Mon, Jan 9, 1978
Charles Ingalls and Jonathan Garvey are trying to win a contract for a freight operation. So, it means they will be making good money but they will be on the road for usually two weeks at a time, and usually with only an overnight layover. Caroline feels that this new job is her rival. Jimmy Hill is Laura's friend. They go frogging together and Laura falls in the creek, and Jimmy pulls her out, and for the first time, we see Laura liking a boy because she is a girl. The next day, Laura decides to wear her hair down because it makes her look more grown up and she wears her Sunday pinafore over her school dress and her Sunday hair ribbons. Of course, this means she can't play games at recess. Samantha Higgins is a new girl at school and since she is wearing overalls, has her hair braided and is considered tomboyish, Jimmy Hill invites her to play ball with them. Laura considers her a rival.
Mon, Jan 16, 1978
On Rev. Alden's recommendation, Mary is hired as a teacher in a small backwoods community called Willow Run. There, she is met with pure hatred from its town leader, Miss Peel, an elderly woman who is fiercely opposed to the school. Miss Peel's determination to drive Mary from town proves to be a severe test to the Ingalls girl's resolve and character.
Mon, Jan 23, 1978
Traveling Charles Ingalls struggles with a broken wagon wheel and bad weather trying to get home in time to celebrate his wedding anniversary while, back in Plum Creek, waiting wife Caroline tries to keep worry at bay by entertaining their daughters with the tale of another time she was kept waiting and how she and their father first met.
Mon, Feb 6, 1978
In this episode, Charles receives word of an inheritance from an eccentric uncle. Soon, the whole town is abuzz, eagerly helping the initially reluctant Ingalls family spend the promised money. As the debt rises, so does Charles' discomfiture...until the consequences of the blessing make it feel more like a curse.
Mon, Mar 6, 1978
Long hours studying by candlelight for the state teacher's exam results in tired, blurry eyes for Mary Ingalls, prompting a routine visit to the eye doctor; but when Charles is told that Mary's worsening sight is just the beginning of a much more serious problem, the concerned father can't bring himself to tell his beloved daughter that she will, most certainly, soon be completely blind.
Top-rated
Mon, Mar 13, 1978
Feeling lost and abandoned, Mary Ingalls battles anger and self-pity at a school for the blind, far away from the little house by Plum Creek. But soon, Mary finds a source of hope in her new teacher, Adam Kendall, and as the two young people work together they find they have much in common. Meanwhile, back in Walnut Grove, many are forced to consider the real possibility of having to start a new life elsewhere as the town's economy erodes and work becomes scarce.
Mon, Sep 11, 1978
Poor financial conditions influence the Ingalls family to move to Winoka when Mary goes there to teach at the Blind School. They meet Albert, an orphan who Charles forms an attachment to, even though Laura catches him stealing from the hotel that Charles was managing and Caroline was running the kitchen/dining room for.
Mon, Sep 18, 1978
While Mary is going to teach at the Blind School in Winoka, and since financially they can't make a living in Walnut Grove the rest of the Ingalls family goes to Winoka, too. Charles gets a job managing a hotel and Caroline runs the Kitchen/Dining room. They make the acquaintance of an orphan, Albert who befriends the Ingalls.
Mon, Sep 25, 1978
Trying to convince Tom Carlin, blinded by a childhood bout with the measles, that he can lead a productive life, Adam Kendall battles Tom's bitter, skeptical father and is unexpectedly aided by the underdog Winoka Warriors, who have just lost their star player to a rival football team.
Mon, Oct 2, 1978
Amelia Bevins is a new girl at school. Laura asks her to go home with her the afternoon of her first day at school to work on their essays and they go by the Blind School on the way home. When they get there, Laura and Albert and Andy start making fun of the over-weight man who has started working there. Amelia makes an excuse and runs off. Unbeknownst to them, it's her father. Before they leave, Adam comes out and introduces Mr. Bevins and Laura realizes her mistake. That evening when Mr. Bevins goes home, he overhears his daughter telling his wife how her father embarrasses her because of his weight. He makes up a job on the railroad that will give him a lot of more money and convinces the people at the blind school that he has no family in town but could save the money he's been spending on the room if they'll let him stay in his storage room. They notice that he only works outside on the roof late at night and he works inside all day, but he says it's cooler that way. When he accidentally falls through the roof and gets hurt, the doctor tells Adam that he could have surgery and get better but that Mr. Bevins has given up the will to live.
Mon, Oct 9, 1978
Caroline talks to Mary and Mary convinces Charles that he should not have to stay in Winoka if he is unhappy. So, the Ingalls decide they are going back to Walnut Grove. They invite Albert to go back with them. The children at the blind school give them a horseshoe to hang over their door and sing them home with the song about a horseshoe over the door. The Garveys and the Olsens go home, too.
Mon, Oct 16, 1978
The Ingalls, Garveys, Olsens, and Albert get back to Walnut Grove to find it run down and in shabby condition. Lars Hansen found Walnut Grove over 50 years ago, and now that it is in this poor condition, and he suffered a stroke, he is much like the town--on its last leg. The Ingalls and the Garveys go to the farms around town to let everyone know of their plans to fix the town up to restore it to its former glory.
