We have been reading Little Britches by Ralph Moody as our current read-aloud. We have all been enjoying the stories of the scrapes that Ralph gets himself in to and also the way he gets out of them. What I have been appreciating the most is the relationship between Ralph and his father. It is unique to this first book in the series and the words of wisdom, patience, love and firmness shown by this father stayed with Ralph in the years ahead.
I’ll just quote some passages from the book to show you what I mean:
Ralph accidentally kills a pheasant when it gets caught in his hunting trap. Shooting pheasants is against the law in Colorado. His father explains to him what he should do about it:
"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 courage enough to face punishment for a small offense. Tomorrow, you must go and see the sheriff…"
Ralph, although only 8, has been helping his father on the ranch for the past year, earning money for herding cows, helping out at the neighbour’s farm come haying time. He reasons to himself that he actually "owns" the chocolate bar that his mother uses for cooking. After it has been "calling to him" all day, he finally steals it out of the house and hides it in the barn. He goes back at night to take a section off the bar:
I shook the bar out of the box, unwrapped it, and laid it on the lower rail of the corral fence. Just as I was starting to cut it with the axe, Father said, "Son!"
I couldn’t think of anything to say, but grabbed the bar of chocolate and shoved it inside the bib of my overalls before turning around.
After spanking him, Ralph write this:
But it was the next thing that he said that hurt worse than the spanking. He said, "Son, I realize a lot better than you think you have been helping to earn a living for the family. We might say the chocolate was yours in the first place. If you had asked Mother or me for it in the first place, it would have been yours without question, but I won’t have you being sneaky about things"…
But it was the next thing that he said that hurt worse than the spanking. He said, "Son, I realize a lot better than you think you have been helping to earn a living for the family. We might say the chocolate was yours in the first place. If you had asked Mother or me for it in the first place, it would have been yours without question, but I won’t have you being sneaky about things"…
He said he didn’t want a sneaky partner, but if I could be open and above board he didn’t know a man he’d rather be in business with.
I couldn’t help crying some more when he told me that, just because I loved him. I told him I’d never be sneaky again, and I’d always ask him before I did things.
That whole interaction between them is beautiful and it’s a shame to cut it short. The relationship unfolds and is built upon throughout the whole book. I must admit to being affected by this section.
Another time, Ralph sees that the neighbours have company. Some relatives are "free-loading". Ralph talks to the little visiting girl, whose father apparently has the philosophy that the world "owes him a living". This same man cannot hold down a job and seems to be quite at home taking advantage of his family. When Ralph talks to his father about this conversation over the milking at night, this is his reply:
"There are only two kinds of men in this world: Honest men and dishonest men. There are black men and white men and yellow men and red men but nothing counts except whether they’re honest men or dishonest men.
Some men work almost entirely with their brains; some men almost entirely with their hands; though most of us have to use both. But we all fall into one of the two classes – honest and dishonest.
Any man who says the world owes him a living is dishonest. The same God that made you and me made this earth. And He planned it so that it would yield every single thing that people on it need. But He was careful to plan it so it would only yield up its wealth in exchange for the labor of a man. Any man who tries to share in that wealth without contributing the work of his brain or his hands is dishonest.
Son, this is a long sermon for a boy of your age, but I want so much for you to be an honest man that I had to explain it to you."
I wish I knew how Father was able to say things so as to make you remember every word of it. If I could remember everything the way I remember the things Father told me, maybe I could be as smart a man as he was.
I could go on and write so much more about this book. At times I catch the boys just looking at me – their colouring sheet or quiet play put to one side as they are riveted to the story. He was a boy, just like them but he lived through so many adventures, with lessons to learn and some hard times of growing up. All of these things make this book precious and I think this will be a great series to read aloud.
No comments:
Post a Comment