Question

autobiography of z. s. hastings: written for his boysby z. s. hastings (excerpt)2t time of fathers arrival, indiana was only 14 years old andd about 300,000 inhabitants. its capital citys first mayor wasted two years before i was born and three years after the stars fell.42 when i was about four years old my parents sold out and movede river five or six miles and bought a new, larger and better farmrge two story hewed log house and a big double log barn, and aple orchard. the farming land was bottom and lay along the river.had some sheep and cattle on a few hills and some hogs in thethat got fat in the winter on white oak acorns and beech nuts. andhad a large \sugar orchard\ as the hosiers called it—hard maplethe many from which, in the early spring, flowed the sweet sap byels full which we converted into gallons of maple syrup, and intoakes of maple sugar.as while we lived here, when i was six years old, there was theflood, known to me, since the days of noah. i remember it well., my boys, will never forget the year when i tell you it was the same44, in which your best earthly friend was born, your mother. but iknow anything about her until twenty years afterwards.flood was great. all the lower lands were under water. mr. greenes,yman, our nearest neighbors family had to go in a canoe from thetheir kitchen to their smoke house to get meat. all our cattle andere in the stalk fields near the river, and all were drowned, exceptge, strong cow which swam more than one half mile, almost in at line, and was saved. we could see the cattle huddled together on asland knoll away down in the field next to the river. the poorres would stand there until the rapidly rising waters would crowdf the knoll, and then they swam until exhausted and overcome byselect the correct text in the passage.which detail best shows the idea that the father enjoyed growing up in clarksburg?(9) the biggest fish i ever saw caught i did not catch. brother henry, who was nine years older than i, caught it. it was a cat-fish, and henry and a boy named billy james, who was less than six feet tall, ran a pole through the fishs gills and carried the fish between them suspended from the pole which was rested upon the boys shoulders, and the fish was so long that its tail tipped the ground as the boys walked. now, this is the biggest fish story i ever tell, except the jonah story, and i believe both.(10) we liked clarksburg because it was a good place for schools, sunday schools and churches. i hardly remember the time when i was not in school, sunday school and church. i think to this day these are good places for boys to be.(11) my parents were always anxious to have their children in school and made many sacrifices to this end; as a result their five boys all were public school teachers before they were out of their teens.

Explanation:

The question asks for the detail that best shows the father enjoyed growing up in Clarksburg. Option (9) focuses on a memorable, positive personal story (the large cat-fish catch) that he still tells as his "biggest fish story," which reflects a fond, enjoyable memory of his time there. Option (10) is a general statement about Clarksburg being good for institutions, and (11) focuses on his parents' focus on education, not his personal enjoyment of growing up there.

Answer:

(9) The biggest fish I ever saw caught I did not catch. Brother Henry, who was nine years older than I, caught it. It was a cat-fish, and Henry and a boy named Billy James, who was less than six feet tall, ran a pole through the fish's gills and carried the fish between them suspended from the pole which was rested upon the boys shoulders, and the fish was so long that its tail tipped the ground as the boys walked. Now, this is the biggest fish story I ever tell, except the Jonah story, and I believe both.