By The Shores Of Silver Lake by Wilder Laura Ingalls

Author:Wilder, Laura Ingalls [Wilder, Laura Ingalls]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, Children, Young Adult, Historical, Biography, Autobiography, Classic
ISBN: 0064400050
Publisher: HarperTrophy
Published: 1939-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

THE LAST MAN OUT

N ext morning the sun shone but the wind was colder and there was a feeling of storm in the air. Pa had come from doing the chores and was warming his hands by the stove, while Ma and Laura put breakfast on the table, when they heard a wagon rattling.

It stopped by the front door. The driver shouted and Pa went out to him. Through the window Laura saw them talking in the cold wind.

In a moment Pa came back and hurriedly put on his overcoat and his mittens while he said, “We've got a neighbor I didn't know about last night. An old man, sick and all alone. I'm going out there now, I'll tell you all about it when I get back.”

He drove away with the stranger and it was some time before he came walking home.

“Brrrr! It's getting colder,” he said, dropping his coat and mittens on a chair and bending over the stove to warm himself before he unwound his muffler. "Well, it's a good job done.

"That teamster's the last one out. He came all the way from the Jim River and didn't find a soul. Everyone along the line is going. Last night, when dark caught him, he saw a light about two miles north of the grade and drove to it on the chance of finding a place to stay all night.

"Well, Caroline, he found a claim shanty and an old man all by himself. His name is Woodworth. He has consumption, and came out here to take the prairie-climate cure. He's been living on his claim all summer and was going to stay all winter.

"Well, he's so feeble, the teamster tried to get him to go out. Told him it's his last chance, but Woodworth wouldn't go. So when the teamster saw our smoke this morning, he stopped to see if he couldn't get somebody to help him persuade the old man.

“Caroline, he was skin and bones. But bound and determined to stick to the prairie cure. Said it was the one cure the doctors recommended as pretty near a surefire thing.”

“Folks come from all over the world to take it,” said Ma.

"Yes, I know, Caroline. It's true enough, I guess, these prairies are about the only thing that cures consumption. But if you'd seen him, Caroline. No, he wasn't in any shape to stay alone in a claim shanty, fifteen miles from a neighbor. The place for him is with his own folks.

“Anyhow, the teamster and I packed him up and loaded him and his things into the wagon. Lifted him in, as easy as if he was Carrie, here. In the end he was glad to be going. He'll be a sight more comfortable with his folks in the east.”

“He'll nearly freeze to death, riding in a wagon this cold day,” Ma said, putting more coal on the fire.

“He's dressed warmly, wearing a good overcoat. We wrapped him in blankets besides and heated a bag of oats for his feet.

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