Miss Beadle gets injured and Caroline is aksed to be her substitute until she recovers. At school, she notices an older boy, Abel Makay who has difficult because he can't read and gets intimidated by the other younger kids, some of whom call him "Dumb Abel". She decides to take special efforts to help him, but these are threatened when Mrs. Oleson question her actions, accusing her of giving special treatment to one specific student at expense of others.
Tropes associated with this episode:
- Embarrassing Nickname: The kids call Abel Makay "Dumb Abel" for being illiterate and shy, which Caroline rightfully labels as a cruel nickname and tells her daughters never to refer to him as this.
- Kids Are Cruel: Downplayed. The kids nickname Abel Makay "Dumb Abel" for his iliteracy and laugh at him the first time Caroline asks him to read and he can't, but once Caroline enlists them in her special efforts to help him learn to read, they promptly join her and seem proud of him when he's finally able to catch up with them.
- Laser-Guided Karma: When Mrs. Oleson sabotages Caroline's work to help Abel, Caroline leaves out of protest. Once the board hears what happened, Mrs. Oleson ends up taking the job as school teacher. It doesn't go well when the whole town catches wind of this. She made so many enemies that on the first day of her teaching, only Nellie and Willie showed up. Eventually, she relented and let Caroline have her job back.
- Never Learned to Read: Several first-season episodes dealt with illiteracy, which was more common in the 19th century. Abel – cruelly mocked by students as "Dumb Abel" for his inability to read – is part of those statistics, as he likely spent more time helping on his family's farm than in school, and never truly mastered the art of reading. Hence, his struggles in school.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Caroline realizes something is different when Mrs. Oleson compliments on her eggs and offers to pay extra for them. The reason is quickly revealed when Mrs. Oleson comments on Nellie's wish to become school monitor, and that this is an attempt to bribe Caroline into nominating her daughter.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Caroline delivers a subdued, but firm one to Mrs. Oleson when the school board asks her why she left her teaching position.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: While Abel's father doesn't encourage his getting an education, he still states that he can go to school anytime he wants, and only asks Caroline to leave him alone if he doesn't want to.
- Schoolmarm: Although she's married, this is the first of several times where Caroline fills in at Walnut Grove School for the regular teachers who are absent. She'd fill in several more times for Miss Beadle, and then later Eliza Jane Wilder and even later, daughter Laura.
- Shrinking Violet: Abel Makay may be bigger than most adults, but he's a shy, quiet guy who gets intimidated by the kids who laugh at him.
- Soap Punishment: Caroline threatens Laura and Mary with this should she catch them calling Abel "Dumb Abel" again.
