seven o'clock in the morning
Lemuel had to be up early in the morning to get the bills of fare , which Mrs. Harmon called the Meanyous , written in time for the seven o'clock breakfasters ; and after opening the dining-room doors with fit ceremony , he had to run backward and forward to answer the rings at the elevator , and to pull out the chairs for the ladies at the table , and slip them back under them as they sat down . The ladies at the St. Albans expected to get their money 's worth ; but their exactions in most things were of use to Lemuel . He grew constantly nimbler of hand and foot under them , and he grew quicker-witted ; he ceased to hulk in mind and body . He did not employ this new mental agility in devising excuses and delays ; he left that to Mrs. Harmon , whose conscience was easy in it ; but from seven o'clock in the morning till eleven at night , when the ladies came in from the theatre , he was so promptly , so comfortingly at their service , that they all said they did not see how they had ever got along without him . His activities took the form of interruptions rather than constant occupation , and he found a good deal of broken-up time on his hands , which he passed in reading , and in reveries of Statira . At the hours when the elevator was mostly in use he kept a book in it with him , and at other times he had it in the office , as Mrs. Harmon called his little booth . He remained there reading every night after the house quieted down after dinner , until it was time to lock up for the night ; and several times Mr. Evans stopped and looked in at him where he sat in the bad combustion of the gas that was taking the country tan out of his cheeks .