Little Author in the Big Woods

by Yona Zeldis McDonough

  The new house took two years to complete. Laura loved the fireplace, which was made of three slabs of native rock. Manly had not been keen on the fireplace. Laura had to fight for it; she even broke down crying. She was determined to get her way—and in the end, she did.

  She also got a new kitchen, with all its cupboards and drawers to keep clutter out of sight, an oak-paneled parlor, big glass windows, a library, and a small office off the kitchen where she could write letters and keep the farm’s account books. It was her dream house.

  The farm was thriving. Apples, pears, strawberries, and raspberries grew abundantly. The Jersey cows were sleek and healthy. They gave milk that the Wilders sold at market. Laura’s flock of Leghorn hens laid eggs throughout the winter, when no one else’s hens did. Laura began to get invitations to speak about her methods at farmers’ clubs.

  On one occasion, Laura was too busy to give her speech, so she wrote it and sent it off to be delivered in her absence. John Case, the editor of the Missouri Ruralist, was in the audience. He liked Laura’s style so much that he asked her to start submitting articles to his magazine.

  Laura was surprised. She had always loved writing but never thought of herself as a professional. Since she had nothing to lose, she decided to try. “Favors the Small Farm Home,” her very first article, appeared in the February 1911 issue of the Ruralist.

  After that, she began to write regularly for the Ruralist. Essays, poems, feature stories, and interviews with country people all flowed from her pen. And she still found time to cook, clean, and do all her farm chores. Laura earned between $5.00 and $10.00 for each piece that she wrote. Soon she had a column of her own, called “The Farm Home.” Later, she had another called “As a Farm Woman Thinks.” Readers often wrote in to praise her articles and essays. The editor told her that he preferred her stories to everything else in the magazine. Laura was so proud. Soon she began writing for other publications too.

  Rose, now all grown up, was also a writer. She had done a lot of traveling while she was working for Western Union Telegraph. In 1909, she married Gillette Lane, and they moved to Kansas City. Now she had a job as a writer for the Kansas City Post.

  Kansas City was not too far from Mansfield, so the couple came to Rocky Ridge for a visit. Rose took comfort in seeing her parents. Like Laura, she’d had a baby boy who died. She was very saddened by his death. Being with her mother made Rose feel better. While she was there, Rose offered Laura guidance about her writing. She told her to get someone else to take care of the chickens so she could devote more time to it. They discussed other aspects of writing too, such as techniques and story ideas. Laura was so proud of Rose. And she trusted her advice.

  When Rose and Gillette left Rocky Ridge, they did not go back to Kansas City. Instead, they went to San Francisco, where Rose had a new job writing for the women’s page of the San Francisco Bulletin. Laura could not believe her daughter’s good fortune. Rose interviewed celebrities of the day, like Henry Ford, who started an automobile empire that still exists today, and Charlie Chaplin, a silent film star. In 1915, Rose wrote to Laura asking her to come out west for a visit. Manly was not able to make the trip, so Laura went alone.

  At first Laura was worried about leaving Manly. He assured her he would be fine. Laura boarded the train for California. She stayed for two months, and while she was there, she wrote letters to Manly about the marvelous new things she was experiencing. Like she had done for Mary all those years before, Laura was using her words to paint pictures for someone else. But she had an even clearer goal now. In one of the letters, she told Manly that she planned on doing “some writing that will count.” She was 48 years old, and her life was about to take an important new turn.

  When Laura got home, she continued writing her columns. She urged farmers’ wives to become active partners in their farms. Her inspiration was her own mother, who had shared the burdens and the joys with her father as an equal. And Laura’s own marriage to Manly was structured in much the same way. This came at a time when women all over the country were organizing and marching for their rights, including the right to vote, which they did not get until 1920. Laura observed that farm women had always been partners with their husbands; no one had given them proper credit before.

  Soon Laura began to expand her intellectual activities beyond her writing. She worked to create circulating libraries and social events for farm women. In 1916, she helped found a group called the Athenians and, as a member, was involved with the creation of a country library. The group also put on literary programs about William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain.

  Meanwhile, Rose was becoming even more famous as a writer. She divorced Gillette but used his last name when she published her books and articles. She never forgot her mother’s faith in her. She dedicated her book Peaks of Shala “To my mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder.” Rose had clearly inherited her love of words from both her mother and her grandmother. Just as Laura was influenced by her own mother, Rose was influenced by Laura. She was another link in the chain of strong, smart women in her family.

  Rose continued her busy life. She traveled to Paris, to other parts of Europe, and to Asia. In 1923, after four years away, she returned home to Rocky Ridge in time for Christmas. She set up her typewriter in an upstairs room and got to work. Her plan was to earn enough money to allow her parents to retire. She also encouraged Laura to write for better-paying magazines like McCall’s and Country Gentleman. Laura took her advice and was happy with the checks she received. Her career as a writer seemed to be going well. But she had no way of knowing that the best was yet to come.

