now you know
Study Drives Girl Mad
Literary Aspirations Send Ranchman's Daughter to Asylum.

Spearfish SD, Dec 27, 1908: Overzeal in literary work and devotion to the study of the lives and works of the great authors resulted in unbalancing the mind of Miss Ida Hendricks, an eighteen-year-old girl, who resided on a ranch near here with her parents. She was ordered placed in the state hospital at Yankton.
- posted by pioneergirl at 12:42 AM

 
comics lit

One of eight volumnes in the "A Treasury of Victorian Murder" series, The Saga of the Bloody Benders (Rick Geary, Nantier-Beall-Minoustchine Publishing, 2007), tells the story of the rise and fall of the Kate Bender family.... totally in cartoons.

Laura Ingalls Wilder included the Bender story in her 1937 Book Fair speech. She didn't include it in her handwritten Pioneer Girl manuscript, but Rose did add it to the typed version of the manuscript sent to agent George T. Bye, edited here for space:

In the spring when the creek had gone down, Pa went to Independence again. He took the horses and wagon and was gone, it seemed, a long time. At last, in the night, he came driving up to the house, and when Ma lighted the lamp Mary and I woke up and got out of bed in our nightgowns. We had been eagerly watching for Pa and wondering what he would bring us from town...

...He told Ma that he had had some thought of stopping at Benders' for the night. It was pretty late when he got that far, he said, and while he was getting a drink at the well in the yard, and watering the horses, Kate Bender came out and asked him to hav supper there and put up for the night...

One night just about sundown a strange man came riding his horse up to the door on a run. Pa hurried out and they talked a few minutes. Then the man went away as fast as he had come, and pa came into the house in a hurry. He would not wait for supper, but asked Ma to give him a bite to eat right away, saying he must go. Something horrible had happened at Benders.

Ma put bread, meat, and some of those good pickles on the table, and Pa talked while he ate. Mary and I hung at the table's edge, looking at the pickles. I heard Pa say "dead," and thought somebody at benders was dead. Pa said, "Already twenty or more, in the cellar." He said, "Benders-- where I stopped for a drink. She asked me to come in."

Ma said, "Oh Charles, thank God!"

I did not understand and felt confused. Mary kept asking Ma why she thanked God, and Ma did not answer... Then Pa said, "They found a little girl, no bigger than Laura. They'd thrown her in on top of her father and mother and tramped the ground down on them, while the little girl was still alive."

I screamed, and Ma told Pa he should have known better.

Rose's version goes on for several more pages. Read the rest in the Hoover manuscript or in The Saga of the Bloody Benders.
- posted by pioneergirl at 12:24 PM

 
"dark, narrow, hard, glassy, chilly, creepy eyes"
I have just read John Miller's "American Indians in the Fiction of Laura Ingalls Wilder." (South Dakota History, Volume 30, Fall 2000, pages 303-320). It will be filed between ho and hum in my collection.

Nestled among the same old, same old, Miller mentioned the "infuriated Dennis McAuliffe, Jr." who "finds Charles Ingalls, with his 'two-foot-long vinery of beard' and his 'dark, narrow, hard, glassy, chilly, creepy eyes,' to be so repulsive that he compares him to Charles Manson, the Hollywood murderer. 'Pa's resume,' he contends, 'reads like that of a surfer bum in search of the perfect amber wave of grain. He couldn't stay in one place or hold down a homestead.'"

And everybody knows that you were only allowed one homestead and Pa proved up on his. Duh.

I find myself looking forward to reading McAuliffe's book, The Deaths of Sybil Bolton, which one can buy for 81 cents on amazon.

Miller also mentions Michael Dorris*, who was furious about (among other things) Wilder's "there were no people" statement at the beginning of Little House in the Big Woods. I never worried about interpreting this to mean that there were no Indians in the area. I wondered instead how the uncles could come riding out of such a void - or that the Ingalls family could travel half a day and see Grandpa and the aunts and uncles and cousins - when, uh, there were no people "as far [north] as a man could go in a day or a week or a month." Which, of course, is exactly where all those Ingalls and Quiner relatives lived.

Miller used every example from Wilder's writing that mentioned Indians (even rye'n'injun bread) to show us that, why no, Laura didn't neglect history, even though she wasn't writing history.

