The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder

by William Anderson

Bruce was over yesterday. Drove over after his day’s work was done, to see if we were all right and if we needed anything. Only stayed a minute for he had to hurry back to do his chores.

  He asked me if I knew Al [Turner] was here. Said he hadn’t seen him, but Mrs. Brentlinger saw him go up to the house. She thought she was sure it was Al. I have not heard anything from him and sort of hate to phone anyone and ask. I’d have to ask Hoover’s [Dorothy Sue Hoover was a girlfriend of Al’s].

  Just wondered how come, if true.

  You remember the old saying that “A man who won’t steal from the R.R. co. ain’t honest.”

  I am, at present, working on the R.R. story

  And here is something I can’t use in a child’s story, but you could use it if you have a place for it.

  On Uncle Hi’s first contract he lost money. He had tried his best to make a profit, been careful of expense, worked three of his own teams for which he could draw no pay. In the settlement the R.R. cheated him in measuring the yards of dirt moved. The surveyors measured the finished grade and did the figuring. All goods for the camp, in the store, feed for the horses, tools, etc were furnished by the R.R. but charged to the contractor. The company overcharged Uncle Hi on those.

  He was broke and more, but the company was good and kind and would give him another contract. I remember hearing him say, the only way to make anything was to go behind on a contract. The farther behind a man went, the more he would make.

  So he took another contract. He worked his own teams but under other men’s names so he could draw pay for them. The R.R. kept a team hauling oats out of the feed store away somewhere and selling them. They took them away at night. Contractors had the right to take goods out of their stores, but had to be a little careful. The family took more than they could use of dry groceries and goods. When camp broke up Aunt Docia took the three teams. She drove one, Lena drove one and Gene drove the other. The wagons were loaded with goods and tools. They went before the camp broke and Uncle Hi stayed for the settlement. He was away behind on the contract, but his pockets were full of money.

  All the contractors did that way. “Old Stebbins” kept three teams working hauling oats, 100 pounds to a load, for a month. The oats were unloaded into a feed room 12x16 and after they had hauled for a month there were only a few oats in the room. Manly was one of the teamsters. I don’t know where feed was hauled to sell. Perhaps sold to the R.R. to furnish another contractor. Must have been, there was no other market.

  The letter from Grace came. She said:

  “Flowers that used to grow here, some are here yet, but lots of kinds we don’t see any more. The crocus came first in the spring—and the prairie used to be white with the blossoms of wild onions in the spring. Then there were violets, purple and yellow and such a lot of sheep sorrel with its pinkish blossoms. There were no sunflowers, goldenrod nor dandelions until much later. There were yellow buttercups and white anemone, common name is wind flower. There were two kinds of wild peas blue and purple and wild parsley and wild clover bean. There were tiger lilies in low places.

  “Forty years ago there were wild geraniums, white and red, around Manchester [seven miles from De Smet, where Grace and her husband, Nate Dow, farmed]. Never saw them around De Smet.”

  To think that I have forgotten all this which comes back to me now. That’s why the sooner I write my stuff the better. You remember the roses of course and have heard us tell about them. [Rose was named for the wild prairie roses.]

  Well my dear, I must get to work. It is nearly dinner time.

  Every year, I think, I will remember Valentine’s Day and be nice to people, but every year I forget until it is too late. Christmas and birthdays seem to be all I can manage. But it was delightful to have you remember us.

  Don’t you love the styles this spring? Had a catalogue from Bellas Hess, Kansas City—oh all the clothes are the prettiest for years and years. The only fault is that most of them have short sleeves. Likely I am prejudiced because my arms are not pretty any more, but there should be more long sleeves. I think the styles are beautiful, princess and swing skirts.

  I am now re-reading Tros of Samothrace and Manly is reading it. Whoever gets it first in the evening reads it. The other has to put up with something else. [Tros of Samonthrace and Talbot Mundy’s other historical adventure tales were favorites of Laura and Manly. Mundy was a friend of Rose’s; Tros of Samothrace is dedicated to her.]

  I can’t work on my book in the evening, because if I do, I can’t sleep. My brain goes right on remembering and it’s H——.