  In 1924, Ma died, and Laura felt her loss keenly. She noted the profound influence her early life had had on her: “The example set by my mother and father has been something I have tried to follow, with failures here and there, with rebellion at times, but always coming back to it as the compass needle to the star.” It would take a little longer, but soon those early experiences would come together in a great and glorious vision.

  EIGHT

  The Little House Books

  1928−1957

  Missouri–California–South Dakota–Missouri

  By 1928, Rose was convinced that her parents were too old for farming. Laura was 61, and her father 10 years older. With Rose’s urging, they hired a man to help with the work. He brought his family to Rocky Ridge and became a good friend.

  Rose, who was very successful by this time, paid for the building of a new house for her parents. The brown and tan rock cottage had five rooms and was wired for electricity—no more kerosene lamps. The furniture was not handmade but ordered from a department store. And the Wilders even got a car—another gift from Rose.

  Reflecting on all these things, Laura could scarcely believe the changes she had seen in the course of her own lifetime. She thought of her childhood as a pioneer girl on the prairie. It was a way of life that had completely vanished. Laura felt strongly that her experiences needed to be shared and that they were too important to be lost. So in 1930, she decided to write her autobiography.

  She began with her family’s move from Wisconsin to Indian Territory and ended with her marriage to Manly. Laura called her story Pioneer Girl and gave it to her daughter to edit. Rose made suggestions and typed up her mother’s handwritten pages before giving them to her literary agent in New York City. The agent did not think a publisher would buy it. Then Rose tried sending it to a magazine, to run in installments. Again she had no luck. This was discouraging news. Laura had to wonder whether her stories would ever be published.

  Finally, a friend of Rose’s suggested that Laura’s story might be more suited to children. So Laura rewrote it, calling it Little House in the Big Woods. And to her great surprise and greater delight, Harper & Brothers agreed to publish the book. It first appeared in 1932. She did not have great expectations “but hoped a few children might enjoy the stories I had loved.”

  More than a few children did. The book was an immediate s
uccess. Children loved it. So did teachers, librarians, and booksellers. Little House in the Big Woods was so popular that Harper asked for a second book. Laura responded by writing Farmer Boy, which was about Manly’s childhood. It appeared in 1933. Once again, it was a great success, and Laura began work on Little House on the Prairie. (Many people think this was the first book in the series, but actually it was the third; it came out in 1935.) She wrote in between making meals and doing housework. She did not use a newfangled typewriter, but a pencil and lined school tablets that she bought at the grocery store for 5 cents each. And she was a serious scholar, intent on getting all the details right.

  Now Laura had an even bigger idea. She wanted to do something that had not been done before: a series of books for children. It was her aim to record everything she could about her early life on the American frontier. Her publisher, Harper, thought this was a good plan. The next book in the series was On the Banks of Plum Creek, which came out in 1937. That same year, Laura and Manly moved back to their big old farmhouse. (Rose left Rocky Ridge for the University of Missouri, in Columbia, where she was doing historical research). They had missed it all this time. Laura set up her study off the bedroom and began planning the next books in the series.

  Many people don’t know that Laura’s first illustrator was Helen Moore Sewell. Sewell had studied at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and was very popular at the time. She illustrated the first three books; for the next ones, she collaborated with Mildred Boyle.

  Laura was becoming famous. Her editor, Louise Raymond, wanted to meet her. And she wanted Laura’s readers to meet her too. Laura traveled to a book fair in Detroit, Michigan. A big crowd came to hear her speak. Afterward, she signed copies of her books and answered questions.

  When she got back home, Laura began the next book, By the Shores of Silver Lake, which was published in 1939. She and Manly also took a long trip with some friends out to the Pacific Coast and back through South Dakota (the Dakota Territory of her childhood had been made into a state in 1889). Laura wanted to revisit some of the places she was writing about.

  After this trip, Laura and Manly stopped traveling. They felt they were too old. Though Laura’s hair was white, her mind was still sharp. And she kept busy with chores, like cooking, baking, and churning. Laura received fan mail with letters and drawings from the children who loved her books. She enjoyed their letters, and because she did not want them to feel disappointed, she answered them all. And she kept writing: The Long Winter (1940) was the next book. It was followed by Little Town on the Prairie (1941) and These Happy Golden Years (1943).

  Five of Laura’s books were named Newbery Honor books (On the Banks of Plum Creek, By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, and These Happy Golden Years)

  Laura earned a lot of money from the sales of her books. She and Manly were well off and no longer worried about how they would get by. But Laura was now 76 years old, and when her publisher asked for still another book, she said no. After 11 years of steady writing, she felt she was done.

  People have very different points of view about Rose’s role in the creation of the Little House books. Some people say that they came entirely from Laura and that Rose provided only encouragement and access to agents and editors. Others say that Rose took the rough drafts and quietly transformed them. Still others think that both points of view contain some truth.

