Book 2 19. MR. EDWARDS MEETS SANTA CLAUS Little House On The Prairie By Laura Ingalls Wilder
mr edwards meets santa claus
the days were short and cold the wind
whistled sharply
but there was no snow cold rains were
falling
day after day the rain fell patterning
on the roof and pouring from the eaves
mary and laura stayed close by the fire
sewing their nine patch quilt blocks or
cutting paper dolls from scraps of
wrapping paper
and hearing the wet sound of the rain
every night was so
cold that they expected to see snow next
morning but in the morning
they saw only sad wet grass
they pressed their noses against the
squares of glass in the windows that paw
had made
and they were glad they could see out
but they wish they could see snow
laura was anxious because christmas was
near and santa claus and his reindeer
could not travel without snow
mary was afraid that even if it snowed
santa claus could not find them so far
away in indian territory
when they asked ma about this she said
she didn’t know
what day is it they asked her anxiously
how many more days till christmas and
they counted off the days on their
fingers
till there was only one more day left
rain was still falling that morning
there was not one crack in the gray sky
they felt almost sure there would be no
christmas
still they kept hoping just before noon
the light changed the clouds broke and
drifted apart
shining white in a clear blue sky the
sun
shone birds sang and thousands of drops
of water
sparkled on the grasses but when ma
opened the door to let in the fresh cold
air they heard the creek roaring
they had not thought about the creek now
they knew they would have no christmas
because santa claus could not cross that
roaring creek
paul came in bringing a big fat turkey
if it weighed less than 20 pounds he
said he’d eat it
feathers and all he asked laura how’s
that for a christmas dinner think you
can manage one of those drumsticks
she said yes she could but she was sober
then mary asked him if the creek was
going down and he said it was still
rising
ma said it was too bad she hated to
think of mr edwards eating his bachelor
cooking alone on christmas day
mr edwards had been asked to eat
christmas dinner with them
but paul shook his head and said a man
would risk his neck trying to cross that
creek now
no he said that current’s too strong
we’ll just have to make up our minds
that edwards won’t be here tomorrow
of course that meant that santa claus
could not come either
laura and mary tried not to mind too
much they watched ma dress the wild
turkey and it was a very fat turkey
they were lucky little girls to have a
good house to live in and a warm fire to
sit by and such a turkey for their
christmas dinner
ma said so and it was true ma said it
was too bad that santa claus couldn’t
come this year
but they were such good girls that he
hadn’t forgotten them
he would surely come next year still
they were not happy after supper that
night they washed their hands and faces
buttoned their red flannel nightgowns
tied their nightcap strings and soberly
said their prayers
they laid down in bed and pulled the
covers up
it did not seem at all like christmas
time
paul and ma sat silent by the fire
after a while ma asked why paul didn’t
play the fiddle and he said
i don’t seem to have the heart to
caroline
after a longer while ma suddenly stood
up
i’m going to hang up your stockings
girls she said
maybe something will happen laura’s
heart
jumped but then she thought again of the
creek and she
knew nothing could happen ma took one of
mary’s clean stockings
and one of laura’s and she hung them
from the mantle shelf on either side of
the fireplace
laura and mary watched her over the edge
of their bed covers
now go to sleep ma said kissing them
good night
morning will come quicker if you’re
asleep
she sat down again by the fire and laura
almost went to sleep she woke up a
little when she heard pause say
you’ve only made it worse caroline and
she thought she heard ma
say no charles there’s the white sugar
perhaps she was dreaming
then she heard jack growl savagely
the door latch rattled and someone said
ingles
paul ingalls stirring up the fire and
when he opened the door
lara saw that it was morning the
outdoors was
gray great fish hooks
edwards come in man what’s happened paw
exclaimed
laura saw the stockings limpy dangling
and she scrooged her shut eyes into the
pillow
she heard paul piling wood on the fire
and she heard mr edward say he had
carried his clothes
on his head when he swam the creek his
teeth
rattled and his voice shivered he would
be all right he said as soon as he got
warm
it was too big a risk edward’s paw said
we’re glad you’re here but that was too
big a risk for a christmas dinner
or your little ones had to have a
christmas mr edwards replied
no creek could stop me after i fetched
them their gifts from independence
laura sat straight up in bed
did you see santa claus she shouted
i sure did mr edward said
where when what did he look like what
did he say
did he really give you something for us
mary and laura cried
wait wait a minute mr edwards left
and moth said she would put the presents
in the stockings as santa claus intended
she said they mustn’t look mr edwards
came and sat on the floor by their bed
and he answered every question they
asked him
they honestly tried not to look at ma
and they didn’t quite see what she was
doing
when he saw the creek rising mr edwards
said he had known that santa claus could
not get across
it but she crossed it laura said
yes mr edwards replied but
santa claus is too old and fat he
couldn’t make it
where a long lean razorback like me
could do so
and mr edwards reasoned that if santa
claus couldn’t cross the creek
likely he would come no farther south in
independence
why should he come 40 miles across the
prairie only to be turned back
of course he wouldn’t do that so mr
edwards had walked to independence
in the rain mary asked mr edwards said
he wore his rubber coat
and there coming down the street in
independence he had met
santa claus in the daytime
