Little House on the Prairie

When the young school teacher, Eva Beadle, is slightly injured in an accident, Doc Baker insists that she stay home and rest. This means that the children of Walnut Grove need a temporary teacher and the school board approach Caroline and ask her to take on the task. She does so reluctantly, but finds herself getting more excited as the day of her first classes draws nearer.



The children prove to be difficult at first, but with her experience as a teacher and as a mother, she is able to help them learn, particularly a young man named Able who needs all the time and attention she can give him. When she enlists the help of the students in Able's education, Harriet Oleson is appalled and decides to take over the teaching responsiblities herself. The trouble is, only Nellie and Willie show up for school!



A very good episode with lots of good moral lessons for younger viewers.

After school, a boy runs around all the students outside with a snake in his hands scaring everyone. While Ms. Beadle is on her carriage ready to leave, the boy runs up in front of the horse, scaring it as well. The horse starts running haphazardly, and Ms. Beadle falls down and sprains her ankle. The town members of the Board come to Caroline and ask her to fill in as the school teacher while Ms. Beadle recuperates.



When Caroline starts teaching on her first day, she asks a grown boy named Abel Makay to read from the book. Not knowing that Abel cannot read (because he feels humiliated that children much younger than him laugh at him for starting school so late, and feeling humiliated) Caroline feels bad when Abel runs away from class after the students start laughing at him. She asks him to give school another chance, and makes the children interact with him in such a way that he actually starts learning. Just when Caroline thinks she’s made progress, Mrs. Olsen comes barging inside class and rudely remarks Caroline in showing favoritism to Abel, along with insulting him as well. Abel leaves feeling more humiliated than ever, and so does Caroline before giving her resignation immediately. Can Caroline convince Abel to go to school again, even after what he’s been though?



I loved this episode!! You really feel sorry for Abel Makay. Most of us know what it feels like to be an outsider once in a while, and if someone can just make us feel better, we feel less scared. This is exactly how Abel felt, and the way Caroline proposed ideas to the children to help him were interesting. You really hate Mrs. Olsen for what she does here, but then again, her character is to be taken negatively in this show anyway. In the end, you feel as proud as Caroline, because you can really relate to that. Dirk Blocker acted flawlessly as Abel. Because of all this, I rate this episode 10/10.