seven o'clock
Then , after a lengthy pause , in which her mind worked feverishly , she said , `` Mardie , I was just groping a little bit , but I wo n't do it any more to-night . If the old quail birds in the woods where Elder Calvin prayed , if those old birds had been Shaker birds , there would n't have been any little quail birds , would there , because Shakers do n't have children , and then perhaps there would n't have been any little Polly Reed . '' Susanna rose hurriedly from the list-bottomed chair and folded her work . `` I 'll go up and help you undress now , '' she said ; `` it 's seven o'clock , and I must go to the family meeting . '' -LSB- Illustration -RSB- It was the Sabbath day and the Believers were gathered in the meeting-house , Brethren and Sisters seated quietly on their separate benches , with the children by themselves in their own place . As the men entered the room they removed their hats and coats and hung them upon wooden pegs that lined the sides of the room , while the women took off their bonnets ; then , after standing for a moment of perfect silence , they seated themselves . In Susanna 's time the Sunday costume for the men included trousers of deep blue cloth with a white line and a vest of darker blue , exposing a full-bosomed shirt that had a wide turned-down collar fastened with three buttons .