RC DIGEST SERIES by maverick ID-01

The conservatism of the early English colonists in North America, their strongattachment to the English way of doing things, would play a major part in the furniture that was made in New England. The very tools that the first New England furniture makers used were, after all, not much different from those used for centuries – even millennia: basic hammers, saws, chisels, planes, augers, compasses, and measures.These were the tools used more or less by all people who worked with wood:carpenters, barrel makers, and shipwrights. At most the furniture makers might havehad planes with special edges or more delicate chisels, but there could not have beenmuch specialization in the early years of the colonies.The furniture makers in those early decades of the 1600’s were known as “joiners,”for the primary method of constructing furniture, at least among the English of thistime, was that of mortise-and-tenon joinery. The mortise is the hole chiseled and cutinto one piece of wood, while the tenon is the tongue or protruding element shapedfrom another piece of wood so that it fits into the mortise; and another small hole isthen drilled (with the auger) through the mortised end and the tenon so that a whittledpeg can secure the joint – thus the term “joiner.” Panels were fitted into slots on thebasic frames. This kind of construction was used for making everything from houses to chests.Relatively little hardware was used during this period. Some nails – forged byhand – were used, but no screws or glue. Hinges were often made of leather, but metalhinges were also used. The cruder varieties were made by blacksmiths in the colonies,but the finer metal elements were imported. Locks and escutcheon plates – the latter toshield the wood from the metal key – would often be imported.Above all, what the early English colonists imported was their knowledge of,familiarity with, and dedication to the traditional types and designs of furniture theyknew in England.

1. The phrase “attachment to” is
closest in meaning to
(A) control of
(B) distance from
(C) curiosity about
(D) preference for
2. The word “protruding” is
closest in meaning to
(A) parallel
(B) simple
(C) projecting
(D) important
3. The relationship of a mortise and a
tenon is most similar to that of
(A) a lock and a key
(B) a book and its cover
(C) a cup and a saucer
(D) a hammer and a nail

4. For what purpose did woodworkers
use an auger
(A) To whittle a peg
(B) To make a tenon
(C) To drill a hole
(D) To measure a panel
5. Which of the following were NOT used
in the construction of colonial
furniture?
(A) Mortises
(B) Nails
(C) Hinges
(D) Screws
6. The author implies that colonial
metalworkers were
(A) unable to make elaborate parts
(B) more skilled than woodworkers
(C) more conservative than other
colonists
(D) frequently employed by joiners
7. The word “shield” in is closest
in meaning to
(A) decorate
(B) copy
(C) shape
(D) protect
8. The word “they” in line 25 refers to
(A) designs
(B) types
(C) colonists
(D) all
9. The author implies that the colonial
joiners
(A) were highly paid
(B) based their furniture on English
models
(C) used many specialized tools
(D) had to adjust to using new kinds
of wood in New England
10. Which of the following terms does the
author explain in the passage?
(A) “millennia” (line 5)
(B) “joiners” (line 10)
(C) “whittled” (line 15)
(D) “blacksmiths” (line 21)