The Philanthropist's Christmas quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which literary categories best describe The Philanthropist's Christmas?

   • Fable, Talking Animals & a Stated Moral
   • Correct answer: Christmas Story, Lost Dog & a Change of Heart
   • Mystery Story, Clues, Suspects & a Detective
   • Fairy Tale, Magic Spells & Once Upon a Time
   • Tall Tale, Frontier Hero & Big Boasts

   Christmas Story, Lost Dog & a Change of Heart is the best fit. The story's action takes place on one day: "It was the day before Christmas." Mr. Carter finds his lost terrier, plays Santa Claus for a boy in bed, and goes home saying "I fancy perhaps I may have been too rigid in the past."

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2. 2

   Question 2. What rule does Mr. Carter scold his secretary, Mr. Mathews, for breaking?

   • No visitors may come to his office without a note
   • Correct answer: No personal letters asking for help may reach him
   • No money may go to a committee before Christmas
   • No letter may be opened until a case is checked

   Mr. Carter snaps, "Do you pay no attention, Mr. Mathews, to my rule that no personal letters containing appeals for aid are to reach me?" He gives his reason: "You know that I regard my money as a public trust." If he answered every single request, he says, "My fortune would slip through my fingers as unprofitably as sand."

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3. 3

   Question 3. On his way out, what does Mr. Carter tell Mr. Mathews to do about the woman's letter?

   • Send her letter back unread, with a note of refusal
   • Ask Mr. Whittemore to visit her home after Christmas
   • Correct answer: Send her a hundred dollars, without his name on it
   • Send her fifty thousand dollars through the committee

   He says, "send her a hundred dollars. But, for my sake, send it anonymously." Anonymously means without his name. He adds, "Write her that I pay no attention to such claims." The fifty thousand dollars is a different gift: it goes to the committee in the first scene.

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4. 4

   Question 4. Match the term to its meaning in the story: "Something in the little dog's eye, or his action, had induced the rich philanthropist to bargain for him"

   • A person who lends money and charges for it
   • A person who collects rare stamps and coins
   • Correct answer: A rich person who gives money to good causes
   • A person who studies how people think and act

   A philanthropist is a rich person who gives money to good causes, often in large amounts. Mr. Carter approves "my fifty thousand" for a committee, and Mrs. Bailey knows him as "the Mr. Carter that gives so much away to people!" A person who collects stamps is a philatelist, a different word.

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5. 5

   Question 5. How did Mr. Carter come to own Skiddles, a year and a half before the story?

   • He won him as a prize at a dog show in the country
   • He was given him by his secretary as a birthday gift
   • He found him tied to a tree in the park and kept him
   • Correct answer: He freed him from a drain tile and paid half a dollar

   Skiddles was "stuck in a drain tile, and unable either to advance or to retreat." Mr. Carter "shoved him forward, after a heroic struggle," and Skiddles "licked his hand." Then Mr. Carter bought him "at a cost of half a dollar." Skiddles became "his daily companion, his chief distraction, and finally the apple of his eye."

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6. 6

   Question 6. Why does the boy in the red flannel cap ask Mr. Carter to drag the tree?

   • Correct answer: His hands are cold, and he wants to warm himself
   • The tree is too heavy for him to lift by himself
   • He is late for his job delivering trees that day
   • He wants to run ahead and tell Bill it is coming

   The boy asks, "Mind draggin' this a little way?" and explains, "my hands is cold." Later he says, "Take the tree a little way, will you, while I warm myself?" He is not delivering it for a job: "I ain't deliverin' it, either," he says. "This is Bill's tree."

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7. 7

   Question 7. Match the term to its meaning in the story: "to-day he did not want to go to the park—it was too reminiscent of Skiddles."

   • Causing someone to forget the past
   • Correct answer: Bringing back memories of something
   • Staying exactly the same as before
   • Showing that someone feels sorry

   Reminiscent means bringing back memories. Mr. Carter usually walked to the park with Skiddles, so going there without him would only remind him of the dog he lost. That is why he turns the other way.

