Little House on the Prairie Season 4 (1977-78)

Revisited
Mary anguishes over her loss of sight

Review

The fourth season of Little House on the Prairie began airing on 12 September 1977 to 13 March 1978 and consisted of 22 episodes. There are a lot of changes this season as Victor French chose not to return to the show so the entire Edwards family were written out and replaced by the Garveys: Jonathan, his wife, Alice, and their son, Andy. As a consequence of the departure, a feud developed between Michael Landon and Victor French which meant Mary’s engagement to John Jr was also a casualty and was broken in Times of Change.

There are more changes in store for the Ingalls family as Laura’s dog, Jack, dies in the opening episode, Castoffs, and is replaced by Bandit, a stray dog that Charles picks up in Sleepy Eye. In A Most Precious Gift, Caroline gives birth to her final daughter, Grace, but not before we go through the angst of her believing Charles will be disappointed if the unborn child is not a boy. Honestly, this longing for a boy is getting tedious and you have to wonder if the real Charles Ingalls cared half as much. Laura gets some unwanted attention in My Ellen, a dark episode where her friend Ellen Taylor (Mia Bendixsen) accidentally drowns and Ellen’s mother, Eloise (Corinne Michaels) , becomes fixated on Laura. In The Rivals, Laura attempts to throw off her tomboy image to attract a boy and gives herself “bumps” by sticking apples in her pinafore in one of the funniest scenes ever to appear on the show.

While Mary seems to be sidelined for much of this season, the episodes where she has a central role are very strong. In The Handyman, Charles has to leave town in the middle of building the kitchen extension he has long promised Caroline, so the work is taken over by a handsome stranger, Chris Nelson (Gil Gerard), who falls for Caroline. There are some nice mother and daughter scenes as Mary jumps to the wrong conclusions but Chris is just a clone of Charles. Later in the season, Mary gets a chance to teach in a backward community presided over by the formidable Rachel Peel (Anita Dangler) who doesn’t think highly of education in Whisper County. Mary has to find a way to break Rachel’s harming influence and does it with forceful compassion proving she is a true Ingalls.

Of course, Mary’s biggest storyline is the memorable two-part finale, I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away, where the girl loses her sight and is sent to the blind school in Iowa. Melissa Sue Anderson earned an Emmy nomination for her performance in the opening episode where Mary has to come to terms with the news she is going blind and the scene where it actually happens is utterly heart wrenching. A despondent Mary believes her life is over but Doc Baker tells her parents about a school in Iowa that will teach her to be independent again so they decide to send her despite her protests. The second episode introduces Adam Kendall (Linwood Boomer) as Mary’s teacher and before long Mary finds a renewed purpose as well as falling in love with Adam. The real Mary Ingalls attended the school for a number of years but in the series Mary obviously gets the crash course.

In this season, we say goodbye to Miss Beadle who gets married to Adam Sims (Joshua Bryant) in Here Come The Brides, an hilarious episode that also sees Nellie trying to elope with Adam’s son, Luke (Bob Marsic). The Sims family are one of many who leave Walnut Grove in the final episode of the season as we are told the railroad is killing the town economically but we are not given much detail. When Mary announces she will be taking a teaching position with Adam in Winoka, the Ingalls family decide to move there as well. As Mary reads from the Bible at the last church service, emotions are running high as friends and neighbours part ways. Since renewal was not assured, this episode was also written as a goodbye for the series but it was eventually picked up for another season.

Further Reading

Explore the characters and books that inspired the series

  • Charles Ingalls (Michael Landon)
  • Caroline Ingalls (Karen Grassle)
  • Mary Ingalls (Melissa Sue Anderson)
  • Laura Ingalls (Melissa Gilbert)
  • Carrie Ingalls (Lindsay Sidney Greenbush)
  • Nels Oleson (Richard Bull)
  • Harriet Oleson (Katherine MacGregor)
  • Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim)
  • Willie Oleson (Jonathan Gilbert)
  • Lars Hansen (Karl Swenson)
  • Dr. Hiram Baker (Kevin Hagen)
  • Eva Beadle Simms (Charlotte Stewart)
  • Reverend Alden (Dabbs Greer)
  • Jonathan Garvey (Merlin Olson)
  • Alice Garvey (Hedda Parady)
  • Andy Garvey (Patrick Labyorteaux)
  • 4.01 Castoffs
  • 4.02 Times of Change
  • 4.03 My Ellen
  • 4.04 The Handyman
  • 4.05 The Wolves
  • 4.06 The Creeper of Walnut Grove
  • 4.07 To Run and Hide
  • 4.08 The Aftermath
  • 4.09 The High Cost of Being Right
  • 4.10 The Fighter
  • 4.11 Meet Me at the Fair
  • 4.12 Here Come the Brides
  • 4.13 Freedom Flight
  • 4.14 The Rivals
  • 4.15 Whisper Country
  • 4.16 I Remember, I Remember
  • 4.17 Be My Friend
  • 4.18 The Inheritance
  • 4.19 The Stranger
  • 4.20 A Most Precious Gift
  • 4.21 I’ll Be Waving as You Drive Away Part I
  • 4.21 I’ll Be Waving as You Drive Away Part II
  • CHARLES PHILIP INGALLS was born on 10 January 1836 in Cuba, New York, and was the third of ten children born to Lansford Whiting Ingalls and Laura Louise Colby. Charles married Caroline Lake Quiner on 1 February 1860 and they had five children. Charles died, aged 66 years, in De Smet, South Dakota, on 8 June 1902.
  • CAROLINE LAKE QUINER was born on 12 December 1839, in Brookfield, Wisconsin, and was the fifth of eight children born to Henry Newcomb Quiner and Charlotte Wallis Tucker. Caroline’s father died when she was young and her mother married Frederick Holbrook on 2 June 1849. Caroline married Charles Philip Ingalls on 1 February 1860 and they had five children. Caroline died, aged 84 years, in De Smet, South Dakota, on 20 April 1924.
  • MARY AMELIA INGALLS was born on 10 January 1865 in Pepin, Wisconsin, and was the eldest daughter of Charles Philip Ingalls and Caroline Lake Quiner. Mary lost her sight in 1879 after a serious illness and attended the Iowa School for the Blind from 1880 to 1889. Mary never married and lived with her parents for the rest of her life, and then with her sisters. Mary died, aged 63 years, in Keystone, South Dakota, on 17 October 1928.
  • LAURA ELIZABETH INGALLS was born on 7 February 1867 in Pepin, Wisconsin, and was the second daughter of Charles Philip Ingalls and Caroline Lake Quiner. She married Almanzo James Wilder on 25 August 1885 and they had two children, Rose, born in 1886, and an unnamed son in 1889. Laura died, aged 90 years, in Mansfield, Missouri, on 10 February 1957.
  • CAROLINE CELESTIA INGALLS was born on 3 August 1870 in Montgomery, Kansas and was the third daughter of Charles Philip Ingalls and Caroline Lake Quiner. She married David N Swanzey in 1912 but had no children of her own. Carrie died, aged 75 years, in Rapid City, South Dakota, on 2 June 1946.
  • CHARLES FREDERICK INGALLS was born on 1 November 1875 in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, but died, aged 9 months, in South Troy, Minnesota, on 27 August 1876.
  • GRACE PEARL INGALLS was born on 23 May 1877 in Burr Oak, Iowa, and was the youngest daughter of Charles Philip Ingalls and Caroline Lake Quiner. She married Nathan William Dow on 16 October 1901 but they had no children. Grace died, aged 64 years, in Manchester, South Dakota, on 10 November 1941.