THESE HAPPY GOLDEN YEARS
Laura Ingalls Wilder
eBook
(, July 19, 2020)
As the novel begins, Pa is taking Laura 12 miles from home in the dead of winter to her first teaching assignment at Brewster settlement. Laura being only 15 and a schoolgirl herself, is apprehensive as this is both the first time she has left home and the first school she has taught, but she is determined to complete her assignment and earn money to keep her sister Mary at her college for the blind in Iowa.The weather is bitterly cold, and neither the claim shanty where Laura boards or the school can be heated adequately. Some of the children she is teaching are older than her, and she has difficulty controlling them. Worse, she boards with the head of the school board and his unhappy wife, who does not hide her resentment of Laura. Soon Laura comes to dread living under their roof, particularly during the weekends when she can't escape to school. Much to her surprise and relief, Almanzo begins driving the twenty-four miles to and from the school so that she can return home on weekends. With advice from Ma (a former schoolteacher herself), she is able to adapt and become more self-assured, and successfully completes the two-month assignment.Laura is surprised when Almanzo continues to invite her out sleighing once she had returned home. Their relationship continues, even as she watches her school friends pairing up with beaux, accepting marriage proposals, and leaving school. Sleigh rides give way to buggy rides in the spring, and she impresses him with her willingness to help break his new and often temperamental horses. Meanwhile, she continues to study for her own education, remaining at the head of her classes while also takes odd jobs and another term of teaching in order to earn money for Mary's education. By the time Mary graduates and returns home, Laura's extra earnings have allowed the Ingalls to settle on their claim and begin a peaceful, prosperous life.