  For 20 years before the publication of the first Little House book, Laura had already proved herself as a professional writer. Rose was a gifted editor, and her skills were well known and in demand. Like Laura and her own mother, Rose and Laura were very close; it would have been natural for them to discuss their writing and turn to each other for advice and guidance. The Little House books were most likely the product of an unusual collaboration. Laura had the raw material (which Rose also used for her novels for grown-ups, such as Young Pioneers, Cindy, and Hillbilly) and was a good storyteller. Rose had a flair for dramatic pacing and overall structure. If Laura had not written the books, they would not exist, because Rose had no interest in writing for children. But if Rose had not edited them, it is quite possible they never would have been published.

  When Laura stopped writing, she and Manly settled into a quiet, contented routine. They still worked in the house and garden. They spent time with friends, played board games, and read. Laura had a keen interest in politics and world events, and she continued to follow both. Mary had died in 1928, four years after Ma. Grace died in 1941. Laura and Carrie, the two remaining sisters, made sure that Pa’s fiddle was preserved in a museum in South Dakota. When Carrie died in 1946, Laura was the only Ingalls sister left.

  Occasionally, Laura thought about writing another book. But she didn’t actually do it. (The First Four Years was written around 1940 but not published until 1971.) She was pleased, though, when the existing books were reissued in 1953. This time, they would have new illustrations by Garth Williams, the artist who had illustrated Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little. When Williams was commissioned to do the illustrations, he was not familiar with any of the places in the books. So he took a trip with his camera and his sketch pad to see them. He recorded landscapes, birds, trees, animals, houses, and towns. He also went to Missouri to meet Laura. Originally, the editor wanted Williams to create eight oil paintings for each of the books—64 in all. But it turned out that would be too expensive. Instead, he used pencil, charcoal, and ink to create the illustrations that have by now become an indelible part of the Little House world. The warm, almost fuzzy look they have seems to perfectly capture the cozy, homespun quality of the Ingalls’ lives.

  In July 1949, Manly had a heart attack. He was 92 and frail. He survived and even seemed to be getting better. But in October he had another attack, and this time he died. Laura missed him terribly. “It is quiet and lonely here now,” she wrote to a friend. But she remained at Rocky Ridge, where she continued to receive acclaim and honors.

  In 1951, people in Mansfield, Missouri, decided to name the local library after her. Although she was not strong, Laura wanted to be at the ceremony. She showed up with her white hair piled high on her head, secured by a gold comb that matched her gold earrings. Her dress was red velvet and very fine. She wore an orchid pinned to one shoulder and looked younger than her 84 years.

  Although Laura continued to miss Manly, she found comfort and joy in the love of her ever-widening circle of readers. At the age of 87, she took her first airplane ride, to Danbury, Connecticut, where Rose was living. In 1957, Laura celebrated her 90th birthday. She received cards, letters, greetings, and gifts from all over. It was a wonderful tribute.

  But Laura was not well. Three days after her birthday, she died. All over the world, people mourned the loss of the pioneer girl who had grown into one of America’s best-loved writers.

  Epilogue

  Although Laura died almost 60 years ago, her name is more famous and beloved than ever. Her writing has kept her alive. Altogether she wrote eight books in the Little House series. Collections of letters and diaries exist as well. Her books have remained in print, have been translated into more than 40 languages, and continue to delight new generations of children all over the world.

  A successful television series based on the books began in 1974 and ran through 1982. It starred Michael Landon as Pa, and Melissa Gilbert as Laura. The show inspired a spin-off series called Little House: A New Beginning, in which new characters appeared. There were also three made-for-television movies: Little House: Look Back to Yesterday (1983), Little House: Bless All the Dear Children (1984), and Little House: The Last Farewell (1984).

  Today, people still read her books, watch the movies and the television shows, and visit the places that she immortalized through her words. Museums, historic sites, and homesteads are all preserved and maintained in Burr Oak, Iowa; De Smet, South Dakota; Independence, Kansas; Mansfield, Missouri; Pepin, Wisconsin; and Walnut Grove, Minnesota, places that had meaning in Laura’s
life. Even though the events she wrote about happened a long time ago, today’s readers still find her stories of the American frontier, with its hardships and joys, as exciting as ever.

  Quotes from Laura Ingalls Wilder

  Laura was a plainspoken, forthright woman who had a lot to say about life and how to live it. In her letters, diaries, and interviews, she shared her thoughts and feelings about the world. These quotes, taken from multiple sources, make clear her down-home philosophy, one in which simple pleasures and the love of family and friends are the most important things of all.

  It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.

  Every job is good if you do your best and work hard.

  Home is the nicest word there is.

  If enough people think of a thing and work hard enough at it, I guess it’s pretty nearly bound to happen, wind and weather permitting.

  Once you begin being naughty, it is easier to go on and on, and sooner or later something dreadful happens.

  It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong.

  Remember me with smiles and laughter, for that is how I will remember you all. If you can only remember me with tears, then don’t remember me at all.

  Suffering passes, while love is eternal. That’s a gift that you have received from God. Don’t waste it.

  The trouble with organizing a thing is that pretty soon folks get to paying more attention to the organization than to what they’re organized for.