Book 7 21. SCHOOLTIME BEGINS AGAIN Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
school time begins again
afterward it seemed to laura that she
did nothing but study that whole summer
long
of course this was not true she brought
water from the well in the mornings
she milked and moved the picket pins and
taught the new calf to drink
she worked in the garden and in the
house and in haying time she tried down
the great loads of hay that paw drove
away to town
but the long hot sticky hours with
school books and slate
seemed to overshadow all else she didn’t
go to town
even for fourth of july carrie went with
paw and ma
but laura stayed at home to take care of
grace and study the constitution
letters came often from mary and every
week a long letter went to her in return
even grace was able to write little
letters as mo taught her
and these were always sent to mary with
the others
the hens were laying now ma saved the
best eggs for
setting and 24 chicks hatched
the smallest pulid eggs ma used in
cooking
and for one sunday dinner with the first
green peas and new potatoes
they ate fried chickens the other
cockroach marlette grow up
they would be larger to eat later on the
gophers came again
and kitty grew fat in the cornfield she
caught more gophers than she could eat
and at all hours of the day she could be
heard howling
proudly as she brought a fresh killed
one to lay at ma’s feet or lara’s or
carries or graces
she wanted to share her good food and
her puzzled look showed plainly that she
could not understand why the whole
family did not eat
gophers the blackbirds came again
though they were not so many this year
and kitty caught some of them
still they did damage enough again the
mellow fall weather came
and laura and carrie walked to school
there were more people in town now and
in all the country around
the school was so crowded that all the
seats were filled and in some of the
front seats three of the smaller pupils
sat
there was a new teacher mr owen a son of
the mr owen whose bay horses
had almost won the 4th of july race
laura liked and respected him very much
he was not very old but he was serious
and industrious and enterprising
from the first day he ruled with a firm
hand
every pupil was obedient and respectful
every lesson was thoroughly learned
on the third day of school mr owen
whipped willie olson
for some time laura did not quite know
what she thought about that whipping
willy was bright enough but he had never
learned his lessons
when he was called upon to recite he let
his mouth fall open and all the scents
went out of his eyes
he looked less than half witted he
hardly looked human
it made anyone turn sick to see him
he had begun doing this to tease miss
wilder
he seemed unable to collect his
scattered mind enough to understand
anything she said to him at recess he
would do this again to amuse the other
boys
when mr kluett taught he thought that
willie was a half wit
and required nothing of him the habit
had grown on willie
until now at any time he could be seen
mooning about with his mouth dropped
open and his eyes empty
laura really thought that willie’s mind
completely left him at these times
the first time that willie goggled at mr
owen was when his name was
asked for the school record mr owen was
startled and nellie spoke up
he’s my brother willie olson and he
can’t answer questions they confuse him
several times that day in the next laura
saw mr owen glance sharply at willy
willy was always drooling and staring
blankly
when he was called upon to recite laura
could not bear to see his idiot face
on the third day mr owen quietly said
come with me willy he had a pointer in
his hand
with the other hand firmly on willy’s
shoulder he took willie into the entry
and shut the door
he did not say anything from their seat
nearest to the door
ida and laura heard the swish and thud
of the pointer
everyone heard willie’s howls mr owen
came quietly in with willy
stop blubbering he said go to your seat
and study
i expect you to know and recite your
lessons
willie stopped blubbering and went to
his seat after that
one look from mr owen cleared some of
the idiot look from willy’s face
he seemed to be trying to think and to
act like other boys
laura often wondered whether he could
pull his mind together after he had let
it go to pieces so
but at least willie was trying he was
afraid not to try
laura and ida mary power and minnie and
nelly olsen
had kept their old seats they were all
tanned brown from the summer sun except
nellie
who was paler and more ladylike than
ever her clothes were so beautiful
though her mother did make them from
cast offs that laura grew dissatisfied
with her brown school dress and her blue
cashmere for best
she did not complain of course but she
wanted to
hoops had finally come in and ma bought
a sapphira
she let down the hem of the brown dress
and made it over so cleverly that it
could be worn over hoops perfectly well
and the full blue cashmere needed no
changing
still laura felt that all the other
girls were better dressed
mary power had a new school dress minnie
johnson had a new coat and new shoes
ida’s clothes came out of a missionary
barrel but ida was so sweet and merry
that she looked perfectly dear in
anything
when laura dressed for school it seemed
to her that the more she fussed with her
appearance the more dissatisfying it was
your corset is too loose ma tried to
help her one morning
pull the strings tighter and your figure
will be neater and i can’t think that a
lunatic fringe is the most becoming way
to do your hair it makes any girl’s ears
appear
larger to comb the hair up back of them
and to have that mat of bangs above the
forehead
ma was anxiously helpful but some sudden
thought made her laugh
softly to herself what is it martellus
laura and carrie begged
