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After Sunday night supper at home, Almanzo and Laura drove through town and northwest toward the Wilkins claim. It was three and a half miles from town, and Barnum walked. The twilight deepened into night. Stars came out in the vastness of the sky and the prairie stretched dim and mysterious far away. The buggy wheels turned softly on the grassy road.
In the stillness Laura began to sing:
“The stars are rolling in the sky,
The earth rolls on below,
And we can feel the rattling wheel
Revolving as we go;
Then tread away my gallant boys,
And make the axle fly!
Why should not wheels go round-about,
Like planets in the sky?”
Almanzo laughed aloud. “Your songs are like your father’s! They always fit.”
“That is from the ‘Old Song of the Treadmill,’” Laura told him. “But it did seem to fit the stars and buggy wheels
.”
“There’s only one word wrong in it,” Almanzo agreed. “No buggy wheels of mine will ever rattle. I keep ’em tight and greased. But never mind. When the wheels roll around in this direction for three months more, you will be through teaching school, for good!”
“I suppose you mean, for better or worse,” Laura said demurely. “But it better be for good.”
“It will be,” Almanzo said.
Chapter 28
The Cream-Colored Hat
The new schoolhouse stood on a corner of Mr. Wilkins’ claim, only a little way from his house. When Laura opened its door on Monday morning, she saw that it was an exact replica of the Perry schoolhouse, even to the dictionary on the desk, and the nail in the wall for her sunbonnet.
This was a happy omen, she thought; and it was. All her days in that school were pleasant. She felt herself a capable teacher now, and she dealt so well with every little difficulty that none ever lasted until the next day. Her pupils were friendly and obedient, and the little ones were often funny, though she kept her smiles unseen.
She boarded at the Wilkinses’, and they were all friendly to Laura and pleasant to each other. Florence still went to school and at night told Laura all the day’s happenings. Laura shared Florence’s room, and they spent the evenings cosily there with their books.
On the last Friday in April, Mr. Wilkins paid Laura twenty-two dollars, her first month’s salary, less two dollars a week for her board. Almanzo drove her home that evening, and next day she went with Ma to town to buy materials. They bought bleached muslin for underwear, chemises and drawers, petticoats and nightgowns; two of each. “These, with what you have, should be plenty,” said Ma. They bought stronger, bleached muslin, for two pairs of sheets and two pairs of pillow cases.
For Laura’s summer dress they bought ten yards of delicate pink lawn with small flowers and pale green leaves scattered over it. Then they went to Miss Bell’s to find a hat to go with the dress.
There were several beautiful hats, but Laura knew at once which one she wanted. It was a fine, cream-colored straw with a narrow brim, rolled narrower at the sides. The brim in front came down over the middle of Laura’s forehead. Around the crown was a band of satin ribbon a little darker than the straw, and three ostrich tips stood straight up at the crown’s left side. They were shaded in color, from the light cream of the straw to slightly darker than the satin ribbon. The hat was held on the head by a fine, white silk elastic cord that scarcely showed because it fitted under the mass of Laura’s braided hair.
As they walked up the street after they had bought that hat, Laura begged Ma to take five dollars and spend it for herself.
“No, Laura,” Ma refused. “You are a good girl to think of it, but there is nothing that I need.”
So they came to the wagon, waiting for them in front of Fuller’s hardware store. Something bulky stood in the wagon box, covered with a horse blanket. Laura wondered what it was, but she had no time to look, for Pa untied the horses quickly and they all started home.
“What have you got in back, Charles?” Ma asked.
“I can’t show you now, Caroline. Wait until we get home,” Pa answered.
At home he stopped the wagon close to the house door. “Now, girls,” he said, “take your own packages in, but leave mine alone until I get back from putting up the horses. Don’t you peek under the blanket either!”