Ho. And hum. Except for the Manson eyes and surfer waves of grain.

* FYI --- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B05E4DC113FF93BA25757C0A961958260&sec=health&spon=&pagewanted=1
- posted by pioneergirl at 10:23 PM

 
braille

I was showing my braille slate to some friends, who wanted to know how to use it.

They all watched while [Mary] laid a sheet of thick, cream-colored paper on the slate, under the slide. She moved the slide to the top of the frame and secured it there. Then with the point of the stylus she pressed, rapidly, here and there in the corners of the open squares.

"There," she said, slipping the paper out and turning it over. Wherever the stylus had pressed, there was a tiny bump, that could easily be felt with the fingers. The bumps made different patterns, the size of the squares, and these were the Braille letters. ---These Happy Golden Years, Chapter 15, "Mary Comes Home"

I wrote my name. I don't know why it boggled their minds that I would know how to write my name in Braille, only I wrote it in New York Point, turning the slate sideways. It boggled my mind more that anyone who knew me even a little would assume that I couldn't write my name that way.

The cartoon above is from xkcd, a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).
- posted by pioneergirl at 2:48 AM

 
our town malone, new york

- posted by pioneergirl at 5:59 PM

 
it's a big river sometimes

On this date in 1879, the Ingallses traveled from the Big Sioux railroad camp to settle at the Silver Lake camp in Kingsbury County.

From By the Shores of Silver Lake (Chapter 7, "The West Begins"):

The sun shone brightly on the uncovered wagon, but the wind was cool and riding was pleasant. Here and there, men were working in their fields, and now and then a team and wagon passed.

Soon the road curved downward through rolling land and Pa said, "The Big Sioux River's ahead.

Laura began to see out loud for Mary. "The road's going down a low bank to the river, but there aren't any trees. There's just the big sky and grassy land, and the little, low creek. It's a big river sometimes, but now it's dried up till it's no bigger than Plum Creek. It trickles along from pool to pool, by dry gravel stretches and crooked dry mud flats. Now the horses are stopping to drink."

"Drink hearty," Pa said to the horses. "There's no more water for thirty miles."

Why did Pa try to make it in one day, if he really did? Wilder wrote that there were still "ten miles to go" at sundown. It's about forty miles between Brookings and De Smet today, following Highway 14, which roughly parallels the railroad. The Big Sioux camp was a couple of miles west of Brookings. At any rate, that's a loooong way to travel in one day, with six people on board, even with no load. In the manuscript for By the Shores of Silver Lake, Wilder wrote that a teamster had gone on to camp with their belongings. After running into the scary man on horseback, you wonder if Pa wishes they had all left at the same time...

Some of my favorite lines, again from Chapter 7:

The sun sank. A ball of pulsing, liquid light, it sank in clouds of crimson and silver. Cold purple shadows rose in the east, crept slowly across the prairie, then rose in heights on heights of darkness from which the stars swung low and bright.

The wind, which all day long had blown strongly, dropped low with the sun and went whispering among the tall grasses. The earth seemed to lie breathing softly under the summer night.

Pa drove on and on beneath the low stars. The horses' feet went softly thump-thumping on the grassy ground. Far, far ahead a few tiny lights pricked through the dark. They were the lights of Silver Lake Camp.

"Don;t need to see the trail for these next eight miles," Pa told Ma. "All a man's got to do is keep driving toward the lights. There's nothing between us and camp but smooth prairie and air."
- posted by pioneergirl at 1:48 AM

 
just like a little town

The De Smet Cemetery Association was organized in March 1881, with the Reverend Edward Brown serving as its first president. Charles Tinkham served as first funeral director and association secretary. Residents who signed the Articles of Incorporation included Edward Brown, Charles Tinkham, John Owen, Vischer Barnes, John H. Carroll, Thomas Power, Charles Dawley, Elwin Dixon, David Gilbert, and Horace Woodworth.

Land for the original ten-acre cemetery was purchased from Jacob Hopp for $150, with payment made in 1885. In 1897, two acres were purchased for an adjoining Catholic cemetery. Several more parcels have been added to the original cemetery lands since that time; there are currently over 2000 burials recorded in the De Smet cemetery and over 700 burials in St. Thomas cemetery. The De Smet and St. Thomas Cemeteries are located southwest of De Smet, on 208th Street.

