While school was in session, Mr. White took Annabel to see the judge and Reverend Long since they were not in their offices the day before. They walked past the parsonage where the Reverend was outside planting flowers for his wife. He looked at Mr. White and Annabel and asked why she wasn't in school. "She tried to push Catherine Cartwright down the stairs and is not allowed to return to school until after the school board has met. I'm taking her to see the judge so he can tell her what her punishment for her actions would be if she were older. Maybe he can make her straighten up and behave."
"Give me a minute to wash the dirt off my hands and let me talk with Annabel." He rinsed his hands under the pump and said, "Come along Annabel. Let's go into my office and have a little chat. Maybe we can figure out why you have been getting into so much trouble and how you can change your ways." Mr. White started to follow but Reverend Long said, "Please stay out here. It is important for me to be able to talk with Annabel without anyone else around. She needs to feel free to tell me what's on her mind without worrying about being punished." Annabel followed him into his office and sat down in a chair he pointed to. He sat down in another chair facing her and said, "I am not here to judge you. I am here to help you. You have gotten into a lot of trouble lately and I want to help make things better. Please tell me, why have you been acting the way you have lately?"
"It's all Cartwright's fault. If she would have let me keep her saddle bags, I never would have gotten in trouble."
"I see. You were stealing from people a long time before Mr. Cartwright adopted his niece so
she didn't make you steal. She is just the only person who would not give you what you wanted. Now, tell me the truth, why have you been stealing?"
"Because my mama said I'm a princess and can have anything I want."
"If that's the case, why didn't you just ask her to buy those things for you? What is the real reason you have been stealing? You need to tell me the truth if you want me to help."
"Because I wanted to. I was going to sell everything. I need the money."
"Thank you for being honest. Why do you need the money?"
"So I can go somewhere far away from here."
"Why do you want to go far away from here? You have friends and your parents love you."
"I'm pretty sure that mama does but Pa hates me. He never says anything to me unless he's scolding me, yelling at me, or telling me to do something. He was madder at me because his friends would know I was stealing than he was because I was stealing. When he was whipping me, he kept saying how embarrassed he was and it would be hard to face his friends because of what I did. He took my toys away from me and said I can't have them or my birthday and Christmas gifts until I'm off restriction at Easter. I'm not even allowed to leave my room unless I'm going to school or church or doing chores. Mama isn't even allowed to talk to me except to tell me what chores to do or bring a tray of food to my room. She talks to me when Pa isn't around and tells me how much she loves me but she has to be careful because Pa will spank her if he catches her talking to me. He already has done it several times."
"Are you telling me that you're on restriction until Easter and not even allowed to eat with your parents?"
"Yes sir."
"I am going to have to have a talk with your father about how he is punishing you. Look me in the eyes and tell me the truth. Are you sorry that you stole from people or are you just sorry that you got caught?"
"Both I guess. I didn't really want to steal but that's the only way I knew of to get money. I'm real sorry I got caught. I hate being whipped and spanked almost every day and if Pa isn't happy with the way my chores are done, he adds more time to my restriction. I had to polish some of the silver yesterday and left a little smudge on a bowl. Pa yelled at me and added another day to my restriction. I just know he hates me."
"I'm not sure about that but I do know he's going about things all wrong and I am going to talk to him. However your feelings toward your father and his toward you do not excuse the fact that you have done some things that are very wrong. What does the Bible say about stealing?"
"Not to."
"That's right. What does the Bible say about killing?"
"Not to."
"Correct. However, you have been stealing and admitted that you were trying to kill Catherine Cartwright. Instead of stealing from people, what could you have done about the problem you're having with your father?"
"I don't know."
"I think you do."
"I guess I could have talked to someone but nobody would believe me because they all think my Pa is perfect."
"No Annabel. People do not think your father is perfect any more than they think I am perfect. I also do not think you are telling me the entire truth about why you were stealing. You could not have sold Catherine Cartwright's saddle bags. Everybody would know who they belonged to, wouldn't they?"
"Yes sir."
"So besides the problem you are having with your father, why did you steal? If you don't tell me the truth, I will not help you. Why else did you steal?"
"Because being mean to people I don't like makes me feel good. Tommy and Billy said it's fun and they're right."
