Little House on the Prairie (1974) s01e03 Episode Script

1
'Twas down in the meadows ♪
The violets were blowing ♪
And the springtime grass
Was fresh and green ♪
Do you think Mr. Edwards would have had
time to deliver a letter before he left?
-Who are you writing letters to?
-No one.
Ow.
Ma says it's because I'm sweet,
and you're too salty
for mosquitoes to bother with.
-I'd rather be salty than mosquito food.
-We're not supposed to go this far.
All these bushes are loaded.
And if we bring back enough berries
for Ma to dry, we'll have pie all winter.
You should stop eating them, then.
Hi! Hello! I'm Laura.
Stop.
I wanted to meet them.
Ma's gonna be mad.
Laura!
I hope my house will look half as nice.
It will.
Thank you, Mr. Scott.
Who knows how long it would've taken
to finish it without your kindness.
-Get back to work on yours tomorrow.
-Looking forward to it.
Mr. Ingalls. Ma'am.
Aw.
Charles, we're not newlyweds.
We've been sleeping inside for weeks.
It's the principle of the thing.
It's not bad, right?
It's perfect.
The china shepherdess.
That means we're home.
Yes. Now we're home.
Safe and sound.
The fox went out
On a chilly night ♪
He prayed to the Moon
To give him light ♪
For a many a mile to go that night
Before he reached the town-o ♪
Town-o, town-o ♪
Many a mile to go that night
Before he reached the town-o ♪
Is it a present?
-What?
-The surprise in town.
It's the post office.
The new post office is the surprise.
It's not a surprise
if you already know about it.
-Pa said there was a surprise.
-Did I say something about a surprise?
Everything's fine.
Want a cookie? Here you go.
Ah.
Well done, Mr. Ingalls.
-Thank you.
-Well done.
Beautiful work.
-Thanks.
-Great stuff.
Ah, Jacob.
Pa, did you draw this?
-I just might've.
-You're full of surprises.
Aren't I?
Mr. Ingalls.
These must be your girls.
Nice to see you, Miss Aubert.
This is Caroline, my wife.
-Our daughters, Mary and Laura.
-Pleased to meet you all.
I didn't know ladies could wear trousers.
Well, most people don't consider me
to be much of a lady.
Caroline.
Let's get you a spot
up front for Eli's speech.
And let's get your girls a cookie
before mine gobble them all up.
If you see Edwards,
will you give him my best?
Gather round, folks. Gather round.
The post office
is the lifeblood of the American West.
Part of what gives us our strength,
so far from everything we've ever known,
is the knowledge
that our families can send word.
This post office will be a beacon!
It will bring
the wider world to Independence.
Next up, more settlers, more prosperity,
and maybe even a railroad line.
The Independence post office is now open!
Very exciting.
Laura and Mary,
a letter from Grandma to both of you.
-Careful.
-Caroline, a letter from Eliza.
For me, mortgage payments
from Mr. Gustafson.
-You're gonna ruin it.
-Laura.
Mary gets to read it first,
seeing as you took the liberty
of tearing it open like a baby goat.
Those two are gonna snip and snap
at each other
until we find them
some other children to play with.
-What is it?
-Bad.
Gustafson says my father's been holed up
in the house, not accepting visitors.
Making Peter work the farm all alone.
He hasn't even been to church.
It's the grief.
He'll come through it in time.
I was hoping he would write.
-I shouldn't have.
-Charles…
It wasn't your fault.
Your father knows that.
He's just not willing to admit it yet.
He's stubborn, like his son.
Sit in the shade.
We got a pocketful of cash
and a long list of supplies to buy.
-Don't forget the slate and pencil.
-I won't.
And not too much candy.
Sorry.
-I can help you read it if you want.
-I don't need any help.
Fine.
Your ma's reading and resting,
so we're gonna do the shopping.
-Know what that means?
-Treats!
Go ahead. Stay close.
-Did you get a cookie?
-I already ate mine.
Me too. I love frosting.
I saw some Osage girls down by the creek.
They were picking blackberries.
How do you say hi in Osage
so I can say hi next time?
You should come see the kittens again.
They're getting all fluffy.
Mama said I had to give one away.
Then she forgot.
-And this.
-Thank you.
Now that we're settled,
Ma says that we have to start lessons.
And she won't forget.
You're going to school? Where?
Nowhere.
Just at home.
