The Long Winter

The blizzard continues, so there is no school. Pa goes across the street to talk with the other men around a stove. The two brothers, Almanzo and Royal Wilder, are not keeping the fire going in the feed store, but they do keep the back room warm. Almanzo is frying pancakes, which he does very well. In New York, neither boy had cooked because it was “women’s work.” Almanzo and Royal both came to stake a claim and start their own farm, but Almanzo is only 19 and had to lie about his age to get land because the age requirement is 21. He talks about his concerns over the hard winter with Royal, but they say that they will be okay as long as the trains run. Almanzo is concerned that the wheat seed he is saving to sow will have to be used, but Royal assures him that it will not come to that.

The blizzard finally ends, and the town sounds almost like normal, except there are no train whistles. Pa finds out that the train cannot get to town. The next day, Pa discovers that a group of men are taking a hand car along the rail to the train and clearing the tracks as they go. Mr. Foster agrees to do Pa’s chores if he goes with the men clearing the tracks. Pa wants to go, and Ma gives her blessing. He says that he will be back the day after tomorrow on the regular train. As he and the other men set out, he begins singing, and the others join in. When Pa returns with the train, he surprises them by bringing Mr. Edwards who they were friends with years ago. Mr. Edwards stays for dinner, and they reminisce, and then he insists on leaving with the train. After he has left, Mary accidentally drops the $20 bill that Mr. Edwards slipped to her without her knowing it. They cannot return it to Mr. Edwards, so it is decided that Mary will keep it for her fund to attend the college for the blind in Iowa.

Laura and Mary are sewing near the window and talking about school while Laura waits for her school friends to visit. Mary expresses how much she wants to keep learning and go to college, and she wants Laura to go with her. Laura says that she will likely have to teach school and cannot attend, but she reassures Mary that she does not enjoy school as much as her. Suddenly, the sky outside darkens and a storm comes. Pa goes out to do chores, using the clothesline to guide him to the stable and back. When he returns, Ma points out that the trains will not be able to run again.

Laura begs Pa to play the fiddle after supper. He plays a strange melody that mimics the storm outside, but Ma asks him to play something else. Pa plays happy music that warms everyone up until bedtime. Laura looks outside in her nightdress, but she cannot see anything outside the window. The storm is so fierce that it feels unnatural to Laura and unnerves her.

The storm is still raging, and the house is freezing cold. Ma makes hotcakes when Pa comes in from the stable. There is very little milk left, but Ma splits it between Carrie and Grace’s cups. Pa decides to go over to Fuller’s store to hear the news, but Ma is not sure if he should. He reassures her he knows how many steps there are to the store and will not go any further until he finds a building, but he must go in case there is news that someone is lost. Laura asks what good is it to be in town if they are still alone. Ma reminds her that she shouldn’t “expect to depend on anyone else” (127).

Ma has the girls practice saying Bible verses, and Mary and Laura continue the longest, but eventually Laura cannot think of another. Ma praises Mary for how bright she is. Mary admits that she could not recall another verse, so she did not win, and Laura feels ashamed for how much she used to want to beat Mary at a game. She becomes determined to be a schoolteacher so that she can send money to Mary for her schooling. Pa returns, and Ma laments that the house is still so cold. Pa tells her that the temperature is -40 degrees and this is the worst storm of all, but everyone in town is accounted for.

The blizzard ends two days later, and the sun comes out. Ma is in a wonderful mood, and she makes a big breakfast and tells jokes. Breakfast goes so late that Ma tells the girls to go to school, and she will do their chores this one time. All of the main street is a high drift of snow. At the schoolhouse during recess, the boys play in the snow outside, and Laura states that she wishes that she wasn’t too old to play. Mary and Minnie discuss what they would do if they were caught in a blizzard, but Laura does not like the conversation. Laura and Carrie go home for dinner, and their friend Mr. Boast surprises them by appearing for dinner. Pa tells him that a train will arrive at the end of the week, but there is no meat in town until then. After dinner, school is a joy. Laura is pleased that she gets to go to school every weekday, but in the night another blizzard comes.

In the morning, the blizzard is “roaring, screaming, and swishing around the house” (139). Laura is unhappy, and Ma asks her what is wrong. Laura is upset that if she continues to only go to one day of school a week, she will not learn enough to become a teacher and help send Mary to college. Ma reassures her that she has plenty of lessons she can work on at home. Pa comes inside and says that the blizzard may be the worst one so far, and he plans to go to Fuller’s store. Mary says that if he needs to use her college money for supplies, he can. Pa promises that if he does, he will pay it back. After chores, Laura brings her school things to the table and works on her lessons with Mary. Pa returns and says that he did not use any of Mary’s money because there is no coal to buy. The stores are out of almost everything, but he was able to get tea. They must conserve light and heat because they are running low on kerosene and coal. On the third day, the storm ends, and Pa goes to Fuller’s store to get news.

The next morning is bright and clear, but there is no school because there is no coal. Carrie wants to get out of the kitchen they have been in for several days, and Laura is impatient with Mary, so after their chores all three girls go outside to get fresh air. Pa returns with the horses pulling a sled which he has built. He plans to get hay from their homestead and bring it to town as quickly as possible. However, he takes much longer than expected, and everyone is concerned that something has happened to him. Finally, late in the day, he comes home and explains that the snow meant that there were no markers and the horses kept falling. Pa goes out to get more hay, and he visits Fuller’s store and finds out that the train is coming the day after tomorrow and mail can get out regardless. Ma finishes a letter that she had been writing, filling up every part of the paper. The next day there is good weather, but another storm comes in that evening.