"Laura:" "If I had a remembrance book," "I would surely write about the day we came to Plum Creek and first saw the house in the ground." "I can remember Pa and Mr. Hanson and how they walked and looked and talked and how we wondered what they said." "You know, there is no hurry, Mr. Ingalls." "If I were in your boots, I would think on it and sleep on it." "Nothing to think about, Mr. Hanson." "My mind's made up." "I'll be in Walnut Grove tomorrow morning to sign the papers." "All right, I'll be at the mill." " I'll see you then." " Right." " And thank you." " Thank you." "Well, Ingalls family, soon as you get done soaking your feet, we got a wagon to unload." "We're home?" "We're home." "Laura:" "Pa left Plum Creek at daybreak and worked all day in Hanson's mill earning lumber he needed to build us a house." "Pet and Patty, our team horses, weren't big enough to pull the plow Pa needed to break the prairie sod." "Though we were sorry to see them go," "Pa swapped them to Mr. Hanson for a span of oxen, strong enough Pa said to pull the state of Iowa 10 miles into Minnesota if you could find a place to hitch them to." "[Hammering]" "Pa came home at sunset, and then he worked by lantern light." "Ma said he ate his supper while he was working, and almost it was true." "Because it happened mostly in the dark, our house grew like the mushrooms we found in the woods." "It was kind of like we were all holding our breath and then one day our new house was there, all done, and it was moving-in day." "Can we go in now?" "Not just yet." "Charles!" "[Giggles]" "We've all been in the house 100 times." "No, but not today." "Today's special." " Can we go make our bed?" " Of course." "Don't forget your pillows." "Mary:" "Our new bed's way bigger than our other one and softer, too." "This is the best house we've ever had." "We have our own window, and we can see the stars." "We're supposed to be sleeping when the stars are out, and it will sure be nicer to hear the rain on the roof than to have it get us all wet." "Come on, you're supposed to be helping me make the bed." "Our own window." "A wood floor." "Real glass windows." "A room for the girls, and one for us." "Don't forget..." "A door that locks." "That, too." "Now if I hear wolves at night, I won't be afraid." "We've heard them lots times before." "If you were afraid I never knew it." "I was, but I won't be now." "At least we don't have to fear the weather." "Still have a mountain of work to do and lots of things we need." "A plow, a harrow, and seed." "Carrie!" "Uh-oh." "Hey!" "Come on now, munch." "Your room's downstairs, ok?" "I'm not too worried about the harrow." "I can make one that will work till I can get a store-bought." "But plow and seed..." "I'm going to have to work that out in town tomorrow." "How?" "We have no cash." "Well, I'll work it out." "You let me worry about it, all right?" "All right." "Carrie!" "I'll get her." "Hi." "Mary:" "Carrie, you're not supposed to be up here." "How'd she climb the ladder?" "Pa:" "What are you climbing around the house for?" "You know you're not supposed to do that." "Guess she had to see what was up here though." "Bed all right?" " It's soft." " Mary:" "I love it, Pa." "Good." "Here, let me try it." "Oh, hey, it's pretty nice if I do say so myself." " How do you like your room?" " It's wonderful." "Yeah." "And I've decided something." "What's that, half-pint?" "Home is the nicest word there is." "One of the nicest, that's for sure." "You like home?" "Good." "'Cause we got one now." "Morning." "Working hard?" "Morning, Ingalls." "Not too hard." "Mr. Ingalls, good morning." "Mr. Oleson, how you doing?" "This is the fella I told you about I ran into over at Hanson's mill." "Ma'am." "What can I do for you?" "Well, I'd like a plow and wheat seed, enough for 100 acres." "I understand you're building a house out there." "Got it all finished yesterday." "Start breaking sod soon as I can get that plow." "I, uh, I don't have any money right now." "I'd like to pledge a share on my first crop." "We do give credit to a few farmers that we've known for a long time, but only to a few of them." "There is a reason." "We need the money to buy the things that we