Post 3:
“Country Girls”

Post 3: “Country Girls”

From 13-Year-Old Anne’s Journal —

November 9, 1982 – EXCELLENT

“Laura and Mary are off to school for the first day. Nellie calls them country girls. Laura doesn’t know any words and they have to write essays. She makes up words.”

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From Anne —

It’s 1874, and your dad’s been dragging you around the country.  You find yourself on the outskirts of a two-horse town called Walnut Grove.  There’s not much to eat except johnny cakes.  A scrap of ribbon is your only fashion accessory.  Your Ma badly wants you to go to school.  But you’re an easy target for a snob.  With this episode begins one of the more colorful rivalries on network TV, eventually resulting in one rival pushing the other down a hill in a wheel chair.  But first, there’s basic name-calling.

“Country girl” is a slur for sure in this episode, but for me, circa 1985, it was a badge of honor.  While most of my schoolmates lived in high-falutin’ mansions on the northside of Indy (Tracy included!), I lived in a tri-level on a pond 25 miles west of town.  I wore my overalls while everyone else sported Izod.  And I would have been willing to wear one of the bright blue dresses Ma makes in this episode.  I was all about Peter Pan collars.  Tracy and I were also obsessed with the moody Victorian stylings of Laura Ashley at this point in time.

Re-watching this early episode, I’m seeing that “making up words” references Laura’s extemporaneous speaking, preceding her ability to write what she wants to say.  (My journal makes it sound like a bad thing).  The Laura vs. Nellie speech smack down, in which Laura waxes on about her angelic Ma, while Nellie regales on the high-priced furnishings at her house, is more interesting than the Romney-Santorum debates of late.

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From Tracy —

OMG I don’t know why I didn’t have a raging crush on Michael Landon. I had a crush on Captain Kirk. And Spock. So it couldn’t have been the age thing. What the heck was wrong with me?

One sweet moment that almost made me well up was when Laura and Mary are standing in front of their new school trying to figure out which one of them should go in first. I loved how Mary finally grabs Laura’s hand and says confidently: “We’ll go together.” As an only child I can only imagine that kind of sister solidarity.

And for a more lighthearted view check out “The 30-Second Little House” take on this episode:

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