i was only thinking of the time your
aunt eliza and i combed our hair up off
our ears and went to school that way
the teacher called us up front and
shamed us before the whole school for
being so unladylike and bold as to let
our ears be seen
maul laughed softly again is that the
reason you always wear those soft wings
of hair down over your ears lara cried
maul looked a little surprised yes i
suppose it is she answered still
smiling on the way to school laura said
carrie do you know i’ve never once seen
ma’s ears
they’re probably pretty ears too said
carrie
you look like her and your ears are
little and pretty
well laura began then she stopped and
spun around and round for the strong
wind blowing against her always made the
wires of her hoop skirt creep slowly
upward under her skirts until they
bunched around her knees
then she must whirl around and around
until the wire shook loose and spiraled
down
to the bottom of her skirts where they
should be
as she and carrie hurried on she began
again
i think it was silly the way they
dressed when maura was a girl don’t you
trapped this wind she exclaimed as the
hoops began
creeping upward again quietly carrie
stood by while laura furled
i’m glad i’m not old enough to have to
wear hoops she said
they’d make me dizzy they are rather a
nuisance laura admitted
but they are stylish and when you’re my
age
you’ll want to be in style
living in town was so exciting that fall
that paul said there was no need of
literaries
there was church every sunday prayer
meeting every wednesday night
the ladies aid planned two sociables and
there was talk of a christmas tree
laura hoped there would be one for grace
had never seen a christmas tree
in november there was to be a week of
revival meetings at the church
and mr owen with the school board’s
approval was planning a school
exhibition
school would go on without interruption
until the school exhibition
just before christmas so the big boys
did not wait until winter
but came to school in november more
smaller pupils had to be crowded three
in a seat to make room for them
this school needs a larger building mr
owen said to laura and ida one day at
recess
i am hoping that the town can afford to
build one next summer
there really is a need for a graded
school even i am counting a great deal
upon the showing we make at the school
exhibition to acquaint the people with
the school and its needs
after that he told laura and ida that
their part in the exhibition would be to
recite the whole of american history
from memory oh do you think we can do it
laura
i’d have gasped when he had left them oh
yes laura answered you know we like
history
i’m glad you’ve got the longer part
anyway said ida
i’ve only got to remember from john
quincy adams to rutherford b
hayes but you’ve got all that about the
discoveries and the map and the battles
and the western reserve and the
constitution
my i don’t know how you ever can it’s
longer but we studied it more
and reviewed it often her said laura she
was glad to have that part
she thought it more interesting the
other girls were talking eagerly about
the revival meetings
everyone in town and from all the nearby
country would go to them
laura did not know why for she had never
been to a revival meeting
but when she said she should stay home
and study nellie exclaimed in horror
why people who don’t go to revival
meetings are
atheists the others did not say a word
in lara’s defense and ida’s brown eyes
pleaded anxiously when she said
you are coming aren’t you laura
the revival meetings would last a whole
week
and besides the daily lessons there was
the school exhibition to prepare for
monday night laura hurried home from
school to study till supper time
she thought about history while she
washed the dishes and then snatched a
little time with her books while paul
and mar were dressing
hurry laurel will be late it’s church
time now said ma
standing before the glass laura
hurriedly set her darling brown velvet
hat evenly on her bangs
and fluffed them out ma waited by the
door with carry and grace
par shut the stove’s draft and turn down
the lampwick
are you all ready he asked then he blew
out the lamp
by his lantern light they all went out
and he locked the door
not a window on main street was lighted
behind fuller’s hardware the last
lanterns were bobbing across the vacant
lots toward the brightly lighted church
and wagons buggies and blanketed horses
stood thick in the shadows around it
the church was crowded and hot from the
dazzling lamps in the coal heater
gray beard sat close around the pulpit
families were in the middle seats
and young men and boys filled the back
seats
lara saw everyone she knew and many
strangers as paul led the way up the
aisle
looking for a vacant place he stopped
next to the front seat
and ma with grace then carrie and laura
edged past
knees and sat down reverend brown
rose from his chair behind the pulpit
and gave out a hymn
number 154 mrs brown played the organ
and everyone stood up and sang there
were 99 that
safely lay in the shelter of
the fold but one was
out on the hills away far off from the
gates of gold
away on the mountains wild and bare
away from the tender shepherd’s care
if a revival meeting could be nothing
but singing laura would have loved it
though she felt that she should be
studying not wasting time and enjoyment
her voice rose clear and true as pause
as they sang
rejoice for the lord brings back
his own
then the long prayer began laura bent
her head and closed her eyes while rev
brown’s harsh voice sing-songed on and
on
it was a great relief to stand up at
last and sing again
this was a hymn with a dancing swing and
a throbbing beat
sowing the seed by the daylight fair
sewing the seed by the noonday glare
sowing the seed by the fading light
sowing the seed in the solemn night
oh what shall the harvest be
