GOING TO TOWN Little House in the Big Woods Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

going to town

after the sugar snow had gone spring

came birds sang in the leafing hazel

bushes along the crooked rail fence

the grass grew green again and the woods

were

full of wildflowers buttercups

and violets thimble flowers

and tiny starry grass flowers were

everywhere

as soon as the days were warm laura and

mary begged to be allowed to run

barefoot at first they might only run

out around the wood pile and back in

their bare feet

next day they could run farther and soon

their shoes were oiled and put away and

they ran barefoot

all day long every night they had to

wash their feet before they went to bed

under the hems of their skirts their

ankles and their feet were as brown as

their faces

they had playhouses under the two big

oak trees

in front of the house mary’s playhouse

was under mary’s tree

and laura’s playhouse was under laura’s

tree

the soft grass made a green carpet for

them

the green leaves were the roofs and

through them

they could see bits of the blue sky paul

made a swing of tough bark

and hung it to a large low branch of

laura’s tree

it was her swing because it was in her

tree

but she had to be unselfish and let mary

swing in it whenever she wanted to

mary had a crack saucer to play with and

laura

had a beautiful cup with only one big

piece broken out of it

charlotte and nettie and the two little

wooden men paw had made

lived in the playhouse with them every

day

they made fresh leaf hats for charlotte

and nettie

and they made little leaf cups and

saucers to set on their table

the table was a nice smooth rock

sookie and rosie the cows were turned

loose in the woods now to eat the wild

grass and the juicy new leaves

there were two little calves in the

barnyard and

seven little pigs with the mother hog in

the pigpen

in the clearing he had made last year

paul was plowing around the stumps and

putting in his crops

one night he came in from work and said

to laura what do you think i

saw today she couldn’t guess

well paul said when i was working in the

clearing this morning i looked up

and there at the edge of the woods stood

a deer

she was a doe a mother dear and you’ll

never guess what was with her

a baby dear laura and mary guessed

together clasping their hands

yes poss said her fawn

was with her it was a pretty little

thing

the softest fawn color with big dark

eyes

it had the tiniest feet not much bigger

than my thumb

and it had slender little legs and the

softest

muzzle it stood there and looked at me

with its large soft eyes wondering what

i was

it was not afraid at all you wouldn’t

shoot a little baby deer would you paw

laura said no never he answered

nor its ma nor its paw no more hunting

now

till all the little wild animals have

grown up

we’ll just have to do without fresh meat

till fall

paul said that as soon as he had the

crops in they would all go

to town laura and mary could go too

they were old enough now they were very

much excited

and next day they tried to play going to

town

they could not do it very well because

they were not quite sure what a town was

like

they knew there was a store in town but

they’d never seen a store

nearly every day after that charlotte

and neddy would ask if they could go to

town

but laura and mary always said no dear

you can’t go this year perhaps next year

if you’re good

then you can go then one night pau

said we’ll go to town tomorrow

that night though it was the middle of

the week

mob bathed laura and mary all over

and she put up their hair she divided

their long hair

into wisps combed each wisp with a wet

comb

and wound it tightly on a bit of rag

there were knobby little bumps all over

their heads whichever way they turned on

their pillows

in the morning their hair would be curly

they were so excited that they did not

go to sleep at once

ma was not sitting with her mending

basket as usual

she was busy getting everything ready

for a quick breakfast

and laying out the best stockings and

petticoats and dresses

and paws good shirt and her own dark

brown calico with the little purple

flowers on it

the days were longer now in the morning

mob blew out the lamp before they

finished breakfast

it was a beautiful clear spring morning

ma hurried laura and mary with their

breakfast

and she washed the dishes quickly they

put on their stockings and shoes while

she made the beds then she helped them

put on their best dresses

mary’s china blew calico and lara’s dark

red calico

mary button laura up the back and then

ma button mary

ma took the rags off their hair and

combed it into long round curls that

hung down over their shoulders

she combed so fast that the snarls hurt

dreadfully

mary’s hair was beautifully golden

but lara’s was only a dirt colored brown

when their curls were done ma tied their

sun bonnets under their chins

she fastened her collar with a gold pin

and she was putting on her hat

when pod drove up to the gate he had

curried the horses till they

shone he had swept the wagon box clean

and laid a clean blanket on the wagon

seat