Ma was a teacher before she married Pa.
You don't like school?
I just think there are
better things to do,
like hunting and fishing
and collecting rocks
and playing with Jack.
Back in Wisconsin,
at least there was recess with other kids.
Now it's just gonna be me and Mary
and spelling words and poems
in that dumb old grammar book.
I love poems.
And I've always wanted to go to school
in St. Paul where Mama and Father went.
You should come do school with us.
Really?
School would be so much better
with you and not just Mary.
You ready to go?
Could I take lessons
with Laura?
Mrs. Ingalls is a real teacher,
and she's teaching them at home.
We'll have to ask your mother.
Good afternoon, Dr. Tann.
Got your order right here.
Ah, thank you.
I am curious about some
of the items on that shelf.
Oh.
-Okay.
-Wow. The bird skeleton in particular.
It's not exactly the kind of thing
you expect to find in a general store.
Told my sister she'd be scaring off
business with that kinda nonsense.
I doubt it'll sell, but I couldn't resist.
I've always been interested in anatomy.
-The sciences, in general, I mean.
-Yeah.
-News from home?
-Oh, uh…
No. This is, uh, word of an intermittent
fever outbreak in Oswego.
We'll need some quinine
if it makes its way out here.
How's your stock?
I'll have to check, but anything
I have is yours for the taking.
I'll keep that in mind.
-Thinking about spring planting?
-Hm.
Corn, potatoes…
Peas do well out here.
Squash, greens of all kinds, rosemary.
And the flowers, it's…
They're like something out of a dream.
Caroline's kitchen gardens
are a thing of beauty.
-Everyone says so.
-I'll get going on your order.
Thank you.
Treats.
You'll share with your sister?
I'll share.
Hi, Caleb.
I… I was wondering
if you got the letter I sent?
Mr. Edwards was supposed to deliver it.
Well?
I don't wanna talk to a boy
with no manners anyway.
Mary.
That's not how we talk to people.
Let's go find your ma.
Dearest Caroline,
I can't bear to think of you so far
from home on such a foolish adventure.
If you have any sense at all,
you'll bring the girls back
to Wisconsin and have the baby here.
What's the word from home?
Eliza sends her love.
She does?
Doesn't sound like her.
Everything all right?
Just the heat of the day.
Let's get you home, then. Let's go.
What did he do to make you so mad?
You can have it. I'm not hungry.
It's so early.
Mr. Scott and I wanna
finish his house by week's end.
I could come help.
I could sand corners or hold nails.
And I could teach Mr. Scott more songs.
He hardly knows any good ones.
But you have lessons.
I hate being inside all day
when the prairie is right out here.
What am I ever going to need in a book?
Books help you know
about the whole wide world.
Not just Wisconsin.
Not just the prairie.
All kinds of places.
All kinds of people.
Could you take me to meet the Osage, then?
We could ride out
to the camp and say hello.
Ma says they're leaving soon,
and I don't wanna miss my chance.
We'll see.
"Long lines of cliff".
"Breaking have left a cha…."
Chasm.
Mary, please.
You know who loves poems?
Good Eagle.
So you've mentioned.
I'd probably learn a lot faster
if she were here.
Because she would help me, unlike Mary,
who only makes fun.
Someone as slow as you
would try anyone's P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E.
That spells patience,
in case you didn't know.
That's water all over your dress,
in case you didn't know.
That's enough.
If you're uninterested in lessons,
you can get interested in chores.
Laura, go to the creek and get some water.
-Mary, sweep the floors.
-You swept them this morning.
-Sweep them again.
-She likes going down to the river.
It's not even a punishment.
Hey.
What has gotten into you?
I'm tired of having to share
everything with her.
Candy, lessons, letters, and a bed.
Why can't I have anything of my own?
Oh…
Once your brother is born,
there'll be a lot more sharing to do.
I suggest you make peace with it.
Yes, Ma.
If you have any sense at all,
you'll bring the girls back
to Wisconsin and have the baby here.
I'll send money for tickets
just as soon as I have it.
Peter isn't ready to forgive Charles yet,
but you and the girls
will be welcomed with open arms.
Got a letter from my cousin yesterday.
He came out west
with me to build this place,
but our grandfather didn't approve,
so he bent like a reed
and went running back to Boston.
But not you.
I wanted to see what it'd be like
to do something on my own.
