Line #16 Heartwarming/LittleHouseOnThePrairie


1	!!The original books
2	* In ''Little House in the Big Woods'', little Laura's rather upset because Mary has blonde hair whereas hers is, in her own words, "ugly and brown". Pa then points out that ''he'' has brown hair, too, which makes her much happier with her own.
3	* In ''Little House on the Prairie,'' the local Osage raid the Ingallses' cabin while Pa's away, taking all the molasses with them and leaving them with nothing but plain cornbread for dinner. Ma presses her hands into the tops of the cornbread before baking, as Pa has always said he can't ask for anything sweeter on his cornbread than his wife's hand. It's not mentioned explicitly, but this is clearly an established code between the two adults to signal deprivation without alerting the children. Their marriage is defined both by extreme hardship and by equally deep and genuine love--all summed up by a handprint on a loaf of cornbread.
4	* In ''The Long Winter,'' Mr. Edwards, who hasn't seen the Ingallses since Laura and Mary were tiny, reconnects with the family for the first time in years and takes supper with them. Learning that Mary's gone blind and that the family is saving to send her to college, he slips a twenty-dollar bill into Mary's lap and leaves without mentioning it. They never see him again. Bear in mind that twenty dollars in 1880 would be around ''$550'' by modern reckoning, and that the Ingalls women earned only $15 feeding and housing boarders morning, noon, and night for a month in ''By The Shores of Silver Lake.'' Remember, too, that Mr. Edwards once walked eighty miles in the snow to deliver the Ingalls girls' Christmas gifts. [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe All for the privilege of a lonely bachelor sitting at a supper table and getting to feel he was part of a family again.]]
5	* In ''These Happy Golden Years'', Almanzo making it clear that he will continue to take Laura home every Friday and then back to her school on Sunday even if he has nothing to gain from it himself. To elaborate: the previous weekend, Laura told him up-front that she was only going with him in order to get home, so he shouldn't feel any obligation to come. On Friday afternoon, the temperature is forty below and dropping and Laura is absolutely certain there's no chance at all he's going to come. He does.
6	** On the same note, once Laura's teaching job is over and she's back at home, she discovers that her school friends are all going sleighing and clearly having a wonderful time. Realizing that her extended absence has caused her to be left out, she feels quite depressed - until Almanzo shows up at her door asking if she'd like to go sleighing.
7	* A subtle one in ''By the Shores of Silver Lake''. At the beginning of the book the Ingallses move west to Dakota Territory, even though Ma doesn't want to, because Pa (as ever) wants a homestead and has a job offer at the railroad camp in the meantime. Once they're there, Laura wants to go further west, and is jealous of her "wild" cousin Lena whose family is going to move on. Pa obviously feels the same way but tells her he promised her mother they would settle down somewhere where the girls could go to school. One night Laura takes Carrie out to slide on the frozen lake, and by following the reflection made on the ice by the moon, they end up going all the way across. They see a wolf and run back to the house, where Pa is surprised to hear that they got that far away in the first place.
8	-->"We followed the moonpath," Laura told him. Pa looked at her strangely. "You would!" he said.
9	* In ''These Happy Golden Years'', Mary's first trip home from college. She moves around the house with ease, shows the family her tools and books, and gives them gifts she's made -- except for Pa, who receives a blue silk handkerchief. She tells them that she bought it while out on a trip with her roommate Blanche, who, while legally blind, can still see colors if they're bright enough. They fooled the clerk into thinking she could tell the colors by ''touch'', which Mary laughs about. It's the [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy first time she's outright laughed since she went blind, and Laura thinks that alone makes all the trouble and unpleasantness of her own time as a schoolteacher worth it]].
10	** Speaking of the gifts, she gives Laura and Carrie handmade beaded jewelry with alternating colors, and they both note that the alternation is perfect. Mary comments that it's easy because someone who can see sorts the beads by color, but she would also have to keep perfect track of which color she uses when, since she doesn't have a visual reference to tell her what color she just used and which comes next. But Mary doesn't see it that way at all, and is just delighted that she can do craft work again (she of all the girls particularly enjoyed sewing and the like before she lost her sight).
11	* In ''These Happy Golden Years'', Laura telling Almanzo he may kiss her goodnight, after she accepts the engagement ring. It's sweet and a little awkward, and it's Laura clearly ''trying'', when she's been mostly reserved towards him all along.
