The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder
Page 21
MAY 7, 1940
Dear Mr. Bye,
I am so glad you found The Hard Winter interesting.
It has been rather trying, living it all over again as I did in the writing of it and I am glad it is finished.
If you have not already, you soon will have the corrections, and the rest I leave in your hands.
Harpers is already enquiring about the book.
With best regards,
Yours sincerely,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
I am trusting your judgment
In this letter, Laura officially announced that her series would extend to eight books, not the originally planned seven.
JUNE 21, 1940
Dear Mr. Bye,
Out of respect for your “gentleman’s agreement” with Harpers, I am willing to sign the contract at “10 per cent for the first 3000 books and 15 per cent thereafter” on book sales.
But, like you, I do not approve of giving them 25 per cent of motion picture rights. If by good fortune, the story should be used in pictures, it will be at no expense to Harpers, but altogether through my hard work writing and your good salesmanship.
In consideration of our accepting the 10 per cent on book sales would Harper not be willing to take, say 15 per cent instead of 25 per cent of motion picture rights? If you are willing, let’s make a try for this.
I am trusting your judgment and will sign the contract as it is, if it can be improved on this point, but am returning it unsigned this time just in hopes.
I had expected to finish the series with the seventh book, but, as I work on it, I am afraid it will stretch into still another, making eight.
In the last book, Laura will be eighteen and the story will be the courtship and wedding of Laura and Almanzo.
I suppose at that age it might be called adult, though I hope to retain the appeal to children. They are already writing me asking if A. J. Wilder is Almanzo, and when Laura marries him, if he is.
A story following the 8th book, telling of what next happens is taking shape slowly in my mind, but it is too soon to say if it will crystallize into a completely adult novel. I can only say perhaps it may do so.
Trusting to hear from you soon, I am
Sincerely yours,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
“DEAR LAURA . . .”
Laura not only wrote back to her readers, she also saved thousands of their letters, cards, drawings, and photos. Here is a sampling:
Dear Laura,
Our teacher is reading your story of Little House in the Big Woods to us. We like it very much. We say “Read more!” when it is time for her to stop reading.
The way you lived when you were a little girl is very much like the way our great grandparents lived around here. So your story helps us to understand life around Plainfield many years ago.
We hope you had a happy birthday on February 7th. We are late with our birthday wishes because our school was closed for nine days because of icy roads. . . .
Vivian, one of our classmates, made this valentine for you.
We hope you are well.
Admirers of the Laura books
Third Grade
Plainfield, Illinois
Dear Mrs. Wilder,
I suppose that you will be perfectly fed up by the time this letter reaches you. For I suppose it has the same old stuff that all the others have.
I have read all of your books except Farmer Boy (that isn’t fair to Almanzo is it?) and have enjoyed them all. I have finally gotten to read These Happy Golden Years and it has been of great interest to me, though I feel sorry for the book, since I have read it four times in the last two weeks. I think it is my favorite book. I disliked Nellie Oleson because she was so sure of herself and also think I would have been one of the boys that pestered Miss Wilder. It is really funny to read about Nellie so sure of herself that she would ride behind the Morgan horses, Prince and Lady, but only after you had ridden for a few dozen times did she get to ride twice. Ha! Ha!
Since you have written the books I have my heart set on South Dakota to homestead there and maybe raise some cattleoes, a kind of buffalo and cattle which can survive a Dakota winter. I certainly would like to know what became of Carrie and Grace. And is Almanzo still alive for if I go I would certainly want to have a fine pair of horses and I know that Almanzo could pick them.
I am only twelve and have a long way to go. . . . Again thank you for the wonderful books.
Your friend,
Jack
San Gabriel, California
Dear Laura,
Thank you.
Good books.
I like them.
I am seven years old.
Merrill
My dear Mrs. Wilder,
I am in the Third grade at school. We study Pioneer Life. Our teacher has read a number of your books to us. I like “Little House in the Big Woods” best. Our teacher also read that your gingerbread is famous.
Would you send me your recipe? If you will I shall allow the rest of the children to copy it. After our mothers have made gingerbread we shall put the recipe in our scrapbooks.
I was the one chosen by my teacher to make a picture of you in a pink dress with the buggy coming down the street. Thank you for the recipe if you care to send it.
Your true friend,
Madeline
Marion, Indiana
Dear Laura,
I enjoyed your books very much. I liked the time when Charley got stung by the yellow jackets.
I liked when Nellie Oleson went to the store and saw Laura. Laura, if I was you when Nellie Oleson bragged about her fur cape, I would have slapped her.
Thank you so much for writing the books.
With love,
Donald
Dear Mrs. Wilder,
This Christmas I received your new book “Little Town on the Prairie.” I finished the day after Christmas, and have finished it a 2nd time. It is very good.
