five in the morning
The picnic season , the time of athletic competitions , baseball matches , and rural sociability , rolled by , but Harris scarcely knew of its passing . He had long ago ceased to take any personal interest in the frivolities of the neighbourhood ; he saw in picnics and baseball games only an unprofitable misuse of time , and when he thought of them at all it was to congratulate himself that Allan was not led away by any such foolishness . Finding no great happiness in his own home , he had fallen into the way of walking over to Riles 's on Sunday afternoons , and the two spent many hours in discussion of their proposed land-seeking expedition . Meanwhile Mary plodded along with her housework , toiling doggedly from five in the morning until half-past nine or ten at night . Beulah 's departure had left all the labours of the home upon her hands ; her husband had made no suggestion of securing help , and she had not asked any . The new man made no offer to milk any of the cows ; a dozen hours in the field was day enough for him , and whatever time was over he spent smoking cigarettes in the shelter of the barn . Allan occasionally did help with the milking , and more frequently with turning the separator , but it was so late when he stopped his work in the field she was sorry for him , and tried to have the milk cleared away before he arrived on the scene .