Book 2 19. MR. EDWARDS MEETS SANTA CLAUS Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder

mr edwards meets santa claus

the days were short and cold the wind

whistled sharply

but there was no snow cold rains were

falling

day after day the rain fell patterning

on the roof and pouring from the eaves

mary and laura stayed close by the fire

sewing their nine patch quilt blocks or

cutting paper dolls from scraps of

wrapping paper

and hearing the wet sound of the rain

every night was so

cold that they expected to see snow next

morning but in the morning

they saw only sad wet grass

they pressed their noses against the

squares of glass in the windows that paw

had made

and they were glad they could see out

but they wish they could see snow

laura was anxious because christmas was

near and santa claus and his reindeer

could not travel without snow

mary was afraid that even if it snowed

santa claus could not find them so far

away in indian territory

when they asked ma about this she said

she didn’t know

what day is it they asked her anxiously

how many more days till christmas and

they counted off the days on their

fingers

till there was only one more day left

rain was still falling that morning

there was not one crack in the gray sky

they felt almost sure there would be no

christmas

still they kept hoping just before noon

the light changed the clouds broke and

drifted apart

shining white in a clear blue sky the

sun

shone birds sang and thousands of drops

of water

sparkled on the grasses but when ma

opened the door to let in the fresh cold

air they heard the creek roaring

they had not thought about the creek now

they knew they would have no christmas

because santa claus could not cross that

roaring creek

paul came in bringing a big fat turkey

if it weighed less than 20 pounds he

said he’d eat it

feathers and all he asked laura how’s

that for a christmas dinner think you

can manage one of those drumsticks

she said yes she could but she was sober

then mary asked him if the creek was

going down and he said it was still

rising

ma said it was too bad she hated to

think of mr edwards eating his bachelor

cooking alone on christmas day

mr edwards had been asked to eat

christmas dinner with them

but paul shook his head and said a man

would risk his neck trying to cross that

creek now

no he said that current’s too strong

we’ll just have to make up our minds

that edwards won’t be here tomorrow

of course that meant that santa claus

could not come either

laura and mary tried not to mind too

much they watched ma dress the wild

turkey and it was a very fat turkey

they were lucky little girls to have a

good house to live in and a warm fire to

sit by and such a turkey for their

christmas dinner

ma said so and it was true ma said it

was too bad that santa claus couldn’t

come this year

but they were such good girls that he

hadn’t forgotten them

he would surely come next year still

they were not happy after supper that

night they washed their hands and faces

buttoned their red flannel nightgowns

tied their nightcap strings and soberly

said their prayers

they laid down in bed and pulled the

covers up

it did not seem at all like christmas

time

paul and ma sat silent by the fire

after a while ma asked why paul didn’t

play the fiddle and he said

i don’t seem to have the heart to

caroline

after a longer while ma suddenly stood

up

i’m going to hang up your stockings

girls she said

maybe something will happen laura’s

heart

jumped but then she thought again of the

creek and she

knew nothing could happen ma took one of

mary’s clean stockings

and one of laura’s and she hung them

from the mantle shelf on either side of

the fireplace

laura and mary watched her over the edge

of their bed covers

now go to sleep ma said kissing them

good night

morning will come quicker if you’re

asleep

she sat down again by the fire and laura

almost went to sleep she woke up a

little when she heard pause say

you’ve only made it worse caroline and

she thought she heard ma

say no charles there’s the white sugar

perhaps she was dreaming

then she heard jack growl savagely

the door latch rattled and someone said

ingles

paul ingalls stirring up the fire and

when he opened the door

lara saw that it was morning the

outdoors was

gray great fish hooks

edwards come in man what’s happened paw

exclaimed

laura saw the stockings limpy dangling

and she scrooged her shut eyes into the

pillow

she heard paul piling wood on the fire

and she heard mr edward say he had

carried his clothes

on his head when he swam the creek his

teeth

rattled and his voice shivered he would

be all right he said as soon as he got

warm

it was too big a risk edward’s paw said

we’re glad you’re here but that was too

big a risk for a christmas dinner

or your little ones had to have a

christmas mr edwards replied

no creek could stop me after i fetched

them their gifts from independence

laura sat straight up in bed

did you see santa claus she shouted

i sure did mr edward said

where when what did he look like what

did he say

did he really give you something for us

mary and laura cried

wait wait a minute mr edwards left

and moth said she would put the presents

in the stockings as santa claus intended

she said they mustn’t look mr edwards

came and sat on the floor by their bed

and he answered every question they

asked him

they honestly tried not to look at ma

and they didn’t quite see what she was

doing

when he saw the creek rising mr edwards

said he had known that santa claus could

not get across

it but she crossed it laura said

yes mr edwards replied but

santa claus is too old and fat he

couldn’t make it

where a long lean razorback like me

could do so

and mr edwards reasoned that if santa

claus couldn’t cross the creek

likely he would come no farther south in

independence

why should he come 40 miles across the

prairie only to be turned back

of course he wouldn’t do that so mr

edwards had walked to independence

in the rain mary asked mr edwards said

he wore his rubber coat

and there coming down the street in

independence he had met

santa claus in the daytime

laura asked she hadn’t thought that

anyone could see santa claus in the

daytime

no mr edwards said it was

night but light shone out across the

street from the saloons

well the first thing santa claus said

was

hello edwards did he know you

mary asked and laura asked

how did you know he really was santa

claus

mr edwards said that santa claus knew

everybody

and he had recognized santa at once by

his whiskers

santa claus had the longest thickest

widest set of whiskers west of the

mississippi

so santa claus said hello edwards

last time i saw you you were sleeping on

a corn shuck bed in tennessee

and mr edwards well remembered the

little pair of red yarn mittens that

santa claus had left for him that time

then santa claus said i understand

you’re living now down along the

verdigris river

have you ever met up down yonder with

two little young girls

named mary and laura

i surely am acquainted with them mr

edwards replied

it rests heavy on my mind said santa

claus

they are both of them sweet pretty good

little young things and i know they’re

expecting me

i surely do hate to disappoint two good

little girls like them

yet with the water up the way it is i

can’t ever make

it across that creek i can figure no way

whatsoever to get to their cabin this

year

edwards santa claus said

would you do me the favor to fetch them

their gifts this one time

i’ll do that and with pleasure mr

edwards told them

then santa claus and mr edwards stepped

across the street to the hitchhim posts

where the pack mule was tied

didn’t he have his reindeer laura asked

you know he couldn’t mary said there

isn’t any snow

exactly said mr edwards

santa traveled with a pack mule in the

southwest

and santa claus uncinched the pack and

looked through it

and he took out the presents for mary

and laura

oh what are they laura cried but mary

asked

then what did he do then he shook hands

with mr edwards

and he swung up on his fine bay horse

santa claus rode well for a man of his

weight and build

and he tucked his long white whiskers

under his bandana

so long edwards he said and he rode away

on the fort dodge trail leading his pack

mule and whistling

laura and mary were silent and instant

thinking of that then ma said

you may look now girls something was

shining bright in the top of laura’s

stocking

she squealed and jumped out of bed so

did mary

but laura beat her to the fireplace and

the shining thing

was a glittering new tin cup mary had

one

exactly like it these new tin cups were

their very own

now they each had a cup to drink out of

laura jumped up and down and shouted and

laughed but mary stood still and looked

with shining eyes at her own tin

cup then they plunged their hands into

the stockings again

and they pulled out two long long sticks

of candy

it was peppermint candy striped red and

white

they looked and looked at that beautiful

candy

and lara licked her stick just one lick

but mary was not so greedy she didn’t

take even one lick of her stick

those stockings weren’t empty yet mary

and laura pulled out

two small packages they unwrapped them

and each found a little heart-shaped

cake

over their delicate brown tops with

sprinkled

white sugar the sparkling grains lay

like tiny drifts of snow

the cakes were too pretty to eat mary

and laura

just looked at them but at last laura

turned hers over

and she nibbled a tiny nibble from

underneath where it wouldn’t show

and the inside of that little cake was

white

it had been made of pure white flour and

sweetened with white sugar laura and

mary

never would have looked in their

stockings again the cups and the cakes

and the candy were almost

too much they were too happy to speak

but ma asked if they were sure the

stockings were empty

then they put their arms down inside

them to make sure

and in the very toe of each stocking was

a

shining bright new penny

they had never even thought of such a

thing as having a penny

think of having a whole penny for your

very own

think of having a cup and a cake and a

stick of candy

and a penny there never had been such a

christmas

now of course right away laura and mary

should have thanked mr edwards for

bringing those lovely presents all the

way from independence

but they had forgotten all about mr

edwards they had even forgotten santa

claus

in a minute they would have remembered

but before they did ma said gently

aren’t you going to thank mr edwards

oh thank you mr edwards thank you they

said and they meant it with all their

hearts

par shook mr edward’s hand too and shook

it again

paw and ma and mr edwards acted as if

they were almost crying

laura didn’t know why so she gazed again

at her beautiful presence

she looked up again when ma gasped and

mr edwards was taking

sweet potatoes out of his pockets he

said they had helped to balance the

package on his head when he swam across

the creek

he thought paw and mom might like them

with the christmas turkey

there were nine sweet potatoes mr

edwards had brought them all the way

from town too

it was just too much pah said so

it’s too much edwards he said they never

could thank him enough

mary and laura were too much excited to

eat breakfast

they drank the milk from their shining

new cups but they could not swallow the

rabbit stew in the cornmeal mush

don’t make them charles ma said it will

soon be dinner time

for christmas dinner there was the

tender juicy roasted turkey

there were the sweet potatoes baked in

the ashes and

carefully wiped so that you could eat

the good skins too

there was a loaf of salt rising bread

made from the last of the white flour

and after all that there were stewed

dried blackberries and little cakes

but these little cakes were made with

brown sugar and they did not have white

sugar sprinkled over their tops

then paw and ma and mr edward sat by the

fire and talked about

christmas times back in tennessee and up

north in the big woods

but mary and laura looked at their

beautiful cakes and played with their

pennies and drank water

out of their new cups and little by

little

they licked and sucked their sticks of

candy till

each stick was sharp pointed on one end

that was a happy christmas