Find a new home, new way to be,
new people, new skies, new girls.
I couldn't bear to pin it
at the hotel.
Me neither.
Anyway, my family
hasn't cut me off yet.
What do you know about Lacey Aubert?
I know your grandfather wouldn't approve.
I guess he wouldn't.
She's awfully pretty though.
Scott. Ingalls.
Hello.
Mr. James. What brings you out?
I heard Mr. Ingalls was helping you
with the house, so I thought I'd ride out.
I'm, uh, actually here to talk to you
about a community project
I'd like your help with.
Another postcard?
A church.
I've been promising Jemma for ages,
but I hadn't found a draftsman
or a carpenter I trusted
until you came along.
Are you interested
in giving our community a boost?
Now, I'd provide the materials,
of course, and the volunteers.
I'd be honored.
Good man. Good man.
These cursed little vipers
are everywhere.
Does this mean
we're finally getting a land office?
I mean, post office here
and a church on the way.
This place is special.
I came here to scout for the railroad,
and I tell ya…
…I fell in love.
I bought the land for the town
of Independence from the Osage myself.
And that purchase taught me
everything I need to know about the Osage.
-Which is?
-They're a reasonable people.
They like trade,
and they have the good sense to hear
the sweet sounds of progress coming west.
So they will sell to the government?
You know as well as I do
that molasses would beat
the US government in a footrace.
But they'll make the Osage
a fair offer for the rest of this land,
and the Osage will sell,
just like they sold to me.
And once they do, you'll each have
a claim on this land you're proving up.
I was beginning to worry
about what to tell Caroline
if things weren't settled soon.
Give it a month or two,
and all will be as right as rain.
Have faith, Mr. Ingalls.
Have faith.
Look, Jack! They took the flowers!
Everyone likes gumdrops, right?
Come on, Jack!
He likes you.
Hello.
My friend Good Eagle
taught me that.
Do you know Good Eagle?
I'm Laura.
No.
-Would you like some cornbread?
-Laura.
It's okay, Ma.
I'll get it.
One of those was for me.
I could make coffee or tea.
Take whatever you want and go.
Mm.
You're being greedy.
She said take whatever we want.
I doubt she meant all their food.
These people moved into our land,
built a house with our trees,
offered us jam
made from our blackberries.
You call it greedy.
I call it fair.
Jack, don't beg.
We have a story about dogs,
how they help us be
the best version of ourselves.
Jack's a good dog,
a good friend.
That's enough. Let's go.
That's Ma's.
-You can't take her doll.
-Let them go.
Everything's fine.
Everything's fine.
Hey, Caroline!
You'll never guess what's finally
coming to town and who's gonna build it.
Caroline?
Caroline?
-What's wrong? What happened?
-Two Osage men came into the house.
They took all of our food and your tobacco
and Ma's china doll.
-Are you all right?
-They didn't hurt us.
Laura?
I'm fine.
Okay.
She was the last thing
my father ever gave me.
Eliza said she would break
on the way here.
But she made it.
A miracle.
It was like Father
was right there with us,
keeping her safe…
Keeping me safe.
And now she's gone.
I'm sorry.
This house was supposed to keep us safe.
-It will.
-You said they were leaving.
-It won't happen again. I promise.
-How can you promise that?
I'll talk to Mitchell.
What's he gonna do about it?
I will find a way to fix this.
Are you gonna tell me
what Father Schoenmakers wrote.
Or are you gonna read that thing
over and over again
like one of those terrible
dime novels you love?
She…
He wants to introduce me
to the new Indian agent,
Isaac Gibson.
Why?
Some kind of translating job.
He also said a spot opened up
for Good Eagle if we still wanna send her.
I think it would be a good idea for her
to go to school with other children,
make some friends other than her cousins.
I don't want her away from home right now.
I want her close.
I want her safe.
She asked if she could study
with the Ingalls girls.
Down the road,
maybe one or two days a week.
Absolutely not. Who knows
what kind of nonsense they'd teach her.
I bring gifts.
Usually you just bring
an empty stomach.
Not this time, sister.
You don't like coffee.
That's why I brought it to you.
Myron and I were having
some fun with the settlers on the ridge.
-What settlers?
-Woman and a couple of kids.
One of 'em said she knew Good Eagle.
What were you thinking?
I was thinking there's a post office
opening up in town,
which means those settlers
are gonna keep coming.
