1. What word from “Life in the Iron Mills” means the state of being at rest, calm, or asleep?
(a) Parlance
(b) Repose
(c) Interim
(d) Denouement

2. What is the name of Rebecca Harding Davis’s eldest son who became a writer and journalist?
(a) James Harding Davis
(b) Peter Harding Davis
(c) John Harding Davis
(d) Richard Harding Davis

3. Of the now shutting-down iron mill, Mitchell says in “Life in the Iron Mills,” “One could fancy these red smoldering lights to be the half-shut eyes of wild beasts, and the spectral figures their” what?
(a) Glistening teeth
(b) Scaly wings
(c) Victims in the den
(d) Pitchforks

4. How does the narrator describe Hugh Wolfe’s face in “Life in the Iron Mills”?
(a) A meek, woman’s face
(b) A sly and jovial young man’s face
(c) A haggard face with slyness like a snake
(d) A round and glowing face

5. Where was “Life in the Iron Mills” first published?
(a) The Pennsylvania Review
(b) The New Yorker
(c) The Reader’s Digest
(d) The Atlantic Monthly

Short Answer Questions

1. What word does the narrator use in the beginning of “Life in the Iron Mills” to refer to a person who takes up an art, activity, or subject merely for amusement?

2. What school was Rebecca Harding Davis sent to attend at the age of 14?

3. At what time does Deborah return home from the cotton mill in the beginning of “Life in the Iron Mills”?

4. Where was Rebecca Harding Davis born?

5. What Latin phrase, translated as “Hungry and thirsty, his soul faints him” is used in “Life in the Iron Mills”?

(see the answer key)

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