Cat came home from school on Monday, grumbling about how dumb fractions were and how adding and subtracting them was just as dumb as long division. "Who cares how many baby animals are in two pastures if one sixteenth of the cows in one pasture have calves and one fourth of the mares in another have foals? Who's gonna count the number of animals in a pasture and divide them by another number just to find out what fraction have babies? All ya gotta do is count the number of calves or foals. It's just plain dumb. And why do the denominators have to be the same? Why can't ya just add sixteen and four and come up with twenty? I shouldn't have to learn stuff that's useless."
Ben started laughing at Cat's tirade about what she was learning in school. Abel looked at him and asked, "Are you going to let her continue like that?"
"Yes. I think it's funny. To the best of my knowledge, she has been complaining about mathematics ever since she started school when she was five." When Cat finished complaining about her arithmetic, Ben said, "Come here Kitten." Cat walked over to him, he pulled her into his lap and hugged her. "I know you're not going to believe me but there are reasons for needing to add fractions. Think about feeding horses. Not every horse eats the same amount of food. For example, Fury is still nursing from Lady and only eating a little bit of food. Even after he's weaned, he won't eat as much as a full grown horse until he gets older. Horses that are out in the pasture all day don't get as much hay and oats as the horses that are ridden often and in the barn when they're not being ridden. Knowing how to add fractions is important so you know how much hay and oats you need every day and how much to buy when your supply is getting low. Trying to add fractions with different denominators is like trying to add apples and peaches. You just can't do it."
"Sure you can. If you have five apples and five peaches, you have ten pieces of fruit."
Ben, Abel, and Hop Sing started laughing. They were still laughing when Adam walked into the house. "What is so funny?" Ben told him about Cat's rant over adding fractions and her comment about adding apples and peaches and he started laughing. "Sorry Squirt but that's not how it works."
"Well it should be."
"I don't disagree. However the person who made the rules about adding and subtracting fractions said that your denominators have to be the same. Go and spend some time with Fury and then I'll help you with your fractions."
Cat picked up her saddle bags, got two saddle blankets from the tack room and walked out to the pasture to read to play with and read to her puppies and colt. When she finished, she hugged Fury and said, "I wish you would hurry up and get big enough for me to ride. I don't want to have to wait until I'm eleven. I should be able to ride you as soon as you're big."
Thaddeus walked up to the pasture gate and heard Cat talking to Fury. "I know you're anxious to ride him Cat, but you have to wait until his bones and muscles are strong enough to carry you. Depending on how mature and strong he is, you may be able to start riding him when he's about eighteen months old but not before then."
"I know, I'll start giving him twice as much food. Then he'll grow up faster."
Thaddeus laughed. "Hold on there Tiger. All that will happen if you give that colt twice as much food is that he'll get fat. Being fat isn't good for any animal or human. I think that Lady has almost finished weaning him so you can start giving him a little bit more food but not twice as much. Since he's still drinking Lady's milk and eating grass, only give him a little bit more grain and hay. Remember, if he gets fat, it will hurt his bones and muscles and then you'll never be able to ride him."
"That would be really awful."
"Yes it would. Now why are you in such a hurry for that colt to grow up?"
"'Cause I want to ride a big horse like Sport or Chub. I'm almost grown up and I'm tired of riding little horses."
"Your family is right. You are a silly little girl. You just turned nine five months ago and that is not almost grown up. Enjoy being a little kid for a while longer. Don't be in such a hurry to grow up."
"But I need to hurry and grow up so I can go on the cattle drive in the spring."
"Now I know your Pa and brothers well enough to know that is not going to happen. A cattle drive is no place for a young child, especially a girl. Ask those three boys you like to play with and see if they're going to be allowed to go on the spring drive. They're older than you and have lived on ranches all of their lives so they'll be able to tell you how old a person has to be to go on a cattle drive. Also, your Pa may not let you go even when you're old enough because cattle drives are very dangerous and the men use very rough language. I am positive that your family would not want you exposed to danger and the language men use on a cattle drive. I know that if you were my daughter or sister, I wouldn't want you anywhere near a cattle drive." Cat sighed and climbed the pasture gate. "Are you supposed to be climbing that gate?"
