Digital ACT Reading Practice Question #1687

The primary mood established throughout the passage is one of: Passage Excerpt (Literary Narrative): The iron frame of the Washington hand press groaned under Benjamin's weight as he pulled the lever, driving the tympan down onto the freshly inked forme. In the cramped cellar of the abolitionist newspaper, linseed oil and lampblack hung thick. Outside, Boston wharf cobblestones lay silent beneath freezing mist. Benjamin lifted the platen and inspected the impression. The masthead stood out in sharp black: "Truth Before Expediency." For six months, anonymous warnings slipped beneath the door threatened arson if another issue left the alley. But Benjamin simply reset his composing stick, adjusted his spectacles, and reached for the next galley of type. Fear was a quiet fire, but printer's ink was an inextinguishable deluge.