noon
They asked her with a scornful smile , whether she had sent them to a boarding school to learn to cook ; and added , that they supposed she would expect them next to make hasty-puddings for the hay-makers . So saying , they coolly marched off to their music . When the mother found her girls too polite to be of any use , she would take comfort in observing how her parlor was set out with their filagree and flowers , their embroidery and cut paper . They spent the morning in bed , the noon in dressing , the evening at the harpsichord , and the night in reading novels . With all these fine qualifications it is easy to suppose , that as they despised their sober duties , they no less despised their plain neighbors . When they could not get to a horse-race , a petty-ball , or a strolling play , with some company as idle and as smart as themselves , they were driven for amusement to the circulating library . Jack , the plow-boy , on whom they had now put a livery jacket , was employed half his time in trotting backward and forward with the most wretched trash the little neighboring bookshop could furnish .