"Yes, Pa said I could. He keeps sayin' he doesn't want me doing stuff 'cause I might get hurt unless he's with me but I got hurt at church and he was there and it's his fault Tommy and Billy made me go and look under the saloon door. So Grandpa Stoddard and Dr. Paul made him start letting me do more stuff. He wasn't gonna let me go to the festival on Saturday but Dr. Paul and Adam said they'd take me to one of my uncles if he made me stay home. That's another reason Fury and I have to grow up in a hurry because there are too many grownups telling me what to do. I don't need them because I can take care of myself but they don't believe me and I'm tired of being treated like a baby."
"No Cat, you can't take care of yourself all of the time. I know you think you can but you're only nine years old and there are many things in life you can't handle alone right now. What would you do if you were out on the trail alone and a cougar attacked you? Are you strong enough to kill it with an arrow? You won't always be lucky enough to have rocks to throw at it and even if you did, they might not work this time. What would you do if someone tried to steal your horse? I know your life was turned upside down when your mother came back and was murdered but you have to stop looking back and start looking ahead. Your family loves you, but you have to remember that they are trying to adjust to having a young child here just as you are trying to adjust to having a family. No, things aren't perfect and they never will be because people aren't perfect. You have to take the bad along with the good. That's just the way life is. Let me talk to your brothers and Adam's grandfather and see what we can do to get your Pa to loosen your reins and stop treating you like a baby, but I also want you to promise me that you will not try to go to one of your uncles alone. There are too many things that could happen to you and nobody wants to see you hurt or killed. If you think that things are so bad you have to leave, tell Adam, his grandfather or me. We will try and fix what's wrong or take you to one of your uncles if things can't be fixed. Will you make that promise to me?"
"Are you really going to talk to Grandpa and my brothers?"
"Yes I am Cat. I see Adam going into the barn so I'll go and tell him I need to talk to him, his grandfather, Hoss, and Joe about getting your Pa to loosen your reins, but I need you to promise me that you won't leave on your own. I saved your life once and don't ever want to have to do it again."
"I want to promise you but I don't know if I can. I might need to leave by myself and then I'd break my promise."
"Cat, I can't think of a single reason why you would have to leave. Ben loves you very much. So do Adam, Hoss, and Joe. I know that Ben has been holding your reins too tight and you don't like it but try and see things from his point of view. You are his little sister's little girl. You are all he has of her except pictures and memories. He may not be going about it the right way, but he just wants to keep you safe. Someday, you will have children of your own and then you will understand what he is trying to do because you will feel the same way about your own children."
"But he doesn't do that with Adam, Hoss, and Joe and their mamas are dead too."
Thaddeus laughed. "That's because they're grown up now. I don't know what he did when they were young boys. Now promise me that you won't try and leave without an adult before I have a chance to talk with your brothers and Adam's grandfather."
"Ok. I won't leave by myself before then."
"Thank you. Now let me go and talk to Adam and I believe you have homework to do."
"Yeah, I have to figure out how to add fractions. Adam said he'd help me with it."
"Ok. Let me go and talk to Adam so he can help you with your homework." He walked into the barn and said, "Adam, I need to talk with you, your brothers, and your grandfather about Cat. She is bound and determined to leave because your father is holding her reins too tight. I got her to promise not to do anything until I've had a chance to talk to the four of you. I also have an idea of how to teach her that she is not completely able to care for herself but we'll need your father's permission if we're going to do it."
"Thank you for letting me know. I think the whole family will want to hug you for getting her to promise not to do anything for the time being. I for one, am extremely interested in hearing your idea about how to teach little sister that she isn't old enough to completely care for herself. Tomorrow night should be a good time for all of us to talk about getting Pa to loosen Cat's reins. He will be at the monthly school board meeting and won't be home until late. We can talk after Cat goes to bed. I'll talk to my brothers and grandfather and let you know what they say."
"That's fine. We have got to do something because I'd rather not have to save her life again. Once was more than enough."
Adam walked out of the barn with Thaddeus and told Cat, "Go ahead and get started on your first problem. I'll be back in a few minutes." Cat walked into the barn, copied down the first problem and started trying to solve it. She became frustrated and started to throw her arithmetic book toward the open barn door when Adam walked in. "Don't do it Cat. Remember what Pa said would happen after the last time you threw that book and almost hit him with it. You'll have a very sore bottom and an early bedtime. You have got to learn how to control your temper or you are going to end up in a whole lot of trouble. Now, let's look at the first problem. What are your denominators?"
