Quotes from Laura Ingalls Wilder

Now she was alone; she must take care of herself. When you must do that, then you do it and you are grown up.

In the West the land was level, and there were no trees. The grass grew thick and high. There the wild animals wandered and fed as though they were in a pasture that stretched much farther than a man could see, and there were no settlers. Only Indians lived there.

You talk of the mines of Australia, They've wealth in red gold, without doubt; But, ah! there is gold on the farm, boys— If only you'll shovel it out. (Chorus:) "Don't be in a hurry to go! Don't be in a hurry to go! Better risk the old farm awhile longer, Don't be in a hurry to go!

Mother said she would always believe that Providence had sent the strange dog to watch over them. Almanzo thought perhaps he stayed because Alice fed him. Maybe he was sent to try us, Mother said. Maybe the Lord was merciful to us because we were merciful to him.

Almanzo couldn't understand how Father knew that he wasn't looking at the preacher, if Father was looking at the preacher himself. But Father always did know.

These little creatures looked soft as velvet. They had bright round eyes and crinkling noses and wee paws. They popped out of holes in the ground, and stood up to look at Mary and Laura. Their hind legs folded under their haunches, their little paws folded tight to their chests, and they looked exactly like bits of dead wood sticking out of the ground. Only their bright eyes glittered. Mary

must be seen and not heard.

She thought to herself, "This is now." She was glad that the cosy house, and Pa and Ma and the fire-light and the music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago.

This country goes three thousand miles west, now. It goes 'way out beyond Kansas, and beyond the Great American Desert, over mountains bigger than these mountains, and down to the Pacific Ocean. It's the biggest country in the world, and it was farmers who took all that country and made it America, son. Don't you ever forget that.

friends will stand by me in trouble. They will

Popcorn is American. Nobody but the Indians ever had popcorn, till after the Pilgrim Fathers came to America. On

God is America's king.

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take

If wisdom's ways you wisely seek, five things observe with care: to whom you speak, of whom you speak, and how and when and where. Your loving mother, C. L. Ingalls.

Down a long road through the woods a little boy trudged to school, with his big brother Royal and his two sisters, Eliza Jane and Alice. Royal was thirteen years old, Eliza Jane was twelve, and Alice was ten. Almanzo was the youngest of all, and this was his first going-to-school, because he was not quite nine years old.

Little rabbits, you know, always have games together before they go to bed.

One day in the woods he met an Indian. They stood in the wet, cold woods and looked at each other, and they could not talk because they did not know each other's words.

Please, Pa, can I ask just one more question?" "May I," said Ma. Laura began again. "Pa, please, may I--" "What is it?" Pa asked. It was not polite for little girls to interrupt, but of course Pa could do it.

But it had been a wonderful day, the most wonderful day in her whole life. She thought about the beautiful lake, and the town she had seen, and the big store full of so many things. She held the pebbles carefully in her lap, and her candy heart wrapped carefully in her handkerchief until she got home and could put it away to keep always. It was too pretty to eat.

Laura had only a corncob wrapped in a handkerchief, but it was a good doll. It was named Susan.

The wings and the golden weather and the tang of frost in the mornings made Laura want to go somewhere. She did not know where. She wanted only to go.

The days never have been long enough to do the things I would like to do. Every year has held more of interest than the year before." . . .

butter in a golden lump, drowning in the buttermilk. Then Ma took out the lump with a wooden paddle, into a wooden bowl, and she washed it many times in cold water, turning it over and over and working it with the paddle until the water ran clear. After that she salted it. Now

Pa promised that when they came to the West, Laura should see a papoose.