six o’clock
in the evening
And all the way home , as he trudged along whistling , he was thinking over a scheme for making mats , which , however bold it may appear , he did not despair of executing , with patience and industry . Many were the difficulties which his `` prophetic eye '' foresaw ; but he felt within himself that spirit which spurs men on to great enterprises , and makes them `` trample on impossibilities . '' In the first place , he recollected that he had seen Lazy Lawrence , whilst he lounged upon the gate , twist a bit of heath into different shapes ; and he thought , that if he could find some way of plaiting heath firmly together , it would make a very pretty green soft mat , which would do very well for one to wipe one 's shoes on . About a mile from his mother 's house , on the common which Jem rode over when he went to Farmer Truck 's for the giant strawberries , he remembered to have seen a great quantity of this heath ; and , as it was now only six o'clock in the evening , he knew that he should have time to feed Lightfoot , stroke him , go to the common , return , and make one trial of his skill before he went to bed . Lightfoot carried him swiftly to the common , and there Jem gathered as much of the heath as he thought he should want . But what toil ! what time !