The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Oh, I know what happens next, The Long Winter. Yikes. So, the Ingalls family is living in their teeny tiny shack like house out on the homestead. They are happy because this is where they are going to stay - Ma has finally put her foot down and demanded that Pa find them a place to settle so the girls can get some schooling and stability in their lives. Which I think is admirable.
But then, one day, Pa is in town and a wise old Indian comes into the store and indicates (I cant remember if he talked or used hand signals or a combination) that this coming winter will be a very cold and snowy one. Pa finds this persuasive, particualrly in combination with compelling muskrat related evidence. So he (wisely) decides to move his family into town instead of attempting to survive the winter in the homestead shack.
Well, the winter is indeed long and terrible and they almost starve to death. And, although it is not mentioned, I would be willing to bet a lot of money that they all got scurvey. You cannot go an entire winter eating almost nothing but bread and a few potatoes. It is not healthy. Anyway, thanks to the daring efforts of Cap Garland (my particular favorite) and Alamazo Wilde (almost as good as Cap) the town was able to purchase some wheat from a crazy homesteader way outside of town. Cap did it out of the goodness of his heart, Alamanzo did it out of guilt because he refused to sacrifice his future potential wheat crop so that people didn't starve to death. Although risking your life and almost dying is a pretty good way to say "Sorry I care more about myself and my future wheat than I care about the people of this town."
Anyway, obviously they didn't all die, but I am sure there were long lasting effects from almost 7 months of near starvation. But it had a happpy ending and they got to eat turkey and cranberries when the train finally came through.
No comments:
Post a Comment