"Five and eight."
"Good. Now find a number that is divisible by both five and eight."
"There isn't one. Five is an odd number and eight is an even number. You can't divide even numbers by odd ones."
"I'm not asking you to divide eight by five Cat. You have to change the problems so both denominators are the same. Think about your multiplication tables. What number is divisible by both five and eight?"
"There isn't one."
Adam sighed. "Cat, what is eight times five?"
"Forty. But I thought it had to be a small number."
"Not necessarily. It has to be a number that is divisible by both denominators. Now, what is forty divided by five?"
"Eight."
"Good. Now what is eight times four?"
"Thirty two."
"That's right so what is your new fraction?"
"Thirty two over forty."
"So what is the fraction?"
"Thirty two fortieths."
"Very good. Now do the next fraction and tell me what you're doing."
"Forty divided by eight is five. Five times three is fifteen so my fraction is fifteen fortieths."
"Excellent. Now do your addition."
"Fifteen plus thirty two is forty seven and forty plus forty is eighty. So my answer is forty seven eightieths."
"No Cat. You don't add the denominators. You add the numerators and put that answer over the denominator."
"But my answer is forty seven fortieths and forty seven is bigger than forty so I have to add the denominators."
"No you don't. Miss Winter should not have given you such a difficult problem on your first day of learning how to add fractions. In this case, you have to divide forty seven by forty."
"That's one with a remainder of seven."
"Very good. Now put the seven over the forty and tell me what your entire answer is."
"One and seven fortieths."
"Excellent. Now let's work on the next problem and I think I'll ride into town with you in the morning and have a talk with your teacher about assigning problems you don't know how to do yet." It took some time but with Adam's help, Cat was able to successfully complete her homework. They walked into the house and Adam took Cat into the kitchen. "Hop Sing, I know it's almost suppertime, but I believe that little sister deserves a cookie. Her arithmetic homework today was very difficult because her teacher assigned problems she hadn't taught her how to do. Even though the work was hard, Cat didn't give up and she didn't throw her book."
Hop Sing hugged Cat. "Very good. Hop Sing proud of Missy Cat. She have two cookies."
"Gee thanks Hop Sing. Thanks Adam."
Adam hugged Cat. "You're welcome little sister. You deserve those cookies. You worked very hard and even though you got frustrated, you didn't throw your book or quit. There is nothing wrong with taking a short break from difficult work and walking around like you did. I did it all the time when I was in college and sometimes still do it when I'm doing the ranch books for Pa. Sometimes you just need to get away from what you're doing and take a short break. It helps you to focus better when you go back to what you were doing. I would not recommend doing it while you're in school however. You would probably get in trouble." Adam talked with his brothers and grandfather and they all agreed to talk with Thaddeus after Cat went to bed the following night. During supper, he told his father about Cat's arithmetic homework and said he would be going into town to talk with the teacher in the morning.
"That's an excellent idea son. Maybe I'll go with you since there's a school board meeting tomorrow night. This may be something that needs to be brought up at the meeting."
"There's no sense in you going to town twice tomorrow. It may have been an oversight on Miss Winter's part. I'll tell you what she said when I return home. Then you can decide if it's something the school board needs to know about."
Adam rode into town with Cat, Mike, and Jasper the next morning and found Charles Ingalls already at the school. He too was upset about the arithmetic homework that had been assigned to Laura and Cat. They walked into the school and Susan Winter looked up from her work. "Good morning Mr. Ingalls, Adam, what can I do for you gentlemen this morning?"
"When did you start teaching Cat and Laura how to add fractions?" asked Adam.
"Yesterday, why?"
"Are you in the habit of requiring your students to do homework they haven't been taught how to do?" asked Charles."
"No of course not. Why do you ask?"
"Then how do you explain the fact that their homework yesterday required them to add fractions with unlike denominators and come up with answers in the form of improper fractions that must be converted to mixed numbers?" asked Adam. Both men showed her the homework papers the girls had completed.
