Read Online Little House On The Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Laura Ingalls Wilder
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was still and drowsy-warm. It smelled of damp roots and mud, and it was full of the sound of rustling leaves and of the water running.
In the muddy places where deer's tracks were thick and every hoofprint held water, swarms of mosquitoes rose up with a keen, sharp buzzing. Laura and Mary slapped at mosquitoes on their faces and necks and hands and legs, and wished they could go wading.
They were so hot and the water looked so cool. Laura was sure that it would do no harm just to dip one foot in, and when Pa's back was turned she almost did it.
“Laura,” said Pa, and she snatched the naughty foot back.
“If you girls want to go wading,” Pa said “you can do it in that shallow place. Don't go in over your ankles.”
Mary waded only a little while. She said the gravel hurt her feet, and she sat on a log and patiently slapped at mosquitoes. But Laura slapped and kept on wading. When she stepped, the gravel hurt her feet. When she stood still, the tiny minnows swarmed about her toes and nibbled them with their tiny mouths. It was a funny, squiggling feel-112 ing. Laura tried and tried to catch a minnow, but she only got the hem of her dress wet.
Then the wagon was loaded. Pa called “Come along, girls!” and they climbed to the wagon-seat again and rode away from the creek. Up through the woods arid hills they rode again, to the High Prairie where the winds were always blowing and the grasses seemed to sing and whisper and laugh.
They had had a wonderful time in the creek bottoms. But Laura liked the High Prairie best. The prairie was so wide and sweet and clean.
That afternoon Ma sat sewing in the shade of the house, and Baby Carrie played on the quilt beside her, while Laura and Mary watched Pa build the fireplace.
First he mixed clay and water to a beautiful thick mud, in the mustangs' water bucket. He let Laura stir the mud while he laid a row of rocks around three sides of the space he had cleared by the house-wall. Then with a wooden paddle he spread the mud over the rocks. In the mud he laid another row of rocks, and plastered them over the top and down on 113 the inside with more mud.
He made a box on the ground; three sides of the box were made of rocks and mud, and the other side was the log wall of the house.
With rocks and mud and more rocks and more mud, he built the walls as high as Laura's chin. Then on the walls, close against the house, he laid a log. He plastered the log all over with mud.
After that, he built up rocks and mud on top of that log. He was making the chimney now, and he made it smaller and smaller.
He had to go to the creek for more rocks.
Laura and Mary could not go again, because Ma said the damp air might give them a fever.
Mary sat beside Ma and sewed another block of her nine-patch quilt, but Laura mixed another bucketful of mud.
Next day Pa built the chimney as high as the house-wall. Then he stood and looked at it.
He ran his fingers through his hair.
“You look like a wild man, Charles,” Ma said. “You're standing your hair all on end.”
“It stands on end, anyway, Caroline,” Pa answered. "When I was courting you, it never 114 would lie down, no matter how much I slicked it with bear grease."
He threw himself down on the grass at her feet. “I'm plumb tuckered out, lifting rocks up there.”
“You've done well to build that chimney up so high, all by yourself,” Ma said. She ran her hand through his hair and stood it up more than ever. “Why don't you make it stick-and-daub the rest of the way?” she asked him.
“Well, it would be easier,” he admitted. “I'm blamed if I don't believe I will!”
He jumped up. Ma said, “Oh, stay here in the shade and rest awhile.” But he shook his head.
“No use lazing here while there's work be done, Caroline. The sooner I get the fireplace done, the sooner you can do your cooking inside, out of the wind.”
He hauled saplings from the woods, and he cut and notched them and laid them up like the walls of
In the muddy places where deer's tracks were thick and every hoofprint held water, swarms of mosquitoes rose up with a keen, sharp buzzing. Laura and Mary slapped at mosquitoes on their faces and necks and hands and legs, and wished they could go wading.
They were so hot and the water looked so cool. Laura was sure that it would do no harm just to dip one foot in, and when Pa's back was turned she almost did it.
“Laura,” said Pa, and she snatched the naughty foot back.
“If you girls want to go wading,” Pa said “you can do it in that shallow place. Don't go in over your ankles.”
Mary waded only a little while. She said the gravel hurt her feet, and she sat on a log and patiently slapped at mosquitoes. But Laura slapped and kept on wading. When she stepped, the gravel hurt her feet. When she stood still, the tiny minnows swarmed about her toes and nibbled them with their tiny mouths. It was a funny, squiggling feel-112 ing. Laura tried and tried to catch a minnow, but she only got the hem of her dress wet.
Then the wagon was loaded. Pa called “Come along, girls!” and they climbed to the wagon-seat again and rode away from the creek. Up through the woods arid hills they rode again, to the High Prairie where the winds were always blowing and the grasses seemed to sing and whisper and laugh.
They had had a wonderful time in the creek bottoms. But Laura liked the High Prairie best. The prairie was so wide and sweet and clean.
That afternoon Ma sat sewing in the shade of the house, and Baby Carrie played on the quilt beside her, while Laura and Mary watched Pa build the fireplace.
First he mixed clay and water to a beautiful thick mud, in the mustangs' water bucket. He let Laura stir the mud while he laid a row of rocks around three sides of the space he had cleared by the house-wall. Then with a wooden paddle he spread the mud over the rocks. In the mud he laid another row of rocks, and plastered them over the top and down on 113 the inside with more mud.
He made a box on the ground; three sides of the box were made of rocks and mud, and the other side was the log wall of the house.
With rocks and mud and more rocks and more mud, he built the walls as high as Laura's chin. Then on the walls, close against the house, he laid a log. He plastered the log all over with mud.
After that, he built up rocks and mud on top of that log. He was making the chimney now, and he made it smaller and smaller.
He had to go to the creek for more rocks.
Laura and Mary could not go again, because Ma said the damp air might give them a fever.
Mary sat beside Ma and sewed another block of her nine-patch quilt, but Laura mixed another bucketful of mud.
Next day Pa built the chimney as high as the house-wall. Then he stood and looked at it.
He ran his fingers through his hair.
“You look like a wild man, Charles,” Ma said. “You're standing your hair all on end.”
“It stands on end, anyway, Caroline,” Pa answered. "When I was courting you, it never 114 would lie down, no matter how much I slicked it with bear grease."
He threw himself down on the grass at her feet. “I'm plumb tuckered out, lifting rocks up there.”
“You've done well to build that chimney up so high, all by yourself,” Ma said. She ran her hand through his hair and stood it up more than ever. “Why don't you make it stick-and-daub the rest of the way?” she asked him.
“Well, it would be easier,” he admitted. “I'm blamed if I don't believe I will!”
He jumped up. Ma said, “Oh, stay here in the shade and rest awhile.” But he shook his head.
“No use lazing here while there's work be done, Caroline. The sooner I get the fireplace done, the sooner you can do your cooking inside, out of the wind.”
He hauled saplings from the woods, and he cut and notched them and laid them up like the walls of
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