The opening clip of "The Talking Machine" showed the presence of the device at Oleson's Mercantile. Nels Oleson was amazed about the device being used to record a person's voice. Harriet Oleson was not interested about the device; and to wit, she did not want to purchase the device from Hannibal Godfrey. The Olesons were not interested in having the device at their home ... at least for the time being. Charles Ingalls was working on the wagon wheel in terms of allowing Hannibal Godfrey to travel across the country. He wanted to pay Mr. Ingalls the $7.00 for his work on the wagon wheel. Nels Oleson -- in an unexpected move -- stopped by the Ingalls' home to make an arrangement on the talking machine. The three parties completed the arrangement on the device; and furthermore, Nellie Oleson would eventually use the device for some type of malarkey. More To Come!!
Jason and Laura were involved with an experiment. They were doing their best to produce electricity in the pouring rain. Jason was flying the kite in a nasty thunderstorm; and Laura was placing the key on the string to generate electricity from the thunderstorm. Laura got the sniffles from being caught in the rain. Nellie was outside doing her quilting in the chilly weather. She was planning her move on eavesdropping on Laura later in the episode.
Laura invited Jason to the Ingalls' house for supper. Laura and Jason were discussing their work they did with the kite -- and then with the paddle boat -- at the supper table. Laura placed the cup over the oil lamp and dimmed the flame rapidly. Nellie -- on the other hand -- was disgusted about Jason eating supper at the Ingalls' home. She had one thing in mind: using the talking machine to eavesdrop on Laura Ingalls and her discussion with Jason.
Nellie invited Laura to her bedroom for some lively discussion. The discussion was harmless in detail to Laura. The only problem: Willie Oleson -- under Nellie Oleson's orders -- used the talking machine to eavesdrop on their conversation without her knowledge. In school, Nellie Oleson used the device to make harmful recordings about the both them. Laura would then cry badly the situation. Charles Ingalls would eventually visit Nels Oleson about the device Nellie used without her knowledge. Nels Oleson told Nellie and Willie to step downstairs about their little stunt. They realized about their wrongdoing to Laura Ingalls; and furthermore, Nels would take a belt to both Nellie and Willie Oleson's butts for their disgraceful acts to Laura Ingalls. A Fat 10!! Moral: the use of a recording device without someone's permission will result in detrimental consequences to anyone in the real world. Informative And Useful From The 1975-1976 Television Season.