"I'm very sorry. I don't know how that happened. I meant for them to add fractions with like denominators. Let me look at my books and see if I can figure out what went wrong." She looked at her textbooks and realized that she had assigned the fifth grade page to the two fourth grade students. "It seems that I made a terrible mistake. I had been looking at the fifth grade book just prior to starting the fourth grade lesson. I must have put the open fifth grade book on top of the fourth grade book and assigned the fifth grade page to Laura and Cat. Therefore, both girls will receive full credit for the work that was supposed to have been completed last night as well as full credit for the work they did. I may assign that page in review for a test on a future date but it will not be a homework assignment, just class work as a review. They'll do the work on their slates, I'll check it and review any missed problems with them. I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am for my mistake. I hope the girls weren't too frustrated by the work. I know I would have been if that had been me."
"Cat started trying to do the work on her own and I could have been hit by a flying arithmetic book. Fortunately, I was able to stop her before she threw the book as Pa told her what the consequences of throwing her book would be after the last time he almost got hit by it. It took a while with me helping, but she was able to complete the assignment."
"Laura was also frustrated but Caroline used to be a teacher so she and Mary were able to help her."
"I am happy that both girls were able to successfully complete the assignment with help. It will be several weeks still before I start teaching that concept but at least it won't be completely new to them. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
Adam told her and Charles about Cat's response to being told that adding fractions with unlike denominators was like adding two different kinds of fruit. They both enjoyed a laugh. "That is too funny Adam. I can't wait to tell Caroline. I know she'll enjoy a laugh also. Now we had better let Miss Winter collect her students so she can begin the school day." They went outside, hugged the girls, assured them everything was fine, and said they would tell them what Miss Winter had decided when they returned home from school.
Before beginning the day's lessons, Miss Winter said, "I wish to apologize to Laura and Catherine for giving them the wrong homework assignment. I have discussed it with Mr. Ingalls and Adam Cartwright and they know what I am doing to correct the mistake. I have no doubt that they will tell you girls what I decided after school."
"What are you going to do Miss Winter?" asked Annabel.
"What I decided to do is none of your business Annabel. I highly recommend you pay attention to your own studies as you are in danger of failing."
"But I need to know why you are playing favorites with Cartwright."
"Annabel, if I hear one more word out of you on this subject, I will be sending for your father. He will take you home and you will receive a grade of zero on all of today's assignments."
"That's not fair. You're playing favorites with Cartwright and I'm going to get in trouble because of it."
"That was your last warning Annabel. Go stand in the corner until your father arrives to take you home. If you say one more word, I will use the paddle on you. Now do as you were told." A few minutes later, Susan looked out of the window, saw Reverend Long walking down the street, stepped outside for a minute and called to him. "Reverend Long, can you please take Annabel White home? I will not tolerate her disrupting the class over something that is none of her business." She told the Reverend about the fourth grade arithmetic homework mishap and Annabel's insistence on knowing what was being done and that the teacher was playing favorites with Cat.
"Yes I will take her home. Thank you for telling me about her disrupting the class after being warned not to. You are correct. How you are handling the mistake is nobody's business except those involved. I have a feeling that Annabel is not as sorry as she claims to be about her stealing and that she is only sorry she got caught. I assume that she will still have to complete today's assignments even though she will receive no credit for them."
"Yes. There will be a test on Thursday so she needs to know the material. She was already in danger of failing before today and the zeros she is going to receive will push her even closer to the edge. One more day like today and she will fail. It's not that she doesn't know the work, the problem is that she doesn't even try. Her homework assignments are correct but her class work and tests are mostly wrong. It's like she expects to receive passing grades even though she puts no effort into her work."
"Thank you for telling me about her grades. I understand your frustration and I will discuss them with her parents when I take her home, but you may want to bring it up at tonight's school board meeting." They walked into the school and he said, "Annabel, get your things and come with me. You are in a lot of trouble young lady."
"It's not my fault. She's playing favorites with Cartwright."
"I see. Does anybody else think that Miss Winter is playing favorites with any student?"
"No sir," said Jeff. "I guess Miss Winter accidentally gave Laura and Cat the wrong arithmetic homework last night. She spoke with Mr. Ingalls and Adam Cartwright and told them what she was going to do to make up for the mistake. When school started, she apologized to the girls for the mistake and said that Adam and Laura's Pa knew what was going to be done to fix it. Miss Winter is a very good teacher and treats everyone the same. Annabel is just mad because Miss Smith let her do anything she wanted to and gave her passing grades for not doing any work but Miss Winter is making her behave and giving her the grades she deserves for her work. Annabel's also mad because she got caught trying to steal from Cat. She's always blaming Cat because she got in trouble and keeps saying that Cat should have just let her have the saddle bags."
