On The Banks Of Plum Creek Quotes
"All day long for many, many days, Jack had been trotting under the wagon. He had learned to take his rest whenever the wagon stopped."
"The sky was very faintly pink, then it was pinker. The color went higher up the sky. It grew brighter and deeper."
"The peaceful colors went all around the rim of the sky. The willows breathed and the water talked to itself in the dusk."
"Ma laughed when Laura and Mary came to dinner and supper, all splashed and muddy, with green necklaces around their necks and the long green tubes in their hands."
"Laura went under those singing flowers into the dugout. It was one room, all white. The earth walls had been smoothed and whitewashed."
"Everything was watery, cool, and unsteady. Laura felt very light. Her feet were so light that they almost lifted off the creek bottom."
"Laura could not help asking, 'Pa, did you have to give him Pet and Patty? Did you, Pa?'"
"They all sat quiet, looking across Plum Creek and the willows, watching the sun sink far away in the west, far away over the prairie lands."
"The rushes in the wind made a wild, lonely sound. They were not soft and flat like grass; they were hard and round and sleek and jointed."
"Laura lay in bed and listened to the water talking and the willows whispering."
"The sun was always warm on the big gray rock. Sunshine was always on the waving prairie grasses, and birds and butterflies in the sunshine."
"Then the whole sun bounded up, round and huge, far bigger than the ordinary sun and throbbing with so much light that its roundness almost burst."
"She was high up in the sky, almost as high as birds. Her arms waved and her feet bounced on the springy straw. She was almost flying, ’way high up in the windy sky."
"Next winter they would have dried plums to eat."
"The shade of the plum thickets was a thin shade. Sunshine flickered between the narrow leaves overhead."
"One morning the whole world was delicately silvered. Every blade of grass was silvery and the path had a thin sheen."
"That day the frost plums were ripe. They were large, purple plums and all over their purple was a silvery thin sheen like frost."
"Whatever do they mean by that?" Ma asked him."
"Laura liked the sound of the words and when she ran through the crackling prairie grasses and saw the grasshoppers jumping she sang to herself: 'Grasshopper weather! Grasshopper weather!'"
"The prairie seemed big and empty then, but there was nothing to be afraid of."
"Jack was a responsible dog. He knew that he must take care of everything when Pa was away."
"Santa Claus was everywhere on Christmas Eve."
"If everybody wanted everybody else to be happy, all the time, then would it be Christmas all the time?"
"But I might have known you wouldn’t let that happen."
"But Pete and Bright are too slow for harrowing and harvesting."
"I’ve broken up that big field with them, but I can’t put it all in wheat, without horses."
"The older you are, the more you know about Santa Claus."
"He comes down all the chimneys at the same time."
"Whenever anyone was unselfish, that was Santa Claus."
"Christmas Eve was the time when everybody was unselfish."
"Now, girls, help bring in the packages while Pa puts up the oxen."
"Oop!" said Pa. "Nearly hit you that time. I should have expected you, flutterbudget. You’re always on hand like a sore thumb."
"The creek poured and splashed always the same and always changing. Glints of sunshine danced on it. Cool air came up from it and warm air lay on Laura’s neck."
"It isn’t everybody that gets a chance to learn to read and write and cipher."
"You always think of something, Charles," said Ma.
"Come on," said Mary, low. But she stood still. "It’s the school where we hear the hollering. Pa said we would hear it."
"Thank you, Mrs. Oleson. I had a very good time at the party."
"There is a happy land, Far, far away, Where saints in glory stand, Bright, bright as day!"
"If this keeps up," he said, "we’ll start harvesting next week."
"Well, Caroline," Pa said. "I saw Brother Alden and he told me he couldn’t raise money enough to put a bell in the belfry."
"It will be a pleasure to look forward to, all week."
"Never mind, Caroline," she heard Pa saying. "It’s not long to wait till I harvest the wheat."
"Don’t worry, Charles. We’ve always got along."
"Have another cup of tea, Charles. It will help get the smoke out of your throat."
"Never mind, Charles. We’ve been through hard times before."
"Don’t worry, Caroline. We did all we could, and we’ll pull through somehow."
"The only shade was in the house. There were no leaves on willows or plum thickets."
"No pesky mess of grasshoppers can beat us! We’ll do something! You’ll see! We’ll get along somehow."
"Take good care of the old fiddle, Caroline. It puts heart into a man."
"I would like some one to tell me how they all knew at once that it was time to go, and how they knew which way was west and their ancestral home."
"There is nothing in the world so good as good neighbors."
"It was good to thaw by the stove when the chores were done, and to smell the warm smells of potatoes boiling and fish frying."
"Every night before they went to bed, Mary rubbed out one mark. That was one day gone."
"The sun had melted away the snow, but the ground was hard and frosty."
"It was cosy to be in the lamplit house by the warm stove."
"Sweet Sabbath school more dear to me than fairest palace dome, my heart e’er turns with joy to thee, my own dear Sabbath home."
"All night the storm lasted, and all the next day."
"Deep in the night she woke and saw lamplight shining up through the ladder-hole."