A letter from Laura Ingalls Wilder

 February 1947. A letter from Laura Ingalls Wilder to the children at a school.

Dear Children,

I was born in the great woods of Wisconsin just eighty years ago on February 7. I've lived everywhere a bit, as I tell in my books, I married Almanzo, we had Rose, now Rose Wilder Lane, she's grown up and gone. His house is in Connecticut.

Almanzo is alive, but he doesn’t take care of the farm. We take care of our bulldog, Rocky Mountain and our dairy goats. We are out of horses. Our old friends and classmates are scattered all over the place. Maybe you want to know something about them? Ida married Elmer and moved to California where her children and grandchildren are.

Mary Power married a young banker and didn't live many years. Nellie Oleson got married, then separated from her husband. Cap Garland died from an engine explosion, shortly after Almanzo and I got married.

Mary has returned home after graduation. She never recovered her sight, but she was always cheerful and busy with her work, her books and music. Carrie married a mine owner in the Black Hills His house was near Mount Rushmore, where statues of four presidents are carved into the solid rock of the mountaintop. Grace married a farmer and lived only seven miles from De Smet.

Pa and Ma died years ago and Mary shortly after. Grace followed them several years ago and Carrie died last June so I am the only one in the family. The Pa violin is preserved at Memorial Hall, the State Historical Society museum in Pierre, South Dakota.

The Prairie House books are stories from a long time ago. Our way of life and schools were very different..... now so many changes made life and learning easier. But the real things haven't changed. It is important to be honest and sincere, to be happy with simple things, to be cheerful and to have the courage to face things when they go wrong.

With love to all of you and best wishes for your happiness.

Best regards

Laura Ingalls Wilder