midday
Coming closer , on opening the worm-eaten stile , one fancied that he saw a giant garden , for all the old apple-trees , as knotted as the peasants , were in blossom . The weather-beaten black trunks , crooked , twisted , ranged along the enclosure , displayed beneath the sky their glittering domes , rosy and white . The sweet perfume of their blossoms mingled with the heavy odors of the open stables and with the fumes of the steaming dunghill , covered with hens and their chickens . It was midday . The family sat at dinner in the shadow of the pear-tree planted before the door -- the father , the mother , the four children , the two maid-servants , and the three farm laborers . They scarcely uttered a word . Their fare consisted of soup and of a stew composed of potatoes mashed up in lard .