noon
That day in the factory was the hardest day of Cynthia 's life . To a young girl born in freedom , be that freedom of the meanest , the confinement and authority were deadly . Then , too , to witness the utilization of the baby-things that were mere cogs in the machinery of Crothers ' business , hurt the mother-heart of the girl cruelly . At the noon hour she tried to make the sad little creatures play -- but they had forgotten how , if they ever knew ; they , stared at her with wondering eyes ; ate all of her lunch she offered , and shivered in their thin clothes by the wretched fire in a shed provided for their leisure time . `` Oh , Sandy , Sandy , '' murmured Cynthia as she looked about , `` I 'll help you get them away from here some day . '' A new fear and hate of Crothers grew in her heart as she impotently suffered for the children , but Crothers was as gentle and kind to her as any wise and considerate father could have been . He was patient with her bungling and errors ; he did not turn her off to his clerks for instruction , he spent his own time upon her .