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8. 8

   Question 8. Standing by the tree in his fur cap and coat, who does the boy say Mr. Carter looks like?

   • A police officer on duty
   • Correct answer: Santa Claus himself
   • A king from a storybook
   • His own grandfather

   The boy says, "Say, mister, you look like Santa Claus yourself, standin' by the tree, with your fur cap and your coat." That gives him an idea: he asks Mr. Carter to come to Bill's "and just let him see you."

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9. 9

   Question 9. At first Mr. Carter says no to visiting Bill. What makes him change his mind?

   • The boy says Bill's family has no Christmas tree
   • The boy says the club will pay him to be Santa
   • Correct answer: The boy says Bill has had a dog for three weeks
   • The boy says Bill once wrote him a letter for help

   "But Mr. Carter declined." Then the boy mentions Pete: "Bill's dog. He's had him three weeks now." Skiddles has been gone three weeks too. Mr. Carter was about to say he would "have a look at that dog," but "fearful of raising suspicion," he ended with "and see Bill."

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10. 10

    Question 10. Mrs. Bailey doubts the dog can be his. How does Mr. Carter first know it is Skiddles?

    • He sees the dog's old collar hanging on a hook
    • He watches the dog sit up on its hind legs
    • He reads his own name on a tag on its neck
    • Correct answer: He hears the dog's happy barks behind the door

    Mr. Carter says "Hark!" and they hear "a rustling and a snuffing at the door" and then "Woof! woof! woof!" At once he says, "that is the dog." When Mrs. Bailey opens the door, "Skiddles, the lost Skiddles, was in the philanthropist's arms."

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11. 11

    Question 11. How does Mrs. Bailey explain the Christmas the boys of the club are giving Bill?

    • It is payment for work Bill did in the summer
    • It is a prize Bill won in a contest at school
    • It is charity, and she is glad to take it
    • Correct answer: It is not charity; it is just friendliness

    Mrs. Bailey says, "It's Miss Gray's club at the settlement, sir," and goes on: "Every Christmas they do this for somebody. It's not charity; Billy and I don't need charity, or take it. It's just friendliness." The story says Mr. Carter "was still wondering about it" when Jimmy opens the door.

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12. 12

    Question 12. Which of these events actually happened in the story?

    • Jimmy found the dog after some kids had tin-canned him.

      Happened

      Jimmy says, "I found him myself. Some kids had tin-canned him, and he came into our entry." He took him to Bill's, and "now he wouldn't leave Bill for anybody."

    • Jimmy is Bill's older brother.

      Didn't happen

      When Mr. Carter asks, "Is he your brother?" the boy answers, "No." Jimmy and Bill are friends, and Jimmy belongs to the club at the settlement.

    • Mr. Carter tells Mrs. Bailey his name before he sees the dog.

      Happened

      While Jimmy is with Bill, Mr. Carter says, "I am Mr. Carter, Mr. Allan Carter. You may have heard my name?" Then he tells her about the little dog he lost three weeks ago.

    • Mrs. Bailey thinks at first that the dog must be Mr. Carter's.

      Didn't happen

      She doubts it. She says, "I guess not, Mr. Carter. The dog Jimmy found hadn't come off the avenue—not from the look of him." Even after the barking she says, "I doubt if it can be, sir."

    • Bill greets Mr. Carter as Santa Claus.

      Happened

      Bill calls out, "Hello, Santa Claus!" and Mr. Carter answers, "Hello, Bill!" Bill is delighted: "He knows my name."

    • In Bill's room, Mr. Carter tells the boys who he really is.

      Didn't happen

      When Mrs. Bailey starts to tell Jimmy about "the gentleman," Mr. Carter holds up his hand and stops her. In Bill's room he plays Santa Claus the whole time. Afterward Mrs. Bailey tells him, "I know now who you are—the Mr. Carter that gives so much away to people!"

    • Skiddles follows Mr. Carter out of Bill's room.

      Happened

      When Mr. Carter says good-bye to Bill, "Skiddles followed him out." He goes back to Bill only when Bill calls, "Pete! Pete!"

