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♪♪♪

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Laura Ingalls Wilder:
Prairie to Page

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has been made possible
in part by a major grant

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from the National Endowment
for the Humanities,

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Bringing you the stories that
define us.

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Support also provided by
the following

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Young woman:
"Once upon a time, 60 years ago,

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a little girl lived
in the big woods of Wisconsin

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in a little gray house
made of logs.

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The great dark trees of the big
woods stood all around the house

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and beyond them were other trees
and beyond them more trees.

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There were no people."

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Narrator:
When Laura Ingalls Wilder

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told the stories
of her childhood,

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millions of young readers
were spellbound.

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For teachers, the "Little House"
books were a perfect primer

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on the settling of America,

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written by someone
who was there.

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Harper: "I realized that I had
seen and lived it all...

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all the successive phases
of the frontier...

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first the frontiersman,

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then the pioneer,
then the farmers, and the towns.

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And then I understood
that in my own life

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I represented a whole period
of American history."

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Anderson: Laura Ingalls Wilder

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is the quintessential
American pioneer.

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Thousands of people had
very similar experiences

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as Wilder and her family.

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But her storytelling made that
an adventure story.

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Young woman:
"Pa and Ma were still
and silent on the wagon seat,

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and Mary and Laura
were quiet, too.

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But Laura felt
all excited inside.

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You never know
what will happen next,

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nor where you'll be tomorrow,

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when you are traveling
in a covered wagon."

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Fraser:
She's almost like a folk artist.

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The novels as she left them
are almost works of folk art

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that capture
the attitudes of the time.

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Narrator: After more than
30 million copies sold,

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and a long-running TV show...

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Laura: Home is the nicest word
there is.

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Pa: One of the nicest,
that's for sure.

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Narrator:
...the "Little House" books

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are a part of the American
fabric, and so is the woman

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who based them
on her extraordinary childhood.

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Anderson: We have the image

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of this wonderful,
white-haired, pretty lady

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telling America's kids
all these great stories.

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That became an urban legend.

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Narrator: To her readers,
Wilder's novels

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were a wondrous achievement
from a humble farm woman

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who seemed to have perfected
her craft all on her own.

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They had no idea
the books emerged

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from a hidden collaboration
with her daughter, Rose.

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Fraser: Rose's role in this
is not to be dismissed.

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Anderson:
Friends of hers ask her,

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"What did you have to do
with your mother's books?"

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And she cut them off
very sharply.

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It was a deep, dark secret.

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Hill: I think all good writers
are mysterious in some way.

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What was real and what was not
real in their lives?

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Fraser: They're wonderful
family stories.

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They show us who we want
to think we are.

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We want to think that we're
self-reliant pioneers.

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We want to think that that's
the truth about ourselves.

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But when you examine
that fantasy, you realize

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that the reality was much,
much, much more complicated.

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Sarah: There are two Lauras.

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There's Laura of the book,

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and there's Mrs. Wilder,

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who used to be Laura.

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Harper:
"All I have told is the truth

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but not the whole truth."

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♪♪♪

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♪♪♪

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Fiery: "Mrs. Laura I. Wilder,

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Rocky Ridge,
Mansfield, Missouri.

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Dear Mrs. Wilder,

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I like the material
you have used.

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It covers a period
in American history

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about which very little
has been written,

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and almost nothing
for boys and girls."

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Narrator: The news from a
New York editor was unexpected.

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And at 64, Laura Ingalls Wilder

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was on her way
to becoming a children's author.

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The manuscript, "When Grandma
Was a Little Girl,"

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was spun out of a memoir
Wilder had written

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called "Pioneer Girl."

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It showed promise,
but it needed more work.

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Fiery: "Would you be willing
to make some editorial changes

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on your manuscript?

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The more details you can include

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about the everyday life
of the pioneers,

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such as the making
of the bullets,

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what they eat and wear,
et cetera,

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the more vivid an appeal

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it will make
to children's imaginations."

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Narrator:
"When Grandma Was a Little Girl"

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turned into
"Little House in the Big Woods,"

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and that turned into
something else entirely.

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Harper: "When to my surprise
the book made such a success

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and children all over the U.S.

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wrote to me
begging for more stories,

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I began to think what a
wonderful childhood I had had."

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♪♪♪

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Narrator: So began
the "Little House" series...

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Wilder's eight books about
growing up and moving West.

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Running through them all,
she later said,

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were her parents' values.

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"When possible, they turned
the bad into good.

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When not possible,
they endured."

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Harper: "Sister Mary and I
loved Pa's stories best.

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We never forgot them,
and I have always thought

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that they were just too good
to be altogether lost."

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Narrator: And when Wilder
preserved her father's stories,

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she made him a mythic figure...
always looking West.

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Her readers would come
to know Charles Ingalls as Pa,

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just as she did.

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Charles Ingalls was born
in Western New York in 1836,

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one of nine children.

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Fraser: Charles Ingalls
came from a family

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of not great means
and some insecurity himself.

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He was born in Cuba, New York.

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His father didn't have
his own land,

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is working as
some kind of laborer.

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Narrator:
Mottos and slogans of the day

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said, "Go West, young man,
and grow up with the country,"

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and the Ingalls family did just
that, heading out to Illinois.

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Fraser: This is for sure
Charles Ingalls' first exposure

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to the prairies.

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This may be the time in his life

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when he is exposed to music.

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Maybe gets his fiddle in this
town or crossroads in Illinois.

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♪♪♪

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♪♪♪

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Narrator: But for all
the opportunity advertised,

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the family never found it.

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They eventually moved on
to Wisconsin.

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Fraser: There's not a lot of
stability in... in this family.

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They're working. They're trying
to make a living.

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They're not really succeeding
for any length of time.

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They can't really put together
enough of a stake to last,

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and so that's Charles' youth.

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And he will basically
hew to that pattern

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for most of the rest
of his life.

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Narrator: In Wisconsin,
Charles Ingalls' family

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befriends the Quiners who live
across the Oconomowoc River.

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Charles courts Caroline Quiner,
and they marry in 1860.

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Harper: "Mother was descended
from an old Scotch family

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and inherited
the Scotch thriftiness

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which helped
with the livelihood.

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Although born and raised
on the frontier,

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she was an educated
and cultured woman.

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She was very quiet and gentle,
but proud and particular

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in all manners
of good breeding."

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Hill: Their personalities
were very, very different.

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Caroline was more quiet
and reserved.

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Charles Ingalls
was more outgoing,

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a poet, a hunter, a musician.

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That's how Laura Ingalls Wilder
came to think of her father.

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Wilder: Pa holds his fiddle,

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and he nearly always
sat in his chair when he played

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and kept time to the music by
patting his foot on the floor.

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♪♪♪

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Hill: He was the more romantic
of the two, I think.

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But they had a very solid,
very happy marriage.

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Harper:
"The spirit of the frontier

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was one of humor
and cheerfulness

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no matter what happened,

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whether the joke was on oneself
or on the other fellow.

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Strangers coming West possessed
or acquired that spirit

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if they survived as Westerners.

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My parents possessed
this frontier spirit

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to a marked degree."

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♪♪♪

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Narrator: Charles and Caroline's
early years together

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were marked by the Civil War.

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But another war hit closer
to their Wisconsin home.

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Fraser:
The incident that is mentioned

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in "Little House
on the Prairie,"

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the U.S. Dakota war of 1862,

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happened five years
before Laura was born.

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Beane: The Dakota War took place

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because of a number
of broken treaties,

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broken promises between this
government and Dakota people.

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The people who did fight
in the war

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were fighting to protect
the rights of our families

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to remain in our homeland
and to remain Dakota.

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And they were very, very violent
battles that took place.

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And the media coverage
that happened during that era

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was media coverage that was
trying to incite fear in people.

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Fraser: The Ingalls would've
known all about that because

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they were living just across
the Mississippi in Wisconsin.

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[ Chuckling ]
Wisconsin as a state was...

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was scared spitless,

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because the refugees
came flooding back

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across the river into Wisconsin.

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So all the Wisconsinites thought
that they were next,

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you know, that they were
going to be attacked.

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White women at that time
did feel great fear

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of Indians.

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And, you know, Wilder,
years later,

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I think she was rem...
remembering the fear

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that her mother
must have expressed

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and the racism
that her mother clearly felt.

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Narrator: 1862 also brought
the Homestead Act.

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In exchange for a small
filing fee, men and women,

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freed slaves and immigrants,

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were given the chance to own
and farm 160-acre plots.

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American Indians continue
to be forced off tribal lands

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in the rush
to settle the Great Plains.

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McDowell: That was really
the push of the day.

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It was push out, you know,
Westward expansion.

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Let's get the churches built
and the schools built

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and the railroad built

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and connect the whole country
from coast to coast.

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Narrator: Charles and Caroline
settle into a log cabin

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near Pepin, Wisconsin,

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where they are surrounded
by family and neighbors.

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Their first daughter, Mary,
is born

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just as the Civil war
is coming to an end.

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Laura arrives two years later,
in 1867.

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Young woman:
"Once upon a time, 60 years ago,

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a little girl lived
in the big woods of Wisconsin

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in a little gray house
made of logs.

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The great dark trees of the big
woods stood all around the house

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and beyond them were other trees
and beyond them more trees.

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There were no people.
There were only trees

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and the wild animals
who had their homes among them."

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McDowell: When I compare
Laura Ingalls Wilder's writing,

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I think of Thoreau
talking about Walden Pond.

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It's that same
sort of connection

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to "how I built my cabin,
how I lived, and what I saw."

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Narrator: When Laura is 2,

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the Ingalls leave the log cabin
bound for Kansas.

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Harper: "Pa stopped the horses
and the wagon

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they were hauling away out on
the prairie in Indian territory.

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'Well, Caroline, ' he said,

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'Here's the place
I've been looking for.'"

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Narrator:
Charles and his family

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settle near Independence,
Kansas,

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where their third daughter,
Carrie, is born.

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Fraser: They settle on land
that it's pretty clear he knew

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was not available

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for white settlement
at that time.

246
00:13:08,633 --> 00:13:11,133
It belonged to
the Osage Indians.

247
00:13:11,166 --> 00:13:13,866
The logs
that Charles Ingalls used

248
00:13:13,900 --> 00:13:16,566
to build the little house
on the prairie

249
00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:17,933
did not belong to him.

250
00:13:17,966 --> 00:13:20,300
They belonged to the Osage.

251
00:13:20,333 --> 00:13:22,500
It was an act of theft.

252
00:13:22,533 --> 00:13:26,366
Certainly wasn't seen so
at the time

253
00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:28,333
by people like Charles Ingalls.

254
00:13:28,366 --> 00:13:30,733
But now it's quite clear
that it was.

255
00:13:30,766 --> 00:13:34,100
♪♪♪

256
00:13:34,133 --> 00:13:37,566
Erdrich: The idea
that this was empty space...

257
00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:40,933
It was shocking to me
that I hadn't noticed that,

258
00:13:40,966 --> 00:13:43,033
but I was a child.
So this is how children read it.

259
00:13:43,066 --> 00:13:46,066
They read these books

260
00:13:46,100 --> 00:13:49,800
with a complete sense
of storytelling

261
00:13:49,833 --> 00:13:53,900
and faith in these books.

262
00:13:53,933 --> 00:13:57,033
Narrator: "Little House on the
Prairie," Wilder's third novel,

263
00:13:57,066 --> 00:13:58,733
would describe her family's time

264
00:13:58,766 --> 00:14:01,666
in what she called
"Indian country."

265
00:14:01,700 --> 00:14:05,066
Fraser: She also portrays
the child, Laura,

266
00:14:05,100 --> 00:14:07,566
as having a fear

267
00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:11,166
but also a deep fascination with

268
00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:13,566
what she describes as these,
you know,

269
00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:18,166
wild people who were
completely different.

270
00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:21,133
That kind of encapsulates

271
00:14:21,166 --> 00:14:25,700
the very strange attitude
that whites had at that time

272
00:14:25,733 --> 00:14:28,300
towards these people
as if they were,

273
00:14:28,333 --> 00:14:30,033
first of all, not people,

274
00:14:30,066 --> 00:14:32,833
that they were something
that could be

275
00:14:32,866 --> 00:14:34,966
had for the taking.

276
00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:37,966
That is one of the things
that makes that novel,

277
00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:41,666
I think, one of the most
important documents

278
00:14:41,700 --> 00:14:43,833
about the history of that time.

279
00:14:43,866 --> 00:14:52,533
♪♪♪

280
00:14:52,566 --> 00:14:56,066
Narrator: Laura is barely 4
when the Ingalls leave Kansas.

281
00:14:56,100 --> 00:14:58,600
The family returns to Wisconsin,

282
00:14:58,633 --> 00:15:00,733
and the next three years
of Laura's life

283
00:15:00,766 --> 00:15:03,333
are spent in the cabin
near Pepin.

284
00:15:03,366 --> 00:15:05,100
Harper:
"When the work was done,

285
00:15:05,133 --> 00:15:07,566
Ma would cut out
paper dolls for us

286
00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:11,500
and let us cook on the stove
for our play house dinners.

287
00:15:11,533 --> 00:15:13,833
She taught Mary how to knit.

288
00:15:13,866 --> 00:15:16,033
She said I was too little,

289
00:15:16,066 --> 00:15:19,333
but sitting by and watching,

290
00:15:19,366 --> 00:15:23,033
I caught the trick first."

291
00:15:23,066 --> 00:15:26,466
Fraser:
Wisconsin seems to have been

292
00:15:26,500 --> 00:15:29,533
probably the most stability

293
00:15:29,566 --> 00:15:31,500
that they might have
ever experienced

294
00:15:31,533 --> 00:15:33,166
if they had just stayed.

295
00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:34,833
They seemed to have been able

296
00:15:34,866 --> 00:15:38,400
to kind of eke out
an existence there.

297
00:15:38,433 --> 00:15:40,466
So they might have saved
themselves

298
00:15:40,500 --> 00:15:44,500
quite a lot of toil and trouble
if they had stayed.

299
00:15:44,533 --> 00:15:48,533
But they didn't. [ Laughs ]

300
00:15:48,566 --> 00:15:50,466
Narrator: The Ingalls' second
stay in Pepin

301
00:15:50,500 --> 00:15:53,800
became the basis for
"Little House in the Big Woods."

302
00:15:53,833 --> 00:15:56,966
The time frame was shifted
a bit for the novel.

303
00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:58,833
When she wrote for children,

304
00:15:58,866 --> 00:16:01,366
Wilder eliminated
and embellished,

305
00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:04,733
shaping and stretching
her own history.

306
00:16:04,766 --> 00:16:05,966
Fraser:
And I think, ultimately,

307
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:08,100
writing the "Little House" books

308
00:16:08,133 --> 00:16:10,900
was her was her way
of trying to process

309
00:16:10,933 --> 00:16:13,000
all that had happened to her

310
00:16:13,033 --> 00:16:14,966
both in positive
and negative ways.

311
00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:18,266
She was both revisiting
the closeness

312
00:16:18,300 --> 00:16:20,633
and the love
she had for her family.

313
00:16:20,666 --> 00:16:23,833
But she was also reliving
the terror

314
00:16:23,866 --> 00:16:27,666
of their experience,
because on many occasions,

315
00:16:27,700 --> 00:16:31,066
they did face ruin or starvation

316
00:16:31,100 --> 00:16:35,766
or disaster.

317
00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:37,566
Narrator: Disaster was looming
when the Ingalls

318
00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:42,366
moved West to Minnesota
to start a new life in a dugout.

319
00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:44,866
Fraser:
The Ingalls family comes to

320
00:16:44,900 --> 00:16:50,233
this area near Walnut Grove
in 1874.

321
00:16:50,266 --> 00:16:52,933
And they settle in this place
called Plum Creek

322
00:16:52,966 --> 00:16:55,166
which is a beautiful spot.

323
00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:59,733
And they begin all over again.
He builds a house.

324
00:16:59,766 --> 00:17:01,666
She calls it
the beautiful house.

325
00:17:01,700 --> 00:17:04,033
I think it was one
of the nicest places

326
00:17:04,066 --> 00:17:05,733
that they'd ever lived.
[ Chuckles ]

327
00:17:05,766 --> 00:17:08,466
And then, of course,
he plants this beautiful crop.

328
00:17:08,500 --> 00:17:11,600
And it's growing very nicely.

