Chapter 3 - "The Necessary Cat"

I often ask myself, "How did Laura Ingalls Wilder get through hard times?" The Ingalls family didn't lack challenges.  Today we learn about "The Great Rodent Infestation of 1881." During the Covid-19 pandemic, I decided to reread Little Town on the Prairie to discover - What Would Laura Do?

Chapter 3 begins with Pa complaining about gophers eating his corn. (I so prefer light-hearted conflict with gophers over the looming starvation we read about in The Long Winter.) Pa needs to replant the corn.  Before he gets to work, Pa makes up a fun rhyme to entertain his girls:

One for a gopher,
Two for a gopher,
Three for a gopher,  
Four don't go fur.

There are so many, many things to be sad about during a pandemic. But, it is important to laugh during a crisis. Since Pa's rhyme didn't make me laugh, here are some things I am smiling about these days:

A pocket of happiness.

I have rediscovered this comic thanks to Saint Vincent thrift stores.  Now my daughter is reading them, even though I question the content. Cathy comics center around swimsuits, salads, phone calls to her mom, and dull dates with Irving.  

• Cathy comics
• Video - follow the link for some fun - If Birds Had Arms
• Flowers in wall pockets
• Books by Liane Moriarty (I am currently reading Three Wishes)

Pa replants the corn. And again - the gophers strike. The gophers are eating, burying, and nibbling Pa's seed corn. Ma says the mice in her kitchen are as thick as honey. Ick. The Ingalls fondly recall Black Susan, the cat they left behind in Pepin, Wisconsin. They want a cat, but Pa says, "There's not a cat in this whole country, that I know of."  

That very night, Pa wakes up thinking a barber is cutting his hair. (Laura can hear everything through the partition.) Pa throws something against the wall. Ma thinks Pa is delusional.

Pa:  I heard the barber's shears go snip, snip. 

Ma (yawns): Well lie down and go to sleep. 

Pa: In my sleep I put up my hand and - Here. Feel my head."

Ma:  Charles!  Your hair's been cut! A place as big as my hand, shown clean off.

Pa:  I put up my hand, and I took hold of - something ---

Ma (hopelessly):  I do wish we had a cat.

The conversation continues until Ma declares that a mouse was gathering Pa's hair to make a nest. In the morning the family finds a dead mouse on the bedroom floor. Again - ick.  

Now I would believe a mouse could make a nest in Pa's beard. That seems extremely possible.

Okay.  I don't know about you, but I am not buying this story. Pa must have been a heck of a sound sleeper to let a mouse chew a hand sized chunk of hair off of his head.  If I had a rodent problem that bad, I would walk back East to get a cat. What about you, Bonnetheads? Could this have happened?  

Pa has a County Commissioner meeting to attend. He is the oldest settler and must help form a county. Pa, jokingly, says he will tell the other commissioners that his wife cut his hair. 

This adorable illustration makes up for the fact that Laura forgot to tell us the kitten's name.

When Pa returns from the meeting, he rushes into the house and places a tiny kitten into Mary's hands. Laura describes the kitten to Mary, "Its eyes aren't open yet. its baby fur is blue as tobacco smoke, and its face and its breast and its paws and the very tip of its tail are white. Its claws are the tiniest wee white things."

My cat, Millie.  She earns her keep by being cute.
I agree with Ma - a cat is well worth the price.   

Pa admits the kitten was too small to take from its mom, but he had to buy it before someone else. Pa paid 50 cents for the kitten and Laura freaks out at the cost. (Good thing Laura can't see my grocery store receipts. They would send her into a panic.) Ma quickly backs up Pa. "I don't blame you, Charles. A cat in this house will be well worth it."

Laura makes the kitten a cozy nest in a paste board box and Ma feeds the kitten milk from a teaspoon. Hopefully this young, tiny kitten will be able to single-handedly solve the claim shanty's gopher and mouse infestation.

What Would Laura Do?:

• Eavesdrop on private conversations.
• Lament about the cost of things nowadays.
• Create cozy environments for kittens.

See you soon for Chapter 4 - "The Happy Days."

Prairie Eydie