I have just finished telling my mother how the proposed paper shortage [during World War II] may cut out the publication of your books, and how we ought to get the rest of the books you have written. She looked as if the idea was good. . . .
One of the boys in my class, Cammie, has all your books, and he lent them to our school library, so I have read them.
The minute I received my present of your book, I sat down to start it. . . .
In reading I came across Nellie Oleson again. What became of her? And also Royal Wilder? Mary Power and Minnie . . . ?
Sincerely yours,
Rebecca
Newtown, Pennsylvania
Dear Mrs. Wilder,
I hope you are well.
I like best of all “Little House in the Big Woods,” “These Happy Golden Years,” “Farmer Boy,” and “The Long Winter.” I like them so well that I bought a series for myself. I earned the money picking beans on hot August days. When I get started I can’t hardly stop. I have hardly ever read better books. I have been at Lake Pepin.
I wonder what became of Mary, Carrie, and Grace.
A Wis. Farm boy,
Paul
To my Valentine, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Although I’ve never seen your face
I feel as though I had
I’ve met you in your books, you know,
And they have made me glad.
Anne
I will try to answer all your questions
JUNE 26, 1940
Dear Fifth Graders,
Such a lot of nice letters! And I wish so much I could answer each one, but there are twenty-eight of them and I really haven’t time, besides there is the postage which does mount up when there are so many, many letters to write.
I will try to answer all your questions in this letter and send it to Miss Pearson, your teacher, for you all.
Sister Mary died a few years ago. . . . Carrie and Grace are still living in South Dakota, Grace a few miles from De Smet and Carrie near Mount Rushmore. Perhaps you know
about the stone heads carved on the top of Mount Rushmore.
Oh yes! The trees we planted grew and are still there. I saw them last year when we drove there to see the place again.
I saw Nellie Oleson again and am telling about it in the book I am writing now.
No! I never went to college, but I taught school. I never went back to Plum Creek.
I have a daughter. Her name is Rose Wilder Lane. She writes stories and perhaps your mothers have read some of them, and her articles in different magazines.
Laura Ingalls, the one who flies an airplane, is a distant cousin, I believe. I never saw her, but she and Rose Wilder Lane are friends.
We never had another dog like Jack, but I and Mr. Wilder have a big bulldog now, who is very nice. But he is more Mr. Wilder’s dog than mine.
The place where we found Grace among the violets is still there.
Grace and Carrie were both married. They have no children and Carrie is a widow now.
The balls of fire that came down the stovepipe on Plum Creek were electricity. A real Blizzard is an electric storm.
Grace had Ma’s shepherdess, the last I knew about it.
Mr. Edwards came to our house once more. I have told all about it in the book I have just finished. It will be published this fall. Its name is “The Long Winter.”
When you are reading my stories don’t overlook “Farmer Boy” for there is where I tell about Mr. Wilder when he was a boy. He is Almanzo of that book. I am Laura of the others and the stories are all true, you know. . . .
I am working now on the next book, and hope to have it ready for you next year but don’t know what I will call it.
I want to thank you, each one, for writing to me. It was kind of you to let me know you liked my stories.
Wishing you all success in your school and a pleasant summer, I remain
Your friend,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
P.S. I never heard of Big Jerry after the R.R. was built. I really did not want to be an Indian and go away with them, but I liked the ponies and the papoose.
I appreciate the kindness of the children
JUNE 26, 1940
Dear Miss Pearson,
I really couldn’t answer each one of these nice letters, but I thought it might please the children to write one letter for all of them. I am glad you prepared them so they will not be too greatly disappointed.
I get so many letters from schools and classes and individuals that it is a problem to find time to answer all and to get the next book written.
Especially as I do all my own housework and care for Mr. Wilder and myself. He is 83 and I am 73 so we do not move as quickly as we used to move. I am sure you will understand and know that I appreciate the kindness of the children in writing to me. . . .
Yours sincerely,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
We did not think it best to leave
Laura and Manly never lost their love for De Smet. Aubrey Sherwood printed this letter in the De Smet News.
[JUNE 1940]
Dear Mr. Sherwood,
Mr. Wilder and I were so disappointed not to be with you all on Old Settlers Day this year. The way our affairs were, we did not think it best to leave the place.
Please give our best regards to any friends who may inquire and perhaps we may be among those present next year. I hope you and yours are in the best of health and spirits. We are about as usual.
Yours sincerely,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Thank you for a better contract
Eileen Tighe, the editor of Woman’s Day, was a friend of Rose’s. Rose wrote extensively for the magazine. The Long Winter was considered for serialization in Woman’s Day.
