" Did Mama sing every day? "
Caleb asks his sister Anna.
" Every-single-day, " she answers.
" Papa sang, too. "
Their mother died the day after Caleb was born. Their house on the prairie is quiet now, and Papa doesn' t sing anymore. Then Papa puts an ad in the paper, asking for a wife, and he receives a letter from one Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton, of Maine. Papa, Anna, and Caleb write back. Caleb asks if she sings.
Sarah decides to come for a month. She writes Papa: I will come by train. I will wear a yellow bonnet. I am plain and tall, and Tell them I sing. Anna and Caleb wait and wonder. Will Sarah be nice? Will she like them? Will she stay?
