I, a 71 year-old Canadian, could answer lots of those questions. Some are pretty funny in 2001, e.g., (note punctuation) "what use is a river?" One could easily make up a test for today's Grade 8s that some would do well on, others poorly (as in 1895) with questions that would be totally outside the experience and knowledge of 1895 teachers. Relevancies change, knowledge expands.