The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder

by William Anderson

  Our state legislature is as bad. We voted down an increase in their pay last election and they have fixed it so we will have to vote on it again next time.

  We are interested in all you do, so write when you can and tell us all you want to.

  Lots of love,

  Mama Bess

  Mr. Wilder and I are going wandering

  By the Shores of Silver Lake was finally completed. Laura and Manly planned their third trip back to South Dakota, this time driving alone. Before she left, Laura urged George Bye to secure good terms for her new book.

  MAY 29, 1939

  Dear Mr. Bye,

  A new book of mine is in the hands of the typist and will be delivered to your office as soon as it is typed.

  Harpers is expecting it, and if they are pleased with it I hope you will get me a good contract. The last book has been so successful, I think Harpers should be willing to treat me well.

  Mr. Wilder and I are going wandering this summer starting in about a week, so I am leaving in Rose Lane’s hands the business of this new book.

  Please refer anything concerning it at her Connecticut place, Route 4 Box 42, Danbury.

  With kindest regards,

  Sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  The place is so pretty

  JUNE 1, 1939

  Rose Dearest,

  Your tulip tree is blooming!! Manly said it was dead. Bruce thought it would die when trees in the timber were dying of drought.

  And now it is full of bloom. Mrs. Bruce just brought me a blossom and leaves. Bruce sent word to tell you the tree is 25 ft. tall and 6 inches through the trunk at the bottom. I have never been to it and we can’t see it from this place. I had no idea what it would be like, but it is as pretty as an orchid. It is a wonderful thing. We think it is about eight years since you set it out and this is the first time it has bloomed. [The tulip tree must have been planted across the road from the farmhouse, at the rented house where Bruce Prock and his family lived.]

  The place is so pretty. I hate to go and leave it.

  The little robins are running after the old birds all over the yard while the old birds pull up worms and poke down their throats. It is a funny sight for the young birds are larger than the old ones. It is a branch of A.D.C., Aid for Dependent Children, I guess. [Aid to Dependent Children was a New Deal program, enacted in 1935.]

  What are those flowering shrubs? One in the corner by the west side of the garage and one down in the border west of the lilacs? They are a mass of white bloom. Lovely! We don’t know them, neither does Bruce.

  Bruce’s baby is not doing well. Seems to be healthy enough but she weighs only 10½ pounds and she is eight months old. She doesn’t sit up yet. They are doing everything for her that they or the doctors know. [The child died at a young age.]

  Mrs. Bruce took her to a baby specialist in Springfield and he said just feeding and care, but she has had that all along. She went up with us yesterday. I got a haircut and Manly got a new summer suit. It is gray and I think very pretty. You remember the two suits you sent me last summer, the green and brown trimmed and the blue. I am taking the blue for my dress up in De Smet, if it should be cool, and the light figured summer dress, the blue, that you gave me from Columbia, to wear if it is hot.

  It is cool here today, but yesterday it was frightfully hot in Springfield. It is always cool here in the shade of these big trees. . . .

  It is selfish of me to leave you to proofread and everything

  JUNE 3, 1939

  Rose Dearest,

  We are expecting to start on our trip next Tuesday, June 6th and to be in De Smet the 10th. [De Smet’s annual celebration was called Old Settlers Day, or “the Tenth of June.”] Think we will stop there a few days. From there we will go to Keystone and likely stay there a few days, anyway until we feel like moving on.

  A telegram would catch us at De Smet. If you write, address to Keystone, care of Mrs. D. N. Swanzey [Carrie Ingalls]. What a name, Swanzey!

  I don’t know how we will go from there, but will write you again as soon as I know where we will be next.

  The key to the safety deposit box is in the upper right hand corner of my dresser, in the box where I keep my rings. The rings will be in safety deposit. Time deposit and Postal Savings certificates will be there too.

  The little, old writing desk will be in the bank vault for safekeeping [a lap desk made by Manly, which was brought from De Smet to Mansfield in 1894]. Its key will be with the other key in the dresser drawer.

  Notes for the last book are in the large envelop marked Pioneer Girl, in the tills of my old writing desk in the little study off the stairs.

  You could write the last book from them and finish the series if you had to do so. I am sending you today by registered mail “The Hard Winter” mss. I think I wrote you that it is the only copy I have. My hand was so lame I did not copy it again. It is a rather dark picture, not so much sweetness and light as the other books, but the next one will be different so perhaps the contrast will not be bad. I wrote Harpers as you said. I also wrote George Bye that the book was coming and that I expected a good contract this time. That the contract was to be sent for consideration and that I would accept any contract you approved. Hope this is all right. Today I had a nice note from him in reply. He said Ida Louise was not well and was at her office only part of the time, but was still in charge of the department.

  Can’t think of anything more. It is selfish of me to leave you to proofread and everything, but I am doing as you say, going along and forgetting it.

  You will hear from us along the way.