ma with baby carrie in her arms set up

on the wagon seat with paw

and laura and mary sat on a board

fastened across the wagon box behind the

seat

they were happy as they drove through

the springtime woods

carrie laughed and bounced ma was

smiling

and paul whistled while he drove the

horses

the sun was bright and warm on the road

sweet cool smells came out of the leafy

woods

rabbits stood up in the road ahead their

little front paws

dangling down and their noses sniffing

and the sun

shone through their tall twitching ears

then they bounded away with a flash of

little white tail

twice laura and mary saw deer looking at

them with their large

dark eyes from the shadows among the

trees

it was seven miles to town the town

was named pepin and it was on the shore

of lake pepin after a long time

laura began to see glimpses of blue

water between the trees

the hard road turned to soft sand

the wagon wheels went deep down in it

and the horses pulled and sweated

often passed up them to rest for a few

minutes

then all at once the road came out of

the woods

and laura saw the lake it was as

blue as the sky and it went to the edge

of the world

as far as she could see there was

nothing but flat blue

water very far away the sky and the

water met

and there was a darker blue line the sky

was

large overhead laura had never known

that the sky was so big

there was so much empty space all around

her that she felt

small and frightened and glad that paul

and ma were there

suddenly the sunshine was hot the sun

was almost overhead in the large empty

sky

and the cool woods stood back from the

edge of the lake

even the big woods seemed smaller under

so much sky

paw stopped the horses and turned around

on the wagon seat

he pointed ahead with his whip there you

are

laura and mary he said there’s the town

of pepin

laura stood up on the board and paw held

her safe by the arm so she could see the

town

when she saw it she could hardly breathe

she knew how yankee doodle felt when he

could not see the town because there

were so many houses

on the edge of the lake there was one

great big building

that was the store part told her it was

not made of logs

it was made of wide gray boards running

up and down

the sand spread all around it

behind the store there was a clearing

larger than paws clearing in the woods

at home

standing among the stumps there were

more houses than laura could count

they were not made of logs either they

were made of boards like the store

laura had never imagined so many houses

and they were so close together

of course they were much smaller than

the store one of them was made of new

boards that had not had time to get gray

it was the yellow color of newly cut

wood

people were living in all these houses

smoke rose up from their chimneys though

it was not monday

some woman had spread out a washing on

the bushes and stumps by her house

several girls and boys were playing in

the sunshine in the open space between

the store and the houses

they were jumping from one stump to the

next dump and shouting

well that’s pepin paw said

laura just nodded her head she looked

and looked and could not say a word

after a while she sat down again

and the horses went on they left the

wagon on the shore of the lake

paul unhitched the horses and tied one

to each side of the wagon box

then he took laura and mary by the hand

and mark came beside them carrying baby

carrie

they walked through the deep sand to the

store the warm sand came in over the

tops of laura’s shoes

there was a wide platform in front of

the store and at one end of it

steps went up to it out of the sand

laura’s heart was beating so

fast that she could hardly climb the

steps she was trembling all over

this was the store to which park came to

trade his furs

when they went in the storekeeper knew

him

the story keeper came out from behind

the counter and spoke to him

and tomorrow and then laura and mary had

to show their manners

mary said how do you do but laura could

not say

anything the story keeper said to paw

and ma

that’s a pretty little girl you’ve got

there and he admired mary’s golden curls

but he did not say anything about laura

or about her curls they were ugly and

brown

the store was full of things to look at

all along one side of it were shelves

full

of colored prints and calicos

they were beautiful pinks and blues and

reds and browns and purples

on the floor along the sides of the

plank counters

there were kegs of nails and kegs of

round grey

shot and there were big wooden pails

full

of candy there were sacks of salt and

sacks of store sugar in the middle of

the store

was a plow made of shiny wood with a

glittering bright plowshare

and there were still ax heads and hammer

heads

and saws and all kinds of knives hunting

knives

and skinning knives and butcher knives

and jack knives

there were big boots and little boots

big

shoes and little shoes

laura could have looked for weeks and

not seen all the things that were in

that store

she had not known there were so many

things in the world

pa and ma traded for a long time the

store keeper took down

bolts and bolts of beautiful calicos and

