This Saturday: a happiness quotation from Laura Ingalls Wilder.

When the fiddle had stopped singing Laura called out softly, “What are days of auld lang syne, Pa?”

“They are the days of a long time ago, Laura,” Pa said. “Go to sleep, now.”

But Laura lay awake a little while, listening to Pa’s fiddle softly playing and to the lonely sound of the wind in the Big Woods. She looked at Pa sitting on the bench by the hearth, the firelight gleaming on his brown hair and beard and glistening on the honey-brown fiddle. She looked at Ma, gently rocking and knitting.

She thought to herself, “This is now.”

She was glad that the cosy house, and Pa and Ma and the firelight and the music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago.

--the last page of The Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder. I get tears in my eyes every time I read this.

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Comments

[Susan]

I love the "Little House" series.

[Justine]

Gretchen is 2 for 2 with things that resound with me! =P I love these books so much. My husband never read the Little House series, so I'm reading them to him. We finished Little House in the Big Woods last night, and I get tears in my eyes every time, too.

[Rochelle]

I loved the Little House books as a child, and recently re-read them as an adult. They really do stand the test of time.

[STL Mom]

Many of my favorite childhood books have gone over like a lead balloon with my kids, but not the Little House books - my daughter loves them.
**Spoiler Alert** When Jack died at the beginning of the Shores of Silver Lake, I was crying so hard I couldn't read out loud!

[Gretchen Rubin]

The death of Jack is right up there with the death of Beth in LITTLE WOMEN. That, and that terrible line, "The fever had settled in Mary's eyes, and Mary was blind."

The books are even better when you read them as an adult. I was astonished by how much I hadn't understood, when I read them over and over as a child.

The Little House set is a masterpiece.

[Dr.Cason]

Awww...

You just warmed my heart. The Little House in the Big Woods is amazing. I'd forgotten about them. Time to go and get the series for my children.

[Charlotte]

These are great works of American literature, and LIW's writing can stand up to just about anyone else I can think of. Wish more adults read them. I have to go re-read them now!I try to every ten years, although I can never find Plum Creek, it seems to be very popular. The Long Winter is one of the most harrowing books I can recall and should be read as a historical document to understand that pioneer experience.

[Dennis Ritchie]

When there are bad days, happy memories keep me going. Remembering successes and tough times I've survived makes memories "today" again. Amazing how we can connect with Laura's memories that happened so long ago. Like peeking in the window of a time machine. Great post.

[Sonia]

Oh, the Little House books are some of my all-time favorites...my best friend (who was my college roommate) and I re-read them every single year, and one of the best presents I ever gave her once we became "grown-ups" was the entire Little House set in hardcover. I think it gave me just as much happiness to give her the books and see her reaction as it did for her to receive them.

[DonnaS]

I have read these books with my girls and they love them! Some of the stories are so funny. Laura Ingalls Wilder was a great storyteller, she makes you feel like you were there.