a/n: I'm sorry about the long delay between chapters. I've been sick with the flu, running a temperature of 102.5 & haven't felt like doing much of anything.
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As they were riding to the Ingalls, Cat asked, "Adam?"
"Yes Cat?"
"How come Pa wouldn't let me play in the snow before breakfast? Uncle Matt always used to let me do it."
"I don't know for sure. I think some of it has to do with his time at sea when all of the work had to be done before anyone could relax. Everything was done on a schedule and that schedule had to be adhered to as much as possible."
"What's adherded?"
"The word is ad hear ed and it means kept or stuck to."
"Oh. That's dumb. Pa was a sailor before you were born and that's a long, long time ago."
"And just how old do you think I am Squirt?"
"I don't know for sure. Joe says you were old when he was born so I guess you're at least fifty."
"Brat! You're going to pay for that as soon as I get the chance. You may end up going for a swim in the trough when you least expect it."
"Why else did Pa say I couldn't play in the snow before breakfast?"
"I think some of it comes from when we were traveling west with the wagon train. There was no time for playing before breakfast. Breakfast had to be fixed, eaten, and cleaned up quickly so the train could get moving. There was rarely time for playing unless we spent more than one day in the same location."
"That's a dumb reason too. Hoss said you had been living here a long time before Little Joe was born and he's nineteen now."
"I wouldn't necessarily call those reasons dumb. They were good reasons for them back then. I'll talk to Pa and see if I can get him to back off on the rule about not playing before breakfast. One reason he has kept it in place is that Joe had a bad habit of running off to play and disappearing, causing all of us to look for him before we could eat. If I do get him to let you play before breakfast, you have to promise to stay in the yard. If you don't, Pa won't let you play until after breakfast."
"Ok. I promise to stay in the yard or Fury's pasture if Pa lets me play before breakfast."
"Thank you for that promise. I'll tell Pa about it. That may help him to make up his mind. We know that you always try to keep your promises."
They spent about an hour at the Ingalls when Adam said, "We've got to get home. We still have to take baths and Pa will kill me if I keep Cat out too late when we have church in the morning."
"I think we've got this song down pretty well," said Charles. "You and Cat can come over after church if you want, but I think that just one more practice on Wednesday after school should be good."
"I agree. One more practice should be all we need. We'll see you in church tomorrow morning. Let's go Squirt. Pa will have my hide if I keep you out too late."
After Cat went to bed, Adam talked to Ben about letting her play outside before breakfast. He pointed out that unlike Joe when he was little, Cat was unlikely to wander away. He also told his father about Cat's promise to stay in the yard or the pasture with Fury. Ben said he would consider Adam's request.
Before the church service started, Reverend Long said, "I would like all of the children to go over to the school and play for a little while. We have some grownup things to discuss and it is not necessary for you to be here during the discussion. Just remember, you are in your church clothes, so try and stay clean. I don't want your parents getting angry at you because you got your good clothes all dirty."
When the children reached the school, many of the boys got together and started talking. "I wonder what they're talking about," said George.
"I don't know," replied Jeff. "But you can bet it's something they don't want us to know about."
"I don't know about you fellas, but I really want to know," said Mitch.
"Me too," said Ron. "But how do we find out without getting in big trouble?"
"I'll go," offered John. "I know the perfect place to hide and listen. I'll have to come back before they're finished talking because if I get caught, my Pa will tan me in front of everybody and then I'll get it bare when we get home." He ran back to the church and hid just under the back stairs.
Once all of the children had left the church, Reverend Long said, "This is not how I had planned to begin today's service but after the events of this past Wednesday, I find it necessary. This discussion is about the ninth commandment. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." That is precisely what some of the women in this congregation have been doing ever since Ben Cartwright adopted his niece. They felt it was their place to tell a nine year old child who has not had a family since the war started and is trying to learn to be part of one, that her new father expected her to get perfect grades in school. Those same women went on to tell Catherine that if her grades were not perfect, she would be severely punished and most likely sent to an orphanage where her colt and puppies would be killed. I don't know of a single parent in the world who expects their children to get perfect grades. It's impossible. Nobody is perfect except God. Their words to a young child who didn't know any better, caused her to run away and hide after school, which in turn, caused her family a great deal of worry. Instead of being able to relax after a hard day's work, all of the Ponderosa hands spent hours searching for Catherine alongside the family. Mr. Devlin and his two sons also assisted with the search.
