Put a Lid On It, Pa

Along with sewing, I’ve been doing lots and lots of my OTHER most favorite thing in the world.  That’s reading.

I still have some juice left on the Half-Price Books gift card that my hubby gave me for Christmas.  He gives me one every year, and it is fun to see how long I can make it last.  Here it is almost March, and I still haven’t used it all up yet.

The other day I was there, and I thought it would be a good idea to get some sewing books.  So I did.

As I was browsing, the Little House on the Prairie books caught my eye.  It occurred to me that it was strange that in all these years I’ve never bought them, especially since I love them.  So I decided to start collecting them.

I’ve read four of the eight in the series so far, and just as I expected, they are still wonderful.  And not to mention, lots of food for thought from a frugal perspective.  And when you read them as an adult you also notice a lot more than when you are seven-years-old.

For instance, since I’m into it now, the sewing references really interested me.  Laura hates to sew, but she is an excellent seamstress because her mother was a stern taskmistress.  Laura is even able to make money by working for the town seamstresses, who hire Laura on the strength of her reputation alone.

One day, Pa goes to town with a cow tied to the back of his wagon, and comes back with a big surprise for Ma.  It’s a brand new sewing machine!  By this time, the Ingalls family was finally starting to enjoy a bit of prosperity after years and years of grinding struggle.

It’s interesting to me to think how much some things really cost way back then as compared to our  own time, even though we suffer from the effects of 130+ years of inflation between our time and the Ingalls’ time.   The purchase of a sewing machine for Ma demanded the relinquishment of a significant portion of the family resources - a whole cow, and all the time, work, and nourishment that that cow represented.  But for us, a sewing machine may cost a week or much less of wages.  And even the simplest $60.00 machine of today is way more technologically advanced  than Ma’s treadle model.

Ma loves her new appliance.  She just can’t get over the excellence and uniformity of machine stitching.  Just like many of us say today when we get an awesome new gadget, Ma says, “I don’t know how I got along without this before.”

Ma is one of those people who can sew just about anything.  Laura uses some of the money she earns and buys some beautiful pink cloth to make a new dress.  Laura is afraid to cut it up, because the cloth is so beautiful and expensive.  But Ma just takes her big shears right to it, and with the help of the new sewing machine makes a beautiful dress that Laura will wear for years and years.

By the way, my mom has told me her mom could do this.  She never sewed with a “boughten” (that’s a LHOTP word) pattern.  She would make her own out of newspaper.  My grandmother was one of those old-fashioned ladies who never in her life wore pants.   She always looked spiffy, too.

This is a strange thing, though.  In every single book I’ve read so far, several times a horrible blizzard will torment the prairie.  Pa takes a pail, and goes to the barn to milk the cow.  By the time he gets back to the house, most of the milk has blown out of the pail.  This very thing happens quite a bit.

Now why couldn’t Pa put a lid or SOME sort of covering on that pail?  They really depended on that milk.  I just don’t get that.  If I could get in a time machine and go back in time, I would take Pa a bucket with a lid on it.  I have lots of good ones in the garage that used to hold laundry detergent and kitty litter.  Something that many people would regard as trash in our day and age would be a real life-saver for Pa.   Just think how that one simple thing would improve the Ingalls’  life so much.

I love reading the Little House books, but one thing is for sure.  I am glad, glad, glad that I am a 21st century gal.  1870’s DeSmet, South Dakota is a fun place to visit, but I sure wouldn’t want to live there.  Especially without a pail with a lid on it!