Steal Away Home

Why did Mrs. Weaver and Rebecca go to Boston?

Mrs. Weaver's father had a stroke. (page 151)

Why did typhoid fever spread after the hog slaughtering?

Unsanitary conditions—unsanitary meat, cooking, and hygiene (page 156)

What happened to Solomon in Chapters 24-31?

He was freed, but on the way back, he was shot through the shoulder. (page 144)

What did Dr. Baxi learn about the skeleton after the autopsy?

It was a black female, five feet three inches tall, between the ages of eighteen and twenty- four. She was left-handed and had spurs on her heels. (pages 20-21)

How did Mrs. Weaver get involved in the Underground Railroad again?

Lizbet Charles came to the house. (page 72)

What did Mr. Weaver say about John Brown?

He said John Brown was a barbarian because he believed that violence should be used to fight slavery. (page 135)

(a) Why did Marshal Fain come back to the Weavers' house? (b) What did he tell Mr. Weaver?

(a) A black woman had been seen coming into their house and never seen leaving it. (b) He would get Mr. Weaver for hiding runaway slaves as soon as he got proof. (pages 172-173)

(a) Who was Uncle Mose? (b) What happened to him?

(a) A slave who was going to be sold at auction. (b) When the auction was broken up by abolitionists, Uncle Mose jumped on a horse during the fighting and rode to freedom. (pages 89- 90)

(a) What did Dana discover in the room by the cot? (b) Why did she keep it a secret?

(a) A small black book (b) She wanted to find out what was in it before she told anyone about it. (pages 17-18)

(a) What has James's father been doing? (b) Why is he gone so often?

(a) Helping to write the Kansas constitution (b) The Kansas representatives have to meet to decide what the laws of Kansas will be (page 38)

(a) How old do they think the skeleton is? (b) Why do they think that?

(a) More than a hundred years old (b) The bones are clean, the teeth are intact, and there is still a tuft of hair on the scalp. (page 14)

(a) What was the disagreement between Mrs. Weaver and Lizbet? (b) How was it resolved?

(a) Mrs. Weaver said that Lizbet couldn't stay at the house when Mr. Weaver was home. (b) Lizbet agreed to hide in the small room upstairs when Mr. Weaver was there. (page 83)

(a) What was the Sack of Lawrence? (b) What happened to the Weavers' house?

(a) Pro-slavery people burned down all the buildings in Lawrence. (b) The Weavers' house was burned down. (pages 66-67)

(a) Why did Lizbet try to give James the diary back? (b) What did he say?

(a) She didn't know how to read it and it belonged to his mother. (b) If his mother gave it to her, she wanted Lizbet to have it. (page 186)

(a) What did Dr. Baxi tell Dana and her family about the skeleton? (b) When did he believe she died?

(a) She wasn't poisoned or killed by someone else and died during the winter. He believed she died in the bed she was found in of natural causes. (b) Between 1855 and 1860 (pages 164-165)

(a) Why were people in Kansas preparing for battle? (b) Why are James's parents not a part of it?

(a) They don't want slavery in Kansas. (b) They are Quakers and don't believe in violence. (pages 39-40)

(a) Where was Bethany Maxwell's family going? (b) Why?

(a) They were going west to Oregon. (b) They were tired of the fighting and violence in Kansas as well as the natural disasters that struck. (page 123)

(a) Why were Marshal Fain and his men in town? (b) Why did the people in town attack them?

(a) They were looking for slave stealers. (b) They said that Kansas was a free state. (pages 48-49)

9. (a) Where was Will going? (b) What did he want to do?

(a) To Osawatomie (b) To join up with John Brown and his men or with Lane's Army so that he can fight against the proslavery forces (page 134)

What happened in the diary entry that Dana read to Ahn?

A runaway slave came to the Weavers' house; Mrs. Weaver helped him, then noticed that his ears had been notched by his owners. (pages 44-45)

What did Dana discover in the hidden room?

A skeleton lying on a cot (page 5)

What did Lizbet tell James about her husband and their life together?

At first their lives were good because her husband was the master's son; they lived in a guesthouse on the plantation. Things changed when the master died, and people said that Lizbet's husband killed him. Lizbet's husband was killed as punishment. (pages 106-107)

Why did James drink the wild indigo tea?

Because Rebecca wasn't going to drink it until James drank it too. (page 105)

What did Dana and Ahn name the skeleton?

Elvira Lincoln (page 30)

What did James overhear Solomon and Lizbet talking about?

Getting married in the spring (page 185)

What happened when the slave catcher came to the Olney farm?

He claimed that Solomon was actually an escaped slave named Deacon Barclay and he took Solomon with him. (pages 95-96)

Why did Solomon come to stay at the Weavers' house?

He had typhoid fever and Dr. Olney was concerned he would spread it to the Olney's baby if he stayed at their house. (page 158)

What was the Wakarusa War?

People from Missouri wanted Kansas to be a slave state, while most of the people living in Kansas wanted to be a free state. There were conflicts between the two groups of people. (page 24)

What was the "gift" the man brought for Mrs. Weaver?

Runaway slaves (page 127)

What was the cargo that the man brought to James's house?

Runaway slaves (page 9)

What happened to Lizbet?

She died and they sealed in her the room. They couldn't take her out because then the Marshal and his men would arrest them for hiding a runaway slave. (page 188-189)

How was Lizbet different from other runaways who had come to the Weavers' house?

She looked James in the eye which the other slaves never did and she spoke properly. (page 73)

What did Dana's father discover about Lizbet?

She was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. (page 81)

Who was Ellen Craft and what did Lizbet tell the Weavers about her?

She was a slave with light skin. She escaped by dressing up as a Southern gentlemen. She kept her arm in a sling so that she would have an escape for not signing hotel registers. Her husband escaped with her by posing as her servant. (pages 84-85)

What did Jeep tell Dana and her friends about hushpuppies?

Slave catchers used bloodhounds to track slaves. A man named Theron Trowbridge made balls of fried cornmeal with poison in them which he fed to the bloodhounds to kill them so they couldn't track the slaves. (page 131)

Why did James's mother suggest going on a picnic?

So that Lizbet would have a chance to come out of the room. (page 92)

What happened to Solomon?

The courts didn't want to free Solomon even though Mr. Weaver had papers proving he was free. (page 125)

What news did Jeremy tell the Weavers?

The marshal's men were planning to blow up the Free-State hotel. (page 59)

What was the drinking gourd and why was it important to runaway slaves?

The stars in the sky that formed the big dipper and included the North Star; slaves followed the North Star on their way to freedom in the north. (page 78)

Why did Marshal Fain come to the Weavers' house?

Why did Marshal Fain come to the Weavers' house?