  Very much love,

  Mama Bess

  P.S. Rose dear if anything should happen to us, I beg of you don’t let Corinne and Jack, either one or both, back on the place. Do whatever else you please with it but not that.

  A Note from Carrie

  Laura included the following note from Carrie in her June 3 letter to Rose.

  Laura do you suppose Rose has any clothes she is giving to charity? If she has do you think she would send them to me? It would save me buying some things. Now if you had rather not—don’t say anything about it—and above all don’t send me any of yours. I can get along. I just thought if she was doing that I certainly would like to be the charity.

  Laura’s note to Rose read:

  This note is from Carrie. I am taking her some of my things that I am tired of and I would rather use yours first if you have any to give away and pass them to her later.

  I am sorry to make you so much trouble

  The Old Settlers Day celebration in De Smet was a rainy affair, but Laura said no one minded; the long drought cycle was broken in South Dakota. While in De Smet Laura researched the Hard Winter of 1880–1881, the subject of her next book. She and Manly visited Grace and Nate Dow before driving across the state to the Black Hills. There they inspected progress on Mount Rushmore and visited Carrie in Keystone. They drove on through Colorado before returning home. By then, Rose was also on a car trip, to the West Coast, so Laura tended to the final details of By the Shores of Silver Lake. She addressed her concerns to Jasper Spock, a staff member in George Bye’s office.

  JULY 1, 1939

  George T. Bye & Co.

  New York

  Dear Mr. Spock,

  I have no typed copy of “The Shores of Silver Lake.”

  A letter from Rose says, “Rialto Typing Service went haywire and sent two carbons to you in Mansfield, which should have gone to George Bye’s office.”

  I have not received them and there must be a mistake about their having been sent to me. Evidently, they were not sent to Rose as she asks me to forward them to you.

  Rose is traveling west and cannot attend to this, so will you please see if Rialto Typing can produce them. It seems to be the only chance.

  I am sending you a check to cover Rialto’s bill for typing the three copies which your office forwarded to me.

  If you have paid the bill the
check will reimburse you. If you have not paid it, please withhold payment until this matter of the two typed copies is settled.

  I am sorry to make you so much trouble, but with Rose away there is nothing else I can do.

  Sincerely yours,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  All of the books are one story

  By the Shores of Silver Lake was published to resemble an adult novel in appearance. Laura clung to the square shape of the four earlier books, but eventually agreed to the new format. George Bye contacted experts in the children’s book world, including Helen Hoke, an editor at Julian Messner publishers. Hoke proclaimed the change in format to be “a very brilliant move on the part of Harpers.”

  JULY 10, 1939

  Dear Mr. Bye,

  It is a perfectly grand contract, with Harpers, that you have secured for me. I am so pleased and thank you a lot. . . .

  I have signed the contract and am returning it to your charge.

  Harper’s idea of making the format of “The Shores of Silver Lake” attractive to adults as well as children seems to me to be good. But it should be borne in mind that all of the books are one story and some booksellers have intended selling them in sets when the story is completed. Because of this they should be made to look well together.

  Again assuring you that I appreciate the good work you have done for my book, I am

  Very sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  Do you think there would be any chance to serialize the story?

  SEPTEMBER 12, 1939

  Dear Mr. Bye,

  The book to follow “By the Shores of Silver Lake” is now taking shape on my desk.

  It is a continuation of the story of Laura and her family at De Smet, on the shore of Silver Lake, during what has always been known as the Hard Winter.

  Do you think there would be any chance to serialize the story? If so, how long before book publication would you want to have the manuscript?

  Please let me know what you think about it.

  With kindest regards,

  Yours sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  Sister Mary had quite a small library of those books

  OCTOBER 2, 1939

  Dear Mr. Bye,

  Certainly I give my permission for American Printing House for the Blind to publish Farmer Boy in talking-book form for use of the blind.

  I shall be glad if it gives blind children any pleasure.

  Sister Mary had quite a small library of those books. [Mary Ingalls owned raised print and Braille books, not “talking books” in the modern sense.]

  Sincerely yours,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  That chapter is fiction

  Because of children’s letters asking about Mr. Edwards from Little House on the Prairie, Laura felt compelled to add him to a later book. In By the Shores of Silver Lake, Mr. Edwards reappears in the chapter “Pa’s Bet.” When Aubrey Sherwood inquired about the incident, Laura admitted that she had fictionalized the episode.

  NOVEMBER 18, 1939

  Dear Mr. Sherwood,

  Thank you for the copies of the “News” and for your write up of Silver Lake.

  I am glad you enjoyed the book.

  There are several typographical errors in the spelling, besides leaving out the “g” in Brookings. Mother’s name is misspelled.

  Mr. Wilder says lumber was hauled from Volga in the fall of ’79, but in the spring, for the building of town, it was hauled from Brookings.

  As to the place where homesteads were filed, that chapter is fiction. Such things did happen in those days and I placed it there to emphasize the rush for land. You understand how those things are done in writing.

