Little House on the Prairie

Caroline: (angry) I met Mrs. Oleson today. Charles: (understands) Oh. Caroline: If Nellie Oleson is anything like her mother, I can see why Laura's been so upset. Do you know what she told me? Charles: Hmm? Caroline: She said that brown eggs bring less yolk than white! Charles: Must be something peculiar in Minnesota. I've never heard that before. Caroline: You'd never heard it before because it isn't true! She paid me four cents less for the brown, and then she turned around and sold them to someone else for the exact same price as the white. I was buying this thread, I heard her do it!

Charles: (about Laura loving school) It's hard to believe that's the same little girl we could hardly get out of bed this morning. Caroline: I hoped she'd like it. I wasn't sure. Charles: Oh, she'll be fine. She sure was feisty about that Nellie Oleson. Caroline: I wonder why. Charles: You haven't met her mother.

Charles: (about Laura fighting with Nellie) Now, Half-Pint, you heard what I said. You won't do it again? Laura: Oh no, Pa, I promise. I won't have to. Nellie's scared of me now!

Laura: (overvoice) Ma gathered enough eggs to walk Mary and me into town two or three times a week. Sometimes she would tell us stories about when she was a little girl. I tried to scrunch her down in my mind and imagine her running barefoot, pigtails flying, but it never did work. She kept right on being Ma, which was all right, since we loved her a whole lot just the way she was.

Caroline: Charles, you were much too easy on Laura. She's not the least bit sorry about what she did. Charles: Caroline, you heard what the child said. It was Nellie's fault. Caroline: The Lord tells us to turn the other cheek. Charles: Well, I think that's a little bit easier said than done; otherwise, we'd all be wearing halos instead of homespun.

Laura: Ma always says to "turn the other cheek." I just wondered when Nellie Oleson's mother would get around to telling her the same thing.

Charles: (to Laura, who is hiding under the covers) What's the matter, Half-Pint? Laura: I don't want to go. Charles: (pulling down the covers to see Laura's face) It's kind of hard to hear with you with all those covers over your head. Laura: I don't want to go. I want to stay here. Charles: Well, I wish you could stay. But I made a promise to your Ma. I promised her that as soon as we got settled by the nearest school, you and your sister would go. Laura: But you need me here! Who's gonna help you with the fish traps? Who's gonna take care of Jack? Charles: You're gonna have time for all that. You wouldn't want me to break a promise I made to your Ma, now would you? Laura: No, Pa. Charles: All right. (kisses her) That's my girl. Now hurry up and get yourself dressed. Breakfast is gonna get cool. And I'll tell you something you don't know--you're gonna like school. Laura: (sighs) Yes, Pa.

Laura: Bye, Ma. Bye, Pa. Bye, Carrie. (hugs them all and leaves for school) Charles: (to Caroline) That's an awful lot of good-byes for someone who's going to be home for supper.

Caroline: I'll go into the Olesons' tomorrow and return the fabric. Charles: Now, Caroline, why do you think the Lord went to all the trouble of making you so pretty if he didn't want you to have a brand-new dress? Mary: You'll be beautiful, Ma. Laura: I can't wait 'til everybody sees you. They're gonna think they're looking at a piece of heaven! Charles: If they don't think that already, I can't say much for their judgment or their eyesight. Caroline: (embarrassed) Oh, what am I going to do with you? (turns away, starts crying, then turns around again and hugs them) What am I going to do with the lot of you?

Mary: (talking about school) There's a really nice girl named Christy. She'll probably be my best friend! Charles: Good. Anyone in particular you like, Laura? Laura: Someone in particular I DON'T like! That sippy Nellie Oleson! Ma: Laura! Laura: Well, do you know what she called us? Country girls. Pa: Well, you are country girls. There's nothing bad about that. Laura: There is the way she said it. (mocks Nellie) Look at the country girls! Made me so mad, I wanted to smack her good!

Schoolchildren: (to Mary and Laura) Snipes! Snipes! Long-legged snipes!

Charles: Sounds to me like you like school. Laura: Oh, I do, Pa! And you should just see Miss Beadle. She's the nicest lady in the entire world, and she smiles all the time, and the smells as good as she looks. I came right out and asked, and she says she wears something called lemon verbena. She's the prettiest lady I ever saw--except for Ma, of course. Charles: Well, I must say, she must be really be something to come even close to your Ma. Caroline: Oh, Charles!

Laura: (reciting her essay) "My Mother." My sister Mary is going to tell you how Pa brought us west, and how hard he worked. And I don't mean to take anything from him by telling you that Ma worked plenty hard herself. Still does. She cooks, and cleans, and sews, and cares of the lot of us, Pa included. I remembered once when I was little, coming down with the fever. Ma stayed up beside me all night long. I slept some, but she, never. Anytime I'd open my eyes, she'd be there, smiling, holding a cold cloth to my head. Now, with Mary and me "sprouting up," which is what Ma calls it, if there's ever the least littlest noise in the night, Ma would come climbing up the ladder, into the the loft, to make sure we're all right. I reckon there's times when she gets bone tired, but you'd never know it. Her smile is the last thing I see before I close my eyes and the first thing I want to see in the morning. Ma's been selling eggs to the mercantile, and she saved enough money to buy some yard goods for a new dress. This morning, Mary and me found out she made dresses for the two of us instead. That's because she loves us. That's the kind of mother Ma is, and that's why we love her so much.

Ma: Laura, what you said today was beautiful. And I'll treasure it as long as I live. But.....it wasn't what you had written down on the paper, was it? Laura: It's what I would have written if I could. Ma: I know that, dear. But it wasn't really an essay, was it? Laura: (long pause) No, Ma.

Laura: (overvoice at the end of the episode) Ma took Mary's essay and mine, too. She said she was going to put them in the box where she kept her schoolbooks, and her wedding dress, and everything she loved most. It made us proud that she'd want them for remembering. But I knew that even without those papers, there wasn't one of us likely to forget that day--not ever!

Laura: (not wanting to go to school) Ma, how long is this learning gonna take? Caroline: We start learning when we're born, Laura....and if we're wise, we don't stop until the Lord calls us home. Laura: That long?

Mary: That Nellie Oleson! She's the meanest girl I ever saw. I could never be that mean! Laura: I could! --meaner! --if Ma and Pa would let me.

(Willie is writing on the blackboard.) Laura: (to Miss Beadle) Ma'am, how's he going to get all those numbers off again? (children start laughing) Miss Beadle: Silence! There will be silence in this classroom! Willie, Laura has just asked a question. Will you please demonstrate the answer? (Willie erases the board) Laura: Mary, look! It's clean as a whistle! Nellie: What did I tell you? Country girls. They don't even know what a blackboard is!