seven o'clock
Henry Burns and his friends had seen but little of the Ellisons , who were out of school for the winter , caring for the farm ; but now the night of the 31st of October found Henry Burns and Jack Harvey , George Warren , Bob White and Tom Harris seated in the big kitchen of the Ellison farmhouse . It was plainly to be seen that , although the Ellisons had been reduced in circumstances through the loss of the mill , there was still an abundance of its kind yielded by the farm . On a table were dishes of apples and fall pears ; two pumpkin pies of vast circumference squatted near by , close to a platter of honey and a huge pitcher of milk . It was dark already , though only half-past seven o'clock , and the lights of two kerosene lamps gleamed through the kitchen windows . As hosts on this occasion , John and James Ellison presently proceeded to introduce their city friends to the delights of milk and honey ; a dish composed of the dripping sweet submerged in a bowl of creamy milk , and eaten therewith , comb and all . `` Never hurt anybody eaten that way , '' explained John Ellison , `` and this is the real thing . The milk is from the Jersey cows in the barn , and the honey 's from the garret , where there 's five swarms of bees been working all summer . ''