The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Spring: List 5

by Betty G. Birney
Young Eben, who lives in a small farming community, longs to experience the wonders of the world. But can he discover seven "wonders" in his own hometown, Sassafras Springs?

This list covers vocabulary from "Days Six and Seven: I Start Again"–"The Beginning."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
15 words 32 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. fritter
    spend frivolously and unwisely
    On the whole, folks have a hard time saying that they don’t own anything special, so you can fritter away a considerable amount of time looking at knives with broken blades, faded lace doilies, or recipes for moonshine.
  2. considerable
    large in number, amount, extent, or degree
    On the whole, folks have a hard time saying that they don’t own anything special, so you can fritter away a considerable amount of time looking at knives with broken blades, faded lace doilies, or recipes for moonshine.
  3. rambunctious
    noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline
    A voice rang out. “Mind your manners now!” I jumped, but it was just Mrs. Peevey talking to her rambunctious hogs.
  4. scythe
    an edge tool for cutting grass
    He grabbed his scythe and cut the thing down, which is exactly what Buddy hoped he’d do.
  5. shuttle
    bobbin that passes the weft thread between the warp threads
    How she’d thread that loom, her not seeing a thing, no one ever knew. She’d thread it and throw the shuttle and start working the foot treadles. Weaving’s like playing the organ, the way you move your feet on those pedals. And once Old Emma got the loom going, it practically sang a song for her.
  6. privy
    a room or building equipped with one or more toilets
    Old Emma liked to keep her independence, so Lulu fixed up ropes leading from the house out to the shed, where she kept her loom, and another one from the shed out to the privy.
  7. bobbin
    a spool around which thread or other material can be wound
    When Buddy heard that, he got a mite nervous. The next night he sneaked into Old Emma’s shed, and he got into her bobbins of thread; they were big rolls of thread in all different colors.
  8. silhouette
    an outline of a solid object as cast by its shadow
    Old Emma wove all night long. Buddy sneaked by, and he could see her silhouette in the moonlight through the window, sitting in the pitch dark, weaving away.
  9. bustle
    move or cause to move energetically or busily
    After the dishes were washed and put away, Pa and I sat on the porch in silence, until Aunt Pretty bustled out to join us. Her arms were full of clothes.
  10. coax
    influence or persuade by gentle and persistent urging
    When Pa finally rose to go into the house, I had a question for him. “Think I could have an hour off tomorrow, if I start an hour early?”
    “Have to get your own breakfast. Have to coax Mabel and Myrt into giving up some milk an hour early,” said Pa.
    “I’ll do it.”
  11. fanciful
    having a curiously intricate quality
    Anyway, the church hired LaFlame to paint some angels on the ceiling. He had angels flying all over that place — beautiful ones. They’ve been painted over since then. Seems some committee decided they were too fanciful for an ordinary country church.
  12. stubborn
    refusing to change one's mind or ways; difficult to convince
    Aunt Pretty laughed. “I’ve been down plenty of rough roads, Eben. And I’m as stubborn as a mule — you know that.”
  13. kinfolk
    a person's relatives, collectively
    “I called Cousin Lottie in St. Louis. She’s our second cousin on my mother’s side. She worked for some rich folks there, till she got married. Now she’s got a house in the city and a couple of kids, younger than you, Eben. Anyway, she said she’d be plain delighted to have you visit her week after next. Says she misses having kinfolk around.”
  14. mosey
    walk leisurely
    “Thought I’d mosey on down to Alfred’s early,” she explained. “He could have some pie for breakfast.”
  15. point of view
    the position from which something is observed
    Later I laughed out loud when I gazed up at old Redhead Hill. From up there on the wagon, if you looked a certain way, the two houses on the hill appeared to be a pair of eyes staring out from under a mop of red hair. “I never noticed that before,” I told Pa.
    He chuckled. “Depends on your point of view.”
Created on Sun Aug 31 21:08:24 EDT 2025 (updated Tue Oct 14 12:47:49 EDT 2025)

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