Book 2 9. A FIRE ON THE HEARTH Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
[Music]
a fire on the hearth
outside the house close to the log wall
opposite the door paw cut away the grass
and scraped the ground smooth he was
getting ready to build the fireplace
then he and ma put the wagon box on the
wheels again
and paw hitched up pat and patty
the rising sun was shortening all the
shadows
hundreds of metal larks were rising from
the prairie
singing higher and higher in the air
their songs came down from the great
clear sky
like a rain of music and all over the
land
where the grass is waved and murmured
under the wind
thousands of little dickey birds clung
with their tiny claws to the blossoming
weeds
and sang their thousands of little songs
pat and patty sniffed the wind and
winnied with joy
they arched their necks and pawed at the
ground because they were eager to go
paul was whistling while he climbed to
the wagon seat and took up the reins
then he looked down at laura who was
looking up at him
and he stopped whistling and said wanna
go along laura
you and mary ma said they could
they climbed up the wheels clinging to
the spokes with their bare toes
and they sat on the high wagon seat
beside paw
pat and patty started with a little jump
and the wagon went jolting down the road
that paws wagon wheels had made
they went down between the bare reddish
yellow walls of earth
all ridged and wrinkled by forgotten
rains
then they went on across the rolling
land of the creek bottoms
masses of trees covered some of the low
rounded hills
and some of them were grassy open spaces
deer were lying in the shadows of the
trees
and deer were grazing in the sunshine on
the green grass
they lifted their heads and pricked
their ears
and stood chewing and watching the wagon
with their soft large
eyes all along the road the wild lock
spur was blossoming pink and blue and
white
birds balanced on yellow plumes of
goldenrod
and butterflies were fluttering starry
daisies lighted the shadows under trees
squirrels chattered on branches overhead
white-tailed rabbits hopped along the
road
and snakes wriggled quickly across it
when they heard the wagon coming
deep in the lowest valley the creek was
running
in the shadow of dirt bluffs when laura
looked up those bluffs
she couldn’t see the prairie grass at
all trees grew up the bluffs where the
earth had crumbled
and where the bare dirt was so steep
that trees couldn’t grow on it
bushes held on desperately with their
roots
half-naked roots were high above laura’s
head
where are the indian camps laura asked
paul
he had seen the indians deserted camps
here among the bluffs
but he was too busy to show them to her
now he must get the rocks to build the
fireplace
you girls can play he said but don’t go
out of my sight and don’t go into the
water
and don’t play with snakes some of the
snakes down here are poison
so laura and mary played by the creek
while paw dug the rocks he wanted
and loaded them into the wagon
they watched long-legged water bugs
skate over the glassy still pools
they ran along the bank to scare the
frogs and laughed from the green-coated
frogs with their white vests plopped
into the water
they listened to the wood pigeons call
among the trees
and the brown thrush singing they saw
the little minnows
swimming all together in the shallow
places where the creek ran sparkling
the minnows were thin gray shadows in
the rippling water
only now and again one minnow flashed
the sunshine from its silvery belly
there was no wind along the creek the
air was still and drowsy warm
it smelled of damp roots and mud and it
was full of the sound of rustling leaves
and of water running
in the muddy places where deer’s tracks
were thick
and every hoof print held water swarms
of mosquitoes rose up with a keen
sharp buzzing laura and mary slapped at
the mosquitoes on their faces and necks
and hands
and legs and wished they could go
waiting
they were so hot and the water looked so
cool laura was sure that it would do no
harm just to dip one foot in
and when paw’s back was turned she
almost did it
laura said paw and she snatched that
naughty foot back
if you girls want to go waiting paul
said
you can go into that shallow place don’t
go in over your ankles
mary waited only a little while she said
the gravel hurt her feet and she sat on
a log and patiently slapped at
mosquitoes
but laura slapped and kept on waiting
when she stepped the gravel hurt her
feet
when she stood still the tiny minnows
swarmed about her toes
and nibbled them with their tiny mouths
it was a funny
squiggling feeling laura tried and tried
to catch a minnow but she only got the
hem of her dress wet
then the wagon was loaded paul called
come on girls and they climbed to the
wagon seat again
and rode away from the creek up through
the woods and hills they rode again
to the high prairie where the winds were
always blowing and the grasses seemed to
sing and whisper and laugh
they had had a wonderful time in the
creek bottoms
but laura liked the high prairie best
the prairie was so wide and sweet
and clean that afternoon
moss sat sewing in the shade of the