spread them out for ma to finger and

look at

and price laura and mary looked but must

not touch

every new color and pattern was prettier

than the last and there were so

many of them laura did not know how mark

would ever choose

ma chose two patterns of calico to make

shirts for paw

and a piece of brown denim to make him a

jumper

then she got some white cloth to make

sheets and underwear

paw got enough calico to make ma a new

apron

ma said oh no charles i don’t really

need it

but paul laughed and said she must pick

it out

or he would get her the turkey red piece

with the big yellow pattern

ma smiled and flushed pink and she

picked out a pattern

of rosebuds and leaves on a soft fawn

colored ground

then paul got for himself a pair of

galaxies

and some tobacco to smoke in his pipe

and ma got a pound of tea and a little

paper package of store sugar to have in

the house when company came

it was a pale brown sugar not dark brown

like the maple sugar ma

used for every day when all the trading

was done

the store keeper gave mary and laura

each a piece of candy

they were so astonished and so pleased

that they just stood

looking at their candies then mary

remembered and said

thank you laura could not speak

everybody was waiting and she could not

make a sound ma had to ask her

what do you say laura then laura opened

her mouth

and gulped and whispered thank you

after that they went out of the store

both pieces of candy were white

and flat and thin and heart-shaped

there was printing on them in red

letters

ma read it for them mary said

roses are red violets are blue

sugar is sweet and so are you

laura said only sweets to the sweet

the pieces of candy were exactly the

same size laura’s printing was larger

than mary’s

they all went back through the sand to

the wagon on the lakeshore

paw fed the horses on the bottom of the

wagon box

some oats he had brought for their

dinner ma opened the picnic box

they all sat on the warm sand near the

wagon

and ate bread and butter and cheese

hard-boiled eggs and cookies

the waves of lake pepin curled up on the

shore at their feet and

slid back with a smallest hissing sound

after dinner paul went back to the store

to talk a while with other men

ma sat holding carrie quietly until she

went to sleep but laura and mary ran

along the lakeshore

picking up pretty pebbles that had been

rolled back and forth by the waves until

they were polished smooth

there were no pebbles like that in the

big woods

when she found a pretty one laura put it

in her pocket

and there were so many each prettier

than the last

that she filled her pocket full then

paul called and they ran back to the

wagon for the horses were hitched up and

it was time to go home

laura was so happy when she ran through

the sand to paw

with all those beautiful pebbles in her

pocket but when pop picked her up and

tossed her into the wagon

a dreadful thing happened the heavy

pebbles tore

her pocket right out of her dress the

pocket fell

and the pebbles rolled all over the

bottom of the wagon box

laura cried because she had torn her

best dress

ma gave carrie to paw and came quickly

to look at the torn place

then she said it was all right stop

crying laura

she said i can fix it she showed laura

that the dress was not torn at all

nor the pocket the pocket was a little

bag

sewed into the seam of the dress skirt

and hanging under it

only the seams had ripped ma could sew

the pocket in again as good as new

pick up the pretty pebbles laura ma said

and another time don’t be so greedy

so laura gathered up the pebbles put

them in the pocket

and carried the pocket in her lap she

did not mind very much when paul laughed

at her for being such a greedy little

girl that she took

more than she could carry away nothing

like that ever happened to mary

mary was a good little girl who always

kept her dress clean and neat and minded

her manners

mary had lovely golden curls and her

candy heart

had a poem on it mary looked very good

and sweet

unrumpled and clean sitting on the board

beside laura

laura did not think it was fair but it

had been a wonderful day

the most wonderful day in her whole life

she thought about the beautiful lake and

the town she had seen

and the big store full of so many things

she held the pebbles carefully in her

lap and her candy heart

wrapped carefully in her handkerchief

until she got home and could put it away

to keep always

it was too pretty to eat the wagon

jolted along on the homeward road

through the big woods

the sun set and the woods grew darker

but before the last of the twilight was

gone

the moon rose and they were safe

because paul had his gun the soft

moonlight came down through the treetops

and made patches of light and shade on

the road ahead

the horse’s hooves made a cheerful

clippity-clop

laura and mary did not say anything

because they were

very tired and mo sat silently holding

baby carrie sleeping in her arms

but paw sang softly

me pleasures

and palaces

though we may roam

be it ever so

humble there’s

no place like

home

[Music]

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