We Love the Prairie Primer: The First Four Years

CONTRALTO:

n. Music, pl., -tos. (Abbr. contr.)
The lowest female voice or voice part, intermediate in range between soprano and tenor.
A woman having a contralto voice.

DROP-LEAF TABLE:

A drop-leaf table is a table that has a fixed section in the center and a hinged section (leaf) on either side that can be folded down (dropped). If the leaf is supported by a bracket when folded up, the table is simply a drop-leaf table; if the leaf is supported by legs that swing out from the center, it is known as a gate leg table.

Drop-leaf tables were found mostly in England where they date back to the late sixteenth century; Elizabethan and Jacobean examples are still extant.

PANTRY:

n., pl., -tries.

A small room or closet, usually off a kitchen, where food, tableware, linens, and similar items are stored.

A small room used for the preparation of cold foods.

THE INGALL'S KITCHEN:

--Photo courtesy of Leslie A. Kelly and the
Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society,
105 Olivet Ave., Box 426, De Smet, SD 57231 http://www.discoverlaura.org

MARRIAGE:

(Photo: Laura and Almanzo in 1886.)

MAR'RIAGE, n. [L.mas, maris.] The act of uniting a man and woman for life; wedlock; the legal union of a man and woman for life. Marriage is a contract both civil and religious, by which the parties engage to live together in mutual affection and fidelity, till death shall separate them. Marriage was instituted by God himself for the purpose of preventing the promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, for promoting domestic felicity,and for securing the maintenance and education of children.

Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled. Heb.13.

1. A feast made on the occasion of a marriage.

The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king, who made a marriage for his son. Matt.22.

2. In a scriptural sense, the union between Christ and his church by the covenant of grace. Rev.19.