12	** A lot of her earliest interactions with Almanzo are both sweet and somewhat SugarWiki/{{funny\|Moments}}, mostly because while the ''reader'' can easily see what he's doing, Laura is fifteen and completely clueless. He's being as romantic as was actually possible in a frontier town, and Laura ''does not [[FailedASpotCheck see it]]''. It takes Mary Power pointing it out to make Laura realize hey, surprise, she's being courted. (The narrative explicitly mentions that Laura has no idea why a 'grown-up' would want to spend time with a girl still in school.) Somehow, this comes off as endearing, rather than creepy.
13	** Part of it is due to Almanzo's personality. He's a very quiet, low-key man, and he's very respectful of the shy-yet-spirited Laura's autonomy. He doesn't try to get her attention by playing up how great he is, he looks for things that interest her and suggests doing them together, like the sleigh and buggy rides, and taking her to singing school.
14	*** He's also the one person who doesn't underestimate her. While Pa refuses to let Laura ride or drive his horses because he thinks she's too small to control them, Almanzo lets her drive all of his horses, even the unbroken ones, and is thrilled when she's the one who finally gets one of them to listen. When he leaves Lady and his buggy with Pa while he goes out of state to visit his parents, he explicitly instructs Pa that Laura has his permission to drive Lady whenever she pleases. (This continues after they're married: he buys Laura a pony for the sole purpose of having a pony to ride, and the Rose books identify half of the Wilders' horses, Pet and her foal, Little Pet, as belonging to ''Laura'', not Almanzo.) When Laura says she doesn't feel right saying she'll obey Almanzo against her better judgment as part of her marriage vows, Almanzo immediately agrees with her. He tells point-blank that no woman ''ever'' keeps that vow even if she does make it, no decent man would ''ever'' expect her to, and if she's still uncomfortable with it, he's happy to ask the reverend to completely excise the word 'obey' from their vows. Basically, he wins her over by showing her that he respects her as an individual and likes her exactly how she is, when most people in those days would (and did) see her as a woman first and a person second.
15	* In ''The Long Winter'' and continuing until-and-through ''These Happy Golden Years'' there's the sheer amount of work and effort Laura puts in in order to help Mary go to, and stay at, her college. It's a constant driving factor with Laura, wanting to work and earn money and to do well in school so that she can become a teacher (even though she doesn't want to be one) and thereby help bring home enough money. Only rarely does she think of buying things for herself, Mary is always the priority.
16	** At the end of ''The Long Winter'', Ma gives Laura the beautiful sewing materials from the delayed Christmas package, because Laura had given away things she had made in the past for the family's benefit. In subsequent books, Laura uses large amounts of that material to make Mary new clothes for college, and she's happy to do so.
17	* In ''Little Town on the Prairie,'' while out walking together in the field, Laura admits to Mary that when they were little, Laura was so resentful of Mary for always being good that at times Laura had wanted to slap her. While initially shocked by that admission, Mary herself then confesses to having an oversized ego back then, knowing that she was perceived as the good girl, and accordingly cannot blame Laura for wanting to slap her. Mary hopes that Laura no longer feels that way, which Laura confirms. Mary then goes further to ask if Laura is just saying that because Mary is now blind. Laura says absolutely not and that she rarely ever thinks about Mary's blindness; she is just grateful that Mary is her sister. It is a very touching discussion which shows how close the two elder sisters have become.
18	* Rose's birth. ''The First Four Years'' spends a lot of time fussing and figuring out the Wilders' financial situation, and this is the only time it's not made out to be a dire annoyance.
19	---> ''There were doctor bills, but, after all, a Rose in December is much rarer than a rose in June, and must be paid for accordingly.''
20	* In ''These Happy Golden Years,'' Almanzo comes to say good-bye to Laura before he and Royal go to spend the winter with their parents. He catches her in the sitting room, and comments that her engagement ring becomes her hand. She says, "It is beautiful, this ring." He disagrees: "I would say the hand."
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22	!!Spinoff series
23	* ''The Caroline Years'':
24	** In ''Across The Rolling River'' Caroline's relationship with Miss May and how that inspires her to become a teacher.
25	** And her growing friendship with Charles Ingalls, especially their FriendlyRivalry over the spelling bee.
26	** In ''Little City By The Lake'' Caroline's friend Millie standing up for her when the other girls look down on her mother making her dresses.
27	** Caroline's aunt doing her best to give Caroline a new dress for a ball despite Caroline's protests.
28	** When Caroline's family is stricken with cholera, a neighbor travels all the way to Milwaukee to get Caroline's grandmother. Said grandmother also tells Caroline that if he hadn't had to worry about infecting his own wife and child, their neighbor probably would have tended Caroline's family with his own two hands.