  Everyone spoke of going to Brookings to file, though it may well have been near there.

  The book is not a history, but a true story founded on historical fact.

  Have you an extra print of our picture used in your Old Settlers Day number? Rose was very much pleased with the write up you gave us and wants very much to have a print of the picture you used. If you can, please send me one for her.

  Again thanking you for the copies of the “De Smet News” and the kind things you say, and your criticisms as well, of Silver Lake, I remain

  Yours sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  It relieves my mind

  The plan to change the appearance of the final four Little House books still concerned Laura. Helen Hoke again endorsed Harper’s plan to give the latter books in the series a look appealing to older readers.

  FEBRUARY 14, 1940

  Dear Mr. Bye,

  Thank you for sending me Helen Hoke’s letter. It relieves my mind about the change in format of Silver Lake. I appreciate her taking the trouble to write her views on the change.

  We have had the coldest winter of record and it is still with us. We are well as usual. . . .

  Sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  Rose tells me it should have gone through your office

  The 1939 trip west was the Wilders’ last extensive journey. Laura wrote an account of their visit to De Smet for the Christian Science Monitor. She called her nostalgic piece “The Land of Used to Be.”

  FEBRUARY 26, 1940

  Dear Mr. Bye,

  I have sold to the Christian Science Monitor, for $15, a little article they ordered from me, and now Rose tells me it should have gone through your office. I am sorry I did not know this.

  I have had so little experience of the way in which manuscripts should be handled that I make mistakes. Will you please have your office debit my account with the $1.50 commission on this article?

  I have written A. C. Ellis, Superintendent of the American Printing House for the Blind, as you suggested, also referring them to Harpers.

  I hope you have recovered from your latest storm which must have been more severe than ours which followed it. The sun is shining again today and that raises our spirits and our hopes of spring coming soon.

  Yours sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  I hope they will ask for more

  Requests to reprint chapters from the Little House books in elementary school reading textbooks created extra income for Laura and drew attention to the book series.

  MARCH 4, 1940

  Dear Mr. Bye,

  Your letter came this morning. Certainly Row Peterson’s offer is a good one. Sell them the pages they want from Farmer Boy and I hope they will ask for more in the future.

  Yours sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  You will . . . do whatever is best

  Knowing of the substantial fees paid to Rose for her serial fiction, Laura hoped for the same for her own books.

  MARCH 14, 1940

  Dear Mr. Bye,

  It will be grand if you can sell “The Hard Winter” as a serial and I am pleased that you think there is a chance of doing so.

  As to whether it is sold to Christian Science Monitor, or elsewhere, I am, of course, leaving to your judgment. You will, I am sure do whatever is best.

  Thanks for sending me Miss Ince’s letter.

  Yours sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  Mr. Wilder and I celebrated our birthdays

  MARCH 25, 1940

  Dear Miss Crawford,

  As you thought my books are biographical. They are my earliest memories of Kansas and Indian Ter. in Little House on the Prairie.

  My father’s family lived there in 1870–71 exactly as I have written. As you see it was only for a short time.

  The family records show that J. J. Ingalls of Kas. was a distant connection of my father. I think a second cousin. [John James Ingalls (1833–1900) was a Kansas politician elected to the United States senate in 1873.]

  I was at first a little uneasy as to just how reliable my memory might be but I have had several letters agreeing with it [the accuracy of Little House on the Prairie] as yours does.

  If
there is anything more you would like to know about me I will gladly write again.

  Mr. Wilder and I celebrated our birthdays this winter by giving a party to a crowd of friends. He was 83 and I 73.

  Sincerely,

  Laura Ingalls Wilder

  I must tell you a story

  This is the only surviving letter sent from Laura to Rose during the 1940s.

  APRIL 3, 1940

  Rose Dearest,

  Blow the bird up through the little plug at the back. Hold it so the air will not escape while you twist the plug a couple of turns to the right. You must hold it tightly so you can turn the plug. Stand the bird up on its feet and read what is printed on the back.

  Does it remind you of anything?

  I must tell you a story. When I entertained the Study Club, I asked them all to answer to roll call by telling the best short story they had heard recently. This is the one Jessie Fuson told:

  Dr. Fuson had to do a small operation on a boy and Jessie gave the ether. Not being very used to it, she was anxious to have the boy come out from under and be sure he was all right. So as he began to come to, she talked to him.

  “Have you any brothers?” she asked.

  He said yes. She asked him how many and he said “three.”

  “Do you ever fight?” she wanted to know.

  He said “yes.”

  “And who whips?” Jessie asked.

  “Dad does,” the boy answered.

  Love,

  Mama Bess

  It has been rather trying

  The Long Winter was completed in the spring of 1940. George Bye pursued serialization and negotiated a generous book contract. Considering the working title of “The Hard Winter” too grim, Ursula Nordstrom requested an alternate: The Long Winter.