house and baby carrie played on the
quilt beside her
while laura and mary watched paw build
the fireplace
first he mixed clay and water to a
beautiful thick mud
in the mustang’s water bucket he let
laura stir the mud while he laid a row
of rocks around three sides of the space
he had cleared by the house wall
then with the wooden paddle he spread
the mud over the rocks
in the mud he laid another row of rocks
and plastered them over the top and down
on the inside
with more mud he made a box on the
ground
three sides of the box were made of
rocks and mud
and the other side was the log wall of
the house
with rocks and mud and more rocks and
more mud
he built the walls as high as laura’s
chin
then on the walls close against the
house he laid
a log he plastered the log all over with
mud
after that he built up rocks and mud on
top of that log
he was making the chimney now and he
made it smaller
and smaller he had to go to the creek
for more rocks
laura and mary could not go again
because ma said the damp bear might give
them a fever
mary sat beside ma and sewed another
block of her nine patch quilt
but laura mixed another bucket full of
mud
next day paul built the chimney as high
as the house wall
then he stood and looked at it he ran
his fingers through his hair
you look like a wild man charles ma said
you’re standing your hair all on end it
stands on end
anyway caroline paul answered when i was
courting you it never would lie down no
matter how much i
slicked it with bear grease he threw
himself down on the grass at her feet
i’m plum tuckered out lifting rocks up
there
you’ve done well to build that chimney
up so high all by yourself
ma said she ran her hand through his
hair
and stood it up more than ever why don’t
you make it stick and dab the rest of
the way
she asked him well it would be easier he
admitted
i’m blamed if i don’t believe i will he
jumped up
ma said oh stay here in the shade and
rest a while
but he shook his head no use lays in
here while there’s work to be done
caroline the sooner i get the fireplace
done the sooner you can do your cooking
inside out of the wind
he hauled saplings from the woods and he
cut
and notched them and laid them up like
the walls of the house on top of the
stone chimney
as he laid them he plastered them well
with mud
and that finished the chimney then he
went into the house
and with his axe and saw he cut a hole
in the wall
he cut away the logs that had made the
fourth wall
at the bottom of the chimney and there
was the fireplace
it was large enough for laura and mary
and baby carrie to sit in
its bottom was the ground the paw had
cleared of grass
and its front was the space where paw
had cut away the logs
across the top of that space was the log
the paw had plastered all over with mud
on each side paul pegged a thick slab of
green
oak against the cut ends of the logs
then by the upper corners of the
fireplace he pegged
chunks of oak to the wall and on these
he laid an oak slab and pegged it firmly
that was the mantle shelf
as soon as it was done moss sat in the
middle of the mantle shelf
the little china woman she had brought
from the big woods
the little china woman had come all the
way and had not been broken
she stood on the mantel shelf with her
little china shoes
and her wide china skirts and her tight
china bodice
and her pink cheeks and blue eyes and
golden hair
all made of china then paw and ma
and mary and laura stood and admired
that fireplace
only carrie did not care about it she
pointed at the little china woman and
yelled when mary and laura told her that
no one but ma could touch it
you’ll have to be careful with your fire
caroline paul said
we don’t want sparks going up the
chimney to set the roof on fire
that cloth would burn easy i’ll split
out some clapards as soon as i can and
make a roof you won’t have to worry
about
so ma carefully built a little fire in
the new fireplace
and she roasted a prairie hen for supper
and that evening they ate in the house
they sat at table by the western window
paw had quickly made the table of two
slabs of oak
one end of the slab stuck in a crack of
the wall
and the other end rested on short
upright logs
paul had smoothed the slabs with his axe
and the table was very nice when moss
spread a cloth over it
the chairs were chunks of big logs
the floor was the earth that ma had
swept clean with her willow bow broom
on the floor in the corners the beds
were neat
under their patchwork quilts the rays of
the setting sun came through the window
and filled the house with
golden light outside
and far far away to the pink edge of the
sky
the wind went blowing and the wild
grasses
waved inside
the house was pleasant the good roast
chicken was
juicy in laura’s mouth her hands and
face were washed
her hair was combed her napkin was tied
around her neck
she sat up straight on the round end of
log and used her knife and fork
nicely as ma had taught her she did not
say anything
because children must not speak at table
until they are spoken to
but she looked at pau and maw and mary
and a baby carrie in ma’s lap
and she felt contented it was nice to be
living
in a house again