# Things that are disturbing about the "Little House" series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 1, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-disturbing-about-the-little-house-series/685088 "2014-04-01T15:49:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-disturbing-about-the-little-house-series/685088/81 "2014-04-04T20:46:13Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > Pity that level of fairness only lasted until the whites really WANTED that land. Yes. It wasn’t exactly my area of expertise, but IIRC, US policy started to change in 1836, when Jackson (who hated Indians) was president. Things really got rolling after the Civil War and the Homestead Act, and then the discovery of gold in the Black Hills. For those who are interested, British historian John Keegan goes in detail into the Colonial and US military presence on the frontier in his book _ **Fields of Battle: The Wars for North America** _. ---
**Author:** ![InsomniaMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ad7895/32.png) [@InsomniaMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InsomniaMama)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-disturbing-about-the-little-house-series/685088/82 "2014-04-05T02:12:59Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > This book is a good read: > [The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie: McClure, Wendy: 9781594485688: Amazon.com: Books](http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1594485682/ref=pd_aw_sims_1?pi=SL500_SY115) I enjoyed that book, too! A and this coming from someone who wore her hair in two braids all through grade school. So, I know what I’m talking about. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-disturbing-about-the-little-house-series/685088/83 "2014-04-05T02:36:29Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > The question of whether a woman should vow to “obey” her husband was something of a major topic of discussion in society at that time. You will find similar references in a lot of literature from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. IIRC even _Queen Victoria_ included the promise to obey in her wedding vows to Prince Albert, _against_ the advice of her ministers and the Archbishop of Canterbury. ---
**Author:** ![RachelChristine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RachelChristine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelChristine)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-disturbing-about-the-little-house-series/685088/84 "2014-04-05T02:50:37Z")
Thank you thank you **choie**! I have been swamped this week and wanted to comment on some of these more, um, interesting interpretations. Just wondering, have you been to or are you planning on going to Laurapalooza? I am super excited for the next one!! All of the rest of you want to meet some real die-hard fans – try going to one of the Conferences!!! ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-disturbing-about-the-little-house-series/685088/85 "2014-04-05T09:00:45Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > A friend of mine’s grandfather was orphaned in about the same era, and went to live with his aunt and uncle. They made him sleep in the barn and regarded him as cheap labor. He left as soon as he could, and she remembers that he had nothing good to say about his childhood. And if they’d had kid’s of their own, they’d have treated them the same way. To be fair though, in Aus at that time, if you’re living in a one-room house, the girls sleep on the front porch, and boy sleep in the shed out back, the parents and the baby sleep in the kitchen/room. ---
**Author:** ![Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Brynhildr\_Budladottir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynhildr_Budladottir)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-disturbing-about-the-little-house-series/685088/86 "2014-04-08T08:51:50Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > And if they’d had kid’s of their own, they’d have treated them the same way. > > To be fair though, in Aus at that time, if you’re living in a one-room house, t **he girls sleep on the front porch, and boy sleep in the shed out back, the parents and the baby sleep in the kitchen/room.** Now _that’s_ something I don’t remember learning in high school Australian history class six years ago! ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-disturbing-about-the-little-house-series/685088/87 "2014-04-14T05:54:31Z")
> [@Morwen Edhelwen](#): > > Now _that’s_ something I don’t remember learning in high school Australian history class six years ago! I got that from the grand-son of a central-victoria farmer. He also told me that if you looked at pictures of the local football teams, you could see the change when the local ‘aboriginals’ disappeared because they were forced off the land. Perversely, that illustrates that race relations were _better_ in Vic than in some parts of Aus: local aboriginals played the local football game (and, arguably, contributed to the local rules and style of play). ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-disturbing-about-the-little-house-series/685088/88 "2014-04-14T06:59:54Z")
[quote=“terentii, post:40, topic:685088”] And they would have seen absolutely nothing wrong with it; such were the times. That sort of thing was perfectly acceptable for a lot longer than you probably think: [/QUOTE] I'll match that any day with[this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7Y2Ll24GRU). ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2017, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-disturbing-about-the-little-house-series/685088/89 "2017-11-22T02:13:12Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > The illustration of Almanzo and Laura being married is kind of neat, because you see Reverend Brown. Whoever did the drawings obviously remembered he was supposed to be related to John Brown, because in the picture he’s drawn to resemble him closely. The illustrator is Garth Williams, who was well known for his illustrations in _Stuart Little_ before he worked on the _Little House_ books; his illustrations in _Charlotte’s Web_ are also noteworthy. As the quote below shows, he had read the books carefully. "Williams received the commission to illustrate the new Little House edition in about 1947. To know the worlds of Laura’s childhood, Williams, who had never been west of the Hudson River, traveled the American Midwest to the places the Ingalls family had lived 70 years before, photographing and sketching landscapes, trees, birds and wildlife, buildings and towns. “The trip culminated in a search along the riverbank along Plum Creek where the family had built their dugout home, so long ago. I did not expect to find the house, but I felt certain that it would have left an indentation in the bank. A light rain did not help my search, and I was about to give up when ahead of me I saw exactly what I was looking for, a hollow in the east bank of Plum Creek. I felt very well rewarded, for the scene fitted Mrs Wilder’s description perfectly.” > [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Possibly working from a photo of the wedding party? Probably not; this is the only known photograph of the young Laura and Almanzo together, taken a few months their wedding. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Laura_and_Almanzo_Wilder_1885_retouched_sepia.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Laura_and_Almanzo_Wilder_1885_retouched_sepia.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-disturbing-about-the-little-house-series/685088.md?page=4)