ponies to

work on the grade lina said one evening

you know what i’d do no what laura

asked well if i could get away

and if we had the ponies to ride we’d go

see the men working said lena

don’t you want to yes i want to laura

said

she did not have to decide whether or

not she would disobey paw because they

couldn’t do it anyway

suddenly one day at dinner paw sat down

his teacup

wiped his mustache and said you ask too

many questions flutter budget

put on your bonnet and come up to the

store along about two o’clock

i’ll take you out and let you see for

yourself

oh paw laura cried out

there laura don’t get so excited ma said

quietly

laura knew she should not shout she kept

her voice low

paw can lena go too we will decide about

that later

said ma after paw had gone back to the

store

ma talked seriously to laura she said

that she wanted her girls to know how to

behave

to speak nicely in low voices and have

gentle manners and always be ladies

they had always lived in wild rough

places except for a little while on plum

creek

and now they were in a rough railroad

camp and it would be some time before

this country was civilized

until then ma thought it best that they

keep themselves

to themselves she wanted laura to stay

away from the camp

and not get acquainted with any of the

rough men there

it would be all right for her to go

quietly with paw to see the work this

once but she must be well behaved and

ladylike

and remember that a lady never did

anything that could attract attention

yes ma laura said and laura

i do not want you to take lena said ma

lina is a good capable girl but she is

boisterous

and ocea has not curbed her as much as

she might

if you must go where those rough men are

working in the dirt

and go quietly with your paw and come

back quietly

and say no more about it yes ma

laura said but but what laura

ma asked nothing said laura

i don’t know why you want to go anyway

mary wondered

it’s much nicer here in the shanty or

taking a little walk by the lake

i just want to i want to see them

building a railroad laura said

she tied on her sun bonnet when she set

out and resolved

to keep it tied on paul was alone in the

store

he put on his broad brimmed hat and

padlocked the door

and they went out on the prairie

together

at that time of day when there were no

shadows the prairie looked level

but it was not in a few minutes

it swells hid the shanties and on the

grassy land

there was nothing to be seen but the

dusty track of the road

and the railroad grade beside it against

the sky a head rose up the smudge of

dust

blowing away on the wind paw held onto

his hat

and laura bent her head in the flapping

sun bonnet

and they trudged along together for some

time

then paul stopped and said there you are

half pint

they were standing on a little rise of

the land

before them the railroad grade ended

bluntly

in front of it men with teams and plows

were plowing onward toward the west

breaking a wide strip of the prairie sod

do they do it with plows laura said

it seems strange to her to think that

men with plows

went ahead into this country that had

never been plowed

to build a railroad and scrapers

said paul now watch laura

between the plowing and the blunt end of

the grade

teams and men were going slowly around

in a circle

over the end of the grade and backed

across the plowed strip

the teams were pulling wide deep shovels

these were the scrapers instead of one

long shovel handle

each scraper had two short handles and a

strong half hoop of steel

curved from one side of the scraper to

the other side

the team was hitched to this curve of

steel

when a man and his team came to the

plowed land

another man took hold of the scraper

handles

and held them just high enough to thrust

the round shovel point

into the loose earth of the plowed

ground

while the team went on and earth filled

the scraper

then he let go of the handles the full

scraper

set level on the ground and the horses

pulled it on around the circle up the

side of the grade

on the grade’s blunt end the men who

drove the team

caught hold of the scraper’s handles and

tipped the whole

scraper over in a somersault inside the

curving steel

that the horses were hitched to all the

dirt was left right there

while the team drew the empty scraper

down the grade

and on around the circle to the plowed

land again

there the other men caught hold of the

handles and held them just high enough

to thrust the round shovel point

into the loose earth until the scraper

was filled again

and on around the circle it came sliding

behind the team

up the steep slope of the grade and

somersaulting over again

team after team came around the circle

scraper after scraper tipped over the

teams never stopped coming

the scrapers never stopped filling and

tipping

as the loose soil was scraped from the

plowed land

the curve widened out so that the

scrapers passed over freshly plowed

ground ahead

while the plow teams came back and

plowed again the ground

that had been scraped it all goes like

clockwork said paw

see no one stands still no one hurries

when one scraper is filled another is on

the spot to take its place

and the scraper holder is there to grab

the handles and fill it

