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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through 45-49.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How do common folk read the Bible, according to Mencken in "Holy Writ"?
(a) They are fooled by its beautiful prose, and pay no attention to the ideas behind the words.
(b) They find it hilarious, for some strange reason.
(c) They read it, but find nothing to relate to their personal experience.
(d) They don't read the Bible at all, and are illiterate fools.

2. Who presided over the Republican Convention of 1920?
(a) Henry Cabot Lodge.
(b) William Jennings Bryan.
(c) Franklin Pierce.
(d) Grover Garfield.

3. What was the nature of the analogy Mencken uses involving Oliver Wendell Holmes, a hammer, and a feather?
(a) Holmes wrote with a feather (quill), but legislated with a hammer.
(b) Holmes touched the sky with feathers, and then built a castle in the sky with a hammer.
(c) Holmes tickled with feathers, but never punished with a hammer.
(d) Holmes stuffed a mattress with feathers, but then beat the mattress flat with a hammer.

4. How was Mencken able to get a taxi driver to drive him to a speakeasy in Pennsylvania?
(a) He agreed to write an article about the driver.
(b) He threatened the driver with jail time.
(c) He gave the driver a ten dollar bill.
(d) He showed the driver the musical score from a Bach concert.

5. What might Mencken say was Grover Cleveland's defining trait?
(a) Political acumen.
(b) Intelligence.
(c) Stubbornness.
(d) A lust for life.

Short Answer Questions

1. What part of Mencken's work is NOT included in the volume?

2. Which decade, according to the author, was Mencken at his best?

3. What moral choice faced Mencken and a cop on New Year's Day, in "Recollections of Notable Cops"?

4. According to "The Skeptic," what do women always bear?

5. Which was NOT a challenge to the schoolboy Mencken mentioned in "Travail"?

(see the answer key)

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