These Happy Golden Years (Little House 8)

“Would you like to go sleigh riding?” he asked.

“Oh, yes!” Laura answered. “Just a minute, I’ll put on my wraps.”

Quickly she got into her coat and put on her white hood and mittens. Almanzo tucked her into the cutter and they sped away.

“I didn’t know your eyes were so blue,” Almanzo said.

“It’s my white hood,” Laura told him. “I always wore my dark one to Brewster’s.” She gave a gasp, and laughed aloud.

“What’s so funny?” Almanzo asked, smiling.

“It’s a joke on me,” Laura said. “I didn’t intend to go with you any more but I forgot. Why did you come?”

“I thought maybe you’d change your mind after you watched the crowd go by,” Almanzo answered. Then they laughed together.

Theirs was one of the line of sleighs and cutters, swiftly going the length of Main Street, swinging in a circle on the prairie to the south, then speeding up Main Street and around in a circle to the north, and back again, and again. Far and wide the sunshine sparkled on the snowy land; the wind blew cold against their faces. The sleigh bells were ringing, the sleigh runners squeaking on the hard-packed snow, and Laura was so happy that she had to sing.

“Jingle bells, jingle bells,

Jingle all the way!

Oh what fun it is to ride

In a one-horse open sleigh.”

All along the speeding line, other voices took up the tune. Swinging out on the open prairie and back, fast up the street and out on the prairie and back again, the bells went ringing and the voices singing in the frosty air.

“Jingle bells, jingle bells,

Jingle all the way!”

They were quite safe from blizzards because they did not go far from town. The wind was blowing, but not too hard, and everyone was so happy and gay for it was only twenty degrees below zero and the sun shone.

Chapter 12

East or West, Home Is Best

Gladly Laura set out to school with Carrie Monday morning. As they picked their way across the icy ruts of the street, Carrie said with a happy sigh, “It’s good to be walking to school together again. It never seemed right without you.”

“I feel the same way,” Laura answered.

When they went into the schoolhouse, Ida exclaimed joyfully, “Hello, Teacher!” and everyone turned from the stove to gather around Laura. “How does it seem to be coming to school yourself?” Ida asked; her nose was swollen and red from the cold, but her brown eyes were gay as ever.

“It seems good,” Laura answered, squeezing Ida’s hand while all the others welcomed her back. Even Nellie Oleson seemed friendly.

“Quite a few sleigh rides you’ve been having,” Nellie said. “Now you’re home again, maybe you’ll take some of us with you.”

Laura only answered, “Maybe.” She wondered what Nellie was scheming now. Then Mr. Owen left his desk and came to greet Laura.

“We are glad to have you with us again,” he said. “I hear you did well with your school.”

“Thank you, sir,” she answered. “I am glad to be back.” She wanted to ask who had spoken to him about her teaching, but of course she did not.

The morning began a little anxiously, for she feared that she might be behind her class, but she found that she had more than kept up with it. The recitations were all reviews of lessons that she had learned during the wretched evenings at the Brewsters’. She knew them perfectly; she was still sailing at the head of the class with flying colors, and she was feeling happily confident until the morning recess.

Then the girls began to talk about their compositions, and Laura discovered that Mr. Owen had told the grammar class to write, for that day’s lesson, a composition on “Ambition.”

The grammar class would be called to recite immediately after recess. Laura was in a panic. She had never written a composition, and now she must do in a few minute