29	* ''The Charlotte Years''
30	** ''On Tide Mill Lane'': The town celebrating when it's announced the war is ending and later the Tucker's delight when Will (Lew's striker in the forge) returns home.
31	** Throughout the book Lew shoulders a much larger workload in the forge because he doesn't want to replace Will. When Will returns, he's lost a leg and isn't sure if Lew will give him his job back. Lew and Martha both tell him he's ridiculous for even suggesting that they wouldn't want him.
32	** Overall just how ''happy'' Martha is after her struggles growing up in the previous series. The narrative makes it clear that she loves every minute of her life in America from looking after the children, cooking without help, being married to 'the finest blacksmith either side of the Atlantic' visiting their neighbors and her freedom in living as a commoner.
33	** And by extension, how happy she and Lew are together. It's obvious Martha kept her rebellious streak from her childhood, but rather than being ashamed of her, Lew clearly adores how spirited she is and doesn't mind saying so, whether it's commenting she could frighten the president if she wanted or laughing at her cheering for him in public. It really gives you insight as to why they both risked so much to marry each other.
34	** A particularly sweet scene occurs when Lew insists that Martha buy a dress for herself. Martha objects saying they need other things and fine clothes are wasted on her 'common chicken feathers'. We get a brief look into Lew's feelings for Martha.
35	-->'''Lew:''' My Martha, a common chicken? I think not. Ye're a skylark, of course. Soars high, nests on the ground, sings the happiest song in the heavens. I ought to have seen that right away.
36	* ''The Martha Years'':
37	** ''Little House In The Highlands'': Martha making up with her brother Duncan after he loses her doll.
38	** ''Down To The Bonny Glen'': Martha's new governess Miss Crow subtly comforting her about a ruined sash and Martha's growing affection for her after loathing her previous governess.
39	** Martha breaking tension between her brother Duncan, and their friends Lew and Ian over the suddenly realized class differences, by challenging Lew to a footrace. He clearly realizes what she's doing and plays along.
40	** ''Beyond The Heather Hills'': Martha bonding with her older sister Grisie after three books of sisterly tensions.
41	** From the same book Lew helping Martha get craft supplies when she's stuck in bed, including giving her his own knife. Even the gruff, no-nonsense Cook is touched and calls them quite a pair. Bonus points for Martha never doubting he'd do everything he could to help her. And in the end, Lew insists she keep the knife so Martha gives him one of her homemade dolls for his little sister.
42	!!The TV series
43	* In "A Harvest of Friends", Charles makes a deal with a sleazy businessman to finish a job in exchange for seed sacks and plowing equipment, with the Ingallses' two oxen as collateral in case he can't finish it, but he's injured after falling off a tree. The seeder decides to collect the collateral a day before the time is up, but a determined Charles insists on trying to finish the job and collapses in the process. Laura and Mary (who had followed him all the way from home) decide to try and finish it for him, stacking seed bags in the barn, even though one bag is too heavy for ''both'' of them. When all seems lost, a group of citizens (including Dr. Baker, Nels Oleson, Lars Hanson) show up and start stacking the rest of the bags, allowing the Ingalls family to keep their oxen and assuring their stay in Plum Creek. All for a newcomer who'd only just started settling down on the town.
44	* In "Country Girls", there are many moments that establish the sense of familiar bond, especially in contrast with the Olesons' somehwat dysfunctional dynamic.
45	* In "School Mom", Caroline fills in as schoolteacher and learns about an older boy, Abel Makay, who can't read, and feels too embarrassed to keep up with the rest of the class which consists of much younger kids. She enlists the kids in a collective effort to help Abel learn how to read, and insists on her efforts even after Abel briefly gives up when Mrs. Oleson intervenes by accusing Caroline of favoring one student over the others. By the end of the episode, when Miss Beadle goes back, Abel reads a goodbye message to Caroline, thanking her and praising her for her work as a teacher, followed by a round of applause from the class. Next season will mention that Abel is studying full time.
46	* In "Town Party, Country Party", Laura befriends a girl named Olga who can't keep up and play with the other children because of a club foot. Charles gets the idea to modify Olga's shoes to even out her legs but her protective father refuses the help. Charles goes behind his back and does it anyway with the help of Olga's grandmother. Olga's father is furious until he sees his daughter happily running and playing with the other girls and the sight moves him to tears.
