Back in Olde Tyme Action!

Oh how I've missed the simple pleasures of the Prairie!

When I picked Little Town on the Prairie up it opened right to a page with the term "lunatic fringe" underlined three times. No, not hippies who blow up half constructed subdivisions, or intense Libertarians who try use pieces of silver to buy milk at the 7-11 because dollars are issued by the Government - Laura's bangs.

Ma on the folly of new-fangled hair styles:

I was only thinking of the time your Aunt Eliza and I combed our hair up over our ears and went to school that way. The teacher called us up front and shamed us before the whole school, for being so unladylike and bold as to let our ears be seen.

Sluts! Poor Ma was shamed so thoroughly that on way to school Laura and Carrie discuss how they've never seen their mother's ears. In their whole hard-scrabble, edge of death, living in a hole in the ground, or surrounded by hostile natives, lives, Ma has never let even a lobe peek out!

It feels so good to be back!!!

Of course then I flipped the page and came right onto this charming little drawing.

And it STILL feels good to be back because you know I love to be horrified by Prairie-time race relations.

Out of respect for the Ingalls I will not describe what happened at the town's "Literary," because yes, one of these gentlemen is Pa in black face. Sigh.

The man is truly the king of poor choices.

Let's see what else is going on? Laura's studying her brains out to become the teacher she never wanted to be. The most fun Laura has all summer is helping Pa with haying. Luckily that's not too strenuous what with the gophers and black birds and various and sundry Prairie blights out to gobble the Ingalls' crops slash spirits.

Studying is made slightly less distasteful with the introduction of a new teacher to replace Almanzo's bitchy sister Eliza Jane. First sign of promise? "On the third day of school, Mr. Owen whipped Willie (brother of Nellie) Oleson."

This is good for a number of reasons.

What's that? You don't care who gets abused in the school house? That's very heartless of you. All you care about is Laurmanzo's (Almanzora's? Suggestions?) love affair - blooming like cholera on the prairie. Patience!