"Why don't you like Catherine?"
"Because she won't be friends with me."
"I see. And why won't she be friends with you?"
"Because I said Laura and Mary Ingalls couldn't come to my house because they're poor. Mama says I'm only supposed to associate with rich people. The Cartwrights are rich so Catherine should be my friend."
"So you decided to steal from her and try to kill her because she didn't want to be your friend."
"No, I tried to kill her because it's her fault I got in trouble for stealing."
Reverend Long sighed. "I can see that you and I are going to have a lot of work to do. I am going to tell your father to bring you over here every day so we can talk and I can try to help you see the error of your ways. Now, since you are not allowed to attend school until after the school board meets, I am going to give you an assignment to do for me and I want it done in your best handwriting. I want you to write an essay for me and it is not going to be a short one. Using your Bible, I want you to write out all ten of the Commandments and tell me what each of them means and how you are going to start keeping them. I also want you to write down every reference to how you are supposed to treat people and every reference about rich people. After you find and write down all of those references, I want you to explain those references and what they say about the way you have been acting. Also, as part of that essay, I want you to explain what you have been doing wrong, why it is wrong and how you are going to improve your behavior. That is a lot of work and I expect it will probably take you at least a week to do it, so I want you to spend one hour a day working on it. I want you to bring your essay with you every day when we meet and I want you to bring it to church with you on Sunday so I can see the progress you are making. If I think you are being honest when you say how you intend to keep the Commandments, I will ask the school board to allow you to return to school when they meet on Wednesday. Now I want you to go home and start on that essay and I expect to see you here again tomorrow with your essay. Don't worry about your father. I am going to talk to him."
He walked Annabel to the door and told her to go home. Her father saw her walking toward the house and scolded her. "Where do you think you're going? I'm not through with you yet. You still have to go and see the judge. You are going to straighten out and act properly even if I have to give you a whipping every day. Now get back over here!"
"I sent her home," said Reverend Long. "She has something she has to do for me and it will probably take her at least a week and I want to see her every day until I say differently. In the mean time, you and I need to talk. Considering that you are one of the causes, you are not helping Annabel's problem one little bit." The two men walked into the minister's office and Reverend Long let Mr. White know in no uncertain terms that the way he was treating his daughter was wrong. When Mr. White protested that there was nothing wrong with the way he was treating Annabel, Reverend Long said, "You are treating her like a criminal who has done something wrong in prison and have put her in solitary confinement. Not only have you decided to confine her to her room for six months, you don't speak to her except to scold or tell her what to do and you will not allow her mother speak to her except to tell her what to do. You won't even let her eat her meals with you and her mother. Do you have any idea what you are doing to that child?"
"Yes. I am punishing her for stealing and trying to kill Catherine Cartwright."
"You are doing more than that. Annabel is convinced that you hate her and I can understand why. Let's go and talk to Dr. Martin and see if he can help make you understand the effect your actions are having on your daughter."
They walked over to Paul Martin's office and told him what Mr. White was doing to Annabel. "Well Fred, you've finally found your excuse to shut your daughter out of your life as much as possible, haven't you? When are you going to tell your brothers to mind their own business and leave you alone? You see David, Fred here is embarrassed that he has a daughter. He has three brothers, all of whom have several sons and daughters. Every time they write or visit him, they tease him because they have sons and he doesn't. You have just learned what most people around here have known for years, he resents Annabel for being a girl and it's high time somebody did something about it. Fred, get your horse and meet us back here in fifteen minutes."
"Where are we going?"
"To talk to some fathers about their children."
Their first stop was at the Ingalls to talk to Charles. "Of course I wanted my first child to be a son. I wanted my second and third children to be sons also. What man doesn't want a son to carry on his name? But that doesn't mean I don't love my daughters. I can't envision my life without them. I had a son. He was born when Laura was eight and God chose to take him away from me when he was eight months old. If Caroline gets pregnant again and has a boy who lives, I will not love my daughters any less than I do now. They are my life and without them my life would be empty. With them, I am the richest man in the world and there isn't a day that goes by when I don't tell them how much I love them and how much they mean to me. God gave you a gift Fred and you rejected that gift because it wasn't a son. Think about how that makes your wife and daughter feel. Try thinking about someone else besides yourself for a change."
