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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What clears the "mummified grease" (p. 92) from the touchhole of the "sweet" rifle?
(a) Tim Harrow removes it while cleaning the rifle
(b) Harv Kline's cigarette melts it
(c) John Byam pricks it with a needle
(d) A candle flame melts it

2. When Richard Allen Mesington is fourteen years old, who is his girlfriend?
(a) Peggy
(b) Sissy
(c) Isabelle
(d) Sarah

3. How old is Richard Allen Mesington when his family buys their first television?
(a) Twenty
(b) Ten
(c) Fourteen
(d) Only a few weeks

4. Who is Richard Allen Mesington's best friend?
(a) Tilson
(b) Tim Harrow
(c) Cornish McManus
(d) Dennis

5. When does Richard Allen Mesinger die?
(a) 4 July 1776
(b) 4 July 1993
(c) 24 December 1776
(d) 24 December 1993

6. At the novel's conclusion, who is the owner of the "sweet" rifle?
(a) Harv Kline
(b) Tilson
(c) John Byam
(d) Nobody--Harv Kline destroys it

7. How long does the "sweet" rifle stay loaded before it is finally discharged?
(a) 2 weeks
(b) 12 days
(c) 371 years
(d) 217 years

8. What does Mr. Mesington do for a living?
(a) He works as an auto mechanic
(b) He is an antique dealer
(c) He is a gunsmith
(d) He works in construction

9. How does Richard Allen Mesinger die?
(a) He dies of stomach cancer
(b) Dysentery kills him
(c) He is hanged by the British as a traitor
(d) He is shot in the head

10. According to the novel, how old was Richard Allen Mesinger "supposed" to be when he died?
(a) 60
(b) 14
(c) 74
(d) Old enough to know not to play with guns

11. How much linear distance in the bore of the "sweet" rifle is used by a typical loading of powder and patched ball?
(a) None
(b) Two feet
(c) Two inches
(d) The entire length of the bore

12. When he is an infant, how does Richard Allen Mesington get Sissy to stop walking?
(a) He says he'll tell his mom if she doesn't do what he says
(b) He asks her to stop
(c) He pulls her fur
(d) He sits down and cries

13. After John Byam, what act is never performed on the "sweet" rifle?
(a) Checking to see if it is loaded
(b) Cleaning it up
(c) Selling it
(d) Firing it

14. When Richard Allen Mesington is four years old, he has an exciting experience doing what?
(a) Hunting with his father
(b) Riding on a backhoe while it works
(c) Shooting a rifle
(d) Riding in a mobile home

15. What does Richard Allen Mesington call the first heavy equipment he sees moving earth?
(a) Savage and destructive (p. 74)
(b) A "[B]iiig dog" (p. 75)
(c) A "bughoe" (p. 75)
(d) A "Harley" (p. 75)

Short Answer Questions

1. According to the novel, how many movies did Richard Allen Mesinger watch in an average year?

2. How long does Sissy live?

3. What constituted the "door" to the powder magazine in Revolutionary War ships?

4. According to the novel, how common were firearms accidents prior to 1850?

5. What is Richard Allen Mesinger doing at the moment he is killed?

(see the answer keys)

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