Little Author in the Big Woods Read Online Free

of 1877, the Ingalls family made the long journey from Iowa back to Walnut Grove, Minnesota. Their arrival in town was celebrated as a kind of homecoming, and they were invited to stay with their good friends the Ensigns until Pa could build them a house of their own. Pa and Ma knew the family from church, and Laura knew their children—Willard, Anna, and Howard—because they had often played together. Doubling up was a common practice on the frontier, and no one seemed to mind making room for neighbors until they could get back on their feet again.
    Almost immediately, Pa found a job in a store. And because he was such a skilled carpenter, he was able to get carpentry work on the side too. Ma took care of baby Grace, and she helped Mrs. Ensign with all the chores. Mary, age 13, Laura, age 10, and Carrie, age 8, went off to school every day.
    Just like before, Laura was happy in school. She was quickly reacquainted with her old friends and sometimes rivals, like Nellie and Willie Owens. And she made friends with the newcomers too. The children of Walnut Creek were a rowdy bunch. Before class began in the mornings, and during recess, they had raucous snowball fights and fast races. Laura loved all the activity and energy; she jumped right into whatever game her classmates were playing.
    Not Mary. She never wanted to join in. Unlike Laura, Mary was a lady. She even tried to keep Laura from acting so adventurous. One day, Laura was rushing out to join a snowball fight that was already in progress. Mary grabbed Laura by the hair to keep her from going out. But Laura would not be stopped. She just dragged Mary to the open door, and the two girls were both pelted with snowballs. When she finally broke free, Laura ran out into the snow so she could get her revenge on her attackers.

    Even though she was a “wildcat” (her cousin’s word), she was an excellent student. She loved history and spelling and could often outspell the whole class when the teacher arranged spelling bees. Pa bought her a new schoolbook—she had to share it with Mary—for 61 cents. The book was all about the history of the United States. Laura read it avidly and was very proud when Pa informed her that some of his ancestors had come to Plymouth Colony on the Mayflower .
    Things were going well for the family. In the spring of 1878, Pa bought a patch of land in the pasture behind a new hotel owned by a man named William Masters. Pa then had the taxing job of building a new house. Ma was so glad to have her own place again. She loved the Ensigns, but enough was enough. Although she missed farming, she was grateful that they could stay in one place for the time being. Now Pa could play the fiddle in the evenings again; he taught the girls how to dance, and sometimes they even performed for company.
    Later that spring, he got the notion that Walnut Grove needed a butcher shop. During the long, cold winters, people used up their store of cured meats and needed more. So he opened one, though he continued to do his carpentry too.
    Laura stayed in school, which ran right through to the summer. Ordinarily this would have made her very happy, but she found herself constantly irritated by a snobby girl from New York, Genevieve Masters, who was the niece of the teacher, Sam Masters. Pa told her to ignore Genevieve, but she just couldn’t do it. Genevieve soon became rivals with Nellie Owens. Both girls tried to gain control of all the others at school; it became a fierce competition between them.
    Laura kept aloof. Though Genevieve tried to sweet-talk her and Nellie tried to bribe her with little gifts from the store her father owned, their tactics did not work. Somehow, Laura’s independent spirit caught the attention of the other girls. To her surprise, she soon found that she was the most popular girl of all. And it wasn’t just the girls who courted her favor. The boys always wanted her to play with them: ante I over, pull away,