Book 2 10. A ROOF AND A FLOOR Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
a roof and a floor
all day long every day laura and mary
were busy
when the dishes were washed and the beds
made there was always plenty to do and
to see and to listen to
they hunted for birds nests in the tall
grass and when they found them the
mother bird squawked and scolded
sometimes they touched a nest gently and
all in an instant a nest full of
downiness became a nest full of wide
gaping beaks
hungrily squawking then the mother bird
scolded like anything
and mary and laura quietly went away
because they did not want to worry her
too much
in the tall grass they lay still as mice
and watched flocks of little prairie
chickens running and pecking around
their anxiously clucking
smooth brown mothers they watched
striped snakes
rippling between the grass stems or
lying so still
that only their tiny flickering tongues
and glittering eyes
showed that they were alive they were
garter snakes
and would not hurt anybody but laura and
mary did not touch them
ma said snakes were best left alone
because some snakes would bite
and it was better to be safe than sorry
and sometimes there’d be a great grey
rabbit
so still in the lights and shadows of a
grass clump that you were near enough to
touch him before you saw him
then if you were very quiet you might
stand a long time looking at him
his round eyes stared at yours without
meaning anything
his nose wiggled and sunlight was rosy
through his long ears that had
delicate veins in them and the softest
short fur on their outsides
the rest of his fur was so thick and
soft
that at last you couldn’t help trying
very carefully to touch it
then he was gone in a flash and the
place where he had been sitting was
hollowed and smooth and still warm from
his warm behind
all the time of course laura or mary was
minding baby carrie except when she had
her afternoon nap
then they sat and soaked in the sunshine
in the wind
until laura forgot that the baby was
sleeping
she jumped up and ran and shouted till
mom came to the door and said
dear me laura must you yell like an
indian
i declare ma said if you girls aren’t
getting to look like indians
can i never teach you to keep your son
bonaton
paul was up on the house wall beginning
the roof
he looked down at them and laughed one
little indian
two little indians three little indians
he sang softly
nope only two you make three
mary said to him you’re brown too
but you aren’t little paw said laura
paul when are we going to see a papoose
goodness ma exclaimed what do you want
to see an
indian baby for put on your sun bonnet
now and forget such nonsense
laura’s sunbonnet hung down her back she
pulled it up by its strings
and its sides came past her cheeks when
her son bonnet was
on she could see only what was in front
of her and that was why she was always
pushing it back
and letting it hang by its strings tied
around her throat
she put her sun bonnet on when ma told
her to but she did not forget the
papoose this was
indian country and she didn’t know why
she didn’t see
indians she knew she would see them
sometime though
pah said so but she was getting tired of
waiting
paul had taken the canvas wagon top off
the house
and now he was ready to put the roof on
for days and days he had been hauling
logs from the creek bottoms and
splitting them
into thin long slabs piles of slabs lay
all around the house and slabs stood
against it
come out of the house caroline he said i
don’t want to risk anything falling on
you or carry
wait charles till i put away the china
shepherd as smaw answered
in a minute she came out with a quilt
and her mending and baby carrie
she spread the quilt on the shady grass
by the stable
and sat there to do her mending and
watch carrie play
paul reached down and pulled up a slab
he laid it across the ends of the
sapling rafters
its edge stuck out beyond the wall then
paw put some nails in his mouth and took
his hammer out of his belt and he began
to nail the slab to the rafters
mr edwards had lent him the nails they
had met in the woods where they were
both chopping down trees and mr edwards
had insisted that paul
borrow nails for the roof
that’s what i call a good neighbor paul
said when he told ma about it
yes said ma but i don’t like to be
beholden
not even to the best of neighbors nor i
paul replied i’ve never been beholden to
any man yet and i never will be
but neighborliness is another matter and
i’ll pay him back
every nail as soon as i can make the
trip to independence
now paul carefully took the nails one by
one from his mouth
and with ringing blows of the hammer he
drove them into the slab
it was much quicker than drilling holes
and whittling pegs and driving them into
the holes
but every now and then a nail sprang
away from the tough oak when the hammer
hit it
