Season 1 Episode 12 “The Award”- Little House on the Prairie

Mr. Ingalls has to go out of town for a few weeks with Mr. Edwards to run some errands and make deliveries. The girls help him get ready to leave which makes them late for school that morning. Miss Beadle, their teacher, has just begun telling the class about a scholarship contest when the girls enter the classroom. They will be given an exam on their knowledge of many different topics. The winner will receive a copy of a new Webster’s dictionary. Mary is very excited about the contest and can only think about winning the dictionary. She becomes very determined to study hard in order to win the contest.

Laura is not interested in the contest and thinks that Mary is strange for liking school so much. She begins to get annoyed at all of Mary’s studying. Mary has even borrowed a history book from Miss Beadle to help her become more prepared for the big exam. One night, Mary keeps studying even though she should be in bed. Laura asks her to turn the lamp light off so she can sleep. Reluctantly, Mary puts it out and tries to sleep. She really just wants to keep reading the history book, so she sneaks out of the house and into the barn with her lamp and book to continue studying. Eventually she becomes too tired to read any more and falls asleep in the straw. While she’s asleep, she knocks over the lamp and sets the straw and barn on fire.

Mary is awakened by the sounds of frightened animals and tries to put the fire out but soon realizes that she can’t and calls for her mother to help. Mrs. Ingalls works furiously to get the fire out and the girls bring her buckets of water too. Luckily, they are able to get all the fire out with out much damage to the barn. Mrs. Ingalls is extremely frightened and angry with Mary and tells her she can not take the scholarship exam because of Mary’s careless actions. Mary is very upset about this decision.

The next morning, Mrs. Ingalls apologizes to Mary for her harshness and is about to tell her she can still take the exam, but Mary won’t let her finish what she’s saying. Mary only wants to leave and clean up the barn of the mess the fire made. While Mary is cleaning up the barn, she finds the history book that Miss Beadle loaned her. It has been badly damaged by the fire. Mary is very upset and reluctant to go to school that day.

Mrs. Ingalls is conflicted over her decision to restrict Mary from taking the exam at school. She goes to the Reverend to get some advise on the situation. He comforts her about her parenting and encourages her to stick with the original punishment so her children won’t think she is a push-over. Mrs. Ingalls is determined to keep Mary from taking the exam.

Laura sees that her sister is upset about not being allowed to take the exam and ruining Miss Beadle’s book, so she invites her to go with her to the Oleson’s store to buy some candy to share. While in the store, Mary notices a “help wanted” sign and inquires about the job to Mr. Oleson. He says he needs help keeping things neat and tidy and helping customers when he’s not in the store for the next few weeks because his daughter, Nellie, is too busy studying for the scholarship exam to help him. Mary wants the job so she can earn some money to buy a new history book for Miss Beadle.

Mary gets permission from her mother to work at the store. Mrs. Ingalls does not know the real reason Mary is working at the store. Laura questions Mary about why she hasn’t told Miss Beadle she can’t take the exam or about the burnt book. Mary is hoping she can get the new book to Miss Beadle the day before the exam.

Nellie Oleson comes in to bother Mary as she is working in the store. Nellie is bragging about all the books she has available to her to read in the store. Miss Beadle comes in the store and interrupts Nellie so she can talk to Mary. Miss Beadle asks Mary if she is finding enough time to study for the exam. Mary tells her she is using her spare time in the store reading the books on the shelves to prepare for the exam. Miss Beadle believes that Mary has a very good chance at winning the contest.

Later that day, Mr. Oleson has brought Mary home from the store. Mrs. Ingalls is very unhappy at her late return home. Mary apologizes for being so late and goes into the house. As Mr. Oleson is leaving, he comments on what a good worker Mary is and that she is a good reader too. He had found Mary reading in the store after he had closed it up for the day. Mrs. Ingalls begins to wonder if Mary is going to take the exam even though she was told not to take it.

Mary is conflicted about her decision to not tell Miss Beadle about the book and that she can’t take the exam. She wants to please her teacher, but she also wants to please her mother. She feels that maybe her mother will forgive her is she still takes the exam and wins. Laura is not so sure about her sister’s reasoning either and wonders what her mother would do if she found out Mary took the exam but didn’t win. Mary is determined to work hard in order to earn the money to replace Miss Beadle’s book and study to win the contest.

Soon, Mary earns enough money in her three weeks of employment to buy a replacement book for Miss Beadle. She gives her the new book and doesn’t tell her about the other one getting burned. Mary also tells her mother that she only earned 50 cents for her three weeks of work. Mrs. Ingalls thinks this is not a fair wage and questions Mr. Oleson the next morning at the store when she is dropping off the eggs she sells to him. He corrects her and tells her that he paid Mary more, but she spent a dollar of it to buy a history book. Mrs. Ingalls is curious about this and goes to the school to talk to Mary. She finds Mary in the classroom with the other students taking the scholarship exam. Mrs. Ingalls does not interrupt the class and leaves very upset.

After the exam, Miss Beadles announces that a boy in the class won the exam. Mary is upset and leaves the building. Miss Beadle takes Laura home and shows Mrs. Ingalls the paper that Mary turned in for the exam. It was an explanation of why she couldn’t take the exam. Mrs. Ingalls is relieved that Mary didn’t disobey her, but wonders why she hasn’t come home from school yet. She finds her by a tree and they embrace and all the bad feelings are resolved.