329
00:17:11,633 --> 00:17:13,166
Harper:
"The weather was just right,

330
00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,266
and the crops grew and grew.

331
00:17:16,300 --> 00:17:19,133
He said the grain was all soft
and milky yet,

332
00:17:19,166 --> 00:17:22,133
but it was so well grown,

333
00:17:22,166 --> 00:17:26,100
he felt sure we would have
a wonderful crop."

334
00:17:26,133 --> 00:17:27,666
Fraser:
The wheat is coming up.

335
00:17:27,700 --> 00:17:30,033
And it's gonna pay
all their debts.

336
00:17:30,066 --> 00:17:31,400
[ Laughing ]
And, you know, they...

337
00:17:31,433 --> 00:17:35,666
they've built castles in the sky
on this crop.

338
00:17:35,700 --> 00:17:40,033
And then they hear
their neighbor screaming.

339
00:17:40,066 --> 00:17:41,500
Harper:
"'The grasshoppers are coming!

340
00:17:41,533 --> 00:17:44,200
The grasshoppers are coming!'
she shrieked.

341
00:17:44,233 --> 00:17:45,466
'Come and look!'

342
00:17:45,500 --> 00:17:49,300
And then we saw that
the cloud was grasshoppers,

343
00:17:49,333 --> 00:17:51,233
their wings a shiny white

344
00:17:51,266 --> 00:17:55,900
making a screen
between us and the sun."

345
00:17:55,933 --> 00:17:58,233
Narrator: It's 1875,

346
00:17:58,266 --> 00:18:00,166
and the Ingalls have just
experienced

347
00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:03,033
the Rocky Mountain
Locust Invasion...

348
00:18:03,066 --> 00:18:04,466
trillions of grasshoppers

349
00:18:04,500 --> 00:18:08,666
in a cloud that covered
nearly 200,000 square miles.

350
00:18:08,700 --> 00:18:12,300
Grasshoppers would again
ruin a second Ingalls' harvest

351
00:18:12,333 --> 00:18:13,933
the following season.

352
00:18:13,966 --> 00:18:16,000
Fraser:
The grasshoppers eat everything.

353
00:18:16,033 --> 00:18:20,133
And how, you know, heartbreaking
that must have been

354
00:18:20,166 --> 00:18:24,366
because it just destroyed
all of their hopes

355
00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:26,333
in a matter of hours.

356
00:18:26,366 --> 00:18:28,566
Narrator: The locust plague
appears true-to-life

357
00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:32,633
in Wilder's fourth novel,
"On the Banks of Plum Creek."

358
00:18:32,666 --> 00:18:34,233
Hill:
What I think is really striking

359
00:18:34,266 --> 00:18:36,633
is that her account
in "Pioneer Girl,"

360
00:18:36,666 --> 00:18:39,700
which is essentially nonfiction,

361
00:18:39,733 --> 00:18:42,600
traces fairly closely
to what she did

362
00:18:42,633 --> 00:18:46,033
in the fictional version in
"On the Banks of Plum Creek."

363
00:18:46,066 --> 00:18:48,800
It's... It's relatively close.

364
00:18:48,833 --> 00:18:51,033
Young woman: "It was a cloud
of something like snowflakes,

365
00:18:51,066 --> 00:18:52,633
but they were larger
than snowflakes,

366
00:18:52,666 --> 00:18:54,366
and thin and glittering.

367
00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,166
Light shone through
each flickering particle.

368
00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:00,800
Plunk! Something hit Laura's
head and fell to the ground.

369
00:19:00,833 --> 00:19:02,166
She looked down and saw

370
00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:04,900
the largest grasshopper
she had ever seen.

371
00:19:04,933 --> 00:19:07,700
Then huge brown grasshoppers
were hitting the ground

372
00:19:07,733 --> 00:19:11,566
all around her, hitting her head
and her face and her arms.

373
00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:13,766
They came thudding down
like hail.

374
00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:16,033
The cloud was hailing
grasshoppers.

375
00:19:16,066 --> 00:19:19,000
The cloud
<i>was</i> grasshoppers."

376
00:19:19,033 --> 00:19:23,200
Anderson: The devastating
grasshopper plagues

377
00:19:23,233 --> 00:19:26,366
ruined their chances
of successful farming.

378
00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:29,800
♪♪♪

379
00:19:29,833 --> 00:19:33,300
Narrator: In Walnut Grove,
Caroline gives birth again.

380
00:19:33,333 --> 00:19:36,333
This time, it's a boy
they call Freddy.

381
00:19:36,366 --> 00:19:40,433
Charles, now deeply in debt,
signs a pauper's oath...

382
00:19:40,466 --> 00:19:43,766
a public acknowledgment
that he is destitute.

383
00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:46,200
It allows him to receive
food for his family...

384
00:19:46,233 --> 00:19:50,100
in this case,
2 1/2 barrels of flour.

385
00:19:50,133 --> 00:19:53,766
Sarah: It is not well-known
that he signed a pauper's oath

386
00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:57,066
during the grasshopper plague,
and that was...

387
00:19:57,100 --> 00:19:58,766
I mean,
that would've been a huge blow.

388
00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:04,100
To swear anything, to swear
any kind of oath was...

389
00:20:04,133 --> 00:20:07,033
We don't appreciate
what that means today.

390
00:20:07,066 --> 00:20:09,733
He was writing down on paper,
"I am a pauper.

391
00:20:09,766 --> 00:20:11,333
I cannot support my family.

392
00:20:11,366 --> 00:20:13,533
I need help."

393
00:20:13,566 --> 00:20:17,900
And that's so counter to
the Pa that we're familiar with.

394
00:20:17,933 --> 00:20:22,300
Anderson: And they were
essentially so in need of funds

395
00:20:22,333 --> 00:20:25,266
that Charles Ingalls
concocted a scheme

396
00:20:25,300 --> 00:20:29,100
that they would move
to Burr Oak, Iowa.

397
00:20:29,133 --> 00:20:31,800
Narrator: And the downward
spiral continues.

398
00:20:31,833 --> 00:20:35,000
Caroline is sick, and there
are more doctor's bills.

399
00:20:35,033 --> 00:20:39,600
On the way to Burr Oak,
baby Freddy dies.

400
00:20:39,633 --> 00:20:43,500
Harper: "Little brother was
not well, and the Dr. came.

401
00:20:43,533 --> 00:20:46,266
I thought that would cure him
as it had Ma

402
00:20:46,300 --> 00:20:50,233
when the Dr. came to see her.

403
00:20:50,266 --> 00:20:53,200
But little brother got worse
instead of better,

404
00:20:53,233 --> 00:20:57,033
and one awful day, he
straightened out his little body

405
00:20:57,066 --> 00:20:59,133
and was dead."

406
00:20:59,166 --> 00:21:01,600
Hill:
Probably the biggest omission

407
00:21:01,633 --> 00:21:04,366
that Wilder made
in the "Little House" books,

408
00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,266
the biggest deviation
from her real life,

409
00:21:07,300 --> 00:21:10,000
was the family's
experiences in Iowa

410
00:21:10,033 --> 00:21:14,600
and the loss
of baby brother Freddy.

411
00:21:14,633 --> 00:21:16,866
Freddy died very suddenly.

412
00:21:16,900 --> 00:21:18,866
He was only 9 months old.

413
00:21:18,900 --> 00:21:22,200
And Laura Ingalls Wilder chose
not to write about him

414
00:21:22,233 --> 00:21:24,733
or the family's
experiences in Iowa.

415
00:21:24,766 --> 00:21:26,833
♪♪♪

416
00:21:26,866 --> 00:21:28,300
Fraser: Charles Ingalls,

417
00:21:28,333 --> 00:21:33,166
he's again heavily in debt
to doctors.

418
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:37,066
In fact, at one point, you know,
the doctor's wife in Burr Oak

419
00:21:37,100 --> 00:21:42,433
approaches Caroline Ingalls
about possibly adopting Laura

420
00:21:42,466 --> 00:21:49,033
as a kind of surrogate
daughter/household worker.

421
00:21:49,066 --> 00:21:52,033
Narrator: After the birth of the
last Ingalls daughter, Grace,

422
00:21:52,066 --> 00:21:56,066
the doctor's bills
and debt become insurmountable.

423
00:21:56,100 --> 00:21:58,400
Fraser:
If you got in debt to somebody,

424
00:21:58,433 --> 00:22:01,833
there were legal ramifications
for that.

425
00:22:01,866 --> 00:22:04,266
And so they end up leaving
Burr Oak

426
00:22:04,300 --> 00:22:05,633
in the middle of the night.

427
00:22:05,666 --> 00:22:08,033
Charles Ingalls loads
the whole family

428
00:22:08,066 --> 00:22:10,400
and all their belongings
in the wagon.

429
00:22:10,433 --> 00:22:14,100
And they just flee the town,
flee their debts.

430
00:22:14,133 --> 00:22:16,500
I mean, she just would
not have dreamed

431
00:22:16,533 --> 00:22:20,300
of saying that, I think,
in a book for children.

432
00:22:20,333 --> 00:22:22,500
Harper: "Sometime in the night,
we children were waked

433
00:22:22,533 --> 00:22:26,133
to find the wagon with
a cover on standing by the door

434
00:22:26,166 --> 00:22:31,100
and everything but our bed
and the stove loaded in.

435
00:22:31,133 --> 00:22:35,100
Then we climbed in
and drove away in the darkness."

436
00:22:35,133 --> 00:22:37,433
Fraser: You see her again
and again trying to grapple

437
00:22:37,466 --> 00:22:41,333
with her... her father's
failures as a provider.

438
00:22:41,366 --> 00:22:44,633
[ Chuckling ] You know, and
there's this sort of tragic

439
00:22:44,666 --> 00:22:47,400
sentence in one
of her manuscripts

440
00:22:47,433 --> 00:22:50,266
where she writes,
"Pa was a good farmer.

441
00:22:50,300 --> 00:22:52,900
He always paid his debts"...

442
00:22:52,933 --> 00:22:55,400
you know, complete fantasy.

443
00:22:55,433 --> 00:22:56,633
Narrator: In her fiction,

444
00:22:56,666 --> 00:22:59,500
Pa moved the family West
in a straight line.

445
00:22:59,533 --> 00:23:01,833
The truth was a different story.

446
00:23:01,866 --> 00:23:04,100
It was a meandering journey.

447
00:23:04,133 --> 00:23:05,933
By time she was 14,

448
00:23:05,966 --> 00:23:09,600
Laura lived in at least
15 different homes.

449
00:23:09,633 --> 00:23:12,100
Sarah: The trajectory
in real life is very zig-zaggy.

450
00:23:12,133 --> 00:23:14,566
In the books the... the movement
is attributed

451
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:15,900
to Pa's wandering foot

452
00:23:15,933 --> 00:23:20,766
and to this Westward pull
that he experiences.

453
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:25,500
But the reality looks more like

454
00:23:25,533 --> 00:23:28,566
he's just...
he's bouncing a bit.

455
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:30,666
He tries something,
and it doesn't work,

456
00:23:30,700 --> 00:23:33,166
so he has to go backwards
and try something new,

457
00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:35,300
and that works for a bit.

458
00:23:35,333 --> 00:23:37,700
And then he gets a better idea,
or it doesn't work.

459
00:23:37,733 --> 00:23:40,766
It's a lot of trial and error.

460
00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:43,466
Narrator:
By the late summer of 1877,

461
00:23:43,500 --> 00:23:46,766
the Ingalls family
is zig-zagging once again,

462
00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:49,466
back to Walnut Grove.

463
00:23:49,500 --> 00:23:52,433
Fraser:
Laura begins working in a hotel

464
00:23:52,466 --> 00:23:55,066
for a family called
the Masters family.

465
00:23:55,100 --> 00:23:59,333
She's exposed to all kinds
of shenanigans in that hotel.

466
00:23:59,366 --> 00:24:02,766
It's sort of a, you know,
slightly squalid,

467
00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:06,466
dangerous atmosphere for a kid.

468
00:24:06,500 --> 00:24:11,000
In fact, one of the Masters'
wastrel sons

469
00:24:11,033 --> 00:24:14,066
almost seems to have tried
to abuse her or attack her

470
00:24:14,100 --> 00:24:15,666
in the middle of the night
one night.

471
00:24:15,700 --> 00:24:17,133
And she fights him off

472
00:24:17,166 --> 00:24:18,733
by telling him
that she'll scream

473
00:24:18,766 --> 00:24:21,200
if he does anything to her.

474
00:24:21,233 --> 00:24:23,533
Harper: "One night, I waked
from a sound sleep

475
00:24:23,566 --> 00:24:26,733
to find Will leaning over me.

476
00:24:26,766 --> 00:24:29,100
I could smell the whiskey
on his breath.

477
00:24:29,133 --> 00:24:30,733
I sat up quickly.

478
00:24:30,766 --> 00:24:32,633
'Is Nannie sick?' I asked.

479
00:24:32,666 --> 00:24:36,100
'No, ' he answered,
'Lie down and be still!'

480
00:24:36,133 --> 00:24:39,700
'Go away quick, ' I said,
'or I will scream for Nannie.'

481
00:24:39,733 --> 00:24:44,966
He went, and the next day,
Ma said I could come home."

482
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:49,100
Fraser: It shows you
just how kind of out of control

483
00:24:49,133 --> 00:24:52,766
the whole situation had become.

484
00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:55,533
Narrator: Then Mary, who had
been sick for several months,

485
00:24:55,566 --> 00:24:57,700
became gravely ill.

486
00:24:57,733 --> 00:25:00,600
Harper: "She was delirious
with an awful fever,

487
00:25:00,633 --> 00:25:02,800
and one morning
when I looked at her,

488
00:25:02,833 --> 00:25:06,300
I saw one side of her face
drawn out of shape.

489
00:25:06,333 --> 00:25:08,700
Ma said Mary had had a stroke.

490
00:25:08,733 --> 00:25:10,766
After the stroke,
Mary began to get better,

491
00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:12,866
but she could not see well.

492
00:25:12,900 --> 00:25:15,400
As Mary grew stronger,
her eyes grew weaker

493
00:25:15,433 --> 00:25:19,533
until when she could sit up in
the big chair among the pillows,

494
00:25:19,566 --> 00:25:21,366
she could hardly see at all."

495
00:25:23,333 --> 00:25:26,900
Narrator: Mary likely had
viral meningoencephalitis,

496
00:25:26,933 --> 00:25:29,733
and her blindness
deeply affected Laura.

497
00:25:29,766 --> 00:25:32,266
Hill: When Mary went blind,

498
00:25:32,300 --> 00:25:36,066
Pa charged Laura
with being Mary's eyes.

499
00:25:36,100 --> 00:25:40,100
And that role of
describing the world,

500
00:25:40,133 --> 00:25:43,400
describing what was happening
in the outside world

501
00:25:43,433 --> 00:25:45,400
for her sister

502
00:25:45,433 --> 00:25:50,200
made Laura more aware
of the outside world,

503
00:25:50,233 --> 00:25:54,600
more aware of the importance
of vocabulary and description.

504
00:25:54,633 --> 00:25:57,000
And I believe it went on
to make Laura

505
00:25:57,033 --> 00:26:01,500
the writer that she actually
became later on.

506
00:26:01,533 --> 00:26:04,166
Narrator: Mary's blindness
is attributed to scarlet fever

507
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,100
in the novel
"By the Shores of Silver Lake,"

508
00:26:07,133 --> 00:26:08,366
which follows the family

509
00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:11,766
to what would become
De Smet, South Dakota.

510
00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:14,066
Charles Ingalls has a job
as a bookkeeper

511
00:26:14,100 --> 00:26:16,600
with the Chicago
and Northwestern Railway.

512
00:26:16,633 --> 00:26:19,033
He takes full advantage
of the Homestead Act

513
00:26:19,066 --> 00:26:20,533
and files a claim.

514
00:26:20,566 --> 00:26:25,600
McDowell: So, imagine De Smet
when the Ingalls first arrived.

515
00:26:25,633 --> 00:26:27,666
We start to lay out a town.

516
00:26:27,700 --> 00:26:31,366
So we go from the railroad,
and we start to lay out roads.

517
00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:32,866
They're coming on
straight lines.

518
00:26:32,900 --> 00:26:34,166
And from those roads,

519
00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:37,900
we have all of these sections
being laid out.

520
00:26:37,933 --> 00:26:40,833
We divide them up,
and we have schools.

