Once an excellent student, Miss Beadle, Charles and Caroline are concerned when Mary's once excellent grades begin to slip significantly. It doesn't take long for Charles to figure out that Mary is doing poorly with her studies because she can't see properly and an eye doctor in Mankato gives her a pair of shiny new spectacles that make all the difference. Most unfortunately, Nellie and Willie Oleson, among others, decide to start calling her 'four eyes' which makes Mary feel so terrible that she pretends she has lost her glasses. After some deep thought and a conversation with Miss Beadle, she realises she will never get her work done without them and miraculously finds them again.
Given what happens to Mary and her eyesight in later seasons of the show, this was an excellent piece of foreshadowing and very well acted by Melissa Sue Anderson.moreless
EDIT
Episode Summary
As Mary's normally sparkling grades start to plummet, everyone is oblivious to the real problem until Charles realizes that she cannot read from far distances. Mary is initially thrilled when Charles buys her very first pair of glasses, and she quickly rises back to the top of her class, but this excitement is spoiled when schoolmates begin to tease her. Overwhelmed by the hurtful comments, Mary finds a way to "lose" her glasses, but her eyesight is not something she can afford to make her own choice about, and it's going to take some extra effort to give her a change of heart.moreless
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Melissa Gilbert
Laura Elizabeth Ingalls/Wilder
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Melissa Sue Anderson
Mary Amelia Ingalls/Kendall (1974 - 1981)
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Charlotte Stewart
Miss Eva Beadle/Mrs. Simms (1974 - 1978)
Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions
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Trivia
ADD TRIVIA- It's pretty interesting that Nellie could immediately determine that she got the best grades in the school. As far as we know, Mrs. Garvey (from Season 5) was the only teacher who ever posted the children's grades on the blackboard publicly, and it's unusual that Miss Beadle would write on Nellie's card, "Oh, you got the best grades in the whole school!" I suppose stranger things have happened, but this still seems unlikely. Edit
- Even though one of Willie Oleson's most famous character traits involves being a goof-off in class, episodes like this prove that he gets pretty good grades--all B's, to be exact--and yet he doesn't manage to graduate until the tail-end of the final season of the series. Edit
- Notice the scene where Charles is walking to the house from the barn, and it is all foggy and appears to be very early in the morning. Then notice the very next shot, when Carrie is looking at him through the window, and the sky is all blue and perfect. Edit
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Notes
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Quotes
ADD QUOTES- Caroline: I've never believed in paying children for grades. Grades are a reward in themselves. Harriet: Well, it must be working. Willie got very good grades, and Nellie, well, Nellie got the best grades in the entire school! How did your Mary do this time? Caroline: We're proud of our children, no matter what their grades are. The girls do a lot of work around the farm! That's part of learning, too. Edit
- Charles: (about Mary's poor eyesight) How did she manage for so long? Dr. Burke: Little tricks. Squinting when the eyes are tired. Did you ever see her push back on the sides of her eyes, like this? Charles: She probably did. I just never realized it. Dr. Burke: Well, with the amount of schoolwork she's had, the tricks just stopped working, that's all. Charles: You'd think her Ma or I would have known. Dr. Burke: No, not so. It's been my experience that parents are the last ones to notice. Maybe someday, they'll have the sense to examine kids before they start school. Then we can avoid the problem. Edit
- Charles: (looking at Laura's report card) Hey, you improved your reading grade! Laura: Can't take much credit for that. It's mostly review words. Mary gets a lot of harder words. Charles: Well, of course she does. Mary's older. You can always be proud when you move up a grade like that. Laura: You can be proud if you work hard, even if your grades don't show it, can't you Pa? Charles: You bet you can. Edit
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Allusions
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