laura asked she hadn’t thought that
anyone could see santa claus in the
daytime
no mr edwards said it was
night but light shone out across the
street from the saloons
well the first thing santa claus said
was
hello edwards did he know you
mary asked and laura asked
how did you know he really was santa
claus
mr edwards said that santa claus knew
everybody
and he had recognized santa at once by
his whiskers
santa claus had the longest thickest
widest set of whiskers west of the
mississippi
so santa claus said hello edwards
last time i saw you you were sleeping on
a corn shuck bed in tennessee
and mr edwards well remembered the
little pair of red yarn mittens that
santa claus had left for him that time
then santa claus said i understand
you’re living now down along the
verdigris river
have you ever met up down yonder with
two little young girls
named mary and laura
i surely am acquainted with them mr
edwards replied
it rests heavy on my mind said santa
claus
they are both of them sweet pretty good
little young things and i know they’re
expecting me
i surely do hate to disappoint two good
little girls like them
yet with the water up the way it is i
can’t ever make
it across that creek i can figure no way
whatsoever to get to their cabin this
year
edwards santa claus said
would you do me the favor to fetch them
their gifts this one time
i’ll do that and with pleasure mr
edwards told them
then santa claus and mr edwards stepped
across the street to the hitchhim posts
where the pack mule was tied
didn’t he have his reindeer laura asked
you know he couldn’t mary said there
isn’t any snow
exactly said mr edwards
santa traveled with a pack mule in the
southwest
and santa claus uncinched the pack and
looked through it
and he took out the presents for mary
and laura
oh what are they laura cried but mary
asked
then what did he do then he shook hands
with mr edwards
and he swung up on his fine bay horse
santa claus rode well for a man of his
weight and build
and he tucked his long white whiskers
under his bandana
so long edwards he said and he rode away
on the fort dodge trail leading his pack
mule and whistling
laura and mary were silent and instant
thinking of that then ma said
you may look now girls something was
shining bright in the top of laura’s
stocking
she squealed and jumped out of bed so
did mary
but laura beat her to the fireplace and
the shining thing
was a glittering new tin cup mary had
one
exactly like it these new tin cups were
their very own
now they each had a cup to drink out of
laura jumped up and down and shouted and
laughed but mary stood still and looked
with shining eyes at her own tin
cup then they plunged their hands into
the stockings again
and they pulled out two long long sticks
of candy
it was peppermint candy striped red and
white
they looked and looked at that beautiful
candy
and lara licked her stick just one lick
but mary was not so greedy she didn’t
take even one lick of her stick
those stockings weren’t empty yet mary
and laura pulled out
two small packages they unwrapped them
and each found a little heart-shaped
cake
over their delicate brown tops with
sprinkled
white sugar the sparkling grains lay
like tiny drifts of snow
the cakes were too pretty to eat mary
and laura
just looked at them but at last laura
turned hers over
and she nibbled a tiny nibble from
underneath where it wouldn’t show
and the inside of that little cake was
white
it had been made of pure white flour and
sweetened with white sugar laura and
mary
never would have looked in their
stockings again the cups and the cakes
and the candy were almost
too much they were too happy to speak
but ma asked if they were sure the
stockings were empty
then they put their arms down inside
them to make sure
and in the very toe of each stocking was
a
shining bright new penny
they had never even thought of such a
thing as having a penny
think of having a whole penny for your
very own
think of having a cup and a cake and a
stick of candy
and a penny there never had been such a
christmas
now of course right away laura and mary
should have thanked mr edwards for
bringing those lovely presents all the
way from independence
but they had forgotten all about mr
edwards they had even forgotten santa
claus
in a minute they would have remembered
but before they did ma said gently
aren’t you going to thank mr edwards
oh thank you mr edwards thank you they
said and they meant it with all their
hearts
par shook mr edward’s hand too and shook
it again
paw and ma and mr edwards acted as if
they were almost crying
laura didn’t know why so she gazed again
at her beautiful presence
she looked up again when ma gasped and
mr edwards was taking
sweet potatoes out of his pockets he
said they had helped to balance the
package on his head when he swam across
the creek
he thought paw and mom might like them
with the christmas turkey
there were nine sweet potatoes mr
edwards had brought them all the way
from town too
it was just too much pah said so
it’s too much edwards he said they never
could thank him enough
mary and laura were too much excited to
eat breakfast
they drank the milk from their shining
new cups but they could not swallow the
rabbit stew in the cornmeal mush
don’t make them charles ma said it will
soon be dinner time
for christmas dinner there was the
tender juicy roasted turkey
there were the sweet potatoes baked in
the ashes and
carefully wiped so that you could eat
the good skins too
there was a loaf of salt rising bread
made from the last of the white flour
and after all that there were stewed
dried blackberries and little cakes
but these little cakes were made with
brown sugar and they did not have white
sugar sprinkled over their tops
then paw and ma and mr edward sat by the
fire and talked about
christmas times back in tennessee and up
north in the big woods
but mary and laura looked at their
beautiful cakes and played with their
pennies and drank water
out of their new cups and little by
little
they licked and sucked their sticks of
candy till
each stick was sharp pointed on one end
that was a happy christmas