Book 6 1. MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN SHINES Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
[Music]
harper audio presents
the long winter by laura ingalls wilder
read by cherry jones
[Music]
make hay while the sun shines
the mowing machine’s whirring sounded
cheerfully from the old buffalo wallow
south of the claim shanty where blue
stem grass stood
thick and tall and paw was cutting it
for hay
the sky was high and quivering with heat
over the shimmering prairie
halfway down to sunset the sun blazed as
hotly as at noon
the wind was scorching hot but paul had
hours of mowing yet to do before he
could stop for the night
laura drew up a pail full of water from
the well at the edge of the big slough
she rinsed the brown jug till it was
cooled to her hand
then she filled it with the fresh cool
water
corked it tightly and started with it to
the hayfield
swarms of little white butterflies
hovered over the path
a dragonfly with gauzy wings swiftly
chased a nat
on the stubble of cut grass the striped
gophers were scampering
all at once they ran for their lives and
dived into their holes
then laura saw a swift shadow and looked
up at the eyes and the claws of a hawk
overhead
but all the little gophers were safe in
their holes
paul was glad to see laura with the
water jug
he got down from the mowing machine and
drank a mouthful
ah that hits the spot he said
and tipped up the jug again then he
corked it
and setting it on the ground he covered
it with cut grass
the sun almost makes a fella want a
bunch of sprouts to make a shade he
joked
he was really glad there were no trees
he had grubbed so many sprouts from his
clearing in the big woods every summer
here on the dakota prairies there was
not a single tree
not one sprout not a bit of shade
anywhere a man works better when he’s
warmed up
anyway paul said cheerfully and chirped
to the horses
sam and david plotted on drawing the
machine
the long steel-toothed blade went
steadily whirring against the tall grass
and laid it down flat paul rode high on
the open iron seat
watching it lie down his hand on the
lever
lara sat in the grass to watch him go
once around
the heat there smelled as good as an
oven when bread is baking
the little brown and yellow striped
gophers were hurrying again
all about her tiny birds fluttered and
flew to cling to bending grass stems
balancing lightly
a striped garter snake came flowing and
curving through the forest of grass
sitting hunched with her chin on her
knees laura felt suddenly as big as a
mountain
when the snake curved up its head and
stared at the high wall
of her calico skirt its round eyes were
shining like beads
and its tongue was flickering so fast
that it looked like a tiny jet of steam
the whole bright stripe snake had a
gentle look
laura knew that garter snakes will not
harm anyone and they are good to have on
a farm
because they eat the insects that spoil
crops
it stretched its neck low again and
making a perfectly square turn in itself
because it could not climb over laura it
went flowing around her
and away in the grass then the mowing
machine
heard louder and the horses came nodding
their heads slowly in time with their
feet
david jumped when lara spoke almost
under his nose
whoa pau said startle laura i thought
you’d gone
why are you hiding in the grass like a
prairie chicken
paw laura said why can’t i help you make
hay please let me pau please
paul lifted his hat and ran his fingers
through his sweat damp hair
standing it all on end and letting the
wind blow through it
you’re not very big nor strong little
half pint
i’m going on 14 laura said i can help
paw
i know i can the mowing machine had cost
so much that paw had no money left to
pay for help
he could not trade work because there
were only a few homesteaders in this new
country and they were busy on their own
claims
but he needed help to stack the hay well
paul said maybe you can we’ll try it
if you can by george we’ll get this aim
done all by ourselves
laura could see that the thought was a
load off pau’s mind
and she hurried to the shanty to tell ma
why i guess you can ma said doubtfully
she did not like to see women working in
the fields
only foreigners did that ma and her
girls were americans
above doing men’s work but laura’s
helping with the hay would solve the
problem
she decided yes laura you may
gary eagerly offered to help i’ll carry
the drinking water out to you
i’m big enough to carry the jug carrie
was almost 10
but small for her age and i’ll do your
share of the housework besides mine
mary offered happily she was proud that
she could wash dishes and make beds as
well as laura
though she was blind the sun
and hot wind cured the cut grass so
quickly
that paul raked it up next day he raked
it into long
windrows then he raked the windrows into
big haycocks
and early the next morning while the
dawn was still cool