Their next stop was the Ponderosa. When Mr. White realized where they were going he said, "I can't go there and face Ben after what Annabel did."
"Nonsense!" said Paul. "You just don't want to."
"I agree with Paul," said Reverend Long. "Annabel said that you were upset because you were embarrassed that your friends would know she had been stealing, not because she had been stealing. That is not the correct attitude to take with a child who has done something wrong."
Ben welcomed his guests into the house. Hop Sing brought coffee for everyone and went back into the kitchen. Paul and Reverend Long explained the reason for their visit and Ben said, "Of course I was thrilled that my wives gave birth to sons. However, as Paul already knows, I always hoped that one of them would give me a daughter to spoil. I had dreams of dressing her up in pretty dresses and frilly petticoats and pantaloons, but God chose to give me three sons whom I love dearly."
"Well Ben, you've got your little girl now. Although I must admit that I just can't see Cat in pretty dresses and frilly underthings," laughed Paul.
"How do you feel about the fact that Catherine does not exactly fit the description of what you wanted your daughter to be like?" asked Reverend Long.
I love her very much just the way she is and wouldn't trade her for the daughter I always dreamed of having. We have managed to compromise on her wearing dresses but not frilly underclothes. Cat has always worn dresses to dances and Kitty Russell was able to get her into them for church on Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter. Thanks to some help from Mary and Laura Ingalls, Catherine has agreed to wear dresses to church every Sunday. I'm afraid if I tried making her wear them to school, she would take her colt and puppies and get on the next stage heading south."
"Which one of your sons is she most like?" asked Mr. White.
"I see all three of my sons in Catherine. She loves to read like Adam. She is kind hearted and loves animals like Hoss, and she is free spirited and inquisitive like Joe. She wasn't even a year old when Hoss started calling her Wild Cat. He said that she was as wild as the West Texas Wind and harder to tame and that's not too far from the truth. It seemed like she started crawling one day and was running the next. My sister said that our father's cook caught Cat trying to climb up the china cabinet one day. Matt said that when she was six, she and two of her friends climbed up the water tank in Dodge."
All three of his guests laughed at Cat's antics when she was younger. "Judging from what you just said, she must spend a lot of time bottom up over your knees," said Mr. White.
"No she doesn't. Catherine is fairly well behaved and when she does misbehave, a spanking isn't always needed to correct her behavior."
"Aren't you afraid that she'll skip school? It's a long way to town and she could easily do that."
"No, not at all. Her uncles have already told her that if she skips school, she will not be able to spend the summer with them. So, even though she doesn't want to, Catherine will go to school. I am going to do something I never do and tell someone that the way they are treating their children is wrong. You cannot keep your daughter confined to her room except for chores, church, and school for months on end. You cannot and should not be keeping her from spending time with you and her mother and you need to talk to her and allow her mother to talk to her. Threatening to spank your wife for speaking to her daughter is wrong. Annabel is a young child who needs to know that she is loved. But you have never loved her, have you? You were so disappointed at having a daughter that you decided to shut her out of your life as much as possible. Now it seems that you have decided to completely shut her out of your life and are attempting to force her mother to choose between her husband and her daughter. I can tell you exactly whom your wife will choose and that person won't be you. You are in grave danger of losing both your wife and your daughter."
"Haven't you ever punished your sons by confining them to their room?"
"Yes I have but never for more than two days. With one exception that I can remember, even when they were restricted to their rooms, they always ate their meals with the family. The only time I can remember when one of my sons had to eat supper in his room as punishment was when Joseph was around eight or nine. The teacher gave an assignment that he simply refused to do. So I sent him to his room and told him he would have to stay there until the assignment was completed. It still wasn't finished at suppertime so Hop Sing took a tray of food up to him. When he heard the chatter and laughter coming from downstairs, he realized what he was missing out on. He ate his supper, finished his assignment and brought it downstairs with the empty tray and I allowed him to play one game of checkers with Hoss before bed. The last time his toys were taken away from him was when he was four. He became angry about something and threw one of them at Hoss, so Marie took the toys away from him for the rest of that day and the following two. Listening to him cry for his toys wasn't easy and there were several times when we almost gave in and returned them to him. But we held firm and Joe learned a very valuable lesson and never threw any of his toys at anyone again."