the scrapers never have to wait for the

plows and the plows go

just so far ahead before they come back

to plow again the ground that has been

scraped

they’re doing great work fred is a good

boss

fred stood on the dump watching the

teams and scrapers circling

and the plows coming around inside the

circle

and moving out ahead of it again he

watched the dumping of the scrapers

and the dirt rolling down and with a nod

or a word

he told each driver when to dump his

scraper

so that the grade would be even and

straight and level

for every six teams one man did nothing

but stand and watch

if a team slowed he spoke to the driver

and he drove faster

if a team went too fast he spoke to that

driver

and that driver held his horses back the

teams must be spaced evenly

while they kept on going steadily around

the circle

over the plowed land and to the grade

and

over it and back to the plowed land

again

thirty teams and thirty scrapers and all

the four horse teams and the plows and

all the drivers and the scraper holders

all were going round

and round all in their places and all

moving in time

there on the open prairie just like the

works of a clock as pa had said

and on the prowl of the new railroad

grade in the dust

fred the boss kept it all going

laura would never have tired of watching

that but

farther west there was more to see paul

said

come along half pint and see how they

make a cut in the fill

laura walked with paw along the wagon

track where the crushed dead grasses

were like broken hay in the dust

where wagon wheels had passed farther to

the west

beyond a little rise of the prairie more

men were building another piece of the

railroad grade

in the little dip beyond the rise they

were making

a fill and farther on they were making

a cut through higher ground you see

laura paus said where the ground is low

they make the grade higher and where the

ground is high

they cut through it to make the grade

level a railroad road bed has to be as

level as it can be for the trains to run

on

why paw laura asked why can’t the trains

just run over the prairie swells

there were no real hills and it seemed a

waste of hard work to cut through all

the little rises and fill in all the

little hollows just to make the road bed

level

no it saves work later on pau said you

want to be able to see that laura

without being told

laura could see that a level road would

save work for horses

but a locomotive was an iron horse that

never got tired

yes but it burns coal said paw

coal has to be mined and that’s work

an engine burns less coal running on a

level

than it does going up and down grades so

you see it takes more work

and costs more money now to make a level

grade

but later on there’ll be a saving in

work and money

so they’ll be used for building

something else

what pa what else laura asked

more railroads said paul i wouldn’t

wonder

if you’ll live to see a time laura when

putin nearly

everybody will ride on railroads and

they’ll hardly be a covered wagon left

laura could not imagine a country with

so many railroads

nor one so rich that nearly everybody

could ride on trains

but she did not really try to imagine it

because now they’d come to high ground

where they could see the men

working at the cut and the fill

right across the prairie swell where the

trains would run

the teams with plows and the teams with

scrapers

were cutting a wide ditch back and forth

with the big teams pulling the plows and

round and round with the teams hauling

the scrapers all steadily moving in time

with each other but here the scrapers

did not go in a circle they went in a

long narrow loop

into the cut and out again at one end

and at the other end

they went over the dump the dump

was a deep ditch at the end of the cut

and crossways to it

heavy timbers shored up the sides of

this ditch and made a flat

platform over the top of it there was a

hole

in the middle of this platform and earth

had been graded high

on each side of the ditch to make a road

level with the platform

out of the cut came the team steadily

walking one behind another

pulling the loaded scrapers they went up

the grade to the top of the dump

and they went across the platform they

passed over the hole

one horse walking on each side of it

while into the hole the driver dumped

the scraper load of dirt going steadily

on

down the steep grade and around they

went back into the cut

to fill the scrapers again all the time

a circle of wagons was moving through

the dump

under the hole in the platform every

time a scraper dumped its load

a wagon was under the hole to catch the

dirt

each wagon waited till five scraper

loads had poured down into it

then it moved on and the wagon behind it

moved

under the hole and waited the circle of

wagons came out of the dump

and curved back to climb up over the end

of the high railroad grade that was

coming toward the cut

every wagon as it passed over the grade

dumped its dirt

and made the grade that much longer the

wagons had no wagon boxes

there were only platforms of heavy

planks

to dump the dirt the teamster turned

those planks over

one at a time then he drove onward down

over the end of the fill

and back in the endless circle through