and meadowlarks was singing laura rode
to the field with paw
in the hay rack there paul walked beside
the wagon
and drove the horses between the rows of
haycocks
at every haycock he stopped the horses
and pitched the hay
up into the hay rack it came tumbling
loosely over the high edge
and laura trampled it down up and down
and back and forth she trampled the
loose hay with all the might of her
legs while the fork fools kept coming
over and falling
and she went on trampling while the
wagon jolted onto the next haycock
then paul pitched more hay in from the
other side
under her feet the hay climbed higher
trampled down as solid as hey can be
up and down fast and hard her legs kept
going
the length of the hay rack and back and
across the middle
the sunshine was hotter and the smell of
the hay rose up sweet and strong
under her feet it bounced and over the
edges of the hay racket kept coming
all the time she was rising higher on
the trample down hay
her head rose above the edges of the
rack and she could have looked at the
prairie
if she could have stopped trampling then
the rack was full of hay
and still more came flying up from paw’s
pitchfork
laura was very high up now and the
slippery hay was sloping downward around
her
she went on trampling carefully her face
and her neck were wet with sweat
and sweat trickled down her back her sun
bonnet hung by its strings
and her braids had come undone her long
brown hair blew loose in the wind
then paw stepped up on the wiffle trees
he rested one foot on david’s broad hip
and clambered up onto the load of hay
you’ve done a good job laura he said
you’ve tramped the hay down so well that
we’ve got a big load on the wagon
laura rested in the prickly warm hay
while paul drove near to the stable
then she slid down and sat in the shade
of the wagon
paul pitched down some hay then climbed
down and spread it evenly to make the
big round bottom of a stack
he climbed onto the load and pitched
more hay
then climbed down and leveled it on the
stack
and trampled it down i could spread it
paw
laura said so you wouldn’t have to keep
climbing up and down
paul pushed back his hat and leaned for
a minute on the pitchfork
stacking’s a job for two that’s a fact
he said
this way takes too much time being
willing helps a lot but you’re not very
big little half pint
she could only get him to say well we’ll
see
but when they came back with the next
load he gave her a pitchfork and let her
try
the long fork was taller than she was
and she did not know how to use it so
she handled it clumsily
but while paul tossed the hay from the
wagon she spread it
as well as she could walking around and
around on the stack to pack it tightly
in spite of the best she could do paw
had to level the stack for the next load
now the sun and the wind were hotter and
laura’s legs quivered while she made
them trample the hay
she was glad to rest for the little
times between the field and the stack
she was thirsty then she was thirstier
and then she was so
thirsty that she could think of nothing
else it seemed forever till 10 o’clock
when carrie came lugging the jug
half full pot told laura to drink first
but not too much
nothing was ever so good as that cool
wetness going down her throat
at the taste of it she stopped in
surprise and carrie clapped her hands
and cried out laughing
don’t tell laura don’t tell tapa tastes
it
ma had sent them ginger water she had
sweetened the cool well water with sugar
flavored it with vinegar and put in
plenty of ginger to warm their stomach
so they could drink it until they were
not thirsty
ginger water would not make them sick as
plain cold water would when they were so
hot
such a treat made that ordinary day into
a special day
the first day that laura helped in the
haying
by noon they had hauled all the hay and
finished the stack
paw topped it himself it takes great
skill to round the top of a haystack
so that it will shed rain dinner was
ready when they went to the shanty
ma looked sharply at laura and asked is
the work too hard for her charles
oh no she’s as stout as a little french
horse
she’s been a great help said paw it
would have taken me all day to stack
that hay alone
and now i have the whole afternoon for
mowing
laura was proud her arms ached
and her back ached and her legs ached
and that night in bed she ached all over
so badly that tears swelled out of her
eyes
but she did not tell anyone
as soon as paw had cut and raked enough
hay for another stack
he and laura made it lara’s arms and
legs got used to the work
and did not ache so badly she liked to
see the stacks that she helped to make
she helped paul make a stack on each
side of the stable door
and a long stack over the whole top of
the dugout stable
besides these they made three more big
stacks
now all our upland hay is cut i want to
put up a lot of slough hay
paw said it doesn’t cost anything and
maybe there’ll be some sale for it when
