Table Of Content
Allthe oats were in the shock, and now the rain could come and it would notdo any harm. Aunt Polly steeped some herbs, to give him for his fever. Laura and Maryand the cousins stood around for some time, looking at him. Laura and Mary and the cousins stood and looked at him. Then a fourth time he screamed, louder than ever.
The Story of Grandpa and the Panther.
"Well, I took a short cut through the woods, and I nearly ran into a bigbear. I came around a clump of underbrush, and there he was, not as farfrom me as across this room. Early next morning he started to walk to Uncle Henry's. But before longhe came hurrying back, hitched the horses to the wagon, threw in his ax,the two washtubs, the wash-boiler and all the pails and wooden bucketsthere were.
WINTER DAYS AND WINTER NIGHTS.
"After she got into the house he kept pacing around it and growling.Every time she started to open the door he jumped at her and snarled." He made the tiniest shavings, cutting very slowly and carefully, makingwhatever he thought would be pretty. One of the little boards he shaped in a lovely curve, and around itsedges he carved leaves and flowers and stars, and through it he cutcrescent moons and curlicues. When he came in, stamping the snow from his boots, and caught Laura upin a bear's hug against his cold, big coat, his mustache was beaded withlittle drops of melting frost. Next he put the ramrod back in its place against the gun barrel.
GOING TO TOWN.
He hadn't minded hisfather quickly when his father spoke to him. He had bothered Pa andUncle Henry when they were hard at work. It was dark that night when Pa and Uncle Henry came from the field.
Hard work is the rule, though fun is often made in the midst of it. Laura gathers wood chips, and helps Ma and Pa when they butcher animals and preserve the meat. This is all in preparation for the upcoming winter. Fall is a very busy time, because the harvest from the garden and fields must be brought in as well.
TWO BIG BEARS.
They loved toeat bits of the curd when Ma was salting it. When no more whey dripped from the cloth, Ma emptied the curd into a bigpan and salted it turning and mixing it well. "You remember," Pa said, "I told you girls you must never strike eachother." The strips of copper across the toes were so glittering bright thatLaura wished she were a boy. The soft moonlight came down through the treetops and made patches oflight and shade on the road ahead. The horses' hoofs made a cheerfulclippety-clop.
Little House Books
Onthe other side of the hearth she was swaying gently in her rocking chairand her knitting needles flashed in and out above the sock she wasknitting. "I settled myself in the tree and waited again. This time I wasdetermined to shoot the next game I saw. "I was a little tired from chopping wood all day yesterday, and I musthave fallen asleep, for I found myself opening my eyes. As soon as they woke in the morning they ran to the window, but therewas no deer hanging in the trees.
Setting
The fire had gone to coals on the hearth, and Padid not build it up. All around the little house, in the Big Woods,there were little sounds of falling snow, and from the eaves there wasthe drip, drip of the melting icicles. Ma kissed them both, and tucked the covers in around them. They laythere awhile, looking at Ma's smooth, parted hair and her hands busywith sewing in the lamplight. Her needle made little clicking soundsagainst her thimble and then the thread went softly, swish! Through thepretty calico that Pa had traded furs for.
Complete but easy-to-understand descriptionsof building a smokehouse and slaughtering a pig make it clear that evenchildren knew the basics of preparation for winter. This recitation ofessential frontier knowledge became one of the most valuable and interestingaspects of Wilder’s contribution to later understanding of pioneer life. The simplicity ofpresentation fixes Laura’s perspective as the lens for the story, and allfacets of the tale remain true to a child’s point of view. Wilder’s use ofcapital letters heightens Laura’s wonder at her surroundings.
Little House on the Prairie: 15 things we learned - Entertainment Weekly News
Little House on the Prairie: 15 things we learned.
Posted: Tue, 07 Feb 2017 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Then whenthe morning's milk had cooled, she mixed it with the skimmed milk andset it all on the stove to heat. Rabbits stood up in the road ahead, their little front paws danglingdown and their noses sniffing, and the sun shone through their tall,twitching ears. Then they bounded away, with a flash of little whitetail. Twice Laura and Mary saw deer looking at them with their large,dark eyes, from the shadows among the trees. They had playhouses under the two big oak trees in front of the house.Mary's playhouse was under Mary's tree, and Laura's playhouse was underLaura's tree. The greenleaves were the roofs, and through them they could see bits of the bluesky.
Sometimes, when Pa had walked his trap-lines quickly because the trapswere empty, or when he had got some game sooner than usual, he wouldcome home early. Then he would have time to play with Laura and Mary. With the paddle Ma packed butter tightly into the mold until it wasfull.
Any little crises are soon resolved, but theylast long enough to lend a touch of drama. Little House in the Big Woods is the first book in the Little House book series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It was published in 1932 by Harper & Brothers and illustrated by Helen Sewell. Later editions featured new drawings by Garth Williams. The story begins in 1871 with the Ingalls family living in the big woods of Wisconsin.
One morning she boiled molasses and sugar together until they made athick syrup, and Pa brought in two pans of clean, white snow fromoutdoors. Laura and Mary each had a pan, and Pa and Ma showed them howto pour the dark syrup in little streams on to the snow. Laura and Mary must play in the house now, for it was cold outdoors andthe brown leaves were all falling from the trees. At night Pa banked it with ashes to keep thecoals alive till morning.
Ma hurried Laura and Mary with their breakfast and she washed the dishesquickly. They put on their stockings and shoes while she made the beds.Then she helped them put on their best dresses—Mary's china-blue calicoand Laura's dark red calico. Mary buttoned Laura up the back, and thenMa buttoned Mary. In the kitchen Grandma was all by herself, stirring the boiling syrup inthe big brass kettle. By the back doorwas a pail of clean snow, and sometimes Grandma took a spoonful of syrupfrom the kettle and poured it on some of the snow in a saucer.