521
00:26:40,866 --> 00:26:44,000
And we have claim shanties
being built.

522
00:26:44,033 --> 00:26:47,800
And we have
churches being built.

523
00:26:47,833 --> 00:26:50,900
And we have
grocery stores coming.

524
00:26:50,933 --> 00:26:55,200
And Charles Ingalls is building
some of those buildings,

525
00:26:55,233 --> 00:26:59,633
so it starts to become a town.

526
00:26:59,666 --> 00:27:02,700
Narrator: And Charles is one
of its founding residents.

527
00:27:02,733 --> 00:27:05,066
Hill:
He was on the school board.

528
00:27:05,100 --> 00:27:06,766
He was a city leader.

529
00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:10,200
He was a prominent citizen
of De Smet

530
00:27:10,233 --> 00:27:12,766
when they finally settled down.

531
00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:17,100
So, he had this kind of
romantic life,

532
00:27:17,133 --> 00:27:19,700
but he was also
very civic-minded.

533
00:27:19,733 --> 00:27:22,900
♪♪♪

534
00:27:22,933 --> 00:27:25,433
Narrator: De Smet is where
Charles and Caroline Ingalls

535
00:27:25,466 --> 00:27:27,533
stay for the rest
of their lives,

536
00:27:27,566 --> 00:27:28,800
and it is the setting

537
00:27:28,833 --> 00:27:31,733
for the remainder
of the "Little House" books.

538
00:27:31,766 --> 00:27:34,433
Anderson: I think the book
that gives us

539
00:27:34,466 --> 00:27:37,900
the clearest picture of hardship
is "The Long Winter,"

540
00:27:37,933 --> 00:27:43,433
when they suffered from
near malnutrition and were cold

541
00:27:43,466 --> 00:27:46,633
and without supplies
and truly isolated

542
00:27:46,666 --> 00:27:49,966
in the community
of De Smet, South Dakota.

543
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:53,366
That's a survival story.

544
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:56,400
Fraser: The actual event,
you know, which was really known

545
00:27:56,433 --> 00:27:59,800
as the hard winter
was even more horrific

546
00:27:59,833 --> 00:28:04,666
for the family
than she let on in the novel.

547
00:28:04,700 --> 00:28:11,100
They were trapped in this very
small house with no insulation

548
00:28:11,133 --> 00:28:12,766
with another family,

549
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:17,966
George Masters
and his wife and their baby.

550
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,033
Sarah: During the Long Winter,
there was another couple.

551
00:28:20,066 --> 00:28:22,933
A married couple
and their infant son

552
00:28:22,966 --> 00:28:26,366
were with them in the house
in town for the entire winter.

553
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,500
They were boarders,
and they just seem

554
00:28:29,533 --> 00:28:31,300
to have taken
the perspective that,

555
00:28:31,333 --> 00:28:35,033
"We're not part of this family,
so we're just going to sit."

556
00:28:35,066 --> 00:28:36,400
They didn't contribute.

557
00:28:36,433 --> 00:28:38,766
Fraser:
They did nothing to really help.

558
00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:42,566
And she hated them
for the rest of her life.

559
00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:46,600
[ Laughs ] And... And the way
she dealt with that in the novel

560
00:28:46,633 --> 00:28:49,333
was to leave them out entirely.

561
00:28:49,366 --> 00:28:52,666
Sarah: She refused to touch that
in "The Long Winter."

562
00:28:52,700 --> 00:28:56,100
She wanted that family to be
a complete unit,

563
00:28:56,133 --> 00:28:59,633
everybody pitching in equally
to see them through.

564
00:28:59,666 --> 00:29:02,300
And she said it would...
It would ruin the picture

565
00:29:02,333 --> 00:29:03,700
that she was trying to make

566
00:29:03,733 --> 00:29:08,866
if she let the Masters family
intrude on that.

567
00:29:08,900 --> 00:29:11,800
Harper: "Storms followed storms
so quickly

568
00:29:11,833 --> 00:29:14,833
that the railroad track
could not be kept open.

569
00:29:14,866 --> 00:29:17,266
The company kept men
shoveling snow

570
00:29:17,300 --> 00:29:19,566
and snow plows working
all they could,

571
00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:22,200
but the snow plows
stuck in the snow

572
00:29:22,233 --> 00:29:23,400
and the snow blew back

573
00:29:23,433 --> 00:29:26,766
faster than the men
could shovel it out."

574
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,500
Narrator: At the end of January,
there was too much snow

575
00:29:29,533 --> 00:29:34,133
for trains to get through,
and food and supplies ran low.

576
00:29:34,166 --> 00:29:37,333
The people of De Smet
began to starve.

577
00:29:37,366 --> 00:29:39,900
Fraser: Eventually,
they got to the point

578
00:29:39,933 --> 00:29:41,366
where it was clear

579
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:46,133
that somebody was gonna
have to try to go out

580
00:29:46,166 --> 00:29:50,633
during one of these windows
of opportunity between storms

581
00:29:50,666 --> 00:29:55,066
to try to find a farmer
who had seed wheat.

582
00:29:55,100 --> 00:29:59,000
Narrator: Enter Almanzo Wilder,
a homesteader in his 20s,

583
00:29:59,033 --> 00:30:02,466
who volunteered for what seemed
like a suicide mission.

584
00:30:02,500 --> 00:30:04,866
Hill: Laura Ingalls Wilder
sets up the scene

585
00:30:04,900 --> 00:30:07,066
in "The Long Winter."

586
00:30:07,100 --> 00:30:09,700
We have a great deal of suspense
as readers

587
00:30:09,733 --> 00:30:13,100
as to whether
Almanzo and Cap Garland

588
00:30:13,133 --> 00:30:15,500
are gonna find that settler,

589
00:30:15,533 --> 00:30:19,400
and if so, can they persuade him
to sell the seed wheat.

590
00:30:19,433 --> 00:30:21,133
Ultimately, they do.

591
00:30:21,166 --> 00:30:23,566
And then on the drive back,

592
00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:26,366
there's another blizzard
on the horizon.

593
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:29,900
And Cap and Almanzo
make it back into town

594
00:30:29,933 --> 00:30:32,533
just in the nick of time.

595
00:30:32,566 --> 00:30:37,500
It's a really suspenseful,
dramatic, kind of scary scene.

596
00:30:37,533 --> 00:30:40,400
This was something that
they actually did in real life,

597
00:30:40,433 --> 00:30:42,533
and they saved the town.

598
00:30:42,566 --> 00:30:46,066
♪♪♪

599
00:30:46,100 --> 00:30:48,333
Young woman: "And the fear and
the suffering of the long winter

600
00:30:48,366 --> 00:30:52,066
seemed to rise like a dark cloud
and float away on the music.

601
00:30:52,100 --> 00:30:53,466
Spring had come.

602
00:30:53,500 --> 00:30:56,500
The sun was shining warm,
the winds were soft,

603
00:30:56,533 --> 00:30:59,733
and the green grass growing."

604
00:30:59,766 --> 00:31:02,566
Narrator: By the next November,
Mary has gone off to Iowa

605
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:05,433
to attend a college
for the blind.

606
00:31:05,466 --> 00:31:08,933
Wilder: Mary graduated from
the Iowa College for the Blind

607
00:31:08,966 --> 00:31:10,833
at Vinton, Iowa.

608
00:31:10,866 --> 00:31:15,000
After graduating, she lived
at home with Pa and Ma.

609
00:31:15,033 --> 00:31:18,366
She was always busy
helping Ma with the housework

610
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:20,433
and with her books and music.

611
00:31:20,466 --> 00:31:22,733
She never regained her sight.

612
00:31:22,766 --> 00:31:26,100
♪♪♪

613
00:31:26,133 --> 00:31:28,566
Narrator: Laura takes her first
teaching position at a school

614
00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:31,066
about 8 miles south of De Smet.

615
00:31:31,100 --> 00:31:33,366
She is 16.
And around this time,

616
00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:35,800
Almanzo Wilder
begins to drive her

617
00:31:35,833 --> 00:31:38,866
to and from De Smet
every weekend.

618
00:31:38,900 --> 00:31:42,733
Skurnick: What I remember most
about the romance

619
00:31:42,766 --> 00:31:47,166
is that even when it's not clear
that they're dating

620
00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:49,033
but that Manzo still shows up

621
00:31:49,066 --> 00:31:51,666
and takes her home
every weekend...

622
00:31:51,700 --> 00:31:53,100
She has not asked.

623
00:31:53,133 --> 00:31:55,500
He has not even said
he's going to do it.

624
00:31:55,533 --> 00:31:58,300
He just understands,
and he does it,

625
00:31:58,333 --> 00:32:03,000
and he commits and shows
his commitment that way.

626
00:32:03,033 --> 00:32:05,266
You know, he's not... not even
doing it so he can see her.

627
00:32:05,300 --> 00:32:08,066
He's doing it
so she can see her family.

628
00:32:08,100 --> 00:32:10,900
That is the part
of their courtship

629
00:32:10,933 --> 00:32:14,733
that made me understand
actual courtship.

630
00:32:14,766 --> 00:32:17,233
♪♪♪

631
00:32:17,266 --> 00:32:19,533
Narrator: The courtship
continues when Laura returns

632
00:32:19,566 --> 00:32:22,133
to De Smet
and to being a student.

633
00:32:22,166 --> 00:32:23,866
During that year,
she writes an essay

634
00:32:23,900 --> 00:32:25,666
which reads, in part...

635
00:32:25,700 --> 00:32:27,966
Young woman: "Without
an ambition to excel others

636
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:29,800
and to surpass one's self,

637
00:32:29,833 --> 00:32:31,733
there would be
no superior merit.

638
00:32:31,766 --> 00:32:35,933
To win anything, we must have
the ambition to do so."

639
00:32:35,966 --> 00:32:39,633
Hill: There's that remarkable
scene with Mr. Owen

640
00:32:39,666 --> 00:32:41,766
which occurs
in both "Pioneer Girl"

641
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:45,200
and later in the "Little House"
books themselves,

642
00:32:45,233 --> 00:32:48,966
where Mr. Owen compliments
the young Laura

643
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:53,433
on her first exposition,
her first writing assignment.

644
00:32:53,466 --> 00:32:55,200
Young woman: "He looked at her
sharply and said,

645
00:32:55,233 --> 00:32:57,233
'You have written
compositions before?'

646
00:32:57,266 --> 00:32:58,700
'No, sir, ' Laura said.

647
00:32:58,733 --> 00:33:00,266
'This is my first.'

648
00:33:00,300 --> 00:33:02,200
'Well, you should write
more of them.

649
00:33:02,233 --> 00:33:03,366
I would not have believed

650
00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:06,533
that anyone could do so well
the first time.'"

651
00:33:06,566 --> 00:33:08,200
Hill: What I think
is remarkable about that

652
00:33:08,233 --> 00:33:10,533
is not only that
Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote

653
00:33:10,566 --> 00:33:12,166
about the scene
both in "Pioneer Girl"

654
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:13,833
and later
in the "Little House" books,

655
00:33:13,866 --> 00:33:17,233
but that she kept
the original writing assignment

656
00:33:17,266 --> 00:33:19,900
from Mr. Owen
for all of those years.

657
00:33:19,933 --> 00:33:22,333
She still has that,
and she has...

658
00:33:22,366 --> 00:33:25,600
And she kept
all of her scraps of poetry.

659
00:33:25,633 --> 00:33:28,366
For me, that indicates
that Laura Ingalls Wilder

660
00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:33,200
probably had the ambition
to write very early on.

661
00:33:33,233 --> 00:33:34,533
Narrator:
Laura's school days end

662
00:33:34,566 --> 00:33:36,400
when she takes
another teaching job,

663
00:33:36,433 --> 00:33:40,033
this one closer to home
and to Almanzo.

664
00:33:40,066 --> 00:33:43,433
By now, they have affectionate
names for one another...

665
00:33:43,466 --> 00:33:46,400
Manly and Bessie.

666
00:33:46,433 --> 00:33:49,900
Harper: "'I was wondering if you
wanted an engagement ring, '

667
00:33:49,933 --> 00:33:51,166
he answered.

668
00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:53,266
And I gave a startled gasp.

669
00:33:53,300 --> 00:33:57,766
'That would depend, ' I said,
'on who offered it to me.'

670
00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:00,900
'Would you take it from me?'
he asked,

671
00:34:00,933 --> 00:34:03,433
and I said 'Yes!'

672
00:34:03,466 --> 00:34:07,366
Then he kissed me good night,

673
00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:10,033
and I went into the house,

674
00:34:10,066 --> 00:34:14,033
not quite sure
if I was engaged to Manly

675
00:34:14,066 --> 00:34:17,766
or to the starlight
and the prairie."

676
00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:20,533
Narrator: Laura refused
to say the word "obey"

677
00:34:20,566 --> 00:34:22,233
in the wedding vows.

678
00:34:22,266 --> 00:34:26,166
It would set the tone
for their lifelong partnership.

679
00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:28,266
Young woman: "She summoned
all her courage and said,

680
00:34:28,300 --> 00:34:31,133
'Almanzo,
I must ask you something.

681
00:34:31,166 --> 00:34:33,400
Do you want me
to promise to obey you?'

682
00:34:33,433 --> 00:34:35,700
Soberly he answered,
'Of course not.

683
00:34:35,733 --> 00:34:37,666
I know it is
in the wedding ceremony,

684
00:34:37,700 --> 00:34:40,500
but it is only something
that women say.

685
00:34:40,533 --> 00:34:41,833
I never knew one that did it,

686
00:34:41,866 --> 00:34:45,033
nor any decent man
that wanted her to.'

687
00:34:45,066 --> 00:34:48,366
'Well, I am not going to say
I will obey you, ' said Laura.

688
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:50,833
'I cannot make a promise
that I will not keep,

689
00:34:50,866 --> 00:34:53,600
and, Almanzo, even if I tried,
I do not think

690
00:34:53,633 --> 00:34:57,966
I could obey anybody
against my better judgment.'

691
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:01,033
'I'd never expect you to, '
he told her."

692
00:35:01,066 --> 00:35:03,933
Sarah: She had the... the...
the presence of mind,

693
00:35:03,966 --> 00:35:08,000
the c... the confidence to say
to her future husband,

694
00:35:08,033 --> 00:35:10,166
"I can't promise this."

695
00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:11,700
Speaks to her strength
of character.

696
00:35:11,733 --> 00:35:14,133
It speaks to her
knowledge of herself.

697
00:35:14,166 --> 00:35:17,500
She knows that
she can't do that.

698
00:35:17,533 --> 00:35:21,200
And she feels comfortable
enough with him

699
00:35:21,233 --> 00:35:23,333
to... to put that forward.

700
00:35:23,366 --> 00:35:28,233
And that he accepts it says
a good deal about him, as well.

701
00:35:28,266 --> 00:35:31,033
Anderson:
Almanzo was perfectly competent

702
00:35:31,066 --> 00:35:33,600
and a strong, hard worker.

703
00:35:33,633 --> 00:35:37,033
But he was willing
to defer to his wife.

704
00:35:37,066 --> 00:35:42,633
And they had a unique
partnership in their marriage

705
00:35:42,666 --> 00:35:47,833
before most marriages were
organized in that fashion.

706
00:35:47,866 --> 00:35:51,800
Before Almanzo made
any purchases or changes

707
00:35:51,833 --> 00:35:55,600
on the farm,
they consulted together.

708
00:35:55,633 --> 00:35:59,500
And if he would do something
rash without asking her,

709
00:35:59,533 --> 00:36:02,866
she made it known that
she really didn't care for that.

710
00:36:02,900 --> 00:36:06,866
Narrator: They are married
in August 1885.

711
00:36:06,900 --> 00:36:09,733
Hill: Laura Ingalls Wilder's
first four years of marriage

712
00:36:09,766 --> 00:36:13,933
with Almanzo
were extraordinarily difficult,

713
00:36:13,966 --> 00:36:16,700
one financial disaster
after another.

714
00:36:16,733 --> 00:36:20,200
Their barn burned down.
Their house burned down.

715
00:36:20,233 --> 00:36:22,266
♪♪♪

716
00:36:22,300 --> 00:36:25,466
They lost an infant son.

717
00:36:25,500 --> 00:36:28,033
Almanzo suffered a stroke,

718
00:36:28,066 --> 00:36:33,000
and it left him crippled
for the rest of his life.

