Year’s was not kept as a business holiday in Quincy—when her uncle, Richard Baker, came
in. He did not look at Prissy, nor did she wish him a happy New Year’s—she would not have
dared. Uncle Richard had not been on speaking terms with her or her father, his only
brother, for eight years.
(2) While in the store, Prissy overhears her uncle Richard explain that he is on his way to a
neighboring town, Navarre, and that he has no one to make his New Year’s dinner. Prissy
decides to go to his house, make a surprise dinner for him, and leave before he returns. She
acts on her plan, cooking a dinner at his house. As she prepares to dish it out, she suddenly
hears a voice behind her.
(3) “Well, well, what does this mean?”
(4) Prissy whirled around as if she had been shot, and there stood Uncle Richard in the
woodshed door!
(5) Poor Prissy! She could not have looked or felt more guilty if Uncle Richard had caught her
robbing his desk. She did not drop the turnips for a wonder; but she was too confused to set
them down, so she stood there holding them, her face crimson, her heart thumping, and a
horrible choking in her throat.
(6) “I— I— came up to cook your dinner for you, Uncle Richard,” she stammered. “I heard you
say—in the store—that Mrs. Janeway had gone home and that you had nobody to cook your
New Year’s dinner for you. So I thought I’d come and do it, but I meant to slip away before
you came home.”
(7) Poor Prissy felt that she would never get to the end of her explanation. Would Uncle Richard
be angry? Would he order her from the house?
GRADE 7 • UNIT 3 TEST
© by Savvas Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved. 4
Name: Date:
(8) “It was very kind of you,” said Uncle Richard dryly. “It’s a wonder your father let you come.”
(9) “Father was not home, but I am sure he would not have prevented me if he had been. Father
has no hard feelings against you, Uncle Richard.”
(10) “Humph!” said Uncle Richard. “Well, since you’ve cooked the dinner you must stop and help
me eat it. It smells good, I must say. Mrs. Janeway always burns pork when she roasts it. Sit
down, Prissy. I’m hungry.”
(11) They sat down. Prissy felt quite giddy and breathless, and could hardly eat for excitement;
but Uncle Richard had evidently brought home a good appetite from Navarre, and he did full
justice to his New Year’s dinner. He talked to Prissy too, quite kindly and politely, and when
the meal was over he said slowly:
(12) “I’m much obliged to you, Prissy, and I don’t mind owning to you that I’m sorry for my share
in the quarrel, and have wanted for a long time to be friends with your father again, but I was
too ashamed and proud to make the first advance. You can tell him so for me, if you like.
And if he’s willing to let bygones be bygones, tell him I’d like him to come up here with you
tonight when he gets home and spend the evening with me.”
(13) “Oh, he will come, I know!” cried Prissy joyfully. “He has felt so badly about not being friendly
with you, Uncle Richard. I’m as glad as can be.”
(14) Prissy ran impulsively around the table and kissed Uncle Richard. He looked up at his tall,
girlish niece with a smile of pleasure.
(15) “You’re a good girl, Prissy, and a kind-hearted one too, or you’d never have come up here to
cook a dinner for a crabbed old uncle who deserved to eat cold dinners for his stubbornness.
It made me cross today when folks wished me a happy New Year. It seemed like mockery
when I hadn’t a soul belonging to me to make it happy. But it has brought me happiness
already, and I believe it will be a happy year all the way through.”
(16) “Indeed it will!” laughed Prissy. “I’m so happy now I could sing. I believe it was an
inspiration—my idea of coming up here to cook your dinner for you.”
(17) “You must promise to come and cook my New Year’s dinner for me every New Year we live
near enough together,” said Uncle Richard.
(18) And Prissy promised.
6. Which of the following choices best explains the plot of this story?
a. Prissy is a young girl who wishes to help others, while her uncle
Richard is an unpleasant person who has quarreled with his family.
b. The story takes place on New Year’s in Oscar Miller’s store and in
Uncle Richard’s house during some period in the past.
c. Uncle Richard has quarreled with Prissy’s father, but when Prissy cooks
her uncle a surprise meal, she inspires a reconciliation.
d. The writer uses fairly formal language, and all the characters speak in a
way that suggests that the story is set in the past.
1 answer
The choice that best explains the plot of the story is:
c. Uncle Richard has quarreled with Prissy’s father, but when Prissy cooks her uncle a surprise meal, she inspires a reconciliation.
This option summarizes the main conflict of the story—Uncle Richard's estrangement from Prissy's father—and highlights how Prissy's kind action leads to the possibility of mending their relationship.