    • The police find Skiddles and bring him back to Mr. Carter.

      Didn't happen

      The police search "in vain." Sniffen says they came by again, and Mr. Carter calls them "Eight thousand incompetents!" He finds Skiddles himself, at Bill's home.

    • Mr. Carter hums a little tune on his way home.

      Happened

      "He stepped out briskly, in spite of his sixty-eight years; he even hummed a little tune."

    • Mr. Carter gives Skiddles to Bill to keep for good.

      Didn't happen

      He calls it "one gift—or loan rather" and says, "I should like to leave the little dog with you till after the holidays." He adds, "I'm afraid I'll have to claim him then."

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13. 13

    Question 13. What does Mr. Carter offer Mrs. Bailey after he plays Santa Claus?

    • Correct answer: To leave the dog with them till after the holidays
    • To take the dog home now and send Bill a new puppy
    • To pay her a hundred dollars as a reward for the dog
    • To let them keep the dog for good as Bill's present

    He says, "And there is one gift—or loan rather—which I should like to make to you. I should like to leave the little dog with you till after the holidays." He says he will have to claim him then, and he offers to find, perhaps, another dog for Billy.

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14. 14

    Question 14. Match the term to its meaning in the story: "and let me find, perhaps, another dog for Billy—I shall be much obliged."

    • Forced to do something unwanted
    • Sorry for something one has done
    • Correct answer: Grateful for a favor someone does
    • Unable to make up one's own mind

    Here obliged means grateful. Mr. Carter is asking Mrs. Bailey to keep the dog till after Christmas, and he says he will be thankful if she does. The word can also mean forced, but that is not its sense here.

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15. 15

    Question 15. When Bill calls "Pete! Pete!" from his bed, what does Mr. Carter do?

    • He whistles softly to call the dog to him
    • Correct answer: He makes no sign, and leaves it to the dog
    • He picks the dog up and carries him to Bill
    • He tells the dog sharply to go to Bill now

    "Skiddles hesitated. Mr. Carter made no sign." He leaves the choice to the dog, and "Slowly, very slowly, Skiddles turned and went back into the bedroom." Mr. Carter says, smiling, "he won't be too unhappy away from me, Mrs. Bailey."

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16. 16

    Question 16. Back home, what does Mr. Carter now tell Mr. Mathews to send the woman who wrote the letter?

    • A hundred dollars, sent with no name
    • Two hundred dollars, sent with no name
    • His own check for a hundred dollars
    • Correct answer: His own check for two hundred dollars

    He says, "Then write her, please, enclosing my check for two hundred dollars, and wish her a very Merry Christmas in my name, will you?" This time the check is his own and the Christmas wish carries his name, so the gift is no longer anonymous. Earlier that day he had ordered a hundred dollars sent anonymously, with a note saying he paid no attention to such claims.

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17. 17

    Question 17. What does Mr. Carter now ask Mr. Mathews to do with letters like the woman's?

    • Send every one of them to Mr. Whittemore
    • Throw away any letter that asks for money
    • Correct answer: Let him see them, after careful checking
    • Answer each one with a check and no note

    He says, "And hereafter will you always let me see such letters as that one—of course after careful investigation? I fancy perhaps I may have been too rigid in the past." Here rigid means too strict. Earlier he had said, "Let me see no more individual letters."

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18. 18

    Question 18. Many readers see this story as being about giving in person, not only by rule. Which of these gifts does Mr. Carter make face to face?

    • His fifty thousand dollars for the committee
    • A hundred dollars sent to the woman's home
    • Correct answer: The loan of his dog till after the holidays
    • A check for two hundred dollars to the woman

    He speaks to Mrs. Bailey herself: "And there is one gift—or loan rather—which I should like to make to you." The other three all go through his secretary: the committee's fifty thousand, the hundred dollars and the check are things he tells Mr. Mathews to send. The story never states a lesson, but many readers see one here. Mrs. Bailey says the boys' gifts are "not charity" but "just friendliness," and by the end Mr. Carter says, "I may have been too rigid in the past."

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