Multiple choice

Who is Bess in this poem?

Directions: Read the following poem carefully. On the basis of your reading of the poem, complete the given sentences as briefly as possible. write the answers against the correct question number.

FRONTIER LIFE
My stockings have a hole in them,
I'm learning how to darn.
Which means that I am mending them
With needle and some yarn.

Ma says my dress is getting short,
We must let out the hem.
My only shoes have come apart,
And Pa is patching them.

The garden must be weeded,
If we want food to eat.
I pick those scratchy blackberries
So we'll have something sweet.

I help my Pa by milking Bess
And stake her out each day.
I help my Ma by hanging clothes
And watching Sissy play.

I go to bed so tired,
And get up before the sun.
There's always work that's waiting.
It never gets all done.
   
But Ma has made Pa promise
To have a family rule
If there's a teacher hired,
I get to go to school!

                                         

    Cindy Breedlove                                          

                                         

 

  1. The youngest child of the family

  2. The family's maid servant

  3. A regular visitor to the poet's household

  4. The family's cow

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

In the context of frontier farm life and the phrase 'milking Bess And stake her out each day,' Bess is clearly a cow. You milk cows and stake them out (tie them to graze) in a pasture. This was a common chore for children in frontier families, showing their essential role in agricultural work.