Bespectacled Cutie: How Charles and Caroline — and later, Miss Beadle — try to convince Mary that her glasses aren't that bad. Miss Beadle also uses her glasses to tell the other kids, especially Nellie and Willie, to cut out the glasses jokes.
Blind Without 'Em: Mary's recent poor performance at school because she can't see the chalkboard are a tipoff she needs glasses. Tragically, it would eventually not make a difference.
Foreshadowing: This is the first episode relating to Mary's vision problems, as the real Mary Ingalls became blind during her teen-age years. Viewers will quickly realize that, should the series remain in production long enough (it would), things will not end happily.
Unwanted Glasses Plot: Mary doesn't initially mind wearing glasses until her classmates, especially Nellie and Willie keep calling her "Four Eyes".
