Q 01/05

What did a hungry 17-year-old Benjamin Franklin carry under each arm on his first walk up Market Street?

A) A ream of paper

B) A puffy bread roll

C) A bundle of shirts

D) A slab of gingerbread

Answer · why

B) A puffy bread roll

A puffy bread roll under each arm, and a third in his mouth, was what three pennies bought him. Once full, he gave the two spare rolls to a woman and ...

Q 02/05

What did Benjamin Franklin advise a militia chaplain to hand out just after prayers so the soldiers would attend?

A) Rum

B) Beer

C) Cider

D) Tobacco

Answer · why

A) Rum

Rum was already owed to the men, a gill a day, so Franklin suggested the chaplain serve it himself. Never, he writes, were prayers more generally and ...

Q 03/05

Which fish, fried on a boat becalmed off Block Island, tempted young Benjamin Franklin to give up his vegetable diet?

A) Shad

B) Herring

C) Cod

D) Salmon

Answer · why

C) Cod

Cod smelt too good to resist, and Franklin recalled that the big fish had smaller fish in their stomachs. If they ate one another, he reasoned, he saw...

Q 04/05

What did young Benjamin Franklin push through Philadelphia's streets himself to show he was not above his business?

A) A pedlar's handcart

B) A packhorse

C) A dog cart

D) A wheelbarrow

Answer · why

D) A wheelbarrow

A wheelbarrow loaded with the paper he had just bought was Franklin's advertisement. He writes that he took care not only to be industrious and frugal...

Q 05/05

To win over a hostile member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, Benjamin Franklin asked the man to lend him what?

A) A rare book

B) A riding horse

C) A sum of money

D) A church pew

Answer · why

A) A rare book

A rare book, borrowed and returned within a week with a grateful note, turned the opponent into a friend for life. Franklin's maxim: someone who has d...