four o'clock in the afternoon
On the day of Olaf Ericson 's barn-raising , his wife , for once in a way , rose early . Johanna Vavrika had been baking cakes and frying and boiling and spicing meats for a week beforehand , but it was not until the day before the party was to take place that Clara showed any interest in it . Then she was seized with one of her fitful spasms of energy , and took the wagon and little Eric and spent the day on Plum Creek , gathering vines and swamp goldenrod to decorate the barn . By four o'clock in the afternoon buggies and wagons began to arrive at the big unpainted building in front of Olaf 's house . When Nils and his mother came at five , there were more than fifty people in the barn , and a great drove of children . On the ground floor stood six long tables , set with the crockery of seven flourishing Ericson families , lent for the occasion . In the middle of each table was a big yellow pumpkin , hollowed out and filled with woodbine .