719
00:36:33,033 --> 00:36:35,833
Narrator: Laura would later
relive that terrible time

720
00:36:35,866 --> 00:36:37,700
in "The First Four Years,"

721
00:36:37,733 --> 00:36:40,600
a novel she drafted
but never published.

722
00:36:40,633 --> 00:36:45,433
Hill: Very few young couples,
I think, could have faced

723
00:36:45,466 --> 00:36:49,266
as many crises in the first
four years of marriage

724
00:36:49,300 --> 00:36:51,000
as those two did.

725
00:36:51,033 --> 00:36:53,500
The one bright spot
in those first four years

726
00:36:53,533 --> 00:36:56,466
was the birth of Rose,
their daughter.

727
00:36:56,500 --> 00:36:59,500
Narrator: After surviving
so much tragedy in De Smet,

728
00:36:59,533 --> 00:37:01,200
the young family heads south,

729
00:37:01,233 --> 00:37:03,500
eventually landing
in the Ozarks,

730
00:37:03,533 --> 00:37:07,800
lured by the promise of
"the land of big red apples."

731
00:37:07,833 --> 00:37:09,433
Like her parents before her,

732
00:37:09,466 --> 00:37:12,800
Wilder crosses the plains
in a horse-drawn wagon.

733
00:37:12,833 --> 00:37:15,533
She records the trip
in a tiny notebook,

734
00:37:15,566 --> 00:37:19,300
leaving a rare glimpse
of her emotional self.

735
00:37:19,333 --> 00:37:22,033
Harper: "We crossed the
James River, and in 20 minutes,

736
00:37:22,066 --> 00:37:25,033
we reached the top of the bluffs
on the other side.

737
00:37:25,066 --> 00:37:27,933
We all stopped
and looked back at the scene,

738
00:37:27,966 --> 00:37:32,566
and I wished for an artist's eye
or a poet's brain

739
00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:35,766
or even to be able
to tell in good, plain prose

740
00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:37,766
how beautiful it was.

741
00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:39,700
If I had been the Indians,

742
00:37:39,733 --> 00:37:42,433
I would have scalped
more white folks

743
00:37:42,466 --> 00:37:46,333
before I ever
would have left it."

744
00:37:46,366 --> 00:37:48,466
Fraser: She sees the...
you know, the banks

745
00:37:48,500 --> 00:37:49,933
of this... this river

746
00:37:49,966 --> 00:37:52,300
and is, you know,
kind of overcome

747
00:37:52,333 --> 00:37:54,866
with I think everything
she's leaving behind.

748
00:37:54,900 --> 00:37:57,500
You know, she feels
incredibly melancholy.

749
00:37:57,533 --> 00:38:01,533
I think she felt quite keenly
the fact that...

750
00:38:01,566 --> 00:38:03,233
that she and Almanzo

751
00:38:03,266 --> 00:38:06,866
had, essentially,
been failures as farmers

752
00:38:06,900 --> 00:38:09,300
and... and were being driven
out of this place

753
00:38:09,333 --> 00:38:12,000
they could no longer stay in

754
00:38:12,033 --> 00:38:15,200
and... and that there was just
nothing to be done about it.

755
00:38:15,233 --> 00:38:18,100
Narrator: Laura is 27 years old.

756
00:38:18,133 --> 00:38:21,000
The part of her life
that would become her books

757
00:38:21,033 --> 00:38:23,466
is now behind her.

758
00:38:27,566 --> 00:38:30,966
♪♪♪

759
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:34,933
Narrator: In 1894, the Wilders
get their fresh start.

760
00:38:34,966 --> 00:38:37,733
They buy 40 acres
with a one-room cabin

761
00:38:37,766 --> 00:38:40,166
and call it Rocky Ridge Farm.

762
00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:44,133
Laura had a clear vision
of what it could become.

763
00:38:44,166 --> 00:38:47,700
Harper: "Everything we needed to
build it was on the land...

764
00:38:47,733 --> 00:38:49,966
good oak beams and boards,

765
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:53,233
stones for the foundations
and the fireplace.

766
00:38:53,266 --> 00:38:55,733
The house would have
large windows

767
00:38:55,766 --> 00:38:59,300
looking West across a brook
over the gentle valleys

768
00:38:59,333 --> 00:39:02,266
and wooded hills
that hid the town.

769
00:39:02,300 --> 00:39:03,700
The kitchen would be big enough

770
00:39:03,733 --> 00:39:05,466
to hold a wood stove for winter.

771
00:39:05,500 --> 00:39:07,066
And in the parlor...

772
00:39:07,100 --> 00:39:09,766
big book cases filled with books

773
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:12,033
and a hanging lamp
to read them by

774
00:39:12,066 --> 00:39:15,866
on winter evenings
by the fireplace."

775
00:39:15,900 --> 00:39:17,033
Narrator: Laura Ingalls Wilder

776
00:39:17,066 --> 00:39:18,633
would live in
Mansfield, Missouri,

777
00:39:18,666 --> 00:39:21,166
for the next 62 years,

778
00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:23,866
but until she became
a best-selling author,

779
00:39:23,900 --> 00:39:27,300
life was a constant struggle
to make ends meet.

780
00:39:27,333 --> 00:39:31,833
The couple always had
second and third jobs.

781
00:39:31,866 --> 00:39:36,233
Laura raised chickens
and took in boarders.

782
00:39:36,266 --> 00:39:38,433
Almanzo tended to
the apple orchard

783
00:39:38,466 --> 00:39:40,766
and delivered kerosene.

784
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:43,600
Their young daughter, Rose,
picked huckleberries to sell

785
00:39:43,633 --> 00:39:47,566
and remembered her childhood
none too fondly.

786
00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:49,800
Brenneman: "No one knew
what went on in my mind.

787
00:39:49,833 --> 00:39:51,133
Because I loved my parents,

788
00:39:51,166 --> 00:39:53,800
I would not let them suspect
that I was suffering.

789
00:39:53,833 --> 00:39:56,766
I concealed from them
how much I felt their poverty,

790
00:39:56,800 --> 00:39:59,033
their struggles
and disappointments.

791
00:39:59,066 --> 00:40:04,600
These filled my life, magnified
like horrors in a dream."

792
00:40:04,633 --> 00:40:06,800
Narrator:
In the spring of 1902,

793
00:40:06,833 --> 00:40:10,033
Laura receives word
that her father is dying.

794
00:40:10,066 --> 00:40:13,500
[ Bell ringing ]

795
00:40:13,533 --> 00:40:17,666
She travels back to De Smet
to see him one last time.

796
00:40:17,700 --> 00:40:19,033
Fraser: It must have been

797
00:40:19,066 --> 00:40:21,066
a really heartbreaking
loss for her,

798
00:40:21,100 --> 00:40:25,900
because she always identified
strongly with her father.

799
00:40:25,933 --> 00:40:27,866
They loved each other.

800
00:40:27,900 --> 00:40:32,033
She always referred to her
earliest memories of him

801
00:40:32,066 --> 00:40:35,566
carrying her, you know,
and singing to her,

802
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:37,866
and, you know, gazing at her.

803
00:40:37,900 --> 00:40:43,533
And I think she felt a security
and a closeness with him

804
00:40:43,566 --> 00:40:46,600
that she never felt
with anybody else.

805
00:40:46,633 --> 00:40:49,933
Narrator: After Charles dies,
Wilder writes an essay about him

806
00:40:49,966 --> 00:40:53,966
filled with the memories
and music of her childhood.

807
00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:57,566
Harper: "All Father needed to
make him happy was his family,

808
00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:01,066
a new, wild country
to live in or travel over,

809
00:41:01,100 --> 00:41:04,700
good hunting and fishing,
some traps, his gun,

810
00:41:04,733 --> 00:41:09,666
two good horses hitched
to a rain-proof covered wagon,

811
00:41:09,700 --> 00:41:12,500
and his violin."

812
00:41:12,533 --> 00:41:14,066
Narrator: The next year,
Rose leaves home

813
00:41:14,100 --> 00:41:16,433
to finish school in Louisiana.

814
00:41:16,466 --> 00:41:18,433
She is 16.

815
00:41:18,466 --> 00:41:21,300
Woodside: She thought that she
had had the worst childhood ever

816
00:41:21,333 --> 00:41:23,066
and she couldn't wait
to get away from the farm.

817
00:41:23,100 --> 00:41:25,600
For a long time,
she felt that way.

818
00:41:25,633 --> 00:41:28,733
Sarah: She doesn't fit in
the world that she's born into.

819
00:41:28,766 --> 00:41:32,066
It's too small.
It doesn't suit her.

820
00:41:32,100 --> 00:41:33,366
She was stubborn.

821
00:41:33,400 --> 00:41:36,266
She was very, very forceful,
I think, in her opinions.

822
00:41:36,300 --> 00:41:37,800
She taught herself to read.

823
00:41:37,833 --> 00:41:40,233
When she discovered,
like, how to write

824
00:41:40,266 --> 00:41:43,166
she just loved the act
of writing so much

825
00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:46,666
that she was harming
her arm and her hand.

826
00:41:46,700 --> 00:41:48,700
They had to make her stop,

827
00:41:48,733 --> 00:41:51,766
and she was not
but 4 or 5 years old.

828
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:55,766
She just had this fascination
right from the get-go

829
00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:59,200
with language,
with words, with writing.

830
00:41:59,233 --> 00:42:02,066
Narrator: Fittingly, Rose went
on to a career as a writer

831
00:42:02,100 --> 00:42:05,000
and then urges her mother
to do the same.

832
00:42:05,033 --> 00:42:07,100
Sarah: Rose had always
had this preoccupation

833
00:42:07,133 --> 00:42:10,533
with her parents'
financial stability

834
00:42:10,566 --> 00:42:13,066
and for quite some time
is urging her mother

835
00:42:13,100 --> 00:42:16,500
to do something in addition
to supplement the farm income.

836
00:42:16,533 --> 00:42:20,366
So Rose encourages her to write.

837
00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:22,333
Narrator: And Laura begins
writing articles

838
00:42:22,366 --> 00:42:25,566
for the <i>Missouri Ruralist</i> in 1911.

839
00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:28,733
Anderson: Laura Ingalls Wilder
earned money

840
00:42:28,766 --> 00:42:33,133
as a country journalist
and the secretary treasurer

841
00:42:33,166 --> 00:42:36,766
of the Mansfield Farm
Loan Association.

842
00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:38,033
John:
The articles that she wrote,

843
00:42:38,066 --> 00:42:41,133
about 1,000 words twice a month,

844
00:42:41,166 --> 00:42:44,366
were stories
that helped people under...

845
00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:47,600
mainly women,
because it's a women's page...

846
00:42:47,633 --> 00:42:50,333
understand who they were
and what they were doing,

847
00:42:50,366 --> 00:42:52,166
how they could be
better farmers,

848
00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:55,366
how they could be better
community citizens.

849
00:42:55,400 --> 00:42:58,400
It's all about improving people,

850
00:42:58,433 --> 00:43:00,633
making them happier,

851
00:43:00,666 --> 00:43:04,833
and she's a...
she's an ethicist.

852
00:43:04,866 --> 00:43:09,133
Hill: She already had an arsenal
of writing skills under her belt

853
00:43:09,166 --> 00:43:12,766
when she started writing
the "Little House" books.

854
00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:14,266
Anderson: And I think

855
00:43:14,300 --> 00:43:16,833
Laura Ingalls Wilder's
early poverty

856
00:43:16,866 --> 00:43:22,066
challenged her to work hard,
use her talents,

857
00:43:22,100 --> 00:43:26,566
and give 120% effort

858
00:43:26,600 --> 00:43:31,566
to edge them into middle-class
somewhat security.

859
00:43:31,600 --> 00:43:33,066
[ Train whistle blows ]

860
00:43:33,100 --> 00:43:36,666
Narrator: In 1915, Wilder
takes a train to San Francisco

861
00:43:36,700 --> 00:43:38,800
to visit Rose.

862
00:43:38,833 --> 00:43:42,966
Sarah: When the World's Fair
is happening in San Francisco,

863
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:47,100
Laura goes out there with an eye
toward learning more from Rose,

864
00:43:47,133 --> 00:43:50,266
observing the Fair, you know,
having... having this broader

865
00:43:50,300 --> 00:43:52,700
sort of pool of experiences
to pull from,

866
00:43:52,733 --> 00:43:55,533
and also to be tutored by Rose

867
00:43:55,566 --> 00:43:59,666
so that her writing
can be more commercial

868
00:43:59,700 --> 00:44:04,200
or reach a broader audience.

869
00:44:04,233 --> 00:44:06,366
Narrator:
Rose is making $30 a week

870
00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:08,566
writing fictionalized,
first-person accounts

871
00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:11,466
of criminals, hero cops,
and stool pigeons

872
00:44:11,500 --> 00:44:13,700
for the <i>San Francisco Bulletin.</i>

873
00:44:13,733 --> 00:44:15,933
And her stories are advertised
as having

874
00:44:15,966 --> 00:44:19,700
"the authority of truth,
the power of reality."

875
00:44:19,733 --> 00:44:21,900
Hill:
Rose became her mother's editor

876
00:44:21,933 --> 00:44:24,933
and urged Laura Ingalls Wilder
to think big,

877
00:44:24,966 --> 00:44:28,300
to think beyond just writing
for the
<i>Missouri Ruralist.</i>

878
00:44:28,333 --> 00:44:29,833
Narrator: Wilder returns home,

879
00:44:29,866 --> 00:44:33,200
newly determined to find
a larger audience.

880
00:44:33,233 --> 00:44:36,166
At Rose's suggestion,
she eventually writes an article

881
00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:37,866
about her kitchen.

882
00:44:37,900 --> 00:44:39,700
It sells to<i>
Country Gentleman Magazine</i>

883
00:44:39,733 --> 00:44:41,933
in 1924.

884
00:44:41,966 --> 00:44:46,500
Laura appears to have bristled
during the editing process.

885
00:44:46,533 --> 00:44:48,733
Brenneman:
"I'm sorry that, as you say,

886
00:44:48,766 --> 00:44:52,533
knowing it was my work that sold
takes some of the joy out of it.

887
00:44:52,566 --> 00:44:55,966
Dearest Mama Bess, in some ways,
you're like a frolicsome dog

888
00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:58,200
that won't stand still
to listen.

889
00:44:58,233 --> 00:45:00,866
Please, please, listen.

890
00:45:00,900 --> 00:45:04,433
All I did on your story
was an ordinary re-write job.

891
00:45:04,466 --> 00:45:08,700
You must understand that what
sold was your article, edited.

892
00:45:08,733 --> 00:45:11,000
You must study
how it was edited, and why,

893
00:45:11,033 --> 00:45:12,533
and just what was done,

894
00:45:12,566 --> 00:45:17,700
so that next time, you can do
the editing yourself."

895
00:45:17,733 --> 00:45:20,733
Narrator: When Caroline Ingalls
dies that same year,

896
00:45:20,766 --> 00:45:22,900
Wilder publishes
an emotional column

897
00:45:22,933 --> 00:45:26,100
in the
<i>Missouri Ruralist
about her mother.</i>

898
00:45:26,133 --> 00:45:28,433
Harper: "The world seemed
a lonesome place

899
00:45:28,466 --> 00:45:33,300
when Mother has passed away
and only memories are left us.

900
00:45:33,333 --> 00:45:34,666
Memories.

901
00:45:34,700 --> 00:45:38,500
Sometimes I wonder if they
are our treasures in heaven

902
00:45:38,533 --> 00:45:43,800
or the consuming fires
of torment."

903
00:45:43,833 --> 00:45:47,300
Fraser: And it was really
remarkable as a statement,

904
00:45:47,333 --> 00:45:50,300
because she's really reacting
to her mother's death.

905
00:45:50,333 --> 00:45:55,500
And it shows you how very few

906
00:45:55,533 --> 00:46:00,033
spontaneous remarks
we have from her.

907
00:46:00,066 --> 00:46:02,566
Most of what she wrote

908
00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:07,700
was very considered
and restrained and controlled.

909
00:46:07,733 --> 00:46:12,066
But that one passage
about her mother's death

910
00:46:12,100 --> 00:46:16,033
clearly just came in the moment.