"What about Catherine? Doesn't she have the famous Cartwright temper?"
"Yes she does and she hasn't learned how to control it yet but we're working on it. Adam said something she didn't like on Wednesday night and she kicked him. I scolded but did not punish her because I had a feeling that part of the problem was that her head was hurting. She tried to deny it but finally admitted it was so Hop Sing made one of his herb teas for her to drink. Judging from her reaction to the taste, making her drink that tea, in her opinion, was a worse punishment than a spanking. It tasted so bad, she asked Hop Sing if he was trying to kill her."
Paul laughed. "Typical Cartwright. None of them, including the youngest, will admit when they're hurt or don't feel well. And getting them to stay in bed is almost impossible unless they're unconscious. Ben, I've lost count of the number of times I have wanted to tie you or one of your sons to their bed to make them stay in it. I can see that Cat is already picking up your bad habits. You should have seen her on Wednesday. She came into my office with blood running down her head and insisted that she wasn't hurt. I think she's trying to out Cartwright the rest of the family. Even Joe will occasionally admit when he's hurt."
"Don't blame me," laughed Ben. "I didn't raise her. I only inherited her a few months ago. Fred, I am going to break a cardinal rule of mine and give you advice on how to raise your daughter. God gave you a precious gift and you acted like a spoiled child and rejected the gift because it wasn't what you wanted. It's time for you to grow up and act like a man. That child needs her mother and her father and she needs to know that they both love her. Give her toys back, let her have her birthday and Christmas gifts when the time comes, and stop keeping her confined to her room. She can still be restricted to the house and yard and the extra chores you have given her, with the right encouragement, will help her to realize everything you and your wife do to keep the household running smoothly. Spend time with her and get to know her. Apologize for the way you have treated her since she was born and most of all, let yourself love her. Annabel is a part of you and her mother and needs love from both of you. Judging from what I have been told, much of her stealing would not have happened if you had acted like her parent instead of like a stranger."
The men sat and talked for a while longer. When they decided to leave, Paul said, "Fred, why don't you go on ahead? I need to talk to Ben for a few minutes. David and I will see you back in town."
"I truly hope and pray that you will spend a lot of time thinking about what you have learned today and spend time in prayer and ask God to help you deal with your feelings toward your daughter," added Reverend Long. "As Ben said, she was a gift to you from God and you need to change the way you treat her. She has a very long essay to write for me but I do not expect it to be done in a single day. When you get home, you may ask her if she has begun writing it and if she hasn't, remind her that I expect to see progress on it when I see her tomorrow. Do not pressure Annabel to do the essay. It has to be her decision and she knows the consequences of not doing it."
After Mr. White left, Paul told Ben what Mike Devlin had told him about Adam. Ben exploded. "Damn him! If he were ten years younger, I'd take him out to the barn and tan his hide! I don't understand him. Is he trying to drive his sister away? If he is, he's doing a very good job of it. He knows that she won't skip school. Her uncles already told her if she does, she won't be able to spend the summer with them and she won't give up her summer in Dodge. Ever since we brought Cat home, Adam and his brothers have been reminding me that she's not Joe and now he's starting to treat her as though she were. Well, there's more than enough work on the ranch to keep him busy for quite some time. The mine and logging camp need to be checked regularly and fences always need mending. I'm about to fire one of the hands, so Adam can take up the slack for the missing man for a while also. If you see him in town, please tell him that I would like him to come home today."
About half way through the afternoon, Miss Winter began feeling sick and decided to dismiss school early. She wrote notes to the parents of the children who did not live in town so they wouldn't get in trouble for not being in school. She handed out the notes and said, "Children, I am not feeling well and need to go home. All of you have your homework assignments for this weekend and those of you who do not live in town have notes so your parents will know why you are home early. Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you on Monday morning. Class is dismissed."
