Goodbye, Mrs. Wilder 3/5

Even Hilde is bored with Mrs. Oleson’s art appreciation presentation. Today’s lesson is Renaissance Art. Hmmm. It’s mostly naked ladies, so Ralph and Willie are extra interested. Albert looks terrified. The class is tittering (hehe, tittering) at the pictures of “modest” young maidens. Mrs. Oleson is getting pretty irritated while I’m just getting uncomfortable. It's like your grandma talking to you about sex.

After school the boys are complaining about all the changes at the school. They aren’t fans of French and Ralph in particular doesn’t like dressing like a “sissy”. Says he of the long flowing locks. Sorry, I’m not a fan of that particular term unless it is preceded by “Bobby and”. I’m actually not a fan of that either, but at least I’m not mildly offended. It’s at this point that Albert reveals that he has gotten around the sock rule by putting coal dust on his legs. You know, a less messy work around would be to make sure your shoes aren’t scuffed so Mrs. Oleson doesn’t check your legs. She’ll probably notice coal dust if she is looking for socks.

Meanwhile, Ralph’s dad pays a visit to Mrs. Oleson at the school. “My boy says you’ve been showing dirty pictures in here,” he informs her. Mrs. Oleson is at first shocked by this accusation, until she realizes that it is the artwork that Mr. Parker is referring to. Harriet tries to explain a distinction between artistic models and boobapalooza, but Mr. Parker doesn’t really care about context. She pulls out the copies of the artwork in question and he takes a look at them. Mr. Parker is shocked by one of them, which Mrs. Oleson dismisses by saying it is a very famous painting called “The Bathers”. I’d show it to you, but that is also a very a common title and I don’t know exactly which one she is referring to. Mr. Parker looks at another one and asks what the title is. Mrs. Oleson hems and haws a bit before answering “The Rape of the Sabine Women”. Isn’t that a little hardcore for the 7 year olds in the class, Harriet? Mr. Parker has had enough and threatens to bring in the law if Mrs. Oleson doesn’t stop with the naked ladies.

That evening, Ma and Pa are enjoying dinner with Laura and Almanzo at the Wilder house. Caroline is praising the meal and the house while Manly goes on about how everything is so tidy now that Laura is home full time. Laura is visibly uncomfortable during this conversation. Charles notices this and tries to change the subject, but it ends up circling back to Laura not being as busy as she used to be. Everyone tries to console her, but the idea of being only a good homemaker (her words, not mine) and not being a teacher is making her feel useless. She runs into the kitchen crying. Manly follows and gives her a hug. They chat some and he reassures his wife that everything will be okay.