new settlers come in next spring so paul
mowed the coarse tall grass in big
slough
and laura helped him stack that it was
so much heavier than the blue stem grass
that she could not handle it with the
pitchfork but she could trample it down
one day when park came clambering up to
the top of the load
she told him you’ve left a haycock paw
i have said paw surprised where
over there in the tall grass paul looked
where she pointed
then he said that isn’t a haycock half
pint
that’s a muskrat house he looked at it a
moment longer
i’m going to have a closer look at that
he said want to come along the horses
will stand
he pushed away through the harsh tall
grass and laura followed close behind
him
the ground underfoot was soft and marshy
and water lay in pools among the grass
roots
laura could see only paws back in the
grasses all around her
taller than she was she stepped
carefully for the ground was growing
wetter
suddenly water spread out before her in
a shimmering pool
at the edge of the pool stood the
muskrat’s house
it was taller than laura and far larger
than her arms could reach around
its rounded sides and top were rough
hard
gray the muskrats had gnawed dry grass
to bits and mixed the bits well with mud
to make a good plaster for their house
and they had built it up solidly and
smoothly and rounded the top carefully
to shed rain
the house had no door no path led to it
anywhere
in the grass double around it and along
the muddy rim of the pool
there was not one paw print there was
nothing to tell how the muskrats went
in and out of their house inside those
thick still walls paw said the muskrats
were sleeping now
each family curled in its own little
room lined softly with grasses
each room had a small round doorway that
opened onto a sloping hall
the hallway curved down through the
house from top to bottom
and ended in dark water that
was the muskrat’s front door
after the sun had gone the muskrats woke
and went pattering down the smooth mud
floor of their hallway
they plunged into the black water and
came up through the pool to the wide
wild night under the sky all night long
in the starlight or moonlight they swam
and played along the edges of the water
feeding on roots and stems and leaves of
the water plants and grasses
when dawn was coming ghostly gray they
swam home
they dived and came up through their
water door
dripping they went up the slope of their
hallway
each to his own grass-lined room there
they curled comfortably to sleep
lara put her hand on the wall of their
house
the coarse plaster was hot in the hot
wind and sunshine
but inside the thick mud walls in the
dark
the air must be cool she liked to think
of the muskrat
sleeping there paul was shaking his head
we’re gonna have a hard winter he said
not liking the prospect why how do you
know
laura asked in surprise the colder the
winter will be
the thicker the muskrats build the walls
of their houses
paw told her i never saw a heavier built
muskrat’s house than that one
laura looked at it again it was very
solid and big
but the sun was blazing burning on her
shoulders through the faded thin calico
and the hot wind was blowing and
stronger than the damp mud smell of the
slough
was the ripening smell of grass parching
in the heat
laura could hardly think of ice and snow
and cruel
cold paul how can the muskrats know she
asked
i don’t know how they know paul said but
they do
god tells them somehow i suppose then
why doesn’t god tell
us laura wanted to know because said
paul we’re
not animals we’re humans and like it
says in the declaration of independence
god created us free
that means we got to take care of
ourselves laura said faintly
i thought god takes care of us he does
paul said so far as we do what’s right
and he gives us a conscience and brains
to know what’s right
but he leaves it to us to do as we
please that’s the difference between us
and everything else in creation can’t
muskrats do what they please
laura asked amazed no said paw
i don’t know why they can’t but you can
see they can’t
look at that muskrat house muskrats have
to build
that kind of house they always have and
they always will
it’s plain they can’t build any other
kind but folks build all kinds of houses
a man can build any kind of house he can
think of so if his house don’t keep out
of the weather
that’s his lookout he’s free and
independent
paul stood thinking for a minute then he
jerked his head
come along little half pint we better
make hay while the sun shines
his eyes twinkled and laura laughed
because the sun was shining with all its
might
but all the rest of that afternoon they
were rather sober
the muskrats had a warm thick-walled
house to keep out cold and snow
but the claim shanty was built of thin
boards that had shrunk in the summer
heat till the narrow battens hardly
covered the wide cracks in the walls
boards and tar paper were not very snug
shelter
against a hard winter