Now, this isn't the first time those women have caused trouble for her. They listened to lies told by two boys who had been severely punished for blackmailing her into riding into town in the middle of the night and looking under the saloon door. Those two boys told Catherine they would burn down the Ponderosa and all of her friend's farms and ranches while everyone slept if she didn't do what they wanted her to do. After listening to the lies, those women cornered Catherine before church one Sunday morning and said some very bad things to her, causing her to run away. Since talking to them as their minister has done no good, regretfully, I must result to embarrassing them. It is time that the congregation knew exactly who these women are and why they have done these things to a young child who has done nothing to them. My wife, Mrs. King, Mrs. Devlin, and Mrs. Martin know all of the sordid details so I am going to ask them to come up here and enlighten the rest of the congregation. I am putting the women who have caused so much harm to young Catherine on notice that if anything like this ever happens again, I will call a meeting of the church elders to see what can be done to make it stop. Will the four ladies please come up here and tell us what you learned about why some women in this congregation were so cruel to a young child?"
The four ladies walked up to the front of the church and proceeded to tell everyone exactly which women had been so mean to Cat and why. John listened as long as he could, then left his hiding place and ran back over to the school. Some of the boys thought he should have stayed and listened longer. "Sure, I'll go back and listen more if you'll take my whippings for me. We know what they were talking about and why and that's what's important. Now we have to figure out what we're going to do to those nasty old women for being so mean to poor little Cat. It's not her fault that her Pa was killed in the war and her Ma was murdered and those old women should know by now that Mr. Cartwright really doesn't like them much. I heard my parents talking about them one night after they had seen one of the old biddies trying her best to get Mr. Cartwright to dine at her house with nobody else there."
"I can't believe that Mrs. Winter would be so mean to Cat while she was a supper guest at the Ponderosa," said Jeff. "That was really very bad manners."
"We gotta do something to Tommy and Billy too," said George. "They were real mean to Cat just because she beat Tommy in a fight."
"We never told any lies about that child," said Mrs. White.
"No, you didn't tell lies about Catherine," said Reverend Long. "However, you did tell lies about Mr. Cartwright and those lies hurt his daughter very much."
When Mrs. Long and the other ladies were finished talking, Reverend Long said, "I truly hope and pray that this is the last time we need to do something like this. It is not something I wanted to do, it is something I needed to do. Little Joe, will you please go and tell the children to come back to church? That reminds me. Parents, this discussion lasted longer than I had intended it to. It will be getting close to dinner time by the time the service ends and the children will be hungry. Please do not scold or punish them if they tend to wiggle more than you'd like them to. Hungry children are not always very good at following rules about not wiggling too much."
"Gee thanks for making me the bad guy Reverend," said Joe. "Those kids aren't going to be very happy when I go over there. You should have asked older brother Adam. He loves being the bad guy." Ben gave him a look he remembered the consequences of from his childhood, so he got up and left the church to get the children.
After church, Ben invited the Devlins and Kings to join the family for Thanksgiving dinner. Then he talked to them, the Ingalls, Martins, and Longs and told them that since there would be twenty seven people for dinner, Hop Sing needed help with the meal. Mr. Devlin and Mr. King said they would each get a turkey. Mrs. Long said she had Hop Sing's biscuit recipe and would make the biscuits. Mrs. Ingalls said she would make the pies and Mrs. Martin said she would do the potatoes. Reverend Long said he would keep the Thanksgiving Day service short so everyone could be at the Ponderosa by one. The children were excited at the prospect of spending the holiday together and said they would do whatever they could to help Hop Sing with the meal for the bunkhouse. They asked for and received permission to go home with the Cartwrights after church so they could help Hop Sing. Ben also mentioned that he would need at least one more table with chairs because even with the leaves in it, his table wasn't big enough for that many people. The Devlins and Kings said they would each bring a table and chairs. Before dismissing school on Wednesday, Miss Winter told all of the students to make sure they had a book to read over the long weekend as she would not be back at the school until Monday morning. Thursday morning, it was decided that since there would be five children riding in the surrey on the way home from church, Joe and Abel would ride with the children and everyone else would ride their horses. When they reached the Ponderosa, all of the children changed out of their good clothes so they could help Hop Sing.
"Will someone please see if anyone is in the bunkhouse?" asked Cat. "We want to wash and set the table." Joe went outside and returned to tell the children that the bunkhouse was empty. They went out to the bunkhouse and walked in.
"EWWWWW!" exclaimed Mary. "It smells bad in here and it's very dirty."
