Book 7 6. NINE DOLLARS Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
nine
dollars mr clancy was not getting so
many orders for shirts
it seemed that most of the men who could
buy shirts that year had bought them
one saturday evening mrs white said the
spring rush seems to be over
yes ma’am said laura mrs white counted
out a dollar
and fifty cents and gave it to her i
won’t be needing you anymore so you
needn’t come in monday morning she said
goodbye goodbye laura said
she had worked six weeks and earned nine
dollars
one dollar had seemed a great deal of
money only six weeks ago
but now nine dollars was not enough
if she could have earned only one more
week’s wages that would have made ten
dollars and a half or two weeks would
have made a whole twelve dollars
she knew how good it would be to stay at
home again to help with the housework
and do the chores and work in the garden
to go walking with mary and gather
wildflowers
and to look forward to pause homecoming
at night
but somehow she felt cast out and hollow
inside
slowly she went along the path beside
main street
paul was working now on the building at
the corner of second
he stood by a stack of shingles waiting
for laura
and when he saw her he sang out look
what we’ve got to take home to your ma
in the shade of the shingles stood a
bushel basket covered with a grain sack
inside it there was a small rasping of
claws
and a chiefing chorus the chickens
bose brought him in today said paul 14
of them
all healthy and thriving his whole face
was beaming with anticipation of mars
delight
he told laura the basket’s not heavy you
take one handle and i’ll take the other
will carry them level between us
they went down main street and out on
the road toward home
carrying the basket carefully between
them sunset was flaming and crimson and
burning gold over the whole sky
the air was filled with golden light and
silver lake to the east was blazing like
fire
up from the basket came the chickens
wondering and anxious
cheaping paw mrs white doesn’t want me
anymore
lara said yes i guess the spring rush is
about over said paw
laura had not thought that paw’s job
might end
oh paw won’t there be any more
carpentering either
she asked we couldn’t expect it to last
all summer
said paw anyway i’ll have to be making
hay pretty soon
after a while laura said i only earned
nine dollars paw
nine dollars is nothing to sneeze at
said paw
you’ve done good work too and fully
satisfied mrs white haven’t you
yes laura answered honestly then it’s a
good job well done
said paw it was true that that was some
satisfaction
laura felt a little better besides
they were taking the chickens tomorrow
ma
was delighted when she saw them carrie
and grace crowded to peep at them in the
basket
and laura told mary about them they were
healthy
lively chicks with bright black eyes and
bright yellow claws
already the down was coming off them
leaving naked patches on their necks and
the sprouting feathers were showing on
their wings and tails
they were every color that chickens are
and some were spotted
ma lifted each one carefully into her
apron
mrs post can’t have got these all from
one hatching she said
i do believe there’s not more than two
rolls among them
the boasts have got such a head start
with chickens likely they’re planning to
eat fries this summer said paw
it may be she took a few cockrells out
of this flock looking on them as meat
yes and replaced them with pullets that
will be layers ma guest
it would be mrs boast all over a more
generous
woman never lived
she carried the chicks in her apron to
set them one by one
into the coop that paw had already made
it had a front of
laughs to let in air and sun and a
little door with a wooden button to
fasten it
it had no floor but was set on clean
grass that the chicks could eat
and when the grass grew trampled and
dirty the coop could be moved
to fresh grass in an old pie pan
mom mixed a crumbly bran mash well
peppered
she set it in the coop and the chicks
crowded onto it
gobbling the bran mesh so greedily that
sometimes they tried to swallow their
own toes by mistake
when they could eat no more they perched
on the edge of the water pan
and scooping up water in their beaks
they stretched up their necks
and tilted back their heads to swallow
it
ma said it would be kerry’s task to feed
them often
and to keep their water pan filled with
cool fresh water
tomorrow she would let the chicks out to
run and it would be grace’s part to keep
a sharp look out for hawks
after supper that evening she sent laura
to make sure that the chicks were
sleeping safely
all the stars were shining over the dark
prairie
and a sickle moon was low in the west
the grasses were breathing softly asleep
in the quiet
night laura’s hand felt gently over the
sleeping chicks
huddled warm together in a corner of the
coop
then she stood looking at the summer
night she did not know how long she had
stood there until she saw a mark coming
from the house
oh there you are laura ma said softly
as laura had done she knelt and put her
hand through the coop store to feel the
huddled chicks
then she too stood looking the place
begins to look like a form
she said the oat field and the cornfield
were shadowy pale in the darkness
and the garden was bumpy with lumps of
dark leaves
like pools of faint star shine among
them spread the cucumber vines and the
pumpkins
the low sod stable could hardly be seen
but from the house window a warm yellow
light
shone out suddenly without
thinking at all laura said oh ma i do
wish mary could go to college this fall
unexpectedly ma replied it may be that
she can
your paw and i have been talking of it
laura couldn’t speak for a minute
then she asked have you have you said
anything to her
not yet said ma we must not raise hopes
only to be disappointed
but with paws wages and the oats and the
corn if nothing goes wrong
we think she can go this fall we must
trust ourselves to contrive to keep her
there
till she finishes the full seven years
course
both college and manual training
then for the first time laura realized
that when mary went to college
she would go away mary would be gone
all day long mary would not be there
laura could not think what living would
be without mary
oh i wish she began and stopped
she had been so eagerly hoping that mary
could go to college
yes we will miss her ma said steadily
but we must think what a great
opportunity it will be for her
i know ma lara said miserably
the night was large and empty now the
light shining from the house was
warm and steady but even home would not
be the same when mary
was not there then ma said
your nine dollars are a great help laura
i have been planning and i do believe
that with nine dollars i can buy the
goods for mary’s best dress
and perhaps the velvet to make her a hat