The De Smet Cemetery was platted in 48 blocks around a central flagpole. Each block contains up to 16 lots of up to 12 graves. Each platted gravesite is 4x8 feet in size. Six or 8 ft. wide paths (some of which today have become roadways) divide groups of lots, and the cemetery is further divided by two 20 ft. gravel roads and an interior angular roadway.

Yep, there are people buried in what today are roads.
- posted by pioneergirl at 10:02 PM

 
a daisy
Rev. Brown's son, Mark, was an early owner of the De Smet Leader , in partnership with Carter Sherwood. He married Laura Dudley in 1884. They had a son, Edward D., born on May 5, 1885. Mark Brown died in 1887, and Laura moved back to Wisconsin to live with her parents, Timothy and Flora.

Edward Brown graduated from high school in 1903 and there was a nice mention in the De Smet newspaper. On the 1910 census, he is listed as the head of household, his mother living with him.

From the January 9, 1914, De Smet News:

News learns with regret of the death of Edward Brown, son of the late Mark A. Brown, the first editor of the De Smet Leader, and grandson of the first pastor of the Congregational church in De Smet. The young man was born in 1885, and by the death of his father soon after he was left to the sole care of his devoted mother. Most of his life was spent in West Salem, Wis., where he attended school and was graduated with honor from the high school. Later he attended the Wisconsin State University and was finely fitted for a life of usefulness. But he had inherited tuberculosis, and the dread disease began to undermine his health. Accompanied by his mother he went first to Texas, then Arizona, and finally to southern California. He seemed to improve in the latter climate but the benefit was but temporary, for last August he died. The remains were taken to West Salem, Wis., and there placed beside those of his father. The last of his line! The heartbroken mother, with little to live for, is now with a sister in Minneapolis. Her hope was centered in Edward, and well she may have been proud of him. The ways of providence are indeed past finding out.
- posted by pioneergirl at 1:35 AM

 
say "cheese!"




The sad thing is that Carrie seems to be wearing the same dress in both photos.

The bottom photo has always been printed with no date. I am going out on a limb by suggesting that it was taken in 1888.

The first graduating class (from the 10th grade) was in 1889. There were four members of that class: Neva Whaley, Alma Davies, David Davies, and Florette Bonney. All four are in the bottom photo. I have never seen a photo of just those four. It stands to reason that they would probably not be in such a group photo after graduation, so that suggests 1889 at the latest, but most likely 1888.

Neva was two years younger than Carrie Ingalls.
- posted by pioneergirl at 10:30 PM

 
knitting interlude

A cute little knitted Farmer Boy type knitted whimsy. Yarn and gauge not important. I used some unknown wool carpet yarn I bought over thirty years ago. The pumpkin body above is about two inches tall.

Cast on 18 stitches, leaving a long tail to use for sewing with later. Knit one row. Then begin short row shaping:

Row 1: Slip 1 stitch, Knit 16, Slip 1
Row 2: Sl 2 stitches, Purl 14, sl 2
Row 3: Sl 3, K 12, sl 3
Row 4: Sl 4, P 10, sl 4
Row 5: Sl 5, K 8, sl 5
Row 6: Sl 6, P 6, sl 6
Row 7: Sl 7, K 4, sl 7
Row 8: Sl 6, P 6, sl 6
Row 9: Sl 5, K 8, sl 5
Row 10: Sl 4, P 10, sl 4
Row 11: Sl 3, K 12, sl 3
Row 12: Sl 2, P 14, sl 2
Row 13: Sl 1, K 16, sl 1
Row 14: K 18

Repeat rows 1 through 14 five more times. Then do rows 1 through 13 once. There will be seven bumps around the pumpkin body. Bind off. Use the tail end of cast-on yarn to do a running stitch around opening at one end and pull closed. Knot and pull tail through to inside, cutting to leave enough so it won't pull out.

Stuff body of pumpkin with filling of choice, poking and shaping as you go. The pumpkin above is stuffed with some black wool leftover from a fleece a "Little House" friend sent me to card.