911
00:46:16,066 --> 00:46:18,433
Narrator: Laura turns again
to her family memories,

912
00:46:18,466 --> 00:46:21,700
writing to an elderly aunt
in 1925

913
00:46:21,733 --> 00:46:25,066
asking for details about
her mother's childhood.

914
00:46:25,100 --> 00:46:29,133
Harper: "Dear Aunt Martha,
could you, I wonder,

915
00:46:29,166 --> 00:46:32,700
tell the story of those days
and any special stories

916
00:46:32,733 --> 00:46:36,466
that you remember about
the things that happened then?

917
00:46:36,500 --> 00:46:38,166
Just tell it in your own words

918
00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:40,966
as you would tell
about those times

919
00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:43,200
if only you could talk to me."

920
00:46:43,233 --> 00:46:45,400
♪♪♪

921
00:46:45,433 --> 00:46:47,333
Narrator: In 1928, Rose...

922
00:46:47,366 --> 00:46:50,866
now Rose Wilder Lane
after a failed marriage...

923
00:46:50,900 --> 00:46:53,500
returns home
to live at Rocky Ridge.

924
00:46:53,533 --> 00:46:55,500
By now, she has traveled
the world

925
00:46:55,533 --> 00:46:58,800
and is a highly paid writer.

926
00:46:58,833 --> 00:47:02,066
With her earnings, Rose builds
her parents a modern house

927
00:47:02,100 --> 00:47:06,766
on a corner of the farm,
and she spends lavishly.

928
00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:11,266
Then the Financial Crash of 1929
and the resulting Depression

929
00:47:11,300 --> 00:47:14,333
leaves the whole family
in terrible straits.

930
00:47:14,366 --> 00:47:19,066
In her diary, Rose recalled
just how bad things had become.

931
00:47:19,100 --> 00:47:22,133
Brenneman: "Our accounts
are gone. This is the end.

932
00:47:22,166 --> 00:47:25,733
Price levels have fallen
below costs."

933
00:47:25,766 --> 00:47:29,833
Narrator: By 1931, Laura had
written the story of her life...

934
00:47:29,866 --> 00:47:31,966
"Pioneer Girl."

935
00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:36,033
Fraser: Writing the memoir
is both her lifelong dream...

936
00:47:36,066 --> 00:47:39,433
you know, she has talked
about this for a long time.

937
00:47:39,466 --> 00:47:42,733
But it's also very
economically motivated,

938
00:47:42,766 --> 00:47:47,166
because I think Laura looks
at her daughter

939
00:47:47,200 --> 00:47:49,766
and sees a woman who

940
00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:52,300
has been very successful
in a lot of ways,

941
00:47:52,333 --> 00:47:54,100
has made a lot of money.

942
00:47:54,133 --> 00:47:56,000
Woodside:
Rose took the manuscript,

943
00:47:56,033 --> 00:47:59,933
and she typed it all up,
and she edited it as she went

944
00:47:59,966 --> 00:48:02,433
smoothed it over and gave it
a little bit of structure,

945
00:48:02,466 --> 00:48:05,433
but she didn't do much
to it at all.

946
00:48:05,466 --> 00:48:07,700
And the next time
she went to New York

947
00:48:07,733 --> 00:48:10,533
to try to get work
and see her agent,

948
00:48:10,566 --> 00:48:12,933
she tried to sell it.

949
00:48:12,966 --> 00:48:14,566
Narrator:
With the Depression on,

950
00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:17,266
a memoir about the harsh
realities of frontier life

951
00:48:17,300 --> 00:48:19,866
held no interest for publishers.

952
00:48:19,900 --> 00:48:23,666
"Pioneer Girl"
is turned down everywhere.

953
00:48:23,700 --> 00:48:26,566
Without consulting her mother,
Rose takes some passages

954
00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:27,866
from "Pioneer Girl,"

955
00:48:27,900 --> 00:48:31,333
turns them into "When Grandma
Was a Little Girl,"

956
00:48:31,366 --> 00:48:34,833
and helps launch her mother
as a children's author.

957
00:48:34,866 --> 00:48:37,366
Woodside: When you look at
"Little House in the Big Woods,"

958
00:48:37,400 --> 00:48:38,600
we see a lot of proof

959
00:48:38,633 --> 00:48:43,300
that Rose had a great deal
of involvement in...

960
00:48:43,333 --> 00:48:48,100
in major revisions to that
once they were expanding on it.

961
00:48:48,133 --> 00:48:49,933
Narrator:
"Little House in the Big Woods,"

962
00:48:49,966 --> 00:48:52,366
with illustrations
by Helen Sewell,

963
00:48:52,400 --> 00:48:55,666
was published in April 1932.

964
00:48:55,700 --> 00:48:57,466
The

965
00:48:55,700 --> 00:48:57,466
<i>New York Times
book review praised</i>

966
00:48:57,500 --> 00:49:00,966
its "refreshingly genuine
and lifelike quality,"

967
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:03,666
noting that "the portrait
of Laura's father

968
00:49:03,700 --> 00:49:07,000
is drawn with loving care
and reality."

969
00:49:07,033 --> 00:49:09,033
Fraser: I think
her relationship to her father

970
00:49:09,066 --> 00:49:12,600
is kind of unique in children's
literature in a lot of ways.

971
00:49:12,633 --> 00:49:14,833
There are a lot of bad fathers

972
00:49:14,866 --> 00:49:16,533
[Laughing]
in children's literature,

973
00:49:16,566 --> 00:49:20,166
a lot of scary,

974
00:49:20,200 --> 00:49:24,733
punitive, even abusive fathers.

975
00:49:24,766 --> 00:49:28,333
But her relationship
to Charles Ingalls

976
00:49:28,366 --> 00:49:32,333
was really special
in... in its closeness.

977
00:49:32,366 --> 00:49:34,433
John: Pa getting down
on his hands and knees

978
00:49:34,466 --> 00:49:36,666
and playing mad dog
with the girls

979
00:49:36,700 --> 00:49:38,466
and playing his fiddle

980
00:49:38,500 --> 00:49:41,733
and telling all the stories
and everything,

981
00:49:41,766 --> 00:49:44,533
I think Pa was an unusual
father for the time.

982
00:49:44,566 --> 00:49:46,200
He seems very modern

983
00:49:46,233 --> 00:49:49,533
in the way in which he connected
with his girls.

984
00:49:49,566 --> 00:49:50,666
He didn't have any boys.

985
00:49:50,700 --> 00:49:52,966
Maybe that had something
to do with it.

986
00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:57,133
♪♪♪

987
00:49:57,166 --> 00:49:58,966
Newsreel narrator: "Almost
immediately upon taking office,

988
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:01,766
the new President closed
all banks by proclamation."

989
00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:04,466
Sarah: Politically,
she's writing at a time

990
00:50:04,500 --> 00:50:08,500
when FDR is in the White House
and is apparently never leaving,

991
00:50:08,533 --> 00:50:10,466
and she doesn't like him
very much at all.

992
00:50:10,500 --> 00:50:12,833
And she feels that people

993
00:50:12,866 --> 00:50:16,300
are just... can't find
their bootstraps.

994
00:50:16,333 --> 00:50:18,966
And I think that informs the way

995
00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:21,933
that she tells
the story of her life

996
00:50:21,966 --> 00:50:24,766
to... to make the Ingalls family
so independent

997
00:50:24,800 --> 00:50:26,700
and so self-reliant

998
00:50:26,733 --> 00:50:31,433
when that was not,
in fact, always the case.

999
00:50:31,466 --> 00:50:32,733
Newsreel narrator:
"Aimed at benefiting the farmer

1000
00:50:32,766 --> 00:50:35,266
by reducing wheat, corn,
and cotton crops,

1001
00:50:35,300 --> 00:50:38,400
the AAA was enacted."

1002
00:50:38,433 --> 00:50:41,800
Woodside: They both were sort of
physically ill over FDR

1003
00:50:41,833 --> 00:50:43,133
and the New Deal.

1004
00:50:43,166 --> 00:50:45,966
They felt that it was just

1005
00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:48,733
a really inappropriate
response to hard times.

1006
00:50:48,766 --> 00:50:51,133
They had seen hard times.

1007
00:50:51,166 --> 00:50:53,300
Why did the government
want to help people?

1008
00:50:53,333 --> 00:50:55,966
And Laura thought that everybody
was starting to whine

1009
00:50:56,000 --> 00:50:57,433
in response to the New Deal.

1010
00:50:57,466 --> 00:51:00,333
She just couldn't stand it.
It made her sick.

1011
00:51:00,366 --> 00:51:02,300
Harper:
"Lord, give me patience!

1012
00:51:02,333 --> 00:51:07,300
How exasperating a bunch of
Communists in Washington can be!

1013
00:51:07,333 --> 00:51:09,466
[ Sighs ]
I suppose all we can do

1014
00:51:09,500 --> 00:51:11,233
is await their pleasure.

1015
00:51:11,266 --> 00:51:14,466
Give them time enough,
and they will put us all

1016
00:51:14,500 --> 00:51:19,166
on the Federal payroll
or on the relief."

1017
00:51:19,200 --> 00:51:21,033
Narrator: Ironically,
the Wilders themselves

1018
00:51:21,066 --> 00:51:24,066
had already benefited
from a federal program...

1019
00:51:24,100 --> 00:51:26,400
a farm loan taken
when Laura was working

1020
00:51:26,433 --> 00:51:29,333
at the Mansfield
Farm Loan Association.

1021
00:51:29,366 --> 00:51:31,333
♪♪♪

1022
00:51:31,366 --> 00:51:33,700
Debuting in the early days
of the Depression,

1023
00:51:33,733 --> 00:51:35,366
"Little House in the Big Woods"

1024
00:51:35,400 --> 00:51:38,333
seemed tailor-made
for the times.

1025
00:51:38,366 --> 00:51:41,300
Fraser:
And so I think she had

1026
00:51:41,333 --> 00:51:45,866
a bit of a message there
for children about poverty,

1027
00:51:45,900 --> 00:51:48,533
that it's nothing
to be ashamed of.

1028
00:51:48,566 --> 00:51:52,966
If there's love in the family,
if there's pleasures

1029
00:51:53,000 --> 00:51:57,700
in life from a simple meal
or from music,

1030
00:51:57,733 --> 00:52:02,566
that that's enough in life.

1031
00:52:02,600 --> 00:52:05,266
Anderson:
Without being overly moralistic,

1032
00:52:05,300 --> 00:52:07,233
the "Little House"
books stressed

1033
00:52:07,266 --> 00:52:11,100
self-responsibility,
community cooperation,

1034
00:52:11,133 --> 00:52:14,133
taking care of one's
needs oneself,

1035
00:52:14,166 --> 00:52:19,633
and with these goals, a person
could be free and independent.

1036
00:52:19,666 --> 00:52:21,233
Narrator:
After such a good reception

1037
00:52:21,266 --> 00:52:23,133
for "Little House
in the Big Woods,"

1038
00:52:23,166 --> 00:52:26,733
the question was
what to do next.

1039
00:52:26,766 --> 00:52:29,400
Woodside: Laura's idea evidently
was, "Well, let...

1040
00:52:29,433 --> 00:52:33,166
Well, okay, we've done
my... my life story,

1041
00:52:33,200 --> 00:52:36,400
so now let's do
my husband's life story."

1042
00:52:36,433 --> 00:52:37,833
Wilder: "Farmer Boy" was written

1043
00:52:37,866 --> 00:52:41,300
from facts and stories
Almanzo told me.

1044
00:52:41,333 --> 00:52:43,166
They are all true.

1045
00:52:43,200 --> 00:52:46,533
The old house just as described
in the book

1046
00:52:46,566 --> 00:52:51,900
still stands on the old farm
where Almanzo worked and played

1047
00:52:51,933 --> 00:52:55,333
and went fishing on rainy days.

1048
00:52:55,366 --> 00:52:57,066
Woodside:
Laura sat down with Almanzo

1049
00:52:57,100 --> 00:53:01,000
probably in the evenings
and mined his memory for things,

1050
00:53:01,033 --> 00:53:05,300
and she wrote a manuscript
of "Farmer Boy,"

1051
00:53:05,333 --> 00:53:08,900
and then Rose edited it fairly
quickly, and they sent it in,

1052
00:53:08,933 --> 00:53:11,866
and they had to rewrite
that one completely.

1053
00:53:11,900 --> 00:53:14,066
Narrator: As part of improving
the manuscript,

1054
00:53:14,100 --> 00:53:15,566
Rose took a research trip

1055
00:53:15,600 --> 00:53:18,333
to Malone, New York,
her father's birthplace.

1056
00:53:18,366 --> 00:53:21,066
After substantial revisions
with Rose,

1057
00:53:21,100 --> 00:53:24,266
Laura resubmits "Farmer Boy."

1058
00:53:24,300 --> 00:53:26,033
Raymond: "My Dear Mrs. Wilder,

1059
00:53:26,066 --> 00:53:28,533
I have finished reading
the new version of 'Farmer
Boy.'

1060
00:53:28,566 --> 00:53:30,433
And I feel it is
a much more cohesive

1061
00:53:30,466 --> 00:53:33,266
piece of work than before."

1062
00:53:33,300 --> 00:53:36,166
Hill: Somewhere as she was
writing that second book,

1063
00:53:36,200 --> 00:53:39,133
she began to think
in broader terms.

1064
00:53:39,166 --> 00:53:42,533
So when we get to
"Little House on the Prairie,"

1065
00:53:42,566 --> 00:53:44,600
that's a totally different
kind of book,

1066
00:53:44,633 --> 00:53:46,866
and here, for the first time,

1067
00:53:46,900 --> 00:53:49,833
we kind of see
Laura Ingalls Wilder's vision

1068
00:53:49,866 --> 00:53:52,233
for the series about the West

1069
00:53:52,266 --> 00:53:55,100
and about how the West
was settled.

1070
00:53:55,133 --> 00:53:57,200
Harper:
"I am satisfied with the title

1071
00:53:57,233 --> 00:53:58,933
'Little House on the Prairie.'

1072
00:53:58,966 --> 00:54:02,300
I suggested it
thinking it had a selling value

1073
00:54:02,333 --> 00:54:06,366
because of the other
'Little House' stories."

1074
00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:07,866
Narrator:
"Little House On The Prairie"

1075
00:54:07,900 --> 00:54:10,966
is followed by
"On the Banks of Plum Creek,"

1076
00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:14,400
and the books will soon
be marketed as a series.

1077
00:54:14,433 --> 00:54:16,533
"Plum Creek" is the first
of Wilder's books

1078
00:54:16,566 --> 00:54:19,833
to receive a runner-up honor
from the Newbery Awards,

1079
00:54:19,866 --> 00:54:21,833
the coveted stamp
from librarians

1080
00:54:21,866 --> 00:54:25,300
that signals distinguished
children's literature.

1081
00:54:25,333 --> 00:54:27,100
Fraser: I think the books
had great word of mouth

1082
00:54:27,133 --> 00:54:30,300
among librarians
and... and school teachers,

1083
00:54:30,333 --> 00:54:33,300
who began reading them
to their classes.

1084
00:54:33,333 --> 00:54:34,866
Teacher: Describe Laura.

1085
00:54:34,900 --> 00:54:37,700
What is her personality like?

1086
00:54:37,733 --> 00:54:39,333
Anderson:
They simply became part

1087
00:54:39,366 --> 00:54:43,233
of many, many teachers'
curriculums.

1088
00:54:43,266 --> 00:54:46,033
And I think the teachers loved
reading the books

1089
00:54:46,066 --> 00:54:48,733
and introducing them
to the children.

1090
00:54:48,766 --> 00:54:51,766
And the children responded well.

1091
00:54:51,800 --> 00:54:54,000
Narrator: When "Plum Creek"
is about to go on sale,

1092
00:54:54,033 --> 00:54:56,700
Wilder appears
at the Detroit Book Fair,

1093
00:54:56,733 --> 00:55:00,300
her first and only time
on a national stage.

1094
00:55:00,333 --> 00:55:02,800
There, her description of how
the "Little House" books

1095
00:55:02,833 --> 00:55:06,866
came to be becomes a bigger
and better story.

1096
00:55:06,900 --> 00:55:09,733
Harper: "I wanted the children
now to understand more

1097
00:55:09,766 --> 00:55:12,900
about the beginning of things...

1098
00:55:12,933 --> 00:55:16,933
to know what is behind
the things they see,

1099
00:55:16,966 --> 00:55:21,166
what it is that made America
as they know it."