"Thank you Jeffrey. I suspected that is what was going on. Now I am positive. Let's go Annabel. You have a lot of explaining to do."
When Cat returned home from school, Ben met her in the yard. "I have a school board meeting tonight so we're having supper early. Go spend time with Fury and start on your homework. You need to have it finished before bed tonight." During supper he said, "Cat, Adam is in charge while I am at the meeting tonight. You need to do as he says."
"Why does Adam get to be in charge? Why can't I be in charge?"
Everyone but Cat laughed. "You are the youngest," answered Ben. "That is why you are not in charge. The oldest person home is in charge when I'm not here."
"Then why aren't Hop Sing or Grandpa in charge? They're both older than Adam. He's always telling me what to do but nobody tells him what to do. It's not fair."
"You sound like me when I was a boy," laughed Joe. "Adam was always telling me what to do but I never got to tell him what to do. I agree. It just isn't fair."
"What do you mean when you 'were' a boy?" asked Adam. "You're still a boy."
"Yeah Shortshanks," added Hoss. "You ain't nowhere near growed up yet."
"Alright boys, that's enough. My word stands Catherine. Adam is in charge."
"It just isn't fair. I'm the only girl so I should be in charge."
"Maybe on a night when you don't have school the next day, but not tonight."
"Why does it have to be when I don't have school the next day?"
"Because I know you all too well. If I leave you in charge on a school night, you'll say that since you're in charge, you don't have to go to school. Your education is much too important to miss school for anything other than illness or injury."
Cat sighed. It wasn't fair that she was the youngest and had to do what everyone else told her to do. "But what about when it's raining too hard or the snow is as high as the mountains? I won't be able to go to school then."
"I've already told you that when it is raining too hard or the snow is too deep to go to town, Adam will teach you here at home just like he did when Joe was still in school."
"Maybe I'll forget my books at school so I can have those days off."
Ben laughed. "Scamp. You're forgetting that Joe's books are still in the attic. We can easily get them out and you can still do your assignments."
"It just isn't fair. I don't want to be the youngest any more. Adam should be for a while."
"You are being silly tonight Kitten. Adam was born before Hoss, Joe, and you so he is the oldest and nothing will change that. Now you need to finish your food and then do the rest of your homework. No playing checkers until your homework is finished."
After Ben left, Cat asked, "Adam, can I please go to town and move all of the cowboy's horses around tonight?"
"It's 'May I', and no you may not. You have school in the morning and Pa will kill me if I let you go to town tonight silly girl. Besides that, the cowboys will get angry if you keep moving their horses around. Also, if I know you, you'll hide all of the horses that belong to the school board members and if Pa finds out you did it, he'll warm your bottom for you and you'll be restricted to the yard with extra chores until after Christmas."
"You're no fun."
"Sorry Squirt. You can have fun doing your homework and playing checkers with Hoss and Joe."
Once Adam was certain Cat was asleep, he walked out to the bunkhouse and invited Thaddeus and Joshua into the house. Pete decided to join the conversation also. They talked about how frustrated Cat was at Ben holding her so close and not wanting her to do anything except go to school unless he was with her. Everyone, including Abel and Hop Sing decided to talk to Ben after Cat left for school in the morning. "Thaddeus," said Adam. "When we talked earlier, you said you had an idea of how to convince Cat she is not old enough to completely take care of herself, especially out on the trail. I for one would like to hear your idea."
"Ben isn't going to like it because it means Cat will be out of his sight for a day but this is my idea. I talked to Joshua and Pete about it and they think it's a good idea. Cat will be told that she is going to have the opportunity to prove that she can take care of herself on the trail. Ben can place whatever restrictions he feels necessary on her, such as she has to stay on the Ponderosa and she can't hide her horse's tracks, what time she needs to be home the following day, whatever he thinks is important. We will allow her an hour's head start and follow her. The six of us will set up camp close enough to hers so we can intervene if there is trouble but far enough away so she won't know we're there. We'll have to stay downwind of her so she doesn't smell our fire and food. We can take turns standing guard over her during the night. We will need two men we can trust that Cat doesn't know to act as trail bums, outlaws, rustlers, whatever. They will go into her camp after she's eaten supper, I don't want her going hungry, and 'steal' her food and horse. We'll have to warn them to wear extra clothes as she's liable to track them and shoot them with an arrow and I don't want them getting hurt either. Besides that, the extra clothing will make them look bigger. If she does shoot them with an arrow, they can take whatever actions they think appropriate as long as they don't hurt her or her puppies. Like I said earlier, we will watch her but we won't do anything to help her unless she is in danger. Since she won't have a horse, she'll have to walk home the next day and hopefully admit that she isn't ready to be on the trail alone."
