one o'clock before
`` The second was a group of ferns tied by a little wreath of pansies ; nothing could be more beautiful . The third was a fantastic mixture of pine-tassels and acorns . I thought it quite ugly , but Nat insisted on it that it would be pretty for a summer muslin ; and so it was the next year , when it was worn by everybody , the little plumy pine-tassels of a bright green -LRB- which did n't wash at all -RRB- , and the acorns all tumbling about on your lap , all sides up at once . `` It was one o'clock before we went to bed , and we might as well have sat up all night , for we did not sleep . The next morning I got up before light and walked into town , to a shop where they sold paints . I had just time to buy a box of water-colors and get back to the mill before the bell stopped ringing . All the forenoon the little white parcel lay on the floor at my feet .