and if paul was not holding it firmly it
went sailing through the air
then mary and laura watched it fall and
they searched in the grass till they
found it
sometimes it was bent then paul
carefully
pounded it straight again it would never
do to lose or waste a nail
when paw had nailed down two slabs he
got up on them
he laid and nailed some more slabs all
the way up to the top of the rafters
the edge of each slab lapped over the
edge of the slab below it
then he began again on the other side of
the house
and he laid the roof all the way up from
that side
a little crack was left between the
highest slabs
so paul made a little trough of two
slabs
and he nailed this trough firmly upside
down
over the crack the roof was done
the house was darker than it had been
because no light came through the slabs
there was not one single crack that
would let rain come
in you have done a splendid job charles
law said and i am thankful to have a
good roof over my head
you shall have furniture too as fine as
i can make it
paul replied i’ll make a bedstead as
soon as the floor is laid
he began again to haul logs day after
day he hauled logs
he did not even stop pulling logs to go
hunting
he took his gun on the wagon and brought
back at night whatever meat he had shot
from the wagon seat
when he had hauled enough logs to make
the floor he began to split them
he split each log straight down the
middle
laura liked to sit on the wood pile and
watch him
first with a mighty blow of his axe he
split the
butt of the log into the crack
he slipped the thin edge of an iron
wedge
then he wrenched the axe out of the log
and he drove the wedge
deeper into the crack the tough wood
split a little farther all the way up
the log
paw fought that tough oak he struck with
his axe into the crack
he drove blocks of wood into it and
moved the iron wedge higher little by
little
he followed the crack up the log he
swung the axe high
and brought it down with a great swing
and a grunt from his chest
the axe whizzed and struck plung
it always struck exactly where paul
wanted it to
at last with a tearing cracking sound
the whole log split its two halves
lay on the ground showing the tree’s
pale insides
and the darker streak up its middle
then paul wiped the sweat from his
forehead he took a fresh grip on the axe
and he tackled another log one day
the last log was split and next morning
paul began to lay the floor he dragged
the logs into the house
and laid them one by one flat side up
with his spade he scraped the ground
underneath
and fitted the round side of the log
firmly down into it
with his axe he trimmed away the edge of
bark
and cut the wood straight so that each
log fitted against the next
with hardly a crack between them then he
took the head of the axe in his hand
and with little careful blows he
smoothed
the wood he squinted along the log to
see that the surface was straight and
true
he took off last little bits here and
there
finally he ran his hand over the
smoothness and nodded
not a splinter he said that’ll be all
right for little bare feet to run over
he left that log fitted into its place
and dragged in another
when he came to the fireplace he used
shorter logs
he left a space of bare earth for a
hearth so that when sparks or coals
popped out of the fire they would not
burn the floor
one day the floor was done it was smooth
and firm and hard
a good floor of solid oak that would
last paul said
forever you can’t beat a good punch and
floor he said
and ma said she was glad to be up off
the dirt
she put the little china woman on the
mantel shelf and spread a red checked
cloth on the table
there she said now we’re living like
civilized folks again after that
paul filled the cracks in the walls he
drove
thin strips of wood into them and
plastered them well with mud
filling every that’s a good job ma
said that chinking will keep out the
wind no matter how hard it blows
paw stopped whistling to smile at her he
slapped the last bit of mud between the
logs and smoothed it and sat down the
bucket
at last the house was finished
i wish we had glass for the windows paw
said we don’t need glass charles
said ma just the same if i do well with
my hunting and trapping this winter
i’m gonna get some glass in independence
next spring said paw and hang the
expense
glass windows would be nice if we can
afford them
moss said but we’ll cross that bridge
when we come to it
they were all happy that night the fire
on the hearth was pleasant
for on the high prairie even the summer
nights were cool
the red checked cloth was on the table
the little china woman glimmered on the
mantel shelf
and the new floor was golden in the
flickering fire light
outside the night was large and full of
stars
paul sat for a long time in the doorway
and played his fiddle and sang to ma and
mary and laura in the house
and to the starry night outside