four o’clock
I said that I was too old to be sitting there with a lot of girls and some younger boys , and that I wanted to work . Finally , my father said that I could stay at home if I cared to , and that he would let me work on the farm for a time . I was overjoyed , of course , at the prospect of staying out of school . `` The next morning I was awakened at four o'clock , and had to swallow my breakfast in a hurry , because I was late , my father said . Then he took me out to the barn and ordered me to hitch up the ox-team , and when this was done he took me out to a pasture lot and told me to pick up all the boulders there . Well , I picked up boulders all day long , and by evening my back and arms were so sore I could hardly move them . I was too tired to eat supper , and was soon asleep in bed .