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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the book both Uncle David and Nels have by their beds?
(a) The Farmer's Almanac.
(b) The Bible.
(c) A diary.
(d) The Complete Works of Shakespeare.

2. According to Eldon, what can be caught in the water trough where everyone washes up for dinner during thrashing time?
(a) A cold.
(b) Tadpoles.
(c) Spiders.
(d) Perch.

3. What kind of shoes is Eldon wearing on the morning he slipped outside to watch Father leaving for the fields?
(a) Rubber boots.
(b) Bedroom slippers.
(c) Tennis shoes.
(d) He wasn't wearing any.

4. How much does Father say the horses weigh?
(a) A couple of hundred pounds each.
(b) Close to a ton each.
(c) Close to a hundred pounds each.
(d) He doesn't say.

5. What does Eldon say there is to do on the morning after the first snowfall?
(a) A million snow things.
(b) Cutting a Christmas tree.
(c) Shoveling a path to the barn.
(d) Moving all the cows inside.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where do the pigs run when they escape from their pen?

2. How does Mother keep coffee hot when she takes it for Father's lunch?

3. Why does Mother say she likes Jersey cows better than Holsteins?

4. What does Mother do in the evenings in the winter room?

5. Where does Father keep the .22 rifle?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Uncle David believe everyone works so much harder in the summer than in the winter?

2. Describe the room next to the kitchen in the family home.

3. When does Father take the plow shares in to be sharpened? Why does he do it then, and why does Eldon like to go along?

4. Describe the time when Wayne and Eldon carved their names into a tree. How did Eldon feel and what happened to the tree?

5. Why do the seagulls come to the field? What does Eldon think about them?

6. Describe Eldon's childhood illness and the effect it has had on his life.

7. Describe what happens when Eldon and Mother take Father's lunch to the fields.

8. What do Wayne and Eldon do after they find the western?

9. What are some of the smells Eldon describes in the opening chapter called "Tuning?"

10. Describe what Father is working on during his evenings in the winter room.

(see the answer keys)

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