1100
00:55:21,200 --> 00:55:22,933
Narrator: With these remarks
to booksellers,

1101
00:55:22,966 --> 00:55:25,000
Wilder is mythologizing...

1102
00:55:25,033 --> 00:55:28,066
about the perpetual promise
of moving West...

1103
00:55:28,100 --> 00:55:30,100
and about herself.

1104
00:55:30,133 --> 00:55:32,466
Sarah: Laura Ingalls Wilder
had a lot of responsibility

1105
00:55:32,500 --> 00:55:34,300
in... in forming the myth.

1106
00:55:34,333 --> 00:55:36,300
Just always insisted
that everything in the books

1107
00:55:36,333 --> 00:55:38,100
was true, true, true.

1108
00:55:38,133 --> 00:55:42,033
And Rose also, you know,
went on with that legacy,

1109
00:55:42,066 --> 00:55:47,100
that insistence
that this was biographical

1110
00:55:47,133 --> 00:55:49,666
more than fiction.

1111
00:55:49,700 --> 00:55:52,600
And it's... it's just not so.

1112
00:55:52,633 --> 00:55:54,666
Narrator: And yet at the close
of her speech,

1113
00:55:54,700 --> 00:55:56,500
Wilder pointedly says,

1114
00:55:56,533 --> 00:56:01,233
"All I have told is true
but not the whole truth."

1115
00:56:01,266 --> 00:56:04,300
Fraser: [ Chuckling ] It's very
clear that she wanted to believe

1116
00:56:04,333 --> 00:56:05,566
her own fiction.

1117
00:56:05,600 --> 00:56:10,233
You know, she began trying
to sell it as the truth.

1118
00:56:10,266 --> 00:56:14,600
And so that's, you know, what
we keep coming back to it for

1119
00:56:14,633 --> 00:56:17,966
is... is to f...
try to figure that out.

1120
00:56:18,000 --> 00:56:19,700
And yet, part of the joy

1121
00:56:19,733 --> 00:56:23,666
of reading the books
is... is their emotionalism.

1122
00:56:23,700 --> 00:56:26,466
And that's what keeps people
coming back to it.

1123
00:56:26,500 --> 00:56:30,166
It's not because
they're political texts.

1124
00:56:30,200 --> 00:56:34,633
It's not because they have
something to say about,

1125
00:56:34,666 --> 00:56:37,966
you know, pulling yourself up
by your bootstraps,

1126
00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:40,400
although they do.

1127
00:56:40,433 --> 00:56:43,233
But that's not why people
read them.

1128
00:56:43,266 --> 00:56:45,200
Narrator: The letters
between Rose and Laura

1129
00:56:45,233 --> 00:56:46,766
during writing
of the fifth novel,

1130
00:56:46,800 --> 00:56:48,766
"By the Shores of Silver Lake,"

1131
00:56:48,800 --> 00:56:52,033
reveal how mother
and daughter worked together.

1132
00:56:52,066 --> 00:56:54,433
Woodside: Rose had the gift
of structuring the novel.

1133
00:56:54,466 --> 00:56:57,000
She understood
if you're narrating a novel,

1134
00:56:57,033 --> 00:57:00,400
it must be through whatever
narrative voice you choose.

1135
00:57:00,433 --> 00:57:02,233
Laura did not know
anything about that,

1136
00:57:02,266 --> 00:57:03,600
so she would say...

1137
00:57:03,633 --> 00:57:06,433
There's a famous letter
where she writes her about...

1138
00:57:06,466 --> 00:57:08,100
you know,
"This is Laura's story.

1139
00:57:08,133 --> 00:57:10,800
You must stay inside Laura."

1140
00:57:10,833 --> 00:57:14,066
Brenneman: "Try always
to make sight, scent,

1141
00:57:14,100 --> 00:57:17,766
sensation immediate.

1142
00:57:17,800 --> 00:57:20,633
'So Laura took the lines
in her hands, ' is better than,

1143
00:57:20,666 --> 00:57:23,033
'so Laura drove
the black ponies.'

1144
00:57:23,066 --> 00:57:26,100
Get it all directly,
as sight, emotion,

1145
00:57:26,133 --> 00:57:27,966
thought, scent.

1146
00:57:28,000 --> 00:57:30,966
Don't say, 'It reminded Laura
of other times.'

1147
00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:34,033
Say, 'This was like
other times.'

1148
00:57:34,066 --> 00:57:37,533
Stay inside Laura."

1149
00:57:37,566 --> 00:57:38,900
Narrator:
There were many arguments

1150
00:57:38,933 --> 00:57:42,966
over how "By the Shores
of Silver Lake" should start.

1151
00:57:43,000 --> 00:57:45,633
Brenneman: "Dear Mama Bess,
I still think the place to begin

1152
00:57:45,666 --> 00:57:47,300
is on the house on Plum Creek.

1153
00:57:47,333 --> 00:57:49,900
There are four years to skip
if Laura is 12.

1154
00:57:49,933 --> 00:57:53,200
She was 8 in Plum Creek
when she started to school.

1155
00:57:53,233 --> 00:57:54,533
Therefore, the more nearly

1156
00:57:54,566 --> 00:57:56,900
you can tie the two books
together, the better,

1157
00:57:56,933 --> 00:57:59,300
and the house on Plum Creek
will do that.

1158
00:57:59,333 --> 00:58:01,200
It seems to me
that this book is about

1159
00:58:01,233 --> 00:58:03,000
railroad and town-building.

1160
00:58:03,033 --> 00:58:06,133
Let's get the theme of this one
clear right away."

1161
00:58:06,166 --> 00:58:08,166
Harper: "Rose dearest,

1162
00:58:08,200 --> 00:58:11,766
to make the changes
you want to make in Silver Lake,

1163
00:58:11,800 --> 00:58:15,300
it will have to be
practically rewritten.

1164
00:58:15,333 --> 00:58:18,966
The theme of Silver Lake
is
<i>homesteading.</i>

1165
00:58:19,000 --> 00:58:22,266
I am sure this is all plain
in the story.

1166
00:58:22,300 --> 00:58:24,666
I have given you a true picture
of the time

1167
00:58:24,700 --> 00:58:27,033
and the place and the people.

1168
00:58:27,066 --> 00:58:29,700
Please don't blur it.

1169
00:58:29,733 --> 00:58:32,166
But I know you won't."

1170
00:58:32,200 --> 00:58:35,433
Brenneman: "Dear Mama Bess, you
are one of the very few writers

1171
00:58:35,466 --> 00:58:37,866
in the country who would
turn down a collaboration

1172
00:58:37,900 --> 00:58:41,133
with Rose Wilder Lane,
but go ahead.

1173
00:58:41,166 --> 00:58:42,833
You certainly are
handling the material

1174
00:58:42,866 --> 00:58:44,033
much better all the time,

1175
00:58:44,066 --> 00:58:46,066
and if you don't want
this book touched,

1176
00:58:46,100 --> 00:58:49,433
you're absolutely right
not to have it touched."

1177
00:58:49,466 --> 00:58:51,233
Narrator:
And if Rose had prevailed,

1178
00:58:51,266 --> 00:58:53,900
Mary would never
have been blind.

1179
00:58:53,933 --> 00:58:57,033
Brenneman: "I am still doubtful
about Mary's being blind.

1180
00:58:57,066 --> 00:59:00,133
Why? If she must be blind,
her blindness

1181
00:59:00,166 --> 00:59:03,100
should be brought in
as the end of an illness.

1182
00:59:03,133 --> 00:59:05,166
I can handle this,
if you agree to it.

1183
00:59:05,200 --> 00:59:06,366
Only write me a letter

1184
00:59:06,400 --> 00:59:09,733
telling me all about
what actually happened."

1185
00:59:09,766 --> 00:59:11,466
Narrator: But Laura insisted.

1186
00:59:11,500 --> 00:59:15,000
Harper: "I can't take Mary along
in the story

1187
00:59:15,033 --> 00:59:18,766
as she should be
if she were not blind.

1188
00:59:18,800 --> 00:59:20,600
She would not fit in.

1189
00:59:20,633 --> 00:59:24,633
A touch of tragedy
makes the story truer to life

1190
00:59:24,666 --> 00:59:27,400
and showing the way
we all took it

1191
00:59:27,433 --> 00:59:31,933
illustrates the spirit
of the times and the frontier."

1192
00:59:31,966 --> 00:59:33,900
Narrator: Wilder's description
of Mary's blindness

1193
00:59:33,933 --> 00:59:36,900
is arguably one of the most
affecting scenes

1194
00:59:36,933 --> 00:59:39,266
in all of her books.

1195
00:59:39,300 --> 00:59:41,866
Young woman: "Her blue eyes
were still beautiful,

1196
00:59:41,900 --> 00:59:44,300
but they did not know
what was before them,

1197
00:59:44,333 --> 00:59:46,933
and Mary herself could never
look through them again

1198
00:59:46,966 --> 00:59:51,200
to tell Laura what she was
thinking without saying a word."

1199
00:59:51,233 --> 00:59:53,066
Narrator: While they are working
on "Silver Lake,"

1200
00:59:53,100 --> 00:59:55,366
Rose writes to her mother
about their partnership

1201
00:59:55,400 --> 00:59:58,766
and gives her
very specific advice.

1202
00:59:58,800 --> 01:00:02,433
Brenneman: "As to similarity
in our writing, of course.

1203
01:00:02,466 --> 01:00:04,600
You often write lines
and whole paragraphs

1204
01:00:04,633 --> 01:00:06,266
that I feel are
what I would have written

1205
01:00:06,300 --> 01:00:08,866
or, anyway, wish I had.

1206
01:00:08,900 --> 01:00:11,233
What you haven't developed
is structure,

1207
01:00:11,266 --> 01:00:14,200
a kind of under-rhythm in
the whole body of the writing,

1208
01:00:14,233 --> 01:00:16,766
and a 'pointing up'
here and there.

1209
01:00:16,800 --> 01:00:19,433
English is
an impressionistic language,

1210
01:00:19,466 --> 01:00:22,533
an onomatopoeic language.

1211
01:00:22,566 --> 01:00:27,100
It has the quality of a sunrise
or a landscape,

1212
01:00:27,133 --> 01:00:28,900
a meaning in feeling.

1213
01:00:28,933 --> 01:00:31,966
Essentially, it is poetry."

1214
01:00:32,000 --> 01:00:34,600
Woodside: I would call it
a full-blown collaboration.

1215
01:00:34,633 --> 01:00:37,066
They were partners
in the project.

1216
01:00:37,100 --> 01:00:40,566
They conceived it together,
they wrote it together,

1217
01:00:40,600 --> 01:00:43,700
and they edited it together.

1218
01:00:43,733 --> 01:00:45,900
Hill: She was a fine editor.

1219
01:00:45,933 --> 01:00:49,200
And I think we're all indebted
to her editorial skills

1220
01:00:49,233 --> 01:00:51,700
on the "Little House" books.

1221
01:00:51,733 --> 01:00:55,133
Fraser:
She's not easy to like always,

1222
01:00:55,166 --> 01:00:57,200
and yet it's very doubtful

1223
01:00:57,233 --> 01:01:00,366
that we... we would have
the "Little House" books

1224
01:01:00,400 --> 01:01:03,333
if it weren't for Rose
with her encouragement,

1225
01:01:03,366 --> 01:01:05,066
her urging her mother on,

1226
01:01:05,100 --> 01:01:08,200
her bullying her mother
sometimes,

1227
01:01:08,233 --> 01:01:10,900
her professional connections

1228
01:01:10,933 --> 01:01:14,000
to agents and publishers
in New York.

1229
01:01:14,033 --> 01:01:17,000
She was crucial
in this whole thing.

1230
01:01:17,033 --> 01:01:20,533
Anderson: Rose was at the apex
of her career,

1231
01:01:20,566 --> 01:01:25,233
writing short stories,
magazine serials,

1232
01:01:25,266 --> 01:01:28,400
novels, and works of nonfiction.

1233
01:01:28,433 --> 01:01:33,600
She wanted no taint of being
involved with children's books.

1234
01:01:33,633 --> 01:01:36,833
The children's book
publishing field in the 1930s

1235
01:01:36,866 --> 01:01:40,733
and '40s was minuscule

1236
01:01:40,766 --> 01:01:43,566
in comparison
with what it is today.

1237
01:01:43,600 --> 01:01:48,400
And it was simply not Rose's
wish to get recognized

1238
01:01:48,433 --> 01:01:52,300
as the co-author or editor
of her mother's books.

1239
01:01:52,333 --> 01:01:56,300
And Rose denied any connection
with those books

1240
01:01:56,333 --> 01:01:58,866
to her dying day.

1241
01:01:58,900 --> 01:02:00,800
Narrator:
In fact, Rose had appropriated

1242
01:02:00,833 --> 01:02:03,700
her mother's childhood
for her own material.

1243
01:02:03,733 --> 01:02:05,533
Her novel
"Let the Hurricane Roar"

1244
01:02:05,566 --> 01:02:07,800
is based on the Ingalls family.

1245
01:02:07,833 --> 01:02:11,466
But Rose would become best known
for her political theories.

1246
01:02:11,500 --> 01:02:14,066
Her non-fiction book
"The Discovery of Freedom"

1247
01:02:14,100 --> 01:02:16,133
was published in 1943

1248
01:02:16,166 --> 01:02:21,300
and became fuel for the founding
of the Libertarian Party.

1249
01:02:21,333 --> 01:02:24,566
Around the same time, Laura's
editor, Ursula Nordstrom,

1250
01:02:24,600 --> 01:02:28,833
decides it's time for a new
edition and new illustrations.

1251
01:02:28,866 --> 01:02:30,466
She taps Garth Williams,

1252
01:02:30,500 --> 01:02:33,033
the illustrator of children's
book "Stuart Little"

1253
01:02:33,066 --> 01:02:36,200
and later "Charlotte's Web."

1254
01:02:36,233 --> 01:02:40,400
Williams meets Wilder
at her farmhouse in 1947.

1255
01:02:40,433 --> 01:02:42,333
Williams: She was very lively.

1256
01:02:42,366 --> 01:02:44,833
And she was fixing her garden,
and I sat in the car.

1257
01:02:44,866 --> 01:02:46,433
She didn't know I was there.

1258
01:02:46,466 --> 01:02:48,466
And I watched her,
and she was picking flowers.

1259
01:02:48,500 --> 01:02:51,500
And she bent right down,
and she picked up flowers

1260
01:02:51,533 --> 01:02:53,633
without any trouble at all.

1261
01:02:53,666 --> 01:02:55,066
And I said, "Well, my goodness,

1262
01:02:55,100 --> 01:03:00,400
she looks about 20 or 30 years
younger than she really is."

1263
01:03:00,433 --> 01:03:03,400
Narrator: Wilder shared
her family photos, artifacts,

1264
01:03:03,433 --> 01:03:05,500
and the details of her life.

1265
01:03:05,533 --> 01:03:08,233
Williams wrote down
his impressions.

1266
01:03:08,266 --> 01:03:10,966
Man: "An architect would have
described the sod house

1267
01:03:11,000 --> 01:03:12,866
on the bank of Plum Creek

1268
01:03:12,900 --> 01:03:16,733
as extremely primitive,
unhealthy, and undesirable.

1269
01:03:16,766 --> 01:03:20,700
But to Laura's fresh young eyes,
it was a pleasant house,

1270
01:03:20,733 --> 01:03:24,466
surrounded by flowers and with
the music of a running stream

1271
01:03:24,500 --> 01:03:26,366
and rustling leaves.

1272
01:03:26,400 --> 01:03:29,633
She understood the meaning
of hardship and struggle.

1273
01:03:29,666 --> 01:03:31,866
She never glamorized anything,

1274
01:03:31,900 --> 01:03:35,100
yet she saw the loveliness
in everything.

1275
01:03:35,133 --> 01:03:38,000
This was the way
the illustrator had to follow...

1276
01:03:38,033 --> 01:03:41,766
No glamorizing for him, either."

1277
01:03:41,800 --> 01:03:44,400
Narrator: Shortly before
the new editions were released,

1278
01:03:44,433 --> 01:03:46,000
editor Nordstrom attended

1279
01:03:46,033 --> 01:03:48,866
to some troubling aspects
of the text.