need to keep in business." "I understand." "Cash on a barrel, and that's the way I like to deal and wheel, just as soon as I get that first crop to sell." "Mr. Ingalls, do you know how many families move out here and plant their crops and run up more bills than they can hope to pay for and then skip out in the dead of night?" "Hmm?" "Now, I could show you a whole drawer full..." "Mrs. Oleson, I can assure you I had no intention of running out in the middle of the night." " Thank you." " Mr. Ingalls," " I... there's really no way that I can..." " I understand." " Looking at my fine plows, are you?" " Yeah." " Would you be needing one?" " Sure could." "Name's Ingalls." "Liam O'Neil." "Pleased to know you." "Yeah, I need a plow and seed, enough for 100 acres." "Well, you've come to the right man." "I sell only the best." "I don't have any cash." "Then I'll thank you for not wasting my time." "Yeah, I got something you need more than money." "Have you now?" "Well, what is it that I could need or use more than money?" "Know-how." "Enough to put a new roof on that shed." "If it had been built proper, it would have never caved in." "I bought this business for cash, and I'd no sooner turned the money over then the last snows of winter came, and they crashed in the roof." "I'll build you a roof that will support under any snow." "For a plow and seed." "That's right." "And who'll be supplying the material?" "Well, you will." "Well, in that case, me lad, I'll be needing a bit more on my side to make the bargain even." "I'm freighting in some sacks of grain from mankato." "You'd be stacking those in the shed and neatly, too." "Consider it done." "Satisfy me on one thing more and we can shake hands on it." "I see you working at Hanson's every day." "How you going to get loose to work for me?" "Already arranged for that." "Work for you in the morning, work for Hanson in the afternoon." "You're biting off a big piece." "I'll be after wanting this done in 3 weeks." "It will be done." "Saying's one thing, but doing's another." "You got my word on it." "Ha ha." "Well, if something goes wrong, your word is not going to keep the rain out of my shed." "I'm thinking I'll be needing a bit of collateral." "Like what?" "I see you driving a fair yoke of oxen." "Now, just keep it businesslike." "You sign a chattel mortgage leaving the animals to me in case you don't do the work as promised." "Now, no offense, Ingalls." "No offense meant at all." "It's just that being burned once, you fear the fire." "I was a believing man once until a shed sworn to be sound fell down." "I build a roof and stack the grain." "In 3 weeks." "My hand on it." "And I hope you'll be keeping your promise." "There's nothing to worry about." "The house is all finished except for a cupboard and a few shelves." "There's no hurry about those." "All right, so I work at O'Neil's for 6 hours." "I work 6 hours at Hanson's." "That's 12 hours." "That gives me plenty of time for the plowing and the rest of the chores." "With going and coming and eating your lunch, it's more like 15 hours." "With farm work on top of that, you won't have any time to rest." "It's only for 3 weeks." "It's a long time to walk in your sleep." "I can do it." "I believe you can." "Mary, cut up Carrie's hot cakes for her, please." "Laura's right there." "Why can't she do it?" "Because she's going to set a place for her father." "Whoa, whoa, I haven't got time to eat." " I'm late for work already." " Oh, Charles, you have to eat." "I had some cornbread this morning." "Wait." " You can eat these on the run." " All right, fine." "See you tonight!" "I want molasses." "Yes, dear." "Your father forgot his lunch." "Here, Laura, run." "Catch him!" "Pa!" "Pa!" "Forgot your lunch!" "Oh, thank you, darling." "Have a nice day." "Morning." "Oh." "Ingalls." "I'm doc Baker." "We haven't met, but Hanson pointed you out to me." "Pleasure to meet you." "Got a little rim trouble, huh?" "The whole wheel's fallen apart." "Well, I can wedge it for you for now." " You can?" " Sure." " I'd be in your debt." " No trouble at all." "And I thank you for not pointing out it wouldn't have happened if I'd remembered to soak the wheel and swell the