Mon, Oct 30, 1978
Sterling Murdoch arrives in Walnut Grove planning to found a newspaper. The fledgling newspaper is The Pen and the Plow, and its star reporter is none other than one Harriet Olesen. At first, everyone including the Ingalls welcome the newspaper, but the completely inaccurate content of the "Harriet's Happenings" column soon has some people losing their enthusiasm. Nels reminds his wife that a reporter's job is to be accurate, but Mrs. Olesen suggests she's merely "reporting the fact that they are rumors"; he is even more frustrated when she suggests holding an unethical sale at the store. Later, Nellie loses a spot in the county's spelling bee to Erich Schiller, the son of German immigrants and outstanding student in his class. Mrs. Olesen is outraged and in her next column, writes a story suggesting that Erich's parents are illiterate. Erich is deeply upset by the story and it causes him to perform badly at the county spelling bee; he even drops out of school. With some help from Charles, Mr. Schiller tells Erich that he is proud of his son and has a great future ahead of him; this is enough to get him to come back to school. Charles is unable to make headway with Murdoch about his newspaper, since Murdoch reasons that people like reading their names in print and it means more advertising and money. Laura and Albert get some revenge when they switch the printing plates and publish some unflattering stories about Nellie and Mrs. Olesen, and an ad that suggests a 100 percent-off sale at the Mercantile. When Caroline refuses to punish Laura and Albert over their trick, Mrs. Olesen responds by publishing a story stating that Charles fathered Albert outside his marriage (along with another item that suggests that the Garveys are heavily in debt). An angry Charles has enough and, at church on Sunday, exposes "The Pen and the Plow" as yellow journalism, and that everyone else shares in the blame for reading the paper even though they knew the stories were clearly untrue. It isn't long before the newspaper is forced to stop publishing and Murdoch is driven from town. In the close, Laura tells how she hoped that someday, Walnut Grove would get a legitimate newspaper.
Mon, Nov 27, 1978
Mr. Standish buys the building that the Blind school has been housed in and wants to turn it into a hotel. He gives the blind school 30 days to move. Adam and Mary send a letter to Charles telling them to alert them if they hear of an available place. Rev. Alden tells Charles that when he died, Lars Hansen left the deed to a big house in his care. It's too big to sell to one family so he hasn't been able to unload it, but it's perfectly big enough for a blind school. The church votes to clean it up and get it ready for the blind school to take it over. The Winoka school is joining with another school run by Mrs. Hester Sue Terhune. When she finds out that a Mrs. Terhune is coming with the Winoka blind school, mistaking her for another lady she once knew by the name of Terhune, Harriet makes the decision to join the blind school on their journey back to Walnut Grove. She also decides to buy herself a new bedroom suit and donates her old (perfectly good one) to Mrs. Terhune's bedroom at the blind school.
Mon, Dec 4, 1978
Joe Kagen joins Charles and goes to Winoka because they're going to have an extra wagon to bring home. They get to the blind school and see the awful team of horses and the wagon that Mr. Standish tricked Adam into buying even though his contract clearly stated that he would have the best team in the stable. Charles takes the horses into the saloon and convinces Mr. Standish that those aren't his best team and wagon. Then, Charles is surprised in Winoka to find out that Harriet has joined them for the trip home. On the trip, Harriet says she prefers to walk instead of riding on the wagon with Joe. They go about a day and a half before meeting with the train on which Mrs. Terhune's school is meeting them. She is a black lady and has about 6-8 black blind children with her. Harriet is shocked that she is not the lady she thought she was. She acts rather stand-offish around the black children, and one little boy in particular can read her behavior. He talks to Joe Kagen about her behavior and Joe, not knowing that Harriet is listening tells the boy that some people think that just because their skin is a different color they are different. Harriet is offended and later rides with this boy and Joe on the wagon.
Mon, Dec 18, 1978
Charles has the opportunity to earn $50 by helping run new telephone lines for 30 days. While he's away, Laura and Albert's time is used up with doing extra chores. Caroline is also busy and doesn't have time to deal with Carrie, so she is sent off on her own with some trivial job to do. She goes to pick some strawberries, but when she sees how little they are, she figures it will take her all day to pick enough for a pie. She falls asleep and dreams that a beautiful girl who looks just like her, named Alyssa, takes her to a world where there are strawberries as big as she is along with other fruits. But, then she is awakened because she dreams there is a huge angry bug chasing her on that fruit. She goes home. The next day, she is sent to go fishing and Alyssa takes her to Heaven to see their old dog Jack. The next day she has decided to use her Christmas penny to buy some licorice to share with Pa who should be coming home soon, but she drops the penny in the field, so she dreams that Alyssa makes it big enough for her to sleep on so she can find it easily. She wakes up with it in her hand. Carrie has trouble deciding if Alyssa is just her fairy tale friend or if she is real.