The Wives of the Dead

1. Bay Province (proper noun):

In 18th-century America, the colonies of eastern Massachusetts, Plymouth, Maine, and parts of Nova Scotia

“The following story, the simple and domestic incidents of which may be deemed scarcely worth relating, after such a lapse of time, awakened some degree of interest, a hundred years ago, in a principal seaport of the Bay Province.” (Page 3)

2. comely (adjective):

attractive, beautiful

“Two young and comely women sat together by the fireside, nursing their mutual and peculiar sorrows.” (Page 3)

3. Canadian warfare (adjective phrase):

in Colonial America between the late 1600s and 1763, a series of armed conflicts between French and British colonists and allied natives that concluded with the French and Indian War

“They were the recent brides of two brothers, a sailor and a landsman, and two successive days had brought tidings of the death of each, by the chances of Canadian warfare and the tempestuous Atlantic.” (Pages 3 - 4)

4. resignation (noun):

acceptance of a loss

“But after an hour of such indulgence, one of the sisters, all of whose emotions were influenced by her mild, quiet, yet not feeble character, began to recollect the precepts of resignation and endurance which piety had taught her, when she did not think to need them.” (Page 5)

5. frugal (adjective):

inexpensive, sparing, meager

“Her misfortune, besides, as earliest known, should earliest cease to interfere with her regular course of duties; accordingly, having placed the table before the fire, and arranged a frugal meal, she took the hand of her companion.” (Pages 5 - 6)

6. parlor (noun):

a living room

“The brothers and their brides, entering the married state with no more than the slender means which then sanctioned such a step, had confederated themselves in one household, with equal rights to the parlor, and claiming exclusive privileges in two sleeping-rooms contiguous to it.” (Page 7)

7. thither (adverb):

toward that place

“Thither the widowed ones retired, after heaping ashes upon the dying embers of their fire, and placing a lighted lamp upon the hearth.” (Pages 7 - 8)

8. reciprocally (adverb):

one to the other

“The doors of both chambers were left open, so that a part of the interior of each, and the beds with their unclosed curtains, were reciprocally visible.” (Page 8)

9. wont (adjective):

accustomed; in the habit

“Two vacant arm-chairs were in their old positions on opposite sides of the hearth, where the brothers had been wont to sit in young and laughing dignity, as heads of families; two humbler seats were near them, the true thrones of that little empire, where Mary and herself had exercised in love a power that love had won.” (Page 9)

10. tidings (noun):

news, as reports of recent events

“While Margaret groaned in bitterness, she heard a knock at the street door. ‘How would my heart have leapt at that sound but yesterday!’ thought she, remembering the anxiety with which she had long awaited tidings from her husband.” (Pages 9 - 10)

11. lattice (noun):

crisscross wood or metal slats; a window in which such construction holds panes of glass

“It was a lattice, turning upon hinges; and having thrown it back, she stretched her head a little way into the moist atmosphere.” (Pages 11 - 12)

12. lantern (noun):

a case with transparent sides and hinged handle that houses a light source, in Colonial times a candle or oil wick, used for illumination

“A lantern was reddening the front of the house, and melting its light in the neighboring puddles, while a deluge of darkness overwhelmed every other object.” (Page 12)

13. lackaday (interjection):

in old usage, expression of regret, as in “alack the day”

“‘Lackaday, is it you, Mistress Margaret?’ replied the innkeeper. ‘I was afraid it might be your sister Mary; for I hate to see a young woman in trouble, when I have n't a word of comfort to whisper her.’” (Pages 12 - 13)

14. blanket-coat (adjective phrase):

an overcoat, often hooded, made from woolen blanket material

“As the window grated on its hinges, a man in a broad-brimmed hat and blanket-coat stepped from under the shelter of the projecting story, and looked upward to discover whom his application had aroused.” (Page 12)

15. a drop and a morsel (phrase):

a glass of water or beer and a small amount of food

“He tarried at my house to refresh himself with a drop and a morsel, and I asked him what tidings on the frontiers.” (Page 13)

16. wot (verb):

heard, as “heard what about”

“He tells me we had the better in the skirmish you wot of, and that thirteen men reported slain are well and sound, and your husband among them.” (Page 13)

17. wooer (noun):

one who woos; a suitor

“Mary recognized him as one whose livelihood was gained by short voyages along the coast; nor did she forget that, previous to her marriage, he had been an unsuccessful wooer of her own.” (Page 19)

18. Zadig (proper noun):

Babylonian hero of Voltaire’s novel Zadig, whose first wife betrays him

“‘I could n't have slept a wink before speaking to you, Mary, for the sake of old times.’ ‘Stephen, I thought better of you!’ exclaimed the widow, with gushing tears and preparing to close the lattice; for she was no whit inclined to imitate the first wife of Zadig.” (Page 20)

19. felicity (noun):

happiness

“Her first impulse was to rouse her sister-in-law, and communicate the new-born gladness. […] But then she remembered that Margaret would awake to thoughts of death and woe, rendered not the less bitter by their contrast with her own felicity.” (Pages 21 - 22)

20. countenance (noun):

a face or facial expression

“Margaret lay in unquiet sleep, and the drapery was displaced around her; her young cheek was rosy-tinted, and her lips half opened in a vivid smile; an expression of joy, debarred its passage by her sealed eyelids, struggled forth like incense from the whole countenance.” (Pages 22 - 23)

21. bedclothes (noun):

sheets and blankets on a bed

“Before retiring, she set down the lamp, and endeavored to arrange the bedclothes so that the chill air might not do harm to the feverish slumberer.” (Page 23)