wood." "Ah, happens to all of us." "Well, I was about to start walking." "Not looking forward to it, having been up all night with a new mother." "I'd be happy to pay you for your time." "No, thank you." "Just a ride into Walnut Grove will be fine." "Huh, you got it." "Hanson told me you were a good man to have around." "Mill work, building your own house." "He told me you were going to start repairing O'Neil's shack." "Yeah, word gets around fast." "In a town the size of walnut grove, quicker than scat." "I think you're a welcome addition to our community." "Thank you." "I hear you have a nice family, too." "I think so." "[Loud whistle]" "Doc:" "Ingalls." "Hey, doc." "You know, it's only by the grace of god a country doctor doesn't cackle when he talks." "You'll never guess how many times my patients pay their bills with chickens." "I couldn't begin to guess." "Course it could be I'm perpetuating the system." "I've started more flocks than I can remember." "I hope you can use these." "Come on, it's just a little added thanks for your help this morning." "Look, doc, it's not that we can't use them..." "Go ahead and take them, Ingalls." "Make the old man happy." "You know, he wouldn't dare keep those chickens because they would die on him and then folks would know he's a fraud." "Fraud!" "Why, you old Billy goat!" "You can't even blow a whistle on time." "He's 3 minutes late." "Nej!" "You are 3 minutes early." "It's that cheap watch of his." "Cheap, is it?" "Ingalls, I'll have you know this is a very expensive chronometer given to me when I graduated from medical school." "Oh, but if it's that old, it's an hourglass." "When he graduated, they didn't have watches." "You and your watch are both older than I am..." "[Loud whistle]" "Ma, the whistle's blowing!" "Laura, don't let the stew boil dry." "As soon as I get the oxen yoked up," "I want you and Mary to take them to the field for your father." "Laura:" "In my remembrance book," "I'd put down how Pa used every minute of daylight and a lot of the dark." "He said he was counting the days till he could stay home and just work the farm." "The rest of us only counted the days till Sunday, the lord's day, when Pa took us all to church." "As I look out on our congregation," "I must say I'm distressed." "Now, I see many familiar faces, but I also see the absence of many others." "I see many wives here without their husbands." "I'm sure if they had lost a loved one during the week, I'd have heard about it." "Now, we're all of us sinners, some to a lesser degree than others, but nonetheless sinners." "It is only by going to church and asking the lord's forgiveness that we may be cleansed of our sins." "Think upon that as we sing our closing hymn..." "Come, sinner, come." "♪ Come, sinner, come ♪" "♪ why will you longer delay?" "♪" "♪ Jesus loves you ♪" "♪ his love is true ♪" "♪ he will not turn you away ♪" "Laura:" "Mostly I like church better than Sunday school, but not today." "Oh, why not?" "Just because." "I know why." "Because reverend Alden said," ""if you don't go to church, you're a sinner, and sinners are punished."" "Oh, I think he meant people who never go to church at all." "Then Pa won't be punished." "No, dear." "Your father's a good man." "He's worn out." "He needs to rest." "More than he needs church?" "Yes." "He's tired." "There's Pa!" "You girls catch up with Carrie." "Charles Ingalls!" "Caroline!" "You're back already, huh?" "Earlier than expected, obviously." "Well, what are you talking about?" "You couldn't stay awake to go to church, and here you are working." "Oh, Caroline, I woke up and you were gone." "I just couldn't sit around the house doing nothing." "Charles, the lord's day is set aside for worship and for rest." "Caroline, I got a field to plow, and god isn't going to plow it for me." "That is sacrilegious!" "Well, to you maybe, but not to god." "He understands farmers." "Hyah!" " I'm sorry I didn't go to church." " You should have gone to church." "That's why I just said I'm sorry I didn't go to church." "It's not church I'm worried about." "It's you." "You're working much too hard." "No, the worst part of it's over." "It's just a little while now." "Come on, bear with