"We should open the windows," said Jas.
"We should sweep the floor," added Laura. "It needs to be mopped too, but I don't know if we have time to do that." It took more than an hour for the five children to clean the bunkhouse and set the table. Once that was done, Mary said, "We should put some decorations on the table."
"That's a good idea," said Mike, "But what would we use?"
"There's lots of pine cones," said Cat. "Maybe Adam, Hoss, and Joe could help us figure something out."
They decided to glue pine cones and small pieces of pine branches to small pieces of wood. "I think some of Mama's ribbon is still in the attic," said Joe. "I'll go look. If it is, we can wrap it around the pine cones and tie it. We could use those decorations at Christmas too." With the eight of them working, it took hardly any time at all to make decorations for the bunkhouse tables and the tables in the house. When the hands returned, they were surprised to see a clean bunkhouse and the tables set. They were even more surprised to see five children, Adam, Hoss, and Joe walk in carrying Thanksgiving dinner for them.
The dinner guests began arriving shortly before one and the children headed upstairs to change back into their good clothes. The men carried the turkeys into the kitchen before bringing the extra tables and chairs inside. When the women learned how much work the children had done in the bunkhouse, they decided to set the tables themselves. During supper, Caroline announced that she was expecting a baby in the spring and was congratulated by everyone. While they were eating dessert, Ben said, "Cat, I have something to tell you and I'm telling you now in front of our friends so everybody will know what is going to happen and there won't be any misunderstandings. You keep saying that you don't need anybody and can take care of yourself so tomorrow, you are going to get the chance to prove it to me. Tomorrow after dinner, you will be allowed to ride out and spend the night on your own." Cat started getting very excited and Ben had to calm her down. "Settle down and pay attention because there are some rules that go along with this."
At Cat's look about rules, Reverend Long said, "Cat, there are rules for everything. Think about the Ten Commandments. Aren't they rules for how to live? Love God, obey your parents, don't steal, don't kill, don't tell lies about others, etc."
"Gee Reverend Long. I never thought about it that way."
"That's ok. Most children don't think about the Commandments that way. Now pay attention to what your Pa says. I'm sure his rules are for your safety."
"There aren't many rules Cat," said Ben. "However as Reverend Long said, they are for your safety. First, you have to stay on the Ponderosa. You'll be safer. I want you to stay between the house and Lake Tahoe and you need to stay between our fishing and swimming spot and the place where your parents and Joe's mother are buried. Second, you have to take your twenty two. I know you don't like guns but you're not strong enough to kill a cougar, wolf, or coyote with your bow and arrows if one was to attack you and your puppies aren't big enough to protect you. Third, you cannot hide your horse's tracks. We have to be able to track you if you're not home on time. The last rule is that you have to be home by dinnertime on Saturday. As you can see, I gave a lot of thought to those rules and they're all to keep you safe."
Mike and Jasper whispered to each other. "Mr. Cartwright," said Jasper. "Can we go with Cat tomorrow and help her set up her campsite?"
Ben thought about it for a minute. This was supposed to be a test of Cat's abilities but she had already said she wasn't very good at building a lean to and this would be a good opportunity to learn how much she knew about setting up a campsite. "Yes boys, you may go and help Cat set up her campsite and if your parents say it's alright, you may eat dinner here." Even though she knew nothing about setting up campsites, Laura asked if she could go with Cat and the boys and was given permission. Mike said he'd stop by her house and she could ride double with him until they reached the Ponderosa.
After dessert was finished, the men carried the extra tables out to the King's and Devlin's wagons so there would be room for everyone to move their chairs into the great room, and the women helped Hop Sing in the kitchen. When that was finished, Adam played his guitar, Charles played his fiddle and everybody sang for a while. Then Adam said, "Grandfather, I taught Cat a song to sing for you. It's one I remember you saying you were quite fond of it when I was in college. Come on Cat. It's time for you to sing that song for Grandfather."
Cat couldn't believe her ears. "You want me to sing now, with all of these people here? I can't do that. If I make a mistake, I'll get mad if anyone laughs at me."
"You won't make a mistake and nobody will laugh at you little sister. We're all friends and family here and friends and family don't laugh at each other's mistakes. You'll be fine. I promise. Come and stand by me while you sing. I'll help you if you need it."
Cat walked up to her brother, glared at him and said, "Lassie, Silver Chief, and Fury are all sleeping in your bed tonight."
"And just where am I supposed to sleep?"