JULY 5, 1940
Dear Mr. Bye,
I am pleased that you eliminated motion picture percentage from the Harper contract, also I note that second serial rights have been retained. Thank you for a better contract.
You have my permission to offer “The Long Winter” to Miss Tighe for serializing. I agree with you that it would not be well to interfere with the Christmas offering of the book.
I leave all this in your hands to do as you think best.
Sincerely yours,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Children clamored for more stories
SEPTEMBER 16, 1940
Dear Miss Crawford,
You will forgive the delay in answering your letter, I am sure, when you know how busy I have been.
No sooner do I get one story off my hands than I begin on the next. And I was just finishing the long-hand writing of the one to follow The Long Winter, when your letter came.
I was glad to hear from you again and to know you are so much interested in my work.
The first of my books, Little House in the Big Woods, was written to preserve the stories that Pa used to tell Sister Mary and me when I was a child. I felt they were too good to be lost and I wrote them for Rose, not for publication. She insisted that I have them turned over to a publisher.
I had no intention of writing any more, but children clamored for more stories; and Harpers insisted, so I have gone on, from one book to the next, until I have completed the long-hand copy of the seventh. There is still one more to do in the series and I promise myself that will be the last of my writing. But Harpers are asking for an adult book when the series is finished and one never knows.
I do my writing in a little room in a corner between my bedroom to the east and the living room at the north. It is a very small room with a window to the west and one to the south, looking out into the big trees around the house. The room is filled with my desk and a table, couch and small bookcase. It is usually a mess with papers and books and mss. scattered around.
I write whenever I can snatch the time from housework, telephone, callers, Mr. Wilder and Ben, the bulldog. I may have written you that I do all my own work, in the old-fashioned way mostly. And the house has ten rooms.
The way I work is a mixture of remembering, inspiration and just plain plugging.
While I am working at housework I study about whatever I am writing. Sometimes I can’t sleep for trying to place the right word in the right place and again I will wake with a perfectly turned phrase in my mind, to be remembered and written down next day . . .
“The Long Winter” should be out by now
OCTOBER 21, 1940
Dear Mr. Bye,
I have your letters of the 10th and 17th regarding use of excerpts from “Little House on the Prairie” by Mr. Harry C. Bricker.
It is all right with me to charge a fee of $25.00 for the use of three thousand words in his textbook, if you think that is right. I trust such matters to your judgment. . . . Of course you are not overlooking Harpers. I think they have the rights on such sales.
By the way—“The Long Winter” should be out by now. October 2nd was to have been the publication date.
We are having wonderful autumn weather, with just enough frost to color the leaves in the woods.
Yours sincerely,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
There is a lot about Almanzo in “The Long Winter”
Cammie was a young boy from Pennsylvania.
JANUARY 8, 1941
My Dear Cammie,
Thank you for writing me such a nice letter. I am glad you like my books so much and hope you will enjoy “By the Shores of Silver Lake” and “The Long Winter” as well as the others. There is a lot about Almanzo in “The Long Winter.”
Grace and Carrie are well and so is Almanzo. He is my husband, Mr. Wilder, you know.
Sincerely your friend,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Something very worthwhile
APRIL 14, 1941
My dear Mrs. Newman,
I thank you so much for your letter. You know, when one is seventy-four years old one begins to feel a little lonely, even when not alone and your words of appreciation warmed my heart. I am indeed glad if my stories of the long ago have helped you i
n any way, and it makes me happy that you too love Pa and Ma. There was something very worthwhile about those times and the people of their generation.
Sincerely, your friend,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
I hope you had a happy Easter day
The Newman family corresponded with Laura during the 1940s.
APRIL 14, 1941
My Dear Patricia [Newman],
Such a pretty Easter card and so sweet of you to send it to me. I thank you a lot.
I hope you had a happy Easter day and many Easter eggs and cards.
Thanking you again for your thought of me, I am
Your friend,
Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Ozarks are beautiful at this time of year
A request for translation of a Little House book arrived at George Bye’s office from Sweden. Because of World War II, it was not feasible to proceed with foreign editions until peacetime.
APRIL 15, 1941
Dear Mr. Bye,
Whatever you think best to do about Swedish publication of “The Long Winter” will be satisfactory to me. . . . I think, though, that your office is entitled to something for your trouble in the transaction.
There will be another book ready for publication this fall, but if it will be in time to be serialized first I do not know.
I work so slowly and at times other things interfere with my writing so I seldom make any promises as to time.
I suppose if it seems more profitable we could sell it as a serial and postpone the book publication a year. I will make it ready as soon as possible and then we can decide about that.
Our spring has been very cold and dry, but at last we have had rain. Fruit trees and flowering shrubs are in bloom and new leaves are on the forest trees.
The Ozarks are beautiful at this time of year.