Book 7 6. NINE DOLLARS Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

nine

dollars mr clancy was not getting so

many orders for shirts

it seemed that most of the men who could

buy shirts that year had bought them

one saturday evening mrs white said the

spring rush seems to be over

yes ma’am said laura mrs white counted

out a dollar

and fifty cents and gave it to her i

won’t be needing you anymore so you

needn’t come in monday morning she said

goodbye goodbye laura said

she had worked six weeks and earned nine

dollars

one dollar had seemed a great deal of

money only six weeks ago

but now nine dollars was not enough

if she could have earned only one more

week’s wages that would have made ten

dollars and a half or two weeks would

have made a whole twelve dollars

she knew how good it would be to stay at

home again to help with the housework

and do the chores and work in the garden

to go walking with mary and gather

wildflowers

and to look forward to pause homecoming

at night

but somehow she felt cast out and hollow

inside

slowly she went along the path beside

main street

paul was working now on the building at

the corner of second

he stood by a stack of shingles waiting

for laura

and when he saw her he sang out look

what we’ve got to take home to your ma

in the shade of the shingles stood a

bushel basket covered with a grain sack

inside it there was a small rasping of

claws

and a chiefing chorus the chickens

bose brought him in today said paul 14

of them

all healthy and thriving his whole face

was beaming with anticipation of mars

delight

he told laura the basket’s not heavy you

take one handle and i’ll take the other

will carry them level between us

they went down main street and out on

the road toward home

carrying the basket carefully between

them sunset was flaming and crimson and

burning gold over the whole sky

the air was filled with golden light and

silver lake to the east was blazing like

fire

up from the basket came the chickens

wondering and anxious

cheaping paw mrs white doesn’t want me

anymore

lara said yes i guess the spring rush is

about over said paw

laura had not thought that paw’s job

might end

oh paw won’t there be any more

carpentering either

she asked we couldn’t expect it to last

all summer

said paw anyway i’ll have to be making

hay pretty soon

after a while laura said i only earned

nine dollars paw

nine dollars is nothing to sneeze at

said paw

you’ve done good work too and fully

satisfied mrs white haven’t you

yes laura answered honestly then it’s a

good job well done

said paw it was true that that was some

satisfaction

laura felt a little better besides

they were taking the chickens tomorrow

ma

was delighted when she saw them carrie

and grace crowded to peep at them in the

basket

and laura told mary about them they were

healthy

lively chicks with bright black eyes and

bright yellow claws

already the down was coming off them

leaving naked patches on their necks and

the sprouting feathers were showing on

their wings and tails

they were every color that chickens are

and some were spotted

ma lifted each one carefully into her

apron

mrs post can’t have got these all from

one hatching she said

i do believe there’s not more than two

rolls among them

the boasts have got such a head start

with chickens likely they’re planning to

eat fries this summer said paw

it may be she took a few cockrells out

of this flock looking on them as meat

yes and replaced them with pullets that

will be layers ma guest

it would be mrs boast all over a more

generous

woman never lived

she carried the chicks in her apron to

set them one by one

into the coop that paw had already made

it had a front of

laughs to let in air and sun and a

little door with a wooden button to

fasten it

it had no floor but was set on clean

grass that the chicks could eat

and when the grass grew trampled and

dirty the coop could be moved

to fresh grass in an old pie pan

mom mixed a crumbly bran mash well

peppered

she set it in the coop and the chicks

crowded onto it

gobbling the bran mesh so greedily that

sometimes they tried to swallow their

own toes by mistake

when they could eat no more they perched

on the edge of the water pan

and scooping up water in their beaks

they stretched up their necks

and tilted back their heads to swallow

it

ma said it would be kerry’s task to feed

them often

and to keep their water pan filled with

cool fresh water

tomorrow she would let the chicks out to

run and it would be grace’s part to keep

a sharp look out for hawks

after supper that evening she sent laura

to make sure that the chicks were

sleeping safely

all the stars were shining over the dark

prairie

and a sickle moon was low in the west

the grasses were breathing softly asleep

in the quiet

night laura’s hand felt gently over the

sleeping chicks

huddled warm together in a corner of the

coop

then she stood looking at the summer

night she did not know how long she had

stood there until she saw a mark coming

from the house

oh there you are laura ma said softly

as laura had done she knelt and put her

hand through the coop store to feel the

huddled chicks

then she too stood looking the place

begins to look like a form

she said the oat field and the cornfield

were shadowy pale in the darkness

and the garden was bumpy with lumps of

dark leaves

like pools of faint star shine among

them spread the cucumber vines and the

pumpkins

the low sod stable could hardly be seen

but from the house window a warm yellow

light

shone out suddenly without

thinking at all laura said oh ma i do

wish mary could go to college this fall

unexpectedly ma replied it may be that

she can

your paw and i have been talking of it

laura couldn’t speak for a minute

then she asked have you have you said

anything to her

not yet said ma we must not raise hopes

only to be disappointed

but with paws wages and the oats and the

corn if nothing goes wrong

we think she can go this fall we must

trust ourselves to contrive to keep her

there

till she finishes the full seven years

course

both college and manual training

then for the first time laura realized

that when mary went to college

she would go away mary would be gone

all day long mary would not be there

laura could not think what living would

be without mary

oh i wish she began and stopped

she had been so eagerly hoping that mary

could go to college

yes we will miss her ma said steadily

but we must think what a great

opportunity it will be for her

i know ma lara said miserably

the night was large and empty now the

light shining from the house was

warm and steady but even home would not

be the same when mary

was not there then ma said

your nine dollars are a great help laura

i have been planning and i do believe

that with nine dollars i can buy the

goods for mary’s best dress

and perhaps the velvet to make her a hat