  Lots and lots of love my dear,

  Mama Bess

  TUESDAY MORNING

  [SHEETS ADDED TO THE ABOVE LETTER]

  There is snow over everything and prospect good for more to come.

  Manly thought of an anecdote you will likely remember hearing him tell.

  I don’t know if you can use it, but it gives a sidelight on the spirit of those times and just to refresh your memory, here it is.

  A Dr. Cameron, living in Sioux Falls, had a claim near Manly’s [north of De Smet]. The hay on it was better than on Manly’s or Roy’s places and they wanted to put it up.

  E. J. [Eliza Jane Wilder insisted on being called E. J.] wrote Dr. Cameron asking if they could cut it. But she forgot to put a stamp in the letter.

  He answered, but all he wrote was “Where in Hell is your postage stamp?”

  E. J. wrote underneath, “In the northwest corner by the furnace door. You will see it as you go in.”

  She mailed it back to him, still without a stamp for reply.

  And the Dr. answered with a nice letter, saying they were welcome to all the hay they wanted to cut.

  So much for that.

  “PART OF THE PRAISE OF THE BOOKS BELONGS TO YOU”

  Manly bought the largest mailbox allowed by the United States Post Office Department to accommodate Laura’s fan mail. She shared some of the mail with Rose, including a 1937 letter from the Eagle family of Barrington, Illinois. She wrote Rose that “this is the picture of the little boy whose father wrote the letter. Barrington is a suburb of Chicago. Part of the praise of the books belongs to you, so I am sending it on.”

  JANUARY 21, 1937

  My dear Mrs. Wilder,

  The entire Eagle family has appreciated and enjoyed your books and your courtesy to us. My own mother as a little girl, lived in a log house made by her father near Aiken, Minnesota, “in the big woods.” Their nearest neighbors were Sioux Indians. Your beautifully written stories are very similar to those that were told me as a little boy. I’m glad that Edward [the letter-writer’s son] is having the pleasure of hearing your books read. He’s been fascinated by them. Thank you so much for autographing the books for us. It makes them more than “just books.”

  Sincerely,

  H. L. Eagle

  God knows the farm is not self supporting

  Rose considered the reelection of Franklin D. Roosevelt to be national approval of the New Deal. Laura and Manly shared Rose’s dislike of the administration. In this letter Laura refers to Rose’s official residence as being at Rocky Ridge, claiming head of the household status to reduce her income tax. Laura discusses this situation, her own local anti–New Deal activities, and home news.

  MARCH 12, 1937

  Rose Dearest,

  Your letter enclosing Dewey Short’s came this P.M. [Republican Dewey Short, who hailed from Missouri’s Seventh Congressional District, was a member of the United States House of Representatives. He was a staunch opponent of the New Deal.]

  Dewey Short is a grand person. He and Clark deserve a medal for valor. We were interested in his letter.

  It is all right about those tax reports. If we work you for a handout, it is not your fault. I’ll stay out of income tax as long as I can. You can contribute quite a bit to us, and still the figures won’t amount to $2,500 and that is what I understand is the limit to keep us from paying tax on our income. So rest easy.

  Da
mn everything anyway!

  You can still be head of this household, and we can keep it up for you. God knows the farm is not self supporting. You have contributed to keeping it up for years. You don’t have to pay rent; the farm house can just be your home, and if you pay to keep it up, that is supporting us and our home. . . . Who’s the wiser?

  Truman is a liar. I wrote to him on this tablet paper. [Harry S. Truman was elected as a Democratic senator from Missouri in 1934.] There is a petition being signed to send congressmen at Dennis’s office. We keep talking, but I don’t know how much good it does.

  I will be in town tomorrow to see Aunt Daisy and to give her your message. I will stir around a little and see how many I can get to sign the Dennis petition. [Aunt Daisy was Daisy Bray Freeman, the second wife of George Freeman, organizer of the Bank of Mansfield and a prominent citizen.]

  People drive me wild. They as a whole are getting just what they deserve. “What’s the use?” they ask, “it won’t do any good,” they say. [Laura refers to political apathy.] I simply can’t read it in the papers any more. It makes me sick, actually.

