3-22-13 Little Britches

“Ralph Moody was eight years old in 1906 when his family moved from New Hampshire to a Colorado ranch. Through his eyes we experience the pleasures and perils of ranching there early in the twentieth century. Auctions and roundups, family picnics, irrigation wars, tornadoes, and wind storms give authentic color to Little Britches. So do adventures, wonderfully told, that equip Ralph to take his father’s place when it becomes necessary.

Little Britches was the literary debut of Ralph Moody, who wrote about the adventures of his family in eight glorious books, all available in Bison Books editions.”

Quote taken from the back cover of Little Britches, the first of Moody’s books which I read aloud to the kids last fall. I meant to write a  summary then; but we zoomed on to other books and I just never got around to summarizing and highlighting it.

First, from page 143, right after Ralph accidentally caught a cock pheasant in a prairie dog trap, Father’s wisdom is shared.

…Father said, “What did you do, get your own foot in your trap?”

I said, “No, sir.” Then I went ahead and told him about catching the pheasant, but I didn’t tell him about wanting to hide it. I asked him if he thought they’d put me in the hoosegow, as Fred said, if the sheriff found out about it.

Father didn’t say a word for a minute or two. Then he said, “It isn’t a case of ‘if the sheriff finds out about it.’ It’s a case of your breaking the law without intending to.  If you tried to cover it up, you’d be running away from the law. Our prisons are full of men whose first real crime was running away because they didn’t have enough courage to face punishment for a small offense.  Tomorrow you must go to see the sheriff. I’ll explain to Mother about your coat.”

Later, on page 147, after Ralph talked to the sheriff, Father had more wise words for him.

That night when we were milking, he told me it had been a day I should remember. He said it would be good for me, as I grew older, to know that a man always made his troubles less by going to meet them instead of waiting for them to catch up with him, or trying to run away from them.

Cover to cover, Ralph’s mishaps and adventures kept us all clamoring for “just one more chapter” until my voice gave out. An excellent addition to our home library, destined to be read again and again.

A word of caution, though. Ralph spent some time with cowboys whose language was not acceptable. I read this book aloud and simply skipped these words, and our older kids know the words and know not to use them, but use discernment when letting younger kids read this book alone. Also there were times when Ralph kept things from his parents; rather than throw the book out because of these incidents, we discussed why this was wrong and what Ralph should have done differently.