47	* In "The Richest Man in Walnut Grove", after Hanson is forced to close the mill and cannot pay Charles two months' back pay, which means Charles cannot pay off their large tab at the Mercantile, the whole family pitches in to help: Mary temporarily drops out of school to work as seamstress with Mrs. Whipple full time while Laura does her chores as well as her own, Caroline helps with the farm work, and Charles (who emotionally mutters "What a family") toils at two jobs. When Charles pays off the tab, Mr. Oleson (whose family is the wealthiest in town) declares him the "richest man in Walnut Grove".
48	* Things look pretty bleak for Walnut Grove in Part Two of "There's No Place Like Home," as to whether anyone will help the Ingalls, Garvey, and Oleson families restore the town; and especially crossing over with {{Tearjerker}}, Lars Hanson's deteriorating condition from a stroke due to the perceived demise of the town that he had founded. Lo and behold, groups of adults and children show up on the assigned cleanup day. When Lars hears the church bell on Sunday, and looks out the window to see the town virtually as it was before, he is mentally revived and demands that Jonathan help him clean up and get dressed. Despite both Jonathan and Doc Baker's protests, Lars is able to hobble to the church as the congregation speechlessly watch from the steps, shakes Reverend Alden's hand, and apologizes to God and essentially the community for not having faith. As he and the congregation make their way into the church, Laura narrates that four months later Lars died in his sleep, happy that his legacy and the town would live on. (For a while, anyway....)
49	* Decades after the show ended, actor Dean Butler, who played Almanzo on the series, has continued to sign autographs for fans, and has become involved in a fundraising push to preserve "his" childhood home.
50	----
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52	!!Prairie Girl
53	* Laura Ingalls Wilder's original manuscript offers more stories that didn't appear in the main book series. There are several heartwarming stories from Laura's and Almanzo's courtship that fleshes it out and shows more hints of the romantic aspects of their relationship. Among other things she reveals that Cap Garland asked her to come sleighing, and one of her classmates asked to walk her home from church when Almanzo wasn't there. This is shortly after she came back to town from her first school, and even at this early stage she realizes she wants to be asked by Almanzo, not by anyone else.
54	** When he comes and asks her to go sleighing the Sunday after she returns home they have a conversation where she asks what she should call him, seeing as they have moved past last name basis. Partially paraphrased, the conversation goes:
55	---> '''Laura''': I was going to stay home until someone else asked me, but now I'm here, what am I going to call you? I'm tired of saying Mr Wilder and then explaining that I mean the youngest Wilder boy and the crowd will laugh at me if I call you Mr Wilder to them.
56	--->'''Almanzo''': My folks call me Manzo except my brother Roy who calls me Mannie.
57	--->'''Laura''': Manzo is ugly. I'll call you Manly, like Roy does.
58	--->'''Almanzo''': He calls me Mannie, not Manly.
59	--->'''Laura''': I will call you Manly anyway, for Mannie is silly.
60	--->'''Almanzo''': And what shall I call you? I have a sister Laura, and I never did like the name. What is your second name?
61	--->'''Laura''': ''reciting a nursery rhyme'' Elizabeth, Elispeth, Betsy, and Bess, went over the river to seek a bird's nest. They found one with three eggs in. They each took one and left two in.
62	--->'''Almanzo''': Then I will call you Bessie.
63	** At the singing school they are divided into groups based on which vocal group they belong to (bass, tenor, soprano, etc). This is described in ''These Happy Golden Years'', but in that book its implied that they remain in these groups for the duration of the singing school. In ''Prairie Girl'', Laura reveals that they try this once, but "''it spoiled the fun of going to Singing School to be separated from one's beau all evening, so this way of sitting lasted only one meeting.''" It is also mentioned that Laura felt awkward mingling among the other students during recess, since she didn't know many of them, and so she remained in her seat and Almanzo stayed beside her, bringing candy for them to enjoy.
64	** After they become engaged, and Almanzo has returned to De Smet from his winter trip, they often go for buggy rides on Sundays and then Almanzo stays and spends time with Laura by the fireplace. The rest of the family go to bed at nine, and Almanzo is expected to leave no later than eleven. On one evening he stops the clock just as it is about to strike eleven, stays for another hour, then starts it again so that it strikes eleven as he leaves. Once he's gone Laura hastily pushes the hands of the clock ahead so that it's running correctly again.
65	** The book also mentions that during the rest of that winter Pa would drive Laura and Carrie to school, and that sometimes he would then drive to the Wilder brothers' place to eat buckwheat cakes with them for breakfast.

Context Heartwarming / LittleHouseOnThePrairie