question: CHAPTER XIII.

FLAXEN'S GREAT NEED.

Flaxen wrote occasionally, during the next year, letters all too short and too far between for the lonely man toiling away on his brown farm. These letters were very much alike, telling mainly of how happy she was, and of what she was going to do by and by, on Christmas or Thanksgiving. Once she sent a photograph of herself and husband, and Anson, after studying it for a long time, took a pair of shears and cut the husband off, and threw him into the fire.

"That fellow gives me the ague," he muttered.

Bert did not write, and there was hardly a night that Ans lay down on his bed that he did not wonder where his chum was, especially as the winter came on unusually severe, reminding him of that first winter in the Territory. Day after day he spent alone in his house, going out only to feed the cattle or to get the mail. The sad wind was always in his ears. But with the passage of time the pain in his heart lost its intensity.

One day he got a letter from Flaxen that startled and puzzled him. It was like a cry for help, somehow.

"Dear old pap, I wish you was here," and then in another place came the piteous cry, "Oh, I wish I had some folks!"

All night long that cry rang in the man's head with a wailing, falling cadence like the note of a lost little prairie-chicken.
1. Is Flaxen a man or woman?
2. Was she married?
3. What was her husband's name?
4. What did Anson do to the photo he received?
5. With what?
6. Why?
7. did he keep that portion of the photo?
8. how did he destroy it?
9. What was Anson's work?
10. did Anson have lots of friends?
11. Did the hurt Anson felt get worse?
12. What did Flaxen write about in her letters?
13. Were they long letters?
14. Did Anson feel he received them often enough?
15. What did Flaxen write that surprised Anson?
16. Did he get letters from Bert?
17. when did Anson think about him?
18. was there a particular season that made him think of Bert more?
19. which season?
20. was it a mild winter?
21. why did Anson go out during the day?
****
answer: 1. a woman
2. Yes
3. unknown
4. He cut it
5. shears
6. to get rid of the husband from the photo
7. no
8. he threw it into the fire
9. he worked on a farm
10. no
11. No
12. How happy she was and what she was going to do
13. no
14. no
15. Flaxen that startled and puzzled him. It was like a cry for help, somehow. "Dear old pap, I wish you was here," and then in another place came the piteous cry, "Oh, I wish I had some folks!"
16. no
17. at night when he lay down on his bed
18. yes
19. winter
20. no
21. to feed the cattle or to get the mail

question: "It's this time of year when the weather starts warming up and frogs start breeding - but they haven't been breeding," says John Wilkinson, research and monitoring officer at the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust (ARC).

Amphibians are just one of the groups of animals that nature observers fear may have problems reproducing this year, as groundwater levels are even lower now than in the infamously dry summer of 1976, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). According to the UK's Centre for Hydrology and Ecology the average rainfall so far this winter has been the lowest since 1972.

"If ponds dry up totally," says Mr. Wilkinson, "you could have lots of dead tadpoles." Drier and windier conditions could also make it more difficult for juvenile amphibians to survive their journeys between wet habitats.

But Peter Brotherton, the biodiversity manager for Natural England, says that "drought is part of nature's cycle", and, at present, a lot of animals, plants and insects are still in hibernation. This means that the population picture is unclear. "However, when we get extreme events, we get animals dying," he says. "And what is worrying is that normally at this time of year we expect soil to be near saturation after winter."

Charlie Kitchin, the RSPB's site manager of the Nene Washes in Cambridgeshire, says the 2,000-acre wetland and grassland area is now struggling following two winters with relatively little winter rain and no flooding. One species that could suffer, he says, is the black-tailed godwit . "There are only 50 breeding pairs in the country, and we have 40 of them, and everything is bone-dry," Mr Kitchin says.

But one bad nesting season, he says, is "not the end of the world". "One of the features of flood plains is that they're _ anyway," he adds. "But if they fail to breed another year, the population is likely to dip again."
1. What is feared to have reproduction issues?
2. What specific species could fare worse?
3. When was the last time the average rainfall was this little?
4. What is usually saturated by this time of year?
5. What does the acronym Defra stand for?
6. What is the 2,000 - acre wetland in Cambridgeshire calles?
7. Who says drought is a part of nature's cycle?
8. His occupation?
9. for what company?
10. Who does Jon Wilkinson work for?
****
answer:
1. Amphibians
2. tadpoles
3. 1972.
4. the black-tailed godwit .
5. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
6. the Nene Washes
7. Peter Brotherton
8. the biodiversity manager
9. Natural England
10. Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust