Chesapeake

by James A. Michener

agronomists

sanctification;

The war had passed without invasion of the Choptank, and things were back in their somnolent grooves when the Maryland legislature, composed principally of men from the western shore, passed a bill authorizing the construction of a mighty bridge right across Chesapeake Bay.

boob

depple

bull-necked

In 1959 the Steed family was still divided into two branches: the Devon Steeds, who lived on what was left of the island; and the Refuge Steeds, who occupied a much more congenial series of estates on the mainland. The original strain had grown quite thin; after Judge Hathaway and Congressman Jefferson the Devon connection was quite barren, and after Lyman Steed the Refuge line was almost as bad. The family as a unit still owned the stores; their land was leaping ahead in value; and if the tomato canneries had proved a dead loss, the cornfields were replacing them.

subvention

“There is no reason why any sane person should read Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind. It is one of the worst books ever written by an American, shoddy, meretricious and without any redeeming social value.”

athwart

avuncular

contumely

Awesome By the waay

tussock,

Pusey Paxmore, a minor figure in this attempt to subvert

comprehend

demesnes,

Awesome

blandishment

bombazine

slatternly

querulously.

furbelows

chine.

jibe,

Antaeus factor.

Avernus,

hedonism.”

meed

aghast