What do you care?
You don't like the settlers either.
No, but I have the good sense not to
harass a woman at home with her children.
Nothing happened.
No, but it could have.
What if she had a weapon?
What if her husband had come home?
You could have ended up dead!
And for what?
Foolishness!
-It was Myron's idea.
-Of course it was.
I thought…
Good Eagle might like this.
That's not yours to give.
Come on in.
Caroline?
Poor dear. What happened?
Ugh.
And in your own home.
It's too much.
They didn't hurt us.
It's all well and good to have compassion,
young lady, but there are limits.
I've seen things no human being
should ever have to witness.
Back in Minnesota, the Dakota War…
Caroline, you were close enough.
You know how it was.
Once you've lived through a massacre…
-What's a massacre?
-Never mind.
Girls,
go outside.
Sit on the front steps with Jack.
Close the door behind you.
You too, Mary.
-I'm old enough to listen.
-Go outside with your sister.
Mary?
-Where are you going?
-Don't follow me.
They came in my house and took everything.
My wife and daughters were all alone.
And if that's not a threat,
I'm not sure what is.
Some of the young men, they… like to
collect a kind of rent from the settlers.
Rent?
They feel we're owed.
Do you feel that way too?
They're frustrated.
They're angry.
They've lost a way of life.
They've lost a sense of purpose.
I understand that loss.
I can't have strangers
walking into my house uninvited.
I think they'd say the same thing.
Is there a way…
That I could pay this rent in advance?
I don't think that's really the point.
This morning, Eli James made it sound like
the land deal was over but the shouting
Eli James.
Now you're making it seem like
I'll never be able to call my home my own.
I'd be careful what I believed
from a railroad man.
The fact is this is still Osage land.
The railroad made a deal,
Congress scuttled it,
and now everything's back in play.
So there's no deal coming.
Believe me, we all want this settled
just as much as you do.
If the government makes an offer,
we'll decide if we can live with it,
if we wanna live with it.
But until then, we're all in limbo.
I promised my wife she'd be safe.
She's as safe as any of us are.
We can tell her those two men
won't come to her house again.
Hi, Mary.
I didn't mean to run away the other day.
I'm… I'm just not good with words. I…
I… I think about what I wanna say,
and… I don't really know how to say it,
so it's kinda just easier
not to say anything at all.
I'm glad you wrote me though.
I wrote you back, actually.
Here you go.
Thank you.
Oh, no, no.
You don't have to read it right now.
I'm sorry I was rude yesterday.
I didn't mind.
Uh, I guess I'll run
these packages up to the house, then.
-No. It… it's okay. I can take them.
-Okay.
I'd just rather have something for myself.
A friend.
I mean, if you wanna be friends?
Yeah. Yeah, I do.
What's on your mind?
The other day,
I saw some Osage girls at the creek…
So I left them some flowers.
And then I went back,
and I left them some gumdrops
as a present.
I see.
But then those men came into the house…
And they took the doll…
And all our food.
And now Mrs. James says
there's going to be a massacre.
There's not gonna be any massacre.
None of this is your fault.
Your ma and Mrs. James…
They worry because bad things
happened a long time ago,
when you were too little to remember.
The war?
Yes.
But this is a different place
with different people.
I didn't mean to upset Ma.
I just wanted to make friends.
You have a curious heart.
An open heart. It's a good thing.
Just remember to be careful with it.
I got the coffee too,
but the rest we'll have to replace.
This is their land, isn't it?
The Osages'.
Jemma told me all about it. I assume
you've known for quite some time.
I didn't wanna worry you.
I'm not a child.
I deserve to know where we stand out here,
what our life is going to look like.
I wanted to protect you.
By dragging us out to a place
that isn't even open for settlement?
-I didn't know that at the time.
-But you know it now!
And you said nothing!
-You kept me in the dark.
-The government is going to buy the land.
-When?
-I don't know! Nobody knows!
We have to have faith. We have to believe.
I don't know
how much longer I can do that, Charles.
I don't know
how much longer I can believe.
We didn't have a choice.
We stayed because we couldn't go back.
Maybe you can't go back.
What's that supposed to mean?
Caroline, what does that mean?
Stop it! Stop fighting!
-Mary!
-Mary?
-Mary?
-Mary?
Mary, sweetheart?
Oh, she's… she's burning up.
Mary… Mary…