Q(01)What was the occasion on which the author gamed reputation as a humouist?       How did it happen?

Ans: The occasion on which the author get reputation as a humorist was  the fiftieth birthday of the senior partner , of the store where narrator     worked. The employees in the store bought a silver inhstand for the senior      partner crowded into his private office to present it.Narrator as a          spokesman made a little speech with full of funny twists and funs.It make    hit Author’s reputation of a humorist dates from that  morning.

Q(02)What was the ‘gift’ that he cultivated?What was the nature of this gift?

Ans: Author believed possessed considerable wit .This was the gift he     cultivated. The nature of it was kindly and genial , not running to sarcasm or        offending others.

Q(03)What according to the author , was the cost of becoming a humorist ?

Ans: Author becamd a famous humorist , saved thousand dollars and lived in comfort .But for all these he had to sacrifice his friends , amusements, enjoyment of life and happiness of his family. acquaintances .

Q(04) Descrining in your own words how the author became a ‘vampire’ to his acquaintances.

Ans: Narrator became a vampire to his acquaintances.Annious , haggard, greedy,he stored among them like a veritable hilljoy.A bright saying fall from their lips and I was after it like a hound.He dared not trust my memory , but turning aside guiltely and meanly, he would make a note of it in my ever -present memorandum book for my future use.

Q(05)’And yet I was doing well financially’.Why does the author use the word ‘yet’? 

Ans: Author became a famous humotist saved thousand dollars and lived in comfort. But for all these he had to sacrifice his friend , amusements, enjoyment of life and happiness of his family.

Q(06)What made the author opt for a partnership in the undertaning business ?Do you think it was the right choice for your answer.

Ans: Author’s fame as a humorist made him loose his friends, amusements enjoyments of lives.He had to sacrifice the happiness of his family but under the influence of peter Haffel bower he began to improve in spirits but his work began to suffer .He received rejections from the editors.So when the Peter gave him  the proposal to join his profitable business, he readily accepted it.

Reference to the context

(1)   We areed that I must resign by place at the store and devote myself to humour .

Q(a) Who does ‘we’ refer to ?

Ans: ‘We’ referred to narrator and his wife Louisa .

Q(b) What led to the author’s decision to resign from his job at the store?

Ans: Author was becoming famous as a humorist. His jokes were published in periodicals.One day he received a letter from the editor of a famous weekly publication to joun the newspaper as a regular columnist .The money offered was much higher than the amount paid to the narrator by the hardware firm.Therefore he took the decision to ressign from his job.

Q(b) What led to the author’s decision to resign from his job at the store?

Ans: Author was becoming famous as a humorist .His jokes were published in periodicals. One day he received a letter from the editor of a famous weekly publication to join the newspaper as a regular columnist.The money offered was much higher than the amount paid to the narrator by the hardware firm.Therefore he took the decision to resign from his job.

Q(c) How did he devote himself to humour?

Ans: Author used to spend five hours in a little room of the kitchen .There was table , chair ,writing pad,ink and pipe tray.He used to sit there for five hours before the dinner and write down the articles.

(2)     I was not the same man.

Q(a) What happened to the author ?

Ans: Author was not the same man because once he had furnished people with entertainment .People used to smile when they saw him coming and after him the smile used to broaden into a laugh .But after five or six months, spontalety departed from his humour .He became a vampire who such humor from other and became a prey upon the people for humour.

Q(b) What had happened to the author?

Ans: When author changed , everyone began to avoid him.He had no friends, no amusements, no enjoyments of life. Author’s children avoided him as a pert when they would see their father nearby ,they would gather their toys scurry away to some safer hiding places.

(3) I was dreading to tell my wife about it.

Q(a) What is ‘it’ being referred to here?

Ans: Here ‘it’ refers to author’s becoming the business partner of Peter Heffelbower’s undertaking business.

Q(b) Why was author *******

Ans: Author was a famous humorist whose articles and every bytes were published in the newspaper .He Was reputed and respected in the locality .Moerover he earned a huge money by writing in the newspaper.Later on author joint undertaking business of Peter Heffelbower.So from a shining star to a very dull and not a popular profession would make his wife sad .So he hesitated about sharing it with his wife.