THE SUGAR SNOW Little House in the Big Woods Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

[Music]

the sugar snow

for days the sun shone and the weather

was

warm there was no frost on the windows

in the mornings

all day the icicles fell one by one from

the eaves with soft smashing and

crackling sounds in the snow banks

beneath

the tree shook their wet black branches

and chunks of snow

fell down when mary and laura pressed

their noses against the cold window pane

they could see the drip of water from

the eaves and the bare branches of the

trees

the snow did not glitter it looked soft

and tired

under the trees it was pitted where the

chunks of snow had fallen

and the banks beside the path were

shrinking and settling

then one day laura saw a patch of bare

ground in the yard

all day it grew bigger and before night

the whole yard was bare mud only the icy

path was left

and the snow banks along the path and

the fence and beside the wood pile

can’t i go out to play ma laura asked

and ma said may laura

may i go out to play she asked

you may tomorrow ma promised

that night laura woke up shivering the

bed

covers felt thin and her nose was icy

cold

mo was tucking another quilt over her

snuggle close to mary

ma said and you’ll get warm

in the morning the house was warm from

the stove

but when laura looked out of the window

she saw that the ground was covered

with soft thick snow all along the

branches of the trees the snow was

piled like feathers and it lay in mounds

along the top of the rail fence

and stood up in great white balls on top

of the gate posts

paw came in shaking the soft snow from

his shoulders and stamping it from his

boots

it’s a sugar snow he said

laura put her tongue quickly to a little

bit of the white snow that lay in a fold

of his sleeve

it was nothing but wet on her tongue

like any snow

she was glad that nobody had seen her

taste it

why is it a sugar snow paw she asked him

but he said he didn’t have time to

explain now he must hurry away

he was going to grandpa’s grandpa lived

far

away in the big woods where the trees

were closer together and larger

laura stood at the window and watched

paw big and swift and strong

walking away over the snow his gun was

on his shoulder

his hatchet and powder horn hung at his

side

and his tall boots made great tracks in

the soft snow

laura watched him till he was out of

sight in the woods

it was late before he came home that

night ma had already lighted the lamp

when he came in

under one arm he carried a large package

and in the other hand was a big covered

wooden bucket

here caroline he said handing the

package in the bucket to ma

and then he put the gun on its hooks

over the door

if i’d met a bear he said i couldn’t

have shot him without dropping my load

then he laughed and if i drop that

bucket and bundle

i wouldn’t have had to shoot him i could

have stood and watched him eat what’s in

them and lick his chops

ma unwrapped the package and there were

two

hard brown cakes each as large as a milk

pan

she uncovered the bucket and it was full

of

dark brown syrup here

laura and mary paul said and he gave

them each

a little round package out of his pocket

they took off the paper wrappings

and each had a little hard brown cake

with

beautifully crinkled edges bite it

said paw and his blue eyes twinkled

each bit off one little crinkle and it

was

sweet it crumbled in their mouths

it was better even than their christmas

candy

maple sugar said paw

supper was ready and laura and mary laid

the little maple sugar cakes beside

their plates while they ate the maple

syrup on their bread

after supper part took them on his knees

as he sat before the fire

and told them about his day at grandpa’s

and the sugar snow

all winter paul said grandpa has been

making wooden buckets and little troughs

he made them of cedar and white ash

for those woods won’t give a bad taste

to the maple syrup

to make the troughs he split out little

sticks as long as my hand

and as big as my two fingers near one

end

grandpa cut the stick half through and

split

one half off this left him a flat stick

with a square piece at one end then with

a bit

he bored a hole lengthwise through the

square part

and with his knife he whittled the wood

till it was only a

thin shell around the round hole the

flat part of the stick he hollowed out

with his knife

till it was a little trough he made

dozens of them and he made ten new

wooden buckets

he had them all ready when the first

warm weather came

and the sep began to move in the trees

then he went into the maple woods and

with the bit

he bored a hole in each maple tree and

he hammered the round end of the little

trough

into the hole and he set a cedar bucket

on the ground

under the flat end the sap you know

is the blood of a tree it comes up from

the roots

when warm weather begins in the spring

and it goes to the very tip of each

branch and twig

to make the green leaves grow well

when the maple sap came to the hole in

the tree it ran

out of the tree down the little trough

and into the bucket

oh didn’t it hurt the poor tree

laura asked no more than it hurts you

when you prick your finger and it bleeds

said paw every day grandpa puts on his

boots

and his warm coat and his fur cap

and he goes out into the snowy woods and

gathers the sap

with a barrel on a sled he drives from

tree to tree

and empties the sap from the buckets

into the barrel

then he hauls it to a big iron kettle

that hangs by a chain from a cross

timber between two trees

he empties the sap into the iron kettle

there’s a big bonfire under the kettle

and the sap

boils and grandpa watches it carefully

the fire must be hot enough to keep the

sap boiling

but not hot enough to make a boil over

every few minutes the sap must be

skimmed

grandpa skims it with a big long-handled

wooden ladle that he made of

basswood when the sap gets too hot

grandpa lifts ladle fulls of it high in

the air

and pours it back slowly this cools the

sap a little

and keeps it from boiling too fast when

the sap is boiled down just enough

he fills the buckets with the syrup

after that

he boils the sap until it grains when he

cools it in a saucer

the instant the sap is graining grandpa

jumps to the fire

and rakes it all out from beneath the

kettle then as fast as he can

he ladles the thick syrup into the milk

pans that are standing ready

in the pans the syrup turns to cakes of

hard brown maple sugar

so that’s why it’s the sugar snow

because grandpa is making sugar

laura asked no pau

said it’s called a sugar snow because a

snow this time of year means that

men can make more sugar you see this

little cold spell

and the snow will hold back the leafing

of the trees

and that makes a longer run of sap when

there’s a long run of sap

it means that grandpa can make enough

maple sugar to last

all the year for coming every day when

he takes his furs to town

he will not need to trade for much store

sugar he will get only a little store

sugar to have on the table when company

comes

grandpa must be glad there’s a sugar

snow laura said

yes pas said he’s very glad he’s going

to sugar off again next monday

and he says we must all come pause blue

eyes twinkled

he’d been saving the best for the last

and he said to ma

hey caroline there’ll be a dance

ma smiled she looked very happy

and she laid down her mending for a

minute oh

charles she said then she went on with

her mending

but she kept on smiling she said

i’ll wear my delaying ma’s delaying

dress was

beautiful it was a dark green with a

little pattern

all over it that looks like ripe

strawberries

a dressmaker had made it in the east

in the place where ma came from when she

married paw

and moved out west to the big woods in

wisconsin

ma had been very fashionable before she

married paw

and a dressmaker had made her clothes

the delane was kept wrapped in paper

and laid away laura and mary had never

seen maul wear it

but she had shown it to them once she

had let them touch the beautiful dark

red buttons that buttoned the box up the

front

and she had shown them how neatly the

whale bones were put in the seams inside

with hundreds of little crisscross

stitches

it showed how important a dance was if

ma was going to wear the beautiful

delaying dress

laura and mary were excited they bounced

up and down on paws knees and asked

questions about the dance until at last

he said

now you girls run along to bed you’ll

know all about the dance when you see it

i have to put a new string on my fiddle

there were sticky fingers and sweet

mouths to be

washed then there were prayers to be

said

by the time laura and mary were snug in

their trundle bed paw

and the fiddle were both singing while

he kept time with his foot on the floor

i’m captain jinx of the horse marines i

feed my horse

on corn and beans and i often go beyond

my means from captain jinx of the horse

marines i’m captain in the army