Simply Thrifty

How the Ingalls Family Spent their Evenings

by Deborah Ng on June 10th, 2008

I went to a book auction at one of the local libraries the other day and came back with a real treat. A lot of books and booklets about the Ingalls family - that’s the Laura Ingalls Wilder family, for those who didn’t spend a jillion years watching “Little House on the Prairie. Included were biographies, diary excerpts, letters, and even some books filling the gaps between and after the “Little House” books. Oh and I paid $5 for this glorious lot of books and pamphlets.

This was a real find for me. My sisters and I loved the “Little House” stories and always had an interest in the Ingalls and Wilder family. Reading Grace’s diary or letters between Laura and her daughter Rose gave me a deeper glimpse into their lives than I imagined and answered many questions.

That wasn’t what I was going to share with you today though. What I found interesting was how Laura and her family spent their evenings in the days before TV and radio.

The Ingalls family was tight knit, even those outside the immediately family. In fact many of Charles’ (Pa) and Caroline’s (Ma) brothers and sisters married each other! Talk about keeping it in the family.

One way they spent their evenings was with letter writing. The families kept in touch with a circular letter. One family would start a letter and mail to the next. They would each add to it until it came back to the original writer, the the chain would begin again. As Laura and her sisters grew older and married, they became part of the chain as well.

The family also did “fancy work” in the evening. Beading, knitting, crocheting, sewing. They read aloud from books and magazines, a chapter or two at a time. And when the lights grew too dim to read they, sang and danced to the sound of Pa’s fiddle.

Kids today would probably say most of that is boring. Who wants to sing and dance with family? It sounds like a good time to me though. I really look forward to Saturday nights - that’s our designated family night. We play games, pop corn, read stories and do things together. Now that it’s summer, we’ll probably spend our Saturday nights in the pool.

My son is a little too young to not want to spend time with his old mom and dad, but by starting the “family night” tradition now, we’re hoping it leads to a Saturday night habit as he grows older.

Families today can learn a lot from the Ingalls and Wilder families. Even as they grew older they didn’t grow apart. With miles between them they still wrote to each other and enjoyed each others’ company. They kept busy without electricity and somehow didn’t consider any of it boring.

Sounds like a good time to me.

Image via stock.xchnge

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POSTED IN: Simple Pleasures, Simpler Thinking