me, huh?" "Time spent being angry with you is such a waste." "I'm sorry." "So am I." "Ingalls!" "Ingalls!" "Ingalls!" "Yeah." "I've been looking at your time sheet, the days and hours that you worked, and your lumber bill." "Today at quitting time, I owe you half a dollar." "You surprised?" "No, not surprised." "Pleased is the word." "I've been keeping track myself." "Kind of like climbing a mountain." "You can't wait till you get to the top." "Ha ha ha!" "Ja, I am pleased, too." "You've been working hard." "How's the work coming at O'Neil's?" "All but finished." "I tell you what, when you get finished over there and you get yourself a rest, if you want to, come and work half-days for me." " I would like that." " I'd like it, too." " Good." "Ha ha!" " Thank you." " Caroline!" " What is it?" "Well, I am home." "That's what it is." "And I'm starving." "Woman, get my supper while I wash up." "[Humming]" "Ah, that's good!" "You're really feeling good." "Oh, it's a fine day." " Where are the girls?" " In bed." "In bed!" "The sun's hardly down." "A little early to be putting them into bed, isn't it?" "Well, it just seemed easier and quieter if they weren't underfoot." "I'll get your supper." "Have I been that bad?" "I do remember telling them to be quiet a couple of times." " A couple." " A few." "4." "I'm sorry." "Why don't you get my supper, and I'll be down in a minute." "Welcome home." "Get my supper." "Kind of early to be asleep, isn't it?" "Well, we weren't quite asleep, Pa." "Oh, that's good." "I thought I might tell you a story." " Yes, Pa!" " Oh, please, Pa!" "All right, let me see." "Oh, yeah, I've got one about a grumpy farmer." "See, this grumpy farmer used to get up every morning before sunrise and stomp off to work." "Sometimes he'd even forget to say good-bye to his wife and his 3 pretty little girls." "And every night when it got dark, his wife would put his 3 pretty girls to bed real early so he wouldn't grump at them when he got home." "That made the whole family feel kind of sad 'cause they could remember when he used to have time for his wife and time to play games with his 3 pretty little girls," "even take them to church." "So one day that farmer looked around and said to himself," ""farmer, you're a grump."" "And he finished all of his work, almost all of it, he came home, and he told his pretty wife and his 3 pretty girls that tomorrow he was going to take them on the biggest, bestest all-day picnic of all time." "Oh, thank you, Pa!" "I promise not to be a grump." "Charles:" "Hurry up, the last one down's a rotten egg!" "Come on, Jack, we're going to win!" "[Laughing]" "Hey, look!" "It's higher than some of the birds." "A lot higher." "I didn't know Pa could fly a kite." "I didn't either, Mary." "I'll get it!" "Charles!" "Charles." "No." "Ohh." "Don't move." "Laura, run get Mr. Hanson." "Tell him Pa needs Dr. Baker and a wagon!" "Hurry!" "Never ceases to amaze me the ways man can find to hurt hisself." "Climbing trees!" "Wonder you didn't break your neck." "Couldn't hurt any worse than this does." "All right." "Now into bed." "Easy." "Ohh." "Painful, huh?" "Just a wee bit, doc." "Well, that's to be expected with 4 broken ribs." "But you'll mend fast." "You'll be up and moving around in a week, 10 days." "Ja, the rest will do you good." "I can't spend a week in bed." "I got a lot of work to do." "You do what the doc tells you." "I will talk to O'Neil." "The grain stacking can wait." "It's not just stacking the grain." "I got plowing to do, I got work in the barn." "It will have to wait." "I'll check back in a couple of days, Mrs. Ingalls." "Thank you, doctor." "I'll see you out." "You stay in bed." "You girls don't let the cornbread burn." "You're looking better." "I'm feeling better." "That soup smells good." "Can I ask you a favor?" "Mmm" "I don't want you to go out and do any plowing anymore." "We've already talked that out." "No, I talked, but you didn't listen." "The field has to be harrowed before it can be planted." "Now, god isn't going to do it." " Laura:" "Cornbread's done, ma." " Coming, dear." "That isn't sacrilegious." "You said it." "If god understands farmers, he understands farmers' wives." " Mrs. Ingalls." " Yes." "I'm