eight at night
I think the secret must have had to do chiefly with work and food . We were never idle , we were always hungry , and we never had any opportunities for relaxation . I never saw any kind of game played at the Orphanage ; and on Sundays devotions of one kind or another were made to fill all intervals between the different necessary pieces of work , such as milking , feeding stock , cleaning , and so forth . We began the day at five o'clock in the summer , and six in the winter , and by eight at night all lights were out . We had lessons every day ; and there , oddly enough , in school , the cane was adjudged necessary , as an engine of discipline , and used rather freely on our hands -- hands , by the way , which were apt at any time to be a good deal chipped and scratched , and otherwise knocked about by our outdoor work . So far as I remember our schooling was of the most primitive sort , and confined to reading aloud , writing from dictation , and experimenting with the first four rules of arithmetic . History we did not touch , but we had to memorise the names of certain continents , capitals , and rivers , I remember .