the dump to be loaded again

dust blew from the plows and the

scrapers and from the dump and the end

of the hill

a great cloud of dust rose all the time

up over the sweating men and the

sweating horses

the men’s faces and arms were black with

sunburn and dust

their blue and gray shirts were streaked

with sweat and dust

and the horse’s manes and tails and hair

were full of dust

and their flanks were caked with muddy

sweat

they all went on steadily and evenly

circling into the cut and out

while the plows went back and forth and

circling under the dump

and back over the end to the fill and

under the dump again

the cut grew deeper and the fill grew

longer

while the men and teams kept on weaving

their circles together never stopping

they never miss once laura marveled

every time

a scraper dumps there’s a wagon

underneath to catch the dirt

that’s the boss’s job paul said he makes

some keep time just like they were

playing a tune

watch the boss and you’ll see how it’s

done it’s pretty work

on the rise above the cut and on the end

of the fill

and along the circles the bosses stood

they watched the men and the teams and

kept them moving in time

here they slowed one team a little there

they hurried another

no one stopped and waited no one was

laid at his place

laura heard the boss call out from the

top of the cut

boys move along a little faster

you see paul said it’s nearing quitting

time

and they’d all slow down a little they

can’t put that over on a good boss

the whole afternoon had gone while pau

and laura

watched those circles moving making the

railroad grade

it was time to go back to the store in

the shanty

laura took one last long look and then

she had to go

on the way pau showed her the figures

painted on the little grade stakes that

were driven into the ground in a

straight line where the railroad grade

would be

the surveyors had driven those stakes

the figures told the graders how high to

build the grade on low ground

and how deep to make the cuts on high

ground

the surveyors had measured it all and

figured the grade

exactly before anyone else had come

there

first someone had thought of a railroad

then

the surveyors had come out to that empty

country

and they had marked and measured a

railroad that was not there at all

it was only a railroad that someone had

thought of

then the plowmen came to tear up the

prairie grass

and the scraper men to dig up the dirt

and the teamsters with their wagons to

haul it

and all of them said they were working

on the railroad but still

the railroad wasn’t there nothing was

there yet

but cuts through the prairie swells

pieces of the railroad grade

that were really only narrow short

ridges of earth

all pointing westward across the

enormous grassy land

when the grades finished paw said the

shovel men will come along

with hand shovels and they’ll smooth the

sides of the grade by hand

and level it on top and then they’ll lay

the rails

laura said don’t jump ahead so fast

flutter budget

paul laughed at her the railroad ties

have got to be shipped out here

and laid before it’s time for the rails

rome wasn’t built in a day

and neither is a railroad or anything

else worth having

the sun was so low now that each prairie

swell began to have its shadow lying

eastward

and out of the large pale sky the flocks

of ducks

and the long wedges of geese were

sliding down to silver lake

to rest for the night the clean wind was

blowing now with no dust in it

and laura let her sunburn it slipped

down her back so that she could feel the

wind on her face and see the whole

great prairie there was no railroad

there now

but someday the long steel tracks would

lie

level on the fills and through the cuts

and trains would come

roaring steaming and smoking the speed

the tracks and the trains were not there

now

but laura could see them almost as if

they were there

suddenly she asked paw was that what

made the very first railroad

what are you talking about paw asked

are there railroads because people think

of them first

when they aren’t there paul thought a

minute

that’s right he said yes

that’s what makes things happen people

think of them first

if enough people think of a thing and

work hard enough at it

i guess it’s pretty nearly bound to

happen wind and weather permitting

what’s that house paw laura asked

what house paw asked that house that

real house laura pointed all this time

she’d been meaning to ask paw about that

house standing by itself on the north

shore of the lake

and she’d always forgotten that’s the

surveyor’s house

paul said are they there now

laura asked they come and go said paw

they had almost reached the store and he

went on run on a long home now flutter

budget

i got work to do on the books now you

know how a railroad grade’s made be sure

to tell mary all about it

oh i will paw laura promised i’ll see it

out loud for her every bit

she did her best but mary only said i

really don’t know laura why you’d rather

watch those rough men working in the

dirt than stay here in the nice clean

shanty

i finished another quilt patch while

you’ve been idling

but laura was still seeing the movement

of the men

and horses in such perfect time that she

could almost sing the tune

to which they moved