1280
01:03:48,900 --> 01:03:51,466
A letter from the aunt
of an 8-year-old girl

1281
01:03:51,500 --> 01:03:54,266
took issue with a passage from
"Little House on the Prairie"

1282
01:03:54,300 --> 01:03:56,533
that read,
"There were no people.

1283
01:03:56,566 --> 01:03:59,000
Only Indians lived there."

1284
01:03:59,033 --> 01:04:02,400
Responding to the complaint,
Nordstrom said...

1285
01:04:02,433 --> 01:04:04,833
Woman: "I must admit to you
that no one here realized

1286
01:04:04,866 --> 01:04:06,633
that those words
read as they did.

1287
01:04:06,666 --> 01:04:08,933
Reading them now,
it seems unbelievable to me

1288
01:04:08,966 --> 01:04:11,133
that you are the only person
who has picked this up

1289
01:04:11,166 --> 01:04:14,200
in the 20 years
since the book was published."

1290
01:04:14,233 --> 01:04:17,433
Narrator: "A stupid blunder
of mine," Wilder wrote.

1291
01:04:17,466 --> 01:04:19,066
"Of course Indians are people,

1292
01:04:19,100 --> 01:04:22,133
and I did not mean
to imply that they were not."

1293
01:04:22,166 --> 01:04:26,500
The sentence was changed to
"There were no settlers."

1294
01:04:26,533 --> 01:04:27,866
Beane: So, there was the line,

1295
01:04:27,900 --> 01:04:29,833
"There were no people,
only Indians,"

1296
01:04:29,866 --> 01:04:31,600
when they're coming
into the territory.

1297
01:04:31,633 --> 01:04:33,933
And in the 1950s,

1298
01:04:33,966 --> 01:04:36,133
they struck out the word
"people"

1299
01:04:36,166 --> 01:04:38,466
and put in "settlers."

1300
01:04:38,500 --> 01:04:43,566
And it still said, "There were
no settlers, only Indians."

1301
01:04:43,600 --> 01:04:48,433
And why are we "only"?
What does that mean for us?

1302
01:04:48,466 --> 01:04:52,400
And what message does this
give our children?

1303
01:04:52,433 --> 01:04:57,033
John: They had been there
for centuries, if not millennia.

1304
01:04:57,066 --> 01:05:00,300
So Laura was typical
of her times

1305
01:05:00,333 --> 01:05:04,033
and not really having
an understanding of

1306
01:05:04,066 --> 01:05:09,066
or appreciating
the Native American history.

1307
01:05:09,100 --> 01:05:12,600
Park: Even as a young child,
there were parts of the books

1308
01:05:12,633 --> 01:05:15,600
that made me really
uncomfortable or unhappy,

1309
01:05:15,633 --> 01:05:17,900
that I just didn't like reading.

1310
01:05:17,933 --> 01:05:22,033
And how this manifested
to me personally was

1311
01:05:22,066 --> 01:05:25,433
there's a passage in which
Laura is fascinated

1312
01:05:25,466 --> 01:05:30,033
by an Indian baby's
very dark eyes.

1313
01:05:30,066 --> 01:05:31,400
Young woman:
"Then came a mother riding,

1314
01:05:31,433 --> 01:05:34,500
with a baby in a basket
on each side of her pony.

1315
01:05:34,533 --> 01:05:36,266
Laura looked straight
into the bright eyes

1316
01:05:36,300 --> 01:05:38,233
of the little baby nearer her.

1317
01:05:38,266 --> 01:05:41,533
Only its small head showed
above the basket's rim.

1318
01:05:41,566 --> 01:05:43,333
Its hair was as black as a crow,

1319
01:05:43,366 --> 01:05:46,866
and its eyes were black as night
when no stars shine.

1320
01:05:46,900 --> 01:05:49,400
Those black eyes looked
deep into Laura's eyes,

1321
01:05:49,433 --> 01:05:50,633
and she looked deep down

1322
01:05:50,666 --> 01:05:53,266
into the blackness
of that little baby's eyes,

1323
01:05:53,300 --> 01:05:56,466
and she wanted
that one little baby."

1324
01:05:56,500 --> 01:05:57,900
Park: I had very dark eyes.

1325
01:05:57,933 --> 01:05:59,900
So in my childhood mind,

1326
01:05:59,933 --> 01:06:04,000
when Ma said horrible things
about Native Americans,

1327
01:06:04,033 --> 01:06:07,266
it felt like she was saying
horrible things about me.

1328
01:06:07,300 --> 01:06:10,133
Gay: I think I first started
reading the books in 1981.

1329
01:06:10,166 --> 01:06:13,766
So we had very different
sensibilities then.

1330
01:06:13,800 --> 01:06:16,666
It didn't even occur to anyone
to think anything

1331
01:06:16,700 --> 01:06:20,000
of the depictions
of Indians in those books.

1332
01:06:20,033 --> 01:06:22,533
And I think that's
deeply unfortunate,

1333
01:06:22,566 --> 01:06:24,533
and it shows just how much work
we had to do

1334
01:06:24,566 --> 01:06:29,033
with regards to recognizing
the racism of those books.

1335
01:06:29,066 --> 01:06:31,433
Narrator: Nordstrom also asked
Wilder to consider

1336
01:06:31,466 --> 01:06:34,500
cutting a scene from
"Little Town on the Prairie"

1337
01:06:34,533 --> 01:06:40,133
in which Pa appears in blackface
and sings a racist song.

1338
01:06:40,166 --> 01:06:44,333
Wilder agreed, and some of the
offending lyrics were trimmed,

1339
01:06:44,366 --> 01:06:47,066
but the word "darkies"
and the illustration

1340
01:06:47,100 --> 01:06:49,766
can still be found
in the book today.

1341
01:06:49,800 --> 01:06:51,666
Hill:
I know some colleagues have said

1342
01:06:51,700 --> 01:06:55,100
that they wish those scenes
would be cut

1343
01:06:55,133 --> 01:06:57,500
from new versions of the book.

1344
01:06:57,533 --> 01:07:00,700
I don't agree with that.

1345
01:07:00,733 --> 01:07:04,000
It's very disturbing,
but it is part of our history,

1346
01:07:04,033 --> 01:07:07,000
and if we don't talk
about these issues honestly

1347
01:07:07,033 --> 01:07:09,966
with our children,

1348
01:07:10,000 --> 01:07:12,800
we are jeopardizing their future

1349
01:07:12,833 --> 01:07:15,166
and the future of our country.

1350
01:07:15,200 --> 01:07:17,366
Gay: The books just have to be
taught in context,

1351
01:07:17,400 --> 01:07:21,100
and the proper context,
not revisionist context.

1352
01:07:21,133 --> 01:07:24,566
Teacher: Brainstorm
in your groups some new names

1353
01:07:24,600 --> 01:07:28,800
that may be more respectful
to the Native American culture.

1354
01:07:28,833 --> 01:07:31,433
Erdrich: What I see these books
as, basically,

1355
01:07:31,466 --> 01:07:34,500
I would say they're like
"Gone with the Wind" for kids.

1356
01:07:34,533 --> 01:07:38,733
Kids are certainly
gonna love "Little House."

1357
01:07:38,766 --> 01:07:40,800
Grown-ups like
"Gone with the Wind."

1358
01:07:40,833 --> 01:07:43,000
But what is it, really?

1359
01:07:43,033 --> 01:07:49,133
It's a way of valorizing

1360
01:07:49,166 --> 01:07:55,066
the things that destroyed
entire peoples

1361
01:07:55,100 --> 01:07:58,033
in this country.

1362
01:07:58,066 --> 01:07:59,466
Narrator: The racist scenes

1363
01:07:59,500 --> 01:08:02,400
moved the American
Library Association to rename

1364
01:08:02,433 --> 01:08:06,133
its Laura Ingalls Wilder
Lifetime Achievement Award.

1365
01:08:06,166 --> 01:08:08,466
♪♪♪

1366
01:08:08,500 --> 01:08:10,866
In 2018, it was changed

1367
01:08:10,900 --> 01:08:14,300
to the Children's Literature
Legacy Award.

1368
01:08:14,333 --> 01:08:16,266
Goldberg: They took the name
off of the award

1369
01:08:16,300 --> 01:08:18,433
because they didn't feel
they could hold up

1370
01:08:18,466 --> 01:08:23,500
Laura Ingalls Wilder
as a contemporary role model

1371
01:08:23,533 --> 01:08:26,233
for young readers.

1372
01:08:26,266 --> 01:08:30,166
The books are dehumanizing
to children of color.

1373
01:08:30,200 --> 01:08:32,733
And they have a lot
of really damaging messages

1374
01:08:32,766 --> 01:08:35,333
for... for white children.

1375
01:08:35,366 --> 01:08:37,233
Park: I was hurt by those books.

1376
01:08:37,266 --> 01:08:41,066
And that took me 50 years
to reconcile.

1377
01:08:41,100 --> 01:08:43,033
Because the books that
we love as children,

1378
01:08:43,066 --> 01:08:44,700
oh, they're part of us. Right?

1379
01:08:44,733 --> 01:08:49,066
They're... They're... They're
so much a part of our identity.

1380
01:08:49,100 --> 01:08:52,533
♪♪♪

1381
01:08:52,566 --> 01:08:55,366
Narrator: While her books
were growing in popularity,

1382
01:08:55,400 --> 01:08:59,900
Laura and Almanzo
spent their time downsizing.

1383
01:08:59,933 --> 01:09:01,600
They sold most of their land

1384
01:09:01,633 --> 01:09:05,166
and moved back
into their original farmhouse.

1385
01:09:05,200 --> 01:09:08,700
Rose had settled in Connecticut.

1386
01:09:08,733 --> 01:09:11,366
And in the fall of 1949,

1387
01:09:11,400 --> 01:09:15,400
Wilder's beloved Manly suffers
a heart attack and dies.

1388
01:09:15,433 --> 01:09:16,833
Her farmer boy,

1389
01:09:16,866 --> 01:09:22,166
her steadfast partner
of 64 years, was gone.

1390
01:09:22,200 --> 01:09:27,466
Hill: Almanzo Wilder, I think,
was a very tolerant man.

1391
01:09:27,500 --> 01:09:29,666
He had a headstrong wife,

1392
01:09:29,700 --> 01:09:32,166
and he had
a headstrong daughter.

1393
01:09:32,200 --> 01:09:36,166
But I've always viewed Almanzo
as being a kind of feminist.

1394
01:09:36,200 --> 01:09:38,366
And he certainly
emerges that way

1395
01:09:38,400 --> 01:09:40,333
toward the end
of "These Happy Golden Years"

1396
01:09:40,366 --> 01:09:42,433
when he woos Laura.

1397
01:09:42,466 --> 01:09:45,133
So I think he gave her
the freedom

1398
01:09:45,166 --> 01:09:47,300
to be the woman
she needed to be.

1399
01:09:47,333 --> 01:09:53,100
And for the time, that was
very unusual and very rare.

1400
01:09:53,133 --> 01:09:58,466
Anderson: After Almanzo Wilder
died in 1949, Laura was bereft.

1401
01:09:58,500 --> 01:10:01,400
They had had such
a companionable,

1402
01:10:01,433 --> 01:10:03,733
successful marriage.

1403
01:10:03,766 --> 01:10:05,700
Fraser: I think she was
quite lonely after that.

1404
01:10:05,733 --> 01:10:10,766
She mentions
being lonely in letters.

1405
01:10:10,800 --> 01:10:16,233
Rose came intermittently
after Almanzo died.

1406
01:10:16,266 --> 01:10:18,933
Laura's health was...
was not great.

1407
01:10:18,966 --> 01:10:21,766
You know, she was pretty frail.

1408
01:10:21,800 --> 01:10:24,100
There were some kids
who lived nearby

1409
01:10:24,133 --> 01:10:26,100
who kind of,
you know, worked for her.

1410
01:10:26,133 --> 01:10:27,833
[ Laughing ] You know,
she would pay them a quarter,

1411
01:10:27,866 --> 01:10:31,766
and they would go
fetch the mail for her.

1412
01:10:31,800 --> 01:10:34,233
Anderson:
I think she was very gratified

1413
01:10:34,266 --> 01:10:36,866
by the success
of the "Little House" books.

1414
01:10:36,900 --> 01:10:39,733
It was probably the culmination

1415
01:10:39,766 --> 01:10:44,800
of her long, hardworking life.

1416
01:10:44,833 --> 01:10:49,166
She loved the fact that she had
memorialized her own family,

1417
01:10:49,200 --> 01:10:51,933
preserved her father's stories,

1418
01:10:51,966 --> 01:10:57,266
achieves a degree
of financial success.

1419
01:10:57,300 --> 01:11:01,100
She loved the letters
that children sent to her.

1420
01:11:01,133 --> 01:11:04,700
And friends that would
drop in would remark,

1421
01:11:04,733 --> 01:11:08,033
"I seldom came here
to visit Mrs. Wilder

1422
01:11:08,066 --> 01:11:11,900
and didn't find her
working on her fan mail."

1423
01:11:11,933 --> 01:11:14,066
Narrator: A few days
after her 90th birthday,

1424
01:11:14,100 --> 01:11:19,033
with Rose by her side,
Laura dies at home.

1425
01:11:19,066 --> 01:11:24,800
Rose, Wilder's only child,
would be her only beneficiary.

1426
01:11:24,833 --> 01:11:27,533
Rose dies in 1968.

1427
01:11:27,566 --> 01:11:30,066
Her

1428
01:11:27,566 --> 01:11:30,066
<i>New York Times</i>

1429
01:11:27,566 --> 01:11:30,066
obituary does not mention

1430
01:11:30,100 --> 01:11:33,866
her famous mother
or the "Little House" books.

1431
01:11:33,900 --> 01:11:37,200
Mother and daughter
both kept their silence.

1432
01:11:37,233 --> 01:11:39,433
It would not be long
before researchers found

1433
01:11:39,466 --> 01:11:42,400
the evidence of
the collaboration between them.

1434
01:11:42,433 --> 01:11:44,433
Woodside: It was a shock.
It was a total shock.

1435
01:11:44,466 --> 01:11:47,433
Well, that was because the two
women were heavily invested

1436
01:11:47,466 --> 01:11:49,366
in keeping that secret.

1437
01:11:49,400 --> 01:11:51,800
Narrator: And though
Laura and Rose were gone,

1438
01:11:51,833 --> 01:11:55,466
the "Little House" books were
about to take on a new life.

1439
01:11:55,500 --> 01:12:02,866
♪♪♪

1440
01:12:02,900 --> 01:12:10,166
♪♪♪

1441
01:12:10,200 --> 01:12:12,666
After more than 40 years
on bookshelves,

1442
01:12:12,700 --> 01:12:14,466
Laura Ingalls Wilder's
characters

1443
01:12:14,500 --> 01:12:16,866
came to life
on the small screen.

1444
01:12:16,900 --> 01:12:18,200
Gilbert:
I remember my mom telling me

1445
01:12:18,233 --> 01:12:20,466
that they were going to make it
into a television series

1446
01:12:20,500 --> 01:12:22,500
and that I was gonna audition
for the role of Laura.

1447
01:12:22,533 --> 01:12:25,600
And I remember being
incredibly excited about that.

1448
01:12:25,633 --> 01:12:27,666
Laura:
"Look at the country girls."

1449
01:12:27,700 --> 01:12:31,533
Made me so mad
I wanted to smack her good.

1450
01:12:31,566 --> 01:12:34,800
Narrator: Melissa Gilbert played
Laura on the NBC TV series

1451
01:12:34,833 --> 01:12:38,500
"Little House on the Prairie"
for nine seasons.

1452
01:12:38,533 --> 01:12:41,266
Gilbert: Loved that book.
I loved her character.

1453
01:12:41,300 --> 01:12:43,900
I loved the adventures.

1454
01:12:43,933 --> 01:12:47,333
I think like all young girls
who read those books,

1455
01:12:47,366 --> 01:12:50,066
she had me hook,
line, and sinker.

1456
01:12:50,100 --> 01:12:52,866
And I wanted to be like her.

1457
01:12:52,900 --> 01:12:55,766
Little did I know, you know,
it was not long later

1458
01:12:55,800 --> 01:12:58,933
that I was going
to get to play her.

1459
01:12:58,966 --> 01:13:01,266
Laura: I beg you to forgive me
for what I did.

1460
01:13:01,300 --> 01:13:04,700
Narrator: Alison Arngrim played
mean-girl Nellie Oleson.

