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The snow kept coming till it was drifted and banked against the house.In the mornings the window panes were covered with frost in beautifulpictures of trees and flowers and fairies. After supper Pa brought his trapsin from the shed to grease them by the fire. He rubbed them bright andgreased the hinges of the jaws and the springs of the pans with afeather dipped in bear's grease. The cousins come for Christmas that year, and Laura receives a rag doll, which she names Charlotte. Later that winter, the Ingallses go to Grandma Ingalls’s house and have a “sugaring off,” when they harvest sap and make maple syrup.
The Story of Grandpa and the Panther.
Laura always wondered why bread made of corn meal was calledjohnny-cake. Ma didn't know, unless the Northernsoldiers called it johnny-cake because the people in the South, wherethey fought, ate so much of it. Maybe, they called the Southern bread, cake, just for fun.
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DANCE AT GRANDPA'S.
Pa andUncle Henry carried the cradles by their long, curved handles, and swungthe blades into the standing oats. When they had cut enough to make apile, they slid the cut stalks off the slats, into neat heaps on theground. They would take the old honey he had left in the old tree, make it intofresh, new honey, and store it in their new house. They would save everydrop of the spilled honey and put it away, and they would have plenty ofhoney again, long before winter came.
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They were happy as they drove through the springtime woods. Carrielaughed and bounced, Ma was smiling, and Pa whistled while he drove thehorses. That night, though it was the middle of the week, Ma bathed Laura andMary all over, and she put up their hair.
GOING TO TOWN.
Afterward Laura and Mary asked questions, and Pa told them that the bigmachine was called the separator, and the rod was called the tumblingrod, and the little machine was called the horsepower. Eight horses werehitched to it and made it go, so this was an eight-horsepower machine. When she finished a hat, Ma set it on a board to dry, shaping it nicelyas she did so, and when it dried it stayed in the shape she gave it.
"Is the moon really made of green cheese?" Laura asked, and Ma laughed. All day long the round board settled slowly under the weight of therock, and whey pressed out and ran down the grooves of the board intothe pail. Laura and Mary were always there, helping all they could.
The Story of Grandpa's Sled and the Pig.
Laura was so happy, when she ran through the sand to Pa, with all thosebeautiful pebbles in her pocket. But when Pa picked her up and tossedher into the wagon, a dreadful thing happened. They all went back through the sand to the wagon on the lake shore. Pafed the horses, on the bottom of the wagon box, some oats he had broughtfor their dinner.
The Story of Pa and the Bear in the Way.
Often the wind howled outside with a cold and lonesome sound. But in theattic Laura and Mary played house with the squashes and the pumpkins,and everything was snug and cosy. The large, round, colored pumpkinsmade beautiful chairs and tables.
"I had passed it on my way to town that morning. It wasn't a bear atall. I only thought it was a bear, because I had been thinking all thetime about bears and being afraid I'd meet one." "So at last I looked around, and I got a good big club, a solid, heavybranch that had been broken from a tree by the weight of snow in thewinter. "I did not run very far toward him, I tell you! I stopped and looked athim, and he stood looking at me. Then I shouted again. There he stood. Ikept on shouting and waving my arms, but he did not budge. "I tried to hurry, but the walking was hard and I was tired, so I hadnot gone far before night came. And I was alone in the Big Woods withoutmy gun. Just then one of the dancing little bits of light from the lanternjumped between the bars of the gate, and Laura saw long, shaggy, blackfur, and two little, glittering eyes. The sun sank out of sight, the woods grew dark, and he did not come.
Then quickly he dropped the ramrod in and rubbed it upand down, up and down, while the hot water blackened with powder smokespurted out through the little hole on which the cap was placed when thegun was loaded. Along the rail fence the sumac held up its dark red cones of berriesabove bright flame-colored leaves. Acorns were falling from the oaks,and Laura and Mary made little acorn cups and saucers for theplayhouses. Walnuts and hickory nuts were dropping to the ground in theBig Woods, and squirrels were scampering busily everywhere, gatheringtheir winter's store of nuts and hiding them away in hollow trees. The day seemed very short while Laura and Mary played in the big roomand Ma helped Grandma and the aunts in the kitchen. The men had takentheir dinners to the maple woods, so for dinner they did not set thetable, but ate cold venison sandwiches and drank milk.
The red peppers and the onions dangledoverhead. The hams and the venison hung in, their paper wrappings, andall the bunches of dried herbs, the spicy herbs for cooking and thebitter herbs for medicine, gave the place a dusty-spicy smell. He had seen a big blackbear standing beside the pigpen. The bear was reaching into the pen tograb the pig, and the pig was running and squealing. Pa saw this in thestarlight and he fired quickly.
"The sap, you know, is the blood of a tree. It comes up from the roots,when warm weather begins in the spring, and it goes to the very tip ofeach branch and twig, to make the green leaves grow. "All winter," Pa said, "Grandpa has been making wooden buckets andlittle troughs. He made them of cedar and white ash, for those woodswon't give a bad taste to the maple syrup. Ma unwrapped the package and there were two hard, brown cakes, each aslarge as a milk pan. She uncovered the bucket, and it was full of darkbrown syrup. It was too early in the spring for Sukey to be let out in the Big Woodsto eat grass. But sometimes on warm days Pa leftthe door of her stall open so she could come into the barnyard.
But most of themeat must be salted and smoked and packed away to be eaten in thewinter. Each season has its work, which Laura makes attractive by the good things that result. In the spring, the cow has a calf, so there is milk, butter and cheese.