"In the barn or on the floor. You can even sleep under the bed if you want to."
"Come on Squirt. You'll be fine. Stand by me and I'll help you if you need it."
Adam started playing and Cat sang.
Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you,
Away you rolling river.
Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you,
Away, I'm bound away 'Cross the wide Missouri.
Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter,
Away, you rolling river.
For her I'd cross Your roaming waters,
Away, I'm bound away 'Cross the wide Missouri.
'Tis seven years since last I've seen you,
Away, you rolling river.
'Tis seven years since last I've seen you,
Away, we're bound away 'Cross the wide Missouri.
Oh Shenandoah, I long to hear you,
Away, you rolling river.
Oh Shenandoah, I long to hear you,
Away, we're bound away 'Cross the wide Missouri.
Oh Shenandoah, I long to hear you,
Far away, you rolling river.
Oh Shenandoah, Just to be near you,
Far away, far away. 'Cross the wide Missouri.
Everybody applauded after the last note faded away. Abel picked Cat up, hugged her and said, "Thank you Granddaughter. That was beautiful. I fell in love with that song when Adam stayed with me while he was attending college in Boston."
"That was beautiful Cat," said Reverend Long. "You have a lovely singing voice. Is there anyway I can talk you into singing one or two hymns during the Christmas Eve service?"
"No sir! 'Cause if I make a mistake and Tommy and Billy and Annabel and their friends laugh at me, I will pound the stuffing out of them even if we are in church."
"Well, how about if I ask Adam to sing with you? They won't dare laugh at any mistakes then. Also, I think that their fathers will have something to say to them if they laugh at you. In fact, if you decide to sing, I will ask their fathers to keep those children right beside them during the service. Then they won't be able to laugh if you make a mistake, which I don't think you will."
"I dunno. Maybe."
"That's fine for now. Christmas is still a month away. The three of us can talk for a few minutes after church on Sunday."
After everyone sang a few more songs, Adam said, "This is a song I learned the last time I was in San Francisco. I was walking along the waterfront when I heard some sailors singing it in a bar. I went in, listened for a while, and asked them to teach it to me, which they gladly did." The four girls jumped to their feet and began dancing as Adam and Charles played the introduction. Then the girls, Caroline, Charles, and Adam began to sing.
He was stranded in some tiny town
On fair Prince Edward Isle
Awaitin' for a ship to come and find him
A one-horse place, a friendly face
Some coffee and a tiny trace
Of fiddlin' in the distance far behind him
A dime across the counter then
A shy hello, a brand new friend
A walk along the street in the wintry weather
A yellow light, an open door
And a welcome friend, there's room for more
And then they're standing there inside together
He said I've heard that tune before somewhere
But I can't remember when
Was it on some other friendly shore
Did I hear it on the wind
Was it written on the sky above
I think I heard it from someone I loved
But I never heard it sound so sweet since then
Now his feet begin to tap
A little boy says I'll take your hat
He's caught up in the magic of her smile
And leap the heart inside him went
And off across the floor he sent
His clumsy body graceful as a child
He said there's magic in the fiddler's arm
There's magic in this town
There's magic in the dancers' feet
And the way they put them down
People smilin' everywhere
Boots and ribbons, locks of hair
And laughter and old blue suits and Easter gowns
Now the sailor's gone, the room is bare
The old piano's settin' there
Someone's hat's left hanging on the rack
And empty chairs, the wooden floor
That feels the touch of shoes no more
Awaitin' for the dancers to come back
And the fiddle's in the closet
Of some daughter of the town
The strings are broke and the bow is gone
And the cover's buttoned down
But sometimes on December nights
When the air is cold and the wind is right
There's a melody that passes through this town
The girls noticed that Abel and Ben couldn't keep from tapping their feet so when the last note had faded out, all of them said, "Please play it again."
Adam and Charles looked at each other and laughed. They already knew that particular request was coming. "Alright," said Charles. "One more time."
As the music began, Cat grabbed Abel's hands, pulled on him and said, "Come on Grandpa. Dance with us."
"You too Mr. Cartwright," said Laura, repeating Cat's actions. The two men tried to refuse but Cat and Laura were soon joined by Mary and Carrie so they surrendered and allowed themselves to be pulled out of their chairs.
When the song ended, Abel and Ben collapsed back into their chairs, out of breath from the dance. "I haven't danced like that in more years than I care to remember," panted Abel.
"Me neither," replied Ben.
