CHAPTER XII

WINTER DAYS AT PUTNAM HALL

After the trial of Josiah Crabtree the days flew by swiftly at the Hall. Bound to make a good showing, each of the Rover boys applied himself diligently to his studies, and all made rapid progress.

Thanksgiving came and went, and a week later there came a fairly heavy fall of snow.

"Hurrah! winter is knocking at the door at last!" cried Sam joyfully. "Now for some snowballing, skating, and all the rest of the winter fun."

Snowballing was already going on, and the white balls were flying in all directions. Dick had his hat taken off by Frank, and in return filled Frank's ear with snow. Tom and Fred got into a regular war at close quarters, and in the end Tom threw his opponent flat and stuffed snow down his neck. But then Larry came up with a huge cake of snow and nearly smothered Tom, and then a dozen leaped in, and a good-natured melee resulted, lasting for the rest of the playtime.

It was very cold that night, and two days later the ice on the lake was two inches thick. Still the captain made the boys wait until the following Saturday, when the ice was strong enough to bear a horse.

In the meantime skates had been brought out and polished up, and soon the edge of the lake was alive with skaters, all moving swiftly from one spot to another, and shrieking and laughing at the top of their voices. George Strong, the assistant master, also came down and showed some of the older boys how to cut fancy figures. Dick was a good skater, and took to the fancy figures with ease. As for Tom and Sam, they preferred straight skating, and entered half a dozen trials of speed down the lake to the old boathouse and back.

Answer the following questions:
1. Did it snow before or after Thanksgiving?
2. By how long?
3. Who was knocking at the door?
4. Who was happy about that?
5. What does he enjoy doing in the snow?
6. Anything else?
7. What?
8. What had been on trial?
9. What had he been on trial for?
10. Did the days progress rapidly after it?
11. Where?
12. What was the last name of the boys?
13. How many boys were there?
14. Who demonstrated to older boys how to do some cool moves on the frozen pond?
15. Who is he?
16. Did he teach the older boys or the younger boys?
17. How thick was the lake's ice?
18. Was that good enough to start skating on?
19. Who made the boys wait?
20. For how long?
21. What would the ice be strong enough then to hold the weight of?
22. Did the boys enjoy skating?
23. Was Dick a good skater?
24. Did Tom and Sam like doing fancy skating?
25. What did they like instead?
26. Where did they skate?
27. To where?
28. Then where?
29. How many times?
30. Did they do it quickly?
31. What was done to the skates when they were brought out?
32. Where did everyone prefer to skate?
33. Who nearly suffocated Tom?
34. With what?
35. Was the resulting conflict amicable?
36. How long did it last?

Numbered answers:
1. After
2. A week later
3. Winter
4. Sam
5. Snowballing
6. Yes
7. skating, and all the rest of the winter fun
8. Josiah Crabtree
9. unknown
10. Yes
11. At Putnam Hall
12. Rover
13. Five
14. George Strong
15. the assistant master
16. older
17. two inches
18. No
19. the captain
20. the following Saturday
21. a horse
22. Yes
23. Yes
24. No
25. straight skating
26. down the lake
27. to the old boathouse
28. Back
29. half a dozen
30. Yes
31. polished
32. at the edge of the lake
33. Larry
34. Snow
35. Yes
36. for the rest of the playtime