Sundays Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

sundays

now the winter seemed long laura

and mary began to be tired of staying

always in the house

especially on sundays the time went so

slowly

every sunday mary and laura were dressed

from the skin out

in their best clothes with fresh ribbons

in their hair

they were very clean because they’d had

their baths on saturday night

in the summer they were bathed in water

from the spring

but in the winter time paw filled and

heaped the wash tub

with clean snow and on the cook stove

it melted to water then close by the

warm stove

behind a screen made of a blanket over

two chairs

ma bathed laura and then she bathed

mary laura was bathed first because she

was littler than mary

she had to go to bed early on saturday

nights with charlotte

because after she was bathed and put

into her clean nightgown

paul must empty the wash tub and fill it

with snow again

for mary’s bath then after mary came to

bed

ma had her bath behind the blanket and

then paul had his

and they were all clean for sunday

on sundays mary and laura must not run

or shout or be noisy in their play

mary could not sew on her nine patch

quilt

and laura could not knit on the tiny

mittens she was making for baby carrie

they might look quietly at their paper

dolls but they must not make anything

new for them

they were not allowed to sew on doll

clothes

not even with pins they must sit quietly

and listen

while ma read bible stories to them or

stories about lions and tigers and white

bears from paw’s big green book

the wonders of the animal world they

might look at pictures

and they might hold their rag dolls

nicely and talk to them

but there was nothing else they could do

laura liked best to look at the pictures

in the big bible with its paper covers

best of all was the picture of adam

naming the animals

adam sat on a rock and all the animals

and birds big and little were gathered

around him

anxiously waiting to be told what kind

of animals they were

adam looked so comfortable he did not

have to be careful to keep his clothes

clean

because he had no clothes on he wore

only a skin around his middle

did adam have good clothes to wear on

sundays

laura asked ma no ma

said poor adam all he had to wear was

skins

laura did not pity adam she wished she

had nothing to wear but

skins one sunday after supper she could

not bear it any longer

she began to play with jack and in a few

minutes she was running

and shouting paw told her to sit in her

chair

and be quiet but when laura sat down

she began to cry and kick the chair with

her heels

i hate sunday she said

paul put down his book laura

he said sternly come here

her feet dragged as she went because she

knew she deserved a spanking

but when she reached paw he looked at

her sorrowfully for a moment

and then he took her on his knee and

cuddled her against him

he held out his other arm to mary and

said

i’m going to tell you a story about when

grandpa was a boy

the story of grandpa’s sled and the pig

when your grandpa was a boy laura

sunday did not begin on sunday morning

as it does now

it began at sundown on saturday night

then everyone stopped every kind of work

or play

supper was solemn after supper

grandpa’s father read aloud a chapter of

the bible

while everyone sat straight and still in

his chair

then they all knelt down and their

father said a long prayer

when he said amen they got up from their

knees and each took a candle and went to

bed

they must go straight to bed with no

playing laughing or even talking

sunday morning they ate a cold breakfast

because nothing could be cooked on

sunday

then they all dressed in their best

clothes and walked to church

they walked because hitching up the

horses was work

and no work could be done on sunday

they must walk slowly and solemnly

looking straight ahead

they must not joke or laugh or even

smile

grandpa and his two brothers walked

ahead and their father and mother walked

behind them

in church grandpa and his brothers must

sit

perfectly still for two long hours and

listened to the sermon

they dared not fidget on the hard bench

they dared not swing their feet

they dared not turn their heads to look

at the windows or the walls or the

ceiling of the church they must sit

perfectly motionless and never for one

instant take their eyes from the

preacher when church was over

they walk slowly home they might talk on

the way

but they must not talk loudly and they

must never laugh or smile

at home they ate a cold dinner which had

been cooked the day before

then all the long afternoon they must

sit in a row

on a bench and study their catechism

until at last the sun went down and

sunday was over

now grandpa’s home was about halfway

down the side of a steep hill

the road went from the top of the hill

to the bottom right past the front door

and in winter it was the best place for

sliding downhill that you can possibly

imagine

one week grandpa and his two brothers

james and george

were making a new sled they worked at it

every minute of their play time

it was a best sled they had ever made

and it was so

long that all three of them could sit on

it one behind the other

they plan to finish it in time to slide

downhill saturday afternoon

for every saturday afternoon they had

two or three hours to play

but that week their father was cutting

down trees in the big woods

he was working hard and he kept the boys

working with him

they did all the morning chores by

lantern light

and were hard at work in the woods when

the sun came up

they worked till dark and then there

were the chores to do

and after supper they had to go to bed

so they could get up early in the

morning

they had no time to work on the sled

until saturday afternoon

then they worked at it just as fast as

they could but they didn’t get it

finished till

just as the sun went down saturday night

after the sun went down they could not

slide downhill not

even once that would be breaking the

sabbath

so they put the sled in the shed behind

the house to wait until sunday was over

all the two long hours in church next

