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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through 5-9.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What moral choice faced Mencken and a cop on New Year's Day, in "Recollections of Notable Cops"?
(a) A man clearly beat his wife, but could not be technically arrested.
(b) A prostitute bribed the policeman.
(c) They learned about a corrupt policeman, and had to decide whether to turn the man in.
(d) A dead man was found with a large sum of money in his pocket.

2. Which was described as Mencken's earliest memory?
(a) Attending a speech of William Jennings Bryan.
(b) Watching a carnival of the Order of Orioles.
(c) Swatting flies with his brother in the kitchen.
(d) Getting bitten by a snake.

3. What was the name of H. L. Mencken's brother?
(a) Bud.
(b) Charlie.
(c) Mitch.
(d) Jesse.

4. What was Mencken's nickname for Chesapeake Bay?
(a) Home of the yummy lobsters.
(b) The protein factory.
(c) The big blue.
(d) Crab central.

5. How did Gene the magistrate handle an overzealous Methodist clergyman?
(a) Gene created trumped-up charges to render him no longer a problem.
(b) Gene had policemen follow the clergyman wherever he went.
(c) Gene ruled that the clergyman was within his rights to practice in the Jewish ghetto.
(d) Gene ruled that religion was essential to the functioning of a democracy.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the "last straw" that forced Mencken to quit the organization in #16?

2. Who is the editor of this volume?

3. In which city did Mencken grow up?

4. According to the editor, why were the 1930s Mencken's "downfall"?

5. In "Gore in the Caribees," what was Mencken's perspective on the revolution in Cuba?

(see the answer key)

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