Little Author in the Big Woods (11 page)

 

SEVEN

Building the Dream House

1904−1924

Rocky Ridge Farm, Missouri

After Rose moved to Kansas City, Laura and Manly remained in the little yellow house. But when Manly's parents died and left him $500, they decided to sell it and make some improvements to the house at Rocky Ridge Farm. Laura had so many ideas. She was particularly eager to use the materials found on the land, like the rocks and timber. So she sketched out her plans for a ten-room farmhouse with four porches, a beamed parlor, a library, and a staircase that led to the second level.

The new house took two years to complete. Laura loved the fireplace, which was made of three slabs of native rock. Manly had not been keen on the fireplace. Laura had to fight for it; she even broke down crying. She was determined to get her way—and in the end, she did.

She also got a new kitchen, with all its cupboards and drawers to keep clutter out of sight, an oak-paneled parlor, big glass windows, a library, and a small office off the kitchen where she could write letters and keep the farm's account books. It was her dream house.

The farm was thriving. Apples, pears, strawberries, and raspberries grew abundantly. The Jersey cows were sleek and healthy. They gave milk that the Wilders sold at market. Laura's flock of Leghorn hens laid eggs throughout the winter, when no one else's hens did. Laura began to get invitations to speak about her methods at farmers' clubs.

On one occasion, Laura was too busy to give her speech, so she wrote it and sent it off to be delivered in her absence. John Case, the editor of the
Missouri Ruralist
, was in the audience. He liked Laura's style so much that he asked her to start submitting articles to his magazine.

Laura was surprised. She had always loved writing but never thought of herself as a professional. Since she had nothing to lose, she decided to try. “Favors the Small Farm Home,” her very first article, appeared in the February 1911 issue of the
Ruralist
.

After that, she began to write regularly for the
Ruralist
.
Essays, poems, feature stories, and interviews with country people all flowed from her pen. And she still found time to cook, clean, and do all her farm chores. Laura earned between $5.00 and $10.00 for each piece that she wrote. Soon she had a column of her own, called “The Farm Home.” Later, she had another called “As a Farm Woman Thinks.” Readers often wrote in to praise her articles and essays. The editor told her that he preferred her stories to everything else in the magazine. Laura was so proud. Soon she began writing for other publications too.

Rose, now all grown up, was also a writer. She had done a lot of traveling while she was working for Western Union Telegraph. In 1909, she married Gillette Lane, and they moved to Kansas City. Now she had a job as a writer for the
Kansas City Post.

Kansas City was not too far from Mansfield, so the couple came to Rocky Ridge for a visit. Rose took comfort in seeing her parents. Like Laura, she'd had a baby boy who died. She was very saddened by his death. Being with her mother made Rose feel better. While she was there, Rose offered Laura guidance about her writing. She told her to get someone else to take care of the chickens so she could devote more time to it. They discussed other aspects of writing too, such as techniques and story ideas. Laura was so proud of Rose. And she trusted her advice.

When Rose and Gillette left Rocky Ridge, they did not go back to Kansas City. Instead, they went to San Francisco, where Rose had a new job writing for the women's page of the
San Francisco Bulletin
. Laura could not believe her daughter's good fortune. Rose interviewed celebrities of the day, like Henry Ford, who started an automobile empire that still exists today, and Charlie Chaplin, a silent film star. In 1915, Rose wrote to Laura asking her to come out west for a visit. Manly was not able to make the trip, so Laura went alone.

At first Laura was worried about leaving Manly. He assured her he would be fine. Laura boarded the train for California. She stayed for two months, and while she was there, she wrote letters to Manly about the marvelous new things she was experiencing. Like she had done for Mary all those years before, Laura was using her words to paint pictures for someone else. But she had an even clearer goal now. In one of the letters, she told Manly that she planned on doing “some writing
that will count.”
She was 48 years old, and her life was about to take an important new turn.

When Laura got home, she continued writing her columns. She urged farmers' wives to become active partners in their farms. Her inspiration was her own mother, who had shared the burdens and the joys with her father as an equal. And Laura's own marriage to Manly was structured in much the same way. This came at a time when women all over the country were organizing and marching for their rights, including the right to vote, which they did not get until 1920. Laura observed that farm women had always been partners with their husbands; no one had given them proper credit before.