noon
`` And love your sister -- '' `` Yes . '' `` Be a man among men , for your mother 's sake -- '' `` Yes , Ma , I will ! '' The little head bent low and the voice was silent . They went to work to make her coffin at noon . An unused walnut log of burled fibre had been lying in the sun and drying for two years , since Tom had built the furniture for the cabin . Dennis helped him rip the boards from this dark , rich wood , shape and plane it for the pieces he would need . The Boy sat with dry eyes and aching heart , making the wooden nails to fasten these boards together .