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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Harv Kline say after the "sweet" rifle accidentally discharges?
(a) He curses
(b) "Take that..." (p. 95)
(c) "Bang!" (p. 95)
(d) "What--" (p. 95)

2. What were prohibited in the powder magazine of Revolutionary War ships?
(a) Smoking
(b) Rifles
(c) Women
(d) Lanterns

3. Richard Allen Mesington dreams of learning how to throw what kind of a baseball pitch?
(a) A strike
(b) A clean dropping curve
(c) A fastball
(d) A bodyline pitch

4. According to the novel, what was the leading cause of death to voyagers along the Oregon Trail?
(a) Firearms accidents
(b) Indian attack
(c) Starvation and exposure
(d) Dysentery

5. According to the novel, how much pressure does a black powder charge generate?
(a) Two British tonnes
(b) Enough to blow up the average gun
(c) Very little
(d) 11,000 pounds per square inch

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Mr. Mesington do for a living?

2. According to the novel, what is the muzzle velocity of a black powder rifle's projectile?

3. What happened to Mrs. Mesinger after Richard Allen Mesinger's death?

4. After John Byam, what act is never performed on the "sweet" rifle?

5. When was Richard Allen Mesington born?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why don't the Mesinger and the Kline children play together?

2. What happens when the rifle accidentally discharges above Harv Kline's fireplace?

3. Why does the novel spend so much time characterizing Richard Allen Mesinger?

4. What does Richard Allen Mesinger think about his neighbor Harv Kline's antique gun?

5. Describe the chain of events that leads to the rifle being accidentally discharged.

6. How many people own the "sweet" rifle?

7. Sarah steals the rifle from John Byam as he dies; does Tilson steal the rifle from Harv Kline?

8. What happens to the adults that survive the accidental death of Richard Allen Mesinger?

9. How does the rifle fire after 217 years?

10. The novel openly mocks Tim Harrow's personal philosophy that draws from firearms and American history, the United States Constitution, and Christianity. Do you think that these sources of information are suitable for mockery?

(see the answer keys)

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