6:30
We retire at 7:30 o'clock at night and arise at 6:30 in the morning , so as to get an early start . A man who has five or ten years to stay in a place like this naturally likes to get at it as soon as possible each day , and so he gets up at 6:30 . We dress by the gaudy light of the candle , and while we do so , we remember far away at home our wife and the little boy asleep in her arms . They do not get up at 6:30 . It is at this hour we remember the fragrant drawer in the dresser at home where our clean shirts , and collars and cuffs , and socks and handkerchiefs , are put every week by our wife . We also recall as we go about our stone den , with its odor of former corned beef , and the ghost of some bloody-handed predecessor 's snore still moaning in the walls , the picture of green grass by our own doorway , and the apples that were just ripening , when the bench warrant came . The time from 6:30 to breakfast is occupied by the average , or non-paying inmate , in doing the chamberwork and tidying up his state-room .