  Well, I hasten to relieve your mind, when all the time the subject of greatest importance is my new spring suit. To say that I was flabbergasted when I opened the box is putting it mildly. Rose, honey, it is lovely and fits like new spring suits should fit. The color is exactly what I like too. I like the feel of the goods of my new suit. It feels like sugar and cream tastes.

  But look what you have done to me!

  Not a blouse did I have but what disgraced the suit and absolutely not a hat I have will go with it. So I have spent my tightly pinched pennies. I have ordered two blouses from Montgomery Ward’s, one a lighter blue and one an eggshell. And then as a crowning extravagance I have ordered a dress, the exact blue of the suit, to wear with the top coat when I need it. It is acetylene silk, I know it but it is not spelled right. It is Acetate Crepe and cost $2.98. But I know it is a beauty. The blouses are silk. Haven’t got them yet, just sent the order. Now I must get a hat.

  Isn’t it grand how John is doing? I’m tickled pink. [Rose sent John Turner to New Mexico Military Institute for the school year.]

  Haven’t heard anything from Corinne. She has no phone and I hesitate to have them call her down into the drug store [the Murrays, after vacating Rocky Ridge, moved into rooms above Fuson’s Drug Store in Mansfield]. She could call me from somewhere, but never has since they moved. I haven’t seen her. Have only been in town three times since they moved, or maybe four, and had so many other things to do. Didn’t want to climb the stairs, either. I’m saving of my breath, you know, though it hasn’t bothered me for some time. The house stands just as it did when Manly wrote you about it. I think Corinne is all right, or she couldn’t do the things I hear of her doing. There is no need that you should worry about her.

  Manly has made a garden this week. Planted potatoes, peas, lettuce, radishes and turnips. It is lovely weather, makes an itching in my feet [to travel]. But! dust settled over us again.

  I’ll wear the grapes whenever possible. Just now, I am wearing the pearls day and night. I sort of forgot about ’em till one night they woke me up saying they were sick. I got them out next morning.

  I think I have found the yarn to finish the rug, at Montgomery Ward’s. Have ordered it and if it is not right can return it.

  Manly likes so much to make rugs, I think I will let him work up all my old clothes into rugs like the pattern you drew.

  I have so many clothes now, I’ll never make over the old ones. As for giving them to anyone, they would go on relief before they’d make them over. Besides I’m fed up with giving things to people. So we’ll put those lovely old things into rugs.

  How wonderful for Talbot Mundy to be able to write “The Sayings of Taliesin” himself. They are so good. Do you know the book I have, “Queen Cleopatra” by Mundy, comes between “Tros” and “The Purple Pirate”? It is grand to have them both. Don’t lose Tros.

  We will try our best to keep the strawberries safe. Manly is doing something in the garden this afternoon. I don’t know what, but seems unable to keep away from it.

  We often talk of what you mention, there being no opportunities now. If we had had such opportunities when we were young we would have been rich. If we were only a little younger than we are, we would do something about them. Anyone who will half try can make money surprisingly now. How they can keep from it, I can’t see. Nor what they do with the money they can’t prevent themselves from making.

  Bruce says he gets $20 a month from his three cows. He feeds them hay he put up himself. They eat the leavings from our goat’s roughness. I mean, the cows eat what the goats won’t eat, and a little grain. And still Bruce is always hard up. I use him for an example because I know his affairs. Everyone else is the same. Suppose it costs half of the $20 to feed Bruce’s family, which it doesn’t. What would $10 a month clear have meant to us when we came here [in 1894]? Besides Bruce works a great deal of the time at good wages. They don’t seem to be extravagant. But what becomes of their money? Of course nobody else’s business is any of mine. But I find my heart is getting harder. I can have no least sympathy for people who can do, and will only holler that there are no chances for them now.

  I wish they all might have the opportunities we had when I was young and no more. Wouldn’t it be fun to watch ’em?

  My dear, I thank you so much for my new suit. It is lovely! Wish I could do something that would please you half as much.

