Excerpts from Little Town on the Prairie - Natural Environment

Page 3
After the October Blizzard last fall, they had all moved to town and for a little while
Laura had gone to school there. Then the storms had stopped school, and all through that long
winter the blizzards had howled between the houses, shutting them off from each other so that
day after day and night after night not a voice could be heard and not a light could be seen
through the whirling snow.
All winter long, they had been crowded in the little kitchen, cold and hungry and working
hard in the dark and cold to twist enough hay to keep the fire going and to grind wheat in
the coffee mill for the days bread. All that long winter, the only hope had been that sometime
winter must end, sometime blizzards must stop, the sun would shine warm again and they could
all get away from the town and go back to the homestead claim.

Page 89
I never saw a better corn crop, said Pa. Weve got that to depend on.
And the oats, said Ma. Then she asked, Whats wrong with the oats, Charles?
Well, blackbirds are getting most of them, Pa told her. I no sooner set up a chock than its
covered thick with the pests. Theyre eating all the grain they can get at, and not leaving much
but the straw.
Mas cheerful face dimmed, but Pa went on. Never mind, theres a good crop of straw,
and soon as I get the oats cut and shocked Ill clear out the blackbirds with a shotgun.
That afternoon, looking up from her sewing to thread her needle, Laura saw a wisp of
smoke wavering in the heart waves from the prairie. Pa had taken time from his work in the
oatfield to cut a swath around the patch of Spanish needles and set fire to those vicious
grasses.
The prairie looks so beautiful and gentle, she But I wonder what it will do next. Seems
like we have to fight it all the time.

Page 102
The blackbirds were so thick now that between the corn rows their wings beat trough
against Lauras arms and battered her sunbonnet. She felt sharp little blows on her heard, and
Carrie cried out that the birds were pecking her. They seemed to feel that the corn was theirs,
and to be fighting for it, and flew scolding and pecking at the sunbonnets.
Not much corn was left. Even the youngest ears, on which the kernels were hardly more
than blisters, had been stripped and pecked at.

Page 263
Suddenly the breeze was icy cold, and Laura looked quickly from the window. She
exclaimed, Pa! Theres a blizzard cloud!
Why, it cant be! This late in April? Pa turned to see for himself.
The sunlight went out, the sound of wind changed as it rose. The storm stuck the little
house. A whirling whiteness pressed against the window and the cold came in.
Three days and nights the blizzard raged. Pa put the hens in the stable lest they freeze.
It was so cold that the dismal days were spent close to the stove, and thought the light was
dim, Laura doggedly studied arithmetic.
Excerpts from Little Town on the Prairie - The Town of DeSmet

Page 38
Up rose the sun with no effort at all, while they kept walking as fast as they could, north
on the prairie road toward the south end of Main Street.
The town was so changed that it seemed like a new place. Two whole blocks on the west
side of Main Street were solidly filled with new, yellow-pine buildings. A new board sidewalk was
in front of them. Pa and Laura did not have time to cross the street to it. They hurried, Indian
file, along the narrow dusty path on the other side of the street.
On this side, the prairie still covered all the vacant lots, right up to Pas stable and his
office-building at the corner of Main and Second Streets. But beyond them, on the other side
of Second Street, the studding of a new building stood on the corner lot. Beyond it, the path
hurried past vacant lots again till it came to Clancys new store.

Page 49
The town was like sore on the beautiful, wild prairie. Old haystacks and manure piles
were rotting around the stables, the backs of stores false fronts were rough and ugly. The
grass was worn now even from Second Street, and gritty dust blew between the buildings. The
town smelled of staleness and dust and smoke and a fatty odor of cooking. A dank smell
came from the saloons and a musty sourness from the ground by the back doors where the
dishwater was thrown out.

Page 125
Why are all those lots vacant, between the livery stable and Pas? Carrie wondered.
She and Carried turned west on Second Street. Beyond the schoolhouse, new little claim
shanties were scattered now. A new flour mill was racketing by the railroad tracks, and across
the vacant lots between Second and Third Street could be seen the skeleton of the new church
building on Third Street.

Page 268
There were more people in town now, and in all the country around. The school was
so crowded that all the seats were filled, and in some of the front seats three of the smaller
pupils sat.
Excerpts from Little Town on the Prairie - Fun

The Chapter titled Literaries which begins on page 210 and the following Chapter, The Whirl
of Gaiety (page 221) give a great description of activities people did for fun in the town, for
example spelling bees, charades, plays, and singing.

There were also Ladies Aid sociables and church events.

Connection
If you have time, host one of these activities in your class, a spelling bee for example.