"That is a wonderful idea Thaddeus," said Abel. "I will ensure that Benjamin goes along with it. As she will have six men guarding her at all times, he will have to admit that she won't come to any harm."
"It'd be nice if we knew someone who could make a noise like a cougar," added Hoss. "That would really scare her."
"I know just the men for the job," said Joe. "So do you Adam as they're your friends. It's just that Pa doesn't like them very much and never has."
"Are you thinking about Frank and Jeff Bonner?"
"Yes I am. Since their mother is ill, they rarely get to town and never come to church. Cat doesn't know them so having two strange men come into her camp should give her quite the start."
"When were you wanting ta do this?" asked Hoss.
"I was thinking about the day after Thanksgiving. I'm pretty sure there won't be school that day so she won't have homework to worry about and since it's only a week away, it shouldn't be a whole lot colder than it is now."
"I really like your idea," said Adam. "I hope it works to convince Cat that she is not old enough to take care of herself. Why don't the three of you come up to the house after Cat leaves for school in the morning? Then all of us can talk to Pa. Hopefully with Pete, Hop Sing, and Grandfather supporting the idea and telling him that he's about to lose Cat if he doesn't loosen up on her reins, he'll listen."
Just then Cat came down the stairs. "Hi Joshua, Pete, Thaddeus. What is everyone doing here?"
"We're all trying to figure out how to get you to like school and arithmetic," answered Pete.
Cat thought for a minute and said, "I don't think that will ever happen. I hate school and I hate arithmetic more than I hate school. School wouldn't be so bad if it was outside and I didn't have to stay cooped up inside all day, but I'll never, ever like arithmetic."
"What are you doing out of bed at this time of night?" asked Adam.
"I have to use the outhouse."
"In your bare feet? You need your slippers, boots, or moccasins. It's much too cold to be running around outside in bare feet. Also, Hop Sing will get angry at you because your feet will get dirty and you will get your sheets dirty."
Cat sighed. "Lassie, Chief, will you please go and get my moccasins?" The puppies ran upstairs and returned with one moccasin and one slipper, both for the right foot. "Oh well. I tried. I guess I'll just wear what they brought."
After she put the slipper and moccasin on, Joe picked her up. "Come on Squirt. I'll carry you over there and back up to bed. Put your jacket on because it's cold outside."
After Joe got Cat back in bed, the eight men sat around talking for a little while longer when Pete, Joshua, and Thaddeus decided they had better go back to the bunkhouse before Ben got home as they didn't want him to know what they had discussed until the next morning. He arrived back at the house about thirty minutes after the men had returned to the bunkhouse. He greeted his family and asked, "Adam, did your sister give you any problems tonight?"
"No. Just the usual complaints about arithmetic and school in general. She got upset with me because she wanted to go into town, move all of the cowboy's horses around and hide the ones belonging to the school board members and I wouldn't let her."
"Scamp. How was I supposed to get home tonight if she hid my horse?"
"I don't know. You'll have to ask her in the morning. How was the meeting?"
"It went well. It seems that Annabel White is still blaming Cat because she got in trouble for stealing. She disrupted the class this morning and Miss Winter asked Reverend Long to take her home to her father. Also, starting Friday, the week after Thanksgiving, Miss Winter is going to be sending four weeks worth of schoolwork home with the students who do not live in town. The work is only to be completed at home if there's too much snow for the children to get into town. She'll send another week's work home each Friday so the students will always have four weeks worth of work to do if they can't get to school."
"Missy Winter very smart lady," said Hop Sing. "She know snow will get deep and children not know what work to do. Too bad Little Joe teacher not do same thing. Then he and Adam not argue so much over schoolwork."