  I sent you a little loaf of “Sweet bread of Greece.” Tell me how you like it.

  I’ll burn your letter and you burn mine.

  Much love,

  Mama Bess

  Pa’s old R.R. account book

  In this undated letter, likely written in 1937, Laura refers to the notebook Charles Ingalls kept while operating the railroad company’s store; the notebook revealed the prices the construction crew paid for goods. Laura may have thought that Rose could use these details in her current writing project, Free Land.

  [NO DATE, 1937]

  Rose Dearest,

  Looking over Pa’s old R.R. account book to find some help for Silver Lake, I find the following items charged to one of the men:

  1 pr. overalls $1.00 June 9, 1879

  1 shirt .70 June 16

  1 pr. boots 4.40 June

  1 pr. suspenders .35 June 22

  2¼ bu. corn .52

  Board bill 4.80

  There is another bill:

  June 3, 1879

  1 thousand feet lumber $13

  20 lbs nails .80

  50 lbs flour 1.50

  3 shovels 3.75

  2 scrapers 20.00

  1 Big Plug tobacco .40

  Still another:

  June 1879

  1 plug tobacco .10

  1 rubber coat 3.00

  1 hundred lbs. flour 2.75

  1 lb tea 1.00

  2 shirts 1.60

  June 12, 1879

  ½ lb. smoking tobacco .20

  1 pr. Boots .50

  Must have been poor or second hand boots can’t understand why they were so cheap.

  1 sack Flour 3.10 Must have been 100 lbs.

  2 pans .35

  3 lbs butter .36

  2 lbs. Meat .20

  1 Loaf Bread .10

  This is June 1879 at the Sioux River camp. Pa didn’t go to Silver Lake camp until September. There was no butter to buy there.

  Silver Lake camp broke up Dec. 1st. Everyone left but us and we moved into the Surveyors house.

  Sorry I didn’t find this when you asked the questions. We tried to remember. But these prices and dates were written down at the time. There is also a short account of the settling of De Smet. What a pity Pa didn’t write about the Hard Winter.

  The bill sent you by the Farmer’s Exchange was for cow feed that Al got about the middle of last April . . . they say they sent you the bill several times to your address here, but heard nothing. . . . Likely Al wi
ll remember it with this to go on. [Rose kept a cow while living on the farm; the Turner boys were responsible for feeding and milking.]

  A man came to look at Corinne’s car. He didn’t want it after he saw it because the engine is ruined. He showed Manly a crack in it about as long as his hand . . . said it must have been left full of water and frozen up and busted. . . . But in that case John cannot be blamed for the ruin of the car, nor Al either, for they were both long gone before cold weather. I just mention it in passing so your mind will be easy about it. . . .

  Manly is in town for the day, having the car gone over thoroughly for the third and last free examination. It still runs sweetly and is satisfactory in every way. [The car was a 1936 Chrysler, which replaced Isabelle, the Buick.]

  Have you noticed the increase in tax on gasoline? Darn it all! By the time we get a car that can go, we can’t afford to buy the gasoline.

  Well, anyway—“It’s a great life if you don’t weaken.”

  I am feeling so well lately. Can walk and walk and walk and still breathe. Won’t it be grand if I’ve worn out the asthma?

  I hope you are feeling well and that your work is going good. Did Dorothy Sue go to Columbia to visit Al?

  I love you very much,

  Mama Bess

  P.S. In Pa’s book is a day by day record of weather for Jan., Feb., March 1886. Would it be of any use to you?

  “In the days of pioneers”

  While Rose provided editorial suggestions for the Little House books, Laura offered historical data for her daughter’s writings. In 1937 Rose researched Free Land, a novelized version of Almanzo Wilder’s homesteading years. In this letter, Laura also recounted her family’s trials prior to the era described in By the Shores of Silver Lake.

  MARCH 23, 1937

  Rose Dearest,

  I hope the letter Manly wrote you this A.M. will help you find out why we were so hard up in Dakota. Farming there was like the chicken business as you and Mrs. Quigley figured it out. We could get rich on paper—IF, but the “IF” was too big.