Free By The Shores Of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

broom!
    Buy a broom, broom, buy a broom, broom!
    Will you buy of this wandering Bavarian a broom?
    To brush off the insects That come to annoy you You'll find it quite useful By night and by day."
    The cows stood quiet, chewing their cuds, as though they were listening to the singing until the milking was done.
    Then with the pails of warm, sweet-smelling milk, Laura and Lena walked back toward the shanties. In the mornings the men were coming out of the bunkhouse, washing in the basins on the bench by the door and combing their hair. And the sun was rising over Silver Lake .
    In the evenings the sky flamed with red and purple and gold, the sun had set, and the teams and men were coming in, dark along the dusty road they had worn on the prairie, and singing. Then quickly Lena hurried to Aunt Docia's shanty, and Laura to Ma's, because they must strain the milk before the cream began to rise, and help get supper.
    Lena had so much work to do, helping Aunt Docia and Cousin Louisa, that she had no time to play. And Laura, though she did not work so hard, was busy enough. So they hardly ever met except at milking time.
    “If Pa hadn't put our black ponies to work on the grade,” Lena said one evening, “you know what I'd do?”
    “No, what?” Laura asked.
    “Well, if I could get away, and if we had the ponies to ride, we'd go see the men working,” said Lena .
    “Don't you want to?”
    “Yes, I want to,” Laura said. She did not have to decide whether or not she would disobey Pa, because they couldn't do it anyway.
    Suddenly one day at dinner Pa set down his teacup, wiped his mustache, and said, “You ask too many questions, Flutterbudget. Put on your bonnet and come up to the store along about two o'clock. I'll take you out and let you see for yourself.”
    “Oh, Pa!” Laura cried out.
    “There, Laura, don't get so excited,” Ma said quietly.
    Laura knew she should not shout. She kept her voice low. “Pa, can Lena go too?”
    “We will decide about that later,” said Ma.
    After Pa had gone back to the store, Ma talked seriously to Laura. She said that she wanted her girls to know how to behave, to speak nicely in low voices and have gentle manners and always be ladies. They had always lived in wild, rough places, except for a little while on Plum Creek, and now they were in a rough railroad camp, and it would be some time before this country was civilized. Until then, Ma thought it best that they keep themselves to themselves. She wanted Laura to stay away from the camp, and not get acquainted with any of the rough men there. It would be all right for her to go quietly with Pa to see the work this once, but she must be well-behaved and lady-like, and remember that a lady never did anything that could attract attention.
    “Yes, Ma,” Laura said.
    “And Laura, I do not want you to take Lena , ” said Ma. “ Lena is a good, capable girl, but she is boister-ous, and Docia has not curbed her as much as she might. If you must go where those rough men are working in the dirt, then go quietly with your Pa and come back quietly, and say no more about it.”
    “Yes, Ma,” Laura said. “But—”
    “But what, Laura?” Ma asked.
    “Nothing,” said Laura.
    “I don't know why you want to go anyway,” Mary wondered. “It's much nicer here in the shanty, or taking a little walk by the lake.”
    “I just want to. I want to see them building a railroad,” Laura said.
    She tied on her sunbonnet when she set out and re-solved to keep it tied on. Pa was alone in the store. He put on his broad-brimmed hat and padlocked the door, and they went out on the prairie together. At that time of day when there were no shadows the prairie looked level, but it was not. In a few minutes its swells hid the shanties, and on the grassy land there was nothing to be seen but the dusty track of the road and the railroad grade beside it. Against the sky ahead rose up the smudge of dust, blowing away on the wind.
    Pa held on to his hat