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tobias macivey was thirty years old and had been in the florida scrub for five years. he had come south out of georgia in 1858. in his horse-drawn wagon there was a sack of corn and a sack of sweet potatoes, a few packets of seeds, a shotgun and a few shells, a frying pan, several pewter dishes and forks, and a cast-iron pot. there were also the tools he would need to clear the land and build a house: two chopping axes, a broadaxe, foot adz, crosscut saw, auger bite, a fro and drawing knife. . tobias had owned forty acres of red georgia clay which he tried to farm and failed. when he sold the cabin and land he had enough money to buy only what was in the wagon. when they crossed into florida and reached fernandina, tobias traded his horses for a pair of oxen which zech named tuck and buck. included in the trade was a guinea cow, a strange-looking little spanish animal with a small body that stood only one foot from the ground. but she had a huge udder and would provide milk for all of them. the first two years in florida had been a time of near starvation. he cleared a garden and planted his precious seeds, but the poor sandy soil offered little in return. . also during the first year, panthers killed the guinea cow and left only a pile of shattered bones. during this time they lived in a lean-to made of pine limbs and palmetto thatch. there was nothing to ward off the summer mosquitoes and the roaming rattlesnakes and the rain and the biting winter cold. emma feared for the safety of the baby . . gradually, he made chairs from sturdy oak and wove cane bottoms onto them, and he fashioned a table from cypress. he trapped enough raccoons to trade their furs for a coal oil lamp so they could have light at night. brooms were made from sage straw, soap from animal fat and lye; meat was preserved by smoking, and what few vegetables they did harvest were canned or dried for winter. emma learned to make fl our from cattail roots and they used wild honey as a substitute for sugar. what they all missed most were milk and butter, and there was no substitute for them. he vowed one day he would own another milk cow, and this time he would protect her better.”

1. analyzing how does the first paragraph set the stage for hardships described later?

2. identifying what are some of the hardships the macivey family face?

3. analyzing how do the maciveys learn to survive in this harsh environment?

4. predicting what do you think will happen to the maciveys? what clues suggest this?