The Long Winter

Reading "The Long Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder, as one does in January in Minnesota, I reflect once again how precarious life was 150 years ago. People grew most of of their own food, and hunted, fished, foraged. The Ingalls house in town sheltered 6 people and was a fraction of the size of our condo*. We don't have snow coming in the doors or the roof. We have central heating, indoor plumbing. No going out to the woodpile in the middle of a blizzard, or going to the well. (There is no mention of their sanitary arrangements, but I can guess.) I recently saw a program on PBS about her and the books, so yes, I know about the racism, imperialism, sexism.(Much of it I figured out for myself years ago.) I know that Rose Wilder was one of the founders of the Libertarians and a friend of Ayn Rand. This was an attempt to create an American story of pioneer spirit and self-sufficiency that didn't really exist. But the conditions Laura described were real, and I am very thankful I don't live under those conditions. I like to remind myself that we really do have it good in some ways. Now, if we can keep it.

*Yes, since I watched the show, I know there were really eight people, a couple of boarders who Laura hated and wrote out of history.