Chapter 6: Moving In

"By dinner time the house was in order. The beds were neatly made on the floor. The wagon seat and two ends of logs were brought in for chairs. Pa's gun lay on its pegs above the doorway. Boxes and bundles were neat against the walls. It was a pleasant house. A soft light came through the canvas roof, wind and sunshine came through the window holes, and every crack in the four walls glowed a little because the sun was overhead."

Once the walls on the cabin are built, Pa tells Ma that it is time to move in. He has been hearing wolves howling and wants to have good, solid walls around Ma and the girls. Even though the roof is not on and the floors are not installed, Ma gets busy moving all their belongings into the cozy, well-ventilated home.

Pa stretches the canvas from their wagon over the top of the roof. It blows and snaps in the wind. Pa almost sails away, but he gets it tied at last. He hangs a quilt over the door. Now the house is very snug. That night, the girls are tucked into their beds indoors for the first time since leaving the little cabin in the Big Woods so many months before.

Thoughts:
What a treat it must have been for all of them to sleep inside four solid walls again. Sure, it was still a little breezy with no roof, windows, or door, but it was home. It must have given Pa such a feeling of accomplishment to have carved that security out of the wilderness with his own hands.

Unfortunately, it doesn't make for a lot of blog scope for me. I could sleep with my exterior door off for a night, but it's still the middle of winter. I don't think so! I'm not building a log cabin until I get a chain saw, thank you very much, and I don't need to move anywhere....I still haven't finished unpacking from the last time.

That leaves only one thing. Moon-gazing.

"Mary and Laura lay in their little bed on the ground inside the new house, and watched the sky through the window hole to the east. The edge of the big, bright moon glittered at the bottom of the window space, and Laura sat up. She looked at the great moon, sailing silently higher in the clear sky.

Its light made silvery lines in all the cracks on that side of the house. The light poured through the window hole and made a square of soft radiance on the floor. It was so bright that Laura saw Ma plainly when she lifted the quilt at the door and came in.

Then Laura very quickly lay down, before Ma saw her naughtily sitting up in bed."

Of course, I did my gazing very quickly because it is a little chilly for the sport yet. But, it was the exact same moon that Laura Ingalls had looked at so many years before out there on the Kansas prairie. Pretty exciting, huh?


"Laura heard Pa singing.

Sail on, silver moon!
Shed your radiance o'er the sky-----

His voice was like a part of the night and the moonlight and the stillness of the prairie. He came to the doorway, singing,

By the pale, silver light of the moon-----

Softly Ma said, 'Hush, Charles. You'll wake the children.'"