Sarah, Plain and Tall Sarah has come from Maine to live on the prairie farm with Anna, Caleb, and Papa. Caleb and Anna's mother had died when Caleb was born. Sarah has come from Maine to live on the prairie farm with Anna, Caleb and Papa, to be a wife and mother. But the family fears Sarah will leave them because she misses the sea

Prairie A prairie is an extensive, level or slightly rolling, mostly treeless tract of land in the Mississippi valley, characterized by a highly fertile soil and originally covered with course grasses. --Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1997

19 th Century Travel  In the 19th century, though train travel was slow, a traveler could cross the entire continent by train. The transcontinental railroad was completed in World Book Encyclopedia, Sarah traveled by railroad when she moved from her home in Maine to the Whitting farm on the prairie.

19 th Century Farm Life  Farm life in the 19th century was a life of working hard. Everyone had chores they were responsible for. "Caleb and I did our chores without talking. We shoveled out the stalls and laid down new hay. We fed the sheep. We swept and straightened and carried wood and water. And then our chores were done."