oh what shall the harvest be
reverend brown’s preaching went on with
the throbbing and swinging
his voice rose and fell thundered and
quivered
his bushy white eyebrows raised and
lowered
his fist thumped the pulpit repent ye
repent ye well yet there is time time to
be saved from damnation
he roared chilled ran up laura’s spine
and over her scalp
she seemed to feel something rising from
all those people something dark and
frightening
that grew and grew under that thrashing
voice
the words no longer made sense and they
were not sentences they were only
dreadful words
for one horrible instant lara imagined
that reverend brown was the devil
his eyes had fires in them come forward
come forward and be
saved come to salvation repent ye
sinners stand up stand up and sing
o lost lambs flee
from the wrath pull pull
for the shore his hands lifted them all
to their feet
his loud voice sang pull
for the shore sailor pool for
the shore come
come his voice roared through the storm
of singing in someone
a young man came stumbling up the aisle
heed not the stormy winds though
loudly they roar
bless you bless you my sinning brother
down
on your knees and god bless you are
there any more
any more reverend brown was shouting and
his voice
roared again into the song pull for the
shore
the first words of that hymn had made
laura want to laugh
she remembered the tall thin man and the
pudgy little one
so solemnly singing it and all the story
keepers popping from the torn screen
doors
now she felt that all the noise and
excitement was not touching her
she looked at pau and ma they were
quietly standing and quietly singing
while the dark wild
thing that she had felt was roaring all
around them like a blizzard
another young man and then an older
woman went forward and knelt
then church was over yet somehow not
over
people were pressing forward to crowd
around those three and wrestle for their
souls
in a low voice pause said to ma come
let’s go he carried grace down the aisle
toward the door
ma followed with carrie and behind her
laura followed close
in the back seats all the young men and
boys stood watching the people passing
by
laura’s dread of strangers came over her
and the open door ahead seemed a refuge
from their eyes
she did not notice a touch on her coat
sleeve until she heard a voice saying
may i see your home it was almanzo
wilder
laura was so surprised that she could
not say a word
she could not even nod or shake her head
she could not think
his hand stayed on her arm and he walked
beside her
through the door he protected her from
being jostled in the crowded entry
paw had just lighted the lantern he
lowered the chimney and looked up just
as ma
turned back and asked where’s laura they
both saw laura with almanzo wilder
beside her
and ma stood petrified come on caroline
said paw ma followed him and after one
wide-eyed stare
carrie did too the ground was
white with snow and it was cold but
there was no wind
and stars shone brightly in the sky
laura could not think of a word to say
she wished that mr wilder would say
something
a faint scent of cigar smoke came from
his thick cloth overcoat
it was pleasant but not as homelike as
the scent of paws pipe
it was a more dashing scent it made her
think of
cap and this young man daring that
dangerous trip to bring back the wheat
all this time she was trying to think of
something to say
to her a complete surprise she heard her
own voice
anyway there’s no blizzard no
this is a nice winter not much like the
hard winter said he
again there was silence except for the
crunch of their feet on the snow-covered
path
on main street dark groups hurried
homeward with lanterns that cast big
shadows
pau’s lantern went straight across the
street pau and ma
and carrie and grace went in and we’re
at home
laura and almanzo stood outside the
closed door
well good night he said as he made a
backward step and raised his
cap i’ll see you tomorrow night good
night
laura answered as she quickly opened the
door paul was holding the lantern up
while maul lighted the lamp and he was
saying
trust him anywhere and it’s only walking
home from church
but she’s only 15 said ma
then the door was shut laura was inside
the warm room
the lamp was lighted and everything was
right
well what did you think of the revival
meeting paul
asked and laura answered it isn’t much
like reverend alden’s quiet sermons
i like his better so do i
said paul then ma said it was past
bedtime
several times next day laura wondered
what young mr wilder had meant
by saying that he would see her that
night she did not know why he had walked
home with her
it was an odd thing for him to do for he
was a grown-up
he had been a homesteader for a few
years so he must be at least
23 years old and he was pau’s friend
more than hers
that night in church she did not mind
the sermon at all
she only wished she need not be there
when so many people all together grew so
excited
she was glad when paul said again let’s
go
almanzo wilder stood in the line of
young men near the door
and laura was embarrassed she saw now
that several young men were taking young
ladies home
she felt her cheeks flushing and she did
not know where to look
again he asked may i see you home
and this time she answered politely yes
she had thought what she would have said
last night so now she spoke about
minnesota
she had come from plum creek and he had
come from spring valley
but before that he had lived in new york
state near malone
laura thought she kept the conversation
going quite well until they reached the
door where she could say
good night every night that week he saw
her home from the revival meeting
she still could not understand why but
the week soon ended
so that again she could spend the
evenings and study
and she forgot to wonder about almanzo
and her dread of the school exhibition