saloon any large room designed for entertainments, receptions, etc.
Sandwich Islands former name for the Hawaiian Islands.
sans culottes (French: literally, "without breeches") revolutionaries; a term of contempt applied by French aristocrats to the poorly equipped members of the French Revolutionary army, who substituted pantaloons for knee-breeches.
"Servants, obey your masters" Ephesians 6: 5: "Slaves, be obedient to those who are your earthly masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as to Christ . . . ."; (see also Titus 2: 9: "Bid slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect . . . ."); these passages were frequently cited as New Testament authority for slavery.
sick-headache migraine (or any headache that causes nausea).
"sift ye as wheat" Luke 22: 31: "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat . . . " (Jesus, speaking to his disciple Simon Peter, at the Last Supper.)
"Sisyphus or the Danaides" Greek mythological figures; Sisyphus is doomed in Hades to roll a heavy stone uphill, only to have it always roll down again; the Danaides are condemned in Hades to draw water forever with a sieve. These allusions are to anyone who must do an endless, pointless task.
Solomon biblical king of Israel: he was noted for his wisdom.
spirituelle (French: spirituel) showing a refined nature.
St. Domingo the present-day island of Hispaniola; a slave rebellion there resulted in the formation of the country of Haiti.
St. James palace in Westminster, London: the royal residence from 1697 to 1837.
"Stay me with flagons . . . ." The Song of Solomon, 2: 5: "Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of [with] love."
stiletto a small dagger, having a slender, tapering blade; or, a small, sharp-pointed instrument for making holes in cloth, etc. (Cassy's stiletto might plausibly be either, but the second sense seems more likely.)
stock a former type of large, wide, stiff cravat (necktie); here, apparently, Legree uses the word to mean Tom's necktie or scarf.
Tartarus "informis, ingens, cui lumen ademptum" Latin: Hell, "misshapen, monstrous, devoid of light."
"that soft, insidious disease" i.e., tuberculosis.
"That undiscovered country . . . " Shakespeare, from Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1: "The undiscover'd country from whose bourn / No traveler returns . . . "; Hamlet's line refers to death as "the undiscovered country."
"The dark places of the earth . . . ." Psalms 74: 20, 21: "Have regard for thy covenant; / for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence. / Let not the downtrodden be put to shame; / let the poor and needy praise thy name."
"The earth shall be dissolved . . . . / Than when we first begun" These are verses from the hymn "Amazing Grace."
the Fates in Greek and Roman mythology, the three goddesses who control human destiny and life.
"The grass withereth — the flower fadeth" Isaiah 40: 6–8: "A voice says, 'Cry!' / And I said, 'What shall I cry?' / All flesh is grass, / and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. / The grass withers, the flower fades, / when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; / surely the people is grass. / The grass withers, the flower fades; / but the word of our God will stand for ever."
"the long, sacred rest . . . beloved'" See Psalms 127: 2: "It is vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, / eating the bread of anxious toil; / for he gives to his beloved sleep."
"The sheeted dead . . . in the streets of Rome" William Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, 1: "In the most high and palmy state of Rome, / A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, / The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead / Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets."
"This is the Last of Earth" allusion to John Quincy Adams (1767–1848), sixth president of the United States; reportedly his last words were "This is the last of Earth! . . . I am content."
toilet i.e., the process of dressing and grooming oneself.
trundle-bed a low bed on small wheels or casters, that can be rolled under another bed when not in use.