The children gladly ran out of the schoolhouse, happy to have a longer weekend. As Cat, Jasper, Mike and other students ran to saddle their horses, Sally said, "Wait for me and Richard. We have to let Ma know that Miss Winter let us out early and get our horses and fishing poles. We shouldn't be long. Ma and Pa already said we could go fishing with everyone today." She and her brother returned about fifteen minutes later. Jasper and Mike helped Laura mount Beauty behind Cat and they rode off to join their friends at the creek. Since Mary didn't like fishing, she and Carrie decided to play on the swings and see saw while they waited for their father to pick them up. They didn't have to wait long. Charles and Caroline had some errands to do in town and saw the girls playing on the swings. Mary told her parents about Miss Winter not feeling well and dismissing school early.
Once all of the children reached the creek, they dug for worms, baited their hooks and started fishing. Cat took her school books out of her saddle bags and started doing her homework. "Why are you doing your homework now?" asked Laura.
"'Cause Pa says it has to be done before supper, even on Fridays so if I work on it now, I'll have time to clean the fish I catch and play with Fury before supper. I always used to do my homework while I was fishing when I lived in Dodge, so I guess it's a habit. Besides that, I won't have time to do it tomorrow. Joe, Thaddeus and I are going hunting and we're having company for supper. Pa said we're going to start moving the cattle to their winter pastures after church and I don't know how long that will take so I may not have time to do it on Sunday."
"That makes sense," said Sally. "By doing your homework now, you won't have to worry about doing it later. Then your Pa and Adam won't have anything to fuss at you about. Although, the way Mike says Adam's been treating you, he'll probably try to find something to fuss at you about." Other children saw Cat working on her homework, listened to her reasons why and decided to start on their own. With the help of the older children, all those who decided to do their homework while they were fishing, were able to complete it in about thirty minutes. The children fished for several hours and then, as many of them still had homework and chores to do, decided to call it a day. Since Hoss' appetite was legendary, several children who had not caught enough fish for their families gave their catch to Cat.
Ben was in the yard when Cat rode in. He helped her dismount, looked at all of the fish and said, "You're home earlier than I expected and you have an awful lot of fish for only a few hours fishing."
"Miss Susan wasn't feeling well and let us escape two hours early. Here's the note she gave to everyone who doesn't live in town." Cat dug the note out of her pocket, handed it to Ben and continued. "I didn't catch all of the fish. Some of the kids didn't catch enough for their family and since Hoss eats enough for ten people, they gave them to me. I even did all of my homework."
Ben read the note, laughed and said, "Hoss may eat a lot, but he does not eat enough for ten people. We still have fish in the smokehouse from the last time you went fishing and I don't think Adam is coming home tonight, so we'll only need half of what you brought home. Why don't you go, knock on the bunkhouse door and see if the men would like them?" Almost all of the hands were grateful for the fish and several of them started cleaning them while Hoss and Joe helped Cat clean the fish for their supper.
The next morning, Joe got two pack horses ready to go, saddled Cochise, made sure Beauty's cinch was tight and asked Hoss to tell Thaddeus they were almost ready to leave. Hoss walked over to the bunkhouse opened the door and became enraged at Frank's words. "I don't know why that boy is going hunting with the brat when there's so much work to be done around here. As far as I'm concerned the Cartwright sons and the brat are worthless. They never do a lick of work around here and all the kid does is make more work for everyone. Instead of mollycoddling her, the old man should be tanning her hide every time she steps out of line." He took off his belt and continued, "Since he won't, I will. I'm tired of that brat getting away with murder and nobody doing anything about it."
"Frank, you done been told at least a dozen times that what goes on in my family ain't no business of yours," said Hoss, his voice ice cold. "Since you're so unhappy here, you can just pack yore stuff and git off this ranch. You're fired an' ya have exactly five minutes to git yore stuff and go. Ifn ya touch one single hair on my sister's head, I will personally tear ya limb from limb with my bare hands and stake ya out in the desert for the buzzards. Pete, do you have enough money to give him his wages? Ifn ya do, pay him off and I'll have Pa repay ya. Thaddeus, Joe asked me to tell ya that he and Cat are about ready to leave. Frank, you're runnin' out of time. Ifn ya ain't packed and heading off this ranch in exactly three minutes, I will pick ya up and throw ya off. Don't bother lookin' for another job around Virginia City. Once word gets around that I fired ya, nobody else will hire ya so ya may as well look for someplace else to live. Remember my warning about what will happen to ya ifn ya go anywhere near my sister. Anybody else got any notions, ya better speak up now."
