CBSE Class 10 English The Hundred Dresses II Assignment

The Hundred Dresses II

While the class was going on, there came a note from the Principal’s office for Miss Mason. She was troubled to read it. Then she asked the class to pay attention. She was looking tense. She read a letter from Wanda’s father. It gave the information about Wanda’s leaving the school since they had shifted to a big city.

The note also had an indirect complaint. It said no one would make fun of her name and call her Pollack because there would be many funny names and foreigners like her, in a big city.
The whole class was troubled at Wanda’s leaving the school. But Maddie could not focus herself in studies. She felt that it was as bad as what Peggy had done. It was worse, she was thinking if something could be done. She wanted to tell Wanda that she had never meant to hurt her feelings. She looked at Peggy but she did not look up. She decided that she must do something and find Wanda Petronski. She might be still there at her old house. She thought that Peggy would go with her and they would tell Wanda that she had won the contest. They would say that she was smart and the hundred dresses she designed were beautiful.

School was over in the afternoon. Both Peggy and Maddie hurried up towards the Boggins Heights. On the way, Peggy told that she never had called her a foreigner or made fun of her name. Maddie spoke nothing on the way. All she hoped was that they would find Wanda. She would tell her that they were been sorry. They would request her not to move away and they would fight anybody who was not nice. Both were proceeding rapidly. On seeing a little white house, they thought it to be the Petronski house but there was no sign of life. They knocked at the door but there was no answer. They thought that the Petronski had gone. They turned to go back down the hill. Peggy told that they had gone and nothing could be done. But Maddie wondered if anything could be done.

That night Maddie could not sleep. She thought about Wanda and the little house she lived in. She also thought of her hundred pictures, made and all lined up in the classroom. As she was unable to sleep, she sat up in the bed and started thinking. After long, she took an important decision. She was never going to stand up and say anything to anyone again. If she heard anyone treated unkindly because of her strange name, she would speak up. She would not worry if it meant being losing Peggy’s friendship. She would never make anybody unhappy again.

On Saturday, both Maddie and Peggy wrote a friendly letter to Wanda telling her about the contest and that she had won. They mailed it. They praised her drawings and asked how she liked the new place. In a way, they were feeling sorry. They mailed it to Boggins Heights. Days and weeks passed but there was no reply. Peggy started forgetting Wanda. But Maddie went on thinking about Wanda. The Christmas time arrived. The classroom was decorated with a Christmas tree. The teacher showed the letter of Wanda Petronski to the class. It stated her feelings for Room no. 13. She wrote that girls could keep all those hundred dresses because in her new house she had a hundred new ones. She wished Merry Christmas to all. On the way, both the girls held their drawings carefully. The whole atmosphere smiled like Christmas. Maddie reached home but she felt that she would never see Wanda again.

After arriving home’ Maddie pinned her drawings at the torn places in the pink flowered wall paper in the bedroom. The room became full of life and colours. Maddie looked at the drawings and thought that Wanda had been nice to her.

She went on looking at the pictures with tears in her eyes. She noticed the head and the face of the drawings. It was exactly Maddie. She thought that Wanda had drawn for her and she ran to Peggy to show her picture. They went where Wanda’s drawing was lying. Maddie raised it and said ‘look’, she drew you. Peggy said, “She must have liked us.” Hearing these words, tears come for Maddie. Thus, both the girls realized that, Wanda liked them very much even though they had teased her. We should never hurt the feelings of others. Nobody can say what may happen.

Extract Based Questions 

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow : 

2.Tears blurred her eyes and she gazed for a long time at the picture. Then hastily she rubbed her eyes and studied it intently. The colours in the dress were so vivid that she had scarcely noticed the face and head of the drawing. But it looked like her, Maddie! It really looked like her own mouth. Why it really looked like her own self ! Wanda had really drawn this for her. Excitedly, she ran over to Peggy’s.

Question. Who is ‘she’ in the paragraph?
a. Maddie
b. Peggy
c. Wanda
d. their friend
Answer.a. Maddie

Question. The face and hand of the picture was very much like _____________ .
a. Peggy
b. their teacher
c. Wanda
d. her own
Answer.d. her own

Question. Find out a word from the passage which means the same as ‘carefully‘.
a. gazed
b. intently
c. hastily
d. excitedly
Answer.b. intently

Question. The colours in the dress were ____________.
a. bright
b. dull
c. colourful
d. vivid
Answer.d. vivid

Short Answer Type Questions 

Question. In what way was Wanda different from the other children ?
Answer. Wanda was an immigrant. She did not talk much. She was very serene and laughed rarely. She was a talented, patient and skilled girl. She used to wear a dull and faded dress.

Question. Why did Wanda’s house remind Maddie of Wanda’s blue dress ? 
Answer. Maddie was reminded of Wanda’s blue dress after looking at her house because the house and the sparse little yard looked shabby but it was clean like Wanda’s blue dress. The dress Wanda wore was always clean but not ironed yet simple and humble.

Long Answer Type Questions 

Question. ‘Wanda Petronski’ liked Maddie and Peggy very much. Give reason for your answer.
Answer. Wanda wrote a letter to Miss Mason on the occasion of Christmas. She suggested that Peggy should have the drawing of the green dress with red trimmings. For Maddie, she offered the blue dress. Maddie was missing Wanda very much. There were tears in her eyes. She felt sad to think that she would never see Wanda again. She felt that Wanda had been nice to her. She gazed at her drawing for a long time. Suddenly, she noticed the face and head in the drawing. It looked like her own head and face. She was excited to find that Wanda had made that drawing especially for her. She ran to Peggy and told her that Wanda had drawn the drawing for her. There was Peggy’s face in her drawing. Peggy too was happy to see that face in the drawing looked like her. They realized that Wanda really liked them. There were tears in Maddie’s eyes. So, she knew that Wanda liked them and had forgiven them.