day while they kept their feet still

and their eyes on the preacher they were

thinking about the sled

at home while they ate dinner they

couldn’t think of anything else

after dinner their father sat down to

read the bible

and grandpa and james and george sat as

still as mice on their bench with their

catechism

but they were thinking about the sled

the sun shone brightly and the snow

was smooth and glittering on the road

they could see it through the window

it was a perfect day for sliding

downhill

they looked at their catechism and they

thought about the new sled

and it seemed that sunday would never

end

after a long time they heard a snore

they looked at their father and they saw

that his head had fallen against the

back of his chair and he was fast asleep

then james looked at george and james

got up from the bench

and tiptoed out of the room through the

back door

george looked at grandpa and george

tiptoed after james

and grandpa looked fearfully at their

father but on tiptoe

he followed george and left their father

snoring

they took their new sled and went

quietly up to the top of the hill

they meant to slide down just once then

they would put the sled away

and slipped back to their bench in the

catechism before their father woke up

james sat in front on the sled then

george

and then grandpa because he was the

littlest the sled started

at first slowly then faster

and faster it was running flying down

the long steep hill but the boys

dared not shout they must slide silently

past the house without waking their

father

there was no sound except the little

whirr of the runners on the snow

and the wind rushing past then

just as the sled was swooping toward the

house

a big black pig stepped out of the woods

he walked into the middle of the road

and stood there

the sled was going so fast it couldn’t

be stopped

there wasn’t time to turn it the sled

went

right under the hog and picked him up

with a squeal he

sat down on james and he kept on

squealing long and loud and shriel

[Music]

they flashed by the house the pigs

sitting in front

then james then george then grandpa

and they saw their father standing in

the doorway looking at them

they couldn’t stop they couldn’t hide

there was no time to say anything

down the hill they went the hog sitting

on james and squealing all the way

at the bottom of the hill they stopped

the hog

jumped off james and ran away into the

woods still

squealing the boys walked slowly

and solemnly up the hill they put the

sled away

they sneaked into the house and slipped

quietly to their places on the bench

their father was reading his bible he

looked up at them without saying a word

then he went on reading and they studied

their catechism

but when the sun went down and the

sabbath day was over

their father took them out to the

woodshed and tanned their jackets

first james then george then grandpa

so you see laura and mary pau said

you may find it hard to be good but you

should be glad that it isn’t as hard to

be good now as it was when grandpa was a

boy

did little girls have to be as good as

that laura

asked and moss said it was harder for

little girls because they had to behave

like little ladies all the time not only

on sundays

little girls could never slide downhill

like boys

little girls had to sit in the house and

stitch on samplers

now run along and let ma put you to bed

said paw

and he took his fiddle out of his box

laura and mary lay in their trundle bed

and listened to the sunday hymns for

even the fiddle must not sing the

weekday songs on sundays

rock of ages cleft for me pause saying

with the fiddle

then he sang

[Music]

shall i be carried to the skies

on flowery beds of ease

while others fought to

win the prize and sail through

bloody seas

laura began to float away on the music

and then she heard a clattering noise

and there was ma

by the stove getting breakfast it was

monday morning and sunday would not come

again for a whole

week that morning when paul came into

breakfast

he caught laura and said he must give

her a spanking

first he explained that today was her

birthday and she would not grow

properly next year unless she had a

spanking and then he spanked

so gently and carefully that it did not

hurt a bit

one two three

four five

six he counted and spanked slowly

one spank for each year and at the last

one big spank to grow on then paw gave

her a little wooden man he had whittled

out of a stick

to be company for charlotte ma gave her

five little cakes

one for each year that laura had lived

with her and paw

and mary gave her a new dress for

charlotte

mary had made the dress herself when

laura thought she was sewing on her

patchwork quilt

and that night for a special birthday

treat

pop played pop goes the weasel for her

he sat with laura and mary close against

his knees while he played

now watch he said watch and maybe you

can see the weasel pop

out this time then he’s saying

a penny for a spool of thread another

for a needle

that’s the way the money goes laura and

mary bent close

watching for they knew now was the time

said paw’s finger on the string

saying the fiddle plane is playing but

laura and mary hadn’t seen paw’s finger

make the string pop

oh please please do it again they begged

him

pau’s blue eyes laughed and the fiddle

went on while he sang

all around the cobbler’s bench the

monkey chased the weasel the preacher

kissed the cobbler’s wife

pop goes a weasel

they hadn’t seen paw’s finger that time

either he was so

quick they could never catch him so they

went laughing

to bed and lay listening to paw and the

fiddle singing

there was an old and his name was

uncle ned and he died long ago

long ago there was

no wool on the top of his head

in the place where the wall ought to

grow

his fingers were as long as the cane in

the break

his eyes they could hardly see

and he had no teeth for to

eat the whole cake so he had to let that

whole cake be

so hang up the shovel and the hole

play down the fiddle and the bow

there’s no more work for

old uncoonhead for he’s gone

where the good go