I’ve been told it’s possible he was an alcoholic (someone told me that early on in my reading) and it changed my perspective of his follies. I haven’t yet read the autobiography, but I cannot fathom the reality of this man. I spent some time on “Little House” forums after reading this volume to see what fans had to say about it, and I’m happy to settle with the theory that Laura knew the baby would likely not live and thus, she didn’t want to invest the time and resources into that child (a product of the times). Granted, that was an unfinished book but it’s interesting to think about how little time is dedicated to that son. I had to reread this section of The First Four Yearsnumerous times to make sure I’d actually read it correctly. Likewise, we see pages and pages dedicated to Laura’s giving birth to her daughter Rose and her growth where we get one page - one page!! - dedicated to Laura giving birth to a son who gets really sick and dies a couple of weeks postpartum. The book only validates your own perspective of how boring winters are. If you live in a snowy part of the world, say the Midwest, you know how boring long winters are. Books like These Happy Golden Yearscover the early parts of Laura’s “adulthood” (ages roughly 16 to 20) in just over 200 pages, but prior to that, we get a book like The Long Winter, which clocks in at over 300 pages and is literally about one winter.
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It’s interesting to think about this in context of the fact these books were written by Laura after the fact the things she chooses to tell in the story are things she found relevant, and apparently, complaining was a big worthwhile memory.