In promoting the "myth of white self-sufficiency," the "Little House" books rewrite history American Masters
Table Of Content
There were two of them sittingin front of the house. They pointed theirnoses at the big, bright moon, and howled. If Tann’s role in the family saga is minimized, the “half-breed” Big Jerry of “By the Shores of Silver Lake” is made mythic. The gambler and rumored horse thief from the railroad camp where Pa works has a soft spot for the Ingalls. After Pa warns him of an ambush, Jerry ensures no horses are stolen from the Silver Lake camp.
Visit Laura’s Little House
But sometimes on warm days Pa leftthe door of her stall open so she could come into the barnyard. Now Maand Laura saw her behind the bars, waiting for them. They knew that Pa would trade his furs to the storekeeper for beautifulthings from town, and all day they were expecting the presents he wouldbring them. When the sun sank low above the treetops and no more dropsfell from the tips of the icicles they began to watch eagerly for Pa. "They had no time to work on the sled until Saturday afternoon. Thenthey worked at it just as fast as they could, but they didn't get itfinished till just as the sun went down, Saturday night. Laura was bathed first, because she was littler than Mary.
Setting
When it was cool it would cut in slices, and that washeadcheese. All that day and the next, Ma was trying out the lard in big iron potson the cookstove. Laura and Mary carried wood and watched the fire. Itmust be hot, but not too hot, or the lard would burn.
Little House Books
Over sixty million copies of the Little House books were sold between 1932 and 2010. Laura, Mary, Caroline, and Charles Ingalls in Wilder’s book for her youngest readers, Little House in the Big Woods, set in Wisconsin. Garth Williams drew the iconic illustrations for the 1953 edition. ENotes.com will help you with any book or any question.
She said that Grandpa and Uncle George were already at work out in themaple woods. So Pa went to help them, while Laura and Mary and Ma, withBaby Carrie in her arms, went into Grandma's house and took off theirwraps. It did not seem long until they were sweeping into the clearing atGrandpa's house, all the sleigh bells jingling. Grandma came to the doorand stood there smiling, calling to them to come in.
It sizzled and fried, and drops of fat dripped off it and blazed on thecoals. Their hands and their faces got veryhot, and Laura burned her finger, but she was so excited she did notcare. Roasting the pig's tail was such fun that it was hard to playfair, taking turns. The meat was laid on a board in the back-door shed, and every piece wassprinkled with salt.
The Little House Casts A Long Shadow - Odyssey
The Little House Casts A Long Shadow.
Posted: Tue, 07 Mar 2017 08:00:00 GMT [source]
The pocketfell, and the pebbles rolled all over the bottom of the wagon box. The pieces of candy were exactly the same size. Laura could have looked for weeks and not seen all the things that werein that store. She had not known there were so many things in the world. There were big boots andlittle boots, big shoes and little shoes. Then one night Pa said, "We'll go to town tomorrow."
THE SUGAR SNOW.
In just a little while the trees would be putting out their baby leaves,all rosy and yellow and pale green, and there would be wild flowers andbirds in the woods. Laura and Mary had never seen a town.They had never seen a store. They had never seen even two housesstanding together. But they knew that in a town there were many houses,and a store full of candy and calico and other wonderful things—powder,and shot, and salt, and store sugar. Every Sunday Mary and Laura were dressed from the skin out in their bestclothes, with fresh ribbons in their hair. They were very clean, becausethey had their baths on Saturday night.
Once in the middle of the night Laura woke up and heard the pigsquealing. Pa jumped out of bed, snatched his gun from the wall, and ranoutdoors. Ma cut large slices of flaky white fish, without one bone, for Laura andMary. All they did not eatfresh was salted down in barrels for the winter. At last Pa said the venison had smoked long enough.
The tone of this book is optimistic, even carefree. Other stories, usually told by Pa, punctuate the story of the Ingalls familyand their year in the Big Woods. Some of these stories are about "the old days"when Laura's grandfather was young; thus the reader sees a pattern ofstorytelling being handed down. Pa often tells stories about animals andsometimes about the dangers out in the Big Woods.
At last he had the pieces finished and one night he fitted themtogether. When this was done, the large piece was a beautifully carvedback for a smooth little shelf across its middle. The curved piece supported the shelf underneath, andit was carved beautifully, too. And the little vine ran around the edgeof the shelf. Every night he was busy, working on a large piece of board and two smallpieces. He whittled them with his knife, he rubbed them with sand-paperand with the palm of his hand, until when Laura touched them they feltsoft and smooth as silk.
Soin the afternoon the cousins made a playhouse in the yard. The stumpswere chairs and tables and stoves, and leaves were dishes, and stickswere the children. Pa and Uncle Henry were working very hard, because the air was so heavyand hot and still that they expected rain. The oats were ripe, and ifthey were not cut and in the shock before rain came, the crop would belost. Then Uncle Henry's horses would be hungry all winter. Pa and Uncle Henry were out in the field, cutting the oats with cradles.A cradle was a sharp steel blade fastened to a framework of wooden slatsthat caught and held the stalks of grain when the blade cut them.
Then from bits of colored paper she cut dresses and hats,ribbons and laces, so that Laura and Mary could dress their dollsbeautifully. She put this in a little pan of milk on the stove and when the milk washot she poured milk and carrot into a cloth bag. Then she squeezed thebright yellow milk into the churn, where it colored all the cream. Ma rubbed the carrot across theroughness until she had rubbed it all through the holes, and when shelifted up the pan, there was a soft, juicy mound of grated carrot. After supper Pa brought his trapsin from the shed to grease them by the fire.
They were yellow and scarlet and crimson and goldenand brown. When the cows were milked at night, Ma set the milk away in pans. In themorning she skimmed off the cream to make into butter later. Then whenthe morning's milk had cooled, she mixed it with the skimmed milk andset it all on the stove to heat. Sometimes Ma let Laura and Mary go across the road and down the hill, tosee Mrs. Peterson.
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