"Yes," said Joshua. "I've got a notion that if my younger brother doesn't get a move on, Joe and Cat are going to leave without him and we won't get any rabbit stew for supper. I don't know about anyone else, but I've been tasting that stew ever since Pete said Cat and Hop Sing were going to make some for us. If that happens little brother, I will feed you to the coyotes and even our mother wouldn't blame me." Joshua's statement caused everyone but Frank to start laughing. Thaddeus took the hint, got his hat and weapons and walked outside to join Cat and Joe. Pete wasn't taking any chances and assigned four men to escort Frank off the Ponderosa, so Hoss walked back into the house and told his father what he had done.
Thaddeus, Joe, and Cat had a good time hunting. They laughed, joked and made up silly songs to sing on the ride to where they would hunt. Thaddeus thought Cat's puppies looked cute inside the pouches Mr. Miller had made for them and was impressed by their and Cat's hunting skills. They hunted for several hours, ate the dinner Hop Sing had packed, then hunted for several more hours. When they loaded up the pack horses, they had four antelope and more than enough rabbits to feed the family, their guests, and the hands. Cat looked at all of the rabbits and said, "We got so many rabbits, I'm gonna be cleaning them until I'm ten."
Joe and Thaddeus laughed. "Don't worry Cat," said Thaddeus. "Everybody wants to eat your rabbit stew so bad that I'd be willing to bet a week's pay that almost all of the hands will help clean the rabbits." When they arrived back at the house, Cat discovered that Thaddeus had been right. More than half the hands came out of the bunkhouse to help clean the rabbits and antelope.
Cat spotted Adam near the barn and kicked him, not knowing that Ben was behind her. He gave her a very hard swat and she yelped in surprise at the attack on her bottom. "What have I told you about kicking people?" Ben asked sternly.
"Not to."
"Then why did you kick Adam?"
"Because I'm mad at him for spying on me yesterday."
"Being angry at someone is not a good excuse to kick them."
"Well, it should be."
Ben tried to hide a smile at his nine year old's logic. "The only time it is alright to kick someone is if they are doing something to hurt you and Adam was not hurting you. This is your last warning. The next time you kick Adam or anybody else without a very good reason, there will be consequences and I promise that you will not like those consequences. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"
"Yes sir."
"Good. Adam will take care of your horse so you can go and help clean the rabbits you caught today. Then he will help to clean them also." Once all of the rabbits and deer had been cleaned, Thaddeus, Hoss, and Joe helped Cat carry the rabbit meat into the kitchen while Adam, Pete, Joshua & Dave stretched the skins to dry.
Cat stayed in the kitchen to help Hop Sing while the others took the rabbits that wouldn't be cooked that day out to the smokehouse. Hop Sing cut up the meat and vegetables, placing everything in two piles for Cat to put into pots. Then she put the spices in each pot and Hop Sing added water to them. "Go play now. Come back in thirty minutes to stir pots." The company arrived around four thirty and once the food was cooked, Hoss carried a pot of stew to the bunkhouse while Cat followed with three loaves of freshly baked bread. Adam and Ben set the table and soon the family and their guests sat down to a meal of rabbit stew and freshly baked bread with chocolate cake for dessert.
While everyone was eating, Ben said, "Catherine, I have something important to tell you and I'm telling you in front of our company so you don't think I'm treating you like a baby. One of the hands was fired today and he made some threats against you. So, for the next several weeks, until I am convinced he is not going to harm you, two men will ride to and from town with you and Michael on school days. They will not ride all the way to the school with you, but they will stay close enough to make sure nobody tries to hurt you before you get to the school. I know you think you can take care of yourself, but a nine and a ten year old are no match for an adult with a gun. This is only for your safety and I would have done the same for any of your brothers when they were your age. I know that you're not happy with my decision but if this wasn't such a busy ranch, every hand, your brothers, I, and Hop Sing would all be riding to and from school with you. Just think, I could always contact your Godfathers and see if they can spare a Calvary troop to escort you."
Cat was not happy with Ben's decision but decided that two men riding with her and Mike was much better than her whole family, all of the hands, and a Calvary troop so she just sighed and said, "Ok."