input: CHAPTER VIII

LAST DAYS ON THE FARM

"I believe you are right," said Tom, after he, too, had looked over some of the bits of paper strewn around. "Here is the word 'box' and here is the word 'Saturday.'"

"Yes, and here are the words, 'fast freight,'" added Sam. "This was nothing more than a letter box for the freight thieves."

"But why was it placed here?" questioned Dick. "It's a very out-of-the-way place and hard to get to."

"Maybe somebody had to come this way," answered Tom. "See, here is something of a trail."

"Yes, and here are those same big footprints!" exclaimed Sam. "For all we know they may lead to some house or hut on the mountainside."

Having picked up the majority of the bits of paper and put them in their pockets for future examination, the three Rover boys followed the path or trail they had discovered. It led along the mountainside to where there was a small clearing, backed up by a series of rocks from which a spring gushed forth, sparkling brightly in the sunshine.

"I'd like to get another drink," said Sam; "I am terribly thirsty to-day."

"Wait!" warned Dick, and caught his youngest brother by the arm.

"What's up, Dick?"

"I see a log cabin--over yonder, among the trees."

"Yes, and I see Dangler!" yelled Tom, suddenly. "There he goes, with a big bundle over his shoulder!" And he pointed to the rear of the log cabin. A man was just disappearing behind a fringe of brushwood. The bundle he carried appeared to be tied up in a horse blanket. He was running as hard as he could. 1. What did the boys find?
2. Were the letters intact?
3. How many words did Tom say he found?
4. What about Sam?
5. How many boys were there?
6. What did they find next?
7. What did Sam see on the ground?
8. Were they small?
9. Did they take the papers with them?
10. Where did they think they might end up?
11. Who wanted water?
12. From what?
13. What did Dick notice?
14. Who did they see?
15. Was he walking somewhere?
16. What was he carrying?
17. Was it a cloudy day?
18. Who was the youngest?
19. Were the letters found in a popular place?
20. Where was the spring located? Return numbered answers in your output.

output: 1. a letter box
2. no
3. Two
4. Two
5. Three
6. a trail.
7. footprints
8. no
9. The majority
10. some house or hut
11. Sam
12. a spring
13. a log cabin
14. Dangler
15. no
16. a big bundle
17. no
18. Unknown
19. No
20. a small clearing

question: Chapter XXX

The Man Who Dusted His Boots With His Handkerchief

When Florence Burton had written three letters to Harry without receiving a word in reply to either of them, she began to be seriously unhappy. The last of these letters, received by him after the scene described in the last chapter, he had been afraid to read. It still remained unopened in his pocket. But Florence, though she was unhappy, was not even yet jealous. Her fears did not lie in that direction, nor had she naturally any tendency to such uneasiness. He was ill, she thought; or if not ill in health, then ill at ease. Some trouble afflicted him of which he could not bring himself to tell her the facts, and as she thought of this she remembered her own stubbornness on the subject of their marriage, and blamed herself in that she was not now with him, to comfort him. If such comfort would avail him anything now, she would be stubborn no longer. When the third letter brought no reply she wrote to her sister-in-law, Mrs. Burton, confessing her uneasiness, and begging for comfort. Surely Cecilia could not but see him occasionally--or at any rate have the power of seeing him. Or Theodore might do so--as, of course, he would be at the office. If anything ailed him would Cecilia tell her all the truth? But Cecilia, when she began to fear that something did ail him, did not find it very easy to tell Florence all the truth.
1. Who was writing letters?
2. Who had a problem they didn't want to tell anyone about?
3. What was their relationship?
4. Who was at the office?
5. Who else did the wife write letters to?
6. Who saw the husband sometimes?
7. How many letters did the wife send?
8. Did he read all of them?
9. Was she afraid he was seeing someone else?
10. What did she resolve to change?
11. What did she want to do for him?
12. Did Cecilia have any difficulties?
13. What?
14. How many people are mentioned in the text?
****
answer: 1. Florence Burton.
2. Harry.
3. Married.
4. Theodore
5. Mrs. Burton.
6. Cecilia.
7. Florence Burton had written three letters
8. No.
9. No.
10. ,She would be stubborn no longer.
11. Comfort him.
12. Yes.
13. She did not find it very easy to tell Florence all the truth.
14. Five.

Question: Chapter Twenty-Four: Troston

I doubt if the name of this small Suffolk village, remote from towns and railroads, will have any literary associations for the reader, unless he be a person of exceptionally good memory, who has taken a special interest in the minor poets of the last century; or that it would help him if I add the names of Honington and Sapiston, two other small villages a couple of miles from Troston, with the slow sedgy Little Ouse, or a branch of it, flowing between them. Yet Honington was the birthplace of Robert Bloomfield, known as "the Suffolk poet" in the early part of the last century (although Crabbe was living then and was great, as he is becoming again after many years); while at Sapiston, the rustic village on the other side of the old stone bridge, he acquired that love of nature and intimate knowledge of farm life and work which came out later in his Farmer's Boy. Finally, Troston, the little village in which I write, was the home of Capel Lofft, a person of importance in his day, who discovered Bloomfield, found a publisher for his poems, and boomed it with amazing success.

I dare say it will only provoke a smile of amusement in readers of literary taste when I confess that Bloomfield's memory is dear to me; that only because of this feeling for the forgotten rustic who wrote rhymes I am now here, strolling about in the shade of the venerable trees in Troston Park-the selfsame trees which the somewhat fantastic Capel knew in his day as "Homer," "Sophocles," "Virgil," "Milton," and by other names, calling each old oak, elm, ash, and chestnut after one of the immortals. 1. Where was Robert Bloomfield born?
2. How did he feel about nature?
3. How far is Sapiston from Troston?
4. What waterway ran between the towns?
5. What was Bloomfield's nickname?
6. What kind of bridge led to Sapiston?
7. What work did Bloomfield publish later?
8. Did his poems do well?
9. Who discovered him?
10. Is Sapiston near a railroad?
11. Was Bloomfield a major poet?
12. Where was Capel from? Provide a numbered list of answers.
****
A numbered of answers:
1. Honington
2. love of nature
3. a couple of miles from Troston
4. Little Ouse
5. "the Suffolk poet"
6. old stone bridge
7. Farmer's Boy
8. amazing success
9. Capel Lofft
10. unknown
11. amazing success
12. Troston