Book 3 6. FILLING THE ICEHOUSE Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
[Music]
filling the ice house
the weather was so cold that the snow
was like
sand underfoot a little water thrown
into the air
came down as tiny balls of ice
even on the south side of the house at
noon the snow did not soften
this was perfect weather for cutting ice
because when the blocks were lifted from
the pond
no water would drip it would instantly
freeze
the sun was rising and all the eastern
slopes of the snow drifts were rosy in
its light when almanzo
snuggled under the fur robes between
father and royal
in the big bobsled and they set out to
the pond
on trout river the horses trotted
briskly
shaking jingles from their bells their
breath
steamed from their nostrils and the
bobsled’s runners squeaked on the hard
snow
the cold air crinkled inside almanzo’s
tingling nose
but every minute the sun shone more
brightly striking tiny glitters of red
and green light from the snow
and all through the woods there were
sparkles of sharp white lights and
icicles
it was a mile to the pond and the woods
and once father got out to put his hands
over the horse’s noses
their breaths had frozen over their
nostrils making it hard for them to
breathe
father’s hands melted the frost and they
went on briskly
french joe and lazy john were waiting on
the pond when the bobsled drove up
they were frenchmen who lived in little
log houses in the woods
they had no farms they hunted and
trapped
and fished they sang and joked and
danced
and they drank red wine instead of cider
when father needed a hired man they
worked for him
and he paid them with salt pork from the
barrels down cellar
they stood on the snowy pond in their
tall boots and plaid jackets and fur
caps with fur earmuffs
and the frost of their breaths was on
their long mustaches
each had an ax on his shoulder and they
carried cross-cut saws
a cross-cut saw has a long narrow blade
with wooden handles at the ends two men
must pull it back and forth across the
edge of whatever they want to saw in two
but they could not saw ice that way
because the ice was solid underfoot
like a floor it had no edge to saw a
cross
when father saw them he laughed and
called out
you flipped that penny yet everybody
laughed but almanzo
he did not know the joke so french joe
told him
once two irishmen were sent out to saw
ice with a cross-cut saw
they had never sought ice before they
looked at the ice
and they looked at the saw till at last
pat took a penny out of his pocket and
he says
says he now jamie be fair
heads or tails who goes below
then almanzo left to think of anyone
going down into the dark
cold water under the ice to pull one end
of the cross-cut saw
it was funny that there were people who
didn’t know how to saw ice
he drudged with the others across the
ice to the middle of the pond
a sharp wind blew there driving wisps of
snow before it
above the deep water the ice was smooth
and dark swept almost bare of snow
almanzo watched while joe and john
chopped a big
three cornered hole in it they lifted
out the broken pieces of ice
and carried them away leaving the hole
full of open water
she is about 20 inches thick lazy john
said
then saw the ice 20 inches said father
lazy john and french joe knelt at the
edge of the hole
they lowered their cross-cut saws into
the water
and began to saw nobody pulled the ends
of the saws under the water
side by side they saw two straight
cracks through the ice
20 inches apart and 20 feet long
then with the axe john broke the ice
across
and a slab 20 inches wide 20 inches
thick
and 20 feet long rose a little and
floated free
with a pole john pushed the slab toward
the three cornered hole
and as the end was thrust out crackling
the thin ice freezing on the water
joe sawed off 20 inch lengths of it
father picked up the cubes with the big
iron ice tongs
and loaded them onto the bobsleds
almanzo ran to the edge of the hole
watching the saw
suddenly right on the very edge he
slipped
he felt himself falling headlong into
the dark water
his hands couldn’t catch hold of
anything he knew he would sink
and be drawn under the solid ice the
swift current would pull him under the
ice where nobody could find him
he’d drown held down by the ice in the
dark
french joe grabbed him just in time he
heard a shout
and felt a rough hand jerk him by one
leg he felt a terrific
crash and then he was lying on his
stomach
on the good solid ice he got up on his
feet
father was coming running father stood
over him
big and terrible you ought to have the
worst whipping of your life father said
yes father almanzo whispered
he knew it he knew he should have been
more careful
a boy nine years old is too big to do
foolish things because he doesn’t stop
to think
almanzo knew that and felt ashamed
he shrank up small inside his clothes
and his legs shivered
afraid of the whipping father’s
whippings hurt
but he knew he deserved to be whipped
the whip was on the bobsled
i won’t thresh you this time father
decided
but see to it you stay away from that
edge
yes father almanzo whispered
he went away from the hole and did not
go near it again
father finished loading the bobsled then
he spread the lap robes on top of the
ice
and almanzo rode on them with father and
royal back to the ice house near the
barns
the ice house was built of boards with
wide
cracks between it was set high from the
ground
on wooden blocks and looked like a big
cage
only the floor and the roof were solid
on the floor was a huge mound of sawdust
which father had hauled from the lumber
mill
with a shovel father spread the sawdust
three inches thick on the floor
on this he laid the cubes of ice three
inches apart
then he drove back to the pond and
almanzo went to work with royal in the
ice house
they filled every crack between the
cubes
with sawdust and tamped it down tightly
with sticks
then they shoveled the whole mound of
sawdust
on top of the ice in a corner and where
it had been
they covered the floor with cubes of ice
and packed them
in sawdust then they covered it all with
sawdust
three inches thick they worked as fast
as they could but before they finished
father came with another load of ice he
laid down another layer of ice cubes
three inches apart
and drove away leaving them to fill
every crevice
tightly with sawdust and spread sawdust
over the top
and shove the rest of the mound of
sawdust up again
they worked so hard that the exercise
kept them warm
but long before noon almanzo was
hungrier than
wolves he couldn’t stop work long enough
to run into the house for a donut
all of his middle was hollow with
annoying inside it
he knelt on the ice pushing sawdust into
the cracks with his mitten hand
and pounding it down with a stick as
fast as he could
and he asked royal what would you like
best to eat they talked about spare ribs
and turkey with dressing and baked beans
and crackling cornbread and other good
things
but almanzo said that what he liked most
in the world
was fried apples and onions
when at last they went into dinner there
on the table
was a big dish of the mother knew what
he liked best and she had cooked it for
him
almanzo ate four large helpings of
apples and onions fried together
he ate roast beef and brown gravy and
mashed potatoes
and creamed carrots and boiled turnips
and countless slices of buttered bread
with crabapple jelly
it takes a great deal to feed a growing
boy mother said
and she put a thick slice of bird’s nest
pudding on his bear plate
and handed him the pitcher of sweetened
cream
speckled with nutmeg almanzo poured the
heavy cream over the apples nested in
the fluffy crust
the syrupy brown juice curled up around
the edges of the cream
almanzo took up his spoon and ate
every bit then until chore time he and
royal worked in the ice house
all next day they worked and all the
next day
just at dusk on the third day father
helped them spread the last
layer of sawdust over the topmost cubes
of ice
in the peak of the ice house roof
and that job was done
buried in sawdust the blocks of ice
would not melt in the hottest summer
weather
one at a time they would be dug out and
mother would make ice cream
and lemonade and cold eggnog