In Little Town on the Prairie (Chapter 19, “The Whirl of Gaiety”), Pa carried off the honors of the evening with his charade: He played it alone, in his everyday clothes. Walking up the central aisle, he carried two small potatoes before him on the blade of his ax. That was all.
I’ve always thought that the explanation of Pa’s charade ought to be changed in the published version to reflect what is in the manuscript. “It’s Commentators on the Ac’s,” says the book. The manuscript – to me – is much clearer: “It is simple,” Pa told them, when all had given up guessing. “It is common-taters on the ax, a-c-t-s.”
Maybe Charles Ingalls did carry off the honors with this charade, but truth of the matter is that Reverend Brown had used the exact same idea years earlier, back in Wisconsin. Reverend Brown used to leave “little charade tableaux” set up for the editor of the local newspaper, who would then describe them in the paper so that all could enjoy the joke. One of the most celebrated was supposedly the time the good Reverend walked into the editor’s office, wearing his everyday clothes, carrying two small potatoes before him on the blade of his ax. These he set carefully on the editor’s desk, then he turned and walked out the door.
The editor reported that he could hardly beat that stunt of Brown’s!
Sound familiar?