Liam O'Neil." "Your husband contracted to do some work for me." "Yes, how are you?" "Troubled, ma'am." "Your husband left a sight of work undone." "He was hurt." "Dr. Baker told him to stay in bed." "Yes, I am sorry that I am to hear that, but that has nothing to do with the matter at hand." "A chattel mortgage, ma'am." "Your husband signed it, guaranteeing that the work would be done on time or the yoke of oxen would forfeit to me." "Well, the work wasn't done, and that's the plain and simple fact." "I know, Mr. O'Neil, but Mr. Hanson was supposed to tell you my husband was hurt." "Hurt has nothing to do with the matter." "Your husband failed to do as he promised, and now the oxen are mine, so I've come to pick them up." "Please don't do this." "I know how you feel." "Truly I do." "But if your husband was in my position, he'd do exactly the same thing." "I'm sorry." "Sullivan!" "Dr. Baker said you weren't to get out of bed." "He said lots of things." "Please, just tell me what O'Neil said when he showed you the mortgage." "He said you hadn't done the work." "The oxen were his." "Now there wasn't anything I can do about it." "There isn't anything you can do about it." "I never should have signed it." "But you did sign it, and you can't fight it." "Now please go back to bed before you hurt yourself." "No, Mr. O'Neil and I are going to have another talk." " This isn't over." " But it is!" "No, it isn't, 'cause I'm not going to let it." "We lose those oxen, I can't make a crop." "I can't make a crop, we lose everything." "It happened to me in Kansas." "It's not going to happen here." "Go home, Jack." "Go home." "Go home." "[Hammer pounding]" "Dorfler, if it's all right with you," "I'll give you some chickens in payment for this shoeing job." "I got more chickens now than I can use." "Half my customers been paying me with chickens." "I never thought of that." "Well, look who's here." "Ingalls." "I thought you said he was going to be in bed for a while." "That's where he should be." "Well, Ingalls, you're looking poorly, lad." "I didn't come here to talk about my health." "'Twas only a politeness." "I want to see the mortgage." "You did when you signed it, lad." "Then I'll see it again." "Now." "Ah, 'tis the date you're wondering about." "The contract expires tonight." "Then the oxen are still mine." "Well, for a few wee hours more, till midnight." "I was out your way on another matter." "I knew that you wouldn't be able to keep your promise here." "So you stole the oxen." "Well, no, lad, I was just doing you a favor, saving you a trip into town." "If you want to do me a favor, you'll give me a couple more days." "Oh, sorry as I am, by the look of you, it would take a lot more than that." "Besides, when a bargain is struck and a paper signed, all parties have to abide by it." "Well, I intend to." "I got till midnight to keep my end of the bargain." "I got a lot of stacking to do." "I best get at it." "Wonder what he's up to." "It looks like he's going back to work." "Hmm." "Pa!" "Pa!" "Mary..." "Half-pint, I want you to go home." "Hear me, I want you to go home." "Come on." "We'll do it." "Now, fellers, now, this is all a mistake." "Look, I never meant to take advantage." "Uh, look..." "It was a business deal." "Now, that's all it was, was just business." "I... uh... when I saw the poor lad fall down and him and that sack, and then the wee ones, they're coming to help their Pa." "Look, well, I swear on my mother's grave," "I was going to give the oxen back." "Go slowly now, Ingalls." "It's the way the oxen like it." "My thanks to all of you." "Oh, it did us good to sweat a little." "I just wish there was some way I could repay you." "Uh, ja, there is something." "Um, we've been thinking of holding a plowing and harrowing contest at the church on Sunday, and it would be a favor to us if we could use your land." " Got a deal." " Deal." "Thank you." "Come on, let's go home." "Uh-huh." "You're still 3 minutes early." "Laura:" "That was our happiest homecoming ever." "Pa said he was glad we'd come to live on the banks of Plum Creek, because here he'd harvested a crop he didn't know he'd planted..." "A harvest of friends."