"I think that's enough for one night," said Adam. "Charles and I are about played out."
"One more song, pleeeeeeeeease," begged the children.
"Alright, one more and that's it. It's getting late and our guests from town have a long ride ahead of them. Carrie, I believe it's your turn to pick the song. Which one will it be?"
Carrie thought for a minute and said, "Early One Morning."
"Ok then. Early One Morning it is."
When the song had ended, the men started putting the extra chairs in their respective wagons. Reverend Long asked Ben, "Has Cat always been so sensitive?"
"She's not sensitive to constructive criticism but she gets very angry when she's laughed at. She told me about one boy in Dodge who laughed at her when she made a mistake solving an arithmetic problem on the board. She said she attacked him and beat the stuffing out of him. I don't know what Matt did about it but whatever it was, it hasn't stopped her from fighting."
Once all of the borrowed chairs were back in the wagons, Charles said, "Come on girls. Get your hats and coats. It's time to go."
"Not yet Pa," begged Mary. "We need to talk to Adam, Hoss, and Joe about something very important."
Charles and Caroline were surprised that the request came from Mary. Usually it was Laura that didn't want to leave a fun gathering. "Alright girls, just please don't be too long. I still have barn chores to do before bed."
After saying goodnight to the other guests, the girls pulled Adam, Hoss, and Joe into the dining room. "We need your help," said Mary. "You heard Ma say she's going to have a baby so it's going to be hard for her to hitch up the wagon and go to town. We want to make something for her that's not too big, can be pulled by one horse, and has room for her, Carrie, the baby, and supplies from town, but we don't know how to do it."
"It needs to have wheels and runners," said Laura. "That way she can use it when there's snow on the ground too."
"Let me see what I can come up with," said Adam. "Cat, please get some paper and a pencil from Pa's desk for me."
Cat walked over to Ben's desk and said, "Pa, Adam wants me to get some paper and a pencil out of your desk but I don't know where they're at."
"The paper is in the top left drawer and the pencils are in the middle drawer."
Cat got a pencil out and opened the drawer where the paper was stored. "EWWWWW Pa! You've got a gun on top of the paper and you know that I absaloootely, positively hate guns."
"Don't worry about it Squirt," came Joe's voice as he walked over to the desk. "I'll get the paper for you so you don't have to worry about the gun." He took some paper out of the drawer and handed it to Cat.
"Thanks Joe. Is this enough paper Adam?" she asked, handing him the stack.
"Yes Cat. It's plenty. Thank you. Now give me a minute to think and see if I can draw something like what Laura and Mary are talking about." He thought for a minute, then began drawing. When he was finished, he had drawn something that looked like a larger version of a child's pony cart with a place in the back to carry supplies and enough room in the seat for Caroline, the baby, and Carrie.
He showed the drawing to the girls and Mary said, "That's really good Adam, but what about the runners for the snow?"
"I haven't forgotten them. I'm just trying to think of how to include them." He took the paper, sketched some more and showed his new creation to the girls and his brothers. "There, now what do you think?"
Everyone looked at it and Laura asked, "Why did you put the runners under the wheels?"
"Because that way, your father won't have to take the wheels off in the winter. He can just put the runners under them. I just need to figure out how to keep them in place."
"How about something like a door bolt?" asked Joe. "If you have to pull it up and back, it will never come loose by itself."
"Baby brother, sometimes you really surprise me with the things you think of. This is one of those times. That is an ingenious idea. The cart won't be heavy so all Charles will have to do is roll it over the runners and lock them in place. I'll work on this more tomorrow and Saturday and show you what I have done after church on Sunday. If you like it, once we figure out how high we want it to be, we'll ask Mr. White to make the wheels and Mr. Samuels to make the runners and locks. Now I think you had better get your hats and coats because I did hear your father say he still had barn chores to do tonight and the animals can't take care of themselves."
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"Oh Shenandoah" is a traditional American folk song of uncertain origin, dating back to the early 19th century. The song appears to have originated with Canadian and American fur traders traveling down the Missouri River in canoes, and has developed several different sets of lyrics over the years.
"The Ballad of St. Anne's Reel" has a Celtic tune and French Canadian lyrics and there is some confusion about when they were written. It's a very catchy tune and I fell in love with it when I heard John Denver sing it in the 1980s. I thought it would be a great song to help the old sea captain feel welcome on his first Thanksgiving at the Ponderosa. Here's the link to John singing the song with some pictures that go along with the song. watch?v=wt6hDDfIxfk