noon
Shake thyself loose from them , Alfred Stevens , and thy way henceforth is perfect freedom . '' `` Alas ! this is my very weakness , Mr. Cross : -- it was because of these very infirmities , that I had doubt of my own worthiness to take up the better vocation which is yet my desire . I am sadly given to hunger and thirst toward noon and evening ; and the travel of a long day makes me so weary at night , that I should say but a hurried grace before meal , and make an even more hurried supper after it . Nay , I have not yet been able to divest myself of a habit which I acquired in my boyhood ; and I need at times , throughout the day , a mouthful of something stronger than mere animal food , to sustain the fainting and feeble flesh and keep my frame from utter exhaustion . I dare not go upon the road , even for the brief journey of a single day , without providing myself beforehand with a supply of a certain beverage , such as is even now contained within this vessel , and which is infallible against sinking of the the spirits , faintings of the frame , disordered nerves , and even against flatulence and indigestion . If , at any time , thou shouldst suffer from one or the other of these infirmities , Mr. Cross , be sure there is no better medicine for their cure than this . ''