Chapter 7 - Laura earns "Nine Dollars"

I often ask myself, "How did Laura Ingalls Wilder get through hard times?" The Ingalls family didn't lack challenges.  Today we learn about Laura and Pa being laid off on the same day. During the Covid-19 pandemic, I decided to reread Little Town on the Prairie to discover - What Would Laura Do?

The chapter begins with Mrs. White laying Laura off from her job of basting collars and whip stitching buttonholes. The Spring rush of bachelors needing shirts is over. Laura has earned nine dollars for her six weeks of work. Rather than celebrating the nine dollars, Laura feels hollow and wishes she made even more money for Mary's college fund. Once again, Laura's generous heart wanted more for others than for herself. I wish I could say the same for my children.

Currently, my boys are saving up for a Nintendo Switch. They never even mentioned buying me a outdoor rug for the deck! My daughter spends all her money on wigs and eye shadow. She shows no interest in funding her own mother's neck serum dream.   

NOTE: The following paragraph explains what actually happened. In a letter, to her daughter, Rose, Laura admits she only worked three weeks for Mr. Clancy and Mrs. White. Pa didn't like all the quarreling that happened in the Clancy household. Also, Laura boarded with the family and didn't walk back and forth with Pa. Laura was paid 75 cents the first week and, due to excellent work, $1.50 the second and third weeks. Her wages equaled 3.75, but she purchased the following items: a thimble, cloth shoes, four yards of calico, 1/2 yard silk, a plume, and a charms - so, her take home pay was only 1.09.

Mrs. Boast had her chicken game dialed in!

Now - back to the book. Laura's sagging spirits lift when she sees Pa waiting for her. He calls out, "Look what we've got, to take home to your Ma!" Pa has a bushel basket full of 14 cheeping chicks. Just as Mrs. Boast promised, at the end of The Long Winter, she has given Ma a brood of chicks. (In case you're wondering - brood means a group of chicks hatching at the same time.) 

Pa and Laura walk home, each holding one handle of the bushel basket. Pa tells Laura the, he too, has been laid off from his carpentry job. Laura sadly admits she only earned nine dollars. Luckily, Pa knows the right thing to say to cheer up his unemployed daughter. "Nine dollars is nothing to sneeze at. You've done good work, too, and fully satisfied Mrs. White, haven't you?" Laura admits she has. So Pa wraps it up with a bow by saying, "Then it's a job well done." 

Wow. How does Pa always know the right thing to say? Would it be safe to assume Pa's dad, Lansford Whiting Ingalls, always said the right thing to Pa?

Pepper, added to bran mash, was supposed to warm up the chicks and increase egg production.

Ma is delighted with the chicks and carefully lifts each chick into her apron and carries them to the coop Pa built in his spare time. Ma makes the chicks a well peppered bran mash. As an eight year old, I reread these paragraphs, enchanted by the image of Ma with an apron full of bright eyed peeping chicks. Or maybe I was curious why she didn't carry them to the coop in the bushel basket?

In the evening, Laura checks on the chicks. She is gone so long that Ma comes and joins her. Laura blurts out her wish that Mary could go to college in the Fall. Ma surprises her by saying, "It may be that she can. Your Pa and I have been talking of it." Mary's education will take seven years. Ma explains that Laura's wages will purchase materials to make Mary's best dress and maybe some velvet for a hat.

What Would Laura Do:

• Feel guilty about not earning enough money
• Look to her pa for encouragement
• Enjoy surprising her ma
• Blurt out thoughts without thinking

See you soon for chapter 8 - Fourth of July.

Prairie Eydie