The first chapter in Little Town on the Prairie. It’s a short one, so short that it can hardly be considered a chapter at all. I can see why Laura wrote it this way though. It doesn’t say much, but it says everything.
I always liked the passage where Pa first asks, “How would you like to work in town, Laura?”
Laura draws such a clear picture with: “Grace’s blue eyes stared over the rim of her tin cup, Carrie’s teeth stayed bitten into a slice of bread, and Mary’s hand held her fork stopped in the air.” Along with Ma almost over-pouring Pa’s tea…Doesn’t Laura just perfectly paint a picture of the family sitting at the table enjoying their meal when Pa suddenly springs this surprise question on them, seemingly out of the blue?
Laura is setting the stage for the next three chapters. She loves the homestead and the chores, she loves the springtime after such a long hard winter, she loves being home with family. Laura does not want to work in town and she tells you why in the next chapters.
I would just like to add that one of the reasons that Little Town on the Prairie is one of my favorite of the Little House books is because things just seem to be looking up for the Ingalls family. After the dark, cold days of The Long Winter this book can’t help but start off on a positive note. The best thing is that it continues on throughout the book.
I look so forward to reading everyone else’s take on Little Town on the Prairie. That’s the best part of a read-along, don’t you think? You have read these Little House books over and over (and over and over 
) and you tend to see things a certain way. I love “reading” these books through someone else’s eyes.
So sad
I had the brillant idea of downloading LTOP onto my Nook. Guess what? It doesn’t exist in that format yet. Guess I will have to rely on my hard copy after all.
I was going to do the same thing on my IPad
My copy is lost and I know it was staring to fall apart, So oh darn
I will have to go buy a new one!
I tried to do the same thing a few weeks ago! Can you imagine?
I love this chapter also. It would have been very very hard for me to leave the homestead each day.
That’s the first thing I looked to do when I got my Kindle.
And, yes, I could relate to Laura in that way. I wouldn’t have wanted to leave the homestead each day. The pull of making money though…
You are right, Laura. Laura does paint a beautiful picture of them being at the table. I think it also shows how much she changes from a shy girl to a confident young woman. It is also about her evolution to be ready to leave home…which is more of the series arc of the last two books.
Ma’s exclamation about Laura working in a hotel jumped out at me as I read this chapter today. Although we don’t know from the series that the Ingalls managed a hotel at one time, we know from history that they did. I thought it was interesting that Laura threw this little tidbit into this chapter. It creates an image of hotels being rowdy places full of unsavory characters. I don’t remember what I thought about this as a child but I do think today’s well-traveled child might wonder why Pa and Ma objected so much.
I’m glad that you shared your thoughts, Dr. Laura.
When I was writing this, I considered whether or not to include my thoughts about their “working in a hotel” statements. I decided to leave it out and wait to see if anyone else had anything to say.
I agree with Dr. Laura – they ran a hotel in Burr Oak, and basically, one out of the Surveyor’s House. I think it really pits the beautiful, warm, peaceful farm against the crowded, noisy town. Who would want to leave? (Rose probably would be jumping up and down here shouting “me, me”) The last two books to me have such a sense of optimism. We aren’t worrying about whether the Ingalls will get to eat, but whether Laura will get namecards or the feathers will stay on her hat. It’s such a relief to wonder about things that we know really aren’t that important.
Things I love about this chapter:
1. what you picked out, Laura, about the way the family’s surprise is portrayed. I feel I can really SEE Carrie’s face bitten into the piece of bread. And I love the way Ma just manages to prevent a tea-spillage disaster – NO shock can make this woman waste tea.
2. Rare example of a LIW cliffhanger (can only think of the way the seed trip story is told for another example – are there any others?) – if it’s not a hotel, and it’s not school, what on earth can it be? My personal fork stays suspended while I wonder.
3. The way you get so absorbed in the homestead stuff that you have totally forgotten the cliffhanger by the time she tells you (ok, technically, that’s a comment on later chapters). It’s just brilliant.
On the hotel thing: ever since I found out about Burr Oak (a discovery which probably came later to me than most, the “truth” has been a more recent thing for me) – I’ve wondered exactly what motivated Laura to put this objection in Ma’s mouth (clearly, she can’t actually have said this). Was she wishing her parents had really felt like this? Was it a denial of Burr Oak? Did she not want to admit she had worked in a hotel? Or maybe Rose didn’t (is there any analysis of discussions between them over this chapter’s content?) Would be really interested to hear others’ thoughts on this.
The hotel thing is interesting. As a child, I remember being taken aback by Ma’s reaction. It calls to mind the scene at the hotel in Silver Lake, which was definitely a tense scene despite the fact that the men did behave while they were at dinner. She never portrays hotels in a positive light in the Little House books. It would make sense that this bears some relation to her time in Burr Oak.
I always found this to be my favorite LH book. I never thought about ‘why?’ It must be that feeling of optimism that is mentioned in the comments. The feeling of security in the routine of the homestead. The relief that the Hard Winter is over.
My other favorite, or at least memorable chapter, is the one about the 4th of July. “BOOM” is the opening word! (I think I remember that!) The feeling of patriotism, the reading and explanation of the Declaration of Independence, the glimpses of Almanzo racing his horses. A whole different set of feelings: patriotism, romance and excitement!!
I love the optimism in this book too. I often wonder about the hotel. When I picture it, I think hotels may have been a little {or a lot} like a saloon back then possibly.