As a child and even now as an adult, I loved the Little House books. I must admit that I did not like The First Four Years for many years. However, that has changed. I think more portions of is are more appreciated by an adult than an 8 or 9 year old child. In it, Laura remembers that her mother always said, "They that dance must pay the fiddler" (page 45). I never really understood this when I was a kid. Something else that I still don't understand is why they did not name their precious baby boy who died. He deserved a name even if he was apparently sickly at birth. I know, I know. . . thinking was different back then. . . but still.
Here is a quote from Laura's pregnancy with Rose:
"Watching the plump wheat kernels slide into the open mouth of the sack made Laura dizzy. If she took her eyes from them, they were drawn irresistibly to the newspapers pasted on the shanty walls and she read the words over and over. She was unreasonably annoyed because some of them were bottom side up but she read them anyway. She couldn't take her eyes from them. Words! Words! The world was full of words and sliding wheat kernels!
And then she heard Manly saying, "Sit down a minute! You're tired."
So she sat down, but she was not tired. She was sick. The next morning she felt much worse and Manly got his own breakfast.
For days she fainted whenever she left her bed. The doctor told her to lie quietly. He assured her she would feel much better before long and that in a few months, nine to be exact, she would be quite all right. Laura was going to have a baby." (Pages 45-6)
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