For stem, crochet around top opening, having a dozen or so stitches. Continue around using single crochet until stem is desired length. Bind off and pull yarn end down into stem.

For tendrils, make a crocheted chain of desired length, using a needle smaller than you normally would for your yarn weight. Cut and pull yarn though last stitch. Use a crochet needle to poke through pumpkin body at base of stem, and pull half of tendril through. If chain doesn't curl enough naturally, wrap around crochet hook to encourage twist.
- posted by pioneergirl at 2:38 AM

 
mo ru: the great transcription project
Now can read most of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Missouri Ruralist articles online by following the links HERE.

I am heartily sick of Missouri Ruralists. The originals at the University of Missouri at Columbia are in what has been aptly named "snowflake condition." The paper is so brittle that what hasn't already flaked into a billion bits does so at every turn of a page. What's worse is that someone has played fast and loose with the originals at some point by cutting neatly around many of Laura Ingalls Wilder's articles. Meaning: they're missing.

Last year, I copied all that I could find. Since then, I transcribed them exactly as Laura wrote them until I could Transcribe No More, then I begged rosebunting to help. Except for a couple of articles, we're done. Enjoy.

The lastest hurdle in the Great Transcription Project has been to try to match original Ruralist articles to the many creative adaptations, variations, and bastardizations (i.e. heavily edited) articles that have been reprinted over the years. I'm sorry. I haven't got the strength in me right now to go through Words From a Fearless Heart. Saving Graces just about wore me out this afternoon.

Even though I'm getting quite familiar with the originals, I just couldn't match the following Saving Graces articles to their Ruralist counterparts. I'm listing them here so I'll know where they are:

"Heavenly Blessings," page 21
"What Comes Out of the Heat," page 37
"Much Serving," page 43
"Enjoying the Pilgrim Journey of Life," page 49
"Loving God's Creations," page 55
"Not So Bad Off," page 65
"Would You Rather Have Times or Things?" - page 67
"With All Thy Getting, Get Understanding," page 69
"A Time for Reflection," page 83
"Growing Older With Faith," page 89
"Treating People Right," page 91.
"To Sweep a Room As to God's Laws," page 95.
"When Things Rule Mankind," page 107
"Difficulties," page 137
"Always Be Ready," page 139
"The Lord Gives the Increase," page 143
"Redeeming the Time," page 149
"How Is It With You, Friend?" - page 153

The next step is to start scanning my originals and linking images to the indexed Ruralist articles. Stay tuned.
- posted by pioneergirl at 5:33 PM

 
time flies

Before returning to the Blind Asylum for her second year, Mary Ingalls signed sister Laura's autograph album. Mary wrote in New York Point.

New York Point was a genuine American system developed by William B. Wait in the years following the Civil War. He desired to improve Braille by remodeling it, on principles of compactness and ecomony of time and space. Following careful study, Wait came to the conclusion that the vertical position of Braille signs (two dots wide and three dots high), was defective in more than one important respect. Owing to its limited number of only sixty-three possible single signs, it was inadequate to the requirements of music, if not to those of literature and mathematics as well; it was also found to be much more bulky, thus increasing the cost of printing books.

A different mode of sign structure was devised, employing two points instead of three vertically, and extending the base forms to three, four, or even five points horizontally. Thus, books printed in Braille took 51 to 75 percent more space (or more) than the same text in New York Point. For example, Braille uses a separate sign to indicate capital letters (meaning each capital letter employs two symbols, whereas New York Point had separate symbols for capital and lower case letters.

Both the blind and seeing community saw the advantages of having one standardized system which would be taught and used in English-speaking countries. Naturally, the merits of New York Point and Braille (both American and English), raised print, and other systems, were hotly debated. The debate is also widely documented; just google. After decades of debate (and in a nutshell), New York Point lost.

Although the autograph page image above isn't very clear (it's a captured still from a video I took of the album page, which is a good reminder to check your camera settings every once in a while), Mary's entry to Laura reads: "Aug 11 83 Dear Laura I wish you success and happiness. Think of me when I am gone and remember tempus fugit. Mary." Click HERE to see what took me several hours to decipher.
- posted by pioneergirl at 3:01 AM