1461
01:13:04,733 --> 01:13:06,566
Nellie: You are forgiven.

1462
01:13:06,600 --> 01:13:09,200
Narrator: Dean Butler
played Almanzo Wilder.

1463
01:13:09,233 --> 01:13:13,400
Butler: I had no previous
knowledge of these books

1464
01:13:13,433 --> 01:13:15,666
or these people
before doing the series.

1465
01:13:15,700 --> 01:13:20,900
And now I can say with a...
with a great confidence

1466
01:13:20,933 --> 01:13:26,100
and happiness that they are
a part of my life forever.

1467
01:13:26,133 --> 01:13:28,466
TV show narrator:
<i>The timeless
series you grew up with</i>

1468
01:13:28,500 --> 01:13:31,600
<i>comes to life like never before.</i>

1469
01:13:31,633 --> 01:13:33,400
Narrator:
The show, watched by millions,

1470
01:13:33,433 --> 01:13:35,400
has never gone off the air.

1471
01:13:35,433 --> 01:13:38,833
It is still in syndication
and streaming.

1472
01:13:38,866 --> 01:13:40,766
Friendly: And I think one of the
reasons why the television show

1473
01:13:40,800 --> 01:13:44,700
is so popular is they got
to live with this family,

1474
01:13:44,733 --> 01:13:49,000
this idealized version
of a family,

1475
01:13:49,033 --> 01:13:50,900
for nine seasons.

1476
01:13:50,933 --> 01:13:53,733
Narrator: Trip Friendly's
father, producer Ed Friendly,

1477
01:13:53,766 --> 01:13:55,566
turned the books
into the TV show,

1478
01:13:55,600 --> 01:13:58,133
and it remains
a family business.

1479
01:13:58,166 --> 01:14:01,766
Friendly: So he had an enormous,
abiding love for the West

1480
01:14:01,800 --> 01:14:03,800
and for the history
of our country

1481
01:14:03,833 --> 01:14:06,333
and the settlers
and the pioneers.

1482
01:14:06,366 --> 01:14:08,533
And I think he felt
it was great,

1483
01:14:08,566 --> 01:14:10,000
classic American literature

1484
01:14:10,033 --> 01:14:13,566
that should be adapted
for television.

1485
01:14:13,600 --> 01:14:15,300
Skurnick:
So the TV show, of course,

1486
01:14:15,333 --> 01:14:19,400
as any "Little House" reader
will say, it looked wrong.

1487
01:14:19,433 --> 01:14:21,866
You know,
that's not their house.

1488
01:14:21,900 --> 01:14:25,833
That's not the sunlight.
That's not the coziness.

1489
01:14:25,866 --> 01:14:27,766
That's definitely not Pa!

1490
01:14:27,800 --> 01:14:30,333
♪♪♪

1491
01:14:30,366 --> 01:14:34,266
Goldberg: The drama in the books
comes from the hardships

1492
01:14:34,300 --> 01:14:35,800
of how they were living,

1493
01:14:35,833 --> 01:14:37,633
where they were living,
and when they were living.

1494
01:14:37,666 --> 01:14:40,366
TV has to always add
a layer of sentimentality,

1495
01:14:40,400 --> 01:14:42,200
and, you know,
there's more humor

1496
01:14:42,233 --> 01:14:43,766
in the television show, I think.

1497
01:14:43,800 --> 01:14:45,333
They made it more for TV.

1498
01:14:45,366 --> 01:14:47,333
They made it more
for an audience

1499
01:14:47,366 --> 01:14:51,466
that wanted to see the tropes
of family television

1500
01:14:51,500 --> 01:14:55,166
that they were used to seeing
but set in the 19th century.

1501
01:14:55,200 --> 01:14:57,500
Gilbert: We also took
a lot of dramatic license,

1502
01:14:57,533 --> 01:14:58,533
clearly, with our show.

1503
01:14:58,566 --> 01:15:01,666
We never left Walnut Grove.

1504
01:15:01,700 --> 01:15:05,166
That is not exactly
how it went for Laura.

1505
01:15:05,200 --> 01:15:07,933
I think our show was
an interpretation

1506
01:15:07,966 --> 01:15:11,133
of what the "Little House"
stories were

1507
01:15:11,166 --> 01:15:15,500
applied to that time in America
in the 1970s.

1508
01:15:15,533 --> 01:15:18,000
Narrator: The TV show
brought legions of new readers

1509
01:15:18,033 --> 01:15:19,966
to the books.

1510
01:15:20,000 --> 01:15:23,733
Butler: I have signed books
for the little girl

1511
01:15:23,766 --> 01:15:26,700
who got the book
from her mother,

1512
01:15:26,733 --> 01:15:29,166
who got the book
from her grandmother.

1513
01:15:29,200 --> 01:15:31,400
Families are sharing these books

1514
01:15:31,433 --> 01:15:33,666
and the "Little House"
experience together.

1515
01:15:33,700 --> 01:15:36,900
I think that's one of
the beauties of the show.

1516
01:15:36,933 --> 01:15:39,500
Narrator: The renewed interest
in all things "Little House"

1517
01:15:39,533 --> 01:15:42,133
included the actual houses.

1518
01:15:42,166 --> 01:15:45,333
Schodorf: And when the pilot
TV show came on,

1519
01:15:45,366 --> 01:15:48,300
and it was two hours
about Kansas,

1520
01:15:48,333 --> 01:15:51,266
and "Little House
on the Prairie," out here

1521
01:15:51,300 --> 01:15:54,433
in the middle of the prairie
near Independence, Kansas,

1522
01:15:54,466 --> 01:15:58,433
we started getting streams
of cars driving by.

1523
01:15:58,466 --> 01:16:01,933
We've lasted for 45 years.

1524
01:16:01,966 --> 01:16:06,300
Every year, people
come from all 50 states

1525
01:16:06,333 --> 01:16:10,066
and 35, 40 countries.

1526
01:16:10,100 --> 01:16:12,333
Stan:
After the TV show aired,

1527
01:16:12,366 --> 01:16:15,433
we had thousands of people
coming here.

1528
01:16:15,466 --> 01:16:18,233
Because of the crush of people,

1529
01:16:18,266 --> 01:16:22,566
my parents couldn't handle them
in the kitchen anymore.

1530
01:16:22,600 --> 01:16:24,200
Narrator:
Today, all of the places

1531
01:16:24,233 --> 01:16:26,833
associated with
Laura Ingalls Wilder

1532
01:16:26,866 --> 01:16:28,133
are museums...

1533
01:16:28,166 --> 01:16:31,400
out-of-the-way destinations
throughout the Midwest...

1534
01:16:31,433 --> 01:16:34,666
for fans looking to connect
with the pioneering family

1535
01:16:34,700 --> 01:16:36,300
they feel they know.

1536
01:16:36,333 --> 01:16:38,200
Redman: I love seeing

1537
01:16:38,233 --> 01:16:40,400
how personal
some of these items are,

1538
01:16:40,433 --> 01:16:42,933
the connection that people
have with them,

1539
01:16:42,966 --> 01:16:45,466
and just how much they care.

1540
01:16:45,500 --> 01:16:48,266
A lot of people really like
her library.

1541
01:16:48,300 --> 01:16:50,433
They're very interested
in what she read,

1542
01:16:50,466 --> 01:16:53,933
what her literary
influences were.

1543
01:16:53,966 --> 01:16:55,933
Pa's fiddle, as well.

1544
01:16:58,800 --> 01:17:02,833
Scrivener: I'm David Scrivener,
and I have here Pa's fiddle.

1545
01:17:02,866 --> 01:17:04,600
[ Cheers and applause ]

1546
01:17:04,633 --> 01:17:07,733
[ Fiddle playing ]

1547
01:17:07,766 --> 01:17:14,833
♪♪♪

1548
01:17:14,866 --> 01:17:21,966
♪♪♪

1549
01:17:22,000 --> 01:17:29,066
♪♪♪

1550
01:17:29,100 --> 01:17:31,300
Arngrim: Yeah, if you had
told me that 45 years later,

1551
01:17:31,333 --> 01:17:34,400
40 years later, we'd have
these events and TV shows

1552
01:17:34,433 --> 01:17:35,733
and go to these sites,

1553
01:17:35,766 --> 01:17:37,833
never in a million,
trillion years

1554
01:17:37,866 --> 01:17:40,133
if you told me that I would
be talking to people

1555
01:17:40,166 --> 01:17:41,233
from every country on earth

1556
01:17:41,266 --> 01:17:44,300
who would be crying
at meeting me

1557
01:17:44,333 --> 01:17:47,966
and the rest of the cast...
impossible.

1558
01:17:48,000 --> 01:17:51,833
Narrator:
The yearning to know more about
the beloved author continued.

1559
01:17:51,866 --> 01:17:55,733
In 1971, "The First Four Years,"
Wilder's book

1560
01:17:55,766 --> 01:17:59,366
about the early, difficult days
of her marriage, was released.

1561
01:17:59,400 --> 01:18:03,566
Its different style and tone
raised new questions.

1562
01:18:03,600 --> 01:18:07,800
By that time, Rose's role
was already being examined.

1563
01:18:07,833 --> 01:18:12,733
Woodside: The amazing thing
about this is that scholars knew

1564
01:18:12,766 --> 01:18:18,366
and were writing about Rose's
involvement from the 1970s,

1565
01:18:18,400 --> 01:18:22,300
but people
just didn't accept it.

1566
01:18:22,333 --> 01:18:23,433
Narrator: Later in her life,

1567
01:18:23,466 --> 01:18:26,033
Rose became known
for her politics.

1568
01:18:26,066 --> 01:18:30,333
Woodside: Rose was sort of
a rock star, in today's slang,

1569
01:18:30,366 --> 01:18:32,266
to the Libertarians.

1570
01:18:32,300 --> 01:18:33,433
Narrator: And some passages,

1571
01:18:33,466 --> 01:18:36,166
particularly in the last
two "Little House" books,

1572
01:18:36,200 --> 01:18:39,133
suggest her political hand
at work.

1573
01:18:39,166 --> 01:18:40,533
Young woman: "She thought...

1574
01:18:40,566 --> 01:18:42,600
Americans won't obey any king
on earth.

1575
01:18:42,633 --> 01:18:44,433
Americans are free.

1576
01:18:44,466 --> 01:18:47,666
That means they have to obey
their own consciences.

1577
01:18:47,700 --> 01:18:52,500
No king bosses Pa.
He has to boss himself."

1578
01:18:52,533 --> 01:18:54,000
Woodside:
Many of us, myself included,

1579
01:18:54,033 --> 01:18:56,833
did not realize
the political undertones

1580
01:18:56,866 --> 01:19:01,900
to much of the series
and did not understand the ways

1581
01:19:01,933 --> 01:19:07,666
in which political messages
were put into dramatic scenes.

1582
01:19:07,700 --> 01:19:12,300
I think that, for Laura, it was
absolutely not conscious at all.

1583
01:19:12,333 --> 01:19:17,666
I think, for Rose, it was
her idea of what is truth.

1584
01:19:17,700 --> 01:19:20,700
So, in that sense,
it wasn't conscious, either.

1585
01:19:20,733 --> 01:19:23,333
It was Rose being Rose.

1586
01:19:23,366 --> 01:19:24,533
NARRATOR: "Pioneer Girl,"

1587
01:19:24,566 --> 01:19:27,066
Wilder's early attempt
to tell her story,

1588
01:19:27,100 --> 01:19:29,300
appeared in 2014,

1589
01:19:29,333 --> 01:19:32,466
84 years
after it had been written.

1590
01:19:32,500 --> 01:19:35,466
It quickly became
a publishing sensation,

1591
01:19:35,500 --> 01:19:38,500
as Wilder's 19th-century
stories climbed

1592
01:19:38,533 --> 01:19:43,100
to the top of 21st-century
best-seller lists.

1593
01:19:43,133 --> 01:19:45,200
They resonate to this day.

1594
01:19:45,233 --> 01:19:48,000
♪♪♪

1595
01:19:48,033 --> 01:19:49,100
Sarah: The popularity

1596
01:19:49,133 --> 01:19:51,100
is a really interesting
phenomenon to me,

1597
01:19:51,133 --> 01:19:55,300
because this is a story
of tremendous hardship.

1598
01:19:55,333 --> 01:19:59,433
And yet it makes so many
people feel so secure.

1599
01:19:59,466 --> 01:20:03,300
It's emotional comfort food.

1600
01:20:03,333 --> 01:20:05,833
Gay: They were so engaging,

1601
01:20:05,866 --> 01:20:09,200
and they were
so beautifully written,

1602
01:20:09,233 --> 01:20:11,266
and they were so charming.

1603
01:20:11,300 --> 01:20:14,600
Like, that I can remember
details from those books,

1604
01:20:14,633 --> 01:20:17,166
literally, f...
almost 40 years later,

1605
01:20:17,200 --> 01:20:18,366
and I still remember the book

1606
01:20:18,400 --> 01:20:20,800
the first time I read it
as clear as day.

1607
01:20:20,833 --> 01:20:24,000
And I can't say that
for books I read last week.

1608
01:20:24,033 --> 01:20:29,466
Fraser: She's born just shortly
after the end of the Civil War

1609
01:20:29,500 --> 01:20:34,766
and lives until 1957.

1610
01:20:34,800 --> 01:20:40,166
The covered wagon to the
atomic bomb is a real stretch.

1611
01:20:40,200 --> 01:20:45,366
And, you know, it's...
it's an amazing life,

1612
01:20:45,400 --> 01:20:47,400
not only in... in that sense,

1613
01:20:47,433 --> 01:20:50,633
in the sort of larger sense
of what has happened to society,

1614
01:20:50,666 --> 01:20:53,433
but just what she has
been able to achieve.

1615
01:20:53,466 --> 01:20:56,500
You know, was born in...
in a log cabin

1616
01:20:56,533 --> 01:20:58,966
in the woods in Wisconsin

1617
01:20:59,000 --> 01:21:02,900
and barely is able to, you know,
put two cents together

1618
01:21:02,933 --> 01:21:06,933
and dies with an obituary
in the
<i>New York Times</i>

1619
01:21:06,966 --> 01:21:10,533
celebrating her career
as a writer.

1620
01:21:10,566 --> 01:21:16,266
So, it was unimaginable, really,
what she was able to accomplish.

1621
01:21:16,300 --> 01:21:19,533
Narrator: Nearly a century after
her first book was published,

1622
01:21:19,566 --> 01:21:23,900
Laura Ingalls Wilder's voice
is still heard.

1623
01:21:23,933 --> 01:21:26,200
Harper:
"Dear Children of Chicago,

1624
01:21:26,233 --> 01:21:31,266
I was born in the little house
in the big woods of Wisconsin

1625
01:21:31,300 --> 01:21:34,733
just 80 years ago
the 7th of this month,

1626
01:21:34,766 --> 01:21:38,200
and I am calling this
my birthday party.

1627
01:21:38,233 --> 01:21:41,400
The 'Little House' books
are stories of long ago.

1628
01:21:41,433 --> 01:21:46,466
The way we live and your schools
are much different now."

1629
01:21:46,500 --> 01:21:48,866
Teacher: Three or four days
the blizzard lasted.

1630
01:21:48,900 --> 01:21:53,000
That's a long time to sit
in a cold shanty, isn't it?

1631
01:21:53,033 --> 01:21:55,433
Harper: "But the real things
haven't changed.

1632
01:21:55,466 --> 01:21:59,166
It is still best to be honest
and truthful,

1633
01:21:59,200 --> 01:22:02,633
to make the most
of what we have,

1634
01:22:02,666 --> 01:22:05,600
to be happy
with simple pleasures,

1635
01:22:05,633 --> 01:22:09,766
and to be cheerful and have
courage when things go wrong.

1636
01:22:09,800 --> 01:22:13,500
With love to you all and best
wishes for your happiness,

1637
01:22:13,533 --> 01:22:18,700
I am sincerely your friend,
Laura Ingalls Wilder."

1638
01:22:18,733 --> 01:22:23,766
♪♪♪

1639
01:22:27,100 --> 01:22:34,866
♪♪♪

1640
01:22:34,900 --> 01:22:42,700
♪♪♪

1641
01:22:42,733 --> 01:22:50,533
♪♪♪

1642
01:22:50,566 --> 01:22:58,433
♪♪♪

1643
01:22:59,400 --> 01:23:01,766
♪♪♪