"THE AWARD"

“The Award”


While studying for an optional history exam in the barn, Mary accidentally knocks over a reading lamp and starts a fire. Caroline punishes Mary by telling her she couldn't take the exam. Mary doesn't tell Ms. Beadle this until the day of the exam.















I love this episode, it’s one of my favorites. At first I thought… “can’t Caroline just forgive Mary, it was an accident and it’s not like Mary wanted to do something bad, she wanted to take a test!”. Well, then I thought about it, and I agree with what Caroline did. Yes, it was a mistake that the fire happened but it was not mistake that she lighted the lantern in the barn… something that Caroline had told her many times! (Although we actually never hear Caroline tell her that… lol) Anyway, and I agree w/ Reverend Alden, that if Caroline lifted her punishment the girls might expect her to do the same in the future.

Anyway, poor Mary and Caroline, it was rough on both of them. I love what Mary told Nellie at the Mercantile. If I remember, they said something like this:
Nellie: "Why don't you tell your mother to let you wear your sunday dress to work?"
Mary: "My Sunday dress is for service"
Nellie: "You don't get paid to go to church"
Mary: "And I don't worship in Olseon's Mercantile"

Laura was like Mary’s conscience in this episode, saying things like “Ma told you not to take it, what if you don’t win, etc, etc…. “ lol The ending was sweet.
Two thumbs up!

Nellie at the Mercantile. If I remember, they said something like this:
Nellie: "Why don't you tell your mother to let you wear your sunday dress to work?"
Mary: "My Sunday dress is for service"
Nellie: "You don't get paid to go to church"
Mary: "And I don't worship in Olseon's Mercantile

I agree i love that part

I agree Jacob. I love it when Mary says that!

Remember the scene where Ma is in town with her eggs and she goes to the school and asks Laura where Mary is and Laura says "she's inside"

Well...where the heck is Carrie?

Pa is away on a trip during this episode and Carrie is shown with Ma and the girls in a different scene, so I know she didn't go with Pa.

lol

Drives me nuts when they do that.

I mean...Ma never got a "sitter" when she walked into town to sell eggs before and suddenly Carrie is just gone?

That seemed to happen with Carrie a lot. Then later Rose seemed to disappear as well.

Maybe she had a sitter. Women from these times were always ready to help other women. If you read Laura's real life, she sittered several babies when a teen , and some of her friends did it too.

But the show wouldn't bother to show you this little detail...Just think they must write just another line or add a scene only to explain this... :think:

Vanesa.

Lori wrote:

That seemed to happen with Carrie a lot. Then later Rose seemed to disappear as well.

Awww, that was just wrong.

Beckie

Little babies and toddlers are somewhat hard to cope with, time to time...

Vanesa.

I loved this episode.

I loved this episode ..as parents we all make mistakes and i could relate to this .......the end scene with Ma seeking Mary out is a great lesson to us mums

lol I watched this episode on Wednesday and wondered the same thing. :b

Quote :

Well...where the heck is Carrie?

Chances are she was either in the outhouse or nailed to the roof of the house.

Seriously, I never noticed this before. This aside, I like this episode a lot. It's interesting to see a bit of role reversal between Mary and Laura, with Mary being the more rebellious one and Laura being the one who's concerned about not getting into trouble. Usually it's the other way around. This episode has a great ending also, with the scene between Ma and Mary.

This is one episode that I did not like to watch when I was little. Ma is so scary when she loses her temper! Karen does such an excellent job with making it believable. I could see my mother doing the same exact thing.
It was always tempting to mute that scene. :b

This is not one of my favorite episodes, and I feel it moves slowly. But I agree that Ma probably did the right thing to keep the punishment. What Mary did wrong was not just a little thing - as Ma said, Mary could have been killed or the whole house could have burned down along with the barn, etc. What I think is strange is that Ma doesn't ask Mary if she told Ms. Beadle she cannot take the exam, and also why does Mary have to lie about the $1.50 that she earned (making Ma think that she only earned 50 cents)? Ma surely should have known about Ms. Beadle's book being ruined in the fire. In fact, I would think that would also be part of the punishment, i.e. that Mary would have to find a way to purchase a new book for Ms. Beadle or at least tell Ms. Beadle what happened to her book if she could not afford to replace it.

You made a good point, Amyk...I never thought about it.

Vanesa.

Seeing the second time. This is one of my favorite episodes. I'm re-watching some of LHOTP Season 1.

I love that funny scene with Mary & Nellie. Also love the scene with Mary & Ma hugging at the end.

ok episode......

When the kids first see the dictionary I likened it to a teacher of today showing them a Macbook or something of that lofty nature. Those kids looks at that dictionary like it was the coolest thing ever, which was awesome. I wish kids still got excited over learning implements like that.

Good episode. Poor Mary. All she wanted to do was take a special exam. I can understand Caroline's anger. Mary could have been killed. Rev.Alden was right, if Caroline let Mary's punishment go, then Laura and Carrie would expect to get away with something. Speaking of Caroline going to the school when she didn't see Mary outside during the test and not having Carrie with her, she did the same thing in The Love of Johnny Johnson. She went to talk to Miss Beadle about Laura and Carrie wasn't with her. In the season 6 episode, The Angry Heart, the Ingalls went to get in the wagon to go to church and Grace wasn't with them.

Lovely episode..Glad Mary told it all in the end...

I liked seeing a different side of Mary but I marvel at the lax punishments these kid get. I don't want to see Laura or anyone hit as in the books, but no matter what they do, they never really get punished.
Mary almost kills the animals and herself...without a barn, they would be in big trouble, AND she says, she has been told numerous times. Ma was correct in what she did and to say she was upset at raising her voice (?) well, when do you raise it, if it isn't when your daughter almost kills herself and others. Laura defies them many times, steal things, lies, runs away, it's never a big deal. Even when she went into Mr. Pikes home...and took something, can you imagine your child doing that and not being angry?
Just once to hear Pa say, "Laura, I know your sorry, but you're to come home from school all week and do more chores, or something!

If I had to have different parents though, they were a great one to fantasize about.